Johannesburg – With so many ways to travel these days from coach-touring to going it alone, it can be difficult to decide which is best. Especially if you have a few preconceived notions on what options are out there.
Pieter Beyers, general manager of Insight Vacations, answers a question that concerns many, whether an escorted holiday is rushed.
“Far from it! At Insight our escorted tours come in a variety of styles, crafted to suit your personal needs, from our Easy Pace tours, where you stay three nights in a destination, to our Discovery tours which are a bit livelier but still have two-night stays,” Beyers says.
Insight also offers a four-day mini-tour of the World War I battlefields or a 19-day extravaganza across Italy with two-night stays in all the major cities and a seven-day cruise in Venice.
Beyers says Insight uses luxury coaches that offer free wi-fi, more than double the normal leg room, windows with panoramic views, on board restrooms, as well as power outlets.
There will never be more than 40 guests on the coaches.
The tours also utilise other forms of transport, including the Glacier Express in Switzerland, cogwheel trains, cable cars, the Eurostar, gondolas in Venice and open-top taxis in Capri.
A Insight coach tour does not mean guests will be herded like sheep, says Beyers.
“We will pre-book all your experiences in advance and ensure priority entrance. You’ll visit the must-see, must-do sights but we also craft our tours to include our Signature Experiences not available to the general public.
“For example, when you visit the Vatican on one of our Italy trips you will have private access to the Bramante Staircase. In the highlands of Scotland you’ll learn the art of working with sheepdogs with Neil Ross and in Prague you can try your hand at glassblowing.”
Small group sizes means more personal attention and faster check-in.
And as for food, Beyers says: “We dine in local restaurants… eating among the locals.”
See www.insightvacations.com
Saturday Star