Barcelona, Provence and the Italian Riviera vacation

Planet

Carbon Reduction

As a travel company we are acutely aware of our environmental impact. All of our tours display a carbon footprint, and we strive to reduce our emissions by regularly reviewing our tours and embracing low-impact styles of travel such as trains, public buses or walking – which offer the added benefit of getting a closer connection with the destination and local community.
We have made this vacation easily accessible for rail travel to avoid the need to fly. There are plenty of rail options to get to the start town of Bordeaux and home from Toulouse, the last night stop of this journey. We use rail travel to get to Arcachon, St Emillion, Carcassonne, and Sarlat to keep the trip's carbon footprint as low as possible. Almost all the food on this trip is locally sourced and seasonal, which is the very essence of this food tour in southern France, the seasonal local produce is the highlight of this trip.

Environment

We strive to support nature and biodiversity through protection and regeneration projects, and for every customer that travels with us we make a donation to Rewilding Britain and Cool Earth.
We encourage customers to avoid single-use plastic on tour, and our leaders give advice on refill points each day. Where tap water isn't safe to drink we recommend Water-to-Go bottles, a filtration bottle allowing you to drink water from any source.
On this vacation we visit a truffle producer and learn firsthand about this fascinating process, including how the age-old techniques are being showcased to help keep tradition alive as well as preserve the forest environments essential to the truffle's growth.

People

Local Economy

Our leaders are the heart of tours. They bring passion and unrivalled knowledge of the destinations and communities that we visit. Their guidance ensures we observe the cultural norms in a destination, they act as a bridge between travelers and the local community and ensure that tourism is a positive experience for both host and guest. We believe in supporting local; staying in locally-run hotels, exploring markets, buying snacks from street vendors, and by doing this we add money to the local economy and enhance our connection with the local community.
The majority of the hotels used on this vacation are locally owned. The properties we stay in in Sarlat and Bordeaux have a wonderful family feel about them. We visit markets in Sarlat and Arcahon and sample local produce and eat lunch in the heart of the market. We visit Chateau Coutet wine estate and learn about the family history and ancient techniques used but also about the more modern side of the vineyard including the solar-powered robot. We tour the vast estate by Ebuggy and learn about the chemical-free process used and their efforts to maintain good levels of bio-diversity on the estate.

Employment, Inclusivity and Diversity

Our ground operations on this vacation are taken care of by one person, not a large company. Our ground agent contacts the hotels directly and all other services used on this trip to make sure as much money as possible goes back to the local economy. He lives in Toulouse where he works as a teacher with strong connections to the local community when not operating our vacations.

We believe that diversity is to be celebrated and as a Certified B Corp we're committed to championing equity and inclusion throughout our entire supply chain. We believe that an inclusive approach is essential, and that the best results occur when contributors have different opinions, experiences and backgrounds to bring to the table.