New England In The Fall
11 days - by Air - Option 2

In the fall, beautiful New England is renowned for its breathtaking show of colours, as the green maple leaves change to a kaleidoscope of glorious hues, ranging from shimmering yellows to fiery reds and delicate purples. And with traditional links to England, a rich history and a unique culture, this stunning region has a leisurely pace of American life. With sparkling lakes and glorious forests, majestic mountains and white sandy beaches, picturesque villages and vibrant cities - a holiday in New England offers something for everyone! Discover fabulous Boston, where history meets modernity in a stunning city of contrasts with a rich colonial past and a distinctly European feel. Here, you can enjoy great shopping and fantastic sight-seeing. Experience the natural beauty and vast sandy beaches of Cape Cod historic towns and pretty fishing villages, Cape Cod is the choice location of the wealthy and famous!

See forests which are ablaze with the golds, reds and purples of fall and discover traditional New England living through super ‘hands-on’ tours. These are just some of the attractions of our great value holidays, which include superb itineraries, carefully chosen, welcoming hotels and breakfast daily! And to ensure that you have more time to enjoy the sights, sounds and traditions of this richly rewarding land, daily coach travel will be kept to a minimum!

Visiting Cape Cod, the Island of Martha’s Vineyard, the Pilgrim town of Plymouth (and the Plimoth Plantation), Boston, the battlefields of Lexington, Salem – the Witch Capital of the World, New Hampshire, Vermont and Stowe.

Connecting flights from Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle are available at a supplement.

This tour is organised and operated by Omega Holidays plc ABTA V4782 ATOL 6081

• Return flight to Boston from Heathrow airport†
• 3 nights stay in a twin/double bedded room* at the Resort and Conference Center, Hyannis with breakfast
• 4 nights stay in a twin/double bedded room* at the Best Western Royal Plaza hotel, Marlborough with breakfast
• 2 nights stay in a twin/double bedded room* at the Holiday Inn Rutland, Vermont with breakfast
• All coaching and guided tours, as described
• Services of an Omega Holidays Tour Manager
• All airport taxes and security charges and the government tax on air travel (APD)
• VAT at the government's prevailing rate at the date of travel

† Our price includes your flights for which we have allowed a reasonable budget. However, at your time of booking, should the cost of your flight exceed this budget, we reserve the right to charge a supplement, which we will advise you of at this time.

Connecting Regional Flights
A return connecting through flight to London Heathrow from ABERDEEN, BELFAST CITY, EDINBURGH & MANCHESTER airports is available from £150pp.

A return flight with British Airways or other airlines to London Heathrow from GLASGOW, LEEDS/BRADFORD & NEWCASTLE airports is available from £200. These will not be connecting “through flights”. We will include a night in a 4 star Heathrow hotel prior to departure (hotel shuttle is available but not included).

On the return we will book a suitable flight to allow time to collect luggage and check-in for the regional leg of your return journey. However, in the event of a delay and you miss your onward flight we will not be held responsible or pay any transfer charges made by the airline.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: USA entry requirements.
All British nationals travelling to the U.S.A. must have a machine-readable 10 year passport with the red European Community cover and issued in the UK. British passport holders do not require a visa under the U.S.A. Visa Waiver Programme. However, as of January 2009, the US Department of Homeland Security made changes to the system for visitors to the United States. Holders of British passports will still be able to enter for a visit of up to 90 days under this scheme, but must now apply online for authorisation.

Please log on to the website: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov and register at least 72 hours prior to travel. Please ensure your passport is machine-readable, (i.e. a red passport with two lines of letters, numbers and ‘>>>>‘ at the foot of your personal details page) and is valid for at least six months after your departure date from the United States. A charge of approximately £10 per visa applies.

PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS NOW A REQUIREMENT THAT ALL PASSENGERS APPLY IN THIS WAY; WITHOUT AUTHORISATION PRIOR TO TRAVEL, ADMISSION MAY BE DENIED AT THE U.S.A. PORT OF ENTRY.

Passengers not in possession of a machine readable passport will require a valid U.S.A. entry visa. Holders of non-British passports will need to contact the American Embassy in London for details at least three months prior to departure. Details can be found on their website at http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/niv/vwp.html

If you are not a British national or have a British subject passport issued overseas: please call the US Embassy visa information line on 09042 450100 or visit http://www.usembassy.org.uk.

Day 1 - Gather at London Heathrow airport to board our Virgin Atlantic flight direct to Boston, where we will arrive in the late afternoon. We will transfer straight to the beautiful beach location of Cape Cod and our hotel, the Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis, a completely renovated lodging with great amenities, which is set in 52 acres of landscaped grounds. The hotel is within easy walking distance of shops and many attractions, including the beach, golf course, and ferries to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The pretty harbour town of Hyannis was the much-loved summer retreat of the famous Kennedy family, and it honours the life of President John F. Kennedy in a museum overlooking the sea.

Day 2 - Cape Cod:
After breakfast, we will begin a tour of Cape Cod: a long peninsular which is a premier beach location, with miles of unspoiled sandy beaches and protected sand dunes. Renowned for its natural beauty and abundant wildlife, picturesque fishing villages, quaint lighthouses, and historic towns, it is also a great area for whale watching. We will travel to the quintessential Cape Cod village of Chatham, with its classic, white lighthouse and famous ‘Fish Pier’, which allows beautiful panoramas of the beach and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. Chatham is also known as the ‘walking town’, where most attractions are within easy strolling distance. You may like to browse its quaint shops or perhaps have a bite to eat here. Later, we will travel to the pretty fishing village of Provincetown, situated at the tip of Cape Cod, where you will have free time to explore as you wish. Provincetown was settled by the English in the seventeenth century, and there is still a charming historic district here. It is also famous for its bohemian atmosphere and its focus on the arts and literature. With beautiful beaches and many attractions, there is much to see and do!

Day 3 - The Island of Martha’s Vineyard:
After breakfast, we will travel to Falmouth on the South Western tip of Cape Cod, which encompasses the seafaring village of Woods Hole with its shops, galleries, museums, great restaurants, gardens and sea views. Here, we will board the ferry for the quaintly-named Martha’s Vineyard: an island off Cape Cod with beautiful beaches and the pleasant weather which makes it a perfect place for holiday relaxation. On arrival in Vineyard Haven we will be met by our local guide and we will begin a tour of the island. We will see Oaks Bluff, where there is an 1884 ‘Flying Horses’ Carousel (the oldest still in operation), bustling shops and the cherished ‘Gingerbread Cottages’ of the Methodist Campgrounds, with ornate moulding and the bright colours which give them a quaint, almost storyboard look. We will continue to historic Edgartown, once an important whaling centre. The pretty harbour town is graced by many homes built by seafaring captains of a bygone age, as well as lovely antique shops, boutiques and galleries. Later, we will return to Woods Hole for our return ferry, then travel back to the Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis for our overnight stay.

Day 4 - The Pilgrim Town of Plymouth and Plimoth Plantation:
This morning we will leave Cape Cod and travel to the Pilgrim town of Plymouth. Known as America’s ‘hometown’, settlers arrived here from England in 1620 after crossing the Atlantic aboard the sailing ship Mayflower, and landed at the point which is now known as Plymouth Rock. Although Plymouth has become legendary in the history of the United States, it nevertheless retains all its small-town charm. Our tour will include the Plymouth Rock and the Plimoth Plantation (which uses the original seventeenth century spelling). This is a working museum, where we will see a recreation of the small farming town built by the first English settlers in 1627, with timber-framed homes and scented gardens, livestock and the ‘settlers’ themselves, who will converse with visitors in period dialect. Other attractions include a recreated Wampanoag settlement, run by actual descendents of the Cape Cod Indian population. With many exhibits, rare breed animals, dining areas, a cinema and a visitor centre, we hope you will have a great time here. Later, we will continue to our hotel, the Best Western Royal Plaza hotel, Marlborough for the first of a four night stay.

Day 5 - Boston City Tour:
After breakfast, we will begin an half-day guided tour of Boston. Vibrant and historic, Boston is one of America’s most photogenic cities with a European ambiance and wonderfully rich past. With pretty cobblestone streets (lit by Victorian gas lamps at nightfall), the historic city is home to many beautifully preserved Victorian and Georgian buildings, and churches and monuments which commemorate the nation’s history, including the American Revolution and the Anti-Slavery Movement. If you wish, you can take advantage of an optional whale watching cruise from Boston Harbour, in search of the magnificent hump-backed whale! Later there will be free time for you to explore the city’s many other attractions, shops and restaurants, with time to enjoy an optional dinner before departing for your hotel at around 7.30pm.

Day 6 - The Battlefields of Lexington and The Salem Witches:
Today, we will take a whole-day tour of some intriguing sites which forged the history of the American nation. We will visit the battlefield of Lexington and Concord, where on 19 April 1775 hostilities began between British North America and the Kingdom of Great Britain, starting the American Revolutionary War which led to American independence. Ralph Waldo Emerson described the first shot as the ‘shot heard ‘round the world’, symbolizing the importance of the war in world history. Later, we will continue to Salem, the ‘Witch Capital of the World’, made infamous by its seventeenth century witchcraft trials when nineteen men and women were convicted of this ‘offence’ and put to death on Gallows Hill, near the village. There will be ample time for you to enjoy an optional dinner in this delightful town.

Day 7 - Newport, Ocean Drive Tour and Outlet Shopping:
After breakfast, we will travel to Newport, Rhode Island, (also known as ‘America’s First Resort’!), which is resplendent with luxurious, ocean-front mansions, displaying the glamour and grandeur of a bygone, ‘gilded’ age! The palatial estates, period houses, restored churches, museums and unique culture make Rhode Island a memorable location. Have your cameras at the ready for our ‘Ocean Drive’ tour, which will give us spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean and the ‘Millionaire’s Row’ mansions. You may like to take advantage of our optional tour of The Breakers, a fabulous, 70 roomed Renaissance-style palazzo (built from 1893-95 by the Vanderbilt family), which was inspired by sixteenth century Italian palaces. In the early afternoon we will stop for two hours of great shopping at the Wrentham Village Premium Outlet, so shop to your heart’s content, and later we will return to the Best Western Royal Plaza hotel.

Day 8 - Fall Foliage of New Hampshire and Vermont:
Today we will travel North West through New Hampshire into the lovely state of Vermont and the Green Mountains, an area considered to be the best for viewing the beautiful colours of the Fall, as the green maple-covered hills assume a breathtaking mantle of burnished hues as the season changes. We will visit Quechee Gorge, also known as Vermont’s ‘Little Grand Canyon’. It is the longest and most famous gorge in the state, with a greatest depth of 165 feet and length of one mile. The Ottauquechee River flows downstream through the Gorge, creating pretty cascades along the wild, scenic valley. Then we continue to Woodstock, a pretty town which was first settled in 1768 and named after Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England. We will continue to our next hotel: the The Holiday Inn Rutland, in the heart of Vermont, for the first of a two nights stay.

Day 9 - The Fall Foliage & Stowe:
After breakfast, we will head North to the little town of Stowe, Vermont, a neatly-kept location with a classic white-steepled church and quintessential New England feel. Almost all the shops and restaurants here are conveniently situated on the main road through the town. We will take a tour of Ben and Jerry’s super ice cream factory, which is situated on a green pasture near the town of Waterbury. Later we will continue to Montpelier, situated among the rolling foothills to the East of the Green Mountains. Montpelier is the smallest state capital in America (dating from 1787), and was named after the French city in honour of French support during the American Revolution. Here, we will take a tour of the Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks. The ancestors of the Morse family were shown how to tap maple trees by native Americans.

At the rustic farm you can tour the works and taste samples of syrup if you wish; you may like to relax by viewing displays in the authentic woodshed theatre, where the walls are made of sugar wood and the seats are maple-stumps.

Day 10 - It is time to bid farewell to beautiful New England, as we return to Boston for our flight home to London Heathrow.

Day 11 - After our overnight flight we will arrive at London Heathrow airport around 7.20am. Passengers with an onward connection should please transfer to the appropriate terminal for your flight home.

Here are some example hotels or similar ones that we use for this break, actual availability may change with the travel date you choose.

Some hotels have an additional supplement per person, as shown below. Supplements are stated for the break (not per night)

New England Hotels - Option 2,
	Your hotels will be the Resort & Conference Centre, Hyannis, Best Western Royal Plaza, Marlborough and the Holiday Inn Rutland, Vermont.