Coach tour operators have a huge selection of short breaks and holidays during May and into the summer, both in the UK and to the Continent.
Theatre breaks, garden shows, sports events and themed tours are all on offer. Here are just a few ideas for tours which start from across the UK – for further ideas just explore this website.
Coach Holidays.com is offering a choice of seven- and eight-day, half board breaks with Alfa Travel to Newquay in Cornwall. Excursions take in Poldark Country, the North Cornish coast and picturesque St.Ives as well as the Eden Project. Departures throughout May from the North, Midlands and South for just £232pp
Leger Holidays (0845 458 5599) has tours to Ladies Day at Ascot and the Edinburgh Tattoo. Experience the glamour and grandeur of Royal Ascot with a 3-day break departing 18 June which costs from £224 pp. Or head for the Edinburgh Tattoo and explore wonderful Scottish scenery on a 3-day break departing 10 and 17 August from £220pp. Grand UK Holidays (01603 619933) has a Wheels of Steel tour, based in Bramhope, near Leeds. It includes half-board accommodation and escorted tours to the National Railway Museum in York and a ride on the gigantic Yorkshire Wheel as well as the Settle & Carlisle Railway, plus a visit to Haworth, home of the Brontes. The 5-day holiday departs 12 May and costs £239pp.Grand UK Holidays also has a Battle of Britain tour - based in Skegness with tours of Bomber Country in Lincolnshire, with talks from an aviation historian and a visit to RAF Digby, the Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby, Newark Air Museum, Woodhall Spa and Thorpe Camp, as well as RAF Coningsby, home of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Four days cost £189pp, departing May 9. Bakers Dolphin Coaches (01934 415000) of Weston-super-Mare explores waterways in and around London, departing 19 May. This is London away from the usual, with boat trips, old-fashioned markets and the attractions around Greenwich. The five-day tour cost £359pp.Bakers Dolphin Coaches is also offering a new tour departing May 4 to Speyside, Aviemore and the whisky trail (seven days from £459pp) including Kinguissie, dramatic scenery and Highland hospitality. Shaws Coaches in Cambridgeshire (01788 342224) explores a port most people see as a jumping-off point for the continent. Bluebells over the White Cliffs of Dover is a four-day May Bank Holiday break based at the BW Churchill Hotel, overlooking the harbour in Dover. It visits the historic castles at Dover and nearby Walmer. Other highlights include the annual 'Bluebell Spectacular' at Hole Park. Also fromShaws Coaches, enjoy a Scottish Islands & Burns Country five-day scenic break, based on the Ayrshire coast, including a day touring the Isle of Arran and a visit to Great Cumbrae Island, Burns National Heritage Park and the award-winning Culzean Castle Visitor Centre. Leaves 11 May for £390pp.
Why not visit the English Riviera and sample the food and flag-waving fun of Spain, France and Italy without needing your sea legs on a drinks-inclusive themed break at the Derwent Hotel at theTLH Leisure Resort in Torquay (01803 400133). The four-night break costs £150pp, running on 12 May, and includes dinner, bed and breakfast, a welcome drinks reception, a full programme of daytime activities and entertainment, plus dancing every evening, rounded off with a bubbly reception and gala dinner.
Door2Tour has anAhr Valley Wine short break departing on 9 May. This three-day trip to Germany has a very relaxed itinerary giving time to explore. If you’d like to see Germany in style, tryDoor2Tour’s 5 Star Luxury Historic Dresden - departing on 11 May 2008. It includes three superb excursions, even travelling over the Czech border to Karlovy Vary, and staying in central Dresden in opulence for four nights. Tremendous value at £520pp
If it’s fine houses and fine wines you’re after,Door2Tour has Loire Valley - Chateaux of France, departing on 18 May 2008. It’s a short break but one which gets the full flavour of both the stately homes and luscious red wines.
Italian escorted touring specialistArchers Direct holidays is offering luxury for less this summer on its premium brand of ‘Platinum Tourer’ coaches on touring holidays throughout Italy. Tour highlights of the Venice, Florence and Rome Tour include a gondola ride on the famous canals of Venice, city sightseeing in Rome, a walking tour of Florence as well as visits to the Square of Miracles in Pisa and St Francis’ Basilica in Assisi. Prices are from £629pp to include return flights, airport transfers, sightseeing and seven nights’ half-board accommodation Shaws Coaches (01778 342224) Northern Spain & Andorra is an eight-day circular tour including the spectacular mountain scenery of the Picos de Europa and the Pyrenees. The tour travels to northern Spain aboard Brittany Ferries' flagship vessel, the Pont-Aven, and enjoy a two-night stay at the elegant 4 star Hotel Milagros Golf on the coast. It then moves on to the tax-free haven of Andorra for a three-night stay at the 4 star Sport Hotel in the village resort of Soldeu, before travelling home through France. Departs Sunday, 8 June at £599 pp.
If you or your partner’s a big motor racing fan, the European Grand Prix tour by Leger Holidays (0845 458 5599)offers the thrill of Formula One on a budget - a dream tour to Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain or Monaco F1 circuits. European Grand Prix tours start from £305 per person.
Coach tour operators have a huge selection of short breaks and holidays during May and into the summer, both in the UK and to the Continent.
Theatre breaks, garden shows, sports events and themed tours are all on offer.
