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  "path": "/2026/04/20/underrated-island-english-channel-gets-new-direct-flight-london-heathrow-28044220/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-20T09:32:23.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "Lifestyle",
    "Travel",
    "British Airways",
    "Flights",
    "Guernsey",
    "Heathrow Airport",
    "Travel Inspiration",
    "Travel News",
    "UK Travel",
    "London Heathrow",
    "Metro Deals",
    "Get deal now",
    "Flybe",
    "Europe",
    "the uncertainty of international travel",
    "England",
    "weather",
    "Spain",
    "@bestwesterngb",
    "thingstodoinguernsey",
    "channelislands",
    "summerholiday",
    "♬ original sound – 🩶",
    "The ‘Venice of England’ is an enchanting village capturing the South Coast’s beauty",
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    "A local’s guide to a perfect weekend in the Yorkshire Dales",
    "The UK’s 10 sunniest beaches revealed with 1,900 sunshine hours a year",
    "travel experts also recommend",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
  ],
  "textContent": "The pretty harbourside of St Peter Port (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)\n\nBig news for the Channel Islands: a new direct flight to its most underrated gem has just taken off from the UK’s biggest airport.\n\nOn Sunday, British Airways launched a daily, year-round service between London Heathrow and Guernsey, a pocket-sized paradise of charming villages, rolling hills and idyllic, windswept beaches.\n\nAnd there was a special touch. The captain and four members of the cabin crew have roots in Guernsey, or close family ties to the island.\n\nFlights start from £96 return, including taxes, and will operate daily from Heathrow Terminal 5.\n\nIt comes six years after the last direct route from Heathrow was cancelled.\n\nIn 2019, Guernsey’s States launched a daily service between Guernsey and Heathrow, the first such link in over 20 years.\n\n##  Best of Metro Deals\n\nGet exclusive discounts with Metro Deals – save on getaways and spa days. Powered by Wowcher\n\n**Bannatyne Spa** : Spa day for two with treatments, lunch & prosecco — save up to 57% off.\n\n Get deal now\n\n**Mystery Escape** : Hotel stay with return flights from as low as £92pp — save on worldwide holiday packages.\n\nGet deal now\n\n**Beach Retreat (Lanzarote)** : 4* Lanzarote beach holiday with flights — save up to 58%.\n\nGet deal now\n\nThe route was subsidised by the States of Guernsey with £825,000 in funding before it ceased in March 2020, coinciding with Flybe’s collapse.\n\nAddressing the new service, Neil Chernoff, BA’s chief planning and strategy officer, said the route would strengthen ‘connectivity between the Channel Islands and London, and opening access to further destinations across Europe, North America and beyond’.\n\nThe route is expected to significantly boost the island’s tourism industry.\n\nAnd for anyone nervous about the uncertainty of international travel, it makes Guernsey an interesting option for a holiday close to home.\n\n## What a trip to Guernsey looks like\n\nJust a breezy 45-minute flight from London, Guernsey is the kind of place that feels from a different age.\n\nMuch like England in the 1950s, doors are left unlocked, traffic is minimal (or outright banned) and everyone knows everyone, for better or worse.\n\nYou’ll even get pound notes in your change.\n\nSunset at Saline Bay on Guernsey (Picture: Getty Images)\n\nAnd you’re almost guaranteed good weather. This southerly speck sees more hours of sunshine than the rest of the British Isles.\n\nIt is closer to mainland Europe than Britain, and ties to France run deep.\n\nOne of the five inhabited islands that make up the Channel Islands archipelago, Guernsey has a dark but fascinating history.\n\nDuring WWII, it was occupied by Nazi forces in what became known as a ‘model occupation’ — a sobering chapter that lives on in the underground bunkers and fortifications dotted along the coast.\n\nThe memory lingers. On May 9, Liberation Day is celebrated, marking the end of Nazi occupation.\n\nToday, the pace of life is pleasingly slow, the mass tourism that boomed in the 1980s a distant memory, killed off by cheap packages to Spain.\n\n> @bestwesterngb\n>\n> Guernsey is an absolutely gorgeous place to visit for a summer trip 😍☀️ 🛌 Best Western Hotel de Havelet #guernsey #thingstodoinguernsey #channelislands #summerholiday\n>\n> ♬ original sound – 🩶\n\nThe island’s biggest draws are its wild, natural beauty and a surprisingly eclectic food scene.\n\nBy day, there are 600-million-year-old granite cliffs to hike and sublime beaches to explore.\n\nThere are quaint pebbly coves that make perfect picnic spots and subtropical gardens where you can spend an afternoon.\n\nThere are natural granite pools, great for wild swimming, and a labyrinthine cave network where you can go coasteering.\n\nDriving the impossibly narrow lanes, you might spot the ‘hedge veg’ phenomenon: upright boxes nestled in the hedges at the end of farm driveways, selling carrots and crocuses, broccoli and beans.\n\nThe surf is up there with the best in the UK. Book a lesson at Guernsey Surf School in Vazon Bay on the west of the island and join locals trying to catch a wave.\n\n##  UK travel inspiration for summer 2026\n\n  * The ‘Venice of England’ is an enchanting village capturing the South Coast’s beauty\n  * Unfashionable seaside town voted ‘worst in UK’ is actually a great weekend break\n  * A local’s guide to a perfect weekend in the Yorkshire Dales\n  * The UK’s 10 sunniest beaches revealed with 1,900 sunshine hours a year\n\n\n\nBy night, perch up in St Peter Port, Guernsey’s pretty harbourside capital which has historic hotels and bars and restaurants to suit every budget and taste.\n\nThe best part? There’s not a chain in sight.\n\nOctopus, The Hook and Pier 17 are the critic’s choice for seafood.\n\nThe Telegraph’s travel experts also recommend lunch at Shell Beach Cafe in Herm, where you can enjoy lobster and chips or pressed crab sandwiches with the sand between your toes.\n\nAnd don’t leave without trying some local ice cream and Guernsey gache, a cake bread made with raisins, sultanas, butter and mixed peel.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Underrated Channel Island gets new daily direct flight from London Heathrow"
}