Escorted Ferry Holidays
A crossing changes the shape of a holiday. Instead of the sealed hum of a plane you get weather, a horizon and a stretch of deck to stand on, and the place you are heading for comes into view slowly over the bow rather than all at once through a window.
Only a few of our holidays are built around the boat itself. The Isles of Scilly is the clear one, where the ferry from Penzance is simply how you reach the islands. On others the sea is the sensible way across the Channel, and a coach tour to Bruges or the Rhine crosses by ferry before the driving picks up again on the far side.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Ferry Holidays Tours
Yes. Where the boat is part of how the holiday travels, the crossing is in the price — the return ferry to the Isles of Scilly, or the Channel crossing on a Continental coach tour. The inclusions list on each tour spells out exactly what is covered.
The Isles of Scilly ferry is a passenger ship with seating inside and open deck, and the passage from Penzance takes a couple of hours across open water that can be lively or calm depending on the day. The Channel crossings on the coach tours are short. If you are unsure how you fare at sea, it is worth asking us about the expected conditions before you book.
Some sea legs help. Boarding a ferry or an inter-island boat means gangways, a step or two and your own bag, and a moving deck asks a little more of your balance than a coach or a train. None of it is strenuous, but if steadiness is a concern, tell us and we will talk you honestly through what a given holiday involves.
The Isles of Scilly
Twenty-eight miles off Land's End, the Isles of Scilly keep a climate the mainland does not. Frost is rare, and the sub-tropical planting at Tresco Abbey Garden grows things that would not last a Cornish winter. The holiday begins with the ferry from Penzance, and once you are on the islands the sea does the work of roads: small boats run out to St Martin's, St Agnes and Tresco, so a day's excursion is a boat trip in its own right.
It suits a traveller who is content to slow to island time — short walks over headlands, a good deal of looking at the water, and boats that go when the tide and the weather say so rather than to the minute.
Crossing to the Continent
Our Continental coach holidays reach Europe the traditional way, with a Channel crossing at each end and the coach travelling with you. Your seat and your case stay put from the pick-up to the hotel, and there is no airport in the middle of the day — you board on foot, find a seat by a window and watch the coast of France or Belgium draw closer.
These are coach holidays first, with the crossing as their opening chapter: a few nights in Bruges, say, or the Rhine at Christmas, reached without a flight and without you at the wheel.
