Unless I missed something, there was no indication of the size of the party? For flying alone, or two light people with little or no luggage, a microlight is doable. Though most are either as expensive as a "real" aircraft, or too slow for decent touring. The upcoming ELSA would be better still, but will apparently have none of the advantages of a microlight.
PPL with IR will be the only way to really go travelling, to use a plane as a more or less dependable way to go places. The cost will be high, though, on all points. At the other end of the scale is microlighting, relatively inexpensive but VERY weather dependent.