Bed and boarding
THE first hotel within Heathrow airport’s Terminal 3 has opened, offering flexible stays and round-the-clock check-in. Aerotel London is a few steps from the check-in desks. There are doubles, singles and family rooms for stays of six, nine or 12 hours or overnights. Food is served 24-7. Six hours from £50, with 30 per cent off stays of nine hours or more this year. See myaerotel.com. TRAVELLING alone can be rewarding, liberating – and terrifying. Joining an organised tour helps by throwing you into the company of like-minded folk. And there are several companies with a strong focus on single adventures.
Special few Solo stars
Firms such as Solos, Friendship Travel and One Traveller were created for the singles market. SOLOS has a range of holidays from across the world, from walking parties and beach hedonism to cruising and golf, all with no single supplement. Holidays have a tour leader, and are usually moderately active.
Typical of its walking packages is its Tuscany itinerary, a series of leisurely walks through vineyards and medieval villages, based in Montecatini Terme, which has easy access to Florence, Lucca and Pisa.
Seven nights cost from £1,219, half board, with return flights. See solosholidays.co.uk. FRIENDSHIP TRAVEL tends to focus more on house-party style holidays around the Med, be that in a seaside boutiquey hotel or on board a traditional Gulet motor-sailing boat along Turkey’s beautiful southern shoreline.
The latter is floating touring, with all eight cabins for single occupancy.
The cruise calls in at secret bays and little fishing ports a couple of times every day for swimming and exploring.
The package is pretty much full board, with flights included. From £995, see friendshiptravel.com/gulet-cruises.
ONE TRAVELLER is like Solos, albeit a bit more sedate, with a very wide range of global destinations and holiday types for the mature single traveller, also with no single supplement.
It has several offerings over Christmas, which can be a difficult time for anyone on their own. Its departure to Lake Garda stays in a spa hotel by the lakeside and includes several festive dinners and lunches, as well as guided tours of Venice and Verona. It costs from £1,690, with flights. See onetraveller.co.uk.
Extra adventure Feeling bold
Several more general holiday companies also put on singles-only departures.
YOUNGER MARKET If you are a younger, adventurous type who wants to see the world, then Intrepid Travel does an India’s Golden Triangle tour just for singles, which does all the usual Rajasthan razzmatazz – forts, palaces, Taj Mahal – from £540 for seven nights, with some meals, activities and transport, but not flights. See intrepidtravel.com.
MORE MATURE Jules Verne offers its more upscale collection of Solo Groups escorted tours, mostly with no single supplement, to several more adventurous destinations. Try Botswana’s Okavango Delta, Ethiopia and the Blue Nile and the Silk Road through Uzbekistan. Prices are a bit higher.
Its Jordan itinerary, heading out to the Dead Sea and Petra and ending up at Aqaba on the banks of the Red Sea, costs £1,895 for nine nights, including flights. See vjv.com. HARDCORE HIKERS For a spiritual twist, Camino Ways organises singles-only packages along the last 75 miles of the famous pilgrim’s trail the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, ending up in Santiago itself.
With seven nights’ accommodation, luggage transfers, most meals, but not flights, from £850. See caminoways.com.
ON A BUDGET If you are watching your pennies or prefer not to fly, coach-based operator Shearings offers a selection of singles-only packages pa that will see you explore the likes of Italy It and Spain.
Or head to the Netherlands, where the base is th the beautiful town of Valkenburg, famous for its ca castle and underground caves, in a location that g gives easy access to cities such as Maastricht an and Aachen, across the border in Germany.
A five-day break, including excursions, four nights’ half board accommodation, and coach tr travel from the UK, costs just £319. See sh shearings.com.
LEARNING There are also the sort of holidays where everyone is focused on learning so something, a shared experience that massively he helps you interact with the others in the group.
Specialist company Golearnto has a raft of po possibilities, from learning to paint in the Fr French Dordogne, to learning to cook in Italy.
The latter is a four-night break near Lucca in N Northern Tuscany, and includes two hands-on co cooking lessons as well as wine-tasting