by Stella Kaye

Created on: July 30, 2011

A Destination a Day

For a luxury vacation, travelling in comfort and style why not consider a coach tour to discover some of the best cities of Europe? Such a tour need not be prohibitive in cost and will not take a great deal of organisation on your part as practically everything is done for you.

With over twenty four countries to visit throughout Western Europe, the discerning tourist will have little trouble in choosing an intensive itinerary that will be packed with memorable highlights. Many tourists find that booking a ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe on a fully escorted coach journey will allow them to do this, travelling in style and staying in three or sometimes four star hotels en route. Non-flying or mobility restricted tourists from Britain also opt for coach tours as a great way to see the finest cities on the continent.

If you have never visited Europe before this is by far the best way to discover a different destination nearly every day on the European mainland. The European coach tour has always been popular with the British and there is even a film called: ‘If it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium’ (1969) and more recently has seen an increase in popularity due to the TV series ‘Coach Trip’ but the concept of a ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe is by no means recent and first began as a sort of ‘Coming of age’ ritual for the affluent young as far back as 1670 when the phrase was first coined. Sometimes years would be spent on these grand tours as an education in language and culture taking in the splendours of such cities as Florence, Naples Paris, Rome and Venice.

Nowadays a grand tour will likely be of no more than a few weeks’ duration. A basic itinerary is as follows (assuming the start of the journey will be from the UK) and includes a Dover to Calais channel crossing via ferry or through the channel tunnel. Such a tour will take you through eleven countries and still leave you with change from a thousand pounds. These intensive sightseeing tours are excellent value for money considering the amount of ground covered and all the benefits associated with a guided trip specially formulated for the tourist who wants to see many of the main highlights of Europe in a short space of time.

Touring coaches nowadays have reclining seats, air conditioning, washroom facilities and are classed as state of the art.

The first overnight stop on a typical tour will usually be in Paris, three hours away from

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