I've had short coach holidays to Italy and France with local companies and was not very impressed, but I've also crossed Australia from Sydney to Cairns with Australia Pacific and travelled back south on the Greyhound to Perth via Townsville, Kalgoorlie, Coober Pedie, Ayers Rock and Adelaide and enjoyed every minute of it.

Coach holidays are a great for getting to places further afield such as the Spanish Costas especially for those who do not enjoy flying or are fed up of the long delays that can occur at airports.Obviously no-one can predict whether there will be traffic delays but passengers who choose to travel by coach will not be stuck on-board for several hours as there are frequent comfort stops throughout the journey. With the majority of coach holidays to Spain, included in the package will be an overnight stay in a B&B to further break up the journey. Most companies tend to travel to the continent via the ferry so there are further opportunities to get off the coach and stretch your legs whilst enjoying the facilities during your crossing.

Coaches are a comfortable method of travel providing plenty of legroom and reclining leather seats with air-conditioning so your journey to Spain is an enjoyable one. Some also have DVD players on-board so you can while away the time watching a movie. Your luggage travels with you the entire time too and the next time you see it, it will be in your hotel room waiting to be unpacked!

Coach holidays to Spain are also great occasions to be social, making new friendships that could last outside of your holiday. There are a wide variety of coach companies who continue to offer holidays to Spain and we feel that this will continue as long as there is a demand for them - wouldn't say there were a dying breed!

there are less people going to costa brava than previous years on the coaches, but they are still a reasonably cheap way of getting a holiday.
since ryanair stopped my flights into gerona i have to fly to barcelona and i can now get the coach cheaper than flying easyjet.
i priced up my break today with both coach companies and flying and i could not get a better deal than going with ferris. most of the bed bookers i looked at were charging similar prices to what ferris wanted for the whole holiday.
so i am off in a couple of hours to pick up the coach

hi rachel jd2t13 you did not say what coach company you worked for..

hi rachel jd2t13 you did not say what coach company you worked for..

Just to make it clear we won't allow any type of advertising here on HT, Rachel I know you are the Online PR & Marketing Coordinator for the company, whilst we appreciate your input on coach holidays please don't try to use HT for any type of advertising as it will be removed immediately.

Graham

Rachael, the thread refers more to spanish "shuttle" operators than coach tours. Shuttling has been decimated by the lo-cost airlines and at one point was probably a dying breed but has rallied a bit lately as the budget airlines are not so cheap anymore. There were dozens of operators sending thousands of people every week in the 80s but now very few of these operators left ( 5 at last count ) and the costas are not as popular with the brits anymore.
I also work in the industry and have done for many years and the whole market is in decline due to the recession. Everything from day trips to tours is suffering. Its sad to see.
On a brighter note Southern Holidays has been bought by another operator so future looking OK for them

CiderMonster wrote:

After Redcrest's demise, who is next? They were one of the major players at Castell Montgri, a huge area was covered by them......but it wasnt enough. Are the days of coach firms going there numbered? Has budget airline prices, and people wishing to self drive, killed off the old coach holiday?

Does seem like they are all struggling.....what with new destinations being more favoured, plus the cheap flights, etc.

Doesnt fill me with much optimism though......as someone who is really TOO far away to drive, but who just WONT fly! :(

I know this is old cm but if I told you that I only the other year to rode from edinburgh to CDP on an old italian vespa would that inspire you

RachelJD2T13 wrote:

Coach holidays are a great for getting to places further afield such as the Spanish Costas especially for those who do not enjoy flying or are fed up of the long delays that can occur at airports.Obviously no-one can predict whether there will be traffic delays but passengers who choose to travel by coach will not be stuck on-board for several hours as there are frequent comfort stops throughout the journey. With the majority of coach holidays to Spain, included in the package will be an overnight stay in a B&B to further break up the journey. Most companies tend to travel to the continent via the ferry so there are further opportunities to get off the coach and stretch your legs whilst enjoying the facilities during your crossing.

Coaches are a comfortable method of travel providing plenty of legroom and reclining leather seats with air-conditioning so your journey to Spain is an enjoyable one. Some also have DVD players on-board so you can while away the time watching a movie. Your luggage travels with you the entire time too and the next time you see it, it will be in your hotel room waiting to be unpacked!

Coach holidays to Spain are also great occasions to be social, making new friendships that could last outside of your holiday. There are a wide variety of coach companies who continue to offer holidays to Spain and we feel that this will continue as long as there is a demand for them - wouldn't say there were a dying breed!

Again I know this is an old thread but I have to say the appeal for me going by coach is more now than it ever was.....this a combo of not being a great flyer and also having worked for the infamous impact holidays as a youngster in 91
Also to be honest I have never enjoyed the "package holiday" and have always been more independent minded
This was was once confirmed when my girlfriend ( now ex paid just over 2 grand for three of us to go menorca For me it was nowhere near worth the money and everything was average as was the so called 4/5 star. And when I compare it to the £139 i paid siesta for a week in a 4 lodge on my last holiday I could never go back to the package style
Granted I'm single an independent traveller so I'm flexible but I just love the excitement of going through Dover and the sun dimming as you travel through france and being rudely awakened for the breakfast stop with the sun usually down
Can't beat it

CiderMonster wrote:

So you both like flying! Great!

.....some of us dont, though!

Couldn't agree more
In fact I reckon most people would love a story like that to tell gran kids
I can hear it now " so there was grandad in the middle of nowhere in a foreign land on a coach and then the soldiers marched on with their machine guns " personally I would embrace it
But I see their point just not for them

As a solo traveller one of the things which puts me off coach travel is my fellow travellers. Of course some of them are great but on a couple of occasions the one weirdo amongst them has decided to attach herself to me. That's OK if you are the sort of person who can simply make it clear that their company is not wanted but not all of us can be so blunt.

that is why earphones/headphones are one of the most important things to take, even if you don't turn on the music
i also always have a book to hand on the journey.
with the dvds they show as well i find that if i travel on my own i can keep my own company if i want to.
only once in all my trips have i had "the nutter" and she travelled with her teeenage daughter for their first trip abroad.they got talking to us at dover when we were waiting for the coach and she spent the whole journey asking us questions about the hotel/resort/journey/price of everything etc and then they ended up in the same hotel in the room between ours.we were woken every morning at 7am with the two of them doing their own karaoke version of the music on mtv
we then got them in the seat in front of us on the coach home and got a day by day account of their holiday.
the only fortunate bit was that we thought we would end up on the same train home from dover as they lived in a nearby town, but fortunately they got picked up by a friend.
to be fair though i think they were just over excited about their first trip and obviously enjoyed every minute.

Having sat next to people on both times on this trip I think that has just put me off. If I could get of at Dover that would make things better, but if there are problems on the UK motorway network then a 1/3 or more can be in the UK.

If I was to travel with Ferris again I think I would need to get the train down to the south east, spent the night there and go on from there. I will then get the train all the way back.

noair
that starts to make it a very expensive holiday.
you would be as well just booking an extra seat both ways so you then got a guaranteed double seat to yourself. cost is around £100.
on my latest trip there were some spare seats on the way down but the driver/courier would not let anyone use them unless they paid extra for them. fortunately for me, when i got on there was someone sitting in my seat so i just took a spare double seat and although the courier moved some others she left me alone knowing i was a regular
part of the problem is that some people do not pay the extra £15 to travel on platinum coaches and then they try to grab any empty seats when they discover how little leg room they get travelling cattle class.
mr ferris is trying to stop this and make everyone pay for platinum if they want the extra legroom

The problem is on the way back I didn't get any legroom at all. I have sent Ferris a message via Facebook they said they would look into it but got no reply as of yet - this was on Monday.

I might upload a picture if I don't get a response from Ferris.

Next time I have worked out how to get a cheap train down to, it is a bit of hassle but it works out the same price as Ferris (if booked well in advanced) but it means I can do the entire trip in one day although obviously there is more to go wrong it will just feel more of an adventure.

Jim did you travel on the 12 reg double decker this year (Keith's coach), did you notice any difference in legroom between the previous years? I have always travelled Premium with Ferris, but on the way back I didn't feel I got a premium seat. The coach was full so there was no point on speaking to the driver.

It doesn't seem fair that lone travellers should have to pay extra for a seat if there is already spare seats. Mr Ferris probably thinks it is a money making exercise, in reality it just another lost customer.

Sith Lord wrote:

My Wife was terrified of flying, but in the 9 years of being together we have flown over 30 times. She still cries nearly every time, but you dont get to see Ayers Rock or Angkor Wat on a coach. I dont want to patronise people who are scared of flying but have you tried books, or even thought about doing that course that BA do.

It is fairly certain that in the next 10 years the coaches will be all but gone because of the price of flights. I am thinking of driving myself this year but only because the price of Car Hire is outrageous especially when you need a Child Seat. Also, I think it is pathetic that the airlines charge a fuel surcharge.

It's not patronising just a personal choice but it seems your prediction was way off.lol
Plenty coaches still going strong

all the talk is of coach travel declining but is it possible that the continually escalating security issues with air travel will lead to a resurgence of coaching?
Certainly coach holidays are something I have been checking more recently, having never considered them before.
One thing that puts me off a bit is the travelling to the pick up points.
Surely there could be car parking areas to leave your vehicle in whilst away allowing you to travel in your own car rather than taxis etc.

i find i am using the coaches more nowadays as i cant seem to be able to get the cheap flights i used to now that ryanair dont fly to gerona as much as they did. i now have to normally fly to barcelona and with the increased charges for booking a decent seat and then the coast of accomodation i find that i can get a better deal on ferris.
i suppose that with the new security arrangements with ipods and phones etc all needing to be checked they will start advising you to get to the airport the day before you fly to ensure you get through security on time.
del,
it may be worth advising us oof your choice of pick up points as someone may be able to give you a heads up on affordable parking. i know you can park at dover, but that may be a bit too far to drive!

should I use the coaches I would be connecting somewhere in Yorkshire.
Hull is the nearest city and I know some coach tours set off from near Castleford on the M62.
Did have quick glance at Shearings an it appears that they do have some parking facilities.
I will have to have a serious look when the opportunity arises.

Siesta pick up from Hull. Plenty of parking available nearby. Princes Quay do weekly passes but I would have thought It would work out cheaper to get a taxi to Hull.
Theres also long stay parking available at the train station if your travelling with National Holidays or EYMS