Far and guide: let an expert lead the way

Being an intrepid, independent traveller is all very well but sometimes you just want to sit back and let someone look after the details, safe in the knowledge that they’ll pick the best bits for you to see, no matter what your interests. All you have to choose is where to sit on the bus – and which escorted tour to take, of course.

Wined and dined in Sicily
Summer may be coming to a close but wine lovers will appreciate that September brings compensation in the form of the grape harvest.

Arblaster & Clarke, a wine tours specialist, has an eight-day tour of Sicily with an itinerary that includes Syracuse, Palermo and Marsala, punctuated by wine-tastings, dinners and lunches at some of the best wine estates on the island, including one on the slopes of Mount Etna.

You won't be seeing the entire island over the top of a wine glass, mind you, with visits to some of the best preserved archaeological sites, such as the Valley of the Temples near Agrigento, also included. From £2,650, including flights ex London, staying at four- and five-star hotels.
winetours.co.uk

Clubs, cards and culture
Professional bridge player Peter Pigot runs golf and bridge holidays in Tuscany. The week-long breaks, departing either September 7th or 14th, are based at Poggio dei Medici Golf and Country Club, a former home of the Ladies Italian Open, in the heart of the Mugello region. Just 25km from Florence, it is also the perfect spot from which to visit Siena, Lucca and San Gimignano.

The trip costs €1,495, including flights, B&B accommodation, six days of golf, plus golf clinics with ex-Ryder Cup international player Peter Townsend, and daily bridge games and tutorials with Pigot. And as if that's not enough, two of the best designer outlets in Europe, the Barberino and the Mall, are just up the road, so bring an extra suitcase.
peterpigotbridge.com

Pilgrim's progress
Ever wanted to walk the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain but without all the, eh, walking? With this tour, you can. El Easy Camino is a nine-night bus tour from citiescapes.ie that begins in Bilbao and ends in Santiago de Compostela, staying in great hotels and making detours to all the top sights. Lest it feel too much like cheating, there are plenty of opportunities for some light hiking (without luggage) along the way.

Despite having run around the Guggenheim Museum, enjoyed wine-tastings at La Rioja, visited castles in Burgos and toured the old centre of Leon, you'll be one of the few arriving in Santiago de Compostela blister-free. The 10-day trip costs €1,399, including flights and half-board accommodation.
citiescapes.ie

Rivers run through it
With a river cruise, you get all the luxury and benefits of an ocean-going liner without the days spent at sea. In fact, with a European river cruise, you're right in the thick of things all the way.

How about an eight-day Rhine cruise to the medieval cities of Heidelberg and Strasbourg, including escorted tours to the magnificent cathedral city of Cologne and the picture postcard Alsatian city of Colmar? Think higgledy-piggledy half-timbered houses, each town more quaint than the last. Priced from €1,589.
rivieratravel.ie

Norway in a nutshell
Tour guides can make or break an escorted tour. Having once been held captive by one who was unable to stop extolling the virtues of pineapples, it would be hard to overstate the pleasure of finding one in Norway who knew exactly the right mix of historical heft and celebrity trivia to keep people learning, laughing and, crucially, listening.

If you're lucky, you'll get him again on the Travel Department's Fjords of Norway trip, which takes you from east to west for city tours of Oslo and Bergen, with a ride on the famous Flam Railway, a trip across a glacial plateau and a cruise down breathtaking fjords in between – no explication required.
traveldepartment.ie

Czech mates for music
If it is music that gets you going, try an opera and ballet tour with Culture Travel, a division of Keith Prowse that specialises in travel, accommodation and tickets to opera, ballet and classical music events in cities around the world.

Its Presidential Prague Opera and Ballet Tour, departing 24th October, is priced between €715-€789, including flights, transfers and four nights' B&B at the centrally located four-star Rokoko Hotel. The trip includes a guided tour of Prague, plus a daytrip to Kutna Hora, the town best known for its bone church. Decorated with the skeletons of 40,000 people, it has the most creepy candelabra you'll ever see. By night there's a choice of such performances as Swan Lake, Cinderella, a selection of Mozart operas or Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.
keithprowse.ie

Tours are wizard in Oz
The distances are so daunting in Australia that there is a huge comfort in having someone else look after the logistics. Abbey Travel's East Coast Discovery Tour covers all the east coast's highlights, from Sydney to Cairns, in 12 days.

It starts at Cape Byron Lighthouse, Australia's most easterly point, touring up through the aptly named Gold and Sunshine coasts to Brisbane, over to the rainforests and lakes of Fraser Island, and on to Daydream Island, before finishing up in Cairns. Along the way visit wildlife sanctuaries, walk treetop canopies and cruise the Great Barrier Reef. The tour-only price is €3,255.
abbeytravel.ie

Cycle to Saigon
Escorted tours don't have to mean bussing it. Explore's 14-day cycling tour of Vietnam travels the rural heartlands along back roads and through villages, stopping to take in cities such as Hanoi, Hue, Old Saigon and Hoi An. The tour also takes in Halong Bay, with its humpbacked limestone formations, the tropical beaches of Nha Trang and the secret valley ruins of My Son, the ancient capital of the Cham Empire, as well as the Cu Chi Tunnels. The terrain is relatively flat and the group numbers are kept small. Or find five friends to travel with and they'll tailor-make an escorted tour just for you. From £1,249 excluding flights.

[ explore.co.uk ]

Under Tuscan tum
Lovers of Italian cuisine will relish a three- day cooking holiday in Tuscany, staying at a 13th-century hotel in a part of the world revered by foodies. Short but sweet, it is the perfect opportunity for hands-on cooking lessons from Italian chefs whose aim is to help you master local dishes using authentic recipes and wholesome ingredients.

All lessons are conducted at your hotel, the Villa Casagrande, and after your work in the kitchen is done, it's time for evenings of fun, food and delicious wines as you work your way through the fruits of your labour. The villa is in Figline Valdarno, a short train ride from Florence, and has its own pool and wellness centre. The trip, which starts on October 5th, costs from €775, including return flights from Dublin to Bologna.
Gti-ireland.com

Peace and pilates in Spain
Find inner peace – and outer toning – with a yoga and pilates holiday in Alicante, Spain. This six-day break is based in a boutique hotel just 10 minutes from the beach but a world away from the hurley-burley of mass tourism. Instead, it's an opportunity to clear your mind, nurture your health and boost your metabolism with guided coastal hikes and bike rides, creative cookery classes and meditation workshops, as well as daily lessons in yoga and pilates. Your guides here are a couple who, eight years ago, decided to rebalance their lives, so they'll be well placed to help you rebalance yours – while having fun at the same time. From £625, excluding flights.

[ responsibletravel.com ]