Burgundy & Provence with 2 Nights in Paris & 2 Nights in French Riviera (Southbound)

Lisbon, Portugal's enchanting capital, stands out for its rich history, stunning architecture, and vibrant culture. Must-try experiences include savoring local dishes like bacalhau à brás and pastéis de nata at Mercado da Ribeira. The best time to visit is during the spring or fall, when the weather is mild and the city is alive with festivals and events.

Dijon, the capital of Burgundy, is a port city rich in history, known for its stunning architecture and vibrant culinary scene. Must-do experiences include sampling the world-famous moutarde de Dijon at local markets and indulging in regional dishes like coq au vin. The best time to visit is during the autumn gastronomic fair, when the city truly comes alive with local flavors and traditions.

Lisbon, Portugal's enchanting capital, stands out for its rich history, stunning architecture, and vibrant culture. Must-try experiences include savoring local dishes like bacalhau à brás and pastéis de nata at Mercado da Ribeira. The best time to visit is during the spring or fall, when the weather is mild and the city is alive with festivals and events.

Birthplace of photography and gateway to Burgundy's finest vineyards, Chalon-sur-Saône is a Saône River gem that rewards those who linger beyond its famous streets. The Musée Nicéphore Niépce, housed in a riverside mansion, chronicles the invention of the medium that changed human perception forever, while the surrounding Côte Chalonnaise wine villages — Mercurey, Givry, Rully — offer some of Burgundy's most approachable yet complex Pinot Noirs. Visit in late summer or early autumn for harvest season, when the vineyards blush gold and local restaurants celebrate the new vintage.

Porto, set dramatically on the granite bluffs above the Douro River, is among Europe's most romantically dishevelled cities — a place where baroque church towers rise above terracotta rooftops and century-old azulejo tilework lines every alley. Cross the iron Dom Luís I Bridge for sweeping views and descend into Vila Nova de Gaia's atmospheric wine lodges for a tasting of aged tawny port direct from the barrel. Seafood is magnificent: salt cod prepared a hundred ways, barnacles glistening with lemon, and custard tarts still warm from the oven. Spring and early autumn offer the finest conditions.

Régua, gateway to Portugal's vertiginous Douro Valley wine country, sits at the point where the river enters its most dramatic gorge — terraced vineyards climbing impossible slopes on every side, their schist walls a testament to generations of viticultural determination. The Wine Museum in Pinhão's art nouveau azulejo station captures the region's soul, while the great quintas — Ramos Pinto, Croft, Niepoort — open their cellars for intimate tastings of vintage port and luminous dry whites. Harvest season in September and October transforms the valley into a festival of colour and ferment.

Rüdesheim am Rhein, a jewel of the UNESCO-listed Upper Middle Rhine Valley, is where Germany's most storied wine river cuts through vine-terraced slopes and medieval castle ruins. The pedestrianised Drosselgasse laneway — beloved since the Romantic era — hums with wine taverns pouring the region's celebrated Rieslings, crisp and mineral from the slate soils. The Niederwald Monument surveys the river from the heights, reached by cable car above the vineyards. Day trips by boat unlock Bacharach, Boppard, and the legendary Lorelei rock. September's harvest festivals transform the entire valley into a convivial celebration of the vintage.

Pocinho marks the easternmost navigable point of the Douro River — the terminus of the valley where port wine's history began and where the landscape reaches its most elemental and dramatic expression: near-vertical schist slopes terraced into vineyard stairways, the river running silver between them in the early morning light. The restored rabelo boats that once carried casks of wine downriver are now a romanticised memory, but the valley's working quintas welcome visitors for tastings of the upper Douro's increasingly celebrated unfortified wines. The Douro International Natural Park, bordering Spain, protects rare Egyptian vulture colonies on the surrounding plateau. September through October, during harvest, is the unmissable season.

Barca d'Alva, a remote frontier village at the uppermost navigable point of the Douro River, marks the eastern terminus of Portuguese river cruises where the landscape shifts from terraced port wine vineyards into the austere granite borderlands of Trás-os-Montes. The abandoned azulejo-tiled railway station, the almond orchards cascading to the river's edge, and the silence of the surrounding Côa Valley archaeological park — protecting the world's most important collection of open-air Palaeolithic rock art — make this an unexpectedly rich stopping point. Spring brings almond blossom along every hillside; autumn arrives golden with the vendange harvest. The Spanish city of Salamanca lies an hour's drive east.