Viking & middle ages tours

These tours suit everyone from the merely curious to scholars and academics, and everyone in between. All that's needed is an interest in the past. The specialists travelling with you build up a picture during the holiday, and their role is to really help you understand the story of the past. 

Archaeologists and medieval historians who work on these periods, and on some tours an author or specialist who has written on the subject. Standing on a battlefield with a medieval historian, or reading a mosaic with someone who can explain what the imagery was arguing, changes what you take away from it. 

Broadly the centuries between the end of Roman administration and the close of the Middle Ages, taking in the Norse world, Byzantium, the medieval kingdoms of Europe and the Islamic dynasties of North Africa. Some tours run further forward, since these cities rarely stopped at a convenient date.

Castles feature, particularly in Scotland, but so do abbeys, royal palaces, churches, mosaics, monasteries and whole medieval towns. The built record of these centuries is unusually varied, because so much of it was about staking a claim of one kind or another. 

Medieval sites tend to involve spiral stairs, cobbles and steep approaches, and many were deliberately built somewhere difficult to reach. Each itinerary carries an activity level of light, moderate or active so you know what to expect before you book. 

Very much so, and many guests travel solo. Shared interest naturally leads to easy conversation, and friendships formed on tour often outlast it.

Spring and autumn suit most itineraries, with comfortable walking conditions and quieter sites. Some tours travel deliberately out of season, when a city such as Istanbul is at its best without the summer crowds.