I recently booked a last minute holiday through Inghams online for my parents and sisters to visit Austria for a week. The online booking system was flawless and the tickets arrived promptly. I booked them all (poor little me was left to house sit!) a week on the Inghams “Taste of Austria” holiday which travels to a number of Austrian resorts, with some of the holidays giving the resort name but in other cases is allocated on arrival. The holidays also travel from a number of British airports; Bristol, Manchester and Newcastle were available for the dates my parents wanted to travel. My family visited the resort Mayrhofen and flew from Manchester airport. The accomodation was in rooms that could accommodate up to 3 people but my family had to have two rooms as there were four of them. This worked out well as the website allowed you to select ajoining rooms. The holiday was very reasonably priced at £299 half board, per person.
On the morning they were due to set off, my mother’s clock radio went off with the news “five Britain’s killed in Austrian coach crash” and quick consultation of teletext revealed that it was tourists travelling with Inghams that were involved. This led my mother into a mad panic, my dad just lay in bed claiming it was “an omen” and my sisters were relatively indifferent (probably as they weren’t really awake). I have to admit to being a bit concerned as I had visions of them being stranded at the airport as Inghams were now a coach and driver down and as I’d booked the holiday I’d be the one to blame if it turned out to be a disaster.
As the holiday was a bit different to their standard Mediterranean beach holiday I didn’t really know how they’d find it, but they came home having really enjoyed it and without a single holiday disaster (they usually manage at least one!).
The coach transfer to their resort was fine and the accomodation was spotless. Breakfast was served in the two storey block they were staying in but for their evening meal they had to go to a restaurant. The restaurant turned out to be just a ten minute walk away and they ate there almost every night. The food they were served was limited to a €6 budget and sometimes this was noticeable however the food was always at a perfectly satisfactory standard.
There was lots to do at the resort though this mainly involved walking and cycling so it is perhaps not the holiday for you if you just want to laze around. They also managed a trip to Salzburg though I think they found this slightly disappointing, possibly from watching “The Sound of Music” a few too many times! The Inghams rep was the best they had experienced anywhere. She was a more mature lady and she knew absolutely everything they asked about the resort or the country as a whole. This is unlike most reps I have come across who generally can give you a list of all the pubs and clubs in the area but not much else.
As for Austria itself, they said that it seems quite old fashioned, particularly in terms of tourism as all shops are closed by 6pm and all pubs are closed by 10.30pm. They also found that the variety of food was very limited which is why they ate in the restaurant assigned to their hotel instead of eating out more.
As I personally only experienced the booking process with Inghams I can really only comment on that, though I would say it was excellent. However, I had to listen to excited reviews of the holday from my family so I think it’s fair to say that the “Taste of Austria” is a good one! Austria seems ideal for family holidays or a quiet week of cycling or walking, with stunning scenery, but is not for the people that want lots of sunshine, bars and lively nightlife. Inghams are a very good travel company, offering good holidays at reasonable prices, so please don’t let coach accidents put you off!
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Never even heard of this company but do vaguely remember hearing about that crash, glad you had a nice time though! Sarah x
ilusvm 15.12.2004 14:35
another good, informative review! Well done! Em x
salem_witch 18.11.2004 21:10
I was in Gatwick on Sept 11th but it didn't stop me getting on the plane to go to Italy. I have been to Austria a couple of times skiing and loved it. I can't say I've heard of Inghams before.
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Advantages: Lots of fun things to do (santa park, reindeer ride, husky ride, snow mobile) Disadvantages: Inghams could have organised better for snowsuit + boot pick-up & return
volcano 22.12.2007 (25.12.2007)
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