Arrival and departure airport transfers are NOT included on our short 3 and 4-day tours unless it is specifically stated as being so on your booking confirmation. Airport transfers are, however, normally provided free of cost when you book onto a combination of three or more tours, and on special departures tours of ten days or more, or on customised (tailor-made) tour programmes.

All tours depart from our centrally located base. You are responsible for being at the departure point by the time designated in the itinerary. If you are not booking into our base hotel, you can book a transfer to this from where ever you are staying or we can collect you from any centrally located hotel where you are staying and deliver you to our base hotel at a cost £15.00. Transfers from accommodations further than 20 minutes drive away cost from £25.00.

Where transfers are included (on tours 10 days and over) they are only available on the day preceding and following the start/finish day of the tour from/to the nearest airport to the departure/arrival city. You are able to have one transfer at the beginning and end of the tour. This transfer is to the tour departure hotel or to a hotel of your choice from your airport of arrival in the city from which your tour begins. You are responsible for notifying us of your arrival information no later than six weeks prior to arrival date or you do not qualify for a free airport transfer. Transfers are not provided from rail stations and you have to make your way independently to the departure hotel. If your initial transfer is not to the tour hotel (but to one that you've booked independently prior to the tour starting) then you are obliged to make your own way to our tour hotel on the morning of departure. However, should you not have had an initial airport transfer, then you can be transferred, free of charge from the hotel you're using prior to the tour to the tour hotel. Similarly, at the completion of the tour, you may take either a return transfer to the airport or a transfer from the tour hotel to another one in which you might be staying for an extended time.

All tours commence from a major city.  Accommodation in the departure city, prior and post tour is NOT included and must be reserved separately.

Accommodation is in three-star or equivalent lodgings. All rooms are with private facilities (bathrooms), unless specifically informed at the time of booking your tour.   

Accommodations include country inns, manor houses, cosy farmhouses and quaint family owned B+B's whilst on tour (see Booking Conditions for exceptions).  Where not available, properties of similar standards are used. 

PLEASE NOTE:  the vast majority of the accommodations we use do not have traditional-style porterage (neither do they have lifts/elevators).  Your guide, however, will normally be able to assist with your baggage.  BUT please do note that if you bring along bags that are heavier than the normal standard airline permissable weight and size, European Health and Safety regulations apply.  Under these circumstances, guides will be within their rights should they be reluctant to carry that bag.

All transportation aboard our comfortable 6 to 16 seat mini-coaches and the services of a driver/guide throughout.

Cooked breakfast daily* whilst on tour and minimum two-course dinners every night**.  See detailed tour itinerary for full meal inclusions. There is inevitably a budget for dinners but it is normally more than sufficient to cover a free choice of the menu. However, should the group dine in places where the costs of the meals are substantailly higher than the budget allows, particpants will have an option of adding to the budget on an ad hoc basis if wanting higher priced menu items.

*In tour arrival cities - London, Paris, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Nice, Rome and Dublin, continental breakfast is sometime served.  All tours on the European mainland include continental breakfast. 

**On all  tours over four nights where individual short tours are combined, the dinner between tours not included (unless specifically stated as such in the tour itinerary) to allow tour participants some independence and flexibility.   Dinners are never included in arrival and departure cities unless specifically stated in the tour itinerary.

All sightseeing and entrance fees to sights mentioned as possible visits in the itinerary, or when accompanied by driver/guide, up to a budget specified by the guide. Tour participants may be asked to pay an entrance fee fro attractions and sights they may have specifically requested that be visited and are not normally included on a tour itinerary.  All taxes.  All tips and gratuities (except to guide/companion) to outside suppliers but you're free to supplement if the service warrants such.

No Cancellation Guarantee - once a deposit has been made, we promise that we will only cancel the tour in extreme circumstances (eg. where local or organisational circumstances make it impossible for us to deliver our tour). Historically we have never cancelled a tour simply because we have low numbers. If you have invested your travel dreams with us, we will do our best to honour them! In the current economic/political climate, however, it must be understood that we have to reserve the legal right to cancel where the number of tour participants may make a tour uneconomic to run and doing so may effect our corporate health. Where we have accepted your booking, and it later becomes apparent that you might be the only person(s) on that tour, Back-Roads Touring Co. Ltd will notify you of such and give you the opportunity of changing to another departure, or for you to cancel your tour without cost.

Air Fares to Europe.  Air travel must be booked independently and the flight details given to us. It is your, or your travel agents, responsbility to let us have this information in a timely manner.

Transfers to and from arrival/departure airports unless specifically reserved or promised as part of an overall tour reservation. These must be booked independently. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are at the departure hotel at the appointed time.

Driver/Guide gratuity is at your discretion.

Lunches, social drinks, items of a personal nature and entrance fees when not accompanied by our Driver/Guide.

Occasional optional evening theatre/festival visits.

Incidental expenses, such as telephone bills, newspapers and room service incurred at accommodations is the responsibility of the individual client.   All expenses are settled prior to leaving the accommodation.

Laundry costs and any shipping charges for the return of purchases made on tour, or for the return of property lost on tour.