Italian Holidays, Adventure Group Tours, Costa Rica and African Safaris – let Santa Barbara Travel Bureau handle the details on these guided, private, and independent tours. If the adage “It’s not where you go, it’s who you know” is true, then you want to know a Virtuoso travel advisor with connections.
Tours eliminate the logistical hiccups of vacationing – planning and navigation – leaving only the thrill of discovery.
Let these vacations show you how exciting touring can be:
An Italy must: A cooking class led by a local chef.
Choose your own Italian adventure.
You might want to go truffle hunting in the Umbrian hills one day and on the next, bike around Florence or take a private pasta-making lesson. Santa Barbara Travel Bureau advisors use pre-screened tour partners to structure personalized itineraries in destinations all across Italy, with daily add-on options so travelers can pick activities depending on their mood. One of our favorites in an eight-day trip in Tuscany and Umbria provides active, culinary, and classic sightseeing options, plus maps and tips from your 24/7 concierge.
See Costa Rica without the crowds.
With biodiverse rain forests, a skyline of steaming volcanoes, and some of the world’s most beautiful coastline, Costa Rica lands on most travelers’ ecotourism bucket lists. Escapes when the crowds are thinnest – which translates to lower costs and more unfettered space in the country’s hot springs and cloud forests.
Keep it indie in London and Paris.
Leave the logistics – including hotels and transportation – to us on a tour of two of Europe’s most alluring capital cities, London and Paris. While a local host says hello and guides offer sightseeing overviews, our customizable tours leaves travelers with the bulk of their time undirected to tool around London’s landmarks and museum-hop in Paris.
Tours through Arizona include beautiful Sedona for artist visits, scenic railroad rides, and more.
Explore some of the United States’ most awe-inspiring landscapes.
Leading adventure tour company G Adventures offers small group tours of towering mountains, otherworldly rock formations, ancient petroglyphs, and scenic train rides await on this journey through the American West. Begin your exploration in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, where you’ll walk along scenic trails and spot wildlife up close. Then, travel by train over rugged mountain terrain to Utah, where you’ll explore the dramatic natural landscapes and Native American history of Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, and Zion national parks. Round out your tour with an overnight in bright, bustling Las Vegas.
Customize your own grand European tour.
Perhaps you want more time in Killarney and less time in Blarney in Ireland. Or you’ve always wanted to embark on a trip around Iceland’s Ring Road without worrying about the driving. Santa Barbara Travel Bureau works with a vast array of partners to allow travelers to customize European tours for individuals, couples or groups of up to 20 – a tour director, a driver, and local guides come along for the ride.
Go glam in the Greek Isles.
Some of our favorite tours combine time on land and at sea in Greece, Alaska, New England, and the Galápagos. On a seven-day round-trip-from-Athens cruise tour, for example, travelers spend three days in the capital touring the Acropolis and strolling through the taverna-filled Plaka district before setting sail for Mykonos, Crete, and Santorini.
Spy the “big five” on safari in Kenya.
Our favorite Small-Group safari tours max out at 20 to 24 travelers, a nice size for a nine-day safari in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, round-trip from Nairobi. Set out on a game drive in search of the “big five,” then visit neighboring preserves filled with lumbering giraffes, dazzles of zebras, and blue-necked Somali ostriches. Beyond the wildlife, highlights include sundowner cocktails, bush breakfasts, and opportunities to meet the Maasai people in their villages.
Custom tours are a fabulous way to experience the destination of your choice, and also make for a wonderful gift this holiday season. Santa Barbara Travel Bureau Gift Certificates can be used for air, lodging, cruises and tours anywhere in the world! A perfect gift for that special someone.
An Italy must: A cooking class led by a local chef.
Tours through Arizona include beautiful Sedona for artist visits, scenic railroad rides, and more.
