Deal-hunters at the ready! These tempting holidays are all on sale - The Times
Black Friday may not be quite here yet, but the travel industry’s annual price-cut bonanza is already under way. For example, the adventure-holiday specialist Intrepid is discounting hundreds of guided trips by up to 20 per cent, even for the most in-demand dates. Meanwhile, prime springtime Mediterranean cruises with Silversea are down 45 per cent. Not every sale has yet been launched — and some luxury specialists won’t be discounting at all, on principle — but a fruitful time awaits for bargain-hunters.
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The Regency-era Bishopstrow is one of several country-house hotels embracing the Black Friday spirit, with 25 per cent off its richly coloured bedrooms on most nights between January 3 and April 29, 2027. Hotel guests get free access to its spa too, which has just had a £2.5m revamp and includes an outdoor sauna and plunge pool. Then, when you’re rested and ready to explore, big walks beckon both south and north — up onto the Battlesbury Camp hillfort perhaps or over the rolling West Wiltshire Downs. B&B doubles start from £203 a night (bishopstrowhotel.com).
A clifftop walk in Cornwall can be just as mind-blowing in November as it is in June. And if you warm up first in one of its beachfront saunas, a dip in the ocean is sheer bliss (check the conditions first). Now you can also add the new Wilhelmina Barns-Graham exhibition at Tate St Ives to the county’s long list of winter pleasures. The friendly and eclectic Artist Residence in Penzance is a canny place to stay. Thanks to its A Night On Us offer, three nights’ room-only doubles start from just £302 (artistresidence.co.uk).
The Torridon Hills in Scotland are so wild and dramatic that any holiday there is thrilling, whatever the weather, with plenty of easy walks that will leave you awestruck. It helps, of course, to have somewhere cosy to retreat to. Until the end of March the five-star Torridon hotel is attracting adventurers with a three-nights-for-two offer in its snug Stables block, from £628 in February B&B. Crackling fires await in the main hotel and there’s a choice of two restaurants — one of them is even Michelin-starred (thetorridon.com).
Silversea’s Black Friday sale has brought deep cuts to the price of some sailings including this ten-night cruise from Lisbon on Silver Spirit with ports of call that include Tangier, Cadiz and Palma de Mallorca. It’s not just the route that’s appealing but the dates too — from April 13-23, 2027, when the southern sun will already be strong but temperatures are still comfortable enough for your excursions. Add nine on-board restaurants to the mix and a rich diet of feasting and sightseeing awaits, from £4,153pp all-inclusive (silversea.com). That’s a £3,397 saving. Fly into Lisbon and out of Barcelona.
For a proper sense of Cinque Terre in Italy you have to hike its footpaths and get out onto the water. Otherwise every view of its spectacular, sea-to-sky coastline will be veiled by your fellow tourists. This guided tour will take you hiking and kayaking and adds a little biking into the mix as well, along with rail transfers between its bases at Levanto and Santa Margherita. What’s more, until December 1 all 2027 prices are down 20 per cent, including those in May — before summer’s heat turns scalding. Seven nights’ B&B starts from £1,516pp. Fly to Genoa or Pisa.
Right now, the ski specialist Crystal has plenty of Christmas discounts as the market continues to shun the early season. With good reason; you need to aim high to be sure there’s adequate snow cover or target resorts that are experts at making their own. Canazei and Campitello di Fassa are two of the best and prices here are tempting, given their capacity to carpet their confidence-boosting pistes without any help from the sky. The Rubino Executive Hotel is close to a key lift and would suit keen intermediates, with seven nights’ half-board from December 19 down by a third to £813pp including flights.
Happily, although this 11-night Best of Greece cruise on board Celebrity Infinity starts on March 22, it does not coincide with Greece’s Easter shutdown, as Easter Sunday doesn’t fall until May 2 in the Orthodox calendar. You will see the country and its islands flushed with spring greens and the first wash of wildflowers. And with Athens, Heraklion, Ephesus and Rhodes all on the menu an invigorating and fascinating odyssey awaits. What’s more, full board in a Concierge Class cabin is down 39 per cent to £1,252pp. Fly to Athens.
A top-to-bottom tour awaits on this guided 17-day Kia Ora New Zealand itinerary — and thanks to AAT Kings’ Black Friday sale, several peak summer dates from January to mid-March are being discounted. Starting from Auckland, you’ll explore the bountiful Bay of Islands, burrow into the Waitomo Caves and cruise the fjord-like Milford Sound, with free days in spots such as Queenstown and Rotorua for your own exploration. From February 27, 2027, for example, 16 nights’ B&B is down 20 per cent to £4,068pp, including some extra meals. Fly into Auckland and out from Christchurch.
The adventure specialist Explore hasn’t yet launched its Black Friday sale, but here’s a 20 per cent price cut on a peak-season Taste of Southern India tour to whet your appetite. Over nine days from January 23 you’ll take a culinary trip through Kerala, with the weather warm and dry and the black pepper and cardamom harvests in full swing. Market tours, tea tastings, cookery classes and farm-to-fork feasting all feature as well as a night on a houseboat amid the lush green backwaters of Kerala. Eight nights’ B&B starts from £880pp, including most other meals. Fly to Cochin.
Squeezing a week’s holiday into the usual pre-Christmas mayhem is never easy. But here’s what will be harder: trying not to upset your friends and family on your return by being so rested and relaxed. And there are few destinations more likely to annoy them than the Outrigger Maafushivaru resort in Maldives, where thatched-roof villas teeter on the edge of a deep blue tropical sea teeming with fish. Seven nights’ half-board from December 12 is now £1,567pp. That’s a saving of 30 per cent, compared with similar, refundable rates not included in Outrigger’s Cybersale (outrigger.com). Fly to Malé.
G Adventures’ Black Friday sale covers more than 800 tours and while many discounts are 10-15 per cent, deeper cuts are available. They include 20 per cent off the January 10 and February 4 departures of its Morocco in Depth itinerary, which includes the ancient libraries of Tamegroute, the saffron fields of Taliouine and the World Heritage medina of Fez alongside Marrakesh and seaside Essaouira. En route you’ll visit a ceramic studio, eat lunch with a local Amazigh family and stay in charming riads, with 14 nights’ B&B from £1,439pp, including some extra meals. Fly into Casablanca and out from Marrakesh.
Set on forested hillside overlooking the sea, Castara Retreats is a leafy collection of hardwood lodges on a quiet stretch of Tobago’s north coast. You can cook for yourself in your own self-catering apartment, eat in the open-air Caribbean restaurant or wander downhill to one of the local beachfront spots. Yoga classes and full-body massages add to the general sense of wellbeing — as does the current 20 per cent price cut on stays in Coasthanger lodge before December 29. Seven nights’ self-catering starts from £873pp for two using the ESCAPE20 discount code (castararetreats.com). Fly to Tobago.
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