Join Tauck's maestros to walk in the footsteps of Mozart, Beethoven, Bartok and others on a melody-filled adventure including a 7-night Danube cruise aboard Tauck's ms Savor or ms Joy - visiting homes they lived in, concert halls where they performed and much more.

Walk in the footsteps of musical giants... like Mozart, Beethoven, Bartok, Schubert, Liszt, Strauss, Haydn and others... as you discover their haunts in great cities throughout Austria, Hungary, Germany, Slovakia and Czech Republic... Join Tauck's maestro's and listen to the immersive music of both active music scholars and experienced performers alike on this most musical of Danube River cruises.

Explore Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Bratislava, Budapest and more, visiting homes these musical greats lived and composed in, and concert halls and palaces where they performed... enveloped by their glorious music throughout a magical journey filled with Tauck Exclusives! Along with your Tauck Cruise Director and Tauck Directors, your cruise is accompanied throughout by Tauck's maestros. Active music scholars and performers, our maestros include current doctoral recipients in music history who are passionate and knowledgeable about European music and the destinations you'll visit. They'll guide your explorations ashore and enrich your onboard experience with interactive music workshops, seminars and much more!

Walk in the footsteps of musical giants... like Mozart, Beethoven, Bartok, Schubert, Liszt, Strauss, Haydn and others... as you discover their haunts in great cities throughout Austria, Hungary, Germany, Slovakia and Czech Republic... Join Tauck's maestro's and listen to the immersive music of both active music scholars and experienced performers alike on this most musical of Danube River cruises.

Explore Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Bratislava, Budapest and more, visiting homes these musical greats lived and composed in, and concert halls and palaces where they performed... enveloped by their glorious music throughout a magical journey filled with Tauck Exclusives! Along with your Tauck Cruise Director and Tauck Directors, your cruise is accompanied throughout by Tauck's maestros. Active music scholars and performers, our maestros include current doctoral recipients in music history who are passionate and knowledgeable about European music and the destinations you'll visit. They'll guide your explorations ashore and enrich your onboard experience with interactive music workshops, seminars and much more!

Traveling Well Includes:

TAUCK EXCLUSIVE - Interactive onboard workshops, seminars and performances by Tauck's maestros

TAUCK EXCLUSIVE - A visit to the Opera House in Bratislava with special guests

TAUCK EXCLUSIVE - Grand Private Imperial Evening at a Vienna palace with gala dinner and performance

TAUCK EXCLUSIVE - Sitting in on an orchestra rehearsal in Vienna

All private Tauck shore excursions - $3,067 Value

All gratuities to ship staff, drivers, local guides, Tauck Directors, Tauck Cruise Director

Day 1 - Arrive Budapest

Tour begins: 5:00 PM, Budapest. A transfer is included from Budapest's Ferenc Liszt Airport or Keleti Train Station to your riverboat. Join us for a welcome toast and dinner onboard this evening.

Lodging: ms Savor

Meals: D

Day 2 - Discovering Franz Liszt's Budapest

Statues of Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi and Liszt greet you at the 1884 State Opera House in Pest, with its gilded vaulted ceiling, murals, royal boxes and three-ton chandelier; expect some surprises on a guided tour of this neo-Renaissance masterpiece, including the private box of Habsburg Empress Elisabeth (Sisi). Discover some of Budapest's key sites today, such as Heroes' Square - bounded by some of the finest architectural works in Hungary - and Central Market Hall. You'll also learn more about Franz Liszt, beloved Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso, and, if you wish, can visit the Franz Liszt Academy. After a free afternoon in Budapest, join us for a performance at one of the city's premier concert venues.

Lodging: ms Savor

Meals: B, L, D

Day 3 - Bartok & more in Budapest & begin cruise

After a free morning, head to Buda for a walking tour and, if you wish, time to check out the Museum of Music History, whose exhibits portray centuries of Hungarian musical life in a former palace on Castle Hill. The legacy of Bela Bartok lives on in his 1924 home, now a memorial dedicated to the composer and musicologist - listen to his melodies in a piano recital during your visit; explore Gellert Hill. Return to the riverboat for dinner at leisure.

Lodging: ms Savor

Meals: B, L, D

Day 4 - Bratislava, City of Prodigies

After a morning's cruise with lectures, workshops and a guest choir rehearsal, arrive in Bratislava, Slovakia - the Baroque stomping grounds of great musical prodigies, as you'll discover firsthand today. A walking tour includes the city's Old Town, now a pedestrian-only, vehicle-free zone. Stroll down a lane where 6-year-old Mozart performed and 9-year-old Liszt played across the street 58 years later - around the corner, 30 years after that, one of Liszt's young students inspired him to write a sonata for the boy! You'll also see where a young Bela Bartok attended grammar school in the 1890s. Following time to relax aboard the riverboat or explore more of this ancient city on your own, join us back onboard for dinner and some local entertainment.

Lodging: ms Savor

Meals: B, L, D

Day 5 - Exploring Vienna's musical treasures

If you had to choose only one European city to musically explore, Vienna - home to Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Strauss - would be it! This morning, you may choose a visit to Schönbrunn Palace of the Habsburgs, followed by some free time to explore this grand Habsburg summer residence and its magnificent gardens on your own. Or join our maestros for a musical walk to the Haus der Musik, an interactive musical museum, and Mozarthaus Vienna - where Mozart lived with his family between 1784 and 1787, and composed The Marriage of Figaro - in Vienna's Old Town. This afternoon, you'll have time to explore more of Austria's remarkable capital on your own and have an early dinner before enjoying tonight's featured performance of Viennese opera at a premier venue in Vienna (subject to availability; if an opera performance is not available, a comparable classical music performance will be provided).

Lodging: ms Savor

Meals: B, L, D

Day 6 - Behind-the-scenes palace rehearsal & a grand evening in Vienna

Vienna springs to musical life on a day featuring a pair of Tauck Exclusives. For the first one, sit in on a rehearsal this morning at beautiful Auersperg Palace as an orchestra prepares for a performance. Then spend the afternoon as you please in amazing Vienna. Tonight, nothing quite compares to the royal treatment you'll receive at today's second Tauck Exclusive: our private grand evening at Palais Ferstel, a private palace in the heart of Vienna - an incomparable setting for welcome cocktails and aperitifs, an amazing dinner, an orchestra, ballet, Strauss... it's Tauck's musical Vienna at its best!

Lodging: ms Savor

Meals: B, L, D

Day 7 - Melk Abbey & some musical cruising

Melk Abbey, a beautiful Benedictine monastery complex overlooking the Danube, has been a significant center of learning and culture since its founding over 900 years ago. Get a sense of the importance of music to the abbey's cultural life through the ages as you tour its lovely Baroque buildings dating to the early 18th century, which often host concerts and musicals today. Back on the riverboat, enjoy lectures by our maestros and dinner en route to Grein, where you'll disembark this evening for a walk through this picturesque riverside town. After you're back onboard, your riverboat continues cruising the Danube to the city of Linz overnight.

Lodging: ms Savor

Meals: B, L, D

Day 8 - Mozart's Baroque hometown, musical Salzburg

Picture a small boy of 5 wowing a royal audience with his piano virtuosity, then crawling up on the lap of the Empress of half of Europe, and giving her a kiss! Little Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756, did just that. Walk in Mozart's footsteps this morning on an excursion from Linz to his Baroque hometown, visiting a museum in the house where he was born, among other locations. You'll have some free time for lunch and to explore as you please in town. Return to the ship for dinner, a guest choir rehearsal and an onboard classical chamber music concert by Donau 3klang as your riverboat charts a course for pretty riverside town of Passau.

Lodging: ms Savor

Meals: B, D

Day 9 - A grand pipe organ & more in Passau

Your riverboat docks this morning in Passau, Germany - the city of three rivers at the junction of the Inn, Ilz and Danube. Discover this Baroque Bavarian town known for its many churches and exquisite stained glass on a walking tour. At St. Stephan's Cathedral, you'll find Europe's largest pipe organ - actually the largest cathedral organ in the world - and, if you wish, listen to a public recital of this amazing instrument. Back aboard the riverboat in Passau, enjoy a traditional German lunch and take part in seminars, workshops, a guest choir rehearsal, musical trivia fun, and tonight's captain's farewell reception followed by a gala farewell dinner; the ship departs Passau this evening for its final port of call, Vilshofen.

Lodging: ms Savor

Meals: B, L, D

Day 10 - Disembark in Vilshofen & on to Prague

This delightfully musical of Danube tours winds down as you disembark in the town of Vilshofen, bid your riverboat and its crew goodbye, and travel to historic (and extremely musical) Prague for a two-night stay. Arrive in time for a traditional Czech lunch at the delightful Art-Nouveau Municipal House, then embark on a walking tour of Prague's storied Old Town. The rest of the afternoon and evening are yours to explore Prague as you wish, and enjoy dinner as you please this evening.

Lodging: Hilton Prague Old Town

Meals: B, L

Day 11 - Musical giants and more in and around Prague

Many musical giants have left their mark on Prague - capital of today's Czech Republic, and a city with a rich musical legacy of its own - and its environs as you'll discover during both guided sightseeing and time spent exploring on your own. Your day begins with an excursion to Vyšehrad, a historic fort and Czech national cultural site dating back to the 10th century, perched on a hill overlooking the Vltava River. Set within the castle is the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul and the Vyšehrad Cemetery, final resting place of many notable Czechs - including beloved Czech composers Antonin Dvorak and Bedrich Smetana. The afternoon is yours to explore more of Prague on your own. Later, you'll gather to visit the Dvorak House (the composer's former home) and the Church of St. Ondrej, then travel to Nelahozeves Castle for a grand farewell dinner and our guest choir performance... what a way to end your musical odyssey!

Lodging: Hilton Prague Old Town

Meals: B, D

Day 12 - Journey home

Tours ends: Prague, Czech Republic. Fly home anytime. A transfer is included from the InterContinental Prague to Vaclav Havel Airport Prague or Praha Hlavni Nadrazi (Main Train Station); allow a minimum of 3 hours for flight check-in at the airport.

Lodging:

Meals: B