London to Vienna Trail

8 days of heart pounding adventure kick off today. Meet up with your Contiki posse & share notes on London town before hitting the road to Amsterdam.Shortly before we find our ferry for France, we'll be taking in the English coastline beauty of the White Cliffs of Dover. They owe their gorgeousness to their composition of chalk - you're learning and we haven't even left the UK!Off the ferry we arrive in the port town of Calais - French soil! We travel north via Belgium before reaching ... Amsterdam!Cross off another country off your list as you cruise through Belgium on your way to Amsterdam.Tonight, the famed for fun Amsterdam is ours to explore. An undisguised Red Light District & plenty of bars are there for the curious.

Amsterdam is cute as a button & sure to win your heart with its canals, obscure museums & a café culture like no other. This afternoon use your time to get local, bar hop, museum crawl, and see what other tastes take your fancy, this town is famous for pancakes, frites and so much more.

Amsterdam, it's been lovely, but today's agenda is onto the autobahn and on the fast-track to uber-cool Berlin.On the world map of party vibes, Berlin has a gold star. We've got two nights to explore every inch of this iconic city, and we'll kick it off with a bit of a tour of the city and its troubled but fascinating past. Once we've gotten acquainted with the key sites, you'll have some free time to discover the city. Berlin has so much to offer the hungry traveller, from the somber icons like the Holocaust memorial to side streets with hidden cafes and shops. And if you're not sure where to start, your Trip Manager can always point you in the right direction.

Get into the mood of exploration. Berlin has so much to offer the hungry traveller, from the obvious icons like Checkpoint Charlie to all the obscurities tucked away in the side streets. Spend the day lapping up history, scouting the Berlin Wall and dialing up your intellect at sites like the Russian War Memorial, Brandenburg Gate & historic Reichstag building. That way you can let loose a little in the evening without a hint of remorse.

"More city hangs" you'll all scream in unison as we motor out of Berlin, high on life & still wanting more. Since you asked so nicely, let us present you with Prague, the darling of Europe.A drive from Berlin to Prague would not be complete without stopping in Dresden. Destroyed by World War II, the rebuilt town is now a symbol of resilience, soaked in the rebirthed beauty of an Opera house, the domed Frauenkirche, & the Royal Residence.On arrival in the compact & lovable city of Prague, we'll get out and go exploring, seeing castles and cathedrals and learning of Bohemia Kings and gothic history.

With a full day to loiter, expect an entire photo album of Gothic architecture, market antics & you cheers-ing cheap beer; not to mention life!Tonight, you could see yourself spending the evening indulging in traditional Czech cuisine while admiring the local folklore dancers as the sun goes down on the 'City of a Thousand Spires'.

Today we exchange the Czech Republic for Austria, waving goodbye to pretty Prague knowing that cultured Vienna is coming right up.Before Vienna we'll be stopping in the Bohemian city of Kutna Hora, remembering that Bohemia is the name of the place and not a nod to the fashion sense of the people that live there. Make the local Sedlec Ossuary chapel a high priority, it's decked out and furnished in the bones of over 40,000 ... humans. Eeep!Austria, we have arrived! And we're ready to get straight into your musical legacy. Put your name next to the optional classical night out in one of the city’s imperial palaces, you will not regret it.

Let's delay the inevitable goodbyes as long as we can. Enjoying a leisurely breakfast and taking some time to continue exploring Vienna should do the trick. Then at about lunch time things will start wrapping up - we'll talk shock about how much we've done in just over a week, and wish to the travel gods we could do it all again - 8 times over.