Australia to Europe flights with China Eastern Airlines

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The explosive growth of China-based airlines over the past decade has been nothing less than phenomenal, and none more so than China Eastern Airlines. With services to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, China Eastern is opening up new cities and new experiences in Asia for Australian travellers – and now, an ever-increasing number of European cities.

China Eastern currently offers a one-stop service between Australia's east coast capitals and London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Prague, Madrid, Amsterdam, St Petersburg and Moscow via Shanghai (*144 hours transit visa free policy applies). For football fans planning to attend this year's FIFA World Cup, China Eastern is a great way to access these two Russian cities, both of which will see plenty of action during the event.

From 16 June, China Eastern Airlines will add Stockholm to the list. To celebrate this new service, China Eastern is offering travellers who depart Australia for Stockholm before 30 June an economy class return fare from just $950, an incredible bargain, freeing up more of your savings to make your European journey even bigger and better.

Underlining its commitment to Europe's trophy cities, China Eastern is organising a series of 11-day tours that take in the wonders of some of Europe's great cities beginning in Prague, one of the glories of Continental Europe with its treasury of Baroque and Gothic architecture. The first evening of the tour is spent in the city's Old Town Square, a great cobbled amphitheatre ringed with churches, palaces and burghers' houses which are even older than their Baroque facades suggest. Since almost the Middle Ages this has been the living room of Prague, a combination of bazaar, open-air theatre, political forum and outdoor cafe.

The next day the tour explores Prague Castle, followed by a relaxing river cruise with free time to explore in the afternoon, and don't miss the classic view of the city from the Charles Bridge, a view that has scarcely changed since Mozart trod these same cobblestones.

The next stage of the tour travels west to Lauf an der Pegnitz, a classic Bavarian riverside town with timbered facades and a market square that comes straight out of Hansel and Gretel. Lunch is at Wurzburg, another splendid Baroque city known as the 'Pearl of the Romantic Road', the glorious driving route which stretches south from here to the foothills of the Alps. Steal some time to wander around, and don't miss the 18th-century palace known as the Residenz. The vine-clad hills around Wurzburg are the source of Franken wine, possibly the best white wine you've never heard of, sold in a distinctive bowl-shaped bottle. The day ends at the thriving commercial powerhouse of Frankfurt.

Day four of the tour begins with a Rhine River cruise between the villages of Rudesheim and St Goar. This is one of the loveliest sections of the Rhine, threading between steep hills covered with forests and vineyards, and rising to castles on the hilltops. Its outstanding beauty and cultural significance have won this part of the Middle Rhine a place on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list. One of the highlights is Lorelei Rock, associated with the legend of a beautiful maiden who threw herself into the river over a love gone wrong, and was transformed into a siren who lured fishermen to their destruction in revenge.

Next stop is Cologne, famous for its vast and impressive Gothic cathedral, the largest in Germany. Finally, we reach Amsterdam. Highlights of the following day include a visit to the lakeside village of Volendam, celebrated for the colourful timber houses clustered around its harbour, as well as its windmills and old fishing boats. After a boat ride to the island of Marken and its picture book village the tour heads back to Amsterdam to take in the sights of northern Europe's famous city of canals.