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Fire & Ice – The Wonders of Sicily, Italy & Austria
Join us on this Grand Explorer holiday for a journey of discovery, as we capture some of Europe’s most spectacular natural and ancient wonders. From vast volcanoes to the Rome Colosseum, our tour begins with the mighty Mountains of Italy, as we take in the vast Vesuvius, the haunting ruins of Pompeii and the mighty Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano. Guests also have the opportunity to join a boat trip to Stromboli, to see the spectacular volcano, which has been continually erupting for over 2000 years. In contrast, we then visit Austria’s highest mountain, the icy Grossglockner glacier, which offers breath taking views of the surrounding alpine scenery. On this grand coach tour we also spend time in the popular resort of Sorrento, visit the ancient wonders of Rome and give guests the opportunity to visit the Isle of Capri and the Sicilian town of Syracuse.
Tour Includes
- 15 nights hotel with continental breakfast
- 13 evening meals
- Convenient local joining points
16 days from £2,369pp
Travel Options
Outbound &
Inbound Travel
Outbound
Travel
Inbound
Travel
On-Tour
Experiences
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Itinerary
Please choose your preferred 16 day itinerary
Local departure by coach or Door-to-Door service, then to northern France for an overnight stay.
We depart our overnight hotel early this morning as we begin our journey towards Italy. During the day we will travel through Switzerland, bypassing places such as Basel and Lucerne before arriving at our hotel in the Parma area for an overnight stay.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
We continue our journey south bypassing Bologna, home of the famous Bolognese sauce and the Tuscan capital of Florence. We continue past the ‘eternal city’ of Rome and later Naples, Italy’s third largest city, before arriving at our hotel on the Neapolitan Riviera for a three-night stay.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Today we visit the historic town of Pompeii at the foot of Mount Vesuvius on our included excursion. We begin our day with a visit to Pompeii, and the spectacular ruins of what was once a great Roman city. In 79AD the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the town of Pompeii in about 6/7 metres of stones and ash. Painstaking excavations, which are still ongoing, began in the 18th century and have uncovered a remarkable hidden city. Accompany your expert guide around the town, walking along roads with indents from the passing of chariot wheels and discovering the remains of homes, shops and public baths (entrance to the ruins is included). Later, we travel up Vesuvius to 3,000 feet, where you can continue on foot to the crater.
Please note: this excursion is operated by a local coach.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Included Highlights
A free day in Sorrento today, or you can join our superb optional excursion as we sail across the Bay of Naples to the Isle of Capri. Visit the fabulous villa of Dr Axel Munthe (entrance extra), a Swedish doctor, whose bestselling book “Story of San Michele” tells of his time on Capri. Continue to Capri town, famous for its main square Piazza Umberto, which has a pretty white church and several open-air cafes where you can sit and watch the world drift by. Leading off the square are medieval looking alleyways and arcades full of shops selling handicrafts of the island, clothing, shoes, ceramics and jewellery made from coral and gold. There is so much to see and do on this tiny island paradise you will be sorry to leave.
Please note: this excursion is operated by a local coach. Capri is highly recommended and extremely popular, therefore must be booked in advance. The cost is from £120 per person. Please ask for details when booking this holiday.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Included Highlights
Optional Excursions
Our optional excursions are a great addition to enhance your holiday experience and are highly recommended.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Isle of Capri | 2025 TBC | 2026 TBC |
The optional excursions will be available to book during your tour.
Prices are per person and are subject to change. Payment will be in Euros (cash payments only).
We leave our hotel and travel south to the ‘foot’ of Italy and take a ferry across to Sicily where we stay for the next five nights.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Today we take an unforgettable drive up Mount Etna, the highest volcano in Europe. Standing at 3350 meters (10,991ft) Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of eruption. Although it can occasionally be very destructive, it is not generally regarded as being a dangerous volcano. Thousands of people live on its slopes and in the surrounding areas where the fertile volcanic soil support extensive agriculture. Our coach takes us within 1900 metres and if the weather is good why not enhance your experience of Etna with a visit to its summit (at own cost, payable locally). A 15-minute gondola ride takes you to 2504 metres and offers some fantastic views of the landscape, which has been characterised by countless lava flows. For the more adventurous, we then join the special modernised ‘Busses’ which, driven by expert drivers, take you on a 20-minute journey to an altitude of 3000 metres. There will be some free time at the summit to photograph the impressive central and southeast craters before we commence our descent. Later in the day we travel to Taormina for free time where you can explore the sights or perhaps visit some of the many shops along the car free main street ‘Corso Umberto’.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Included Highlights
Enjoy a free day to relax in resort.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
*Please note: customers travelling on the optional excursion to Stromboli will receive a packed lunch instead of dinner on this day. Stromboli is highly recommended and extremely popular, therefore must be booked in advance. The cost is from £99 per person. Please ask for details when booking this holiday.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Optional Excursions
Our optional excursions are a great addition to enhance your holiday experience and are highly recommended.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Stromboli | 2025 TBC | 2026 TBC |
The optional excursions will be available to book during your tour.
Prices are per person and are subject to change. Payment will be in Euros (cash payments only).
A further day at leisure today or why not join our optional excursion to Syracuse, once the most powerful of all Mediterranean cities and the home of the famous natural Philosopher, Archimedes. Accompanied by our guide, we are introduced to the delights of this lovely town. We see the Grand Theatre whose cavea is one of the largest ever built by the ancient Greeks. Entrance to the Archaeological area is also included.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Optional Excursions
Our optional excursions are a great addition to enhance your holiday experience and are highly recommended.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Syracuse | 2025 £44 | 2026 £46 |
The optional excursions will be available to book during your tour.
Prices are per person and are subject to change. Payment will be in Euros (cash payments only).
We say goodbye to Sicily as we travel back to the foot of Italy and head north to Fiuggi and onto our overnight hotel.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
We leave our hotel this morning as we head north towards our overnight hotel in Tuscany. En route we visit the beautiful Italian capital city of Rome. A lovely place to explore on foot. To make the most of your visit, why not join our optional guided sightseeing tour? The sightseeing tour will introduce you to the city’s wonderful sights, including the mighty Colosseum (entrance not included) and the Trevi Fountain. Although Rome is a relatively compact city, we would remind you that this is a walking tour, not suitable for anyone with mobility difficulties and we would recommend you wear suitable shoes for the day.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Included Highlights
Optional Excursions
Our optional excursions are a great addition to enhance your holiday experience and are highly recommended.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Rome Guided Sightseeing Tour | 2025 £30 | 2026 £31 |
The optional excursions will be available to book during your tour.
Prices are per person and are subject to change. Payment will be in Euros (cash payments only).
We continue our journey north as we head towards the Austrian Tyrol. We pass the beautiful border town of Vipiteno, the ancient city of the wealthy Fugger family. We continue our journey across the magnificent Brenner Pass and to our hotel where we stay for two nights.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Our included excursion takes us along the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse and up the Grossglockner, which at 3,789 metres, is Austria’s highest mountain. We view the icy world of the massive Grossglockner Glacier from the magnificently situated Franz-Josefs-Heights panorama viewing platform.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Included Highlights
To Belgium for an overnight stay.
Includes Breakfast
Return home.
Includes Breakfast
Please Note: This tour is not suitable for mobility scooters. Wheelchairs are acceptable, though the terrain may cause some difficulties. *Customers travelling on the optional excursion to Stromboli will receive a packed lunch instead of dinner on this day.
2025 is a very exciting and busy year for Rome due to the Pope’s Jubilee – this is something that happens every 25 years.
Across the year there is a calendar of special events specifically in and around the Vatican city and processions through the city which will generate more tourists visiting Rome.
For your holiday, our aim is to ensure our customers will get the best experience of Rome during this period.
The final itinerary and excursion content will be confirmed on your travel documents a couple of weeks prior to departure.
Thereafter there is still a possibility the excursion content / timings may be updated on-tour and hence it is recommended not to pre-book any local attractions.
Accommodation
You will send three nights on the Neapolitan Riviera in a 3-star minimum hotel such as the Hotel Central Park in Massa Lubrense. On Sicily you will stay for five nights in a minimum 3-star hotel such as the Hotel Kennedy in Sant Alessio in Siculo.
In the Austrian Tyrol you will spend two nights in a minimum 3-star hotel.
Overnight stays in Parma area, Fiuggi, Tuscany, France and Belgium may be in city-style hotels.
Hotel Sonnschein
A warm welcome awaits you at the family run Hotel Sonnschein. Situated in its own gardens and parkland, the hotel is located on the edge of the quiet village of Niederau in the Wildschonau Valley. All bedrooms are beautifully furnished with en-suite facilities, television, and a hairdryer. The spacious restaurant, bar and sun terrace provide the ideal meeting place to relax. Leisure facilities include both indoor and outdoor swimming pools (subject to season), table tennis, mini-golf (small charge), sauna, steam bath and whirlpool.
Hotel Facilities
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General
- English Speaking Staff
- 4 Star
- Guest Lounge
- Bar
- Restaurant
- Lift
- Indoor and Outdoor Swimming Pool (Seasonal)
Room
- TV
- Hairdryer
- Extra Pillows and Blankets
- Safe Box
- Fridge
- Non-Smoking Rooms Available
- Shower and Bath
- Telephone
Service
- Bureau de Change
- Free WiFi (Public Areas)
- Laundry Service
Food & Drink
- Vegetarian Meals
- Gluten Free Menu
- Vegan Menu
Accessibility
- Disabled Rooms Available
- Wheelchair Access
- Ground Floor Rooms on Request
Transport
- Bus Stop Nearby
Hotel
- English Speaking Staff
- Bureau de Change
- Guest Lounge
- Bar
- Restaurant
- Lift
- WiFi Available
Luxuria Coach
Stylish and modern, state-of-the-art Luxuria is the business class of coaches. Boasting comfort of the highest standard, sink into the deluxe armchair-style seats, stretch out with much more space around you, and enjoy a vast choice of entertainment on your personal touch-screen TV.
Luxuria Features
- Deluxe armchair-style seats with leather exterior, central arm rests* with cup holders, adjustable headrests and retractable calf rests on most seats to give you a more comfortable journey.
*Face to face seats are forward and rear facing with a table and will not have a calf rest. - Every seat has its own, fully interactive, touch-screen TV offering a wide choice of entertainment so you can control what you want to watch and when.
- There’s a selection of double and single seats, including six face-to-face seats with tables, and five single seats which are ideal for passengers travelling independently.
- Plug sockets and USB points at each seat mean you can keep your devices fully charged throughout your journey.
- Onboard toilet.
Silver Service Coach
More than simply your method of transport, Silver Service offers a coach with added comfort and facilities, such as deluxe reclining seats with leather headrests, an onboard entertainment system, and a spacious rear lounge so you can socialise with your fellow passengers.
Silver Service Features
- Specially designed reclining seats, with leather headrests, footrests and extra legroom.
- A spacious rear lounge where you can relax, socialise and get to know your fellow passengers.
- Our onboard entertainment and satellite navigation system makes your journey fly by.
- Free personal headphones mean you can tune into the music channel, listen to the radio or watch DVDs being played by your crew.
- Personal tables so you can enjoy your refreshments in comfort as you take in the passing scenery.
Reviews
3.8 Out of 5 ( 8 Reviews )
Reviews
Quality
2.9 / 5
Value for Money
3.4 / 5
Customer, 1 year ago
Too arduous; long days travelling to hotel detinations. Then long days on excursions with long hours travelling on coach. Hotels OK,food only OK until last two days in Niderau where hotel accomodation and food was excellent. Hotel In Sorrento poorly placed with not much to do near the hotel. Hotel in Sicily seen better days and whole are looked rundown and suffering economic inactivity. Again not much to do near the hotel.
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Laurette Dickinson, 1 year ago
We didn't have the time to do half of the activities, we never made it up to the top of Etna because we were not given enough time to do it. We never got to see the museum at Pompei again not enough time to do it, the holiday was very rushed.
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Mr Ron Pope, 1 year ago
Overall I enjoyed the trip but I felt the pre-trip literature was a little misleading when compared to the reality, also some of the tactics of the drivers was irritating in this respect, at the end of any particular drive they would remind us of what we had seen, only in several cases we hadn't seen these things, they had just pointed out where they were, sometimes several miles away, in other words, painting a brighter picture than the reality. Whilst I'm being critical I must also compliment Chris on his extensive knowledge of several subjects and areas. The Rome tour was rushed because of the time available, in hindsight, I would not have booked that tour. We were a little unlucky with the weather in Sorrento and Capri and also the road to the Grossglockner glacier being closed near to the top, possibly due to black ice, none of these things were your fault. Despite my criticisms, I enjoyed the holiday and felt it was reasonably good value for money. Kind regards, Ron Pope.
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MISS LORNA STUART, 1 year ago
the coaches are excellent very comfortable and although we did 400km and more some days it didn't feel like it with plenty of stops to stretch our legs. The coach has 2 members of staff 1 driving and the other looking after the well being of the passengers which they did very well. We went to a lot of locations some with local guides. The hotels are mostly 3star but clean ,comfortable and usually had a lot of character . I would recommend the holiday to everyone
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Hazel, 1 year ago
Excellent, well organised trip. Drivers were top notch and some of the hotels were lovely
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Departure Dates
