Coach Holidays in the UK and Europe
Every holiday on this page travels by private coach, with an experienced driver who knows the route and an itinerary settled long before you leave home. Most are four or five days from a single hotel, with a different excursion each day — Chatsworth and Bakewell one morning, Cheddar Gorge or RHS Harlow Carr the next.
We travel this way because it suits the places we go. Country houses, gardens and market towns sit at the end of narrow lanes with awkward parking, and a coach that sets you down at the gate and waits is the easiest way to see three of them in a week.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Coach Holidays Tours
Joining points differ from tour to tour, so please ask us about the departure you are considering. Many of our holidays are arranged as private group tours where the coach collects the group locally, and on scheduled departures we will confirm the pick-up arrangements in writing before you travel. If you have a particular station or town in mind, tell us when you enquire and we will say honestly whether it works.
Our programme is built around holidays of three to eight days rather than single-day outings. That said, every day of a tour is effectively a day trip: the coach is yours for the week, and each day's excursion — a house, a garden, a market town — is arranged and paid for as part of the price. Clubs and societies wanting something shorter should speak to us directly.
Less than people expect. Because we base ourselves in one hotel and work outward, the daily runs are usually short hops of half an hour to an hour and a half. The longest travel is at the start and end of the holiday, getting to the region and home again, and that depends entirely on where the tour begins. Ask us about a specific departure and we will talk you through the driving day by day.
The listed excursions are included in the price. One thing to read carefully: on several tours the itinerary notes entrance to National Trust properties for members, because a large proportion of our travellers hold membership cards. If you are not a member, ask us before booking how entry is handled on that particular tour so there are no surprises at the gate.
Yes — private group tours are a substantial part of what we do. Your club, church or group of friends takes the whole coach, and we will build the itinerary around what your members actually want to see rather than fitting you into someone else's route. Prices on the tour pages are generally quoted on a set number of passengers, so the figure moves with your group size. Tell us roughly how many you are and we will price it.
Not always. Some of our continental holidays fly out and then use a private coach at the destination — the Verona opera festival and the Lake Maggiore camellia tours work that way, with an English-speaking tour leader staying with the group. Others are road journeys throughout. Each tour page states how you travel, and if it is not clear, ring us and we will confirm before you book.
Where our coach holidays go
Most of the programme is British, built around a base hotel for three or four nights with the surrounding region worked outward from it. Weston-super-Mare for the cheese and cider makers of Somerset and the Roman Baths at Bath. Harrogate for RHS Harlow Carr and the Himalayan Garden. Grantham for Lincoln Castle and the airfields of Bomber County. Huntingdon for the Fitzwilliam, Anglesey Abbey and the Cambridge botanic garden. The Metropole at Llandrindod Wells for mid-Wales, the Brecon Beacons and the Royal Mint.
Regions we return to year after year:
- Somerset, Bath and Bristol
- Yorkshire and Harrogate
- The Peak District and Derbyshire
- Mid and south Wales
- Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire
- The Cotswolds and Oxfordshire
- The Lancashire and Devon coasts
Europe features as well, though not always by road the whole way. The camellia gardens above Lake Maggiore and the opera in Verona's Roman amphitheatre are reached by air, with a coach used once you are there. Each tour page sets out exactly how you travel.
The shape of a day on tour
The pattern is much the same wherever we go. Breakfast at the hotel, then the coach leaves for the day's excursion — usually one substantial visit, a house or a garden or a museum, with a town nearby for lunch and a wander. You are back at the hotel in good time to sit down before the evening meal, which is included on almost every holiday we run.
Days are deliberately unhurried. A guided tour of Highgrove followed by lunch in the Orchard Room is a day's work in itself, and we would rather you looked at one garden properly than glanced at two. Where a visit needs a local guide, as with the Blackbeard to Banksy walk in Bristol, one is booked for the group.
Some hotels lay on evening entertainment, and a few tours include it as part of the price. The individual tour page will tell you.
Single rooms and travelling alone
A good number of our coach holidays set aside single rooms with no supplement at all. The allocation varies from tour to tour — some list six, some ten — and once those rooms have gone a supplement applies for any further singles. The tour page gives the figure for that particular holiday.
Solo travellers make up a healthy share of most departures, so nobody feels conspicuous. Coach seating is rotated on many tours so you are not stuck in the same spot beside the same person all week, and shared tables at dinner tend to sort themselves out by the second evening.
Single rooms at no supplement are the first thing to go on popular departures, so if you are travelling alone it is worth asking us early which tours still have one free.
Choosing the time of year
Timing changes a garden tour completely. The camellias around Lake Maggiore and Locarno are at their best from late February into April, well before anything comparable is out in Britain. Harlow Carr and the Cambridge botanic garden hit their stride in high summer. Highgrove in autumn is a different place again, the beeches and acers turning while the borders are still going.
Late November and December bring the festive tours. York's St Nicholas Fair fills the streets below the Minster, Castle Howard is dressed room by room for Christmas, Bristol's markets run along Broadmead and the Centre, and Blenheim Palace lights a trail through the grounds after dark.
Winter tours often carry the lowest prices of the year, and the houses are quieter. The trade-off is short daylight — plan on being back at the hotel by dusk.
