| ACE Study Tours |
01223 835055 |
ACE Study tours (50 years old in 2008) is an arm of the British charitable trust The Association for Cultural Exchange, an educational charity. They operate art, archæology, history, music, drama, literature, geology, ecology and wildlife study tours around the world. |
| Art History Abroad |
020 7731 2231 |
AHA is best known for its six-week art history courses in Italy for gap-year students, but they also run study holidays for adults and families. |
| Brompton Travel |
020 8549 3334 |
Opera specialist with tours to key festivals and performances in opera houses throughout Europe, plus New York & Sydney! |
| Brookland Travel |
01305 259467 |
Art, literature and theatre tours. |
| Ciceroni Travel |
01869 811167 |
Arts and art history tour company that has grown organically from a club to a small specialist operator offering fully inclusive, scheduled, escorted cultural tours for groups and individuals (typically aged 50 - 90) to destinations worldwide, including the UK. The name "Ciceroni" is Italian for a group of 18th century Grand Tour Guides. |
| Cox & Kings (NADFAS) |
020 7873 5000 |
Cox & Kings operate around 60 fine arts & art history tours worldwide (especially the Middle East, India & Europe) for NADFAS - National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies. The tours are for NADFAS members but there are opportunities for others to join. There is a dedicated NADFAS tours brochure. Cox & Kings have been reminding us that they are the world's longest established travel company and that 2008 is their 250th anniversary. |
| Diplomatic Travel |
01825 740262 |
DT have a programme called 'Southern Sounds' featuring tours in the 'Deep South' USA for lovers of jazz, rock, blues, and country & western. |
| Fine Art Travel |
020 7437 8553 |
Art and heritage grand tours in Italy visiting artworks and architectural sites in public and private settings. Fine Art Travel is a brand of Italy specialists, Bellini Travel run by Lord Charles Fitzroy and his niece, Emily Fitzroy. |
| Habsburg Heritage |
020 8761 0444 |
 Small company founded by music aficienado, Robert Avery, specialising in escorted music tours in Europe, especially Austria's Eisenstadt Haydn Festival and Schubertiade". (What Robert doesn't know about taking music-lovers to the Schubertiade is simply not worth bothering about - ed) |
| Heritage Group Travel |
10225 466620 |
Longstanding operator of arts and culture group tours for societies and affinity groups. |
| Heritage Touring |
01794 342249 |
Heritage Touring have been operating art, culture and music tours in the UK and Europe for 20 years. Their annual programme features classical music concerts, opera, heritage events, and art tours to historic houses. |
| JMB Travel Consultants Ltd |
01905 830099 |
Opera specialists offering escorted & individual tours to a wide range of opera productions & festivals worldwide. |
| John Whibley |
01663 746578 |
John & Helen Whibley escort small groups to opera, early music, chamber and orchestral performances at all the well-known festivals but also lessor-know events such as Ambronay, Cuenca and Kilkenny. |
| Kirker Holidays |
0870 112 3333 |
The high-quality short breaks specialist has a Cultural Tours programme (launched in 2006) featuring tours to around 25 destinations worldwide but mostly in Europe, for groups of around 15-22 people escorted by an expert lecturer. Subjects covered include Music (concerts, opera & special festivals); Gardens & Botany; Archaeology & Ancient History; Art, Architecture and Art History. Kirker's cultural tours division is being run by Barry Cheeseman who for years developed and ran Page & Moy's cultural holidays division and is well-known to many music & opera lovers. |
| Kudu Travel |
01722 716167 |
Guided walking holidays based around music festivals, opera, art & architecture, (as well as birdwatching, wildlife and gourmet food & wine). |
| Liaisons Abroad |
020 7376 4020 |
Ticketing only for international music & arts events, festivals & concerts. |
| Made to Measure |
01243 533333 |
Made to Measure have a small programme of art and architecture tours, led by art historian Sally Lang. |
| Martin Randall Travel |
020 8742 3355 |
One of the leading cultural tour operators with a programme of around 140 tours across Europe and the Middle East, focusing on art, music, architecture, archaeology and history. They won the 2006 AITO Travel Company of the Year award (larger company category) which is based on quantified feedback from customers of over 150 Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) member companies. |
| Operas Abroad |
0151 493 0382 |
Music & opera short breaks brand operated by Eastern Europe specialists, Regent Holidays. So, visiting destinations like Prague, Berlin, Italy, Budapest, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Riga, Helsinki, Tallinn, Vienna. |
| Orpheus & Bacchus |
07808 727735 |
Wine & music holidays based at a converted farm near St Emillion, France. |
| Passionate About Opera |
08450 545 069 |
Paul Graham is a homeworking travel agent who operates as a franchisee in the Explorer Travel group. His experience as a specialist on holidays to Italy led him into the world of classical music breaks and now he has become a successful opera tour specialist agent, arranging trips for opera fans to Italy, Austria and New York. Being a one-man show, you are pretty much guaranteed that personal touch! |
| Prospect Music & Arts Tours |
020 7486 5705 |
Escorted & Individual Arts & Music tours. Also European cultural river cruises. Well known operator in this field with a wide selection tours. (Prospect have a long and distinguished history in music tours. I know of at least two founders of other top companies on this page who started their careers working at Prospect - Ed) |
| RSC Short Breaks |
020 8758 4799 |
Theatre breaks to Royal Shakespeare Company productions in Stratford-upon-Avon operated for the RSC by Sunvil. There's a programme of excursions to nearby sites such as Anne Hathaway's house & Warwick Castle, and backstage tours at the RSC. |
| Saga |
0800 096 0084 |
Saga have quite strong programme of special interest holidays including classic music & opera tours, art appreciation holidays, jazz tours, and culture tours. Saga operates holidays for the 50+ age group. |
| Special Tours |
020 7730 2297/3138 |
Programme of sophisticated cultural tours overseas with the emphasis on art, architecture and history. Tours are led by expert guides. |
| St James Art Tours |
020 7495 6487 |
Busy programme of small group expert-guided arts tours. NB Website optimised for IE. (Doesn't work in Chrome). |
| Tailored Travel |
0845 230 9966 |
Group travel specialists offering tailored travel to schools and groups for history, culture, music and arts tours. |
| Travel Editions |
020 7251 0045) |
Operates a programme of specific themed tours each year on a wide range of special interest subjects, to a range of destinations mostly in Europe. Many of them are art history and culture tours (eg Art & History of the Netherlands, La Scala & Verona Opera, Discovering Charles Rennie Mackintosh). Check this year's programme on their website. |
| Travel for the Arts |
020 8799 8350 |
Tours and tailor made travel to international opera, music and arts events. TFTA was set up ages ago by Andrew Blair and has grown into one of the leading specialist music tour operators with a huge and varied programme worldwide. |
| Traveller & Palanquin, The |
020 7436 9343 |
A full programme of discovery & learning tours worldwide for those interested in archaeology, art, history, culture, etc. They also have programmes for families and un-escorted discovery tours for independent travellers. TT was formerly called 'British Museum Traveller' and was the British Museum's tour division running expert-led historical / cultural / archaeological tours. However at the end of 2003 the museum "returned to core activities" and the people who ran BMT set up on their own. |
| White Hat Tours |
020 7771 2681 |
Small specialist cultural tour operator, offering small group tours of Italian towns and cities. |
