If beautiful gardens & spectacular landscapes form part of your travel wish list criteria, experience the superb variety of foliage & flowers that Europe has to offer. For years go-today has customized garden-inspired itineraries in Europe for gardening clubs, botany & horticulture students and family & friend groups interested in cultivating their green thumbs abroad.
Gardening Group Trips and Tours
Europe has an abundance of beautiful gardens complete with Victorian glasshouses, superb landscaping and in many cases - hundreds of years of history. Consider touring Kew Gardens, the Royal Botanic Gardens in London, which comprise some 300 acres. Elsewhere in England your group may choose to visit Sissinghurst Castle's Gardens, the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden Wisely in Surrey or the Exbury Gardens, world-renowned for its Rothschild Collection of camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas and rare trees.
In Cornwall the lovely Trelissick Gardens host open-air theatre during the summer period. Touring the many manor houses and charming cottages in the Cotswolds, such as the Snowshill Manor & Garden, could prove to be another fabulous experience. If your group is considering visiting England in May, we can arrange entrance to the Chelsea Flower Show, the largest flower show in the world.
Go-today also works with private estates, national heritage associations and palaces throughout continental Europe and collaborates with local guides who share a passion for horticulture. Visit historic Keukenhof Park in Holland, famous for its tulips, hyacinths & daffodils. Tour the breathtaking gardens in Giverny, France, which inspire our groups as they did the Impressionist painter Claude Monet in the late 19th century.
Also on the outskirts of Paris your group can tour the park & rose garden of the medieval Chaalis Abbey, explore the renowned Désert de Retz or visit the spectacular Versailles Palace, on whose grounds Marie Antoinette herself dabbled in horticulture, redesigning the gardens of Petit Trianon to adopt a more English style.
If your group wants to explore the French Riviera, we can arrange for a tour of the majestic Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and its nine magnificent gardens. If Rome is on your itinerary, we can send your group to an UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Villa d'Este, for a guided tour of its Italian Renaissance garden. If a visit to The Alhambra in Andalusia, Spain is on your agenda, a visit to the Arabic-inspired gardens at the Generalife will awe your group.
Whether your group intends to dedicate the majority of its time to visiting exquisite gardens or it prefers to combine the visits with other activities such as afternoon teas, theatre performances, general sightseeing, market tours, cooking classes or wine tastings, with offices in both the United States and Europe, we have the resources, knowledge and expertise to design the perfect gardening tour to fit your group's needs, curriculum and interests.
We offer the following services to make your group's experiences abroad convenient, affordable, memorable - and green.
- Hotel Accommodation
- Airfare Ticketing
- Rail Ticketing
- Access to Europe's Most Beautiful Gardens
- Specialized Tour Escorts & Expert Local Guides
- Group Meals
- Fast-Track Sightseeing Entrances
- Theatre Tickets
- Cooking Classes & Demonstrations
- Gastronomic & Wine Tastings
- Travel Insurance
English Gardens - 11 Days
Enjoy nature's bounty as you visit castles, manor houses and stately halls graced with exquisite gardens, including rock, woodland and herb gardens. Marvel at the national bonsai collection at Malleny House. Visit the cottages where two beloved English writers, Beatrix Potter and Williams Wordsworth lived as well as a museum honoring the prolific Bronte sisters.
Highlights
- Explore the cottage of one of the most famous children's writers, Beatrix Potter
- Enjoy a leisurely cruise on Lake Windermere
- Investigate the works of the English Romantic poet, William Wordsmith at his namesake museum
- Visit Malleny House, home to the national Bonsai collection
- Visit film locations for the movie Jane Eyre
View the complete day to day English Gardens Itinerary.
Loire Valley and Paris Garden Tour - 10 Days
The chateaux of the rich, powerful and royal dot the land of the Loire Valley. From magnificent architecture, to beautiful gardens and stained glass windows, each chateau has something to charm and delight visitors. Learn about the inhabitants who once dwelled in these mini castles in a society bound by complicated social rules and manners. A short distance away the City of Lights awaits with its elegant boulevards and shops. Nearby is the ultimate castle, the Palace of Versailles from which the Sun Kings radiated power upon the nation and at Giverny, Monet soaked up an environment that inspired him to create one of the most famous works of art the world has ever seen.
Highlights
- Explore Chartres Cathedral famous for its medieval stained glass.
- View the unique Pagoda of Chanteloup, whimsy of a French Duke
- River cruise to view the Chateau Chenonceau
- Wine tasting at Domaine du Croc due Merle
- Visits to multiple chateaus and a two-night chateau stay
- Inhale the scents of over 400 types of roses at Les Jardins de Roquelin
- Visit to Monet's house at Giverny
- Half-day tour of Palace of Versailles
View the complete day to day Loire Valley and Paris Garden Tour.
Gardens of Japan - 9 Days
Gardeners, historians and architecture buffs will all enjoy this trip to Japan. The great gardens of Japan delight nature lovers with their tranquil atmosphere, fruit and maple trees, flowers and more. There are also parks and gardens on the grounds of several of the temples and shrines visited on this tour. Everyone will be fascinated learning about the lives of the mighty emperors and shoguns who ruled the country for centuries and the more sobering facts of Hiroshima.
Highlights
- Wander two of the three great gardens of Japan
- Visit Imperial palaces, Shinto shrines, and Buddhist temples
- Experience the Shinkansen bullet trains
- Admire Himeji and Nikko, UNESCO World Heritage Sites
- Contemplate the solemn Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
View the complete day to day Gardens of Japan Tour Itinerary.