THE JOURNEY
An incredible new travel option is booking fast for 2020 – a fully escorted train tour and five-star river cruise
ONLY one thing can really match the joy of taking one of the world’s great train journeys: and that’s the relaxation you feel, cruising down one of the world’s great rivers. And you can now combine both incredible experiences on the same luxurious holiday. Better still, you can do it with one of the most respected names in the travel business.
Great Rail Journeys has been offering fully escorted rail tours around the world for more than 45 years.
Choose one of its tours and its trained and knowledgeable tour managers who have a real passion for travel, will look after you from start to finish. They will be on hand on every train and in every hotel, taking care of everything so you can focus on having the most wonderful time away.
And this year you can also enjoy the same support, personal touch and attention to detail when you take a luxury river cruise on one of Europe’s finest waterways.
RAIL AND RIVER TOURS
THE combined rail tours and river cruises are the perfect way to experience the very best of Europe. Fans say that going on a river cruise is like checking into a luxury, floating hotel. You only have to unpack once (and with Great Rail Journeys you’ll be amazed at how spacious the five-star rooms and suites can be). You enjoy amazing food expertly prepared – often including the local flavours of the regions you pass. And you wake up every day to see an extraordinary new view with the chance to explore an incredible new city.
When you take a river cruise ‘the Great Rail way’, you’re free to do as much or as little as you choose. Your cruise director will arrange plenty of excursions with friendly and knowledgeable local guides. You’ll always have lots of like-minded company. And you’ll find plenty of comfortable corners to lose yourself in, if you prefer to simply watch the world go by.
And by combining a luxury river cruise with a Great Rail Journey’s train tour, you make the trip to and from your ship part of the holiday itself. Forget about hassles of modern airports. Instead, meet your tour manager at London’s glorious St Pancras Station and start your holiday on a smart Eurostar train. Grab a coffee from the buffet car as you cross the continent in style, watching the countryside flash past as you head to your ship and the next part of your incredible journey.
So, which river cruise and rail tour to choose? More are being launched all the time, but early favourites include:
THE DANUBE
CRUISE down this magnificent, meandering river in style. See hilltop fortresses, fairy-tale Bavarian castles and ancient forests as you visit some of Europe’s most iconic imperial cities. Ships take you to places like Vienna, Budapest, Salzburg as well as to glorious small historic towns like Krems. Look online at GreatRail.com or in the Great Rail Journeys brochure for the full range of Danube cruises.
THE RHINE
YOU’LL see turrets of medieval castles amid misty forests as you pass through this ever-changing landscape: from the steep hills around the iconic Rhine Gorge to the flat, flower-filled meadows of the Netherlands. Pass windmills and sleepy villages and visit Amsterdam, Strasbourg, historic Heidelberg and more. Each of the popular Rhine cruises is detailed at GreatRail.com and in the brochure.
THE SEINE
ENJOY the romance and the glamour of a five-star cruise through chic and stylish cities like Rouen and, of course, Paris. See royal chateaux and tiny fishing towns, and float effortlessly through the Impressionist landscapes made famous by Monet in Giverny – again look online at GreatRail.com for a variety of tours of different lengths.
The River Cruises with Rail Tours are selling fast and the last cabins for 2020 are expected to be booked relatively soon. But the good news is that there are plenty of other tours to consider as well. Great Rail Journeys offers more than 350 train tours in some 60 countries around the world. Take a look now to find the perfect trip for you.
Simply watch the world go by