Best holiday types for rest and relaxation

Let the train take the strain, choose a relaxing rail trip

There’s something magical about travelling by rail. Perhaps it’s the echo of a gentle, slower age of travel, when the journey was just as important as the holiday itself. Whether you’re heading into the wild Canadian Rockies aboard Rocky Mountaineer or crossing a grassy African plain on a vintage Rovos Rail train, watching the scenery unfold from the comfort of your seat is both relaxing and exciting, especially when there’s a chance of seeing wildlife like grizzly bear or zebra. Rail travel can promise luxury too, like first-class drinks and dining served at your seat. Add the romance of a sleeper carriage and being lulled to sleep by the sound and sway of the tracks, and you have a relaxing adventure you’ll remember forever.

A relaxing way to travel: Rocky Mountaineer

For an intimate and relaxed holiday, take a small ship cruise

People who take our Croatia small ship cruises say it’s a bit like sailing on a private yacht. These little ships take no more than 36 passengers, and the crew feel more like family by the end of the cruise. Being small, you can sail to ports and tiny islands inaccessible to larger ships, where you just step onto the quayside – no ship to shore tenders or waiting in lines. Days are spent relaxing on deck, soaking up the sunshine, and making impromptu stops to swim in quiet coves and bays, while evenings might be spent in little local restaurants or enjoying the freshly bought and prepared food served on board. In fact, relaxation is the key to these coastal cruising holidays, and with most meals and excursions included they’re great for the budget too.

Cruise the coast of Croatia on a relaxing small ship

Get action and relaxation on a Cruise & Tour

Unique to Titan, our Cruise & Tour holidays combine an enriching land tour with a relaxing ocean cruise. We choose some of the world’s most spectacular places for these destination-rich itineraries, like Canada’s Rocky Mountains and Alaska; Argentina and Antarctica; Florida and the Caribbean; or Japan and her islands. The land tour may be active, but the cruise part of these holidays is wholly relaxing as you kick back and enjoy all the pleasures of ocean cruising: elegant ships, fine dining and lots of on-board activities and entertainment. We partner with luxury operator Holland America Line for many Cruise & Tour itineraries; others sail with specialist operators like Celestyal Cruises (the Med), GO Galapagos-Ecuador (Galapagos Islands), Havila Voyages (Norway) and HX Hurtigruten Expeditions (Antarctica).

Explore Alaska on a luxury cruise ship

Be soothed by nature on a lakes and mountains holiday

If you want to completely escape the hum drum of life back home, breathe clean alpine air and be surrounded by some of the most magnificent natural scenery in Europe, a holiday from our lakes and mountains range will fit the bill. In Switzerland you can walk through wildflower meadows and hear the sound of distant cow bells (yes, cows do wear bells in Switzerland). The Italian Lakes, framed by the Dolomites, are like something from a film-set with their flashy mountain backdrop and dramatic, curving shores. And in Austria you can zig zag round spectacular mountain passes and watch rainbows shimmering around the highest waterfall in Europe: Krimml Waterfalls. Further afield, the Canadian Rockies has one of North America’s most photographed lakes - Lake Louise - as well as its wildest mountain scenery, or for the ultimate relaxing encounter with Nature (albeit swapping lakes for fjords) choose Alaska and see breaching whales, circling eagles, giant ice floes and glinting glaciers from the deck of a luxury cruise ship.

Relax on the shores of Lake Como

Let the scenery come to you on a relaxing river cruise

River cruising is one of the most relaxing ways there is to travel. These slower paced tours take you through some of the finest cities and landscapes in the world - you just sit back and let it all come to you. Like an escorted tour, you’ll wake to new views, destinations and adventures every day, but on a river cruise you only pack and unpack once, plus you’ll have your own private space for relaxing at the end of every day. Egypt offers the spellbinding treasures and scenery of the River Nile, which you can experience on a conventional Nile cruise ship or aboard a traditional wooden dahabiya as one of only 14 guests. In Portugal, the genteel River Douro winds through historic old cities and vine-clad valleys, or our Rhine Christmas Cruise is a feast of festive markets, medieval towns, warm fairy lights and hot glühwein served over seven deliciously indulgent days.

Soak up the magic of the Nile

Relax and make friends on a small group tour

Choosing a small group tour may not necessarily mean the pace is slower, but it does mean you’ll be in a smaller group of travellers, with all the benefits that brings. Small group tours tend to be more immersive with experiences that aren’t possible in large numbers like visiting a floating stilt village in Borneo, or a remote tribe in the jungles of India. They’re often more relaxing too, as you soon get to know your fellow travellers and make friendships and memories that last long after the trip ends.

Small group tours are relaxed and friendly

Choose a holiday with plenty of free time

We know the importance of free time on holiday, time when you can go off and explore independently, take an optional excursion or spend time relaxing at the hotel. However some trips are busier than others so to make it easy to find our most relaxing tours, we always show how much free time is included in each itinerary. Look for the little clock icon on brochure pages, or under the detailed description for each day online.

Look for our most relaxing Grade 1 tours

Of course everyone’s idea of a relaxing holiday is different, something clearly demonstrated by the options above! So to give you a clearer idea of how busy (or not) your holiday will be, Titan assigns a ‘pace’ to all our tours from Grade 1 (Leisurely) up to Grade 4 (Adventurer). Obviously, our most relaxing holidays will be Grade 1 - look for the pace bar icon on the individual tour descriptions on our brochures and web pages. For more information you’ll find our pace guide under General Information in our FAQs.

Head to our home page to find all our holiday types and see Titan's complete range of relaxing (and not so relaxing!) tours.