Summer Holiday Ideas

Nathan Collins

As summer approaches, here are a few suggestions from our award-winning team of travel experts, all departing from Birmingham and offering something a little different.

A new flight commencing in June opens up the Split and Makarska Riviera including the cosmopolitan resort of Hvar and the island of Brac. With its rich history, stunning coastline and beautiful interior with great national parks – Croatia is a good all round destination. One great way to see the coastline is by boat and regular casual Adriatic cruises take place allowing you to call in and experience different resorts, towns and cities. You can also combine Croatia with Montenegro where my colleague Nicola recently visited. An up and coming destination, there are already a selection of excellent luxury hotels and quality restaurants waiting to be explored. Perfect for a self-drive trip between the two countries.

One of the more obvious choices is the island of Majorca, but instead of booking a standard week’s package, consider a long weekend. With an abundance of flights from Birmingham and East Midlands airports you don’t have to rely on weekly charter services which makes short breaks much easier. Our favourite place for a cocktail is Abaco and Puno Beach Club is where the in-crowd hang out. The city has a beautiful cathedral to explore, great shopping and an exciting collection of restaurants. Our favourite quiet spot on the island is the pretty village of Deia, home to the famous English poet, novelist, and scholar Robert Graves. He was one of the first foreigners to settle in the village which is now home to a superb 5* hotel, perfect for afternoon tea at the very least.

For those with an interest in history why not consider the Peloponnese region of Greece. Accessed via Kalamata from Birmingham on the mainland of Greece the area is rich in Greek ruins and having visited myself I can highly recommend it. I stayed in the Costa Navarino area which lends itself well for families like us but also couples with excellent luxury hotels on offer. It is a less commercialised and authentic area of Greece compared with some of the other resorts and islands I have previously experienced. There are many other flights from Birmingham to Greece including Kefalonia and Lefkas on a nice, smaller aircraft which makes it feel a little more exclusive.

If you enjoy food & wine, head to Porto, Portugal’s second city further north than Lisbon. A new direct flight from Birmingham makes it a great short break destination or why not combine it with Lisbon for a longer stay? Porto itself is a pretty city, famed for its sherry and wine and we certainly have great feedback when clients return. If you prefer not to drive abroad, there is a good rail link down the coast to Lisbon, and the city gives good access to the Douro Valley too.

And finally, consider a trip to Valencia this summer. With the only direct flight from the UK outside of London, those of us that live in the Midlands can now access this culturally rich city which has long been a hidden gem on the Costa Blanca coast. The city celebrates its past and embraces its future with a beautiful historic old town to wander and a selection of world-class art galleries and museums celebrating Spanish art and culture. The local area outside Valencia is full of fascinating sites, castles and attractions. Food plays an important role in Valencia life and we highly recommend exploring the traditional local restaurants away from the main streets. The 72-hour tourist pass is a great way to experience the city’s highlights with entrance fees and transport included.

To book your summer holiday with RB Collection, contact us on 01543 258631, or e-mail us at vip@rbcollection.com

Back Share

Great cruise, boat, taxi, hotel, meal (and more!) arrangements in Athens and Corfu. Oliver has this amazing ability to know what we would enjoy, which is why I've already booked my next trip with RB! To the Carribbean we go in November!! 🥳 Thanks Oliver and the entire team at RB!

Zain Qazi

‘As usual, Sam at RB Collection arranged our recent Iceland/Scotland cruise with attention to every possible detail. He remembered what had worked for us previously and used that knowledge to enhance our experience. No question was too much trouble for either Sam or his colleague Clare. We would not consider anyone else for our holiday arrangements; RB Collection are truly superb!’

Hilary Carroll

Wonderful way to book a wonderful holiday. Such a personalised & attentive approach to helping us find the perfect family holiday! Couldn’t recommend more!!!

Pandora Bahrami

They found us the perfect hotel for our London stay. Exactly the right balance of perfect location, incredible breakfast and they really listened to what we wanted. I even had access to one of London best gyms included in the stay!

Katie May Medley

RB Collections are a wonderful family run firm who welcome you into the family from the first holiday you book with them. My special thanks go to Clare who always ensures my booking runs smoothly and takes the stress out of the process of decisions by ‘knowing’ and implementing my preferences using information she has ascertained from previous bookings. I don’t have to remember…..Clare does it for me.

Janet Goodwin

Having just returned from a fantastic long weekend at Disneyland Paris, we had to leave a review for Sam and the team at RB Collection. They removed all the stress from organising the trip and ensured everything was in place for a truly memorable trip for all the family. We can’t thank them enough and we will certainly be back for future holidays. Our experience has been 10/10 👍🏻

Mike Boyden

Just returned home from a wonderful holiday in Madeira arranged by Sam from RB Collection. Every detail from flights, hotel, transfers, recommended restaurants and "must to do's" was excellent and all documents arrived by post in good time for checking before departing on our holiday. Due to the weather, our journey was delayed by two days. However after contacting RB on the emergency number in the holiday package, all was sorted by the team - an upgraded hotel room at the same hotel, flight, transfers, taking away all the stress from ourselves and allowing us to enjoy our extra two days. One cannot put a price on a phone call and text messages when something unfortunate happens and you feel vulnerable. On our return, the excellent service has continued by Sam and colleagues who are now dealing with the necessary correspondence with the airline company. My husband and I and children at home who were concerned when we were stranded, cannot thank the team at RB enough for their support and professionalism and we are looking forward to many more holidays using the company. Tom & Janet

Tom&Janet Marks

We came to RB Collection with an idea of some of the places we wanted to visit in Rajasthan, India - and they made it all happen, expertly and efficiently. Oliver and Clare were a pleasure to deal with, sorting every aspect and adding their own ideas to really enhance this wonderful trip. They checked in while we were away to make sure everything was going well (which it was) and I knew they'd be on hand if we needed anything. Thank you!

David Page

The purpose of this review isn't to confirm that our holiday was a 5 star experience (which it was, by the way) but it's a review to say that RB Collection's involvement in planning, booking and safety netting our holiday experiences has been truly 5 stars. Are people bothered if my wife and I had a great holiday - I suspect no...... Are people interested in the company that was instrumental in creating 5 star holidays - I suspect yes ......and so it's RB Collection's skills and involvement that get this 5 star rating. As a family we have booked our own holidays almost exclusively by ourselves for 35 years - until a year ago when we used RB Collection's services for the first time to book a holiday to the Ice Hotel in Sweden. We chose to book through them because we had no experience or knowledge of the Ice Hotel and their exclusive Ice Hotel Website was great. Their involvement made all the difference - in particular their personal commitment to making things work and since the first contact, they have been getting to know our travel "needs, wants and likes" more by each contact. Our next holiday was a Silversea Cruise - one that we could easily have booked ourselves, but RB's influence allowed us to save a significant (4 figure!) sum. Reason alone to recommend! Our third and most recent booking with RB was a safari which could not have been a better holiday experience. The reasons for this are as follows: 1. Up until raising the possibility, I knew nothing about safaris i.e. where to go / at what time of year / for how long etc. Within 72 hours of a discussion of a suggestion by me for a Tanzania trip (based on a google AI search), I was infinitely far better informed and after weighing up possibilities, we opted for a Kenyan trip to Amboselli and the Masai Mara. What a brilliant decision! 2. Whilst the travel options were perfect for our particular needs, RB's involvement to seamlessly arrange the multiple transfers on our journey came to the fore. This was particularly evident on coming back from Zanzibar (beach unwind) to Nairobi International, which would have presented a significant challenge had we opted for self booking, due to the (multiple) security & immigration stages. (Yes, of course - we would have negotiated the stages - we're grown ups - we can look after ourselves, but oh my. the loss of wasted heartbeats would have been significant!) Turns out that what was arranged for us was faster than "fast track" and I certainly became aware of lots of people looking enviously towards us and our safari representative as we whizzed by! 3. Photography is an important aspect of our holidays. Good photographic subjects / scenes are our means of ensuring that we're seeing good stuff, which - IMHO - is a main focus of a holiday. Our safari guides had been well briefed about my photography wishes and from the get-go, they discussed what we were looking for from our holiday and so every day we had a mutually planned itinerary for the wildlife that never disappointed. Our guides had been particularly selected from the briefing given by RB pre-travel to the safari people. In a nutshell, RB have changed our attitude to holidays and their associated experiences. In our time with them, we have undertaken holidays that we have never done before and we are now definitely thinking differently about what to do in the future. Add to this, the reassurance and safety net that travel agency booking confers and I think that RB Collection definitely deserves a 5 star review. By the way - we live distant to their location - all of our dealings have been by telephone and email so don't think you need to be locals to use their services.

Colin Scott

A big shout out for RB Collection ….they have done it again !!!! Made our World touring a pleasure AGAIN ….having done the cruising in various parts of the world …the Canada trip…..the India & Nepal trip…& just recently the Hongkong Australia New Zealand trip…it’s like being transported on a Dreamliner !every attention to detail from getting to the airport arriving at the destinations & being picked up & taken to the various types of accomadation ….Thanks Team RB & especially to Sam for this last one 🌴☀️😎

Linda Taylor

call: 01543 258631 email: vip@rbcollection.com

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