|
|
 |
|
Protect your Investment with Travel Safe |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Click link for full info. Make secure, online credit card payments. NOTE:Transactions attract a 3.5% fee. Please add the transaction fee to the total amount entered. Thanks. *Personal checks accepted with no transaction fee. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Tours by Destination: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tours by Theme: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cruise Programs: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Self-Guided Europe Programs: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
|
Special Group Tours Toll Free: 1 866 725 5250 |
|||||
|
|
||
|
RED DRAGON - Tour of South Wales This superb, four-day, three-night tour of Wales will introduce you to the very best of South Wales, while affording you a glimpse of West Country England. It's the ideal tour for those who really want to get down the back roads on the discovery trail. The group size is limited to just eleven persons, traveling by comfortable mini-coach and staying in a traditional Welsh country farmhouse, vineyard or manor house. You'll see fabulous history, wonderful scenery, and visit with local people. 'I never realized that Wales was such a beautiful country. Your tour of Wales was a revelation. Traveling with the small group of us in our trusty mini-van was definately the way to see it! Thanks, Back-Roads. I'll be back for Cornwall and Devon next year.' Jessie Strom (2004) "I'm so pleased that I've finally discovered Wales. It's my 51st country and few of the 50 preceeding ones can beat it for such variety. My only regret is that I didn't take the longer tour!" Martha Coffey, 2006
2008 dates: every Wednesday, from 16 April through 6 November. Winter dates available on request, subject to availability.
This GUARANTEED DEPARTURE begins WEDNESDAYS as above from central London hotels below.
Cost: $989 USD per person in a twin share room. Single $1039 USD single occupancy What your tour price includes: Your accommodation for 3 nights while on the tour including both full breakfasts and dinners. Your price also includes all entrance fees to attractions, transportation, services of driver/guide-companion and all taxes and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide. Airport transfers and accommodation pre and post tour is not included but can be reserved at a specially discounted price. Our London tour base is the Chiswick Hotel so you will be picked-up for your tour here at 09.00 if booking pre-tour accommodation with us. Want to upgrade your tour package to include international airfare? Click here for info.
TENTATIVE ITINERARY Day One - Wednesday Leaving London early, we shake off the city dust using the M40 freeway to speed our journey to wonderful Wales. Our route will give us a glimpse of the the beautiful English Cotswolds as we head for the Royal Forest of Dean, bordering Wales, and the stunning Wye Valley, with a lunch stop beside the river Wye. What better introduction to Wales, "Land of Song", than the imposing 12th century Norman castle of Chepstow Chepstow Castle. and the romantic Tintern Abbey (inspiration for one of William Wordsworth's loveliest poems). If there's time we'll also see the fallen walls of the once mighty Roman city of Caerwent, reputed by some to be the home of the great King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Our accommodation is at a 17th century working Welsh Farmhouse, imposing country manor or vineyard depending on the time of year. NIGHTSTOP: South Wales Day Two - Thursday The civic centre of the Welsh capital - Cardiff - is magnificent by world standards. It will be the showpiece of a panoramic city tour (which will also feature the Millennium Stadium, formally known as the Arms Park, Mecca for the millions of Rugby Football fans worldwide). On then to the superb cathedral at Llandaff before arriving at the open-air Museum of Welsh Life in the nearby village of St Fagans. This fascinating mirror of hundreds of years of Welsh life embraces dozens of authentic buildings, removed from all corners of the country and painstakingly and faithfully rebuilt and refurbished here. Houses, churches and chapels, a mill, bakery, pubs and even a school, have been wonderfully preserved. This afternoon we explore the verdant Vale of Glamorgan, choosing from the market town where Sir Anthony Hopkins went to school, the Valley of Kings where the wizard Merlin was schooled, rugged coastline where smugglers lured ships to the rocks, and we'll cross a river by 13th century stepping stones. NIGHTSTOP: South Wales Day Three - Friday According to our accommodation stop, today will either begin or end in the once grey and hard world of a Welsh mining valley, now transformed, but a time so memorably captured in the great novel of industrial Wales, 'How Green Was My Valley'. We'll climb the rim of the saucer of the coal-seam bearing, Rhigos Mountain to view the sole surviving deep Welsh coal mine and the breathtaking scenery of the Brecon Beacons, our next calling point. 'There'll be a welcome in these hillsides' sing the Welsh. The market town of Brecon could be our lunch stop (where there's an interesting military museum ), or perhaps Wales's oldest inn, used by the infamous 'Hanging Judge' Jefferies as a court room. We'll also view the remote and atmospheric ruins of Llantony Priory and a historic 'hidden' rural church. Depending on time, we'll also be visiting Abergaveny and its cattle market or the historic town of Monmouth, well-known to Admiral Nelson, Mr Rolls of Rolls Royce and Henry V. As with all Back-Roads Touring Co. Ltd tours, tour participants will be able have an input into what we visit as we'll make allowance for weather conditions, local festivals and individual interests. NIGHTSTOP: South Wales Day Four - Saturday On our way back to London we'll visit the mysterious ancient standing stones of Avebury and the amazing Silbury Hill. But this will only be after a final memorable morning in Roman Wales. The now small village of Caerleon was named after the camp of the Roman Legions - perhaps up to 6000 Roman legionaries were based here almost 2000 years ago. The imposing remains of that camp remain and can be visited and include the barracks, the only complete amphitheatre in Britain, the Roman baths, and the remains of a Roman port. We'll take our leave of the land of the Red Dragon, crossing the river Severn in a most unusual fashion before heading east and experiencing a spectacular exit from Wales. Our drive back to London sees us passing through some of England's timeless West country scenery and we'll arrive back into London in the late afternoon. NIGHTSTOP: London (not included in tour package)
Our 3 day tour of Kent departs weekly on Sundays and links with this Red Dragon tour. Also, our 4 day tours running Saturdays - Tuesday can be linked by joining them first: weekly departures of King Arthur, select departures of Stately Homes and Gardens or Viking York (from Manchester.) For a complete Welsh adventure, join our Wales Mountains & Lakes tour from Manchester to create the Land of Song itinerary. We are happy to assist with rail arrangements between cities.
This tour is operated by Back-Roads Touring Co Ltd |
