Garden Travel: Past Trips & Tours - 20222022 Trips & Tours"Spring Fever: Floriade & Beyond" (Netherlands, Belgium & France) Join HPSO for the best that Spring has to offer in the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France. We have lined up our tour dates to feature an array of festivals, celebrations, annual events, and the once a decade opportunity to visit the Netherlands' world famous Floriade exposition.This 9-night tour will also include visits to the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken and the Floralia in Brussels, the Floraliën festival in Ghent, the semi-annual Garden Days at Park van Beervelde and the world famous Keukenhof in Lisse. We'll wrap up our adventure with a selection of remarkable gardens across Flanders and Picardy before ending our journey in Paris. Spring fever will be all around.
In the Heart of Tuscany: A Garden & Gastronomic Holiday Our HPSO tour commences in Florence or “Firenze” and concludes in Lucca. En route we’ll travel through the Chiante region, the Val d’Orcia with its fortified hilltop towns, to Sienna, and we’ll include a side trip to Assisi and Deruta (in Umbria). We’ll visit some of the best Italian villas and gardens, museums, wineries, and enjoy a cooking demonstration as well as a tour of a local chocolate factory!
A Tale of Two Cities: Gardens of Paris & London Beginning in Paris, this 12-night tour highlights two great gardening cities with centuries of horticultural traditions and some very creative approaches to "greening" their 21st century urban landscapes. We will split our time equally between Paris and London taking time in each city to explore from the rooftops to the underground, from large formal gardens to tiny private lots, from community gardens to historic palaces. Connecting our 6-night stay in each city will be a journey on the Eurostar train whisking us through the Chunnel. There is an optional post-tour, 2-night extension to stay on in London for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (May 23-25)
A Garden Sojourn Across Northern Italy: From Liguria to Veneto Join the fun on this 11-day (10-night) sojourn across northern Italy. We begin our tour in Liguria, the Italian Riviera, on the Mediterranean coast. Next, we travel into Piedmont, known for its incredible wine, food, and the home for Italy’s finest chocolatiers - no doubt influenced, in part, from past French dominance. We then cross over into Lombardy, now sensing a melding of some Austrian-Germanic influences which get even stronger as we venture north into Trentino. We end up in Venice with its own unique twist on everything Italian.
Magical Slovenia & Croatia: Alps, Archeology, Architecture, & Adventure The area surrounding the northern Adriatic Sea is one of the most diverse regions in the Mediterranean - from coastal marshes and plains near Venice to the Julian Alps in Slovenia to the myriad of islands and fjord-like coast of Croatia. This is a land of contrasts. But, the diversity doesn’t end with geology. This region has had centuries of different cultures, religions, and civilizations converging, sometimes merging to create something new while other times ending in brutal conflict. It is a beautiful area, too - often referred to as the eastern riviera!
"A Nordic Adventure: Gardens & Castles of Denmark and southern Sweden" Embark with HPSO on a new adventure to two nations often cited as the happiest in the world. Our tour begins in Copenhagen and ends in Stockholm. We explore gardens and sites of interest on two of Denmark’s main islands, Zealand and Funen, before we cross the Øresund straight into Skåne, a former part of Denmark that became Sweden’s most southern province by the treaty of Roskilde in 1658. After we enjoy Skåne, we travel along the west coast of Sweden, including the cities of Helsingborg and Gothenburg, before we take a scenic train journey across the country to Stockholm, the capital city. The Atlantic Gulf Stream provides northern Denmark and southwestern Sweden with a fairly mild climate, allowing beautiful gardens to thrive. Included on our tour are visits to the best private and public gardens in this region plus Tivoli Gardens and the Malmo Flower Festival which is held just every two years. Also included are visits to palaces, castles, historical sites, and various museums such as the Vasa Museum, the Viking Ship Museum, Hans Christian Andersen Museum, and the ABBA Museum. We might even see the changing of the guard at The Royal Palace in Stockholm and see other festivities on Sweden’s National Day, June 6th! Join the fun on this comprehensive and fabulous tour as we follow in the footsteps of Nordic royalty.
Southern France: "The Mystical Land of the Dordogne, of Carcassonne, & Picture-book Provence" Join HPSO on a new adventure to some of southern France’s most extraordinary regions. In the Dordogne river valley, in Languedoc- Roussillon, and in Provence, humans have left their mark over the ages — from cave paintings in the Paleolithic age — to aqueducts and amphitheaters in the Roman period — to castles and fortified towns in the Hundred Years War — and now to beautiful gardens created in our modern era! This special part of France has all of these things plus a countryside full of world-class vineyards, picturesque villages and chateaux, and a stunning coastline. Our two-week tour begins in the heart of Aquitane in the vibrant city of Bordeaux (one night) and ends near Marseille in Aix-en-provence (two nights). Along the way, we’ll stay four nights in the heart of Dordogne (in Sarlat), then two nights each in Toulouse, Montpellier and Fontvieille. Our tour includes visits to private and public gardens, the Lascaux caves, troglodyte cliff-dwellings, chateaux, medieval towns (including Carcassonne), wineries, and afternoon cruises on the Dordogne river and the Mediterranean’s La Calanques on the southern coast! Join us on this fabulous adventure of this mystical and picture-book area of France.
Ireland: "Gardens of the Emerald Isle" This 11-day / 10-night tour visits exceptional gardens in green and mystical Ireland. Starting in Ennis in the west and continuing through eight counties on our way to Dublin, we meet accomplished Irish gardeners on their home ground, tour sights of historical and cultural significance, stop in quaint seaside towns, and enjoy the company of other gardeners during this exciting adventure in the Emerald Isle. All hotel accommodations are rated four stars. "Springtime in New Zealand: A Grand Adventure to the Gardens & Natural Wonders of the Shaky Isles" We explore the gardens and natural wonders of these two main islands of New Zealand - the North Island and the South Island. We will visit the very best private and public gardens. We’ll enjoy fabulous sights, geologic wonders, country towns, a Maori cultural performance, wine tours and tasting, and cruises on the Milford Sound, the Bay of Islands, and across the Cook Strait. We’ll do some shopping, see unfamiliar plants, make some new friends, enjoy the camaraderie of other gardeners, and meet the wonderful and friendly people of New Zealand. In short, we’ll experience the very best that New Zealand has to offer! This will be HPSO's third complete adventure to New Zealand - one of our most popular tours.    
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