Cruise & Rail: Milan, Venice & the Swiss Alps

Arrive at Milan Malpensa Airport. If your cruise/tour package includes a group arrival transfer or if you have purchased a private arrival transfer, you will be greeted by a Uniworld representative and transferred to the Rosa Grand hotel.

Milan is a mecca for Italian fashionistas, famous for its innovative design and stylish flair. Venture inside the city’s hulking Gothic cathedral, as well as its cathedral to capitalism, Europe’s oldest shopping arcade. The highlight today is Da Vinci’s revolutionary “The Last Supper” mural.

En route to Venice, you’ll stop in the literary hometown of Shakespeare’s famously star-crossed teen lovers to see the sights. Later, enjoy lunch at a historic wine estate owned by descendants of Dante and learn about one of the most unique Italian wines, Amarone di Valpolicella. This evening you’ll arrive in Venice and embark. Unpack, relax and enjoy your first evening on the Venetian Lagoon. A compulsory safety drill and briefing, along with the welcome briefing, will be organized shortly before dinner, but this will be a quick and easy part of your journey.

With your early morning arrival at Doge’s Palace, you’ll be able to marvel at the estate in total peace. Wander through a Venetian neighborhood and experience daily life in an authentic Venetian residential quarter. Later in the evening, cap the day off with a private once-in-a-lifetime experience at an after-hours lighting ceremony inside St. Mark’s Basilica without the crowds.

Begin your morning with a walk through Venice to meet a local gondola artisan, then head back onboard for a lunchtime sailing across the lagoon. Upon arrival in the fishing town of Chioggia, you’ll be able to choose between a ride in a traditional bragozzo with a visit to a countryside estate, some Italian villa wine tasting or a walking tour through Padua. A special Captain’s Welcome Reception and Dinner will be prepared for you this evening. IMPORTANT: We are obliged to comply with Italian Maritime Authorities who require that only crew may be on the ship during the Adriatic Sea passage. Therefore, our guests must disembark the ship and partake in the featured excursions.

Explore Italy’s culinary capital Bologna on a full-day tour packed with an exclusive pasta-making workshop and lunch or explore Ferrara on a half-day tour.

Today, you’ll admire the greatest sites of charming and coastal Chioggia, including a stop at the local and lively market. Your ship will move to dock overnight in Burano, where you’ll enjoy a lovely evening stroll through this multicolored island.

IMPORTANT: We are obliged to comply with Italian Maritime Authorities who require that only crew may be on the ship during the Adriatic Sea passage. Therefore, our guests must disembark the ship and partake in the featured excursions. We thank you for your cooperation.

Spend the day exploring the northern lagoon of Venice and its captivating islands. Start with a visit to Torcello’s famous basilica with an art historian, then stroll through the agricultural island of Mazzorbo and the rainbow-hued island of Burano during your free time after lunch. Alternatively, you can take the afternoon to see the renowned glassblowing artisans of Murano at work.

As your water taxi glides past narrow side canals and the Canal Grande, you’ll arrive in style at the Rialto Bridge. The iconic stone arch bridge sits at the narrowest point of the Canal Grande and holds numerous shops and restaurants. A special Captain’s Farewell Reception and Dinner will be prepared for you this evening.

Disembark the ship. You will be transferred to the Venice Santa Lucia Station, where you will board the Golden Eagle Danube Express. You’ll have time to settle into your new cabins as the train slowly threads its way out of Venice towards Postojna, Slovenia.

During our stay in Postojna, you’ll be treated to a real highlight of this tour: an exclusive private concert in the Postojna Cave, one of the largest show caves of the classic karst formations in Europe.

After breakfast, arrive in the Slovenian Capital Ljubljana, where your morning tour of this lovely city includes a boat cruise on the Ljubljanica River.

Our next stop is Bled, picturesquely situated in the Julian Alps, where you will enjoy lunch at a restaurant in the heart of the city. After lunch, take a traditional pletna boat across Lake Bled for a closer view of the exterior of the Church of Mary the Queen situated on an island in the middle of the lake.

From Bled, the train will continue onto Villach, where you will experience an exclusive cruise with access to a sun deck and a perfect vantage point of the passing Austrian scenery. During dinner, the train will take you back to Italy to spend the night in San Candido.

In the early morning, your train leaves San Candido on a scenic line through Fortezza and traversing over the stunning Brenner Pass to Innsbruck, Austria. Tour this charming Tyrolean town before lunch back on the train, during which you will travel through the Arlberg to St. Anton for an afternoon in the year-round Alpine resort.

For October departures: Arrive in Bludenz instead of St. Anton and head up the mountains to the Mattersburg alpine resort for a traditional Austrian food tasting of Brettljause. You then head back to Bludenz via gondola ride (time permitting).

Your train leaves St. Anton at breakfast time to travel through the Vorarlberg to Buchs, where you will visit Liechtenstein and its capital, Vaduz. During this visit, you make a photo stop outside Gutenberg Castle, where you can take in views of the castle and surrounding scenery.

Re-join the train for a scenic lunch time ride along Walensee and the Lake of Zurich on the way to your final stop. Disembark at Zurich Hbf (Main Station), where you will be taken to your hotel to enjoy a leisurely evening.

Check out of your hotel and head to Zurich Airport for your flight home.