Many artists were strongly impressed by the landscape and the intense colours of the high-moor bogs not far away from the Alps. Wassiliy Kandinsky came from Russia, as well as Jawlensky and Werfekin. Together with some Munich colleagues they founded an artists’ colony at Murnau where they spent a great length of time at Gabriele Münter's house. Inspired by the beauty and light of the prealpine lands they found a completely new way of expression, as can be seen in their paintings. Together with the Franz Marc Museum in Kochel the Münter House is now a most famous place of the collection of “The Blue Rider” (“Der Blaue Reiter”).

Halfway between Munich and Salzburg, the islands in lake Chiemsee, Bavaria’s largest lake surrounded by the foothills of the Alps, rank among the oldest man-made landscapes of this area. Powerful monasteries were founded as early as in the days of Charlemagne, monks and bishops ruled the area until the 19th century. Then King Ludwig II of Bavaria bought the island and made it his favourite place where he built his third and most magnificent castle: Herrenchiemsee Castle, a second Versailles. Our day tour has a lot to offer!

King Ludwig II was only 18 years of age when he first met the composer Richard Wagner in Munich. This meeting in 1864 was the prelude to Ludwig’s everlasting love for Wagners operas. The King, however, soon grew discontent with just financing operas and theatres for the composer. What he wanted was his own world where he could make his musical and fantasies come true. Between 1869 and 1886 Ludwig II finally fulfilled his dreams by constructing Neuschwanstein Castle, a marvellous example of German Romanticism – or, in simpler words, a fairytale castle. Our day tour to the Bavarian Alps also includes a visit to the Wies-Church, a UNESCO world cultural heritage for rococo design.

More than one and a half centuries after the death of Louis XIV of France the Bavarian King Ludwig II wanted to follow in the Sun King’s footsteps and realised a renaissance of the splendid baroque and rococo lifestyle of Versailles: Linderhof Castle, towered over by the Alps. Our tour will also take you to the small town of Oberammergau, world famous for the Passion play staged only every ten years, and to Ettal monastery, a richly decorated basilica surrounded by breathtakingly beautiful Alpine scenery. The next Passion Play season will be in 2010.

You are invited to visit one of Germany’s best known and best preserved medieval towns and explore its breathtaking history on a guided walking tour. Learn about Rothenburg’s early days as a stronghold at the crossroads of important trade routes, about its uprise as a free imperial town, respected by all Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, and about its downfall from glory during the 30 Years War. A special highlight on our tour will be the most precious wood carved gothic altars of Rothenburg's churches by the famous master Tilman Riemenschneider.

Lake Starnberg is located only a few miles south from Munich and has a lot to offer: best mountain view from the water front, the place of King Ludwig’s mysterious death in 1886 and a magnificent boat cruise. Typical Bavarian countryside villages with their traditional flower decorated houses surround the lake. On its southern end you will find the Museum Buchheim, famous for its outstanding and largest private collection of 20th century fine art. Get inspired by these and even more remarkable impressions on a day tour to Lake Starnberg.

On March 20th 1933 Heinrich Himmler announced the opening of the first Concentration Camp at Dachau near Munich. Two days later the first prisoners arrived. The camp, where over 30.000 people came to death, epitomizes daily terror, torture and barbarity. This tour to Dachau not only leads you to an extraordinary tragic place of history but also explains how the Nazi past has been treated since the end of WW II. Can the Dachau Memorial Site today become a place of hope?