Delve deep into the history and culture of three inspiring, influential cities.
Perhaps no cities have influenced or shaped the world more over the last 2,000 years than London, Paris, and Rome. And while these European capitals all have cachet and clout, they couldn’t be more different from one another—in the best of ways. On this guided tour, get to know each of the cities in depth, from their storied pasts and enduring culinary traditions to their pop-culture trends. Along the way, soak in the grandeur of icons like Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, and the Colosseum. For a taste of yet another cosmopolitan capital city with a rich history and modern offerings all its own, extend your tour and visit Madrid.
Your tour package includes
- Trafalgar Square
- Westminster Abbey
- Buckingham Palace
- Eurostar train ride from London to Paris
- Eiffel Tower photo stop
- Place de la Concorde in Paris
- Roman Colosseum
- Roman Forum
Itinerary
Board your overnight flight to London today.
Included meal: Welcome dinner
Welcome to England! Settle in at your hotel, then join your Tour Director and fellow travelers for a welcome dinner served with beer or wine.
Included meal: Breakfast
Join a local guide for a panoramic tour of London’s regal landmarks, soaking in centuries of history and culture along the way.
- Pass stately Trafalgar Square—a popular public plaza surrounded by museums, galleries, and historic buildings—and St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Baroque-style Anglican church whose history dates back to the seventh century.
- See Westminster Abbey, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in the 13th century not only as a great monastery and place of worship, but also as a site for royal coronations, weddings, and burials.
- View icons like Big Ben and the London Eye, and marvel at the Tower of London, which has served as a royal palace and a prison and now houses the Crown Jewels.
- Stop by Buckingham Palace—the official residence of the ruling monarch—where you might catch the Changing of the Guard.
Enjoy a free afternoon in London or add an excursion.
Included meal: Breakfast
Spend a free day in London or add excursions.
Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Make your way to St. Pancras International, a bustling railway station and shopping, dining, and cultural hub in central London. There, board a high-speed Eurostar train, which will whisk you under the English Channel en route to Paris’ Gare du Nord station.
This evening, join your group at a local restaurant for an included dinner, served with beer or wine.
Please note: Travelers should be prepared for an early morning train departures. Porterage is not included for the train transfers. Travelers must be comfortable lifting and carrying all luggage over steps, onto platforms, and into luggage storage.
Included meal: Breakfast
Meet up with a local guide, who will introduce you to the architecture, character, and history of the City of Light’s many neighborhoods (or arrondissements) and its most recognizable landmarks.
- Drive down the sycamore-lined Avenue des Champs-Élysées—a symbol of Paris that’s lined with majestic monuments, glitzy restaurants, and glamorous storefronts—and view the Arc de Triomphe.
- Pass Pont Neuf—the oldest stone bridge in Paris—and Notre-Dame Cathedral, built on an island in the Seine River.
- Make a photo stop at the Eiffel Tower, then view the Palais Garnier opera house and the Place de la Concorde, the city’s grandest square.
- Pass by the Louvre—with its iconic, I.M. Pei-designed glass pyramid—and marvel at the Hôtel National des Invalides, a 17th-century, gold-domed structure that’s staggering in its size and scale.
Enjoy a free afternoon in Paris or add an excursion.
Please note: On some departures, the Versailles Palace & Gardens excursion may be offered on day 7.
Included meal: Breakfast
Enjoy a free day to discover Paris at your leisure or add an excursion.
Please note: On some departures, the Versailles Palace & Gardens excursion may be offered on day 7.
Included meal: Breakfast
Transfer to the airport in Paris for a flight to Rome, Italy’s historic capital. Then, spend the rest of the day exploring the Eternal City at your own pace.
Included meal: Breakfast
Spend a free day in Rome or add excursions.
Please note: On some departures, the Iconic Sights: Vatican City excursion may take place on day 10, and the Rome sightseeing tour and Ancient Rome: St. Paul's Basilica & the Catacombs excursion may take place on day 9.
Included meals: Breakfast, Farewell dinner
Follow in the footsteps of the ancient Romans—and soak up more than 2,000 years of imperial history—on a guided, immersive tour of the city.
- Meet your local guide at the fourth-century Arch of Constantine—built to celebrate Constantine’s victory over his rival, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius—one of three surviving ancient Roman triumphal arches in the city the Arch of Titus.
- Make your way inside the iconic Colosseum, a nearly 2,000-year-old amphitheater that’s both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven New Wonders of the World.
- Stop at the ruins of the Roman Forum—a plaza that played host to parades, elections, and trials—and the first-century, honorific Arch of Titus.
- Continue exploring the city aboard your coach, passing by Palatine Hill, the Circus Maximus chariot-racing stadium, and the Baths of Caracalla, which are estimated to have been built in the third century and served as an important leisure and social hub in ancient Rome.
Enjoy free time in Rome or add an excursion.
Please note: On some departures, the Rome sightseeing tour and Ancient Rome: St. Paul's Basilica & the Catacombs excursion may take place on day 9, and the Iconic Sights: Vatican City excursion may take place on day 10.
This evening, join your group for a farewell dinner served with beer or wine. You’ll enjoy a traditional, multi-course Italian meal, as well as live musical entertainment.
Included meal: Breakfast (excluding early morning departures)
Transfer to Rome’s airport for your flight home, or extend your stay and visit Madrid, Spain.
FAQ
- In order to enter the United Kingdom, France, and Italy (plus Spain on the tour extension), U.S. and Canadian citizens need a valid passport with an expiration date extending at least six months beyond the date of reentry.
- We recommend having at least one blank passport page for entry stamps.
- Beginning in 2025, U.S. and Canadian passport holders must register for an ETIAS travel authorization in order to enter many European countries.
- Passport holders from over 60 visa-exempt countries (including the U.S. and Canada) will need to apply for an ETIAS travel authorization in order to visit 30 European countries. That means that even if you’ve previously traveled to any of these European countries without a visa, starting in 2025, you’ll need to get ETIAS authorization to visit them again. If you’re traveling to multiple countries with this requirement, you only need to complete the form once. All Go Ahead travelers are responsible for obtaining their own ETIAS travel authorization before departure. For more details, please visit our Help Center.
- Additionally, beginning January 8, 2025, U.S. and Canadian passport holders must purchase an individual visa from the United Kingdom’s government’s Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) website or the UK ETA mobile app (Apple or Android) in order to enter the United Kingdom.
- If you are not a U.S. or Canadian citizen, you must contact each country’s consulate for your specific entry requirements.
- You can see the most up-to-date entry requirements for the destination(s) you’ll visit on tour by going to goaheadtours.com/entry-requirements and searching the code LPR.
- Round-trip flights booked through Go Ahead Tours arrive in London and depart from Rome (or Madrid on the tour extension).
- Transfers to and from the airport at the beginning and end of the tour are included for travelers who purchased their flights through Go Ahead Tours. Travelers who booked their own flights are responsible for securing their own airport transfers.
- When you arrive in London, a driver from a private chauffeur service will be standing at the arrival gate with your name on a message board. If you do not see your driver, please be patient and stay in the arrivals area. They may be assisting another traveler who has also just arrived and will be back shortly.
Physical Activity Level
This is a moderate physical activity-level tour. You can expect casual walks and plenty of time to explore throughout your trip.
Tour Pacing
This is a steady-paced tour. The pace of a tour itinerary considers how often you’ll switch hotels, the amount of planned daily activities, and how you’ll get from place to place. You can expect:
- Most transportation by motor coach
- Occasional transportation by train and commercial flight
- About 1-3 hours of bus time daily
Walking, Terrain & Physical Considerations
- Travelers should be prepared to walk 2 miles per day on city streets and cobblestones as well as up stairs and hills.
- Cobblestone streets can become slick when wet.
- The terrain around the Roman Forum and the Colosseum includes inclines and uneven stairs.
- Travelers should be healthy enough to participate in all included walks without assistance.
- Please note: Adding optional excursions may increase the total amount of walking on your tour.
Climate Considerations
- In London, travelers can expect cool, cloudy, and rainy days throughout the year, with occasional heatwaves in the summer months (June-September).
- In Paris, temperatures range from 40 F in the winter to 80 F in the summer, with occasional heatwaves between June-September.
- For travelers on the Madrid extension, temperatures range from 50 F in winter to 90 F in summer.
- In the summer months (June-September), travelers can expect heatwaves with temperatures consistently above 90 F in Rome and Madrid.
Physical Activity & Tour Pacing Questions
- Go Ahead Tours and the Tour Director who accompanies your group are unable to provide special mobility or luggage-handling assistance to travelers on tour. The responsibility of the Tour Director is to ensure the group enjoys a smooth and informative journey, and they can’t be relied on to provide individualized assistance to any one traveler.
- This tour moves at a reasonable pace to avoid missing scheduled stops. The group can’t miss any activities because of an individual’s needs.
- Due to the pace and physical activity level of this tour, wheelchairs and walkers will be difficult to use and aren’t recommended. Please notify Go Ahead Tours before your departure if you plan to bring any mobility aids with you.
- If you have mobility concerns or tour pace questions, please visit our Help Center or send a message to our Customer Experience Team.
- All other included transportation on this tour is by private motor coach. Private motor coaches use steps for boarding, and often don’t provide ramps or lifts.
- This tour utilizes various modes of transportation, including planes, trains, and motor coaches. To board some of them, you may have to climb raised platforms or steps.
- A train ride from London to Paris and a flight from Paris to Rome are included in the price of your tour. The extension also includes a flight from Rome to Madrid.
- You must be able to manage your own luggage while on tour, as porterage isn’t guaranteed. This includes when arriving at hotels or airports and boarding trains or ferries.
- Luggage storage on trains is extremely limited, and often requires travelers to lift their suitcases onto racks—sometimes located above their seats.
- You should be prepared to manage your bags during ferry transfers. This includes carrying them up and down boarding ramps, lifting them onto racks, and navigating spaces crowded with other people and motor vehicles.
- Elevators in hotels aren’t guaranteed.
- Some hotels on this tour are situated on narrow streets, so our buses can’t drop you off right out front. In these instances, you’ll have to walk your luggage to the property, no more than a few blocks.
- Please note that our travelers are limited to one checked bag and one personal item per person due to storage limitations on motor coaches and other transfers, which include a train and flight.
- Some airlines may impose additional charges if you choose to exceed baggage size and weight restrictions. Be advised that you are responsible for any baggage fees incurred on all flights.
- Contact your airline(s) for baggage size and weight restrictions for your flights. Please note that your included on-tour flights may have more restrictive baggage limits.
- Make sure you label your baggage and keep valuables, medication, and documents in your carry-on bag.
