British Isles
Short breaks in impressive settings combined with spa visits are among good
deals available this month and next. In Bath, choose from two nights’
B&B at Bailbrook Lodge, a Grade II listed country house hotel just
outside the city, or at the central Royal Hotel, and pay from £99 and £120.
The price includes a two-hour visit to the Bath Thermae Spa and a glass of
Taittinger champagne. 01225 859090/463134
Cottage Lodge at Brockenhurst in the New Forest, highly rated by the
AA, offers B&B from £28 a night from Mondays to Thursdays and has teamed
up with The Spa at Carey’s Manor in the village, where a half-day visit
costs £35. 01590 622296
A pretty cottage for four in the Peak District near Wirksworth is on
offer for a week from this weekend for £200 with holidaylettings.co.uk. It
is an ideal base for cycling and walking; welcome pack included. 01865
312000
A coastal cottage near Hartland Abbey, north Devon, has been one of the
“stars” of BBC TV’s Sense and Sensibility. Stay
near by at Premier Cottages’ Long Furlong, where a refurbished home for four
costs £750 a week from February 9 and 16, with use of an indoor pool,
fishing lake and tennis court. The abbey is open for “snowdrop Sundays” on
February 10 and 17. 01237 441337
An indoor pool and spa, together with Nordic walking, dancing and surfing
lessons, are among facilities at Bedruthan Steps Hotel, by a dramatic beach,
above, in north Cornwall. Four-night midweek breaks cost from £249
with dinner, B&B (excluding half-term). 01637 860555
A former miner’s cottage for four in Wanlockhead in the Southern Uplands of Scotland
and the country’s highest village, and a cottage for five with good views on
the edge of Dingwall and the Highlands, are among homes available this month
with Mackay’s Agency. They cost from £328 for a week. 0131-550
1180
Short haul
Escape the crowds with a winter break in Florence, where Cities Direct
has a three-night break for £149. Fly from East Midlands on January 19 for B&B
in the three-star Liana Hotel, a 19th-century building with frescoes on the
ceiling. 01242 536900
Madeira for a week for £199 is another good deal, available with
Atlantic Holidays – with a flight from Gatwick on January 21 or 28 and a
room in the three-star Dom Pedro Garajau hotel, 9.6km (six miles) from the
capital, Funchal. 01452 381888
Skysouth is expanding its operations from Brighton City airport (better known
as Shoreham airfield) with the launch next week of new services to Deauville.
Flights leave on Mondays and Fridays and, also from March, on Sundays and
cost from £69 one way. The smart Normandy resort, above, is also
famous for horse and yacht racing. 01273 446400
Save money at the January sales in Paris and in Citadines Apart’Hotels,
where 30 per cent discounts are on offer until January 20. A studio for two
in Citadines Les Halles, next to the city’s largest shopping centre, costs
from £72 a night, and in Citadines Opéra-Grands Boulevards, near Galeries
Lafayette, from £94. 0800 3763898
Lastminute.com has a choice of skiing packages to the French Alps,
starting with a flight from Gatwick on February 2. A week’s half-board in
Clubhotel Le Lievre Blanc, a restored 17th-century coaching inn in Serre
Chevalier, costs from £299; a week’s self-catering in flats close to the
gondola in Méribel Mottaret costs from £279, based on four sharing.
Transfers included. 0870 4439902
Long haul
Choose Canada for your skiing holiday and you will find an amazing deal
with travelocity.co.uk: 11 nights in the Pine Inn, Panorama, from £349
including a flight from Gatwick on February 9 – but act fast to claim it. 0871
4725116
Savings on breaks to Bermuda are on offer until Easter with Prestige
Holidays. A week in an ocean-view room at Grotto Bay beach resort costs from
£617 with BA flights from Gatwick. 01425 480400
Celebrate Chinese New Year in China on a week’s sightseeing tour, based
in Beijing, with Sanya China Travel. It costs from £845 with a flight from
Heathrow on February 4, B&B and some extra meals. 01256 863030
All prices are per person and based on two travelling together and sharing
a room, unless stated otherwise.
A walk on the warm side
Walking in a warm winter climate seems an ideal way of recharging the
batteries and recovering from festive excesses, and here are three
attractive possibilities. Balearic Discovery has a six-night package
starting from Saturdays until Easter and based at Can Casetes, a family-run
hotel in the village of Caimari in the foothills of the Majorcan
mountains.
The break costs £600 and includes six nights’ B&B, five
dinners, five days trekking with picnic lunches, and car hire from the
airport. Each day clients will be led by an experienced mountain guide on
treks that include hiking along mountain terrain, ambling through olive and
citrus groves, or scaling the highest mountain on the island, Massanell, at
1,352m. Guests are allowed a day off in the middle of the week to recuperate
or explore the island by any means, except on foot.
Walks around Oberstdorf on Germany’s southern border and in the
Kleinwalser Valley, set against a backdrop of jagged peaks and tree-covered
hillsides, are on the itinerary of a Ramblers Worldwide Holiday for a week
from February 3. It costs £699 with a flight from Heathrow, transfers,
half-board and a tour leader.
Simpson Travel suggests walking in the wilds of western Sicily or in
the Zingari natural reserve beside the Gulf of Castellemare, while taking a
selfcatering holiday in Casa Anna in the smart resort of Mondello. A week
from January 19 costs from £409, based on four sharing, with a flight from
Gatwick and transfers.
www.balearicdiscovery.com
— 0034971 875395
ramblersholidays.co.uk
— 01707 331133
www.simpsontravel.co.uk
— 0845 8116504
Life through a lense in Gothenburg
The west Sweden port city of Gothenburg has become an increasingly popular
option for city breaks for British and Irish visitors, following the launch
of direct Ryanair flights from Stansted, Prestwick and Dublin. Broad
boulevards, fine shops and restaurants, a lively population boosted by
60,000 students and the port itself have attracted record numbers from the
British Isles.
Spring and summer have been the obvious seasons to enjoy the city’s splendid
parks, botanical gardens and canals but there is a good reason to visit
later this month: the 31st Gothenburg International Film Festival.
Hundreds of films from around the world will be screened at cinemas across the
city centre from January 25 until February 4. A retrospective of 48 films
and TV productions by Ingmar Bergman, Sweden’s greatest and best-known
film-maker, has already started and will continue during the festival, when
eight of his earliest and best works will be shown with English subtitles,
including Smiles of a Summer Night, The Magic Flute and Through a Glass
Darkly.
Bergman, who died last year aged 89, had been honorary president of the
festival since 1994 and a retrospective had been planned to celebrate his
90th birthday. The event will now both pay tribute to his talents and enable
viewers to discover and rediscover his legendary work. Contemporary films on
show will include several new features from Mexico.
Visitors can give their eyes a screen break by walking to the historic harbour
area and through the cobbled streets of Haga Old Town, full of cafés and
interesting shops. They should also find time for lunch or supper in one of
Gothenburg’s many great restaurants, such as Avenyn No 1 in a beautifully
restored late 19th-century building on the main boulevard.
The Gothenburg Pass — giving access to top attractions, including the Rohsska
Museum of Design and Applied Art and the Universeum Science and Discovery
Centre, plus free public transport — is included in packages available from
the Gothenburg tourist office. They include two nights’ B&B from
January 26 at the centrally located, four-star Gothia Towers for £115.
Cities Direct has a three-night package during the festival for £249, with
flights from Stansted and B&B at the four-star Scandic Europa Hotel.
A festival pass costs £3 and tickets are £5 each. The full programme has just
been announced and tickets can be purchased online from Saturday.
www.goteborg.com; hotel
reservations: 00 46 3161 2500
www.filmfestival.org; citiesdirect.co.uk
— 01242 536900
