From Faith- Based, Religious Heritage and Garden tours to History and Cultural, Culinary and Sports tours, all our itineraries are custom-made by our highly experienced team and we are always happy to research new ideas and themes.
We help you create unique and exciting travel experiences for your groups and focus on seeking out those enriching, life-enhancing travel moments that are more often found when connecting with local people in their own communities, or meeting those who are experts in their fields. For example, church leaders, musicians, craftsmen, gardeners, sports professionals, artists, politicians and historians.
We understand that you would like to give your groups a unique, once in a lifetime travel experience and help you achieve this.
Follow the history of non-conformism in England and Scotland and take in the particular sites that are dear and important to Baptists the world over. These include Bloomsbury Baptist Church in London, Regent’s Park College in Oxford, John Bunyan’s home in the English Midlands, as well as church, museum and the gaol site in Bedford where he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. Also included is a visit to Kettering to learn about William Carey, the founder of Baptist Missions. In Edinburgh, see the home of John Knox, his church, St. Giles, the market site of martyred saints and the Baptist church of the Haldane brothers. As well as these, you will see some of England and Scotland’s most beautiful and picturesque countryside and splendid villages and towns. Remember, as with all our itineraries, this will be custom-made to suit your group.
The gardens of England are unsurpassed for their beauty and variety and are a continual source of pleasure and surprise. We create thoroughly researched, lovingly put-together garden tours for groups which can include visits to private gardens off the beaten track, as well as key gardens such as Sissinghurst, Great Dixter, Buscot Park and Trebah Gardens. Your groups may choose to base their visit around key dates in the UK gardening calendar; RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May or RHS Hampton Court Flower Show in July of every year. As well as flower shows, tours can include workshops and talks by head gardeners and gardening experts, depending on the particular interests of the group.
Lasting for nearly six years and involving over sixty countries including Britain, USA, France and Germany, World War II was undoubtedly one of history’s most savage and devastating wars. From the Churchill Cabinet War Rooms in London to the D-Day beaches in Normandy, over the years we have developed and operated a large number of tours covering this period. All tours are custom-made and usually include Belgium, France and Britain. However, they can also include Germany or Poland, to give a broader, more detailed perspective of that period in history. As well as assigning Tour Managers and Guides with in-depth knowledge, we also organise talks and lectures for our groups to enhance their understanding of the topic.
Without a doubt, a very popular theme in recent years! This tour combines the dramatic landscape of Switzerland with the calm waters and beauty of the Italian Lake District (Lake Como or Lake Maggiore). As part of the trip, the group will enjoy one of the world’s greatest rail journeys on the Glacier Express as they make their way towards St. Moritz. Next up, a day trip on the Bernina Express to enjoy even more incredible scenery. Once on the shores of Lake Como or Lake Maggiore, time for leisurely cruises on the lake, stopping at magnificent towns and villages such as the gardened Isles of Bella and Madre (Lake Maggiore) and Bellagio, Varenna and Tremezzo (Lake Como), proving that the shorelines of the Italian Lakes are truly a joy to explore!
Business Development Manager
“We have a wide portfolio of special interest tours, but once in a while somebody surprises us with something unique!
We can put together a custom-made tour for any group, whether they are passionate about Shakespeare or Harry Potter, gardens or gastronomy, genealogy or the theatre!”
“Over the years that we have worked with Sovereign on our custom programs, we have been consistently impressed by the quality of collaboration, the attention to detail, both logistical and academic, and the collegiality of their staff. Furthermore, Sovereign program pricing has been highly competitive, and they have been very responsive and creative in finding affordable and high quality solutions to our needs. On site, Sovereign staff members have been fantastic; friendly, efficient, highly professional, and dedicated to the success of our programs. They are truly colleagues in our academic endeavor.” – Helena Kaufman, Director, Off-Campus Studies & Carleton Global Engagement Programs, Carleton College, USA.
At Sovereign Tourism, we facilitate international educational experiences that provide opportunities for international study and practical experiences in Europe.
Our passion is to work with programme planners and help them to meet their goals through intercultural learning and enriching experiences which foster critical thought, intellectual and social growth and knowledge.
We create these unique and outstanding experiences through workshops, lectures, presentations, behind-the-scenes tours, technical, business and cultural visits and voluntary work projects. These help students develop clarity about personal values, future goals and a better understanding and respect for views and perspectives held by others, while fostering cultural sensitivity.
Our focus is to build long-term relationships with universities and faculty, based on mutual trust & respect.
Our service-focused and experienced travel professionals understand the specific needs of student group travel. These include the importance of meeting and interacting with local people, safety, and of course the need to meet the educational expectations of the group’s educational establishment, parents and students.
We always go the extra mile and work with you to bring your programmes and goals to life. We view travel as the most inspirational classroom imaginable and together, we will build academically-enriched programmes for your students.
William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and J K Rowling – we have created tours based on all these literary figures and for theatre and drama groups, nowhere in Europe can quite beat the UK. Also, for any theatre buff, a visit to London’s theatres is a must! Over the years, we have developed a number of fantastic itineraries which include West End and fringe theatre as well as backstage tours and workshops. These workshops are run by actors and may be based on any play the group chooses. They can also explore acting techniques to do with character development, styles of acting, working with text, physical theatre and stage combat. We have also arranged access to rehearsals and script-reading sessions in the past.
This UK-based programme has a high educational content. With around one in five plant species estimated to be threatened with extinction worldwide, seed banks are an effective means of preserving the world’s plants for the future and this tour includes a visit to the world’s largest seed conservation project. It also includes the research laboratory and preservation area of one of London’s leading museums to see the specimens, including a giant squid! Visits to animal recovery and conservation projects dedicated to the protection, rescue and rehabilitation of injured, orphaned and distressed wildlife such as hedgehogs, foxes and birds are other highlights. Finally, just how do the thriving wetland centres around London survive so close to the city?!
This concept has been developed to cover the topical issue of refugees and immigration in European countries such as Germany, France and UK. The programme includes daily lectures and discussions to enhance the understanding of the topic for the students as well as guided tours of refugee areas and businesses in key cities conducted by refugees themselves. Also included are visits to a social service organisation in Berlin which focuses on job and educational training for immigrants and Q&A session and cooking workshops run by immigrants including food tasting. In London, volunteer activity at a centre for migrants and refugees is included. This is a broad topic with many possible variations.
Architecture across Europe is inspiring, daring, diverse, rich in history and tradition and also thought-provoking with great names within contemporary architects. We have operated numerous educational tours throughout Europe focusing on different eras of design; Barcelona offers amazing architecture, some of the best art galleries in the world and the works of world-renowned artists including Gaudí, Picasso and Dalí. Berlin shows how Bauhaus influenced the nature of design and architecture in the 20th century. As for Paris, it offers both the classical as well as outstanding works of French contemporary architects such as the Arab World Institute of Nouvel, the Library of France of Perrault or the Pompidou Center of Piano and Rogers, among many others. And, we haven’t even mentioned Rome, Florence, London, Madrid and Bilbao yet!
Director
“As well as fulfilling the academic expectations of educational establishments, students and parents, I believe that educational trips take learning to a higher level through understanding and respect of other traditions and cultures.
Experiencing the unfamiliar and gaining insight into other ways of life encourage real growth.”
We excel in providing successful, smoothly operated and exhilarating performing experiences for all ensembles, including choirs, orchestras, marching bands and dance groups.
Our expert team is aware of all the idiosyncrasies involved in handling performing groups and we understand the needs of singers and musicians and all the ingredients that go into making a successful and rewarding performing experience. We will do everything possible to make the trip planning as time efficient, simple and painless as we can for you!
We will consult with you to work out the right mix of venues for your group, ensuring that all technical, musical and budgetary requirements are taken into account.
Our range of contacts in the music industry enables us to organise workshops and joint performances with local bands and choirs.
We design and print flyers and posters and coordinate social and local media campaigns to ensure great coverage and a good audience for performances.
If necessary, we also arrange instrument hire through our extensive network of providers across Europe.
We have operated hundreds of Performing Tours across Europe over the past few decades. If you are considering working with us, let us know and we will be happy to provide some examples and references for you.
Senior Operations Executive
“I love music so it is always a joy to look after performing groups.
From orchestras to hand bells, chamber choirs to bagpipe bands, when you see the performance coming together and the performers and audience joined as one and lost in the music, it goes straight from my ears to my heart!”
“After more than 50 years of outstanding service to our partners, our approach is still fresh and original.
We want you to think of us as an extension of your own office and are truly grateful for the trust you place in us.
We never forget that you have a choice!”
Kourosh AbbassiDirector
Your dedicated operator will stay in regular contact with you and will always strive to make suggestions to enhance and improve the itinerary. This will be based on potential local events at the time of the group’s visit and their own knowledge of the area the group is travelling to.
In the few weeks before the arrival of the group, the rest of the services are booked, confirmed and prepared for inclusion on the Final Operating Itinerary.
Within the existing framework of our Operating Itinerary templates, we are flexible and happy to consider certain variations for our partners to make sure that like all our tours, our Operating Itineraries are also bespoke and meet your requirements.
Final Operating Itineraries are sent out a few weeks before the arrival of the group.
Just before each group arrives, we have a very effective and thorough system of reconfirming and checking all the included services to ensure accuracy. Our attention to detail is second to none!
While the group is on the road, we stay in regular contact with our Tour Managers and Guides (or the Group Leader in cases where no Tour Manager has been included) to ensure that everything is on track and the unique needs of your group are fulfilled.
24/7 on call support is also provided once your group is on the road.
We are here in Europe and you can rest assured that your groups will be well looked after in case of any emergencies, no matter what time it is where you are! Calls are not sent to a call centre; they are routed directly to one of our team.
Once the group is back home, we always value and appreciate any feedback on all the services we provided. This feedback is very useful generally and especially if the group travel with us again.