About UnTours

As a college professor, Hal and his family took a sabbatical trip to Europe and stayed in apartments in Switzerland, Germany, and France. This not only saved him money but connected him to the communities and cultures he visited in a more personal way, sparking friendships and understanding. He wrote about his experiences in Shoestring Sabbatical. This book and his enthusiasm for cross-cultural travel led him to create UnTours.
UnTours started in Switzerland, and has expanded over the decades. There are now UnTour programs in 26 different destinations. In each program, guests settle into their community with the aid of a friendly local host, who helps them manage logistics and practical details. Planning, transportation, transfers, and other helpful extras are all included.
UnTours also offers hand-selected small boat cruises and adventures on its Ventures website. UnTours continues to add destinations while staying true to Hal's vision, offering meaningful travel and fostering a sense of community and connection among UnTours guests, staff, and local hosts.

Brian Taussig-Lux has managed UnTours since 1996 and Elizabeth Killough runs the UnTours Foundation. Both worked closely with Hal and continue to connect with his vision. As Hal planned, ownership of UnTours passed to the UnTours Foundation. Hal's passion continues to inspire UnTours staff and community, and the wider worlds of business, travel, and fair trade.





We're proud to be the first Certified B Corporation.
Read our 2021 PA Benefit Corporation Report.
When you support a Certified B Corporation, you're supporting a better way to do business. Certified B Corporations meet rigorous, independent standards of social and environmental performance. They are creating greater economic opportunity, strengthening local communities, and preserving the environment.
B Corps. A better way to do business. Find out for yourself at www.bcorporation.net/untours.
Our Mission: UnTours' purpose is to foster a healthy and healing society that unites people of different cultures and economic statuses. We feel it is imperative to reconnect people to each other and to the earth. We hope that we, as a company, can be the change we wish to see in the world.
We're sometimes called Idyll, LTD., which is what we called ourselves before we went with UnTours. In fact, Idyll, LTD., is where our email listserv's name, IdyllChat, comes from!
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