Travel the Home Exchange Way

Scottish Highland swap in Cathy's wonderful cottage

Highlands home swap: Cathy's traditional fishermans / crofters cottage

"We enjoyed a two weeks home swap in Cathy's fabulous Scottish Highland cottage. Cathy's home is such a lovely charming sea view cottage in a fabulous location very near to the sea. It was very well equipped and we felt really at home in the cottage. Every day of our home swap we explored more of the beautiful Scottish surroundings. After a day exploring, it was always great to come back to the cottage to relax. We also enjoyed really good meals in the lovely local pub. Cathy was very helpful during our stay, thank you so much for letting us stay and have the most beautiful holiday!" - Petra (Eckbolsheim, France)

---

Highlight from the home exchange:

1. Beautiful sea views from the top floor of the cottage
2. Watching dolphins from the seashore!
3. Scotland! The nature, the landscape and the locals

---

Photos from Petra & Stephane's swap:

• 
• 
• 
• 

---

Meet the members:

Petra & Stephane (pictured) have a lovely apartment next to Strasbourg, France. View their home swap offer in France Cathy's wonderful traditional fishermans cottage is in the picturesque coastal village of Portmahomack. View Cathy's Highlands home swap offer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

Arrange free holiday accommodation

Rather than booking a hotel or holiday rental, arrange a home exchange through Home Base Holidays and enjoy free accommodation. 

• Search thousands of home exchange offers

Home swapping puts you in touch with the nicest people!

Swiss swap: the beautiful city of St Gallen, Switzerland

It's always great to hear members' home swap experiences! Here we have the trip reports of this summer's home swap between members Bea & Kaspar's from St Gallen, Switzerland and Christine and Peter's from Usk, Wales.

---

Home swap: Usk, Wales >>> St Gallen, Switzerland

"From the moment the home swap was agreed we had lots of very friendly and informative messages from Bea - these continued throughout our home exchange period and so I really felt I knew the person whose house we were were staying in. Switzerland is of course beautiful and the weather in was just lovely. The apartment was clean and very comfortable. We really enjoyed preparing some of our meals and eating them from either of the home's two lovely balconies. We also exchanged cars, which was very useful and easy to drive on roads that are far from overcrowded. The helpful people at the Tourist Information Centre in St Gallen advised us to buy a Bodensee Card Plus, aimed at visitors and which, once purchased, gave us free entry into most of the cable cars and Lake Constance ferries, not to mention tourist trains, museums, the nearby chocolate factory and numerous outdoor pools. This was certainly a good buy. We really enjoyed the local walks suggested by Bea, the area has so many lovely places to explore. Local buses and trains were also very easy to use. I would highly recommend a home swap to Bea and Kaspar's lovely home. They took great care of our home and fed our cat, fish in the pond and wild birds too. Thanks Bea and Kaspar for a wonderful swap!" - Christine

 

Home swap: St Gallen, Switzerland >>> Usk, Wales

"Thanks so much for your lovely comments Christine! We so much enjoyed being in your home, and relaxing after a fairly busy two weeks in Brighton, London and Brackley. Your house is so clean and comfortable and the garden with the two seating areas is a dream! We were there during a heatwave, so finding a cool shady spot n the garden was a great relief - we spent quite a few lovely hours reading and dozing there. When we could persuade ourselves to go out we walked Usk’s fascinating Blue Plaque trail, visited the Museum of Country Life, enjoyed the shady nature trail and various other walks along the river and up to the castle, drove to Ledbury (lovely hotel there called the Feathers), and visited Monmouth and Raglan Castle by bus. We discovered that although Usk is tiny and very rural, it’s really easy to visit a lot of great places by bus. You buy a day ticket and off you go! Usk is delightful, full of flowers and friendly people and excellent places to eat. I must also mention that Usk has an excellent taxi service run by (I was delighted) a fellow South African! We’re very impressed with idyllic south Wales so thank you for a completely delightful swap and the lovely online chats. Please give our regards to Alfie, who made us so welcome, and to the fish that nearly ate out of my hand after just a week, and the hedgehog that honoured us with an evening visit, and the birds that ate the feeder empty as fast as I could fill it. Home swapping does put you in touch with the nicest people!" - Bea

 

 

Bea & Kaspar's home in Switzerland

• 
• 
• 
• 

 

Christine & Peter's home in Wales

• 
• 
• 
• 

---

Meet the members:   View Bea & Kaspar's home swap offer near St Gallen, Switzerland View Christine & Peter's home swap offer in Usk, Wales

 

---

New to home swapping? Sign up for free!

Rather than booking a hotel or holiday rental, arrange free accommodation by arranging a holiday home exchange. Sign up to the Home Base Holidays two-week free trial.

Beautiful coastal walks, Northern Ireland home exchange

Giants Causeway: Northern Ireland's breathtaking coastline

We love hearing about members' home swap experiences. We were therefore delighted to receive the follow trip report from Home Base Holidays member, Marguerite, from her recent nine day home exchange in Portstewart, Northern Ireland.

---

"We have just spent nine days in Portstewart, with a short sortie to Donegal. We had beautiful weather missing the heatwave here whilst enjoying the Atlantic waves in Portstewart.

Alison's apartment in Portstewart is very comfortable, and ideally placed for coastal walks and beaches. I had seen an excellent documentary on the Irish coast a couple of years ago, which included an episode on Mussenden Temple, so imagine my surprise and joy to find the temple within a short walking distance!

We were close enough to visit Derry and very much enjoyed the city... which definitely merits a second visit as there is so much to see.

A walk to the Giants Causeway was enhanced by advice from a local guide we bumped into... we started the walk from 5 miles east of the causeway, walking one way and catching the bus back to the car, all very easy and enjoyable. Stunning cliff views, not to mention seals, porpoises, hawks and hundreds of painted lady butterflies.

I think this area is one of the most environmentally cared for places I have ever visited, the wild flowers and the fauna were stunning!

One more thing we found very refreshing... there were many many parking places with picnic tables and places to safely BBQ, all clean and most with wonderful views, and all free.

I highly recommend Portstewart and it's surroundings, and a big thank you to Alison for her welcome and thoughtfulness."

- Marguerite

 

Photos from Marguerite's swap

• 
• 
• 
• 

 

---

Meet the members:   Marguerite (in photo) is a retired teacher and avid traveller.  View Marguerite's home swap offer in Harrogate, Yorkshire View Alison's home swap offer in Portstewart, Northern Ireland

---

Swap homes: enjoy free vacation accommodation

Slash the cost of your next getaway by arranging a home swap through Home Base Holidays and enjoy free accommodation. 

• Search thousands of home exchange vacation offers

Swiss swap: a simply lovely home exchange in Lucerne

Swiss swap: the beautiful city of Lucerne, Switzerland

"We were lucky enough to spend just over two weeks in Christine and Robert's beautiful, modern apartment in Kriens, Switzerland. Although we hired a car, we used the excellent bus service, just round the corner, for our trips into Lucerne. Lucerne is such a compact and beautiful city. We enjoyed just wandering around the streets and the market, as well as visiting its churches, walking the city walls and visiting the marvellous Bourbaki Panorama, not to mention its famous covered bridges. It was also a starting point for a lovely walk around the lake, to the Swiss Museum of Transport (or you can go on the bus!). From the apartment, we were able to walk up to the cable car up Mount Pilatus: we did the whole round trip- up on the the cable car and 360 degree gondola, down on the cog railway, back to Lucerne on the boat and a short bus ride back home. Further afield, we had a memorable day trip to the Aare Gorge and the Reichenbach Falls (of Sherlock Holmes fame) at Meiringen. We had many lovely walks from Kriens, either using the funicular railway some 10 minutes walk from the apartment, or walking up past the Pilatus cable car station. We were there during very hot sunny weather and spent a couple of hours each afternoon/evening relaxing at the lovely Villa Krämerstein near Horw. There are lovely gardens and shaded areas, as well as steps down into the lake. It’s cheaper to park on the road nearby than in the Villa car park. An added bonus is the 15 minute or so drive there on the Kastanienbaum, through lovely alpine meadows. The apartment also has a lovely covered seating area for warm evenings ( and watching the odd storm!). The communication with Christine and Robert was excellent and they were very considerate hosts and guests. They left us essential supplies, and some Swiss treats, and took great care of our house, leaving it lovely and clean." - Martin and Cath (Isle of Wight, England)

 

---

Highlights of our home swap in Switzerland:

1. Minutes from the center of Lucerne
2. Comfortable, stylish home
3. Wonderful scenery and marvelous walking

---

Photos from Martin and Cath's Swiss swap

• 
• 
• 
• 

---

Meet the members:   Martin & Cath's (pictured) home swap in Ryde Christine & Robert's home swap in Lucerne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

Arrange free holiday accommodation

Rather than booking a hotel or holiday rental, arrange a home exchange through Home Base Holidays and enjoy free accommodation. 

• Search thousands of home exchange offers

Cat care on a home exchange vacation

Pet care can be one of the many bonus of home swapping

Many cat owners have concerns about arranging care for their cats during a vacation for a week or longer. Catteries are expensive and, however obliging friendly neighbours are, it can seem an imposition to ask them to take on the responsibility of caring for a cat for more than a weekend. Fortunately, many Home Base Holidays members are happy to look after cats (and often other pets) during a home swap. It’s ideal not to have to disrupt a cat’s routine and, although notoriously independent creatures, most cats appreciate some attention from whatever humans are sharing their home! Families who don’t have pets often enjoy having a cat (and introducing children to caring for an animal) without the long-term commitment and expense of owning one.

Narrow search results by selecting ‘Pet care offered’ under Additional Options when searching home exchange offers. If looking for members happy to look after your cat, do arrange back-up care too in case your home swap partners want to go away for a day or two. Also, even if you aren’t looking for cat care (perhaps moggy is having a holiday with a family member), mention in your home exchange offer that a cat normally lives in your home so that home swappers with severe allergies can avoid suggesting an exchange.

---

"Please look after me while she's away" - home swap in Ludlow, England (+ cat!)

Beautiful private riverside home swap offer in the historic town of Ludlow. This early Victorian house is a real gem - beautiful to look at and beautiful to be in! Ludlow is renowned for its fascinating history which is visible in the ancient castle with its links to royalty and the many historic buildings which are still in use.

The home owner, Chloe, has a friendly cat who will need looking after but if you want to take a trip somewhere there are neighbours who will feed her.

View this home swap offer in Ludlow

---

Meet George the cat on your home swap in Freemans Bay, New Zealand:

Magical, elegant 1860s villa and garden in Freemans Bay/Ponsonby, Auckland is available to a London family who would like a home exchange to experience a perfect summer Christmas in New Zealand.

Gorgeous George the cat is included!

View this home swap offer in Freemans Bay, New Zealand

Home swap: felt like we were exchanging with old friends

Barbara and Iain's beautiful London apartment

We love hearing about members' home swap experiences. Here's a recent trip report from Home Base Holidays member, Bernard, from his recent home swap staying in Barbara and lain's beautiful London apartment.

---

"One of the lovely things about home exchanging is that, although you rarely meet the people you exchange with, while arranging your exchange you get to know the people you're exchanging with so well that they feel like old friends. So it was with Barbara and Iain, friends who would leave no stone unturned in making our holiday in their top floor luxurious flat hugely enjoyable. Their flat is truly lovely - big rooms with big windows overlooking well kept private gardens and the Thames river. At the end of their road is Hammersmith Bridge, walk across it and there is Hammersmith Bus Station and Underground. By tube central London is minutes away. Frequent local buses will take you into the tranquillity of Barnes village with its yesteryear collection of independent shops, its famous duck pond and a terrific Thai restaurant; to Richmond and Kew Gardens. On the river's towpath you will find some splendid old pubs including The Dove where it is claimed James Thomson wrote Rule Britannia. In Barbara and Alan's beautiful flat you really feel you are on top of the world - in absolute luxury you are sitting on top of the Thames, on top of London and on top of one of London's most beautiful and unspoilt villages. Thank you so much Barbara and lain!" - Bernard (Alicante, Spain)

 

Barbara and Alan's home in London

• 
• 
• 
• 

Bernard's home in Alicante, Spain

• 
• 
• 
• 

 

---

Meet the members
	Barbara and Iain (pictured): Beautiful apartment overlooking the Thames in fashionable Barnes, SW London. View Barbara and Iain's home swap in London Bernard: Luxury villa with private pool in Spanish village of Forna, Alicante. View Bernard's home swap off in Alicante

 

---

Interested in home swapping? Sign up for free!

Rather than booking a hotel or holiday rental, arrange free accommodation by arranging a holiday home exchange. Sign up to the Home Base Holidays two-week free trial.