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Journeys built around your institution
For a museum, gallery, alumni group or arts society, few things bring supporters closer to an institution – and to one another – than travelling together.
A shared journey offers insight and access that cannot be found elsewhere. Arranging one is demanding, detailed work, and it carries your name.
Martin Randall Travel Private Groups takes that work on. We design and deliver journeys for cultural institutions that wish to offer their patrons, members and alumni something of their own, drawing on the experts, access and organisation that have underpinned our cultural tours since 1988.
A true partnership
You bring the people. We bring everything else
You bring
- Your members, patrons and supporters
- Your institution’s specialism and point of view
- Your curators, directors or trustees as hosts, if you wish
- The invitation, in your name
We bring
- Itinerary research and design
- Privileged access: private collections, after-hours and behind-the-scenes visits
- Hotels, restaurants, flights, rail and coaches
- Expert lecturers where needed, and local guides
- Bookings, payments and full financial protection
- A tour manager, if you would like one
Who we work with
- Museums and galleries
- Performing arts companies
- Foundations and historic houses
- Friends, patrons and membership schemes
- Arts Society branches and other societies
- Universities, alumni and professional bodies
Sound like your organisation?
Tell us about your members and what you'd like to achieve.
Sample journeys
Where we could take your supporters
Every programme is designed from scratch. These sample journeys show what is possible; each can be adapted in length, pace, focus and budget, led by your experts or ours.
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6 days · Italy
Palladio and the Veneto
A study of the architect whose villas shaped country houses from England to Virginia. Based in Vicenza with a final night in Venice; ideal for architecture foundations, historic house supporters and design-minded patrons.
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- Day 1Arrive Vicenza. Welcome drinks and an introductory talk by your host or lecturer.
- Day 2Vicenza: the Basilica Palladiana, the palazzi of Corso Palladio and a private early morning visit to the Teatro Olimpico. Afternoon at Villa La Rotonda.
- Day 3Villa Barbaro at Maser and its Veronese frescoes; Villa Emo. Lunch hosted at a family-owned villa.
- Day 4Along the Brenta to Villa Foscari, ‘La Malcontenta’. Continue to Venice.
- Day 5Palladio in Venice: San Giorgio Maggiore and Il Redentore. Farewell dinner in a private palazzo.
- Day 6Depart Venice.
Itinerary illustrative; special visits subject to availability.
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7 days · France
Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur
Europe’s greatest concentration of modern art, seen in the Mediterranean landscape where it was made. Based in Nice; ideal for modern art museums and gallery patrons.
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- Day 1Arrive Nice. Afternoon at the Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret.
- Day 2Nice: the Musée Matisse, and Chagall’s Biblical Message at the Musée Marc Chagall.
- Day 3Picasso at the Château Grimaldi, Antibes; his War and Peace at Vallauris; Renoir’s house at Cagnes-sur-Mer.
- Day 4Saint-Tropez and the Musée de l’Annonciade; the Musée Bonnard at Le Cannet.
- Day 5Cocteau’s chapel at Villefranche-sur-Mer; the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Afternoon free in Nice.
- Day 6The Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, and Matisse’s Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence.
- Day 7The Musée National Fernand Léger, Biot. Depart Nice.
Itinerary illustrative; special visits subject to availability.
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13 days · Uzbekistan
Samarkand and the Silk Road Cities
‘Few towns in the whole habitable world are so pleasant as Samarkand’, wrote Babur, Timur’s descendant and founder of the Mughal dynasty, who captured the city in 1500. Khiva remains perhaps the most intact historic town in the Islamic world. Ideal for patrons’ circles and Islamic art collections.
View day by dayHide day by day
- Day 1Fly to Tashkent.
- Days 2–3Tashkent: the Khast Imam complex, the tiled metro stations, Chorsu Bazaar and the city’s museums.
- Day 4High-speed train to Samarkand. Shah-i-Zinda and Ulug Beg’s observatory.
- Day 5Over the Hisor Mountains to Shakhr-i-Sabz, Timur’s home town.
- Day 6Samarkand: the Registan, Timur’s mausoleum and the Bibi Khanum Mosque.
- Day 7Train to Bukhara. Magok-i-Attari and the Lyab-i-Hauz.
- Days 8–9Bukhara: the Kalyan Minaret and Mosque, the citadel and the Ismail Samani Mausoleum.
- Day 10Across the desert, past the Oxus, to Khiva.
- Days 11–12Khiva: the Friday Mosque, the Tash Hauli Palace, and the desert fortresses of Ayaz Kala.
- Day 13Fly to London.
Itinerary illustrative; special visits subject to availability.
Pricing and value
Transparently priced, built to your brief
Every programme is costed individually, with no hidden extras. We will show you the options so you can choose the right price for your members.
What shapes the price
- Group size
- Destination, season and length of stay
- Standard and style of hotels
- Flights or rail, where included
- Special access and the speakers involved
- The support you need from us, such as a tour manager
Typically included
- Accommodation and most meals, with wine
- All admissions and private visits
- Private coach travel and transfers
- An expert lecturer or your own host, and local guides where needed
- Taxes, gratuities and pre-tour information
What your institution gains
No cost to explore
There is no charge for ideas, proposals or costings, and no commitment until you are ready.
A fundraising opportunity
Many institutions build a charitable donation into the tour price, and we can help you do so.
Places for your hosts
Complimentary places for your curator or staff host, depending on group size.
No administrative burden
We manage bookings, payments, rooming lists and documentation.
We believe the difference between an adequate trip and an exceptional one lies in what travellers never see: the timing, the relationships, the contingency plans.
Frequently asked questions
We create cultural travel programmes on behalf of institutions: for patrons, members, friends, donors, trustees and alumni.
Every programme is built around your collection, your specialism and your audience. It might be a curator-led study of Palladio’s villas in the Veneto, a long weekend among the country-house collections of Norfolk, or a patrons’journey along the Silk Road.
Yes. Many institutions choose to send a curator, director or trustee with their group, and that person is often the heart of the experience. We build the programme around them and take every practical concern off their shoulders.
Where you would like us to provide the expertise, or to complement your curator, we draw on our own experts: the art and architectural historians, archaeologists, musicians and writers who lecture on Martin Randall Travel tours.
Among them are museum directors, professors and published authors, chosen as much for their gift for explaining a building or a painting in front of it as for their scholarship, and trained in how we lead tours.
We have designed travel programmes for cultural organisations in Britain, Canada and the United States, including English National Ballet, Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation, the Center for Palladian Studies in America, the Ashmolean Museum, The National Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.
Get in touch
We would love to discuss your ideas and requirements. Whether you have seen a Martin Randall Travel tour that you would like to operate on a closed basis, or if you wish to adapt one of our itineraries to suit your particular requirements, we will be delighted to assist.
Please contact us so we can guide you through the range of possibilities on offer with our extensive portfolio of tours, locations and themes.
You can fill in the form, or simply just call us on +44 1225 466620.
- All accommodation, transfers and logistics managed by our team
- Access to our full itinerary catalogue across 50 countries
- The option to design something bespoke
- The same standard of curation and care as our small groups programme
Reviews
Wylye Valley
Wylye Valley
Art Treasures of Northern Italy
Dresden – Jewel of Saxony
Caves to Castles – a Journey along the Loire
Caves to Castles – a Journey along the Loire
Madrid & Toledo
Madrid & Toledo
Art and Architecture of Glasgow
The Moorish Heritage of Andalucía
Vienna
A Visit to Devon
A Visit to Liverpool
A Visit to Liverpool
The Golden Age of Dutch Art
Norfolk Explorer
Hill Towns of Umbria
Hill Towns of Umbria
Art Treasures of Northern Italy
Northumberland
Northumberland
Sicily: Cultural Crossroad of the Mediterranean
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