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.
Archaeology made accessible and fascinating to amateurs
We had experts in their fields as our guides and lecturers + a very organised and efficient tour manager
MsMatching Colours
30 Jul 2022
Exceptional opera tour with nuseum via sits in Berlin
Well organized and interesting
Ms E S 23
13 Apr 2023
Wonderful walking week
The attention to detail was fantastic. Everything was coverered by the tour manager, always on the ground keeping an eye on all and offering advice and help if needed. Accommodation was superb as was the dining experience. Good drivers and a great lecturer.
The Pumpworths
17 Sep 2018
Churches and a synagogue
Excellent information and guide but we could do with a few more notes to act as triggers for our memory
Danny
19 Jun 2017
Pleasant trip in France with interesting cave art
Martin Randall
Gerd
15 Sep 2022
Perfect marriage of culture (the literature of the area) and the practical - walking in relevant places.
Considerable care goes into planning these holidays. The places to visit are well chosen and often have good local guides to expand on any given subject. The tour lecturer and manager are chosen to be very well informed and efficient at dealing with any difficulties that may occur. Buses arranged to...
Mrs C M 16
02 Jul 2016
A week of intellectual stimulus, friendly encounters with all kinds of people from all over the world and above all, sublime music in dream venues.
Attention had been paid to every imaginable detail so that participants would be well prepared and confident from beginning to end. A team of expert young people guided us discreetly, tactfully and efficiently through every part of the journey, coming into their own at the end when a BA cancelation ...
Hermione
15 Sep 2023
Arst and Crafts in the Cotswolds
Reliable, well organised and imaginative itineraries. As an independent traveller I feel secure with their arrangements and attention to detail.
Artfiend
05 Oct 2016
Fulfilled a lifetime wish
It was wonderful to follow in the footsteps of the artist Piero della Francesca and to see his works in situ in the region's palaces, churches, chapels and museums, and to have his work situated in an art historical, cultural, social and political context
Teithiwyr
07 Oct 2022
A Feast of Exquisite Music
Martin Randall Travel's most recent privately organised music festival was a week of recitals at superb venues along the River Danube, accessed from our "home" aboard the very comfortable MS Amadeus Royal. We started in Budapest and ended up in Linz. The singers and pianists were of t...
taffycardiff
16 Jul 2016
Our first visit to Madrid and a comprehensive tour of art galleries and museums.
We spent five days visiting several galleries and museums a day the company of an expert guide.
Chris
13 Nov 2022
Remarkable gastronomic and vinicultural experience
Wonderful coverage of a lesser known, but fascinating part of Italy.
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
e-newsletter recipients are the first to hear about our future plans and our tours as they come on sale. By signing up you agree to our Privacy policy.