| | | | | Arrive | Depart |
| 2nd02 | SepSep | 202424 | Frankfurt, Germany, embark on the TUI Isla | | 23:59 |
| You might hear Frankfurt referred to by another name – Mainhattan, alluding to the city’s setting on the Main River, as well as its futuristic skyline. But, mixed in with the new, there are timber houses and red-brick churches. Lots of the city was damaged in World War Two, but it’s since undergone a huge restoration project. Römerberg square’s now lined with traditional, Medieval-style buildings. Palmengarten is Frankfurt’s version of Kew Gardens, with zones dedicated to rainforest, sub-Antarctic and desert plants. And the 200-year-old Städel Museum houses artworks by Van Gogh, Monet and Rembrandt. Get a feel for Frankfurt on the Ebbelwei Express tram, which does a circuit of the city, rattling past the zoo and Römerberg. |
| 3rd03 | SepSep | 202424 | Rüdesheim, Germany | | |
| Rudesheim’s a little town in the heart of Germany’s wine country. It’s part of the Rhine Gorge, a 65-kilometre-long, fortress-filled UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gothic, 16th-century houses line the water’s edge. And this is backed by a hillside sprinkled with walking trails for hikers, castles for historians and vineyards for wine-lovers. In fact, some of the biggest vineyards in Germany are found near here. Stick about in the centre of town, and you’ve got plenty of shops and bars to nip in and out of, plus a collection of museums focusing on toys, musical instruments and wine. Don’t miss the Niederwald Monument. The ride up to this giant, 100-year-old statue serves up incredible views of the town down below. |
| 3rd03 | SepSep | 202424 | Boppard, Germany | | |
| The German town of Boppard’s main claim to fame is its wine. White Riesling and red Pinot Noir’s been bottled here for centuries, starting off life in the vineyards – including the biggest in the Middle Rhine Valley – outside of town. The bars and restaurants here put on tasting sessions where you can sample them for yourself. You’ll find them clustered along the waterfront – which is also home to traditionally German, 16th-century architecture and museums – and around the modern-meets-Medieval town square. Wander around the Electoral Castle. It was built in the 13th century, and has been a hospital, a prison and a police station. These days it’s a museum, and you can dive deep into all this history through the exhibits here. |
| 4th04 | SepSep | 202424 | Bonn, Germany | | |
| Bonn is made for sightseeing. First off, you’ve got presidential palaces that hark back to when the city was the capital of West Germany during the Cold War. Elsewhere, thousand-year-old churches are packed in with glass-front shopping centres, which sit on streets decorated with Japanese cherry blossom trees. Visit in April and you’ll see the purply-pink leaves come in to bloom. Plus, the museums here cover everything from Ancient Rome to the city’s most famous resident, Beethoven. Go for a walk along the river, meanwhile, and you’ll see the landscape change from cobbled streets to waterfront parks, which play host to weekend markets and music concerts in the summer months. Germany’s famous wine country’s ripe for exploring in the nearby valleys. Here, you can sample award-winning reds after a tour of the Gothic castles. |
| 5th05 | SepSep | 202424 | Düsseldorf, Germany | | |
| Dusseldorf is one of the most modern cities that flank the Rhine. At first glance it looks very business-orientated, with its banking, advertising and fashion industries recognised globally. Spend a few hours exploring, though, and you’ll discover an old quarter where pork knuckles are served with beer, and archaic theatres are set back off the pavement. Also of note is Dusseldorf harbour. It’s one of the city’s latest developments, and is recognised for its impressive avant-garde architecture – like Claude Vasconi’s Grand Bateau, built to resemble an ocean liner. Dusseldorf’s metroline’s an arty masterpiece, too – it’s decorated with geometric shapes and projections of planets and even has some LED walls. |
| 6th06 | SepSep | 202424 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | | |
| Rotterdam is a city that's a long way removed from most people's stereotypical notion of the Netherlands. There are few, if any, canals to be found here nor are there any quaint windmills. There is, however, a thriving modern city which is one of the busiest ports in the entire world. You might hear Rotterdam referred to by a different name – the Gateway to the World, thanks to all the roads, rivers and railways that pass through it. And as Europe’s biggest port, it’s packed with lots of things to do, too. Start off by getting a bird’s eye view of the city from the top of the Euromast Tower – the tallest building in Rotterdam. Snap some photos from the viewing platform, then head to the restaurant for a sweet stroopwafel pastry. Over in the old quarter, you can learn about the bombing of Rotterdam during a tour of the 600-year-old St Lawrence Church – the only building in the area left standing after World War 2. Then, go for a wander around the city’s collection of art galleries, where you’ll see pieces by Picasso, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. |
| 7th07 | SepSep | 202424 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | | |
| Amsterdam combines the unrivaled beauty of the 17th-century Golden Age city center with plenty of museums and art of the highest order, not to mention a remarkably laid-back atmosphere. It all comes together to make this one of the world's most appealing and offbeat metropolises in the world. Built on a latticework of concentric canals like an aquatic rainbow, Amsterdam is known as the City of Canals—but it's no Venice, content to live on moonlight serenades and former glory. Quite the contrary: on nearly every street here you'll find old and new side by side—quiet corners where time seems to be holding its breath next to streets like neon-lit Kalverstraat, and Red Light ladies strutting by the city's oldest church. Indeed, Amsterdam has as many lovely facets as a 40-carat diamond polished by one of the city's gem cutters. It's certainly a metropolis, but a rather small and very accessible one. Locals tend to refer to it as a big village, albeit one that happens to pack the cultural wallop of a major world destination. There are scores of concerts every day, numerous museums, summertime festivals, and, of course, a legendary year-round party scene. It's pretty much impossible to resist Amsterdam's charms. With 7,000 registered monuments, most of which began as the residences and warehouses of humble merchants, set on 160 man-made canals, and traversed by 1,500 or so bridges, Amsterdam has the largest historical inner city in Europe. Its famous circle of waterways, the grachtengordel, was a 17th-century urban expansion plan for the rich and is a lasting testament to the city’s Golden Age. This town is endearing because of its kinder, gentler nature—but a reputation for championing sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll does not alone account for Amsterdam's being one of the most popular destinations in Europe: consider that within a single square mile the city harbors some of the greatest achievements in Western art, from Rembrandt to Van Gogh. Not to mention that this is one of Europe's great walking cities, with so many of its treasures in the untouted details: tiny alleyways barely visible on the map, hidden garden courtyards, shop windows, floating houseboats, hidden hofjes(courtyards with almshouses), sudden vistas of church spires, and gabled roofs that look like so many unframed paintings. And don’t forget that the joy lies in details: elaborate gables and witty gable stones denoting the trade of a previous owner. Keep in mind that those XXX symbols you see all over town are not a mark of the city's triple-X reputation. They're part of Amsterdam's official coat of arms—three St. Andrew's crosses, believed to represent the three dangers that have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The coat's motto ("Valiant, determined, compassionate") was introduced in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina in remembrance of the 1941 February Strike in Amsterdam—the first time in Europe that non-Jewish people protested against the persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime. Criss-crossed by bridges and canals, Amsterdam is known as the Venice of the north. But its waterways are not all it’s famous for. In fact, mention the name of The Netherlands' capital city and you’ll get a whole list of associations. Clogs, cheese and windmills top the list, followed closely by World War history, cutting-edge art and coffee shops. One thing’s for sure, when you join the millions of tourists that flock to the city every year, you won’t have to look hard to find something that interests you. - Sit back and relax onboard Amsterdam’s most traditional mode of transport – a canal boat. Pleasure cruises have been running up and down the city’s waterways since 1621.
- Discover the secret hideout where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis during the Second World War. The tiny annex is now part of a museum, where you can follow the Franks’ story from the beginning to the tragic end.
- Cast an eye over the paintings of one of the 20th century’s most influential artists. The Vincent Van Gogh museum showcases a selection of the painter’s work, including the famous Sunflowers still life.
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| 8th08 | SepSep | 202424 | Amsterdam, Netherlands, disembark the TUI Isla | | |
| Amsterdam combines the unrivaled beauty of the 17th-century Golden Age city center with plenty of museums and art of the highest order, not to mention a remarkably laid-back atmosphere. It all comes together to make this one of the world's most appealing and offbeat metropolises in the world. Built on a latticework of concentric canals like an aquatic rainbow, Amsterdam is known as the City of Canals—but it's no Venice, content to live on moonlight serenades and former glory. Quite the contrary: on nearly every street here you'll find old and new side by side—quiet corners where time seems to be holding its breath next to streets like neon-lit Kalverstraat, and Red Light ladies strutting by the city's oldest church. Indeed, Amsterdam has as many lovely facets as a 40-carat diamond polished by one of the city's gem cutters. It's certainly a metropolis, but a rather small and very accessible one. Locals tend to refer to it as a big village, albeit one that happens to pack the cultural wallop of a major world destination. There are scores of concerts every day, numerous museums, summertime festivals, and, of course, a legendary year-round party scene. It's pretty much impossible to resist Amsterdam's charms. With 7,000 registered monuments, most of which began as the residences and warehouses of humble merchants, set on 160 man-made canals, and traversed by 1,500 or so bridges, Amsterdam has the largest historical inner city in Europe. Its famous circle of waterways, the grachtengordel, was a 17th-century urban expansion plan for the rich and is a lasting testament to the city’s Golden Age. This town is endearing because of its kinder, gentler nature—but a reputation for championing sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll does not alone account for Amsterdam's being one of the most popular destinations in Europe: consider that within a single square mile the city harbors some of the greatest achievements in Western art, from Rembrandt to Van Gogh. Not to mention that this is one of Europe's great walking cities, with so many of its treasures in the untouted details: tiny alleyways barely visible on the map, hidden garden courtyards, shop windows, floating houseboats, hidden hofjes(courtyards with almshouses), sudden vistas of church spires, and gabled roofs that look like so many unframed paintings. And don’t forget that the joy lies in details: elaborate gables and witty gable stones denoting the trade of a previous owner. Keep in mind that those XXX symbols you see all over town are not a mark of the city's triple-X reputation. They're part of Amsterdam's official coat of arms—three St. Andrew's crosses, believed to represent the three dangers that have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The coat's motto ("Valiant, determined, compassionate") was introduced in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina in remembrance of the 1941 February Strike in Amsterdam—the first time in Europe that non-Jewish people protested against the persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime. Criss-crossed by bridges and canals, Amsterdam is known as the Venice of the north. But its waterways are not all it’s famous for. In fact, mention the name of The Netherlands' capital city and you’ll get a whole list of associations. Clogs, cheese and windmills top the list, followed closely by World War history, cutting-edge art and coffee shops. One thing’s for sure, when you join the millions of tourists that flock to the city every year, you won’t have to look hard to find something that interests you. - Sit back and relax onboard Amsterdam’s most traditional mode of transport – a canal boat. Pleasure cruises have been running up and down the city’s waterways since 1621.
- Discover the secret hideout where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis during the Second World War. The tiny annex is now part of a museum, where you can follow the Franks’ story from the beginning to the tragic end.
- Cast an eye over the paintings of one of the 20th century’s most influential artists. The Vincent Van Gogh museum showcases a selection of the painter’s work, including the famous Sunflowers still life.
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