The farther we travel to embark on our cruise, the more sense it makes to arrive early at the starting city.  If nothing else, doing so puts an often hectic travel day behind us. We wake refreshed and ready for that first day on board which can also be a long one.  Lingering a while after the sailing might make sense too, enabling more convenient flights back home too.  Sold on the logical reasons to start travel early and extend it later, we move along to the better reason: having a longer vacation.  But what to do before or after sailing? A new Amsterdam tour gives us some ideas.

Austin Adventures’ Holland & Germany | Amsterdam to Aachen is a seven-day meander by pedal and foot exploring a landscape and history captured on canvas. Singularly unique in its route and itinerary, it offers the thrill of enjoying breakfast in Holland, followed by lunch in Belgium, and a memorable dinner in Germany.

History is intertwined in each day’s activities. The prosperity that tulips brought to this Dutch-speaking people helped them reclaim from the North Sea a low-lying region known as Holland. Here lies Amsterdam, capital of The Netherlands, the gateway for Austin Adventures’ seven-day journey that also dips into Belgium and Germany.

The per person double rate for adults is $2,998 ($480 single supplement) and on family departures, children age 7 to 15 are $2,698 on a room share basis. Confirmed 2018 departures are May 13, June 10 (family), July 1 (family), July 22 (family), Aug. 26 and Sept. 2. The rate includes accommodation, all meals, fully trained professional guides and knowledgeable local partners, well-maintained bikes and other equipment, vehicle support and land transportation, Austin Adventures-themed T-shirt and travel items, pre-departure and packing information.

Almost immediately and throughout this trip guests are imbued with the power once held by Dutch traders and international bankers. Accommodations include just outside of Amsterdam the stately Hotel de Bilderberg in the forested hills of The Veluwe. Here a gathering of European and North American power brokers first met in 1954, hence the Bilderberg Group.

Guests also revel in palatial accommodations at the late 18th century Hotel Kasteel Bloemendal (Schloss Blumenthal) located in forested hills near the juncture of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Blumenthal made his money in textiles, providing linens to, among others, the Russian tsar.

On an Austin Adventures’ itinerary, fresh air activities play a dual role by getting guests moving and recreating through history and landscapes they have only seen in the old master paintings. They will…

• cycle from 10-30 miles a day on quiet bike paths, trails and country roads, past gardens, vineyards and through medieval towns. This is a cycling-centric culture with over 19,000 miles of bike paths over predominantly flat or rolling hill terrain.
• harness the perpetual wind in the sail of a blokart (a type of compact, wind-powered land yacht). Guests have lessons on a sandy beach.
• hike through famous WW II sites in the historic border region of Belgium and The Netherland where visitors are never distant from the reverberations of World War II, including at the American War Memorial in Maastricht where the Dutch honor fallen soldiers that helped liberate the Netherlands from Axis occupation. Arnhem is where in 1977 a World War II movie was filmed, A Bridge Too Far, reliving the Allied attempt to break through German lines here.
• stroll through art at the Arnhem Open Air Museum, down the cobblestone streets of Maastricht (one of the Netherlands’ most picturesque cities) and indulge artistic sensibilities before works by Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and more at the Kröller Müller Museum.
• taste wine in mountaintop vineyards in the border region.
• imagine Charlemagne in Germany’s most western city, Aachen, in the Middle Ages when, thanks to the trade in woolen cloth (favored by the wealthy), the city enjoyed a prosperity that led to the Aachen Cathedral in AD 796. Today this city has a thriving black metal scene.

For trip details see https://www.austinadventures.com/packages/hollandgermany-amsterdam-aachen/.

To help plan, Austin Adventures’ 2018 catalog is available upon request. Please order ONLINE or call 1.800.575.1540 or email info@austinadventures.com. For a full roster of 2018 trips that is frequently updated beyond the print catalog please visit http://www.austinadventures.com.

About Austin Adventures
Based in Billings, Montana, Austin Adventures has spent more than 40 years building an international reputation as a top provider of luxury, small group, multi-sport tours for adults and families to the world’s most captivating destinations. Acknowledged twice by Travel + Leisure Magazine with the prestigious World’s Best Awards along with other national media accolades and distinctions. Austin Adventures has perfected the art of creating itineraries featuring exceptional regional dining, distinctive accommodations, incredible guides and exhilarating activities, all while keeping all-inclusive rates and services the norm. In addition to scheduled group departures on all seven continents, Austin Adventures has developed a reputation as the leader in customized trip planning and execution. All backed by the industry’s best money-back satisfaction guarantee.