Private Tours: Your Wish is Our Command

A few months ago, a lifelong band of friends came to us with a regal request. We all want to go on your Ireland trip, but our fantasy is to only stay in castles and posh country manor houses. Can we do that? They could … and they absolutely did on the stately private trip we created for them, based on our Emerald Isle itinerary.

You may know how they felt. You discover a trip, and the experiences it offers really speak to you. Except that it doesn’t begin and end on dates that match your calendar. Or you’d really jigger the plans so that you could visit the old world village named for your family or satisfy an unquenched urge to sip the Brunello of your dreams at the very vineyard where it’s grown. Our advice: Ask us how we can make it happen for you.

Since our very first month in business 23 years ago, travelers like you have been asking us to curate itineraries just for them with departures on special dates. We do that all the time—but even better, we can kick the experiences up a notch with bespoke details inspired by your particular interests and tastes. You could end up like the quartet of sorority sisters who were determined to celebrate their milestone birthdays together at Stonehenge—which we made happen with a champagne toast right among the megaliths while the legendary site was closed to the public.

Last summer, we drove family members right up to the Norwegian farmstead on the shores of a remote fjord where their grandfather was born. You’re forgiven if you envy the group that claimed all the rooms in a luxury villa-hotel on the Amalfi Coast for a week of what they describe as ridiculous amounts of fun. We’ve even pulled off surprise fireworks displays perfectly timed to cap dinner on a terrace overlooking the sea. Believe it or not, we’ve arranged a private visit to the Sistine Chapel where the guests were invited to lie on the floor for a head-on look up at Michelangelo’s legendary ceiling.

Your trip could start with a vow to eat at as many Michelin-starred restaurants as can be fit into a week. If you’re bird watchers, ask us to arrange a Costa Rica trip for peak migratory season.
But you don’t need a theme either. It’s enough to ask for our usual handcrafted visit to the Galápagos or Iceland on a trip departure just for you, your family or your group of friends.

Putting together a private trip is simpler than you probably imagine. It starts with a phone call on which our experts listen to you brainstorm, daydream and lay out your wish list of places, activities, hotels and the like. Then we put together a complete program including all of the land arrangements—so you don’t need to juggle hotel communications, track down guides or scratch your head over how to make transfers. Pricing is based on the amount of customization, but prices are often less than you would pay for other companies’ standard tours.

2 WAYS TO GO PRIVATE