Latest news with #RivieraTravel
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Underrated EU island welcoming Brits where tourism backlash doesn't exist
Deterred by escalating anti-tourist sentiment in Spain? Don't worry, this beautiful EU island offers equally stunning beaches, history and architecture - all without the threat of angry protestors Avoid the angry protestors on this stunning European island just over three hours from the UK. For decades, sun-worshipping Brits have been flocking to sunny Spain - partying in the hectic regions of Magaluf and Benidorm, or chilling out in the more laid-back coastal gems stretching across the Costa del Sol. Lured in by golden sandy beaches, crystal clear waters, cheap booze and stunning history, the country has watched its tourism rapidly boom. Last year, Spain and its slew of insatiably popular islands, witnessed a record-breaking 94 million international visitors - a 10 per cent spike from the year before. However, the influx sparked backlash amongst locals, who argue the skyrocketing demand for short-term holiday lets has priced them out of the property market. 2024 witnessed a string of protests erupt across the country, with banner-holding residents demanding Brits 'go home' and never return. This anti-tourist rhetoric has spiralled in recent years, with fresh vows of demonstrations to take place during the insufferably busy summer. If you've been put off by the clashing protests, Joanne Lynn, a European travel expert over at Riviera Travel, recommends visiting Malta instead. Situated in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast - Malta may only span some 122 square miles, but it certainly packs a powerful punch. Here, you'll find a UNESCO city dripping in history, ancient ruins, stunning architecture and pristine beaches. Highlights include the 'Blue Grotto' - a network of six sea caves that has been branded the perfect dupe of Italy's Amalfi Coast - and the Saluting Battery ceremony in the capital, where a restored canon is fired Monday through Sunday twice a day. Speaking exclusively with the Mirror, Joanne explained how the country has 'largely avoided' this kind of tension thanks to the island's more 'measured approach to tourism and strong emphasis on maintaining local culture'. "While the island can certainly get busy, particularly around popular beach areas during peak season, it has not experienced the same degree of backlash or protest seen in places like Barcelona," she said. "Crucially, Malta hasn't faced the same pressures on housing markets or local infrastructure, which has helped preserve a generally positive relationship between residents and visitors." Last year, Malta welcomed 3.6 million tourists - almost 20 per cent more compared to 2023. But despite its growing popularity, Joanne says travellers can still enjoy a 'fulfilling experience without the added concern of tourism-related unrest'. "Overall, Malta's combination of high-quality restaurants, museums, historical tourist attractions and quiet towns makes it a great choice for anyone looking to avoid demonstrations across Europe, while still being able to experience a wonderful summer trip abroad," she added. Of course, this is not to say that everyone on the islands loves the sudden influx of Brits. Certain areas, such as Comino - a small island of the Maltese archipelago, have become super crowded in the busy summer months. Back in 2022, a local group named Movimenti Graffiti stripped the area of its deckchairs and sun beds to make it clear that Comino should be protected 'not plundered'. You can fly directly to Malta from most major UK airports, including Glasgow, Belfast, Liverpool, and London Stansted, with flights taking an average of three hours and 15 minutes. If you're flexible with dates, you can grab return fares for as little as £50 in June. Accommodation on the island is equally affordable, with a slew of no-thrill hotels, hostels, and apartments available. For example, a week's stay (Monday, June 9-16) at The Rose Hostel in St Julian's will set you back £349. This is based on two adults staying in a seven-bed mixed dorm. However, if you want a more luxurious trip - check out Grand Hotel Excelsior. Located in Valetta, this stunning resort boasts a large outdoor and indoor pool, a private beach, spa, and three restaurants. You can splurge out on the Superior Deluxe Double Room with a sea view for £1,659 on the exact same dates.
Travel Weekly
19-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Riviera Travel adds to North America sales team
Riviera Travel has made two hires for its North America sales team. The river cruise line named Eric Schmit vice president of sales for North America and Jarret Kettinger regional sales director. Eric Schmit Schmit will lead the company's North America sales strategy and joins Riviera with close to 15 years of experience in luxury travel and hospitality. He most recently worked as director of business development and national accounts at Regent Seven Seas Cruises. "Eric brings a strong blend of energy, strategic thinking and a collaborative spirit that aligns perfectly with our ambitious growth plans," said Stuart Milan, Riviera's president of North America. "Eric's deep understanding of the luxury cruise market and his passion for building meaningful partnerships will be a key asset as we expand our presence across North America." Jarret Kettinger Based in South Carolina, Kettinger has a background in hospitality sales and a strong track record of cultivating travel advisor relationships, the river cruise line said. He most recently served as director of key and host accounts at Railbookers Group. Riviera is launching two new ships this year: the 178-passenger Riviera Radiance will sail the Danube starting in June, and the 114-passenger Riviera Rose started sailing Portugal's Douro in April. A 178-passenger newbuild, the Riviera Resplendence, is due in 2026. The new hires come as Riviera aims to increase its U.S. sales.
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Daily Mail
The best walkable destinations in Europe revealed - as gorgeous Italian coastline bags the top spot
Skip the car rental hire and put your best foot forward on a holiday in one of these walkable destinations. Joanne Lynn, head of European Product at Riviera Travel, has revealed the best destinations on the continent for a walking holiday. From a dreamy UNESCO Italian hotspot to an iconic canal city, find out which of Europe's cities are the easiest to discover on foot. Amalfi Coast, Italy One of Italy 's prettiest holiday destinations, the Amalfi Coast is also one of Europe's most walkable holiday hotspots, according to Riviera Travel. Joanne says: 'Situated between the Gulf of Naples and Salento, the Amalfi Coast offers stunning views of Italian landscapes and the Mediterranean Sea, providing an exceptional backdrop for a breathtaking walking holiday.' A UNESCO heritage site, the Amalfi Coast is world-renowned and loved for its lemon trees and colourful clifftop villages. And the beautiful holiday destination is set to get easier to reach with BA launching new flights to Salerno later this May. Amsterdam, Netherlands It might be best known for cycling but Amsterdam is also a fantastic destination to explore on two feet. Joanne explains that the Dutch capital has a combination of 'walkable streets' and 'pedestrian-only zones'. She adds: 'The canals dotted throughout the city only add to the scenic nature, providing some great views while travellers stroll around this bustling location.' Many of the city's top attractions including the Anne Frank House, Rijksmuseum and Vondelpark are within a half an hour walk of each other. Dubrovnik, Croatia The historic city of Dubrovnik is an ideal option for a walking holiday, according to Joanne. She says: 'The city's Old Town is car-free, with its cobbled streets only accessible by foot. Additionally with the city located on the coast, travellers can enjoy some amazing views of the Adriatic Sea and the surrounding Dalmatian islands.' Walking Dubrovnik's historic walls is one of the city's highlights but tourists will need to buy a ticket to do so. However, the city's main attractions are all within an easy walk of each other which means tourists can save on the cost of car hire. Florence, Italy The Italian city's 'flat and compact' centre means it's 'easily accessible for exploration on foot' Florence is a popular honeymoon destination but it's also a great choice for holidaymakers who like to walk. Joanne says: 'Often considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence is a city everyone should visit at least once during their lifetime. 'Located in the region of Tuscany, Florence is a wonderful city, home to well-known landmarks including Ponte Vecchio, Campanile di Giotto and Uffizi Gallery.' The Italian city's 'flat and compact' centre means it's 'easily accessible for exploration on foot'. Krakow, Poland Krakow, Poland's second-largest city, is another fantastic destination for holidaymakers who like to walk. 'The Polish city is relatively compact and easy to navigate on foot, with pedestrian-only zones in place in the city's Old Town,' reveals Joanne. She adds: 'Furthermore, there's plenty of history and medieval architecture to discover, making it a great place to explore while boosting fitness.' Tourists can walk from Rynek Glowny, the city's main square, to Wawel Royal Castle in just 15 minutes.
Daily Mirror
12-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
‘I was nervous to travel after my husband died until I made a friend on holiday'
Helen McGlashan, 59, from Manchester, pushed herself to head off on a solo holiday with Riviera Travel following her retirement and the death of her husband, Alastair A woman who travelled solo for the first time after her husband died found a new lease of life and a close friend on the road. Following a break-up or bereavement, especially, booking a solo holiday for the first time can seem intimidating. For many, the thought of stepping into the unknown without a familiar companion might be nerve-wracking, - but it can also be empowering. Group tours can help people in that situation explore the world on their own while offering the comfort of being surrounded by like-minded travelers. This has certainly been the case for Helen McGlashan, 59, from Manchester. The former director of residential and sports services at the University of Manchester retired in 2020 after the death of her husband, Alastair. She said: 'Following my husband's death in 2019, I needed some time out. He had been ill for a while, so we hadn't really travelled much. I took my first solo trip later that year, when I went to Krakow with Riviera Travel. I was used to going away with my husband, and I was a bit nervous about the thought of doing it on my own - so I decided to start with a shorter trip.' Understandably, Helen felt some nerves before joining the group trip. She admitted: 'When I got to the airport, I was thinking, 'What if I don't make friends with anybody and I'm Billy No-Mates?' But that's never happened [on a Riviera Travel holiday].' The Riviera Travel team - which has been operating in the UK for more than 40 years - meets their solo guests at the departure airport or St Pancras International if travelling by Eurostar. Since her first solo holiday, Helen has joined a wide range of river cruises, ocean cruises and land tours. She said: 'On all of them, I have found people to be extremely friendly and willing to get together and do things as a group. I've never felt like I'm lacking company, in fact, it's been wonderful to share these experiences with people. 'The groups are always very mixed; you have couples but there are also siblings and friends travelling together. You're dining together and sharing experiences, and there are lots of opportunities for socialising and mixing, so you get to know each other really well - and really quickly.' Five years after her first solo tour, Helen has visited far-flung destinations such as India, Egypt, Jordan, Montenegro, Italy and Croatia - to name a few. 'My family has given me the nickname 'Judith Chalmers', after the former Wish You Were Here…? holiday show host, because of my extensive travels," she joked. It was during one of her solo tours that Helen struck up a lasting friendship with one of her fellow individual travellers, Yvonne Palmer. She recalled: 'I went to Undiscovered Italy in Puglia with Riviera Travel. When we arrived at Brindisi airport, there was a lady standing on her own and she approached me. We ended up sitting next to each other on the coach, and then our rooms were adjacent to one another. She is a widow also, and we have become great friends, and a support mechanism, for one another. 'Now, we travel together three or four times a year, both in the UK and abroad. We just went to Marrakech together. Travel brings a sense of joy and wonderment, and it reminds you what life is about. I think it's a privilege to be able to meet so many different people, and it's just nice to share things again.' Helen has a long list of destinations she dreams of visiting in the future. 'I'm going on the Grand Tour of Sicily with Riviera Travel this September, and we're going to go around the whole island. The itinerary is fantastic, we're going to go up the volcano and we'll be having canapes with a Duchess in Palermo. 'I'm also already looking at trips for 2026 and I've still got Sri Lanka, Japan, Romania, Transylvania and South Africa on my bucket list - you name it, I'm still excited to travel.' For those who may be thinking about taking the leap and embarking on their first solo adventure, Helen has some words of encouragement. 'Just go for it - life is very short, and we never know what's around the corner. There's nothing to be fearful about, especially on a group tour. There's a joint camaraderie, so if you're having an issue there is always somebody there to help.'
Times
06-05-2025
- Times
10 of the best places to visit in Germany
I knew very little about Europe's most populous country when I first met a lass from Lower Saxony, three decades ago. So on visits to my future in-laws, I started to range further afield to get to grips with the nation I was marrying into. Over the years I have discovered mountain ranges, impressive rivers, delightful semi-medieval towns, vineyards and beer gardens. In short, a nation of great variety, and one of Europe's most overlooked tourism destinations, from which I have selected some of my personal favourites. This article contains affiliate links, which may earn us revenue One week Bavaria, including the Romantic Road Two weeks Black Forest, Berlin and the Baltic coast Three weeks the Rhine, the Moselle vineyards and the industrial Ruhr A tight budget the Danube cyclepath, staying in local guesthouses Besides being ridiculously good looking, the half-timbered pastel-painted hilltop town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in northern Bavaria sits at the top of the Romantic Road, a signposted 280-mile themed route that strings together medieval villages like pearls on a necklace. Rothenburg still has its city gates and a nightwatchman, whilst Nördlingen, further south, has a warden whose job it is to climb the 350 steps up the tower of its 15th-century church to call out 'all's well', at 10pm every evening. Stay at the Hotel Gotisches Haus — a restored 13th-century building in the heart of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Rothenburg is such a picture-postcard destination that it features on Insight Vacations' grand tour of Europe. • Best things to do in Bavaria• Discover our full guide to Germany Germany has a hat-trick of magnificent rivers — the Danube, the Elbe and the Rhine. Each is busy with passenger and freight shipping, but the latter is the most spectacular. Its best bit is the 40-mile-long Rhine Gorge which begins just south of Koblenz, where the river accelerates and the banks rise up, cloaked in vineyards and bristling with castles and legends of Rhinemaidens. Half-timbered towns such as Bacharach or Sankt Goar dot the bank. For hikers, there's a spectacular long-distance trail up on the eastern side. One of the Rhineside castles, Burg Reichenstein, has been converted into a fabulous place to stay. The tour operator Riviera Travel includes the Rhine Gorge in multiple cruise options. • The best new river cruise ships and routes for 2025• Best Rhine river cruises With rolling hills, pretty villages, and the fashionable spa town of Baden-Baden, there's little that's gloomy about the Black Forest. For hikers there's village-to-village trails, and for non-hikers there are scenic drives such as the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, a spectacular ridgeline route from Baden-Baden to Freudenstadt. There's top quality gastronomy too, particularly in the village of Baiersbronn, home to several Michelin stars. The Bareiss in Baiersbronn is one of the top hotels in Germany, particularly for foodies. This Just Go Holidays tour takes in the timbered houses and rushing waterfalls of the Black Forest, with excursions to Baden-Baden and Freudenstadt. • Berlin v Munich: which is better? If there's one image that is used to represent Germany, it is the extravagant castle of Neuschwanstein, supposedly Walt Disney's inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's Castle. This salvo of turrets stands atop a rock in the foothills of the Alps, and was created by the eccentric castle-builder King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Foothill towns Füssen and Garmisch-Partenkirchen are nearby, hubs for hiking and skiing, in the lee of Germany's highest point (Zugspitze, 2,962m), easily reached by both cable car and cogwheel train. In Füssen, the Luitpoldpark Hotel is the hub of downtown. Southern Bavaria is one of Europe's top destinations, and features in Insight Vacations' Best of Germany itinerary. • Best Christmas markets in Germany Snow-topped in winter and rich in legends, these mountains in Germany's midriff were split between East and West for much of the 20th century. These days the hiking trails are friendly again, and the Harz echoes with the chuntering of steam engines on a privately run narrow gauge network that connects fairytale terminus towns such as half-timbered Wernigerode. The railway runs right up the Brocken (1,414m), a bleak peak where rumour has it that Europe's witches gather on Walpurgisnacht (April 30). The spectacularly preserved Weisser Hirsch is the best address in Wernigerode. Titan Travel's ten-day Berlin, Dresden & the Magnificent Harz Mountains tour includes a railway trip up to Brocken. Nestled in the heart of Europe, Lake Constance (aka Bodensee in German) is shared between Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. So to travel around its circumference is to dip in and out of closely allied cultures, sampling Unesco-registered Stone Age dwellings and baroque towns, set against the backdrop of the Alps. Germany sits on the north bank, where the slopes are carpeted with vineyards and dotted with wellness hotels. Lake ferries head across the water from historic Friedrichshafen. The Bodensee Hotel Sonnenhof is a ten-minute walk from the lake. The lake circumference is ideal cycling territory, as in this Exodus tour. The Moselle rises in France and flows across into Germany to join the Rhine, northwest of Frankfurt. It is the Rhine's smaller sibling, with a lot of the same characteristics — lovely riverside towns and hilltop castles — but more serene and more twisty. The valley is strung like a harp with steep sun-worshipping vineyards, including some of the steepest in the world at Bremmer Calmont. A challenging hiking trail threads through them, there's a peaceful cycle path right beside the river, and plenty of cruise boats, both day-trip and multi-day, on the water. The Moselschlösschen Spa & Resort offers wellness at the water's edge in Traben-Trarbach. Riviera Travel's Grand Cruise of the Moselle and Rhine features 18 days of glorious riverside scenery. Germany's oldest university town, the equivalent of Oxford or Cambridge, sits on the banks of the river Neckar, dominated by its castle. The latter, coupled with a beautifully preserved old town and the sandstone Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) makes it very popular with visitors. The Philosopher's Walk, frequented by the likes of Goethe and Hegel, runs along the far bank. The view across to Heidelberg Castle is one of the most famous in Germany. The Hollander Hof hotel is perfectly placed on the riverside beside the Alte Brücke. The Neckar is a tributary of the Rhine, so Heidelberg is a tour option for many cruise ship operators, including Ruhr, north of Düsseldorf, was the engine of Germany's post-war Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle). It's a former coal mining district, but the last mine has closed and some of its heavy industrialisation has found an alternative purpose. Thus Essen's Unesco-registered Zeche Zollverein, the 'world's prettiest coal mine', has a design museum in its coking plant, the former blast furnace that is now the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord has cycle trails and diving tanks, and the Tiger & Turtle is a walkable rollercoaster of a sculpture on a slag heap. Düsseldorf's trendy Me and All hotel serves breakfast with a view in its top-floor lounge. The Essen coal mine is on the itinerary of this nine-day Best of Germany tour. Coastal ports such as Lübeck, Rostock and Wismar were key players in the ancient Hanseatic League, a precursor of the EU, and many of that era's brick-built merchant's houses still line their streets. This coast is also the focus of the traditional beach holiday, before air travel, with traditional resorts at the likes of Warnemünde, Kühlungsborn, Heiligendamm (the posh one) and all over the causeway-connected island of Rügen, particularly at Binz. The Grand at Heiligendamm is one of the Leading Hotels of the World. Lübeck features in the ten-day Highlights of Germany tour from Cosmos. • A selection of the best Baltic cruises• The best secret islands in Europe
