The Back-Roads Touring Company offers an intimate alternative to larger bus tours with 7- and 16-seat mini-coaches. Knowledgeable driver-guides promise enjoyable small group tours away from England's tourist facade. Itineraries are flexible and off the beaten path, avoiding the usual tourist traps and focusing on well-balanced sightseeing at a leisurely pace. Emphasis is placed on single accommodations over multiple nights to remove daily packing and unpacking. Tours offer village stays in smaller inns, castles and boutique lodgings.
Back-Roads packaged itineraries are impressively varied in theme and number. Tours are built around historic locations and ongoing events. Themes include Arthurian legend, castles, battles and famous novelists. There is even a three-day trip framed around filming locations from the Harry Potter series. A Hampton Court Flower Show tour features five days of English garden heaven visiting Hampton Court, Chartwell, Ham House, Kew Gardens and a number of castle grounds. An expanded 11-day version centers around the Chelsea Flower Show.
Back-Roads Touring Company
Level 2, 107 Power Road,
London W45PY, UK
011-44-208-9870-990
backroadstouring.co.uk
Trafalgar Tours offer a sweeping 11-day Best of Britain excursion via luxury air-conditioned coach and first-class hotel accommodations. From London the tour round-trips north to the Scottish Highlands with dozens of highlights including Stonehenge, Bath, the Lake District, Balmoral Castle, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Sherwood Forest and Oxford. Package dining includes daily full English breakfasts, with some three-course dinners, tea services and a farewell dinner with wine in York. Tour bookings with airfare include private, chauffeur-driven airport transfers.
Trafalgar Tours
011-44-20-7828-8143
trafalgar.com
British Tours' "Beautiful Britain" packages travel by minibus or coach, blending premier attractions with smaller destinations often missed by major coach tours. Tours include a British Heritage Pass good for nearly 600 attractions at a flat daily rate of under $50 (2010 prices). Accommodations range from deluxe country house hotels to quaint historic inns. Trips from London range between two and six days for themed itineraries throughout England, Scotland and Wales. Highlights include a two-day overnight in Bath featuring Windsor Castle and Stonhenge, and a five-day "Best in Britain" round trip to York with stops in Cambridge, the Peak District, Salisbury and Winchester.
British Tours Ltd.
Linen Hall
162-168 Regent Street
London W1B 5TE
England
011-44-207-038-0688
britishtours.com
