BudgetTravel

The Real Deal Round-trip airfare, 11 nights' accommodations, sightseeing, and admission fees, from $2,045 per person—plus taxes of about $187.

When Depart Oct. 2, 9, 2008; add $40 for July 3, 10, 24, Aug. 7, 14, 28, Sept. 4, 25.

Magdeburger Bridge, Hamburg, Germany (Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty)

Gateways New York City; add at least $99 for Chicago; add at least $194 for L.A.; additional gateways available.

The Fine Print Eleven buffet breakfasts and six dinners, hotel taxes, airport-hotel transfers, transportation, guided sightseeing tours, entrance fees, and a Rhine River cruise are included. Additional airport taxes are $105 per person from New York City; the exact amount varies by departure city. The package price does not reflect a currency surcharge of $82 per person; note that unlike some other tour operators, Cosmos introduced this surcharge in January 2008 as a response to the weak U.S. dollar. Based on double occupancy; single supplement is $440. Read these guidelines before you book any Real Deal.

Book By No deadline; based on availability.

Contact Cosmos, 800/276-1241, cosmos.com.

Why It's a Deal According to a recent search on Kayak, the lowest round-trip fare between New York City and Frankfurt in mid-October is $585, with taxes included (United). For an additional $1,647, with estimated taxes, the Cosmos package covers 11 nights' accommodations, hotel taxes, some meals, sightseeing tours, and transportation.

Trip Details The Highlights of Germany package includes round-trip airfare between New York City and Frankfurt on a major carrier (such as British Air, Lufthansa, United, Delta, American) and 11 nights' hotel accommodations.

You begin by checking in to either the 177-room Tryp Frankfurt Hotel or the 125-room Mercure Hotel Bad Homburg Friedrichsdorf. You'll have the rest of the day to explore the city on your own before meeting your tour director and the rest of the group for dinner.

The tour begins with a Rhine River cruise from Oberwesel to Boppard, passing by the famed Lorelei Rock. Then continue on to Cologne, famous for its Gothic cathedral, whose construction began in 1248 but was not completed until 1880. The cathedral was one of the few buildings that survived the aerial bombing of Cologne during World War II—despite suffering 14 hits. Stay overnight at Holiday Inn Cologne-Bonn or at Art Hotel Aachen.

From Cologne, you'll travel to Hameln (home of the legendary Pied Piper) in Niedersachsen, the Lower Saxony region of Germany. A sightseeing tour lets you take in the city's characteristic 16th- and 17th-century Renaissance architecture, most notably along the Weser River, before proceeding to Hamburg.

You can sightsee on your own in Hamburg, the country's largest city after Berlin, or join an optional harbor cruise for an additional $28 per person, including a drink on board. Top attractions include the Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg Art Gallery), the Museum of Art and Industry, St. Michael's Church, the town hall, and of course, the port. You'll stay the night at the NH Suite Hotel.