UnTours

05/31/2026

The most unique markets in Provence you’re going to want to bookmark 👇

🥕 L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue Market
Part food market, part treasure hunt. Famous for antiques, vintage finds, Provençal textiles, and a lively Sunday market that spills through canals, squares, and shaded streets.

🧄 Apt Market
One of Provence’s oldest and most authentic markets. Come for seasonal produce, cheeses, olives, spices, linens, pottery, and a strong local feel. If you want a classic Provençal market experience, this is it.

🍈 Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Market
Beautiful, bustling, and deeply Provençal. Think fragrant herbs, goat cheese, lavender, woven baskets, and café-lined streets. Popular for good reason, but still charming.

🫒 Uzès Market
Technically just outside Provence, but worth bending the rules for. Its Saturday market feels cinematic: truffles, olive oils, artisan foods, ceramics, and a gorgeous historic square.

🍓 Velleron Farmers’ Market
A hidden gem for food lovers. This late-afternoon market is dedicated almost entirely to local producers. Fewer tourist souvenirs, more exceptional fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and seasonal specialties.

Why do we love markets so much? Because they’re one of the easiest ways to connect with a place. They’re where daily life comes into view, where conversations happen over cheese tastings and tomatoes, and where you discover what a region actually tastes, smells, and feels like.

And that’s very much the UnTours way of traveling.

On an UnTour, you’re not rushing through Provence checking sights off a list. You’re staying longer, shopping local markets, gathering picnic supplies, chatting with vendors, and experiencing everyday life. ➡️ Browse UnTours in Provence:

Discover the scenery and light that inspired countless artists. The art of living is alive and well in this hotbed of food, wine, and natural beauty. Explore picturesque terracotta villages…

05/31/2026

What's something a local taught you on an UnTour - a skill, a saying, a way of doing something - that you still use?

05/29/2026

Why we love markets so much 💚 (Tell us in the comments if you do too!)

Markets tell you a lot about a place. What better introduction to daily life somewhere than starting where the locals argue over tomatoes and pick up fresh bread?

But a few rules before you go:
→ Arrive hungry.
→ Bring cash.
→ Bring a basket for your finds
→ Find out what locals are cooking at home.
→ If a vendor tells you to try something, always say yes.

Here is a round-up of some of our favorite markets (and there are so many more we may need a Part II!):

📍Budapest, Hungary
Shop for paprika, pickles, sausages, and pastries beneath the enormous neo-Gothic roof of Central Market Hall. Upstairs, grab a bowl of goulash and sit for a while.

📍Alsace, France
The Christmas markets in Strasbourg and Colmar feel straight out of a storybook, with mulled wine, gingerbread, handmade ornaments, and entire town squares glowing after dark.

📍London, England
Maltby Street Market can easily turn into a full afternoon if you let it. Come for the natural wine, stay because you accidentally ordered a second lunch.

📍Florence, Italy
The San Lorenzo Street and Sant’Ambrogio markets are packed with local specialities, but the real joy is weaving between food stalls with a warm schiacciata sandwich in hand.

Save this post for your next trip, and tell us: which market around the world completely won you over?

05/26/2026

Nobody warns you about the steps 😅

You arrive expecting the views, the limoncello, the cliffside villages glowing in afternoon light. What you don’t expect is finding yourself halfway up a narrow stone stairway, catching your breath, genuinely wondering who decided to build a whole civilisation like this. 😂

The answer, roughly: monks, pirates, and people with nowhere else to go.

These steps were how life moved long before the coastal road existed. Crates of lemons, nets heavy with anchovies, olive oil from terraced groves. Survival first. The views were just what you looked at while you caught your breath.

Richard Wagner heard music in Ravello’s gardens. Escher sketched its impossible geometry. Gore Vidal turned his villa into a salon. But the people who truly made this coast were the lemon farmers, the fishermen, the ceramic artists. The ones still here, still climbing these same steps every morning.

And that’s the Amalfi Coast you get to discover with UnTours. ☺️

If you’ve been to the Amalfi Coast, what’s the one thing you’d tell someone who’s never been?

05/24/2026

If you could relive one single afternoon from any of your UnTours, which would it be?

05/24/2026

Most visitors to Venice leave without ever finding the Brunetti trail 👇

It’s a walk through quiet canals and working neighborhoods that never see tour groups, inspired by Donna Leon’s mystery novels and known mainly to the people who live here. Denny, our Venice UnGuide, has been walking it for years.

He’ll also tell you: St. Mark’s Square at sunset, after the cruise crowds have gone, is an entirely different place. And that Gelateria Nico on the Zattere does a gianduiotto (a rich, hazelnut-chocolate northern Italian classic) that earns the detour.

This is what having a local changes. Not just what you see, but what you actually find.

Has a local ever shown you a side of a city you’d never have found on your own? 💬

05/22/2026

“It made me think of moving there.”

Honestly, what better words could we hope for an UnTourist to say?

Because that’s the heart of an UnTour. Not just visiting a place, but settling into it long enough to feel like you’re at home.

💚 You stay in a carefully selected local home in a real neighborhood, not a hotel district.
💚 You have an UnGuide who lives there and points you to the places you’d never find from a guide book.
💚 You stay long enough to recognize familiar faces, like the café owner who remembers your order or the neighbor who greets you each morning.

And because the logistics are already handled, you get the best part of independent travel without the stress of piecing everything together yourself. More freedom. More connection. More confidence.

If you’re ready for travel that feels personal, supported, and deeply local, explore our UnTours and find the one that fits you.

05/21/2026

For 25 years, Cathrin has been a thoughtful, steady presence at UnTours, shaping journeys, building relationships, and helping travelers feel at home in their destination long before they arrive. As a Program Director, she has spent decades connecting people and places with care, generosity, and heart.

When we asked her to name a favorite destination after all these years, her pick was Nafplio, Greece.

Greece’s first capital captures everything Cathrin loves about meaningful travel. A walkable old town by the sea, everyday life unfolding in sunlit squares, warm hospitality, unforgettable food, and a feeling that you truly belong. From winding alleyways with bougainvillea-draped buildings to church bells and sunset views from Palamidi Fortress, Nafplio invites you to slow down and stay awhile.

As UnTours celebrates 50 years, we are especially grateful for people like Cathrin who have shaped half that story, one conversation, one connection, and one unforgettable UnTour at a time. 💙

Curious why Nafplio holds her heart? Once you read her story at https://www.untours.com/blog/celebrating-cathrins-25-years-with-UnTours you may find yourself ready to start packing.

05/20/2026

There is a moment that happens to almost every UnTourist in Vienna.

You sit down. A Melange arrives on a tray, porcelain cup and glass of water just so. No one rushes you. No one expects anything of you. And suddenly, your shoulders drop.

Viennese coffeehouses are not a stop between sights. They are part of the city’s history and daily life. Places shaped by writers, thinkers, chess players, and regulars who have been coming for decades. Stay long enough, and you do not just visit a café. You find your café.

Our latest blog post dives into the story behind Vienna’s coffeehouse culture, shares a few cafés we love, and explains what to order once you sit down. Your UnGuide will always point you to their neighborhood favorite, but this is a beautiful place to begin.

05/18/2026

Your UnGuide opens doors you wouldn’t know to knock on.

Anne in Provence loves sharing the region’s wines and stories, many of which she learned from her work in the Côtes du Rhône wine world.

Hans-Lothar in the Rhine Valley brings the region’s layered history to life, sharing stories shaped by medieval castles and centuries of life along the river.

Urs in Switzerland will give you directions to Oeschinensee in Kandersteg, a crystal-clear alpine lake nestled among towering peaks that captures the essence of Switzerland’s natural splendor.

Pablo in Andalusia invites you into the kitchen, where classic regional recipes become a way to understand the landscape, the seasons, and the rhythms of daily life.

Birgit in Vienna helps you navigate the city with confidence, sharing the smartest ways to use public transport

That is what makes an UnGuide so valuable. They know their home in a way only a local can, and they share it generously, through personal recommendations, thoughtful tips, and support when you need it.

The rest is yours: the wandering, the exploring, and the small discoveries that make a place start to feel familiar.

You’ll travel independently, but never without insight.

Have you ever met one of our UnGuides? 💚