With a lunchtime departure from St Pancras International we take the Eurostar to Brussels and allow a comfortable change of trains. We continue by Eurostar or ICE to Cologne for an overnight stay at the superb 4* Marriott Hotel, close to the station.

by direct ICE train to Munich where we check in to our home for the remainder of the holiday and then set off to familiarise the city. The best way to do this is with the hop on, hop off, tourist bus on which an English speaking commentary will describe the sights as they pass.

We take an international train to Jenbach in Austria where there are two contrasting, cnd stunningly scenic, railways to experience. Firstly, it’s the Zillertalbahn to Myrhofen and back, along the valley. Then, in the afternoon we take the steam powered cog railway up to the Achensee. The landscape throughout today is magnificent in the heart of the snow-capped Austrian Tyrol. Return to Munich is again by express rail.

To the top of the world! S-bahn to Starnberg, where we take to the water for a glorious cruise on a palatial ship to the foot of the lake at Seeshaupt. A luxury coach now fills in the gap to deliver us to Garmish and the base station of the Zugspitzbahn. Options abound this afternoon with rack railway and huge gondolas allowing us access to the very peak of Germany’s highest mountain – scenery doesn’t get better than this. With individual tickets you can return to Munich by rail when you please.

Two contrasting railway museums feature today on the only day where we use coach transport throughout. We link the Bavarian Railway Museum at Nordlingen with the impressive Bahnpark in Augsburg – both are well worth a visit but see which you prefer! We can link the two with a rail journey to give the day extra variety.

Over to the station again and a morning train delivers us to Bad Endorf. LEO will be waiting for us here. LEO is a railcar that runs on a private track through rolling countryside to a place called Obing and back. It’s all quite “different” and very, very friendly. On we go, and just up the road is Prien. A steam train ride takes us to the serenely beautiful Chiemsee. It’s now back to the water for a cruise with a stunning mountain backdrop. Time ashore to visit Fraueninsel, an idyllic step back in time, with pretty cottages, a nunnery and a brewery.

Our Munich City Day. We use S-bahn, bus, tram and Metro to link visits to two parts of the incredible Deutsches Museum. This must be the largest and most diverse museum in Germany, if not Europe, with so many aspects of German life and engineering explored. It is spread over three sites of which we visit two. We’ll also have a ride on the Munich “Eye” and polish off our Munich experience with an “all inclusive” dinner at the original Lowenbrau Brewery – an apt finale!

Time to head for home and a comfortable journey is completed by ICE to Brussels, via a change in Frankfurt. Then Eurostar back to London by around 18.00.