The Best Tour of Italy & France with London

Welcome to Rome! At 6 pm, meet your Tour Director and traveling companions and leave the hotel for a welcome dinner with pasta and wine at Mino restaurant.

Enjoy Globus’ unique guided sightseeing, including inside visits to all highlights of religious and ancient Rome: the VATICAN MUSEUMS and SISTINE CHAPEL with Michelangelo’s ceiling paintings and The Last Judgment, monumental ST. PETER’S SQUARE and BASILICA to admire Michelangelo’s Pietà, the amazing COLOSSEUM, and the ROMAN FORUM, where Roman legions marched in triumph. To make the most of your stay, join our optional walking tour to see the Spanish Steps, and the sites and squares of medieval Rome made famous in the movie Angels & Demons.

Morning break in peaceful Assisi. Visit the massive 13th-century BASILICA OF ST. FRANCIS built above the saint’s grave. Continue to the Adriatic coast and arrive in romantic Venice. Tonight is your chance to join an optional evening featuring a private water-taxi ride along the Grand Canal, followed by a traditional Venetian dinner.

Start sightseeing in style by PRIVATE BOAT and meet your Local Guide. Highlights of your walking tour are ST. MARK’S SQUARE and the byzantine BASILICA, lavish DOGES’ PALACE and the BRIDGE OF SIGHS. Also watch a skilled GLASSBLOWER fashion delicate objects in an age-old traditional manner. Later, you may wish to join an optional cruise to colorful Burano Island.

In Ferrara, stroll through imposing Este Castle to the marble cathedral before continuing across the wooded Apennine Mountains into Tuscany to Florence, "Cradle of the Renaissance." Enter Piazza Santa Croce and check out the enticing shops with Florentine leather goods and gold jewelry. Then, enjoy [LF] dinner with local specialties accompanied by a selection of local wines at Casa Toscana restaurant.

Your guided walking tour features a visit to the ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS with Michelangelo’s celebrated David. Admire the magnificent cathedral, Giotto’s Bell Tower, and the Baptistry’s heavy bronze "Gate of Paradise," and visit sculpture-studded SIGNORIA SQUARE. Choose from our exciting optional excursions to enhance your stay.

In Pisa, marvel at the amazing Leaning Tower, 180 feet high and 12 feet out of the perpendicular. Then, enjoy spectacular views of Italian and French Riviera resorts. Leave the highway for the panoramic Moyenne Corniche and stop in Èze. [LF] Visit the Fragonard perfume factory. Learn about the fascinating history of the art of perfume-making and receive a souvenir gift basket to take home with you. Arrive in Nice.

A highlight visit this morning to the picturesque hilltop town of St. Paul de Vence. Explore the many art galleries and enjoy the spectacular view, or relax at a café, where you may see the locals play pétanque (lawn bowling). Return to Nice for a lazy afternoon to dabble in the blue Mediterranean or to stroll along the elegant Promenade des Anglais. An optional outing is available tonight to Monte Carlo.

Transfer to the railway station and board the high-speed TGV TRAIN to Paris. On arrival, sightseeing with a Local Guide features the most famous sights: the Opéra, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysées, and more. For a bird’s-eye view, take the elevator to the second floor of Paris’ most famous landmark: the EIFFEL TOWER. This evening, [LF] a special dinner with wine has been included at a local restaurant where you can try out specialties like escargots (snails), soupe à loignon (onion soup), boeuf bourguignon (beef Burgundy), or others, followed by a drive through the "City of Light."

Another day to enjoy what this extraordinary metropolis has to offer. To enhance your stay, choose from our list of optional excursions: the magnificent Louvre Museum with the Mona Lisa, and the lavish baroque Palace and Gardens of Versailles, built by the Sun King, Louis XIV. Tonight, an optional dinner and show at the famous Moulin Rouge may be the best way to say, "Au revoir, Paris."

You will be transferred by EUROSTAR TRAIN to London, arriving in the afternoon. Why not take in a West End show tonight.

Sightseeing with a Local Guide includes the most famous landmarks, a visit to ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, and the Changing of the Guard, if held.

Your vacation ends with breakfast this morning.