Solo holidays for teachers: hosted group trips in the school holidays

If you teach, or work in a school, and want to go away on your own in the holidays, Spice Escapes runs small hosted group holidays with departures that fall in the Christmas, Easter and summer breaks. You book alone, a host travels with the group, and you have company at dinner without having to find someone whose dates match yours.

That last part is the problem most teachers who travel solo describe. Colleagues spend the holidays with their own families. Friends outside education are working when you are free and free when you are back in the classroom. So the holiday waits for a year when someone can come, and that year keeps not arriving. A hosted group solves the matching problem, because everyone on the trip has already chosen the same dates.

Why a hosted group suits someone who has just finished a term

For most of the year you are the person responsible for everyone else: the register, the timings, the coach, the one who has to know what happens next. On a Spice Escapes holiday that is the host's job. They know the plan, they sort out what goes wrong, and they make sure nobody is left wondering where dinner is. You can switch off properly, which is hard to do on a trip you organised yourself.

The group is around fifteen people, and some reach twenty. Most people book on their own, so you will not be the only one who arrived without a companion. Meals are often shared, and that is where the friendships start. You also get time to yourself, because the days have room in them and you have your own room to go back to. There is a single supplement or room-to-yourself cost on every holiday, and we explain exactly how that works on our single supplement page.

If this would be your first holiday alone, our guide for first-time solo travellers walks through the first evening, the first meal and how the host introduces everyone.

Christmas holidays: New Year in Puglia

New Year in Puglia with WingsItaly leaves after Christmas Day, so you can do the family Christmas first and still see the new year in somewhere else. It is 5 nights, departing 28 Dec 2026 – 2 Jan 2027, from £1,139. Your host is Claire Dymond, and Claire and Andrea Dal Moro meet you at the airport and stay with you.

The group stays at the four-star Hotel Tesoretto in Salento, where Spice Escapes and WingsItaly have the rooms to themselves. There is a day in Lecce, with its honey-coloured Baroque churches lit up for the season, and visits to the hilltop town of Specchia and to Galatina. New Year's Eve is a private five-course gala with a bottle of wine each, while a local celebration runs in the room next door and people drift between the two. That is a far better way to see midnight in than on your own sofa marking mock papers. Places: 17 places left.

For more ideas over the festive break, see our page on Christmas and New Year breaks for solo travellers.

Easter holidays: ten nights in South Africa

Long-haul trips are hard to fit into a half term, but South Africa Discovery leaves on Easter Monday and uses most of the Easter break. It is 10 nights, departing 29 Mar 2027 – 8 Apr 2027, from £3,499. Term dates vary between local authorities and trusts, so check it against your own school calendar before you book.

You take an overnight flight and Sue Giddings, who lives locally, meets you at arrivals in Cape Town and stays for the whole trip. The group stays at The Vineyard, on the slopes of Table Mountain. One day takes in Chapman's Peak Drive, Cape Point and the penguins at Boulders Beach. Another heads into the winelands at Franschhoek. There is a free day for Table Mountain or Robben Island if you want them, and an overnight at a private game reserve with a sunrise game drive. Places: 9 places left. More of our long-haul trips are under wildlife and safari holidays and in South Africa.

Summer holidays: an eclipse in Andalucía

The long summer break is when most teachers finally have the time, and Chasing the Eclipse gives you a reason to go that you will talk about for years. It is 7 nights in Vejer de la Frontera, departing 31 Jul 2027 – 7 Aug 2027, from £2,899, hosted by Rob Thompson, who owns Spice Escapes.

Vejer sits in the path of a total solar eclipse, and the group watches it with Dr Matthew Bothwell, the University of Cambridge Public Astronomer, who is with you for the week. Anyone who teaches science will enjoy that more than most. The group stays at Hotel Tugasa Convento San Francisco, a restored seventeenth-century Franciscan monastery in the middle of the town. The plans for the rest of the week include sherry and flamenco in Jerez, a day in Cádiz by the Atlantic and a guided walk around Vejer. Places: 18 places left. More trips in Spain are on our destination page.

Late summer: a fjord cruise from Tilbury

If you would rather avoid airports at the busiest time of year, the Summertime Fjordland Cruise sails from London Tilbury and back, so there are no flights at all. It is 8 nights, departing 21 Aug 2027 – 29 Aug 2027, from £1,129, and your host is Pam Harte. It comes home before schools in England and Wales go back, which leaves you a few days to get the classroom ready.

The ship calls at Eidfjord, Austefjorden for Bergen, Måløy and Geiranger. Full board, the spa, the pool and the hot tubs are all included in the fare, and the sea days give the group time to settle in together. Places: 6 places left. Our other sailings are on the cruise holidays page.

Booking early matters more for you

Someone who is retired can take whichever week has space. You cannot, and that is the real difference. Each of these holidays runs on set dates, and once the places are gone there is no other week in your holidays to move to. If one of them fits your school year, it is worth asking about it sooner rather than later. Retired friends may prefer our page on holidays for single retired people, which is about travelling in term time, and our main page of over 50s solo holidays lists everything we run.

Questions people ask

Will the holiday be full of families with children?

No. Spice Escapes runs hosted group holidays for adults, and most people book on their own. You get the school holiday dates without the family resort.

How do I know the dates fit my school's term?

Term dates differ between local authorities, academy trusts and independent schools, so always check against your own calendar. Tell us your term dates when you enquire and we will confirm the exact travel days before you commit.

Do I have to share a room?

No, you have a room to yourself. Every holiday carries a single supplement or room-to-yourself cost, and we tell you the figure for your trip before you book.

Can a colleague come too?

Yes, friends and colleagues often book together and join the group like everyone else. Our page on holidays to go on with friends explains how rooms and booking work.

I am worn out by the end of term. Will the pace be too much?

The host plans the days, so you are not making decisions you do not want to make. These trips include free time, and if you would rather skip an outing and rest, just tell your host.

Tell us which holiday you can take

Start with the break you actually have, then pick the trip. Christmas, Easter or the summer, one of these may fit. If you have spent years waiting for someone to go with, read our page for people with no one to go on holiday with, and then talk to us.

Rob Thompson, who owns Spice Escapes and hosts the eclipse week himself, and the rest of the team will tell you what each holiday involves, what the room to yourself costs and who your host will be. Send us your question and your term dates through our contact page.