New holidays

Perhaps best known for its rugged beauty, Connemara – the region that teeters on Ireland’s Atlantic edge, in the northwest corner of County Galway – is also rich in Irish cultural heritage. This brand-new tour combines rewarding hikes in a national park, alongside Ireland’s only true fjord, and on the magical off-grid island of Inishbofin, with explorations of landmark sites such as Kylemore Abbey. A two-night stay in vibrant Galway, with its traditional live music scene and deliciously fresh seafood, provides a wonderfully contrasting finale.

The name of our new touring holiday by rail, Irish Cities Explorer, says it all. Starting in Dublin, a cosmopolitan city with so much to discover, it takes you via Cork with its excellent cuisine to Galway, home to Ireland's traditional music scene. There's the opportunity to venture beyond the cities to Ireland's glorious countryside – and even to break your journey with a two-night stay in Killarney National Park. Be sure to leave time to enjoy your hotels – each has something very special to offer, be it boutique comfort, historic elegance or an ideal, city-centre location.

No two mountain ranges are created equal, and the Dolomites – a landscape so beautiful and distinctive it has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status – is definitely a class apart. These famous peaks promise the kind of scenery you’d walk miles for, except that – on our newest hiking tour in the region – you don’t have to. Based for a week in tradition-rich Val Gardena, you can enjoy scenic strolls along the valley floor before catching panoramic cable cars up into the high mountains. There’s also plenty of time to sightsee, and to enjoy the facilities of your hand-picked accommodation: a family-owned spa hotel set on the slopes above Ortisei village.

Every day is a highlight when walking in the Mont Blanc massif – whether for the drama of the views, the incredible variety of terrain, or the feeling of achievement that comes with exploring such an exceptional mountain landscape. Our suggested walking routes are informed by our first-hand knowledge of the area: we make use of transfers to bring you directly to the most rewarding sections. We’ve also hand-picked all the accommodation, ensuring great comfort and hospitality. Which of our two holidays you pick is up to you. Our 11-night Tour du Mont Blanc hotel-to-hotel walking holiday promises a real sense of adventure and fulfilment, whereas our 6-night A Taste of Mont Blanc holiday offers greater flexibility – you can walk some of the best sections of the Tour du Mont Blanc long-distance path if you like but, because it is a two-centre holiday, you can opt to go sightseeing on some days if you prefer, perhaps visiting Europe’s highest botanical garden, or making use of local cable cars to access incredible viewpoints.

If you felt so inclined, you could spend each day of your week in Lauenen differently – winter walking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, tobogganing, downhill skiing, riding on the GoldenPass Panoramic Train to Lake Geneva, and taking the cable car to Glacier3000, where the strong-hearted can cross the world's first suspension bridge between two summits. But it's not just the activities that drew us to this tranquil corner of Switzerland's Bernese Oberland. The Hotel Alpenland is a chalet-style hotel with a cosy atmosphere and an excellent restaurant which is well-known locally.

As the undisputed food capital of Italy, Emilia Romagna makes a delicious destination – and the perfect base for our new rail journey from Bologna to Modena and Parma. In each city, we include a self-guided walking trail that leads to superb restaurants and beautiful food emporiums, and we can also arrange visits to producers of some of the region’s most iconic exports – such as Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Even putting the fabulous food to one side, Emilia Romagna is exceptional – its cities vibrant and historic, with architectural treasures that sit side-by-side with innovative museums.

With two wheels at your service, you can discover a completely different side to Emilia Romagna. Our cycling holiday still provides ample opportunity to appreciate the region’s urban charms – it includes stays in both Parma and Modena, as well as in the historic city of Reggio Emilia and small Renaissance gem of Correggio – and allows plenty of time for those all-important tastings. But what it also promises is a chance to experience Emilia Romagna’s beautiful countryside: an appetising blend of vine-clad hills, sweeping valleys and the mighty Apennine foothills.

With its dramatic sea cliffs, sweeping bays and postcard-perfect marinas, South Devon is one of the UK’s most enticing coastal corners. Discover its many highlights on our leisurely walking holiday, which leads from unspoiled Hope Cove to historic Dartmouth, and gives you the chance to visit Greenway, the treasured home of Agatha Christie. Enveloped by woodland and with views over the River Dart, we can see why the well-travelled Queen of Crime believed this beautiful spot to be “the loveliest place on earth”.

Not only are the routes on our Perthshire walking holiday spectacular, they are varied, too, taking in expansive lochs, tumbling falls and deep glens surrounded by heather-clad hills. There is plenty of time to explore the illustrious castles that we take you past along the way, and to sample the region’s fantastic local produce – including, of course, its silky-smooth, single-malt whiskies. Our chosen accommodation ranges from welcoming, family-run guesthouses to – on the upgrade version of the holiday – high-quality hotels with outstanding cuisine.

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the launch of the Alsace Wine Route – a wonderfully scenic, long-distance trail that connects over 100 wine-growing villages – we have introduced two new short breaks in this exquisite region. Our cycling tour explores Alsace's peaceful countryside, prestigious vineyards and glorious villages, including Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé; while our walking holiday stays in two very lovely locations – Turckheim and Kaysersberg – and whisks you up high to inspiring viewpoints.

This holiday in the Canary Islands isn't new per se but the volcano created by the eruption of 2021 that halted all tourism to La Palma certainly is. Its black cone and surrounding lava fields contrast sharply with the great swathes of lush, green landscape that remained untouched by the eruption. Being able to see a volcano that didn't exist at the start of the decade is a very novel reason to choose a walking holiday on La Palma, but there are plenty of other reasons to visit this island now that it has reopened to visitors: not for nothing is it referred to locally as La Isla Bonita ('The Pretty Isle'); it boasts some of the clearest night skies in Europe; and the walking routes are fantastic, rewarding you with incredible views.