Who we are
“For anyone interested in the world’s most important archaeological remains, from Easter Island to India, they don’t come much more knowledgeable than Andante. Founded by a young British archaeologist, Andante has escorted thousands of visitors on specialist tours to almost all the great evocative sites of the ancient world. Andante’s tours should perhaps be billed as “private access to the world’s top attractions”. Groups are led by archaeologists and historians, many of them international authorities who delight in bringing ancient civilizations to life with a mix of serious knowledge, amusing storytelling and an eye for human detail. A network of local contacts means that groups escape the crowds, visit off-limits or little-known excavations and get private access to many sites.” 
An unusual company
We are proud of the fact that ours is an unusual company, founded and run by archaeologists together with a fine team of linguists and travel professionals. For over 28 years, we have taken thousands and thousands of people all over the ancient world in the company of expert archaeologists, writers and historians. Our passion is to present the past to people at the highest level, in the simplest and most accessible way.
Our journeys are tailor-made and often unique. They frequently include special entrance to difficult-to-access sites. We plan our itineraries together with the specialists who lead them, not as a series of “site-seeing” visits, but as a narrative journey that unfolds further and further each day. Almost every aspect of our holidays is personally chosen by a member of Andante – chosen with over 28 years’ experience of what makes a fascinating, relaxing and memorable cultural holiday.
From Wessex to Western Australia
Andante Travels was founded 28 years ago in a back bedroom. From humble beginnings (our first ‘tour’ involved taking 12 German archaeologists round prehistoric Wessex in a minibus with a picnic basket!) Andante Travels has grown to become a, if not the, leading British specialist in Holidays in the Ancient World. These days, we run over 100 tours in 32 different countries including, for the first time in 2012, a 3-week tour to Australia, exploring the ancient but still very much living tradition of Aboriginal Rock art.
Archaeologists inside and out
As well as being led by expert guides, all our tours are conceived and planned by a team of archaeologists based here in the Salisbury office. Our Tour Programmes Department is led by Dr Denise Allen and Oliver Gilkes, archaeologists who between them have over 6 decades of experience ‘in the field’. Having a pair of tame archaeologists working in-house is a tremendous advantage to Andante. As well as their wealth of experience and knowledge, Oliver and Denise have extensive contacts within the wider archaeological community and are always on the look-out for new excavations, museum exhibitions and finds to include in upcoming tours.
