About Us

An Introduction to Artisan Travel

“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”

This oh-so apposite quotation is often attributed to John Lennon but probably dates back two decades earlier to American writer, journalist and cartoonist Allen Saunders in a 1957 edition of the Readers’ Digest. Regardless of its provenance, we believe that the quotation very succinctly sums up what Artisan Travel is all about.

Time is an increasingly precious commodity and as we get older it seems to pass all the quicker while, at the same time, the lists of must-do experiences and must-see places grows ever longer. Reconciling the passing of time with a burgeoning bucket list is a difficult process because the process of planning often consumes the actual doing and that is where we come in.

All of our itineraries have been painstakingly researched in order to save you all that valuable planning time.

All of our itineraries have been painstakingly researched in order to save you all that valuable planning time and allow you to get on with ticking off as many of those wish list items as possible in the limited time available.

The Artisan Difference

The thing we have noticed during our years in the travel industry is that our favourite moments often occur when we are with our local partners but not specifically looking at the tourism infrastructure. We always ask our suppliers to show us the main sites and attractions but also the places that they frequent in their daily lives. We also ask them what they would see and do if they were visitors in their own country because we want to experience their country beyond the manufactured veneer of its most visited tourism sites.

We sit down with our local suppliers and create itineraries that they, as locals, believe best reflect their country or region.

It is the local tourism suppliers, our partners, who know the destinations best and to think otherwise would be simply foolish. So, we sit down with our local suppliers and create itineraries that they, as locals, believe best reflect their country or region. 

That is what makes The Artisan Travel Company that little bit different. We rely on local knowledge to create holidays that allow you to really get beneath the skin of any given destination and see the very best of it in a given amount of time. 

Artisan Travel - Our Heritage

We have been providing holidays for over 15 years and throughout that time the word "experience" has been at the heart of everything we do.

We started with family activity holidays because we wanted to enjoy memorable times with our own kids rather than lie by a pool for two weeks roasting under a burning Mediterranean sun.

A while later, we ventured into Lapland creating winter activity and adventure holidays in a part of the world that was still largely overlooked by the travelling public. In 2011, we took these winter holidays to a whole new level by creating the UK's first ever company dedicated solely to Northern Lights holidays.

We have been providing holidays for over 15 years and throughout that time the word "experience" has been at the heart of everything we do.

All the while, we were meeting local tourism experts, learning about the destinations and creating ever more exciting and, to our great delight, award-winning itineraries.

It is these years of experience in the travel industry that led to us establishing Artisan Travel. Firstly it occurred to us that after all this time, we know our clients pretty well and have a very good idea of what it is that they want from a holiday. Secondly, we have developed an enviable network of local suppliers and tourism experts who know their own countries far, far better than we ever could.

Essentially, we have taken what we know about our clients' holiday wishes and, in close consultation with our local partners, we have handcrafted itineraries that we believe illustrate the very best of any particular destination.

Our simple formula helps our clients tick off those "bucket list" items time after time.

It's a pretty simple formula but it is one that we believe will help our clients tick off those "bucket list" items time after time.