As spring merges into summer, gardens in much of Europe are at their most vibrant and colorful. Whether you seek out gardens as a main sight for your day or duck into them as a respite from sightseeing in built environments, it is hard not to fall in love with these lovingly cultivated spaces. They…
Our Tuscany UnTour is a perennial favorite, and ranks among our most popular UnTour destinations. It is hard to beat the views here in the Orcia Valley, south of Siena. With its stark rolling green hills, cypress trees, and vineyards, its landscape is so distinctive that the area was named a UNESCO World Heritage site…
Rome is a city of commerce and has been for millennia. Consider that as you walk through the ruins of the ancient Roman marketplaces. And then head to some of the city’s lively outdoor markets, where vendors sell produce, meats, cheeses, housewares, fast fashion, and antiques. Join the Romans and the lively, colorful continuum of…
Tracy Louis Hyde has led our Tuscany UnTour on the ground near Montalcino for a couple years now. She loves her work with us and is eager to share her region. She took some time to share some thoughts about her work and her love for Tuscany. Tell us a little bit about your professional…
Our loyal and frequent UnTourist Joanne Choyka made a cool discovery last fall in Tuscany. This is a photo taken last fall in Pitigliano, in Tuscany. My grandparents immigrated from this town to the US in the early 1900’s. My grandfather took a job working at the Hershey Chocolate factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where my…
When most people think of Rome, they think of big city crowds and chaos, and surely there is that. It is all part of the fun and real life of a busy city. But the MacPhersons found another side of the Eternal City on their Rome UnTour, and they captured it well in their entries…
There are so many things to see and do in Tuscany, it is easy to overlook some real gems. That’s why we recommend staying for a week or longer and renting an apartment and car in the countryside, like we offer on our Tuscany UnTour. Florence, Pisa, and Siena will be on most itineraries. But…
…Shy David, submitted by Nancy and Paul Gongloff. The Gongloffs have taken many UnTours with us. Their most recent, of course, was a trip to Florence, where they encountered Michelangelo’s masterpiece David at the Galleria dell’Accademia. They have also joined us for UnTours in Barcelona, Holland, Paris, Salzburg, the German Rhine, Prague, Budapest, and Vienna…
Here at UnTours HQ, we live for this sort of thing. After all the work and planning, we love to know our guests are having fun. So our new UnTours Photo Contest has brought us pure joy. For much of spring and summer, we have received brilliant photos from Europe, each reflecting the joy, wit,…
On our last day at the UnTours farm near Spoleto in Umbria, Maurizia at the nearby bakery gave us big hugs and kisses and “bona fortuna” as we thanked her for the wonderful open “forno” experience. We would miss our morning trip for danish, panini, and poppy gazing. We also had to say goodbye with…