the times Saturday June 11 2022
Travel 53
Last-minute no-fly breaks
Take the train to Spain
Don’t be intimidated by a rail trip to
Spain — relaxing into your holiday with
some window gazing is a great way to
de-stress before the fun begins. A new,
self-led rail tour with Byway, which
specialises in sustainable no-fly travel,
takes the strain out of route planning.
Catching the Eurostar from London to
Lille, you’ll spend a night in Nîmes,
exploring the 18th-century Jardins de la
Fontaine and Les Arènes Roman
amphitheatre, pass through Barcelona
(with a night there on the return) and
spend three days in the Mediterranean
port city of Tarragona for Roman ruins,
beaches and fab food.
Details Five nights’ B&B starts at
£1,018pp, including trains (byway.travel)
Escape to the seaside
in Cornwall
Finding last-minute availability at
stylish holiday properties by the sea gets
tricky — bordering on impossible —
when the sun comes out. Your best bet
is to choose a brand new place no one
knows about yet. Step forward the
Atlanta Trevone, a collection of
breezy self-catering homes near
Padstow on the north coast due to open
on July 15. With fashionable interiors
dubbed “Hamptons beach house meets
the Pig”, private beach access, and a
manager on site, they’re bound to be
booked up for years. Summer and
September availability is bountiful at the
moment, though.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for six
from £2,800 (atlantatrevonebay.com)Nature-spotting on
Guernsey
Crossing the sea to an island feels
instantly like a holiday, especially if it’s
Guernsey, with its sandy beaches and
opportunities for island-hopping. Follow
the tidal causeway to Lihou island for a
dip in the Venus rock pools, or swim
on Guernsey proper at the saltwater
bathing pools at La Valette, where Victor
Hugo and Pierre-Auguste Renoir got a
head start on “The Iceman” Wim Hof.
On Herm, a 15-minute ferry away,
puffins can be spotted into July on a
Puffin Patrol kayak trip from Shell Beach
(adult £45, child £35; outdoorguernsey.gg).
Details Three nights’ B&B at the
boutique Duke of Richmond Hotel
from £439pp in June, including ferry
crossing from Poole with a car
(guernseytravel.com).Cultural tour of
Holland’s coolest cities
Done Amsterdam, done the
Netherlands? Not at all. Those
enamoured with the laid-back lifestyleand boutique-lined canals should look to
Leiden and Utrecht, gorgeous cities that
could form part of a mini cultural tour.
Take the Stena Line ferry from Harwich
to Hook of Holland, or DFDS from
Newcastle to Amsterdam, driving to the
Hague for a splash on Scheveningen
beach, and staying at the Hotel Indigo, a
converted bank. Zip to Leiden and
Utrecht, staying in Airbnbs, and circle
back to Haarlem, Amsterdam’s cool
coastal neighbour, before home.
Details Room-only doubles in June
from £177 (ihg.com). Ferry crossing
from Harwich to Hook of Holland from
£114 one way for a car and two
passengers (stenaline.co.uk)Foodie southern France
by rail
A relaxed river cruise past vineyards and
historic houses along the Rhône kicks
off a tour of southern France by rail with
Great Rail Journeys, whose European
departures have £200 off in June. Arles,
home to a Roman arena and art galleries
such as the Frank Gehry-designed
LUMA, is the first stop, followed by a
guided nose round the foodie hotspots of
Avignon’s alleyways and squares. Other
ports of call include a visit to a nougat
workshop in St Didier, the small town of
Uzès for a trip to the Pont du Gard, and
wine-tasting in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Details Six nights’ B&B from £1,295pp,
including rail travel from London
(greatrail.com)Hiking in Switzerland
Early summer is a glorious time to go
walking in the Swiss Alps, and there’s no
better starting point than Grindelwald
in the Bernese Oberland, beneath the
mighty Eiger. Don’t panic, you won’t be
tackling the North Face, but hiking
to Kandersteg over passes and peaks,
staying in five hotels and mountain
guesthouses and cheating a little by
using narrow-gauge cog railways,
gondola lifts and electric locomotives.
You won’t even have to carry your own
luggage — it’s transported ahead.
Departures from June 25.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from
£1,815pp, including rail travel from
London (inntravel.co.uk)
Gemma BowesGETTY IMAGESSagrada Familia in
Barcelona, one of the
stops on a rail journey