This tour combines something for everyone, covering 5 European Countries, WW II and WW I Battlefields and the cities of Reims, Luxembourg , Aachen, Nuremberg & Munich where we take in the history and architecture as well as the tourist sights of these vibrant cities. Come join us for this unforgettable experience of a lifetime.

Day # 1 - Sunday June 29th 

Group arrival in Paris Charles De Gaulle’s International Airport clear customs & Immigration.
In arrivals hall, a Custom Euro Tour’s Group Escort will meet group. Transfer by Motor coach to your hotel in Normandy for the next 3 nights.

Group has free time to relax and adjust to the time difference + 6hours EST

Dinner in the hotel. (D)

Hotel in Bayeux / Caen area TBA

Day # 2 - Monday June 30th

Breakfast in the hotel.

After breakfast, a tour of the Normandy landing beaches, starting with Ouistreham, where the British & French Commandos and Canadian 1st Airborne units secured the eastern flank of the landing beaches early in the morning of June 6, 1944. Here we will visit “Pegasus Bridge” and the museum, which is dedicated to this daring feat of bravery. Continuing west we drive the coastal route making various stops along the way through the British and Canadian landing zones on June 6, 1944 Sword, Juno & Gold Beaches. A longer stop in Arromanches is planned for a visit to the D-Day Museum and viewing the Mulberry Harbor, which was specially built in England and towed across the channel to be put in place for the landing of supplies after the main landings.

A late afternoon return to our hotel is planned (B, D)

Day # 3 - Tuesday July 1st

Breakfast in the hotel.

After breakfast we continue our tour of the “Operation Overlord” area, taking us into the American theatre of operations. Driving west our first stop of the day will be in St. Mere Eglise. It was here that the west flank of the landing beaches had to be secured early in the morning of June 6, 1944. Here we will visit the Airborne Museum dedicated to the 101st Division “Screaming Eagles” and the 82nd Division “All American” We will also visit the church to view the beautiful stained glass windows also dedicated to these 2 divisions. A parachute still dangles precariously from the steeple with an effigy of an 82nd airborne trooper, John Steele, who was entangled there after the drop.

On leaving St. Mere Eglise our tour will continue into S. Marie du Mont and drop down onto Utah Beach. Here we will have time to view the memorial before continuing over to Omaha Beach & Pointe du Hoc. On arrival at Omaha Beach we have time to reflect on the bloody slaughter of many young Americans that took place here. On visiting Omaha beach we will climb the bluffs to over look the beachhead area and visit St .Laurent-sur-Mer American Military Cemetery.

We continue on to visit Point Du Hoc and the Ranger Monument. Point Du Hoc has been left much as it was in June of 1944, a standing monument to the sacrifices and heroism of the 2nd Rangers.

Returning to our hotel by late afternoon, the remainder of the day is free at leisure.

Dinner in the hotel or at a nearby local restaurant (B, D)

Day # 4 - Wednesday July 2nd
Breakfast in the hotel.

This morning we depart from the Bayuex/Caen area we drive southeast to Reims

En-route to Reims, we will have a short visit to the historical city of Rouen. Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th century to the 15th century. It is in Rouen that the English burnt Joan of Arc in 1431.

In the early afternoon our tour continues to the Compiegne Forest. In June 1940, just after his armies had smashed France, Hitler traveled to Compiègne. Here, in a forest clearing, on November 11, 1918, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the French commander, had humbled the Kaiser's generals and accepted a humiliating German surrender, the armistice ending World War I. Foch held the fateful meeting in his railroad car, number 2419D.

Late afternoon we arrive in Reims and check into our hotel for 1 night

The remainder of the day is free at leisure.

Dinner in the hotel or at a nearby local restaurant (B, D)

Hotel in Reims TBA

Day # 5 - Thursday July 3rd

Breakfast in the hotel.

Our first visit this morning will be in Reims, where we will visit the building and room where German surrender was signed on May 7, 1945.

After lunch we continue west through the Champagne region to Verdun. A visit to some of the WW I battlefield sites is planned along with a visit to the Ossuary. Again it is here that we take time to reflect on the horror, destruction and the terrible loss of life that took place in the great war of 1914 -1918.

Our day will end in the Metz area where we check into our hotel for the next 2 nights.

Remainder of the evening free at leisure. (B, D)

Hotel in Metz area TBA

Day # 6 - Friday July 4th

Breakfast in the hotel

A full day discovering the Maginot Line is planned. Visiting: Bois Karre – Galgenberg – Immerhof Hackenberg – Michelsberg – Rohrbach – Simserhof etc. Other sites can be visited if time allows. Return to our hotel in Thionville.

Remainder of the evening is free at leisure. (B, D)

Day # 7 - Saturday July 5th

Breakfast in the hotel.

We travel north this morning into Luxembourg and visit the American Military Cemetery. (Patton’s Grave). After our visit to the Cemetery we continue north into Belgium and the Ardennes region to re-visit the area known in WWII history as the Ardennes offensive (Battle of the Bulge) or “The Von Rundstedt offensive”. The remainder of the day will be spent touring the Bulge area and visiting some of the many museums dedicated to this important battle.

Other visits will be made to the areas of Trois Points, Stavelot and Malmedy where the infamous massacre of GI’s took place on the orders of S.S. Standartenfuhrer Joachim Peiper.

On December 17, 1944, near the hamlet of Baugnez on the height half-way between the town of Malmedy and Ligneuville in Belgium, the leading element of Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper, named after its leader SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper encountered Jeeps and trucks of the American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion (FAOB). The German tanks fired on the U.S. vehicles, which were quickly abandoned by their occupants. With no anti-tank weapons, the Americans surrendered. About 150 of the prisoners of war were disarmed and sent to stand in a field near the crossroads. Some 72-84 of the prisoners were machine gunned and killed, their bodies left on the field where they fell. An American patrol discovered the massacre that night.

Our base for touring this area will be in the Bastogne area where we check into our hotel for 1 night
Dinner in the hotel or at a nearby local restaurant     (B, D)

Hotel in Bastogne area TBA

Day # 8 - Sunday July 6th

Breakfast in the hotel.

The morning will be dedicated to cover some of the Bulge area that was not covered on the previous day and also a visit to the “NUTS” Museum.

Departing the Bastogne area we travel north towards the Belgian city of Liege. Just south of Liege in the village of Neupre, we will take the time to visit the Ardennes Military Cemetery. A great percentage of the 5,328 dead who are interned here are from the so-called “Battle of the Bulge”. Following the advancing lines of the US 1st Army we drive east towards the large German city of Aachen and into the Hurtgen Forest area where we check into our hotel for 1 night.

Rest of the evening free at leisure (B, D)

Hotel in Aachen area TBA

Day # 9 - Monday July 7th

Breakfast in the hotel.

Following the advancing lines of the US 1st Army we drive east towards the large German city of Aachen and into the Hurtgen Forest area. A tour of the Hurtgen Forest area is planned (Green Hell). Very heavily defended by the Germans, so-called green divisions of the US 1st Army took brutal punishment, fighting hard every inch of the way. This is where we see some of what remains of the once formidable German defenses “The Siegfried Line”. Here we can see many of the re-enforced concrete bunkers and the so-called “Dragon’s Teeth” which were built to protect Germany’s border in the West. This defense at one time stretched from Germany’s western borders in the north, all the way south to Switzerland.

Our tour continues East through the Eifel Mountains, following the advance of the US 1st Army through to Remagen. It is here that we make a short stop to visit the museum and the remains of the bridge that once spanned the River Rhine. This bridge was crucial to the Allied advance into the heart of Germany and had to be taken intact. Units of the 9th US Armored Division under LT. Karl. H. Timmermann reached this bridge and captured it intact on March 7th 1945. On March 17th 1945 the bridge collapsed killing 28 American soldiers.

On leaving Remagen we follow the course of the River Rhine south to Koblenz, Wiesbaden and into Frankfurt where we check into our hotel for 1 night.

Rest of the evening free at leisure. (B, D)

Hotel in Frankfurt area TBA

Day # 10 - Tuesday July 8th

Breakfast in the hotel.

After breakfast, depart for Nuremberg and a visit to the Zeppelin Field on the immense Nazi Party Rally Grounds. After touring the Luitpold Parade Ground and the superb Documentation Center, we will visit the Palace of Justice, site of the 1946 War Crimes Trials. Then on to our Munich hotel where we check into our hotel late afternoon for 3 nights.

Rest of the evening free at leisure. (B, D)

Hotel in Munich area TBA

Day # 11 - Wednesday July 9th

Breakfast in the hotel.

A full day excursion to Berchtesgaden is planned. Driving up to the Obersalzberg area we transfer to the public shuttle buses which run up to the Kehlstein Haus (Eagle’s Nest).

The Eagle’s nest was used used by Adolf Hitler to entertain friends, high ranking Politicians and members of the Nazi party. The house itself was taken and destroyed by the American 101st Airborne division the Screaming Eagles. From here we have spectacular views overlooking the city of Salzburg in Austria and the Salzkammergut.

Later this afternoon we have free time in Berchtesgaden before we return to Munich.

Rest of the evening free at leisure. (B, D)

Day # 12 - Thursday July 10th

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning city tour with a local step on guide. Finishing at the Marienplatz 11:00am for the world famous
Glockenspiel.

Munich is the capital of the German Federal State of Bavaria. It is also Germany's third largest city and one of Europe’s most prosperous. The city has a population of about 1.3 million and the Munich metropolitan area is home to around 2.7 million people. The city is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps.
The city's motto was The World City with a heart for a long time and has been recently replaced by Munich likes you. The figure on Munich's coat-of-arms is a monk referred to as the Münchner Kindl, the child of Munich. Black and gold - the colors of the Holy Roman Empire - have been the city's official colors since the time of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Free time for an independent lunch before our afternoon excursion to Dachau on the outskirts of Munich. Dachau, once a pretty little painter and artist village on the outskirts of Munich, was transformed into Hitler’s first concentration camp. Here we have time to reflect and remember those unfortunate souls who perished at the hands of the Nazi regime.

This evening, a Bavarian style dinner is planned in the famous Munich landmark “Hofbrauhaus”. This will be a Bavarian Buffet dinner with a musical Bavarian folk show. Sit back relax and enjoy an evening of great entertainment. Bavarian Folk music, dancing, singing, thigh slapping, yodeling and Alpine horn playing.

Dinner in the Hofbrauhaus (B, D)

Day # 13 - Friday July 11th

Breakfast in the hotel (B)

Group transfer to Munich’s Franz Josef Strauss international airport.
Check in for the flight back to USA.

End of Custom Euro Tours Services

What is included

• Meet and greet at Paris Charles de Gaulle’s International airport

• All land transportation by modern touring motor coach

• All road tolls and applicable taxes

• Services of a professional Tour Manager throughout

• 12 Nights in good quality 3 star 1st class tourist category hotels

• 12 continental breakfasts

• 11 Dinners (3 courses) as per the itinerary (No beverages included)

• 1 Farewell Dinner (Beverage included)

• All excursions as specified in the Itinerary

• All entrance fees as specified in the itinerary

• Luggage handling at hotels (1 Piece per person)

• Transfer to Munich’s International Airport

• Tour Escort’s board and lodging throughout

• 3 evening lectures with 3 guest speakers

What is not included

•  All items of a personal nature i.e. Telephone calls, laundry, pay TV. Hotel mini-bars in room.

• All meals not specified in the itinerary.

• All entrances to museums, art galleries, etc. not specified in the itinerary

• All private excursions not specified in the itinerary

• Any public transport, Taxi, local bus, rail or flights not specified in the itinerary

• Travel Insurance (can be purchased at: www.customeurotours.com

• Gratuities for Local Guides, Maitre’d, Tour Coach Driver, Tour Escort.

• Flights from home area to European gateway