Top Experiences to Check Off Your Travel Bucket List

Ardgowan Estate, Scotland
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They say it’s about the journey and not the destination. But we have to admit, the destination can be pretty great too, especially when there’s so much to experience once you get there. Instead of a hot list of cities – because let’s face it, they’re all spectacular – we highly recommend the following selection of must-do travel experiences.

1. EXPLORE A SCOTTISH CHATEAU…WITH THE LORD OF THE MANOR

A cordial invitation to Ardgowan Estate, the 800-year-old family manor of Ludovic Shaw Stewart, the 12th Baronet of Greenock and Blackhall, would make any British enthusiast’s must do travel list. But Insight Vacations guests are escorted around the house and grounds by Sir Ludo himself. The former Soethby’s art dealer has breathed new life into the elegant brick structure. Whose luscious gardens give forth onto the 10,000 acre property, and visitors emerge enraptured with this pristine slice of Scottish nobility.

Steep yourself in a piece of British history with Sir Ludo on Insight Vacations’ Best of Ireland and Scotland trip bookable through GrownUps Holidays. 

2. DINE ITALIAN STYLE…WITH ONE OF THE BEST CHEFS IN PUGLIA

Her name is Nonna Grazia, and her authentic Italian cooking will knock your socks off. One taste of Nonna’s gnocchi and the warm familial atmosphere of her family home in picturesque Alberobello, Italy. And you’ll never want to leave. As the food coma subsides, savour a regional delicacy of the non-edible sort. The trulli house, an Italian original whose circular structures are capped with conical rooves.

INSPIRED? Bring your appetite on Insight Vacations Grand Italy and Sicily trip trip bookable through GrownUps Holidays. 

3. STAY IN HIGH STYLE…IN AN IRISH CASTLE

The piece de resistance of the Red Carnation Hotels Collection, a glorious 13th century creation set on 350 gorgeous green acres in Cong. Restored to its historic glory but completely updated to keep guests in five-star comfort, this elegantly appointed castle is a vacation in itself, with falconry, golf, kayaking, and sitting in elegantly appointed rooms drinking tea and feeling like you’ve stepped back in time all feasible activities on a daily program.

INSPIRED? Go green the Irish way on Insight’s Irish Elegance trip trip bookable through GrownUps Holidays. 

4. SAVOUR HIGH TEA…WHILE GAZING UPON THE NILE

The toast of British society when they wintered in Egypt. Aswan’s distinctive Old Cataract Hotel has wooed everyone from tomb excavator Howard Carter to Winston Churchill to Agatha Christie,. Who used it as the setting for parts of her potboiler whodunit Death on the Nile. The hotel is no less distinctive and charming today, where Insight Vacations guests indulge in a splendid rooftop high tea, the better to watch the sky turn different colours over the Nile as the sun dips below the horizon.

INSPIRED? Walk like an Egyptian on Insight Vacations’ Splendours of Egypt trip trip bookable through GrownUps Holidays. 

5. VIEW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS….FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOTEL ROOM.

The beautiful glass ceilings of the Aurora Village Hotel high above the Arctic Circle in Ivalo, Finland, invite a very special kind of stargazing. Looking up and being marvelled is one of the main raisons d’etre on Insight’s brand new “Scandinavia and the Northern Lights” itinerary, which delves deep into the Arctic Circle. Nature and new friends of both the two- and four-legged variety await in Norway, where visits include a reindeer farm.

INSPIRED? Experience the splendour of the north on Insight Vacations’ Northern Lights of Scandinavia trip bookable through GrownUps Holidays.

Article in partnership with Insight Vacations. See the estate for yourself and find out more about its fascinating history and its rumoured ghost. Ludo didn’t want to spoil the surprise – on their Best of Ireland and Scotland trip. Contact GrownUps Holidays for more information.