Hidden Europe: unique experiences in Europe's cities
08/09/2020 · By Katie Shaw
Europe’s cities are treasure troves of culture, teeming with iconic, must-see sights to enthral even the most seasoned of tourists.
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2025 Tour code: POG25
About the tour
Flowing from Northern Spain to the Atlantic Ocean, the Douro river carves our route through a rolling landscape of vineyards and idyllic locations. On this Iberian holiday, explore the Douro Valley by rail, travelling from Spain's 'Golden City' of Salamanca and through Portugal's beautiful countryside.
Experience the region's iconic wine and unique cuisine, and delve into the highlights of the vibrant cities of Porto, Lisbon, Guimarães, and Sintra.
Crossing the border once more, we wrap up our holiday in Spain, visiting Valladolid and the nation's food capital, San Sebastián.
Unforgettable Experiences
What’s included
Itinerary
Our holiday begins today as you arrive at London St Pancras and meet the Tour Manager and travel group. Together, we board the Eurostar service to Paris, travelling in Standard Premier Class, where we are served a light meal at our seats.
From Paris, we continue by First Class rail to Biarritz in Southwestern France, located near the Spanish border, where we spend the night. Overlooking the sweeping Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic coast, this historic spa town - a popular health resort since the 1850s - has an air of grandeur and Art Deco glamour.
On arrival this evening, we check into our hotel and walk to a delightful local restaurant on the Grand Plage seafront, where we sit down to our first three-course dinner as a group.
Additional information
Hotels
Trains
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Upgrades
Reviews
4.2 / 5 · 73 reviews
Mr Michael Edwards
Submitted 15/Sep
A brilliant holiday. Each place we visited was more exciting than the last. I want to see them all again. The organisation was perfect, the tour manager was helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. The hotels were excellent and close enough to the centres and the balance of free time to organised trips was right.
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Mrs M Bratby
Submitted 15/Sep
One of my best holidays. Fascinating places. Great food and people.
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Amanda Woodall
Submitted 15/Sep
Fabulous itinerary with great and varied excursions. A lot of travel between destinations but very well organised, luggage taken care of and accomodation & transport all top notch. Special mention to Roger, our great Tour Manager.
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John Margerum
Submitted 5/Jul
Great holiday but not for people who want a relaxing time.
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David
Submitted 1/Jul
From first booking to replacing first class travel with standard and a terrible hotel in Valladolid this GRJ (our first) did not live up to expectation or indeed advertisement. Poor customer service, damaged and dirty transfer coaches and extremely poor organisation it seems GRJ prefer profit above all else. However, the destinations in themselves were good, Salamanca and San Sebastián were true highlights, hotels were good except the Recoletos in Valladolid... disgraceful. Other travellers had been many times with GRJ and said they have never experienced a holiday like it before, perhaps there has been a change of management? It has soured our thoughts of another trip with GRJ.
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Mr Purse
Submitted 30/Jun
Wonderful holiday made even better by Great Rails attention to detail and the wonderful tour manager
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Europe Holidays 2025