This tour traces the dramatic and harrowing story of the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich chronologically from its birth in 1919 Munich, to its bloody end in Berlin in 1945. In the company of an expert historian, we visit all the significant milestones marking Adolf Hitler's ascent and Germany's descent into the abyss. We begin in the Bavarian capital where we see the sites associated with the Nazi party’s rise, including the route of the 1923 Beerhall Putsch, the site of the party HQ and that of the 1938 Munich conference. We tour the appalling Buchenwald concentration camp; the Fuhrer's idyllic mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden; the Nazi party’s monster rally grounds at Nuremberg; and where Nazi crimes were judged and condemned. We explore the state building that housed the weak and ineffectual government of the Weimar Republic. During our final days in Berlin, we visit Wannsee, where the Holocaust was planned, and walk through the city centre viewing the Reichstag, Holocaust memorial, and the site of the bunker where Hitler’s life ended.

Munich, 1919. An unknown Austrian corporal walks into a beerhall...and the rest is history. The remarkable rise of Adolf Hitler from obscurity to Germany’s dictatorial Fuhrer, and finally to the overlordship of occupied Europe, is the story of a catastrophe unparalleled in human history. The Nazi dream of a racially pure Third Reich, and the quest for Lebensraum in Russia, turned Germany into a totalitarian state and plunged the world into war.

Day 1: Arrival in Munich

Fly London to Munich or make your own arrangements to join the tour at the hotel. Check-in to our Munich hotel for two nights. Enjoy pre-dinner drinks and an introductory talk from our expert historian followed by dinner. Hotel in Munich – 2 nights. (D).

Day 2: Munich

A full day on foot and public transport exploring the sites associated with Hitler’s rise to power: we visit the former Sternecker beerhall, where Hitler first encountered the Nazi party; walk along the route of the 1923 Beerhall putsch to the Odeonsplatz, where the first Nazi bid for power came to bloody grief; enjoy a beer at the historic Hofbrauhaus; tour the documentation centre at the site of the party HQ, the Brown House; and see where the 1938 Munich conference took place, today the city's Music college. (B,D).

Day 3: Dachau

This morning we visit Dachau, one of Germany’s first concentration camps opened within weeks of Hitler’s accession to power in 1933, where we visit the parade ground, barracks, prisoner baths, crematorium and a highly moving memorial room with more than 130 commemorative plaques and stones. We drive to Surberg, where ‘death-marched’ Jews were massacred a week after Hitler’s suicide before driving through mountain scenery to Berchtesgaden, the town where Hitler, Goering and Speer had their rural retreats. Hotel in Berchtesgaden – 2 nights. (B, D).

Day 4: Berchtesgaden
We ascend the spectacular 6,000 ft. Kehlstein to enjoy the amazing mountain views and cool air at the Eagle's Nest, Hitler's mountain top eyrie. We then visit the nearby documentation centre recording the Nazi links with the area and its newly opened bunkers. Our day is capped by a short walking tour of the Obersalzberg complex including the remains of the Berghof, Hitler's mountain home, where he received foreign guests including Chamberlain, Lloyd George and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. (B,D).

Day 5: Nuremberg
In the morning we drive to Nuremberg to see the Nazi party rally grounds where thousands gathered annually to hear Hitler speak in massive, choreographed shows of strength and military muscle. We then visit the documentation centre in the vast, half built, Congress Hall which showcases megalomaniac Nazi building plans. Hotel in Nuremburg - 1 night. (B,D).

Day 6: Judgement
We take a tour of the Nuremberg courtroom where the surviving top Nazis were tried by the international tribunal in 1946. This afternoon we drive to Weimar to explore the House of the Weimar Republic where Hitler first came to power. There will be some free time to explore this beautiful city. Hotel in Weimar – 1 night. (B,D).

Day 7: Wannsee

This afternoon we drive to Berlin's leafy western suburbs to visit Wannsee where, in a grand lakeside villa, the Holocaust was planned at a meeting chaired by Reinhard Heydrich. We tour the permanent exhibition on the history of German anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. On route to our hotel we visit the Platform 17 memorial at Grunewald, from where thousands of Berlin’s Jews were transported to their deaths. Hotel in Berlin – 2 nights. (B, D).

Day 8: Berlin

A full day on foot and U-Bahn visiting the Brandenburg Gate, the Führer bunker where Hitler and his bride Eva Braun committed suicide in April 1945, the Holocaust memorial, and the Topography of Terror Museum. Built on the site of the SS/ Gestapo HQ, this records the network of terror that the Nazis built and the fate of its victims. Our day ends at the German Resistance Memorial Centre in whose courtyard, Claus von Stauffenberg, the most famous of resistance figures to the regime, was executed. (B, D).

Day 9: Berlin & Home

We visit the Reichstag, key site in the development of Nazism, where a fire in 1933 gave momentum to the entrenchment of the Nazi regime. We then stop at the Olympic Stadium and Tempelhof Airport to examine iconic Nazi architecture. Continue to Berlin Brandenburg Airport for return flights home or perhaps extend your stay in Germany. (B).