Pricing & General Information for Cycling Holidays
• Your holiday price
• Making a booking
• Insurance, health & passports
• Other information
• Booking flights with Inntravel
• Cross-Channel travel
• European Rail Travel
Your holiday price
All prices on our website are expressed (unless otherwise stated) in £
per person, based on 2 people travelling together and sharing a double
or twin room.
Your start date determines the price applicable to your holiday,
and prices vary according to the day you arrive at the first hotel, as
indicated in the holiday price panels. You should arrive back in the UK
by the last date shown at the top of the price panel. If, in the case of ‘self-drive’ and ‘by rail’ holidays, you are travelling out a few days before
you are due to arrive at your Inntravel accommodation, your holiday
may fall within a different pricing period and incur additional charges.
Please check with us when making your booking.
All holidays include accommodation with a private bath
and/or shower and WC, unless otherwise stated. Where your stay at any
hotel is for fewer than 3 nights, your bedroom will have either a bath or
a shower. For stays of 3 nights or more we can specifically request, but
cannot guarantee, a bath rather than a shower, and vice versa.
Meal arrangements for
each holiday are described within the holiday description. We do not include drinks (except at breakfast) in our meal
arrangements. Please tell us about any special dietary requirements
when you make your booking. For lunch, we suggest that you stop off at shops and cafés en route, and our cycling notes provide some specific recommendations (pay locally).
‘Cycle’ prices include accommodation for the
number of nights stated in the information panel and all related
services such as luggage transfers and cycle hire, but no travel (except travel elements
that form an integral part of the holiday and are specifically stated in
the description). If you wish to fly to your destination and are flying via our
recommended airport(s), we can arrange onward travel for you. The
price panel indicates the price (expressed per person) for the
connecting travel (which is usually by rail, bus and/or taxi and tends to
be from the centre of the stated city, rather than from its airport, if
onward travel is by rail) along with the anticipated duration (not including
any connection time between airports and city stations). If you book
your connecting travel through Inntravel, full journey details will be
shown on your personalised Itinerary, which we include with your
tickets and final documentation. As well as arranging your connecting travel, we will also be happy to book flights on your
behalf from a wide selection of routes and prices. Please see
details of our flight booking service.
‘Self-drive’ prices apply when you take your car
across the Channel and include a return Channel crossing between
Dover and Calais with P&O Ferries for your party and one car. A supplement of £38 per car per
single journey applies on this route for weekend travel from 23
May to 1 June and from 25 July to 7 September 2008 inclusive. (‘Weekend’ is defined as Friday and Saturday for outward travel, and
Saturday and Sunday for the return crossing.) No on-board accommodation is
included. We can also book other routes and operators for a supplement. On hotel-to-hotel cycling holidays, a transfer
back to the first hotel to pick up your car is included where necessary.
‘By rail’ prices include standard-class travel by Eurostar from
London St Pancras or Ebbsfleet, Kent, to Lille or Paris, with onward travel (again in
standard class) by other rail services, and a transfer
to your hotel where necessary. If you are travelling via Paris,
you are allowed to break your journey in the city, and we include metro tickets for the journey between mainline stations. To upgrade to first class,
please contact us for prices. Whether you opt for standard or first class, we reserve seats for you, there is plenty of room
for luggage storage, and refreshments are available on board.
‘3rd+ person saving’ on the price panel expresses a reduction to
be applied to the overall holiday price for any third and subsequent
persons travelling in a party. All party members must travel together for
the reduction to apply; if the holiday includes a Channel crossing or taxi transfer, the party must travel in one vehicle.
Single room prices are shown in holiday price panels, as the total
amount payable per room for the whole holiday. Also, as
all our prices are based on two people travelling together, we may
have to make a further charge if you are travelling on your own, which we will tell you about at the time of booking.
Some hotels offer superior rooms (rooms with balcony or sea
view etc). There are so many options available that we do not tend to give details, so please ask us if superior rooms are available at the
hotels on your chosen holiday. Where superior room options are given, we express the additional cost per
person per night (pp/n).
You can extend any holiday by adding extra nights. Prices are
expressed
per person per night in either a double or a single room. Prices are based on the standard meal arrangements
for that hotel, unless otherwise stated, and include an additional day's cycle hire (except for Siena, Girona and city stays). Where no prices are stated,
please contact us for details.
You can combine holidays, be it two (or more) cycling holidays,
a cycling and a walking holiday, or a cycling holiday and a week’s stay in
one of our characterful self-catering properties. Please contact us for prices.
Some of our cycle providers require you to leave a cash deposit as a guarantee when collecting your bikes. We advise you about this in your holiday documentation where applicable.
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Making a booking
To book your holiday, you can complete our
online booking form, though if you wish to
tailor-make the itinerary in any way, we recommend you call us on 01653
617086 instead so that our expert reservations staff can talk you through
the numerous options available to you. (Please note that some calls may be recorded for training and quality control purposes.)
When making a booking, please have the following to hand:
• full passport names and dates of birth of all party members
• addresses of all party members
• height of all party members so that your cycle provider can reserve appropriate cycles for you
• contact details of a friend or relative in the UK who we can call in the case of an emergency while you are on holiday
• payment details
• name of your insurer, policy number and medical emergency helpline if you are arranging your own insurance
• make, model, registration number, height and length (including anything to be carried on top or at the rear) of your vehicle if you are travelling self-drive
• name and driver for hire car (if applicable)
However you book, we require a deposit of £120 per person to confirm the reservation, along with your insurance premiums (if required) and the price of your flights if you ask us to arrange these for
you.
It is assumed that you have accepted our Booking Conditions.
Once we have made the requested reservations, we will send you a Booking
Confirmation and Invoice confirming the principal elements of your holiday.
We ask that you pay the balance 8 weeks before departure and will normally
send your documentation 2-3 weeks in advance of your holiday. We will
consult you if we cannot make any of the arrangements (unless it is a
minor detail) and we will refund your deposit in full if we are
unable to arrange the holiday requested or offer an acceptable alternative.
You can choose to pay by a variety of methods: bank or
building society cheque (made payable to Inntravel Ltd), online transfer
direct into Inntravel’s bank account (details are available on request), debit
card (Visa Debit or Maestro) or credit card (MasterCard or Visa). We are
currently unable to accept American Express cards. Because we are
charged for credit card payments, we levy a credit card fee of 1.25% of the
holiday price if you choose to pay by MasterCard or Visa. We do not levy
charges for any other type of payment.
Last-minute bookings are often possible, for which we may have
to make an extra charge for secure ticket delivery. We recommend you
book as early as possible to get the holiday you want.
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Insurance, health & passports
We offer a personal holiday insurance policy specifically tailored to our type of holiday by Voyager Insurance, whose
cover is among the most comprehensive available. In addition to
emergency medical assistance, the policy provides cover for
cancellation and travel disruption in many circumstances, and even
covers you if you are unable to cycle due to illness or injury. You can find prices (along with a summary of cover) and the full policy wording on our website. As
personal holiday insurance is so important, it is a requirement of our
Booking Conditions that you take out adequate cover. We will
therefore require you to take out our policy and pay the
appropriate premium at the time of booking unless you
provide us with details of equivalent cover you have already
arranged. It is your responsibility to ensure that your policy offers
adequate cover which is at least as comprehensive as the cover we
offer. We do not check alternative policies.
British citizens must have a full British passport to visit the countries
in this programme, but no visas are required. If your passport is due to
expire, please check the requirements of the country you are visiting
– some nations will not allow you entry unless
your passport is valid for a further 6 months. Entry requirements
may change and you must check the up-to-date position in good
time before departure. A British passport presently takes
approximately 4 weeks to obtain (see the United Kingdom Passport
Service’s website, ips.gov.uk). If you or any member of your party is
16 or over and do not yet have a passport, our recommendation is
that you should apply for one at least 6 weeks before your holiday.
The UK Passport Service has to confirm your identity before issuing
your first passport and will ask you to attend an interview in order to
do this. If you or any member of your party is not a British citizen or
holds a non British passport, you must check passport and visa
requirements with the Embassy or Consulate of the country(ies) to
or through which you are intending to travel (please note that our Slovenia's Secret Corner holiday includes short sections through Croatia, Hungary and Austria, although we also provide alternative routes which do not cross international borders).
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office produces up-to-date travel
information to help British travellers make informed decisions about
travelling abroad. For further information, please visit
fco.gov.uk/knowbeforeyougo or telephone 0845 850 2829.
Alternatively, contact ABTA’s Travel Information Line on 0901 201
5050 (calls charged at 50 pence per minute).
Information on health is given on the Department of Health website
dh.gov.uk and in the booklet T7 (Health Advice for Travellers) available
from your local Department of Health office and most Post Offices.
You should obtain a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)
prior to departure as this may entitle you to free or reduced cost
medical treatment while abroad (this card replaced the now
defunct E111). You can apply for your EHIC online by visiting dh.gov.uk,
by telephone on 0845 606 2030, or by post with a form available
from most Post Offices. Telephone and postal applications can take up
to 21 days. Please note that an EHIC should not be relied upon as a
substitute for comprehensive travel insurance. The EHIC scheme is
valid in all countries of the EU, and Switzerland also operates the same arrangement. In the unlikely event of any health problems in Croatia, which is not covered
by the EHIC scheme and which forms a very brief part of our Slovenia's Secret Corner holiday, you can obtain emergency treatment on
production of a valid British passport, through a reciprocal agreement
between Britain and Croatia.
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Other information
Your preferred room type will be requested where possible.
While many Spanish hotels tend towards twin-bedded
rooms, in Austria hotels offer
beds comprising two single mattresses with individual
bedding on one large base.
We cannot provide children's cycles on these holidays, though the cycles offered by our providers may suit teenage children who can use adult cycles. For families with children, we recommend the holidays in our Families programme.
We supply full documentation to help you get
the most from your holiday. We provide local maps along with our own regularly updated route notes which include information on the history, culture and wildlife of the
region and recommendations on what to see, and where to eat and
shop. A main road map is also included if you are driving to your
destination. As your documentation pack is necessarily quite large to
incorporate this wealth of information, we charge customers living
outside Britain (including those in the Republic of Ireland) £20
per pack to cover the additional postage costs.
We transfer your luggage from hotel to hotel on all cycling holidays.
Your safety while cycling is a priority. We design our routes to avoid busy roads wherever possible, but you should be comfortable occasionally riding in traffic. Some routes include occasional sections on unsurfaced tracks, but these do not require any specific technical riding skills. Cycle helmets are not provided so we advise you to bring your own or purchase one locally.
We advise that you should be familiar with basic cycle maintenance (eg repairing a puncture) for your own convenience in case of minor difficulties while cycling.
Continental time is one hour ahead of British time.
Weather conditions are changeable, especially at the start and end of the season. We hope very much that you will be blessed with clement weather and our descriptions of the views assume that you are exploring in good, clear weather conditions.
Outdoor swimming pools are typically only available from May to September, though this does vary and the season may be longer where the climate allows this. Please note that pools may be closed periodically for maintenance.
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Booking flights through Inntravel
It is no secret that the airline world is evolving at a rapid pace. In recent
years, new airlines have connected numerous local airports in Britain to
a vast array of European destinations, many of them well located for easy
access to the regions we feature in this programme. The addition of so
many routes has also had a startling effect on prices. Seats are
sometimes available for the same price as a short taxi journey to your
local restaurant, but as more seats are sold the price increases, with the
result that two passengers sitting next to each other and receiving
exactly the same service may have paid a very different price.
Inntravel's flight booking service At Inntravel, we pride ourselves on our flexibility, and with such a choice
of airlines, departure points and destinations, not to mention so many
different prices available, we decided that in most cases it is no
longer helpful to publish a fixed price for a holiday with an
included flight from London. Instead, our price panels give a price for
the accommodation and associated services such as luggage transfers
and cycle hire, but no travel element (the ‘cycle price’).
We will nevertheless be very happy to book your flights for you
if you wish, and our expert reservations staff will endeavour to
find the best flight arrangements for you from the wide choice
available in terms of routes, prices, conditions and times. We
state our recommended airport(s) for each holiday beneath the price panel and can offer various kinds of flights:
• Inntravel special fares We will offer these wherever they are
available. We have access to special fares to many of our destinations
from leading airlines such as British Airways, Swiss and Iberia, among
others. The price of these special fares varies according to availability on
specific flights, but we will quote the best available special fare for your
choice of dates and times.
• Published fares If a special fare is no longer available on your
choice of flight, or you prefer to fly on a route or with an airline for which
we do not hold special fares, we may be able to make reservations on
your behalf using ‘published’ fares that have been made available
without commission or special concessions to holiday companies and
travel agents in general, or directly to the general public. Such
reservations will be subject to a service fee of £25 per person.
• No frills airlines We are happy to make reservations for you at the
prices and conditions shown on the websites of such airlines as EasyJet,
Ryanair and Jet2, subject also to a service fee of £25 per person.
Recommended airports We state our recommended airport(s) for each holiday beneath the price panel. It may occasionally be possible to fly into other airports if you don't mind a longer or more costly transfer to/from your first/last hotel.
Why book your flights with Inntravel? By booking all your travel arrangements including your flights through
Inntravel, you enjoy the convenience of booking all elements of your
holiday with one company. You can also rest assured that Inntravel will
accept liability for your travel arrangements as set out in our Booking
Conditions (for example we will offer you a range of options in the
event of a significant pre-departure change to your travel
arrangements). The monies you have paid (including for your flights)
will also be protected by the financial security arrangements we have
in place (subject to only a few limited exceptions). Please see our
Booking Conditions for further details.
If you prefer to make your flight arrangements independently, you should
not book your flights until we have confirmed your
accommodation arrangements to you, and you should also heed
the latest flight arrival and earliest flight departure times indicated beneath the price panel, as you may find arranging
connecting travel impossible outside these times. You should bear in
mind that we will not be able to assist or cover additional costs if, for
example, your travel arrangements are disrupted or if, for any reason, you
are unable to meet your pre-booked rail or taxi services, or if we are forced
for reasons beyond our control to make a significant change or cancel your
confirmed holiday. You should ensure that you have adequate insurance
cover in the event of scheduled airline failure or travel disruption. Our
financial security arrangements will not protect monies you have paid for
any flights or other travel arrangements not booked through us.
Booking and paying for your flights We will book your accommodation before booking your flights.
We can often provide rapid confirmation, but because we handle each booking individually and most holidays
involve multiple hotels, we might, therefore, have to book your holiday
in two stages, contacting you once the hotels are confirmed to find the
best flights to get you to your destination. As most airlines require us
to issue tickets and pay for the flights at the time of, or very
shortly after, making the reservation, we will ask you to pay the
full cost of your flights at the time of making your booking (this
is in addition to the general holiday deposit of £120 per person).
Advance Passenger Information (API) As part of measures to ensure aviation safety and security, some countries - including Spain - require all airlines to provide specific information about every passenger before their arrival in the country. This information includes full given names as shown on the passport, date of birth, nationality and passport number. Often these details are gathered at check-in, but some airlines require the information at an earlier stage. In these cases, and where we have booked the flights on your behalf, we will request the required information from you and submit it to the airline.
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Cross-Channel travel
Included in our ‘self-drive’ prices is a return Channel crossing
between Dover and Calais with P&O Ferries for your party (minimum
2 adults) travelling in one car. The crossing takes 75 minutes and during
peak periods there are departures every 45 minutes. A supplement of £38 per car per single journey applies on this
route for weekend travel from 23 May to 1 June and from 25 July
to 7 September 2008 inclusive. ‘Weekend’ is defined as Friday and Saturday
for outward travel, and Saturday and Sunday for the return crossing.
Upgrade to P&O Ferries’ Club Plus service on the
Dover to Calais route. For just £12 per person plus £8 per car each way you benefit
from: priority boarding and disembarkation; and access to the exclusive
Club Lounge with complimentary tea, coffee, soft drinks, newspapers,
waiter service and snack menu.
You can travel on alternative routes or with another
operator, providing you travel out and back with the same company - with Portsmouth being marginally closer to London than Dover, it is hard
to ignore the appeal of the Western Channel routes, for example. We are
able to offer the following routes and operators (please call for prices):
• Eurotunnel offers the quickest method of taking your car across the
Channel, with a crossing time of only 35 minutes from Folkestone
and Calais. Its convenient service operates 365 days a year with a
choice of up to three departures an hour during peak periods.
Upgrade to Flexiplus and you benefit from a dedicated check-in,
exclusive lounge serving complimentary non-alcoholic drinks and
snacks and priority boarding.
To choose Eurotunnel as your
‘self-drive’ option, please call
01653 617086 for details
and prices. (When you book, let us know if your car and equipment are more than 1.85m high. Eurotunnel is unable to carry LPG/dual powered cars.)
• Brittany Ferries enjoys an
excellent reputation for the quality of
its ships and on-board service. It
operates a fast-craft service between
Portsmouth and Cherbourg (daily from
23 March), and a combination of high-speed services and classic
cruise ferries from Portsmouth to Caen (the fast-craft operates Friday
to Sunday from 23 March) and Poole to Cherbourg (the fast-craft
operates daily from 21 May to 30 September).
• For holidays to northern Spain, P&O Ferries’ service from
Portsmouth to Bilbao is very convenient, and the comfortable ships - which depart every third day - offer excellent amenities. The outward
journey takes 35 hours, the return journey, 28. Alternatively, you can
travel with Brittany Ferries from Plymouth to Santander. All sailings take
24 hours, with outward departures on Sundays and Wednesdays, and
return departures on Mondays and Thursdays.
• If you are travelling from northern England or
Scotland, we highly recommend P&O Ferries’ overnight service
from Hull to Zeebrugge. These large, comfortable cruise ships leave
every evening at 1900, and arrive the following morning at around
0815. From Zeebrugge, you have easy access to the French
motorway system, or you can head east to Austria and
Italy. Another option is Superfast Ferries’ excellent overnight service
from Rosyth to Zeebrugge, with daily departures at 1700 (1800 for
the return) for the 18-hour crossing.
Important cross-Channel travel information Ferry and Eurotunnel reservations are made for fixed
time departures; please arrive in plenty of time to check in. On-board accommodation is obligatory on all night sailings and
must be reserved in advance.
Statutory legislation obliges all cross-Channel operators to hold the
names, ages and gender of all passengers and whether any special
assistance is required on board. Please provide these details at the time of
booking to prevent hold-ups at port.
There is a maximum overall height for cars (including roof
loads) of 3 metres and a maximum length of 6 metres. Charges may
apply to cars over 1.5 metres high (including roof loads) or over 5 metres
in length, according to each operator’s normal conditions of carriage.
Please inform us of the length and height of your car at the time of
booking, and let us know if cycles are to be carried on the rear of the car.
European Rail Travel European Rail Travel, combined with the Eurostar services
through the Channel Tunnel, is an excellent (not to mention
environmentally friendly) way to get to your holiday destination, enabling
you to relax right from the start of your journey. The French TGV high-speed
trains make many of our holidays easily accessible by rail. You may
even break your journey in Paris if you are travelling via the capital. We
reserve seats for you, there is plenty of room for luggage storage, and
refreshments are available on board. Sit back and enjoy some truly great
rail journeys!
Included in the price of our ‘by rail’ holidays are return Eurostar from
London St Pancras or Ebbsfleet International in standard class, and
onward rail (again in standard class) from Lille or Paris, private transfer
and/or scheduled bus to your destination. Where travel is via Paris, we
include metro tickets for the journey between mainline stations.
Motorail services - where you and your car travel overnight on
dedicated rail services - can save time, petrol and road tolls on long
continental journeys. There are services from Calais to Brive, Toulouse,
Narbonne, Avignon, Fréjus and Nice in the south of France. We will be
happy to provide details and a quotation.
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