Recently our colleague Joao, from Sintra, Portugal, was cleaning out some old paperwork and stumbled upon a thank you note from UnTourists whom he had hosted during the tragic events of 9/11, back in 2001. Joao hosted the first iteration of our Sintra UnTour back then (which was simply the Portugal UnTour, as we had…
This far into COVID, I think some of us are tiring of our own cooking and the drabness of our grocery shopping routines. So, a little inspiration from the Mercados Municipais Estefânia in Sintra, a small but popular food hall in town that offers fresh produce and a wide range of foodstuffs. It is a popular…
…And we’re back! Italy was the first country in Europe to shut down, so it felt particularly satisfying and a little poetic that it was one of our first countries to welcome UnTourists this summer. The Lorenzis and the Moormans were our first guests in Italy, the first UnTourists to return to Italy since 2019….
Every ten years the Netherlands hosts a massive exposition on plants and flowers, a nod to its role at the international epicenter of all things green and blooming. Each decade’s show is a big deal, drawing visitors from around the world and appealing to horticultural professionals and the general public in equal measure. The next…
There are lots of reasons to love Switzerland and lots of reasons to travel there. We are excited to welcome our first guests back next month, and we are fielding questions and phone calls every day from guests with common questions about where to stay in Switzerland and how to set up a Swiss UnTour….
In June we welcomed our first UnTourists back to Europe. After over a year of COVID-related closures, we were thrilled to see early interest in travel. As Greece was the first of our destinations to reopen its border to international visitors, our Nafplio UnTour hosted our first guests, Sarah and Israel Quintal. Here they share…
We love France, as you probably can tell by the way we tout our popular UnTour programs there in Paris, Provence, and Alsace. But we love all of France, and some areas are best explored by water. That is why several years ago we started partnering with Savoir Vivre to offer barge cruises in France….
While our Tuscany UnTour is in Brunello wine territory, the Chianti Valley is within easy day trip distance and offers another flavor of farm traditions, scenery, village life, and viniculture. If you love natural beauty, robust red wines, and hearty food, look no further than the Chianti Valley. The Chianti villages hold a special…
On June 11, UnTours lost its long-time friend and colleague in Switzerland, Albert Greutert. Albert and his wife Berit were apartment hosts from the earliest years of UnTours in the 1970s. Berit, Albert’s vivacious wife, was one of our earliest Swiss UnTour staff persons. Albert was not content to let Berit have all the fun….
