Back

View all destinations
  • Africa

  • Asia

  • Caribbean

  • Central America

  • Europe

  • Middle East

  • North America

  • Oceania

  • South America

Africa

Through its extraordinary wildlife safaris, environmental majesty and ancient traditions, Africa is an epic storybook adventure. Experience unparalleled luxury via rainforest, coastline, dessert and mountain.

Asia

Intoxicatingly beautiful and rooted in custom, Asia reveals a heightened mysticism and generosity of spirit throughout each celebrated region. Discover centuries of culture and engaging hospitality with every step.

Caribbean

Choose from an ever-increasing portfolio of luxury resorts and private islands along the azure waters of the Caribbean. Marine adventure, culinary perfection and complete seclusion all have a spot on the day’s agenda.

Central America

Soothing vistas and diverse eco-adventure await in Central America. See the sun rise over the rim of a volcano, roam the ruins of the Mayans, ride through nature conservatories and paddle through jungle mangroves.

Europe

A multitude of environs– coast, country and city – make for a feast of diversity in Europe. The unique histories, gastronomic extravagance and cultural riches bring a deluxe profusion of Old World elegance.

Middle East

Ancient cultures and modern pleasures coalesce in the fascinating nations of the eastern Mediterranean and those ringing the Persian Gulf. Encounter pockets of immense historical significance, refined opulence and breathtaking beauty.

North America

For enjoying a stateside sojourn, drinking in Canada’s natural wonders or exploring the magnitude of Mexico, this continent offers spectacular diversion. Find flavours to arouse every taste bud and an array of cultures to match.

Oceania

A world of exotic wonder awaits in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific islands. Drift through romantic nights and endless days of natural splendour, aquatic adventure, decadent resorts and epicurean delights.

South America

From the beaches of northern Brazil to the southern tracts of Patagonia, this continent is the sum of a thousand parts. Experience ancient cities and heritage haciendas, volcanic hot springs and vibrant café cultures.

Explore a world of luxury

View all destinations

Cruise Destinations

Whether you dream of island-hopping your way down Caribbean island chains, connecting the ocean waters with a Panama Canal cruise, or sailing into an exotic Mediterranean port at cocktail hour, our expert Travel Designers can curate the luxury cruise vacation of a lifetime.

Explore a world of luxury cruising

Search all cruise types

Safari Destinations

What can you expect from a Tully Luxury Travel safari? In a word: magic. You will witness extraordinary wildlife amid untamed beauty and unparalleled luxury. You will take a thousand pictures – and make a thousand more memories.

Podcasts

Luxury travel’s most inspiring stories told by its most celebrated icons. From wildlife experts, fashion designers and artists, to historians, chefs and more, this inspiring podcast series is designed to show you the world’s most exclusive travel experiences through the eyes of the people that know them best.

See all Podcasts

Explore our media

View all media

Our Partners

What is the Tully Difference? The most satisfying travel experiences are the ones that captivate and transform you as a person and that deepen your connection to the world around you. It is that belief that fuels our desire to create rewarding travel experiences for people who are passionate about discovering the essence and heart of a destination.

View all Travel Partners

The Tully Difference

Learn more

[{"term_id":578,"name":"Barcelona","slug":"barcelona","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":578,"taxonomy":"countries","description":"","parent":0,"count":9,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":954,"name":"Europe","slug":"europe","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":954,"taxonomy":"countries","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":932,"name":"Lisbon","slug":"lisbon","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":932,"taxonomy":"countries","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":404,"name":"Portugal","slug":"portugal","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":404,"taxonomy":"countries","description":"","parent":0,"count":13,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":956,"name":"Seville","slug":"seville","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":956,"taxonomy":"countries","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":374,"name":"Spain","slug":"spain","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":374,"taxonomy":"countries","description":"","parent":0,"count":25,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"}]

Expedition Cruising Offers Inside Access to Europe

By Tully Luxury Travel | 01-17-2020 |

Cruise Expedition Barcelona Europe Lisbon Portugal Seville Spain

When you hear the phrase “National Geographic Expedition”, you don’t think of a luxury cruise, especially one from Barcelona to Lisbon.

But that’s what I just returned from, via the seagoing expedition line,  Lindblad National Geographic.

Lindblad pioneered the whole idea of expedition seagoing travel “to the wild places”. Indeed, this summer they celebrated the 50th anniversary of founder Lars-Eric Lindblad taking the first visitors ever to Antarctica. Since then the company, now headed by his son, Sven, has become a world leader in sustainable tourism, pioneering cruising to  the Galápagos and the Seychelles and growing to be a US$200 million a year operation.

A Subtle Distinction

So what is Lindblad doing in the Mediterranean, plying a sea lane that’s been carved out over thousands of years and that serves literally millions of visitors via dozens of cruise lines?

As Sven Lindblad has often said: “The world’s been pretty much mapped out. But there are lots of opportunities for nuances.”

And what better way to share those nuances than by exploring ancient ports of call and heading inland for more.

In fact, Lindblad this summer is offering 15 new expeditions, all anchored in Europe and all on their National Geographic Orion. They range in duration from 8 to 15 days, from Sardinia to High Arctic Svalbard and circumnavigating Ireland and even Iceland.

My trip, “Portugal and Spain: From the Algarve to Catalonia”, was an 8-day journey that had us eager to repeat the Lindblad difference next summer.

The first difference is the ship. As Sven Lindblad told the New York Times: “Cruise ships focus inward. It’s the ships and amenities on board, the entertainment that is largely self-produced. What’s happening outside is much less relevant. In expedition cruising, it’s the reverse. It’s focused on what’s out there, and the ship is a means to get there.”

While the National Geographic Orion isn’t a luxury ship, we found it very very comfortable, and the meals, curated by renowned Australian chef Serge Dansereau of Sydney’s famous Bathers’ Pavilion, were fabulous.

Other differences

* Cruise lines have expert speakers. Lindblad has experts so far out there that you gasp at the brilliance of their selection. Instead of a paella chef doing a demonstration onboard (which you could get onshore in Valencia), Lindblad invited Caleb Harper, a National Geographic Explorer and food systems expert to talk about the future of how food is grown. Why? Because the greenhouses north of Grenada in Spain are so vast they can be seen from space.

Their on-board cultural specialist, Miguel Angel Rodriguez Arias, not only spoke about the Muslim and Christian invasions of Spain, but the accidental dropping of a US nuclear bomb into the Mediterranean (at the very point we were passing) near Palomares in 1966.

* Cruise lines offer photo instruction. Lindblad offers National Geographic photographers, like Kike Calvo who lavish you with attention no matter how basic your skills.

* We even had an ethnomusicologist, Jacob Edgar who not only unveiled a world of Spanish music for us every night, but in our land-tours during the day, he would bring his Castillan ukulele and play for us as we walked through the streets of Valencia, Malaga and Cadiz.

And what were those land-tours like? As good if not better than the top land-based operators could offer. To visit the Alhambra in Granada and the Picasso Museum in Malaga with a private guide is one thing: to tour them with Lindblad guides is quite another. They were all articulate, funny, engaged and passionate about their subjects. The result? They made you feel like an insider to some of the most extravagant history and architecture anywhere.

And what better way to learn about Flamenco than a private performance at the Museo del Baile Flamenco in Seville?

By the time we disembarked in Lisbon, we felt we’d not just cruised the coast of Spain and Portugal, but truly explored it.

Lindblad’s promise was delivered.

– The Tully Team

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Inspiring travel ideas and advice from our travel designers delivered straight to your inbox.

Submit

Subscribe to our Newsletter

And gain access to travel promotions exclusive to Tully Luxury Travel through our vast network of some of the largest service providers in the travel industry.

We hope to show you the Tully difference on your next journey.

Tully Luxury Travel | Newsletter Subscription

  • Send

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

false