Italy to Austria!

A funicular will take you up to the Old Town.

Located in the heart of Città Alta you will find the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a masterpiece of romanesque architecture. Founded in the 12th century, it was built as a votive offering to the Virgin Mary to protect the city from plague. From the outside, its austere stone façade contrasts with the richly decorated interior, where Baroque opulence unfolds in intricate wood carvings, tapestries, and frescoes.

Stop at the most idyllic of the Italian lakes, Lago Maggiore. You'll marvel at the surprising contrast of Alpine vistas and tropical vegetation as you travel along the shore of the deep blue lake.

Enjoy a boat excursion to Lake Maggiore's Borromean Islands. You will stop first on Isola Bella then on the unspoiled Isola dei Pescatori, where visitors can browse through shops and boutiques.

This splendid Roman amphitheater, which you will visit, dates back to the 1st century AD. It is among the largest in the world with its 44 tiers of seats.

Head to the courtyard of the Casa di giulietta to see its famous balcony and a bronze statue of Juliet.

Travel to the city of Padua, seat of a famous university founded in 1222, where Galileo taught.

Visit the incredibly well-preserved Arena Chapel (also called the Scrovegni Chapel), built in 1303. It houses the greatest frescoes of Giotto, whose work heralded the Renaissance.

Enter the huge Basilica di Sant'Antonio, visited as a place of pilgrimage by people from all over the world.

Travel to the "Pearl of the Adriatic."

Enter the Basilica di San Marco, which dates back to the 11th century and houses precious treasures behind its elaborate façade.

Watch a glassblower in action to better appreciate the manufacture of the world-renowned Venetian glass.

Travel to Trento, one of the most photogenic cities in the mountainous Trentino province of Italy's South Tyrol.

Explore Trento on a guided walking tour that begins in Piazza Duomo, the heart of the historic center. Here, you will see key landmarks including the Cathedral of San Vigilio, the Palazzo Pretorio, and the Fountain of Neptune. From the square, follow Via Belenzani, a street lined with frescoed Renaissance palaces, to reach Castello del Buonconsiglio, once the residence of Trento's prince-bishops. The tour continues to Piazza Cesare Battisti, where visitors have the option to view the Roman remains of Tridentum at the SASS underground archaeological site.

Travel to Bolzano (Bozen in German), which is the capital of the Alto Adige. This bilingual wine-growing region was part of Austria until its annexation by Italy in 1919, at the end of World War I. It now marks the linguistic border between the Italian-speaking and the German-speaking Tyrol.

Your destination is the Alpine city that hosted the Winter Olympics twice, in 1964 and 1976.

The city's historic center is concentrated in a few small blocks. Your tour director will introduce landmarks such as the Hofburg Palace (summer residence of the Hapsburg monarchs), the cathedral, the Little Golden Roof, Maria-Theresien-Strasse, and the rococo-style Helblinghaus. View the Triumphpforte the Triumphal Arch is one of Innsbruck's most prominent sights. Like a triumphal arch of antiquity, it bears witness to Innsbruck's history.

Travel to Salzburg, the city of The Sound of Music!

Visit Mozart's Geburtshaus, the house in which he was born in 1756 and where he composed most of his child-prodigy works. See personal documents, pictures of his family and his childhood instruments.

See why Dom St. Rupert, which was rebuilt in the 1600s, is regarded as the first Baroque cathedral to be erected north of the Alps. In addition to its most remarkable feature, the dome, you will marvel at the frescoes, paintings and stucco ornamentation. Note the Romanesque font where Mozart was baptized. He served as the cathedral's organist between 1779 and 1781.

Have fun as you dress in miner's clothes and slide down a chute into the mine to explore its dark underground chambers and cross its subterranean lake. Multimedia installations complete the entertainment.

Set out for the town of Berchtesgaden, founded in a secluded mountain location by Augustinian monks fleeing the overbearing influence of the Archbishops of Salzburg. See the Schlossplatz at the town's center, the Stiftskirche, and the castle, which was originally the monks' priory, later turned into a sumptuous palace.

Enjoy some free time in Berchtesgaden today.

A visit to the Dokumentationszentrum Obersalzberg and part of the Obersalzberg bunker system will present a chilling reminder of the operations that were planned by the top Nazi officials in this idyllic setting.

Your visit to the Führer's mountain retreat (Kehlsteinhaus or Eagle's Nest) begins with a ride aboard a shuttle bus along one of Germany's highest mountain roads, this one specially blasted out of solid rock for Hitler. The road ends at the entrance of a tunnel, where an elevator takes visitors up through the mountain to the fortified house, now a restaurant. At 6,000 feet, its terrace offers splendid mountain vistas.