Balkan Explorer: Venice to Istanbul

You are met on arrival and taken to a central five-star hotel for two nights. In the evening a welcome drinks reception and dinner introduce you to your fellow travellers.

Choose how to spend the day: a guided walk from the Rialto Bridge with a short gondola ride, lunch and St Mark's Square, or a trip to Murano for glassblowing and colourful Burano for its lacemaking. An optional private evening visit to St Mark's Basilica is offered.

A boat takes you down the Grand Canal to Santa Lucia station, where the train is waiting. After lunch on board there is a short guided stop in Trieste around the sea-facing Piazza Unità d'Italia, and in the evening you ride a cave train into the vast Postojna Caves.

A guided tour of Pula takes in the old centre and its Roman Arena, where a gladiator performance brings the past to life. Lunch with a tasting of Istrian produce follows at a rural estate, then a guided walk in Rijeka along the Korzo promenade before rejoining the train.

An early arrival in Sarajevo, a city of mosques, an old bazaar and a Turkish quarter. A guided tour explores the city's long wartime siege, and after lunch you can ride the cable car up Mount Trebević or visit the Tunnel of Hope.

A guided walk through Mostar's old town includes a traditional Turkish house, a mosque and the bazaar lanes beside the rebuilt Old Bridge. Lunch overlooks the bridge, then you follow the Neretva River to the fortified Ottoman town of Počitelj.

In the Serbian capital you leave the train for a night at the historic Hotel Bristol. A guided tour covers the Old Town and Kalemegdan Fortress above the meeting of the Sava and Danube, followed by a tasting of Serbian wines and a visit to the Church of Saint Sava.

Today focuses on Tito's Belgrade, with a visit to his museum complex and former residence, a traditional bread-and-salt welcome and a Serbian folk-dance performance. You then rejoin the train and head south-east across Serbia towards Bulgaria.

A morning tour of Sofia takes in Roman walls, the Church of St George, the golden-domed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Banya Bashi Mosque. In Plovdiv, one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited cities, an early-evening tour visits the Roman Forum and Amphitheatre and the cobbled Old Town.

On arrival your luggage goes straight to the five-star Four Seasons Hotel. A walk leads to the Spice Market and a traditional Turkish lunch, followed by a Bosphorus cruise; the evening brings a visit to one of the city's ancient cisterns before dinner.

Choose between Topkapi Palace with its courtyards, harem and treasury, or a guided tour of the Grand Bazaar including a walk along its rooftop. After lunch you visit Hagia Sophia, and the journey closes with a farewell dinner at the hotel.

After breakfast you are transferred to the airport, or you can extend your stay in Istanbul.