Luxury hotel holidays

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Search here for a hotel holiday by location, for example, city centre, countryside, beach or waterside.

Search here for hotel holiday by activity, for example, hotels with tennis, golf or mountain bikes, or hotels offering painting, cookery lessons or wine-tasting.

Search here for hotel holiday by facility at the hotel, for example, spa, kids’ club, creche, or hotels with gourmet restaurant, indoor swimming pool or private beach.

Then once you have had a look, speak to us and let us guide you using our knowledge and experience of luxury hotel holidays.

Luxury hotel holidays: bespoke hotel holidays to selected destinations worldwide

Frequently Asked Questions

An Expressions hotel holiday is a tailor-made stay at one or more hand-picked hotels, with travel arranged to suit you by air, rail, car or ferry. The hotels are chosen for their character and their sense of place as much as their comfort, and most are four- or five-star, ranging from palazzi, châteaux and paradors to country lodges, colonial grand hotels and island hideaways. A holiday can be a single stay or a combination of hotels, and one specialist consultant arranges every element, from room choice and transfers to restaurant reservations and excursions.
Expressions offers hotels whose architecture, cooking and setting reflect their region. In Europe these include Italian palazzi and country villas such as Relais La Suvera and Villa Le Barone, French château hotels, Spanish paradors such as the Parador de Ronda, Portuguese pousadas and Norway's Elveseter Hotel in the Jotunheimen mountains. Further afield, they include Geoffrey Bawa's hotels in Sri Lanka, colonial landmarks such as the Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi and Raffles in Siem Reap, plantation inns in the Caribbean, wilderness lodges in Australia and New Zealand, and traditional junks on Ha Long Bay.
Each hotel is chosen because it could only be where it is: in a building with local history, designed in a regional style, or run with a strong connection to its surroundings. Expressions looks for hotels with a sense of place, whether a family-run auberge, a converted convent, a vineyard estate or a lodge in a national park, and for cooking based on local produce and wine. Many have been featured for years and are known personally to the team, and the selection also includes larger resorts where families need facilities such as kids' clubs.
Yes. Many single-centre hotel holidays in Europe can be reached by train, starting with Eurostar from London. Paris connects by high-speed train to Provence, the Côte d'Azur, Burgundy and the Alps, and Switzerland is well suited to rail, with car-free Zermatt and the lakeside towns of Lucerne and Montreux reached directly by train. Milan links to Lake Como and Lake Garda, and Corsica can be reached by train to Marseille or Toulon and then by ferry. Expressions arranges tickets, seat reservations and any overnight stops along the way.
Yes. Fly-drive holidays suit countryside hotels where a car gives the freedom to explore, for example a farmhouse hotel in Tuscany, a château in the Loire or the Dordogne, or a quinta in Portugal's Douro Valley. Clients who prefer to take their own car can cross the Channel by ferry or tunnel to reach hotels in France, or sail to northern Spain for paradors and country hotels. Island stays are often reached by boat, such as the hydrofoil to Capri and Ischia, or by small plane and boat to Petit St Vincent in the Grenadines.
A two-centre or multi-centre holiday combines stays at two or more hotels, often contrasting a city with the countryside, or two islands with different characters. In the Caribbean, examples include the ten-night Nevis and Antigua holiday at Montpelier Plantation and Blue Waters from £4,250 per person, and Barbados and St Lucia at The Sandpiper and Anse Chastanet from £4,520 per person. In Italy, the eight-night Capri and Ischia holiday combines two islands in the Bay of Naples from £2,570 per person. Travel between hotels is arranged as part of the holiday.
Yes. A touring hotel holiday links several hotels along a route, by car, train or with a private driver-guide, so that each night's stay is part of the journey. In Spain, touring holidays can be built around paradors in castles, convents and palaces, and in Sri Lanka a driver-guide can link Geoffrey Bawa's hotels from the Cultural Triangle to the south coast. In Vietnam, a route might run from the Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi to a junk on Ha Long Bay, a colonial hotel in Hue and on to Hoi An and Saigon.
For most hotel holidays, two or three nights is the minimum that allows a stop to feel like a stay rather than a stopover, and three or four nights suits a place where the aim is to relax. Single-night stops work best only on longer journeys by car or train. Expressions plans the order of hotels around journey times, flight schedules and the season, so that the holiday has a comfortable pace, with time at each hotel to enjoy its restaurant, gardens and surroundings.
Each hotel offers a range of rooms, from standard rooms to junior suites, suites and villas, and Expressions advises on which best suit each guest and budget. Meal plans range from bed and breakfast to half board and, at some resorts, all-inclusive. Sample prices on the website are usually based on an entry-level room with breakfast, and upgrades, sea or lake views, spa treatments, private guides and special dinners can all be added to a tailor-made quote.
Booking starts with a conversation with a specialist consultant about where you would like to go, when, how you would like to travel and what kind of hotel suits you. The consultant then suggests hotels and routes, prepares a tailor-made quote and looks after every arrangement through to your return, including handcrafted helpful hints for each destination. Holidays including a flight are protected under ATOL 3076, and non-air holidays under AFPS 6104.

Our bespoke, luxury hotel holidays can be

● Single-centre or multi-centre
● Stay-put or touring
● Activity focused
● Special interest focused
● In a variety of locations

Included in all our holidays

● Concierge service
● Handcrafted helpful hints and local information provided with all our holidays
● Personal service by your sales consultant who looks after all aspects of your holiday
● Financial protection with our ATOL (3076) for all holidays including a flight and AFPS (6104) for all non-air holidays

Call us on 01392 441245

Luxury hotel holidays: bespoke hotel holidays to selected destinations worldwide

Expressions Holidays is a luxury, boutique tour operator, specialising in creating luxury hotel holidays to carefully selected destinations around the world. Our holidays are tailor-made package holidays that include several elements such as hotel accommodation, transport of some sort to your destination or within your destination and perhaps special arrangements such as pre-booked sightseeing, opera tickets, cookery courses, spa treatments or special meals. Expressions Holidays provides a framework for flexibility, personal requirements and individual arrangements. Everything we offer on this website can be booked as it is, or usually customised at the request of our clients. This might mean adding extra nights, reducing nights from suggestions, upgrading room types and including special arrangements.

Hotels we offer

Our hotels are hand-picked in each destination and many are hotels we have worked with for many years. The hotels are chosen for their authenticity and quality of service, and range of facilities and activities on offer. The style of hotels can be grand, boutique, art, rustic, resort, auberge, chalet, farmhouse, hacienda, castle, palazzo, chateau, town mansion, country estate, luxury lodge and safari tent. The hotels offer a range of meal arrangements, from bed and breakfast to all-inclusive. Some hotels will offer a choice of these.

Hotel locations

Appropriate to our range of destinations we offer luxury hotels that are beach resorts, in city centres, in the countryside, in rainforest or the outback, in pretty villages or in the mountains.

Hotel facilities

Given that most of our hotels are 4-star or 5-star, they are equipped with excellent facilities, both in the bedrooms, whether it be luxurious amenities such as dressing gowns, safe deposit boxes, toiletries or in the public areas, perhaps with a spa, kids’ club, beauty treatments, swimming pools and other sports and leisure facilities. Many will have Michelin-starred or world-class restaurants. Others may include butler service and some may have overwater suites.

Hotel activities

Many of our hotels offer a very wide range of activities for guests. There may be painting and cookery lessons, wine-tasting sessions, tennis lessons, fitness classes, yoga, film nights, golf, children’s activities and so on. The type of activities will vary from location to location, and the size of the hotel.

Expressions concierge service

With Expressions Holidays we don’t advertise a separate concierge service as all our clients have a concierge service automatically with all our holidays. Your sales consultant will act as your personal concierge and make sure that we arrange all the aspects of your holiday that you want us to arrange, from opera tickets to restaurant reservations.

Our bespoke, luxury hotel holidays can be

● Single-centre or multi-centre
● Stay-put or touring
● Activity focused
● Special interest focused
● In a variety of locations

Included in all our holidays

● Concierge service
● Handcrafted helpful hints and local information provided with all our holidays
● Personal service by your sales consultant who looks after all aspects of your holiday
● Financial protection with our ATOL (3076) for all holidays including a flight and AFPS (6104) for all non-air holidays

Call us on 01392 441245

Luxury hotel holidays: bespoke hotel holidays to selected destinations worldwide

Luxury holidays to Europe from Expressions Holidays offer you an immense choice of beautiful and cultured destinations, with an incredible variety of sights and activities. Within a comparatively small area, Europe bursts with amazing differences and offers a wealth of different types of holidays. Our holidays to Europe offer historic and ancient cities, full of exquisite buildings, each one telling a fascinating story; we offer holidays in outstandingly scenic places, on the coast and in the country, on lakes and in the mountains. The countries we offer span from Portugal in the west to Hungary in the east, from Poland in the north to Cyprus in the south. The countries may be islands, or they may be land-locked. There are travel arrangements to match the variety and all thirsts for special interests and activities, whether they be sporting, cultural or gastronomic, can be quenched.

Countries of Europe

Austria has retained a penchant for indulgence, opulent aestheticism, and the cultivation of the higher pleasures in life. Visible in the rolling green pastures that cover the lands between the Alps, and in the grand architecture of the cities, this side to Austria still prevails. Inhabited since the Palaeolithic Age, Austria holds a wealth of dramatic and dynamic history within its fertile valleys.
Cyprus, seemingly marooned at the cross-roads of Europe and Asia, with one foot firmly planted in the west, and the other pointing towards Turkey and the Lebanon, is a curious – and utterly captivating – mix of the ancient and the new. Although Cyprus pays the price for its fabulous climate with some lively resorts, Aphrodite’s fabled birthplace offers ample reward for the adventurous.
The Czech Republic is perhaps personified by its capital, Prague, whose streets tell of magnificent dynasties, impressive battles, and a warm and welcoming culture that is ever-evolving. But this interest extends beyond the capital, into the towns and cities of the countryside, with their colourful buildings and majestic squares, and the Gothic castles that keep watch over the hillsides.
Despite the emerging innovation of the Czech Republic’s food scene and the modern, urban twist to the cities, this is a country that is firmly rooted in long-standing tradition and folklore.
Germany is a fascinating and richly varied country, with regional quirks and personalities a strong feature of German life, a hangover from the days, not too long ago, when the country was once a patchwork of independent states. Today, to travel from the ancient ports of the north, across the open fields of the German plain, and down through the Ruhr and onto the forests, mountains and cosmopolitan cities of Germany’s Bavarian south, you’ll experience an intriguing variety as great – and appealing – as you’d find anywhere else in Europe.
Greece, with 166 inhabited islands, a history spanning millennia of civilisation, distinctive and rustic cuisine often enjoyed al fresco with taverna-views out over the sea, as well as some of the most spectacular beaches in Europe, presents a fantastic holiday destination. Sum of an extraordinary diversity of parts, Greece has played host to countless empires, and the country today is fair littered with Roman ruins and Byzantine churches, Venetian fortresses and Frankish castles. Scattered far and wide across the Aegean and Ionian Seas, the difficulty with Greece is in deciding which bit to visit.
Hungary is situated right at the heart of Europe with a unique language and culture transplanted from Central Asia more than a thousand years ago. With its spectacular setting on the banks of the Danube and its enchanting Mitteleuropa vibe – coffee houses and Turkish baths, Habsburg splendours and baroque architecture – Budapest naturally attracts the bulk of visitors to Hungary.
Poland, over many centuries, has become a melting pot of cultures and religions, and witness to key moments in history. There are stories, both ancient and modern, to be told in every corner, from the Tatras mountaintops, to the Masurian lakes and the Bialowieza Forest. The main cities are clusters of monuments, museums, synagogues under faithful restoration, and impressive buildings that reflect Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Art Nouveau architecture.
Portugal’s countryside bursts with pretty villages, glitters with historical treasures and World Heritage sites, as well as converted mediaeval monasteries, and elegant manor houses now hosting some of the finest hotels in Europe. Though Portugal’s spirit is undoubtedly rural, its big towns, Porto and Lisbon, are lively, magical places making full use of their waterside setting, with colourful waterside cafes and boutiques, leafy boulevards and old-fashioned trams still rattling through the streets. Dramatic scenery lies all along the coast from windswept cliffs with edge-of-the-world views to wild dune-covered beaches.
Slovenia is a country with a reputation that is being quickly shaped by its environmental priorities. Sublime lakes, lined with forested mountains, sit within driving distance of historic sub-Mediterranean coastlines. Castles and caves provide plenty to explore both above and below ground, and the spa and health resorts dotted around the country offer havens of relaxation that utilise the natural healing properties of the thermal waters.
Switzerland did not just pioneer tourism, it invented it. Visitors still flock to its mountains for fresh air and restorative mineral springs, to the small valley villages to witness the country's sublime natural landscape, and to the larger cities for a taste of the livelier culture, artistic heritage, and romantic historical sites. With a wonderful climate and spectacular glaciers and summits, the country today is every bit as beautiful and worth visiting as it was when interest began in the 1800s.

Country facts

Unmissable holiday experiences in Europe

Coffee and cake and Demel’s in Vienna, visit the Belvedere to see the Klimt, take a tram to Grinzing, climb the Hohensalzburg castle in Salzburg, Visit the Akemas peninsula in Cyprus, visit the amphitheatre at Kourion, stroll over Charles Bridge in Prague, visit the Laterna Magika in Prague, visit the Zwinger in Dresden, walk along Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg gate in Berlin, visit the Fishermen’s Bastion in Buda, Gellert baths in Budapest, Mycenae and Agamemnon’s palace, Palace of Knossos on Crete, Meteora monasteries, visit Old Town Square Warsaw, Wawel castle Krakow, Sintra for its royal palaces, Porto for its wine, golf on the Algarve, cross all the bridges in Ljubljana including Dragon Bridge, travel by gondola to Bled island, see the covered bridge in Lucerne, ride on the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express, take the Gornergrat train in Zermatt, take the train to the Jungfraujoch, visit the Kunsthaus in Zurich, check out the Cresta Run at St Moritz, attend the jazz festival in Montreux.

Call us on 01392 441245