The Artisan Blog

Nothing beats an island holiday for your summertime getaway, but do you fancy trying something different this year? This summer, step beyond your much-loved European escapes for a new kind of island holiday in one of Portugal’s best-kept secrets; the magnificent Azores archipelago.

Malta’s little sister island may only be 9 miles wide and 4 miles long but with its varied landscape, rich history and rugged coastline, there are many experiences to be had in Gozo.

Rather than battle through the crowds during your summer holiday, why not choose a location away from the flocks of tourists without having to sacrifice on culture and interest?

Small-ship cruises are a brilliant way to reach destinations without the hassle of overland travel. You also get some incredible vantage points from out at sea, not to mention the marine life you could see along the way.

If reality television has taught me anything (and I do appreciate this may be something of a stretch) it is that life is all about the journey.

This is something that came back to me during my recent exploration of Croatia’s southern coast and islands. The Adriatic coastline presents travellers with a stunning array of jaw-dropping destinations all within a relatively short distance of one another. Yet the highlight of my trip was not to be found amongst them…

Christmas might be over and the days might be getting colder but don’t worry there is plenty to get excited for in 2019! In fact, if the colder days have got you dreaming of sunnier climbs then here at Artisan Travel, we have some good news as some of our favourite sunny escapes are just around the corner!

Now, although we love all of the destinations in our Mediterranean collection and we would highly recommend a trip to Croatia, Gozo or The Azores, there is one destination that we are especially excited about this year – Madeira! With its winding levadas, luscious green mountains, exceptional coastline and amazing marine life, there is plenty to love about this sub-tropical island. However, rather than giving you a big long list of reasons to start booking your flights we have decided to let the photos do the talking! After all, ‘a picture paints a thousand words’!

As a UK-based travel company, we know that Brexit is an issue of concern for all travellers.

That is why we have decided to answer some of the common questions to help explain what Brexit might mean for your travel plans after 29 March 2019 when Great Britain is set to leave the EU.

2019 is almost upon us and we think there’s no better way to help beat the post-Christmas blues than to start planning your next holiday abroad. You could even make a New Year’s resolution to start ticking off some travel experiences from your bucket list!

When people talk about Croatia it is highly likely that the next sentence is probably going to contain the word ‘Dubrovnik’. Now don’t get me wrong, that isn’t a bad thing. I love Dubrovnik, it is a simply stunning town and it is definitely somewhere that I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Croatia for the first time.

However, one place that doesn’t seem to get the same appreciation is Croatia’s second largest city – Split. Split might be the largest city in the region of Dalmatia but don’t think that it is anyway just an industrial-hub not worthy of your time in comparison to all the pretty little seaside towns and islands scattered along the Adriatic Coast.

If you are heading on holiday to Croatia this year the chances are that you have started to compile a list of places that you would love to visit once you are there. My guess would be that there are certain places that are bound to make the list. For example, you have probably included Dubrovnik, the Plitvice Lakes National Park and maybe even the Elaphiti Islands. However, there is one place that I would guess probably doesn’t feature on your list and that’s the Pelješac peninsula or more specifically the town of Ston.