Final-year school trip to the Rhine and Moselle: the Lorelei, Eltz Castle, Cochem and Trier (5 days)

Day 1: Departure from your school and arrival in Koblenz

• Departure from your school in the morning, at the time agreed with you.
• Daytime drive to Koblenz through the Eifel (about 200 to 300 km depending on your school, 2.5 to 3.5 hours excluding stops).
• Our drivers drive for a maximum of 3 hours, then take a 30-minute break, day and night.
• Lunch at your own expense, then discovery of the Deutsches Eck, the headland where the Moselle meets the Rhine, and the old town of Koblenz.
• Cable car ride across the Rhine and visit to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (on request).
• Check-in at the accommodation for two nights, dinner and quiet evening.

Day 2: The Romantic Rhine and the Lorelei

• Drive to Bacharach, a wine village of half-timbered houses (about 60 km, 1 hour).
• Rhine cruise from Bacharach to Sankt Goarshausen, past Pfalzgrafenstein Castle in the middle of the river and below the Lorelei rock.
• Coach ride up to the Lorelei plateau for the dramatic view over the river, and lunch at your own expense.
• Visit to the Marksburg in Braubach, the only hilltop castle on the Middle Rhine never destroyed (on request).
• Return to Koblenz, dinner and supervised evening.

Day 3: Eltz Castle, Cochem and the Moselle

• Rooms vacated after breakfast and drive to Eltz Castle, hidden in the forest above the Moselle (about 35 km, 45 min).
• Guided tour of the interior of Eltz Castle (on request).
• Drive to Cochem, lunch at your own expense and walk through the old town on the Moselle; visit to the Imperial Castle (Reichsburg) (on request).
• Drive to Trier through the Moselle valley and its terraced vineyards (about 90 km, 1 hour 45 minutes).
• Check-in at the accommodation for two nights, dinner and supervised evening.

Day 4: Trier, the Rome of the North

• The Porta Nigra, the best-preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps, and visit to its interior (on request).
• The market square, St Peter’s Cathedral, the oldest in Germany, and the Church of Our Lady, a masterpiece of early Gothic.
• The Basilica of Constantine, the Roman emperor’s former throne hall (free admission), then lunch at your own expense.
• Visit to the Imperial Baths and the Roman amphitheatre (on request), then to Karl Marx’s birthplace (on request).
• Dinner and last supervised evening.

Day 5: Return to Belgium

• Rooms vacated after breakfast.
• Last supervised free morning in the centre of Trier and lunch at your own expense.
• Departure in the early afternoon, daytime drive back to Belgium (about 180 to 300 km) with regular stops.
• Arrival at your school in the late afternoon or evening.