Reserve a week in one of thirteen countries, and see why there are only thirteen

Every country this office can actually stand behind, with how many weeks sit in each. Reserve a week in one of thirteen countries and you are choosing from a map that stops at thirteen on purpose, because the office would rather cover a little ground properly than a lot of it from a search engine.

Italy

7 weeks, from $2,040 per person

Two towns on the Apulian heel 8 nights, from $2,190 per person you could arrange all of this yourself
One Umbrian town, ten nights 10 nights, from $2,280 per person you could arrange all of this yourself
A stone hut in the high Apennines 7 nights, from $2,180 per person it does not exist without an introduction
The week of a Tuscan horse race 7 nights, from $3,480 per person it does not exist without an introduction
Lent in the Umbrian hills 9 nights, from $2,040 per person you could arrange all of this yourself
Pass to pass in the Dolomites 10 nights, from $3,140 per person the hard half needs a telephone call
The Po plain at walking pace 9 nights, from $2,200 per person you could arrange most of it yourself

France

4 weeks, from $2,120 per person

Across the Pyrenees, hut to hut 9 nights, from $3,320 per person it does not exist without an introduction
A market town in lower Normandy 10 nights, from $2,320 per person you could arrange most of it yourself
Candlemas in inland Provence 8 nights, from $2,120 per person you could arrange most of it yourself
Flat ground along the middle Loire 9 nights, from $2,260 per person you could arrange all of this yourself

Germany

4 weeks, from $1,890 per person

The Moselle bend, three beds 9 nights, from $2,450 per person you could arrange most of it yourself
A festival week in upper Franconia 8 nights, from $3,760 per person it does not exist without an introduction
The week after a Rhineland carnival 7 nights, from $1,890 per person you could arrange all of this yourself
Boat and bench in the Mecklenburg lakes 10 nights, from $2,480 per person you could arrange most of it yourself

Spain

4 weeks, from $2,140 per person

The Cantabrian coast in three stops 10 nights, from $2,640 per person you could arrange most of it yourself
A working port in Galicia 9 nights, from $2,140 per person you could arrange most of it yourself
A farm on the Aragon steppe 10 nights, from $2,260 per person the hard half needs a telephone call
Three days across the Picos 9 nights, from $2,880 per person the hard half needs a telephone call

Portugal

3 weeks, from $1,980 per person

Down the Douro by slow train 9 nights, from $2,380 per person you could arrange all of this yourself
Harvest weeks above the Douro 9 nights, from $2,980 per person the hard half needs a telephone call
Twelfth night on the Alentejo plain 8 nights, from $1,980 per person you could arrange most of it yourself

Austria

2 weeks, from $2,410 per person

A lake town in Carinthia 9 nights, from $2,410 per person you could arrange all of this yourself
The Alps in the fortnight everybody goes 10 nights, from $3,220 per person the hard half needs a telephone call

Ireland

2 weeks, from $2,540 per person

A cottage above the Burren 9 nights, from $2,540 per person you could arrange most of it yourself
Long days on the Kerry ridges 9 nights, from $2,720 per person you could arrange most of it yourself

Estonia

1 week, from $2,560 per person

A string of Baltic towns 10 nights, from $2,560 per person you could arrange most of it yourself

Finland

1 week, from $3,040 per person

A cabin north of the line 8 nights, from $3,040 per person the hard half needs a telephone call

Netherlands

1 week, from $2,080 per person

Level tracks on the Veluwe 8 nights, from $2,080 per person you could arrange all of this yourself

North Macedonia

1 week, from $2,870 per person

Six stations across the Balkans 12 nights, from $2,870 per person the hard half needs a telephone call

Norway

1 week, from $3,560 per person

A week of long days in Jotunheimen 8 nights, from $3,560 per person it does not exist without an introduction

Scotland

1 week, from $3,180 per person

Island to island in the Hebrides 11 nights, from $3,180 per person the hard half needs a telephone call

Why the map stops where it stops

Thirteen countries, thirty-two weeks. That is the whole of it, and it is a small map by the standards of anything else you will open today.

A country goes on this list when somebody here can put a name to the person who answers at the far end, and can ring that person in a month when they are likely to pick up. That is slow to arrange and slower to keep, and it is the reason the list is short rather than a matter of taste.

Seven of the thirty-two weeks are in Italy and one is in North Macedonia, which tells you something honest about where this office has done most of its work. It is not a ranking. It means the Italian end of the map has been walked more often, and the Macedonian end rests on one arrangement with one household.

What is not on the map, and will not be

There is nothing outside Europe. There is nothing that needs a flight this office cannot arrange, which is all of them, since the office arranges none. And there is nothing in the countries where somebody would have to be found from scratch, because a week put together out of the same public pages you can read yourself is not worth a commission to anybody.

Ask about a country that is not here and you will get a short answer saying so, usually the same working day. That is a cheaper outcome for you than a slow one.

How to read the list below

Each country carries the number of weeks in it and the lowest starting figure among them, per person. The order is by how many weeks sit in each, and then alphabetical: it is not a recommendation and nothing is promoted.

One country with one week is not a lesser country. It is a country where this office has one arrangement it trusts, and it says so rather than padding the row.

Questions that come back every week

Do you plan to add more countries?

Only when an arrangement is real. A country appears on this list after somebody here has slept in the beds and can ring the people who keep them, not when a supplier sends an email offering rates. That happens once or twice a year, and it is why the map moves slowly.

Italy has seven weeks and Norway has one. Does that mean Norway is worse?

No. It means Italy is where most of the work has been done. The single Norwegian week sits on the last step of the honest number, which is to say it does not exist without an introduction, and that is a different kind of value from having seven of something.

Can I combine two countries in one trip?

Sometimes, and it is worth asking in the free text box rather than assuming. Two neighbouring weeks with a train between them is ordinary work. Two weeks at opposite ends of the map usually means two arrivals and two departures you have to arrange yourself, and the arithmetic rarely repays it.

Six fields, and the first one is a blank box because you know what you want better than a dropdown does. Three sentences of plain description are enough to get a real answer back.

Say it in your own words Who is going, roughly when, and anything that is not up for discussion.

Which week or shortlist is this about

Roughly when

What to call you

Where to write back

Sending this holds nothing and commits you to nothing. No card is asked for here and none is stored anywhere on this site. An answer comes in writing within one working day.