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Welcome to your 5 day London group tour. 

 

On the first day of your trip, you will go on a tour with your English speaking tour guide along the southern bank of the Thames.

 

First, you will visit the London Eye to get a bird's eye view of London. After a walk along the Thames, you will pass the Coin Street Market, which is full of craft shops, before entering the Tate Modern and the New Millennium Pedestrian Bridge. A few metres further on is Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, rebuilt a few metres from its original location. Here you will have a guided tour of the museum and theatre. 

 

The Globe Theatre is an exact reconstruction of the open-air theatre opened in 1559, where Shakespeare worked and for which he wrote many of his great plays. The theatre season runs from May to September with productions from the works of Shakespeare, his contemporaries and modern authors. 

 

Afterwards, you will head east to the Anchor Riverside where you will enjoy a 3-course meal in one of the restaurants overlooking the Thames. If you wish, we can also arrange tickets for the Globe Theatre. 

 

Finally, the coach will take you to your hotel.

 

On your second day, you will see a changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. You will then have the opportunity to visit the Palace (tickets must be ordered one year in advance). Since 1837, the Palace has served as the official accommodation in London for British rulers. 

 

It originated from a village house that had belonged to the Dukes of Buckingham since the beginning of the 18th century. Today it is the official residence of the Queen. The staterooms of the Palace are open to visitors during the annual summer opening in August and September. They are adorned with some of the most magnificent treasures of the royal collection - paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Poussin, Canaletto and Claude, sculptures by Canova and Chantrey, a selection of exquisite porcelain by Sèvres and some of the finest English and French furniture in the world. 

 

If the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are not accessible, you will visit the Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews. The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace is permanently reserved for temporary exhibitions of items from the Royal Collection, a wide range of works of art and jewellery held by the Queen in trust for the people. 

 

As one of the best functioning stables, the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace offers visitors the unique opportunity to view the permanent exhibition of state vehicles. This includes the magnificent golden state bus used for coronations, as well as several carriages used for royal and state affairs, state visits, weddings and the opening of the state parliament. The state car is usually also available. For most of the year, visitors to the royal stables can also see the 30 or so draught horses that play a major role in the Queen's official and festive duties. 

 

After the visit, you will have some time to stroll through St. James's Park to Piccadilly. You will pass the Burlington Arcade, the first shopping arcade of this type, which was built in 1819. 

 

Then you come to Jermyn Street, which runs parallel to Piccadilly in St. James and has a worldwide reputation for its men's tailors, textile and men's footwear. 

 

Then take the Piccadilly Line to Fortnum Masons, where you will enjoy a leisurely afternoon tea. 

 

You will then have a few hours to go shopping before meeting your German tour guide for a spooky London City ghost walk just before dusk. 

 

In the oldest part of London, we spend the night on a ghost hunt! Here, every alleyway and courtyard has an eerie secret. Prison cells, ghostly monks, pickpockets, restless souls and a devilish queen await us on this tour. Visit a place of execution and stop for a drink in a pub with an eerie secret. Afterwards, you will be brought back to the hotel by the coach.

 

On the third day of your journey, you will have a day trip to Leeds Castle: a castle for all seasons and one of the most romantic and historic castles in the country. This castle was a Norman fortress, a royal residence for six of England's medieval queens, the Palace of Henry VIII and a retreat for the powerful and influential. 

 

On your fourth day, you will visit Windsor Castle and Runnymede. After you have left London, the first stop will be at Runnymede. This extensive pasture along the Thames, where King John sealed the Magna Cart in 1215, is owned by the National Trust. The vaulted temple at the foot of Coopers Hill, south of the A308, is the Magna Carta Monument, built by the American Bar Association. Halfway up the hill is the John F. Kennedy Memorial on ground awarded to the USA. The Air Force memorial at the top of the hill commemorates the 20,000 air defencemen who died "gravely" in World War II. It offers an admirable view over Windsor Castle and the neighbouring districts. 

 

The journey continues to Windsor Castle. The largest and oldest occupied castle in the world is the official residence of the Royal Highness. The huge estate embodies 900 years of British history. It covers an area of 13 acres and, like the Royal Palace, contains a magnificent chapel, homes and workplaces for a large number of people. The magnificent staterooms are furnished with some of the most magnificent works of art in the royal collection. This includes works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Canaletto, Gainsborough and the famous triple portrait of Charles I by Sir Anthony Van Dyck. For dinner, we take you to Great Fosters, once reputedly a hunting lodge in the heart of Windsor Forest, which for almost four centuries was the stately Elizabethan home of many distinguished families. 

 

Today, Great Fosters is no average hotel. It is English through and through - a place with great charm and tradition. 

 

After lunch, we take you to the Savill Garden. This is on the eastern boundary of Great Windsor Park, off the A328, and is signposted from Ascot, Egham and Windsor. The garden was started in 1932 and is now regarded as one of the most beautiful of its kind in the world in the northern temperate climate zone. It extends over 35 acres of woodland and contains a fine selection of rhododendrons, camellias, magnolias, hydrangeas and a wide variety of trees and shrubs, which show a variety of colours throughout the year. Don't miss the daffodils in spring and the lilies in summer. After returning to your hotel, dinner will be served there.

 

On your last day, you will be driving home from London.