HOLIDAyS WITH A DIFFERE nCE 2014 “One of the world’s best and most innovative rail touring companies” – The Daily Mail PTG Tours 2014 Holiday Programme Welcome to our 2014 programme of rail and river based holidays. I hope you like our latest programme which includes many of the old favorites plus some exciting new destinations including Corsica, Puglia, Greece and Croatia in Europe and further afield Thailand, Cambodia and Brazil. Plenty for everyone We offer a full range of holidays – whatever your taste: Our holidays are for anyone looking for something a bit different. They have a railway theme but CulTure luxurY include visits to historic cities, gardens, vineyards, These are our classic tours which are generally We are the best place to book you holidays on the port lodges, river cruises and much more. We for group sizes of 20-36 people. We stay at good luxury trains of Spain and Africa. We give you the use vintage locomotives (sometimes steam) and hotels (almost always 4 star) and the itineraries guaranteed best price for these trains, ABTA/ATOL carriages, where available, therefore adding to are designed for easy going days with plenty of security and we can offer a complete package the atmosphere. By using trains we allow you to off-train activities, culture, history, gardens etc. including flights and additional accommodation. see the most beautiful areas from the comfort Where possible the trains we travel on are of a of your seat in the most relaxing and safest form certain vintage and one or two steam hauled trips of transport. Many of the areas we visit are only are often included. These tend to be our regular enTHusiAsT visible from the railway line. At PTG we specialize tours which will run each year. Destinations These are aimed more at the rail enthusiast, in locations not offered by other operators so you include Portugal, Bulgaria, Slovenia, France, but if you read the itineraries, you will find that will find destinations such as Cuba, Sri Lanka, Slovakia and Italy. we do include some off train activities. Again Brazil, Cambodia, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia. we tend to stay at good hotels – mainly of a 4-start standard – where we can. These tours are AdvenTure again unique one-off’s and tend to use private Your Protection These tours are for people with a real sense of charter trains. These are a real chance to travel At PTG we are one of the only rail holiday adventure, away from the normal tourist areas. on unusual lines (often the first passenger train companies who are both ATOL bonded and The tours are very much unique to PTG. Again to do so). Group sizes tend to be larger (60-100 members of ABTA making us one of the most secure these are generally for group sizes of 20-36 people). Destinations in 2014 include Croatia, holiday companies to book with. Established in people. We stay at conveniently located hotels of Greece, Sweden, Hungary, Sardinia, Corsica, Brazil, 1998 we have grown from strength to strength, a good standard – but you should bear in mind Romania and Bulgaria. largely down to the huge number of customers who that some of our destinations have never seen come with us again and again. Why not join us and a 4-start hotel. Itineraries are designed to have become one of the “PTG family”. plenty of rail interest but also off train activities showing the local culture and unique wildlife. These tours tend to be one-offs so “miss them at Holiday Prices your peril”. Destinations include Sri Lanka, Cuba All our tours have a choice of the full package and Alaska. including travel from the UK by rail or air, or a reduced price where you are free to make your own arrangements to join up with the tour in the destination country. 02 PTG TOURS | Telephone 01235 227288 | Fax 01235 424310 | www.ptg.co.uk 2014 RAIL AnD Culture HOLIDAyS Jan 25 to Feb 9 sri lanka 4-6 Sept 20 to 27 vintage Bulgaria 48/49 Feb 24 to Mar 10 The real Cuba 7-9 Sept 26 to Oct 12 Japan 50/51 Mar 10 to 28 Thailand/Cambodia 10/11 Oct 4 to 11 Greece nG and Culture 52/53 Apr 5 to 13 italy - Puglia 12/13 Oct 4 to 11 undiscovered Portugal 54/55 Apr 5 to 13 Croatia/Bosnia enthusiast 14/15 Oct 11 to 18 sardinia/Corsica 56/57 May 1 to 8 Minho/douro 16/17 Dec Austria Winter Wonderland sz664 58/59 May 3 to 13 italian vintage 18/19 luxury Cruises 60 May 11 to 21 vintage Croatia 20/21 Al-Andalus / El Transcantabrico / La Robla /Rovos Rail May 15 to 22 vintage Central Portugal 22/23 Jun 5 to 15 Catalunya 24/25 Jun 14 to 21 sweden enthusiast 26/27 Jun 28 to Jul 10 Alaska 28/29 Jul 3 to 13 vintage slovakia 30/31 Jul 10 to 20 southern France 32/33 Jul 16 to 31 Midnight sun 34/35 Aug 9 to 16 douro river Cruise 36/37 Sept 6 to 16 vintage slovenia 38/39 Sept 11 to 21 vintage Port 40/41 uK Holidays 61 Sept 11 to 26 us Colorado rockies 42/43 Mid Jun rail Wonders of snowdonia Sept 12 to 25 Brazil 44/45 Jun 25 to Jul 2 rail Wonders of scotland Sept 13 to 20 Bulgaria/Greece enthusiast 46/47 Jan 2015 new Zealand 2015 62/63 PTG TOURS | Telephone 01235 227288 | Fax 01235 424310 | www.ptg.co.uk 03 ADVENTure Jaffna Talaimannar Vavuniya rail & natural Wonders of Trincomalee Anuradhapura Galoya Polonnaruwa Maho Batticaloa Kurunegala Kandy sri lanka Polgahawela Nuwara Eliya Colombo Badulla Nanu Haputale Sri Lanka is a beautiful tropical island the size of Ireland, next door to India. It has Peradeniya Oya only 20 million inhabitants, meaning you get the full Indian experience without the Galle Matara crowds or the hassle. Most of the population are Buddhists and are gentleness and politeness personified as befits practitioners of this great world religion. Museum by train = two freight-only branch lines. Bus back to hotel via Viharamahadevi Park (formerly Victoria Park), home to a 2ft 6in gauge iTinerArY line with KVR stock including a Hunslet 0-6-0DM 25 Jan to 9 Feb, 2014 built in 1949. Cultural Option: 2-hour City Tour on s aturday 25 January We will fly with Emirates an open-top double-deck bus, a.m.; Visit to the From £3,299 via Dubai which gives us lunchtime departures national Museum and Victoria Park. Optional visit from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham. to the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara temple and s ri lanka was a valued British colony and We all meet up in Dubai for our onward flight to shrine (40 minutes’ drive), one of the most sacred people speak english. The island has a Colombo. It is also possible to fly direct with Sri temples on the island: it is built on a site where wonderful broad gauge colonial-relic railway Lankan Airways which leaves Heathrow at 9.15pm. the Lord Buddha preached on his last visit to the island (over 2600 years ago…). The temple is system still very much as the British left it, sunday 26 January (D) We will arrive at Colombo famous for its image of the reclining Buddha and none of it electrified. it reaches the highest Airport at 12.30 local time. A bus will be waiting, paintings depicting important events in the life summit anywhere in the world of a 5ft 6in to take our luggage to the hotel, but we will travel of the Buddha. An 18 foot stone statue has been broad gauge railway = 6228ft. We plan to cover into town by steam train! Our locomotive will be erected at the temple. the complete system – mostly with our own a British built 4-6-0. This will be our introduction private “viceroy” train. to the “Viceroy Special”, which we have hired for Tuesday 28 January (B) Luggage on bus. Ride public service trains Colombo—Galle. Visit Galle There are plenty of “cultural” places well worth the duration of our stay: it has two air-conditioned mpd. This is a lovely ride through the palm-tree visiting; this tour will be run with two buses Observation Cars, one on each end, and a plantations south of Colombo, always with the and two Tour leaders so that the group can be Kitchen-cum-Canteen Car in the middle. The train sea on our right. The city Tour including the Galle divided on some days, when participants can will take us across town to Mount Lavinia, past all Fort. Galle was a Dutch trading station and is choose between two Options, the “railfans’ the Engine Sheds, through the main station and dominated by the picturesque fortress they built Option” and the “Cultural Option”. alongside the Indian Ocean, and refreshments will be served on the train. There will be an option of to protect both themselves and their commercial The bird life is amazing and Twitchers should detraining at a suburban station near our hotel interests. “It is one of the best preserved bring the Book and a pair of binoculars. There for those who would like an early check in. At Mt. examples of 17th-century colonial fortifications” are also some nature reserves with “big” Lavinia, our bus will collect us and take us back and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1988. A animals to which we have included a visit – in into town to our chosen hotel, a classy colonial- walk along the ramparts at sun-set is a must to short, this tour offers something for everyone.