Travel: Holiday firm Tauck extends family experiences

Perhaps better known in the UK for its European River Cruises, the US-based company is enhancing its bridges trips in Europe, the Americas and Africa, with a range of exclusive and exhilarating activities, designed to bring families closer together through shared experiences.

The 2016 Tauck Bridges brochure – http://www.tauck.co.uk/family-travel.aspx – is launched as the company sees strong growth across its 19 family excursions, with bookings up year-on-year and pre-season bookings for 2016 running well ahead of the same period last year.

Among the enhancements for 2016 is a special winter holiday departure of Tauck’s popular “Alpine Adventure” exploration of Switzerland, Austria and Germany, with the itinerary modified to take full advantage of one of the world’s most sought-after winter sports destinations. The eight-day itinerary begins in Zurich on December 19 with a cable car ride to the top of nearby Mount Pilatus.

Over subsequent days, guests will have the opportunity to pursue fun winter activities including sledding and tobogganing, downhill or cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and even ice-climbing on the face of a frozen waterfall.

Other special experiences include a rail journey aboard the Glacier Express train to St Moritz, a visit to an Olympic ski jumping site, a horse-drawn carriage ride to fairytale-like Hohenschwangau Castle, and a five-course gala Christmas dinner.

The all-inclusive itinerary includes two nights at Hotel Schweizerhof Luzern, two nights at the Hotel Schweizerhof St Moritz in Switzerland, two nights at the Aqua Dome Hotel in the heart of Austria’s Otztal Valley, and a final night at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, where guests will enjoy a farewell dinner in 15th Century vaults once used to store salt.

Elsewhere in Europe, Tauck has added new small group departures to two popular eight-day Bridges itineraries, “Italia Bella: Rome to Venice” (June 20 and July 12) and “Castles & Kings: London to Paris” (June 24 and July 18).

The four departures will average just 24 passengers each for a more intimate travel experience. Tauck has also added additional departures to two of its three Bridges European river cruises, “Blue Danube: Family Riverboat Adventure” and “Castles on the Rhine: Family Riverboat Adventure.”

Details on the entire portfolio of 2016 Tauck Bridges journeys are contained in a new full-colour 84-page brochure or see Tauck’s website at http://www.tauck.co.uk/family-travel.aspx.

As the American presidential election gathers pace, Tauck and the filmmaker Ken Burns, often described as the David Attenborough of America, have crafted a new itinerary to examine the history and explore the meaning of freedom in the USA.

In Freedom’s Footsteps, an 11-day tour, begins in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American liberty where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed, and it ends with a three-night stay at the historic Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, where Martin Luther King put the finishing touches to his landmark “I Have A Dream” speech.

The new itinerary includes visits to Amish country, Harpers Ferry, Gettysburg and Richmond, as well as Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate. The realities of plantation life in the antebellum South will be brought to life during a private lecture by Dr. Leni Sorensen, a scholar and African American Research Historian for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. The itinerary also highlights early American life in Jamestown and Williamsburg, Virginia, and guests will visit Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington.

While in Washington, Tauck guests will enjoy a sightseeing tour of the city’s landmark sites and, by special arrangement, will be able to avoid the crowds with exclusive early-admission to the National Archives. Here they will view America’s founding documents, which assured personal freedoms for some, while denying them to others. A visit to the Newseum, a 250,000-square-foot news and journalism museum, will provide an opportunity for guests to contemplate another freedom – freedom of the press – as they tour its exhibits.

The freedom tour is included in Tauck’s new 2016 USA and Canada brochure, featuring 38 itineraries, including exclusive trips to North America’s national parks which, next year, celebrate their 100th anniversary.

2016 prices are from £3,090 for 11 Days, plus air travel. To see the full itinerary, go to: http://www.tauck.co.uk/tours/usa-tours/southern-usa-travel/philadelphia-to-dc-tour-wb-2016.aspx or to find out more visit: www.tauck.co.uk