On Mediterranean Shores
10 DAYS
Barcelona 2 • Avignon area 1 • Nice 1 • Florence 2 • Rome 2
Basic Inclusions
Accommodations
Accommodations in centrally-located three-star or four-star hotels. Rooming on a triple basis. Double rooms: $50 per night, per person.
Meals
All breakfasts. All dinners. Dinner with music on Day 8.
Transportation
Round-trip transportation on scheduled airline. Deluxe touring motorcoach. All public transportation tickets included where applicable.
Guide
Services of a specially-trained passports Tour Director throughout. All tips are included in the Program Cost. Whisper headsets included.
Travel Protection
Passports provides and pays for a Post Departure Travel Protection Plan that includes coverage for Trip Interruption, Trip Delay, Medical Expense and Evacuation and more.
Tour Summary
Itinerary Includes
Unlimited public transportation
Days 1-2: Arrival Barcelona
Arrival transfer
Day 3: Barcelona
Barcelona City Sightseeing: Local Guide, Visit to Parc Güell
Optional Excursion to Montserrat: Visit to the Basilica of Montserrat, Round trip on the Montserrat Funicular
Optional Flamenco show
Day 4: Barcelona - Avignon area
Tour director-led walking tour in Carcassonne
Day 5: Avignon area - Nice
Tour director-led walking tour in Avignon: Visit to the Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms, Visit to the Rocher des Doms public garden
Visit to the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct
Day 6: Nice - Florence
Panoramic view of Monaco from the Middle Corniche road, Sightseeing stop at Pisa's Leaning Tower
Day 7: Florence
Guided walking tour in Florence: Local guide, Visit to the Accademia, Visit to the nave of Florence's Duomo (time permitting), Visit to the church of Santa Croce and its Pazzi Chapel, Stop at Leonardo's Leather Workshop (time permitting)
Optional Visit to the Uffizi Gallery
Day 8: Florence - Rome
Sightseeing stop in Siena's Piazza del Campo, Visits to Siena's Duomo and the Piccolomini Library
Dinner with music
Day 9: Rome
Rome City Sightseeing: Local Guide, Visits to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, Visit to the Vatican Museums, Headset receiver for the Vatican sites, Visit to the Sistine Chapel, Visit to St. Peter's Basilica, Stroll on Piazza Navona, Visit to the Pantheon
Day 10: Departure
Departure transfer
UNPARALLELED STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
CITY-CENTER HOTELS
Stay right in the heart of it. Why settle for staying outside of the city? Wake up in the city. Explore. Have dinner in the city. Explore. Return to the hotel at your convenience.
Check out our typical hotels
3-AND-4 STAR HOTELS
We’ve scoured each city for the finest hotels for our groups. Comfortable, conveniently located, clean and safe. That’s what we do.
HOTEL CHOICE
We give you options - but the choice is yours.
AMAZING FOOD
Student tour dinners don’t have to stink! Enjoy authentic, high-quality food, and lots of it. Three-course meals that you will want to post on social media.
Check out what our food is like
INDUSTRY BEST TOUR DIRECTORS
Passports contracts only the finest, A+ Tour Directors in the industry. With decades of experience, our team is second-to-none in terms of experience and professionalism. Read more about our amazing Tour Directors.
24-HOUR SERVICE
Your Tour Director will meet you at the airport and stay with you every step of the way until your return flight. They are your own personal travel expert.
INCLUDED FLIGHTS
We work with the airlines so you don’t have to.
BEST AVAILABLE ROUTINGS
We look for the best possible routings for your group with a minimal number of legs and ideal layovers. We try to get you in early - but not too early - to maximize your time overseas.
MORE INCLUSIONS
UNLIMITED PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION INCLUDED
You don’t want to have to worry about getting metro tickets when you’re pressed for time. We provide pre-loaded travel cards so that you can hit the ground running.
INCLUDED OVERSEAS MEDICAL COVERAGE
Passports provides and pays for a post-departure travel protection plan that helps protect you while on your trip with coverage for trip interruption, trip delay, baggage loss, theft or delay, emergency medical expenses, evacuation and more.
ALL TIPS INCLUDED OPTION
Tour Directors receive tips at the end of the tour. Including the tip in the up-front tour cost saves your group from carrying around extra money overseas or being surprised with an extra expense at the end of the tour. This is just another way that Passports is honest and up-front about all expenses. You can choose to include the tip ahead of time - or not to. Passports gives you the option.
NO ON TOUR UPSELL
Ever been pressured on tour to purchase an excursion? Or been shuttled into one workshop after another? Not with Passports.
VALUE VALUE VALUE
Dollar-for-dollar Passports is the best value you can get. Our tours are packed with included activities for a price that you can't beat with any other company.
HUMAN-FIRST POLICIES
FANATICAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT
We are here to be your partner. We support our group leaders 100%. Through thick and thin, we will work with you to make your travel program an annual success.
BEST REFUND POLICY IN THE INDUSTRY
Passports refunds 75% until 30 days prior to departure as our default policy. Early cancellations have fixed, low cancellation penalties. We would love for you to compare our cancellation policy to our competitors. Passports acts as the best partner we can, for every traveler, on every tour. That’s our promise.
SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT
Our Tour Advisors are amazing people who work with the group leaders during the pre-sale, enrollment, pre-departure, on-tour and post-tour periods. They check in when the group is overseas. They are the point of contact throughout the entire process to assist in all phases of the tour. This is more important than you would think unless you’ve been with another company and changed hands several times in the course of the tour. The point is: trust and accountability are critical in our relationship with a group leader.
NO HIDDEN CHARGES
No adult fee. With Passports, adults pay the same as students. Oftentimes adults will opt for a double room as they can’t room with students, and there is a charge for the double room. But there is no charge simply for being an adult.
No hidden airline fees. No hidden tripwire fees. With Passports, what you see is what you get.
Detailed Itinerary
Days 1-2: Arrival
A dream materializes as your wide-bodied jet thunders off the airstrip, Europe-bound! Watch the sun rise up to meet your airplane, after a short night. Spain glides by beneath your airplane in shades of sienna. Land in Barcelona, the vibrant capital city of Catalonia and one of the world's cities at the forefront of commerce, fashion, technology, cuisine and the arts.
The remainder of the day is free in this Mediterranean town of parks and fountains. There's time for the beach!
Overnight: Barcelona
Day 3: Barcelona City Sightseeing, Optional Excursion to Montserrat, Optional Flamenco Show
A tour will introduce landmarks such as the wide avenues called Las Ramblas, the medieval Gothic Quarter around the cathedral, Modernist landmarks such as the Basilica of the Sagrada Família, and Plaça de Catalunya, the lively heart of Catalonia's capital city.
A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of the region, will accompany your group.
Enjoy a visit to Gaudí's most colorful creations on exhibit in Parc Güell, notably the mosaic-decorated pavilions and the cavernous Room of a Hundred Columns.
Enjoy a visit to Catalonia's holiest place, the Monastery of Montserrat, located amidst the serrated peaks of the Montserrat mountain range. Montserrat has served as a place of pilgrimage since the 12th century. After being destroyed by the French in 1811, the monastery complex was rebuilt and repopulated in 1844 and now includes quaint shops and cafés.
You will enter the Basilica to view La Moreneta (Black Virgin). This revered statue, said to have been carved out of wood by St. Luke around 50 AD, has been on the mountain since it was rediscovered in 880 AD after being hidden from the Moors.
Enjoy a funicular ride for the last leg up the mountain, which affords stupendous views stretching from the Pyrénées Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea.
Tonight, enjoy an evening of traditional entertainment. The poet Federico García Lorca called flamenco "the most gigantic creation of the Spanish people." You will long remember its complex and insistent rhythms, castanets, and clacking heels as the highlight of your trip to Spain.
Overnight: Barcelona
Day 4: Carcassonne, Provence
Today's journey takes you to the other side of the Pyrénées Mountains, which mark the border with France.
Your destination is the spectacular stronghold of Carcassonne, a fortified city which goes back to Roman times but is better known for its extensive medieval ramparts.
Your tour director will take you on a walking tour within the impressive fortifications which enclose the Château Comtal and old houses piled haphazardly along winding streets.
Proceed through the Languedoc province, bedecked with vineyards, on your way to Provence. Van Gogh was lured by the luminosity of this picturesque region. Modern wanderers delight in its charming towns with winding lanes and evocative Roman remains.
Overnight: Avignon area
Day 5: Avignon Walking Tour, Pont du Gard, Nice
Enjoy a walking tour: see landmarks such as the imposing fortress-like Palace of the Popes, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms, the Saint-Bénézet Bridge (Pont d'Avignon!), the central Place de l'Horloge, and the charming rue des Teinturiers.
Enter the Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms, which stands next to the Palace of the Popes. It dates back to the 12th century and houses richly decorated altars, and the magnificent tombs of a few Popes.
Enjoy a stroll through the jardin public established on the rocky outcrop known as Rocher des Doms, which overlooks the Rhône River: this site was the cradle of Avignon
Marvel at the Romans' engineering genius at the Pont du Gard, an aqueduct constructed in 19 BC which delivered 44 million gallons of water each day to the Roman city of Nemausus (Nîmes).
Journey on to the glittering capital of the French Riviera. This is the Côte d'Azur, celebrated for its sunny climate, the turquoise Mediterranean, and the vedettes de cinéma who inhabit the surrounding hills.
Overnight: Nice
Day 6: Monaco's Moyenne Corniche Road, Pisa, Florence
Enjoy a ride along the N7 road, a coastal road known in this area as the Moyenne Corniche, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and provides superb panoramic views of the French Riviera coastline and the Principality of Monaco.
Proceed along the Italian Riviera, stopping in Pisa.
Pause in the city whose navy dominated the Western Mediterranean in the 11th century, before the Arno River silted up and Genoa took over. View the Campo dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles) and its trio of remarkable buildings, the most famous of which being the Leaning Tower (now tilted nearly 13 feet from its vertical axis).
Proceed to Firenze, the "Jewel of the Renaissance." Never in the history of mankind has so much genius, in all its forms, been concentrated in one place as it was in Florence during the fifteenth century.
Overnight: Florence
Day 7: Florence City Sightseeing, Optional Uffizi
Get acquainted with the Medici family and the art of politics!
A local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Florence, will accompany your group.
View a wealth of artwork from the 15th and 16th centuries at the Galleria dell'Accademia, including the best known of all Florentine treasures, Michelangelo's monumental David.
In the nave of the Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore, better known as the Duomo, visitors marvel at a cathedral begun in 1296 and consecrated in 1436 that remains one of the largest in Christendom. It houses precious masterpieces, notably Domenico di Michelino's 1320 painting titled Dante holding the Divine Comedy.
Next on your program: the church that's the final resting place of luminaries such as Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo. Santa Croce is also famous for its art treasures, notably the Cappella dei Pazzi, a chapel attributed to Brunelleschi that's hailed as a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture.
Watch a craftsman demonstrate steps used in the manufacture of the world-renowned Florentine leather goods.
The afternoon is unscheduled.
You may want to check out Florence's leather and jewelry shops, or the boutiques where you can acquire beautiful reproductions of Florentine artwork at reasonable prices.
Don't miss a visit to Vivoli, the best place to purchase a cone of genuine gelato. See if this isn't the richest, creamiest and most flavorful ice cream you have ever tasted.
Visit the Galleria degli Uffizi, which is home to the world's most impressive private collection of Italian Renaissance art. See masterpieces by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Lippi, Giotto, Raphael and Tintoretto.
Overnight: Florence
Day 8: Siena, Rome, Dinner with Music
Depart for the pristine provincial town of Siena, which can claim the most beautiful main square in all of Italy.
Discover the charms of Florence's great rival. See the Piazza del Campo (where colorful horse races are held twice a year), the Palazzo Pubblico (Siena's town hall since the 1300s) and the Mangia (from mangiare, to eat), a tower that looks like a huge tooth!
Enter the Cathedral, better known as the Duomo, which presents a stunning compilation of rich tracery and sculptured facades. This visit also includes the Piccolomini Library to view its exquisite wall and ceiling frescoes.
A ride down the autostrada brings you to the "Eternal City."
Tonight, enjoy dinner while local singers and musicians entertain you with O Sole Mio, Volare and other favorite Italian songs.
Overnight: Rome
Day 9: Rome City Sightseeing
Set out on a sightseeing tour of Rome.
A full-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Rome, will accompany your group.
Walk through the best known monuments of Ancient Rome, the Colosseo and the Foro Romano. Once the heart of a vast empire, the Forum was filled with extravagant buildings and crowded with people from all over the known world.
Discover outstanding masterpieces collected for the Vatican Museums since the early 1500s. See exceptional statues from antiquity, such as Laocoön and His Son and the Apollo Belvedere, as well as stunning Renaissance paintings, notably the The School of Athens fresco in the Raphael Rooms.
Marvel at Michelangelo's Last Judgment and brightly-colored ceiling frescoes in the Cappella Sistina.
Enter the sanctuary recognized as the world's largest church. The Basilica di San Pietro also houses priceless works of art, in particular Michelangelo's Pietà and Bernini's Dove of the Holy Spirit.
Walk through the plaza built on the site of Domitian's Stadium. Lined with grand buildings and trendy cafes, this oblong square is adorned with statues and fountains, notably Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers.
Inside the "Temple to All the Gods," you will understand why it has been called one of the better-preserved and most harmonious monuments of antiquity.
Overnight: Rome
Day 10: Departure
Ciao, Europa! Statistics show that visitors do in fact return to Rome, although it may not have anything to do with coins in a fountain. Race the sun and arrive home later today, eager to share your discoveries with family and friends.
CUSTOM TOURS
All tours can be customized to your particular needs.
Or start from scratch - we will build your dream tour!
Barcelona City Sightseeing
Tour director-led walking tour in Carcassonne
Tour director-led walking tour in Avignon
Visit to the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct
Sightseeing stop in Pisa
Florence City Sightseeing
Sightseeing stop in Siena's Piazza del Campo
Rome City Sightseeing
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