We travel to Hull via Stranraer and catch the overnight sailing on the superb P&O Cruiseferry to Rotterdam.

Our journey today takes us deep into the heart of Germany to our overnight hotel in Boppard.

We continue south through Bavaria and into Austria where we check into our hotel for the next five nights in the Tirolean Alpine village of Ellmau.

The spectacular view from the hotel is dominated by the Wilder Kaiser (Wild Emperor) Mountains, and today we travel up into them. A new road enables us to venture higher than in previous years, before turning back to spend the afternoon in the charming town of St. Johann, just a few miles from our hotel.

A free day in Ellmau

Today we travel to Salzburg. We have a guided tour in the morning - by coach to begin with and then on foot, as the coach can go no further into the centre of the city (this second half of the tour involves some distance on foot). The afternoon is free in the city.

We leave the hotel early this morning, around 8.15am to drive into Italy. We stop for a short while as we cross the spectacular Europa Bridge over the famous Brenner Pass before arriving in Vipiteno, as it is now known (formerly Sterzing when the area was Austrian territory). It has been a centre for trade for centuries and even today it offers some super shopping bargains.

On our return journey in the afternoon, back in Austria, we take a little boat trip on Achensee, a one hour drive from the hotel.

We leave Austria this morning and drive over the border into Germany and our overnight stop in the Middle Rhine region.

For those on the Jul/Aug tours, we have an extra day in Boppard today, free for you to explore this beautiful riverside town.

The final leg of our journey takes us to Europoort and the evening sailing back to Hull.

P&O Cruseferry (cabins with facilities - all meals included)

From Hull we travel back to Stranraer to catch the evening HSS, arriving back in Belfast around 10.00pm.