ClassicSave up to £200pp on British Isles 2026 holidays, when you book by 31st October 2025.
Escape to the picturesque Isles of Scilly and enter an unspoilt world with a gentle climate, heavenly beaches and a relaxed pace of life. Based on the main island of St Mary's, spend your days uncovering local treasures, admiring Tresco Abbey's sub-tropical gardens, and visiting the beautiful islands of St Agnes and St Martin's.
While exploring this enchanting archipelago, there's plenty of time to unwind, soak up the peace and beauty, wander along idyllic white-sand beaches, and discover the islands' fascinating history and local arts.
Unforgettable experiences
What’s included on the tour?
Itinerary
Your holiday starts at London Paddington railway station where we are welcomed by our Tour Manager in the First Class lounge before boarding the midday train to Penzance, enjoying the comfort of our First Class seats.
Enjoy the changing scenery from the train window as we travel from the suburbs of London through the rural West Country and into Cornwall's wild open landscapes.
On arrival in the late afternoon, we are transferred by coach to our cliffside hotel, Cape Cornwall Club in St Just, for an overnight stay and an evening meal.
Additional information
Hotels
Enhance your holiday
Spending a night in London before your tour can make such a difference to the first day of your holiday - you can arrive in the capital in good time, relaxed and ready to join your Tour Manager the next morning. You may even want to take in a show on the West End or dine in one of London's famous restaurants. Perhaps on your return to London, you would like to break your journey with an overnight stay before continuing home.
We can book a wide range of hotels in central London or, for our holidays beginning with a flight, at Heathrow, Gatwick, or Manchester Airport for the night before or after your holiday. If you require a quote for single occupancy at any of the hotels, please contact us on 01904 734 805.
Buying tickets for UK train services can be a tricky business - there are so many fares to choose from, each with different rules and restrictions. As you are connecting with an international departure, we strongly recommend that you book a fully flexible ticket to ensure that should the departure times for your holiday change, your rail ticket can allow for these changes.
We can book fully-flexible UK rail tickets from your local station to join your holiday whether this be a European holiday from St Pancras or a UK holiday. The prices are competitive and tickets are not restricted to a particular train or time of day, and in most cases offer you a free choice of routes.
For an up to date quote from your local station, please ask one of our Tour Advisors.
Reviews
4.5 / 5 · 188 reviews
MW Salisbury
Submitted 18/Sep
This was our first visit to The Scillies; we enjoyed its quirky ambience greatly as well as appreciating GRJ’s planning and the efforts of our tour manager, Ashley, to iron any local difficulties to make our tour so memorable. The five-hour GWR train day-journey between London and Penzance is much better choice than travelling by an overnight sleeper train. Unfortunately, its first class service Hitachi diesel-electric express trains is no longer as glamorous as the former Cornish Riviera steam-engine express. However, the landscapes of Wiltshire’s Vale of White Horse, Devon’s English Channel seascapes and the crossing of The Royal Saltash Bridge remain attractive features. It was fortunate that Ashley warned us beforehand to provide our own food for the journey and only rely upon GWR complimentary hot and cold drinks. We would recommend investigating an alternative overnight and meal facilities at the Cape Cornwall Golf; their facilities were acceptable but not up to the higher standards provided in St Mary’s Hall Hotel on the Scillies. The Scillonian III ferry-crossing may be daunting and possibly uncomfortable three-hour sea-crossing to the Isles of Scilly but it made the spectacular 15-minute return flight to Land’s End by DHC Otter 2 Skybus light aircraft even more memorable. It is understood that a Scillonian IV replacement ferry is to be in-service in 2027; it remains to be seen if it may designed to counter the adverse effects of the Western Approaches’ Atlantic rollers. It was a pleasant surprise to find us handing-in our suitcases into deck-containers to be delivered direct to our hotel-room door. However, some of our less-mobile fellow-tourists found the mile-long walk from the ferry to our hotel through the narrow and crowded quays and lanes of Hughstown quite a challenge. The St Mary’s Hall Hotel may only rate three AA stars but its staff, led by Peter, and their service are first class. St Mary’s Hall Hotel, Hughstown, St Mary’s has a celebrated steak restaurant – steaks from their Cotswold bred champion beef herd cost up to £100 each – so our dinners were served at 1800. Some you win some you lose - we enjoyed some outstanding fish dishes which were one of the most memorable that we have ever enjoyed on any of our half-dozen plus GRJ holidays. For breakfast, I stuck to delicious poached egg and kippers as the scrambled eggs and half a dozen slices of smoked salmon was just a touch too much for even me! We were extremely fortunate with the benign mainly sunny weather during the day with some squally showers overnight although we got an inkling of the frequent changeable thundery weather during our final morning in St Mary’s. The Scillies consist of five inhabited islands and hundreds of surrounding rocky islets; we were based in St Mary’s and had the opportunity to visit three other islands – Tresco, St Agnes’s and St Mary’s for four to six hours; a 15 to 30 minute trip in a stout open motor-boat each day – crossing the slippy seaweed covered steps boarding the boats is assisted by skilful and sympathetic boatmen. Each island has its own unique character with basic lunch-stops to hand. During our first full day’s tour, our local guide gave us a fascinating background to the unique historical and social backgrounds of The Scillies. Our week’s GRJ tour of The Scillies in early September 2025 was a most memorable and enjoyable visit ably run by Ashley and a great pleasure to share it with our fellow tour members. We decided to leave the tour party at Cape Cornwall Golf Club immediately after lunch at 1300 in order to travel by taxi to Penzance station to be onboard a train by 1400 on our way to Plymouth. It proves that there would be much benefit adjusting the last day’s programme to enable the GRJ bus to leave Cape Cornwall Golf Club at approx. 1315 to be at Penzance station at 1345 in order to catch the 1415 direct to London Paddington.
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Lyn
Submitted 18/Sep
The Isles of Scilly are sensational. Small jewel islands off the UK coast.
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Michael White
Submitted 13/Sep
This visit to the Isles of Scilly was extremely interesting and well worth the visit. I did not realise that there was so much of interest in that part of the British Isles.
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Ann
Submitted 9/Sep
Excellent tour, well organised, fabulous hotel with great food. It was our first trip with Great Rail Journeys and I'm already looking at where to go next with them. The Isles of Scilly are incredibly beautiful and well worth a visit though I admit we were blessed with lovely weather. We stayed at the St. Mary's Hall Hotel and to say the staff were amazing and couldn't do enough for you is an understatement, we would certainly chose this hotel again if we're lucky enough to return. The trips to each island were well organised and there was plenty of free time to explore as much or as little as you desired.
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J WAGNER
Submitted 9/Sep
A great trip with knowledgeable local guides throughout. Central hotel Atlantic facing the harbour. Would recommend as a good walking holiday. Regular boat trips to all the islands almost on the doorstep.
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Brian
Submitted 21/Aug
So much to see and do, beautiful views everywhere you look. Lovely group of friendly travel companions. Amazing food, lovely comfortable accommodation with friendly, helpful staff. Very helpful tour guide, organised everything we needed. A wonderful holiday.
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20/12/2024 · By Dave Riley, CEO
From all of us at Great Rail Journeys, we wish you a wonderful festive period. Take a look back at 2024 and get a glimpse at our new holidays for 2025.
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31/10/2024 · By Gary Crompton
Discover the laid-back charm of the sunny Isles of Scilly with Great Rail Journeys. Learn about the unique islands and start planning your trip now.
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14/05/2020 · By Sukie Chapman
Plan your autumn escape with the Great Rail Journeys' guide. Find the perfect destination for a fall getaway on The Journey Blog. Start your adventure.
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16/07/2019 · By Kathryn Beeson
In some respects, Dorothy was right - there really is no place like home.
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