Stirling Castle is one of the most important castles in Scotland. Many feel it is actually the best, even better than Edinburgh’s. It is surely the crowning jewel of Stirling. The town and its quaint satellite villages make up our Central Scotland UnTour, offering easy rail access to Edinburgh and its castle. But we strongly…
“I enjoy meeting people, especially foreigners,” explains Françoise Guilledroit, our new local staff person for the Paris UnTour. Having lived and traveled abroad, she understands their perspective well. Françoise was born in northern France and currently resides in Paris with her husband, who is an art specialist working in Paris and Brussels. Her daughters, both…
Never plan a vacation when you are hungry. If you do, you will surely end up in Tuscany. On second thought, let your stomach guide you. When you consider the region’s sublime natural beauty and Florence’s countless Renaissance masterpieces, it is easy to overlook the food. But Florence is a great place to connect…
UnTours is very concerned about the environment, but not in a lip-service, greenwashing kind of way. We honestly and truly care. We work to mitigate the environmental impact of travel and to minimize and offset our office carbon footprint. Our B Corp certification process screens us for environmental policies and practices, so our values are…
On a chilly evening at the start of April, the UnTours Foundation gathered with progressive business leaders, community activists, entrepreneurs, donors, foundation leaders, UnTourists, and UnTours staff and friends to celebrate its silver anniversary. We gathered to acknowledge the UnTours Foundation and its 25 years of funding Fair Trade, job creation, green development, and economic…
On a recent visit to the Kunstmuseum in Basel, I was overwhelmed by the size and breadth of the museum’s modern art collection. A friendly guard explained it succinctly. “Yes, Switzerland and America have the largest collections of modern art because they could collect and protect ‘degenerate art’ while Hitler was marching through Europe.” I’d…
Join me in charming Rudesheim on the Rhine, an easy day trip from our German Rhine UnTour. With its vineyard-covered hills, distant castles, and narrow cobbled lanes and courtyards, it is one darling town. So cute, in fact, that we often bring our UnTour guests there for a special tour of the museums in town….
Right around the time those of us on the East Coast are bemoaning the long, cold winter, the Philadelphia Flower Show launches with its colorful blooms promising good things to come. As the world’s biggest and oldest indoor flower show, the Philadelphia Flower Show draws gardeners from all over the country. Cathrin Baumbach, one of…
There’s something supremely unique about Ireland. Maybe it’s the friendly people or the sturdy, homey architecture. Perhaps it’s the variety of landscapes, from mountains, cliffs, rolling hills and forest. Or maybe it’s just the warmth of walking into an Irish pub and enjoying a pint of Guinness with strangers that soon become friends. Whatever it…
One of our favorite day trips on our popular Alsace UnTour is a nice break from the bucolic countryside and wine road. Strasbourg is the biggest city in the Alsace region, with a population of close to 800,000. It has been at an international crossroads for centuries. It wears its rich history in the cabled…