Mail Online

Stylish coach tours that are first class

EVERY week, our Holiday Hero NEIL SIMPSON takes an in-depth look at a brilliant holiday topic, doing all the legwork so you don’t have to. This week: coach-based holidays with a touch of luxury.

A NEW generation of luxury coaches are now whisking holidaymakers across the UK and Europe in considerable style.

Passengers can expect seats with armchair-style comforts, touchscreen seat-back TVs, wi-fi, coffee machines, fridges, lounges and, of course, toilets.

Itineraries have also been upgraded to match the sophisticated rail equivalents and include fine dining, hotels with pools and exclusive access to attractions closed to the general public.

Game-changing new vehicles include Luxuria and Silver Service coaches, pioneered by Leger Holidays. Luxuria coaches feature three seats in each row rather than the usual four, providing more space to spread out, with each row made up of a pair of seats and, across the aisle, a single.

Tours on offer include a six-night Elegance And Charm Of The Italian And French Rivieras.

After a night in northern France, guests are driven south to spend four nights in a hotel alongside the sweeping beaches of Diano Marina in Italy.

Daily tours include trips to Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo and the pretty hilltop village of Eze. From £769pp (leger.co.uk).

Like to mingle? An on-board lounge area with a coffee table and four seats is a key feature of the larger Silver Service coaches.

The luxury vehicles are used on dozens of Leger’s UK and European holidays, including a four-night Discover Salisbury, Stonehenge And The Dorset Coast trip that includes full days in Bath and Bournemouth. From £599pp.

Travel on a top-of-the-range Gold coach with Grand UK Holidays and you get extra space as seats are moved a few inches into the aisle once everyone is aboard.

The vehicles also have USB ports at each seat, wi-fi, a coffee machine and fridge.

Tours offering the Gold experience include the four-night In The Heart Of The Lakes holiday with welcome drinks at the Damson Dene Hotel near Bowness-onWindermere. Trips to Coniston Water, Grasmere and Keswick follow. From £639pp (grand ukholidays.com).

Finer dining and top-notch accommodation feature in Shearings’ latest Signature Collection of coach-based holidays. Its Redworth Hall And Delightful Durham mini-break includes four nights in Redworth Hall, a Jacobean manor house that’s now a four-star hotel with pool and spa set in 26 acres of manicured grounds.

The holiday includes day trips to Durham and Barnard Castle and a visit to Beamish Museum, which features a 1½-mile tramway. Also included is a visit to The Bowes Museum, where works by Goya and El Greco are hung, while a new gallery showcases the mechanical Silver Swan sculpture that created a sensation at the Paris International Exhibition of 1867. From £479pp (shearings.com).

Crowd-free, exclusive access is the luxurious added extra on selected coach trips with tour companies such as Just Go Holidays. Book now for next year’s Downton Abbey: Behind The Scenes minibreak and you’ll visit Highclere Castle on a day when the star location of the ITV hit series is closed to other visitors.

The two-day break includes collection from pick-up points across the country, as well as dinner and B&B in a three- or four-star hotel in Berkshire. Guests are delivered to the famous front doors of Highclere to begin a full day with a private tour of the house, grounds and key filming locations.

From £159pp (justgoholidays. com).

Holidays

en-gb

2022-08-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://mailonline.pressreader.com/article/283686893386627

dmg media (UK)