National Holidays

National Holidays are based in Leeds and offer coach holidays throughout the British Isles and continental Europe to holiday makers from most of the north of England. Their departure area is split into two - the North East and Yorkshire, and the North West and Lancashire. Within these sections there are a number of departure areas and within each of these a selection of pick up points. Therefore the first couple of hours of any trip will be spent ...
...traveled within the UK with National Holidays on three day and five day trips.

National Holidays do have a website but it is pretty dire and although you can book online, it is best to get your hands on a brochure which will give your loads more details. Even so, the brochure may not give all the details you want to know and neither do the telephone assistants through whom you can also book. In the North East you can also book at larger ... more

National Holidays are based in Leeds and offer coach holidays throughout the British Isles and continental Europe to holiday makers from most of the north of England. Their departure area is split into two - the North East and Yorkshire, and the North West and Lancashire. Within these sections there are a number of departure areas and within each of these a selection of pick up points. Therefore the first couple of hours of any trip will be spent picking up other passengers from the area before you really get underway. We live in Gateshead which is one of the days first pick up places and this means that any trip we want to go on will still require a two hour trip around the north east before we can go anywhere. It also means that on longer trips you have an ungodly departure hour!

This review is based on a recent five day trip to the Rhine Valley and on comments from my parents on the occasions they have traveled within the UK with National Holidays on three day and five day trips.

National Holidays do have a website but it is pretty dire and although you can book online, it is best to get your hands on a brochure which will give your loads more details. Even so, the brochure may not give all the details you want to know and neither do the telephone assistants through whom you can also book. In the North East you can also book at larger bus and train stations.

Possible destinations include Brugges, the Costa Brava, the Italian Lakes and Prague for Europe and Stratford on Avon, Folkestone, Oban and Cornwall in the UK. There are also a variety trips to the Republic of Ireland which I have heard highly praised in terms of accommodation.

One excursion may be included in the price of your trip but most are optional and can be paid at the time of booking or directly with the driver. On our German trip there were three excursions available which could be booked singly for £8.00 each per person or all three for £20.00. We knew we didn't want to do all three but the driver would not say in advance which trip would be on which day. He said that because of the weather they would decide on the day which was really no good to us because we did not want to wait around to find out they were going somewhere we didn't want to go. As it turned out, they didn't decide until 10.00 am each day by which time we were already on our way to wherever we had chosen to go.

You may (usually on British breaks) know in advance which hotel you'll be staying at but this did not happen in our case. I have to say that while some people were disappointed by the quality of our hotel in Germany, we did not really have any complaints since we had paid only £99 each for five nights accommodation and half board. The rooms were basic but they were spotless, warm and comfortable. Anyone with mobility problems should make a point of letting National Holidays know at the time of booking as all of the hotels used by National Holidays have at least a few ground floor and specially adapted rooms. One lady moaned to me at breakfast that the room was too small but failed to see the humour when I asked if she and her husband were dancers; another complained about the lack of a television and was unimpressed when I enquired whether she could speak German.

And this illustrates the basic reason why National Holidays are so cheap! You pay for all drinks you have with your evening meal - not even a glass of water comes free - and the hotels are often situated somewhere remote or small with few facilities so that you are more likely to avail yourself of the hotel bar. Each night the owner's son, Marcus, would interrupt dinner to let everyone know what that evening's special drinks deal was and everyone would clap and cheer as if he had announced the secret to achieving world peace. What landlord is going to place television sets in the rooms when you could be sitting in his bar rather than sitting in your room drinking a four pack you bought from the Lidl along the road.

In Germany the entertainment was provided by Manfred - the larger than life - and I mean large! - hotelier who, according to all the old dears, sounded just like Mario Lanza. Every evening we could hear his dulcet tones emerging from the cellar bar - just like the cigarette smoke that drifted all the way up to our third floor room.

My parents have always been quite positive about the entertainment they have seen on their trips in the UK and have raved about comedians, singers and bands. However, they have been less enthusiastic about magicians and impressionists ("Oh, look here's Mrs Thatcher" - surely the telltale sign of a poor mimic is someone who has to announce the next voice they're going to do).

The food was pretty dull; we had informed National Holidays that my partner does not eat meat but they still seemed surprised when we confirmed this on arrival. As a result the food he got was a poorly thought out and only a token gesture - omelette of course! Of the three nights a full dinner was provided we ate at the hotel only twice. Since we had paid so little we did not mind paying again to eat elsewhere in the village.

One thing we hated (which my parents say did not happen when they traveled with NH) is that all the tables were pushed together to make tow giants rows just like a school dinner hall. This meant you had no choice but to listen to the griping and moaning of your fellow passengers as they threw the food down their necks - they hated it but they ate it all and asked for more. Travelling like this is not a good way to get a feel for the local cuisine. There really was nothing especially German about the evening meal and only the garlic sausage at breakfast gave any hint of where you'd woken up.
Another negative about meal times was the constant Wurlitzer music - "The sun has got his hat on" and "Jingle Bells" were particular favourites of the peculiarly coiffed Klaus - brother of Manfred - whose hair was sculpted into a helmet shaped and sprayed black.

Since we did not go on any of the trips I am not able to comment but my parents have taken the excursions in the UK and have thoroughly enjoyed them. They are not guided but you usually get a couple of hours free to explore on your own. Of course, this can be a drawback if the weather turns or there isn't much to see. Traveling to the Rhine valley in the winter means that many places are likely to be closed for the off season and several of our fellow passengers complained that little thought had been given to what was appropriate at this time of year. We had researched in advance and so armed ourselves with plenty ideas for filling our time.

On the outward and return legs there were several rest stops, each one for thirty or forty minutes when fifteen minutes was really sufficient given that there were two drivers. On the return journey the bus stopped first at a "chocolate factory" (chocolate shop and booze warehouse) near Ostend and then at a "wine warehouse" at Calais. Frankly both were poor and the only reason we stopped at two places was that the drivers wanted to buy their booze at the first place and their cigarettes at the second. There were other better looking wine places at Calais but we had to go to the one the drivers chose as there was no time to cross the busy road and try the others.

My parents told me that on UK holidays the drivers often make stops at the most ludicrous places under the guise of them being interesting attractions. In particular my mother looked forward to visiting what was described as a "lavender farm" but turned out to be a woman selling drawer scenting products and lavender bags - they couldn't see lavender growing anywhere!

Since returning we have made a complaint about the drivers on our trip; we heard then discussing a passenger on another trip in the most unpleasant terms, they frequently used their mobile phones whilst driving (not hands free!) and one of them once smoked a cigarette in the vehicle when it was parked up. They were rude to us when we arrived five minutes after the hotel had begun serving dinner and they continually belched and farted while the coach was on the road. They even thought it was OK to make jokes about the extermination of the Jews because the place we were staying was called "Kamp Bornhofen".

The company have taken our complaint seriously and even sent us £30 of vouchers but it seems a small gesture when we are talking about endangering the lives of sixty people by using a mobile phone when driving, nerve mind other road users.

We were the youngest passengers on our trip by about fifteen years although most people were at least twenty or more years older than us (we are mid/late thirties). Most were friendly but we did find some of the moaning a little tedious and really had to bite our tongues. For the sake of convenience this is a good way to travel and I can see why it appeals to many people. However it is really for people who want to have everything laid out in front of them and don't really want to get a taste of their destination.

It is not the sort of holiday for children unless they are a bit older and are quite quet and reserved and, of course, you think they'll be able to sit for long periods.

I would consider using National Holidays again however because it is a cheap way to get to your destination and represents pretty good value. I would try to make sure, though, that my hotel was not going to be somewhere remote and that it had public transport and alternative bars so that I did not feel tied to the group.

We left Gateshead at 5.15 am and arrived at our hotel at 11.00pm so I would point out that these holidays do (dependent on location) entail a lot of sitting around. We could have flown to Germany, arrived at a more sensible time and had another whole day to see the sights; I am not convinced that people will be happy to travel by coach rather than take the plane and this was really a test for us to see if we could consider it ourselves.

For independent people who really want to pack in as much as possible National Holidays are not the way to go. For the less confident traveler who wants to be told what to see, National Holidays represent good value but perhaps have some work to do to buff those raw edges.

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My rating of average is to take into account all the pros and cons but I would recommend national Holidays overall.

Check out the National holidays website for ideas of prices and destinations; they are too numerous too give here.

Some Christmas and New Year holidays also offer included excursions and a free bar.

National Holidays offer insurance but if you do not require it you must give them details of your own insurance when booking  

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