DESTINATIONS AUTUMN | SHORT BREAKS 3 VISIT VENICE WITHOUT THE CROWDS


From elaborate piazzas framed with marble palaces to age-old gondolas traversing the Grand Canal, Venice’s lures need little preface, and there’s no time like the coming months to explore them at their most pristine. Autumn brings all the glory of the high season without the searing heat and busy streets. And if the weather doesn’t deliver, the likes of Doge’s Palace, the Guggenheim Museum and the Museo Correr – the latter all Venetian paintings


housed in chandelier-gilded neoclassical rooms – have plenty to lure. Book it: For clients looking to stay in the heart of the action, Kirker Holidays recommends the American Dinesen, set in an 18th-century canal building right by the Guggenheim Museum. Three nights’ B&B costs from £968 in September or October, including flights, water taxis and entry to Doge’s Palace. kirkerholidays.com


COSY UP IN BRUGES


Colourful houses framing idyllic canals, elaborate shops selling handcrafted chocolates, and warm, cosy bars with roaring log fires – Bruges is the stuff of fairytales, and while it might be winter that gets the limelight with its lit-up Christmas stalls and wafts of glühwein, autumn is just as charming. Medieval spires poking through the mist, crispy leaves covering the cobbles and fewer visitors ambling its lanes all lend appeal in the shoulder season, while cooler temperatures provide the perfect excuse to warm up with a cream-covered waffle or a


hearty hot chocolate, Belgian-style. Book it: Osprey Holidays offers two nights at the four-star Hotel Prinsenhof with breakfast from £285, including Eurostar, for an October 27 departure. ospreyholidays.com


4


hike THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS


Majestic peaks, legend-filled lochs, starry skies and windswept seascapes – if clients haven’t already experienced the charms of the Scottish Highlands, now’s the time to sell them, and not just for summer. October is an excellent time to visit, with landscapes cloaked in russet red and gold, seasonal produce served up fresh from the harvest, and fewer tourists sharing the region’s wild, remote trails, while the annual rut, when stags battle it out to impress the female deer, makes for an impressive display,


with roars echoing for miles around. Book it: HF Holidays has a three-night guided walking holiday, taking in the North Face Path, the Ardgour peninsula, Fort William and beyond, from £289, including full-board accommodation and based on a November 6 departure. hfholidays.co.uk


² travelweekly.co.uk 13 AUGUST 2020 25


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