Going Coach class
Nigel Thompson looks at the coaching holiday highlights for this year
Are you sitting comfortably? Then it’s time for your fabulous 2022 coaching holiday to start. So soak up the magnificent scenery as you sit back and relax in your luxury seat.
Maybe you’d like a nice cuppa and a snack while you charge your smartphone or tablet ready for more photos of that fabulous scenery.
Welcome to coaching holidays in the 21st century – a world of hi-tech, high-spec transport that feels like a mobile five-star hotel yet gives great value. And they’ll take you on ever more adventurous and exciting itineraries to wonderful destinations, both at home and abroad.
So settle back, enjoy the friendly service on board and wait for your holiday to come to you.
Millions of Brits enjoy coach tours and holidays each year, so why not join them and see what you’re missing?
Here’s a look at the leading firms’ plans for this year and beyond…
Shearings
After highly successful staycation trips in 2021, the firm is now offering a bumper range of UK tours for this year – including 64 new ones.
The new itineraries feature destinations from Shetland to the English Riviera and four new routes offer mini-cruises too.
Examples include a five-day trip for the greenfingered to the Chelsea
Flower Show and RHS Wisley Gardens from £469 per person, and another for lovers of the whodunnit – five days to Agatha Christie’s Torquay from £399 per person, taking in the best of the home of the world’s greatest crime novelist and, of course, a Devon Cream Tea!
Shearings’ overseas programme for 2022/23 also has new trips, with 25 fresh experiences priced from £289 per person.
Itineraries include a 12-day visit to Classical Italy from £849 per person, taking in the sights and scenery of Siena, Rome, Florence and Pisa plus the Lakes and the Neapolitan Coast.
Or, for history lovers, there’s a nine-day Imperial Capitals tour to take in the grandeur of Prague, Budapest and
Vienna, from £839 each. ■■shearings.com
Just Go! Holidays
The 75th anniversary of Scotland’s much-loved Waverley paddle steamer is among the highlights for 2022, along with an exclusive steam train ride. A three-day break will include a voyage on the world’s last sea-going paddle steamer, taking in the splendour of the Firth of Clyde, Loch Goil and Loch Long.
This trip also includes an up close look at the Falkirk Wheel, an impressive rotating boat lift on the Union Canal. Prices start at £229 per person.
Switching from steam boats to steam trains, a two-day visit to London and Windsor will include a ride on the Royal Windsor Steam Express and its retro 60s carriages, exclusively chartered for Just Go! Holidays.
Upgrades for a champagne brunch are available. The trip costs from £139 each.
■■justgoholidays.com
Leger offers armchairs, touchscreen TVs and charging points too
National Holidays
Open air live music and ex-Broadway musicals are showcased for 2022. Acts include Michael Buble, Bryan Adams, Olly Murs and Lionel Richie with Canadian superstars Buble and Adams at Buxton, Derbyshire, and Harrogate, North Yorkshire, respectively. An evening with Michael Buble in the spa town costs from £199 per
Vancouver, also two days, starts at £169 each.
Mrs Doubtfire the Musical – based on the smash hit film – is crossing the pond from New York City to hit Manchester, with two-day coach packages from £159 per person.
Also new for ’22 is a family summer coach break to see the brand-new PAW Patrol Live! musical adventure Race to the Rescue at the M&S Arena in Liverpool.
Based on the popular animated TV series, kids can see their eight favourite pups live on stage in an action-packed rescue mission. A trip to Chester Zoo is also included. Prices start at £159 per person.
■■nationalholidays.com
Omega Breaks
Wouldn’t It Be Loverly to see Eliza Doolittle and Professor Higgins return to the West End after a 20-year gap to bring back the memorable songs in My Fair Lady? A two-day trip costs from ■■omegabreaks.com
Leger
The upmarket brand also has new offerings for 2022 with 17 additions among the programme of more than 200 European and worldwide trips.
Itineraries range from four to five-day short breaks, grand tours of up to 22 days, and flowers and garden holidays, single traveller getaways, festive breaks, rail experiences and river cruises.
The selection also has a choice of battlefield tours and Luxuria Signature collection holidays with added extras, staying in unique, luxurious hotels.
Leger’s Luxuria coaches deliver five-star travel with upscale armchair-style seating with extra legroom, personal touch-screen TVs offering a wide choice of entertainment, individual charging points and a range of seating options including single, double and face-to-face.
Among the new tours are six days to the West of Ireland starting at £649 per person, 12 days at the Paradors of Catalonia and the Spanish Pyrenees from £2,049 each, and the lakes and mountains of Austria’s unspoiled Carinthia region for 12 days from £1,349 per person.
■■leger.co.uk