Bridge Overseas Ltd
based: Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK
Hosted leisure holidays in the UK and Worldwide. Offering active mind activities like bridge, whist, poker and chess; and daily activities including quizzes, crossword and sudoku competitions, trips, excursions, short mat bowls, green bowls, petanque, golf, walking, spa and wellness. Single travellers welcome, plus tailor-made packages for groups.
| bridge/whist | chess | scrabble | bowling/bowls | theme cruises | groups | singles | family | UK | Europe |
Finesse West
based: California, USA
A unique programme of top-class, sightseeing bridge vacations that offer opportunities to meet and play with local bridge players while touring the world. Finesse West leads groups on tours where they are hosted by local bridge clubs in the places visited.
| bridge/whist | USA | Middle East | Canada | Italy | China | Europe| Africa | Australia | New Zealand | Ireland | Asia |
Green Park Hotel (The)
based: Perthshire, Scotland, UK
Luxury hotel on the outskirts of Pitlochry, offering bridge and Scrabble holidays and weekends run by experienced players. The Scrabble breaks are run by leading Scottish players and include tutorial sessions. These four day breaks are both social and competitive. There is no single supplement for single accommodation.
| bridge/whist | Scrabble | singles | Scotland |
Alpine Bridge
based: Somerset, UK
Skiing holidays in the French Alps, combined with organised duplicate bridge sessions in afternoons or evenings.
| bridge/whist | ski/snowboard | France |
Ardington Hotel
based: West Sussex, UK
Weekend bridge holidays, including the popular John Taylor Masterpoint Weekend Breaks, offering bridge sessions, teams, seminars, computer scoring etc.
| bridge/whist | England |
Begin Bridge
based: Shropshire, UK
Bridge holidays offering bridge playing breaks and tuition for beginners, improvers and intermediate players; various destinations in England and on Guernsey.
| bridge/whist | England |
Bridge Away
based: New South Wales, Australia
Holiday packages for bridge players (and non-bridge-playing partners) in Australia and North America.
| bridge/whist | Australia | USA | Canada |
Bridge Holidays
based: New York, USA
Bridge cruises and bridge holidays in locations such as the Baltic and Russia, Northern Europe, the Panama Canal and Southeast Asia.
| bridge/whist | USA | Worldwide |
Bridge Holidays France
based: Soudan, France
Holidays for bridge players in France; where guests play at various local bridge clubs (no necessity to speak French), suitable for players of all abilities.
| bridge/whist | France |
Bridge Tuition
based: Bristol, Somerset, UK
Weekend tuition courses in Bristol and Devizes, with bridge playing courses for beginners and improvers.
| bridge/whist | England |
Burlington & Palm Court Hotels
based: Norfolk, UK
Offering a range of card game holidays including both bridge and whist in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
| bridge/whist | England |
Carmen de Santa Ana
based: Granada, Spain
Bridge vacations based in a luxury villa – play bridge in one of Granada's most beautiful locations.
| bridge/whist | Spain |
Dordogne Bridge Holidays
based: Dordogne, France
Bridge courses and holiday breaks in the heart of the Dordogne, for small groups wanting to learn to play or improve together.
| bridge/whist | France |
La Maison du Chateau
based: Burgundy, France
18th Century French Manor House offering an excellent location for a bridge holiday suitable for a group of players.
| bridge/whist | France |
Rothay Manor
based: Cumbria, UK
Rothay Manor offers a unique range of specialised holidays and short breaks including: chess and bridge breaks, scrabble and antiques holidays.
| bridge/whist | scrabble | chess | antiques | England |
StockenBridge Breaks
based: London, UK
Luxury bridge playing holidays combining bridge with wonderful locations, great food and stimulating company.
| bridge/whist | UK | France | Spain |
What to look for when choosing a bridge holiday
This section lists operators and hotels offering complete packages for bridge players that include accommodation and bridge sessions. Many of these will simply be offering friendly games and are suitable for all levels of player, but a few also include competitions and tournaments. An interesting variation on this is where visitors play with local clubs rather than as an isolated group.
Some bridge holiday packages will also include bridge instruction for people who want to learn the game or improve on their existing skills. Often this is an opportunity to learn from recognised bridge experts so it pays to take note of who's teaching.
An increasingly popular option are holidays that combine bridge with other activities, such as walking, skiing, cooking or, in one case, a dude ranch experience.
Another popular combination is a bridge cruise where you can travel worldwide as well as indulge your passion for bridge and play in organised sessions arranged in dedicated card rooms on board as you sail between destinations. Bridge is often only played while at sea so choose an itinerary with a lot of sea days to get the best bridge playing experience!
Some of the places listed focus on breaks for bridge clubs rather than on holidays for individuals or couples – here they will provide a suitable space to play, but it will usually be up to the club to provide any instruction, organise competitions and provide the players!
The World Bridge Federation is a global bridge organisation for people who take their game seriously, it's a great resource if you want to find out about bridge festivals and tournaments worldwide. It also lists bridge clubs worldwide and has some very useful links to all sorts of information about the game.