Cultural Groups

 Archaeological Tours appeal to two kinds of traveller –
Some like to travel with a Tour Manager and a highly qualified lecturer to give talks each evening; spending lengthy periods of time at each site (perhaps a day or a half day) and expecting all group members to have a reasonable knowledge of archaeology.
Some like to travel with a Tour Manager but to use local guides at each site. The length of time spent at a site may be just an hour or two and a general interest is expected from participants.
You and your group choose which style of archaeology tour you require. More...

Conference & Incentive Tours appeal to staff who will respond well to unusual overseas locations. Many of them may have already done incentive tours to places within Europe and to keep their interest and enthusiasm it may be necessary to offer more culturally riskier destinations.
It is possible to provide incentive programmes which entail visiting less obvious destinations but which still allow the degree of comfort and sophistication expected on European incentives. Alternatively fuller use can be made of the cultural differences in countries with a less well-developed tourist infrastructure by staying in remote or challenging, even adventurous, locations. Incentive adventure tours, effectively.
You and your group choose which style of incentive tour you require.More...

Cookery Tours  appeal to people who want to involve themselves in the culinary world of a chosen country. They want to learn what ingredients are needed and then buy them; how to cook local dishes and try recipes for themselves. The tasting of local meals and the preparation of those same dishes will be part of the experience.
All the group may spend all their time buying and preparing food, as a totally focused experience, or you may prefer a lighter touch whereby a chef and, say, two or three of the group shop and cook for a day, the group working on a rota system with time to explore other aspects of the destination..
You and your group choose which style of cookery tour you require. More...

Language Tours appeal to those who have perhaps completed a language course and may be interested in travelling with other members of their class in order to practice, hone and develop their emerging language skills. So much better, after talking in their chosen language for one hour a week, to spend a week or so using the language they have learned.
The group may want to fully lose themselves in the language, finally speaking constantly in their new tongue. Or they may prefer a lighter touch, with morning and afternoon sessions of just an hour or two where their linguistic skills are part of the day only, with other activities built into the itinerary.
You and your group choose which style of language tour you require.

Food and Wine Tours appeal to those for whom the heart of a country and its culture is found at the table. Those for whom a hearty lunch and a lengthy evening meal are the highlights of their travels.
Some groups are well-versed in the complexities of the cuisine of a particular country and want a tour which features only the best, most prized restaurants of the region, with meals accompanied by wines of quality and distinction, A gourmet as the tour leader and the services of a sommelier are seen as essential. Other groups may simply want to learn about the finer points of the table and see such a tour as an introduction to the appreciation of good food and fine wines, with wine-tasting a feature to introduce them to the wines of the region.
You and your group choose which style of food and wine tour you prefer.

Painting Tours appeal to those who want to be sure they have the time, during the itinerary, to spend at a perfectly chosen spot and capture the essence of the view on canvas. A leisurely itinerary will be planned then, as much of the day will be taken up sketching or painting; the timings of the days will reflect this. Itineraries will visit areas of interest because of the subject matter or the light and itineraries will reflect the need for time painting.
Some groups prefer an itinerary which includes a resident artist with the group; a chance to learn. He or she may even give talks or lectures. Visits to art galleries or locations linked with famous artists may be included. Others simply want to know that they will be taken to locations well-chosen for their artistic possibilities where they can work at their masterpiece.
You and your group choose which style of painting tour you prefer.

Photograpic Tours appeal to those who want to be sure that their itinerary will be planned to allow leisurely progress, with plenty of time to set up for satisfying shots and none of the rush associated with non-specialist tours with their five minute photo-stops. Itineraries will reflect the need for locations offering appropriate subject matter for the interests of the group.
Some groups prefer to include the services of a professional photographer to accompany the group and offer tips, hints and guidance .He or she may even give lessons or lectures if this is desired. Other groups simply want an itinerary that offers photographic possibilities and challenges and the assurance that their itinerary will allow sufficient time to do justice to what they see from behind the lens.
You and your group choose which style of photographic tour you prefer. More...

Gulet Tours appeal to those who like to relax. Motoring or sailing gently along the coast of Turkey, Greece or Croatia, with the need to do little more than prop yourself up on one arm to take a drink from one of the crew, can relax even the most stressed amongst us. Anchoring in the quiet of secluded bays or going ashore into the bustle of small ports to offers contrasts within the journey that add to the variety in pace that is a gulet voyage.
Some groups want nothing more than to sail slowly along the Turkish coast, savouring the contrasts of the day. Other groups want to build other activities into the voyage: going ashore to ramble, to visit archaeological sites, to paint, to take photographs, to explore the world of Turkish cuisine.
The beauty of a gulet voyage is that it can be tailor-made to blend relaxation on board with your chosen activity ashore.
You and your group choose which style of gulet tour you prefer - We have over 15 different itineraries to choose from.

Tours for Doctors and Dentists with the groups company appeal in a variety of ways. These tours appeal to members of the medical profession who have already qualified in their chosen field, but want to improve their knowledge and skills. Many of our medical groups involve working with lecturers qualified to provide Continual Professional Development points to those travelling with their group. Some groups choose to arrange a short two or three day conference where speakers can update their skills and return home after a short break. Other groups choose to add a few days relaxation in the form of a post-Conference tour, perhaps a cultural tour of the area, or relaxing with a little golf, for example. You may prefer to limit the attendees to such a conference or seminar to just those professionals in the specific field chosen as the basis of the Conference. Or you may prefer to travel with your partner or family; the costs for non-Conference travellers will of course be different to the cost of conference delegates. How much time on your group journey is spent on the seminar or Conference, and how much time, if any, is spent on post-Conference tours is of course a choice made by you and your group.

An important feature of our medical group arrangements is that our aim is  always to have professionals teaching professionals; expert to expert. These group arrangements are not designed around the use of lecturers working on the "learn one; do one; teach one" approach. Our Lecturers are specialists in their field. Of course as well as offering to arrange lecturers we can provide group seminar arrangements for you which allow members of your group to take turns in presenting papers to the other members of a group.

Literary Group holidays appeal to those who like to combine their knowledge of, and interest in, authors of note, with a taste for travel. The itinerary may include visits to sites of literary interest, settings for plays or books. There may be readings from the works of famous authors at the location where they were born, lived, worked, or set their work. Your group may choose to include the services of an expert in the works of a particular author, someone who can bring their work alive, or you may decide simply to have the travel arrangements put in place with the group arranging their own readings.
Whether the group travel with an expert or not is up to you. You and your group choose the style of literary holiday that you want.

Family & Friend Re-union groups tend to be instigated by a special event; an anniversary, a birthday, which sees a family or a group of friends coming together to celebrate. The family might all come from the UK, or they may be living in different parts of the world and be coming together just for this special event.
The idea might be to stay in one location, with the main contribution of the groups company just to arrange the complexities of bringing the family members in from many different countries. Or, once re-united, the group may then travel to several locations of your choice before going their separate ways at the end of the re-union.
Whether the group stays put once together, or travels as a group once re-united, is up to you.
You and your group chose the style of re-union you want.

Music groups appeal to people wanting to combine their interest in music with a taste for travel. Usually there is an interest in listening to and learning about music from other cultures, be this the jazz, blues, bluegrass or country music of the USA; the rhythms of Cuba or Latin America; the music of West Africa or Asia. A music group tour may concentrate on one form of music, or be designed to allow a kaleidoscopic look at the myriad forms of popular and folk music in a particular region.
Your group may wish to design an itinerary around a music festival, or to tour an area, visiting a different musical performance each evening. Or you may prefer to arrange the itinerary to allow members of the group to perform with local musicians, either with or without tuition involved.
The group may prefer to arrange their itinerary around nothing but various musical concerts, or perhaps a more general itinerary is required, with sightseeing during the day and music at night.
The degree to which listening or playing is catered for, and the degree to which sightseeing is included in the programme is up to you.
You and your group choose the style of music tour that you want.

Film groups tend to appeal to either those who want to watch movies, or those who want to make a film. There are numerous film festivals around the world – the Venice Bi-ennial; Cannes; or the Sundance Festival, for example – around which an itinerary can be built. Or a group may want to base their itinerary around visiting locations where particularly notable movies were shot on location; or the locale where they were set. Alternatively they may want to plan a more active tour, with the aim of actually shooting their own movie on location. The group may have an interest in the technical side of filming with members of the group shooting the movie, or they may prefer to use a professional crew to shoot their script. This need not be overly expensive if a simple one camera set-up is employed, with no more than a cameraman and a producer being built into the cost.
Whether the film group itinerary is designed around watching movies or making them is up to the members of the party. You and your group choose the style of film tour you want.

Theatre holidays appeal to people who want to combine their love of drama with a taste for overseas travel. The aim of a theatre group may be to visit a number of location where particular plays may be seen, or to visit theatres or performances in dramatic, unusual or historically important settings.
Alternatively a theatre group may wish to take a more active approach to their holiday. After perhaps watching a number of plays of note, or taking in a festival for example, the group may wish to end their tour with a performance by the group in a historical or prestigious setting, such as, for example, an amphitheatre at a site of dramatic and historical importance, perhaps enacting a play in situ, at the site where the author actually set the drama.
Whether your group watches other actors performing, or decides to perform themselves is your choice.
You and your group choose the style of theatre holiday that you want.

Garden holidays appeal to people who have perhaps an active interest in gardening themselves and perhaps belong to a gardening society and wish to combine this with a taste of overseas travel. An itinerary may take in several famous gardens, situated in dramatic or unusual locations or created by masters of the craft. Visits might also be arranged to gardens where the work done in the workshops of the garden can be visited and discussed with the staff there.
Whether the group simply visits gardens of note or more actively engages with the horticultural staff working there is your choice. You and your group choose the style of garden holiday that you want.

Choir holidays appeal to people who want to combine their love of singing with a taste for overseas travel. The aim of a theatre group may be to visit a number of locations where particular composers worked, or where a major choir festival is taking place.
Or a choir group may wish to take a more active approach to their holiday and stage their own performances in dramatic settings or unusual locations such as an amphitheatre at a historical site, for example.
Whether your group watches other choirs or decides to perform themselves is your choice. You and your group choose the style of choir holiday that you want.

Bridge Tours with the groups company appeal to those who want to combine their love of the game with a little overseas travel. You may choose to plan a short break to somewhere in Europe, or you may choose to venture further afield for a short break or even a longer journey.
It could be that your group wants to focus totally on the game, spending much of the time playing. Or you may prefer to build a few games of bridge into an itinerary that encompasses visits to areas of interest around where you are staying.
Some groups want to simply play a few friendly games as part of the holiday. others want to incorporate into the holiday the chance to improve their game. In this case it is worth building into the programme a bridge teacher, who can offer tuition sessions as well as tips and hints to improve your game. He or she can also organise a more formal competition which runs throughout the holiday.
Whether you travel close to home or further afield; whether you incorporate a few friendly games or a structured competition into the itinerary; whether or not you take the opportunity for your group to improve their game by means of tuition sessions; these factors are all decided by you and your group; the choice is yours.

Creative Writing tours with the groups company appeal to those who like to combine their interest in developing and improving their writing skills with their interest in travel. Travel writing may be the aim, in which case a creative writing tour is an obvious holiday. If another area of literary endevour is the aim, practice or tuition can still seem more pleasant in different surroundings.
You may choose to devote most of a short break to a series of tuition classes; or you may care to build an itinerary visiting several places on a longer journey around a literary theme with time to write fitted into the rest of the programme. Some groups simply want time away, with quiet and peaceful interludes to allow the words to come. Others prefer to take along a professional journalist or author who can offer masterclasses to help develop the writing skills amongst the group. A short break or a longer journey; with a travel-writing theme or a more general literary theme; with or without a professional along to offer help, tips and hints: the choice is there; the decision is for you and your group to make.

Opera Tours appeal to people who want to combine their love of the opera with a taste for overseas travel. The aim of an opera group may be to visit a number of performances at various locations, where particular composers worked, or based their play, or where a major opera festival is taking place.
You and your group choose the style of opera holiday that you want.