Martin Randall Travel is committed to providing the best planned, the best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours available.
Pioneering and innovative, we have led the way with ideas and itineraries and by setting the benchmarks for customer service and administration.
For 36 years we have been the most influential organisation in the field of cultural travel, offering an unequalled range of tours and events. Pioneering and innovative, we have led the way with ideas and itineraries and by setting the benchmarks for customer service and administration.
Privileged access
Special arrangements are a feature of our tours – for admission to places not generally open to travellers, for access outside public hours, for private concerts and extraordinary events. In innumerable ways, we lift our clients’ experience far above standards which are regarded as normal for tourists.
First-rate speakers
Expert speakers are a key ingredient in our tours. Academics, curators, writers, broadcasters and researchers, they are selected not only for their knowledge but also for their ability to communicate clearly and engagingly to a lay audience. Their brief is to enlighten and stimulate, not merely to inform.
Holiday protection
We provide full financial protection for our package holidays which include international flights, by way of our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL); and for those that do not include a flight, by way of a bond held by ABTOT – The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited.
Personal service
We aim for faultless administration from your first encounter with us to the end of the holiday, and beyond. We want you to come back again and again – as most of our clients do. We can provide options without international travel if you prefer to make your own arrangements.
Award-winning
Five consecutive years as Best Special Interest Holiday Company at the British Travel Awards (2015–19) reflects our commitment to excellence. With a remarkable 99% satisfaction rating from more than 1,100 independent reviews, our attention to detail and client care is unmatched.
Most of our tours run with between 10 and 20 participants. Our travellers are self-selected by common interests and an endorsement of our ethos. You are highly likely to find yourself among like-minded companions, whether travelling solo (as 50% of our clients do) or with a travel partner.
Value for money
The price includes nearly everything, not only the major ingredients such as hotel, transport and the costs of the lecturer and manager but also tips and drinks with meals. The price published is the price you pay. You can secure your booking today with a 15% deposit.
We were experiencing the food revolution that has taken place in Devon and Cornwall - food and drink produced to very high quality by people who care about their products and the environment.
gres
12 Jul 2018
Review by field on Sat Aug 19 2017 08:00:00 GMT+0100 (British Summer Time)
A good arranged tour
field
19 Aug 2017
Very enjoyable
I went to 12 beautiful Italian Gardens and the oldest botanical garden in the world. It was a week of heaven!
Jeanie
09 May 2017
Fantastic Christmas in Umbria
Martin Randall Travel specializes in tours curated by scholarly experts.
LA Scholar
29 Dec 2022
Halos and Hairshirts - the Divine Office with Martin Randall Travel
We had a brilliant time in Oxford courtesy of Martin Randall Travel. Up all night with plainchant and polyphony in various Oxford College Chapels, staying in the wonderful Old Bank Hotel and eating and drinking like Kings and Queens.
Brilliantly organised with a light touch.
We have never done any...
NicholasC
11 Oct 2021
A banquet of music in a glorious setting (Florence)
Martin Randal Travel has superb organisation and dedicated staff accompanying the tour.
Ian D.
08 Apr 2017
Palladian villas tour
A richly rewarding tour of Palladian villas in the Veneto with an excellent and amusing young architectural historian and a small, group of thoughtful admirers of the remarkable architect. Included meals, hotel and travel excellent -- and surprisingly reasonably priced.
Liz
11 Nov 2017
perfect
Everything was well taken care of, price versus quality, lecturer and touroperator. I certainly will book again with Martin Randall
Cobus
28 Jul 2016
Bach Leipzig Festival
Comprehensive itinerary, sympathetic tour leader, good hotel Leipzig Marriott.
djangonut
21 Jun 2016
A great itinerary with a great guide
Everything from the original contact, through changes to the final tour was easily done from our perspective
Rexy
22 Oct 2019
Superbly organised and operated - shame about the perfomance
It was to Berlin, to see the Wagner Ring Cycle. The musicians and singers were superb, but the director spoiled the performances by imposing an inappropriate model on Wagner's work. That was not MR's fault.
RetiredBrit
11 Apr 2023
Connoisseur's Vienna
A well organised tour of the cultural aspects of Vienna with an excellent lecturer.
Lecturer in medieval history at the University of East Anglia. He was taught at the Universities of London, Cambridge, and Oxford, and was a research fellow at Jesus College, Oxford. He specialises in the period, 700–1200, and publishes on western kings, secular élites and their records. He is a keen believer in the value of exploring and understanding the architectural fabric, material culture and landscapes of the past.
Art historian specialising in Renaissance and Baroque architecture in Rome and the Papal States, and Assistant Director of the British School at Rome from September 2015. He received his doctorate from Cambridge University, and also studied at the British School at Rome, where he was Rome Scholar (2009–10) and Giles Worsley Fellow (2013). He has lived in Le Marche region of Italy and is currently writing his first book on the Marchigian Cardinals of Pope Sixtus V.
Lecturer in Arabic at Leiden University and a specialist in the cultural history of the Muslim world. Peter has travelled extensively across the Middle East and Central Asia and has studied at the Universities of Damascus and Isfahan. He held a fellowship at the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin, where he researched Muslim architecture and Arabic calligraphy, studying monuments of medieval Egypt and Uzbekistan. In Oman, he studied pre-Islamic sites and local shrines dedicated to ancient Arabian prophets in as part of his current research focus on the legends and history of Arabia. His publications include Imagining the Arabs (Edinburgh University Press, 2016), a comprehensive exploration of the Arab people in early Islam, and The Arab Thieves (Brill, 2019), a critical study of Arabian outlaw tales.
Wine, food and travel writer. Born in Mexico, he was raised in the USA before studying English Literature at the University of Exeter. Together with his wife, he has pioneered a series of illustrated wine-food-travel books including The Wine and Food of Europe, The Wine Roads of France, The Wine Roads of Italy, The Food Lover’s Companion to France and The Food Lover’s Companion to Italy. He is also the author of The Taste of Britain and lives in Devon, where he is closely involved with the food scene of the West Country. Marc is a certified Vinitaly International Italian Wine Ambassador. His next book, Italy in a Wineglass, will be published in Spring 2024 and tells the story of Italy through its wines. Twitter: @Marc_Millon
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