Wales with Simply Nice Tours

Stephen Hughes of Simply Nice Tours (250 S. Pitt St., Carlisle, PA 17013; 717/243-5112, www.simplynicetours.com) arranged everything for our July 26-Aug. 8, 2006, tour of Wales. This was the first time we took a tour offered by a small company where we were the only clients on that trip. We were a bit apprehensive about the logistics, but pickup in London and delivery to Heathrow worked beautifully.

The land price was $2,700 each. If there had been six or more people on the tour, the price would have been lower, $2,100 each. We were basically responsible for entrance fees and meals; breakfasts were provided by our hotels and B&Bs. The company gave us one lovely formal lunch in an elegant hotel in Portmeirion plus two teas and also paid for train rides in the national parks.

The guide in the south of Wales was Peter Davies, who has his own business, Cambrian Routes (Llangwm, Wales; phone +44 [0] 1437 891876 or visit www.cambrian routes.com), offering a variety of tours. The guide in the north, Bryn Hughes, is based in the mountains and runs Ceiriog Country Holidays (Llangollen, Wales; phone +44 1691 718398 or visit www.ceiriog.com), focusing on walking and hiking tours.

Both guides accommodated our special wishes and customized the itinerary if we preferred off-the-beaten-path routes, for example, to see Stone Age burials and standing stones.

The B&Bs and small hotels they chose for us were very good, and good food was available either in-house or in the vicinity. Given the traffic on the “wrong side” of the road and the steep mountain roads, we were happy to have a driver.

The tour brought us to small towns, castles, ruined abbeys and the Isle of Anglesey (with its Neolithic monuments) and into the spectacular Mount Snowdon and Ceiriog Valley regions and was everything we had hoped for. Highlights included Tintern Abbey, St. Govan’s Chapel and hermitage, St. David’s Cathedral, the Pentre Ifan Neolithic burial chamber, the beautiful town of Beaumaris and Conwy. Highly recommended!

— HELGA BRENNAN, Silver Spring, MD