The Best Holidays for Special Interests
Not everyone travels for the same reasons. Some are drawn to the quiet beauty of a garden in bloom. Others feel most alive with a camera in hand, chasing the perfect light. Some follow the sound of music, the scent of wine, or the thrill of a new trail.
At Riviera, we've met thousands of travellers over the decades - and if there's one thing we've learned, it's that there's no one-size-fits-all, 'perfect' holiday. The best holidays reflect who you are. That's why we've curated a collection of holidays that appeal to lots of different interests. Not to sell you something but to offer you ways to keep exploring the things you love - in places that might surprise you.
Holidays for wine lovers
Some things never get old. Good wine in good company is one of them.
Many of our holidays visit some of the world's most celebrated wine regions - from the sun-drenched Douro Valley to the rolling hills of La Rioja. As such, it's only right that we enjoy a visit to local vineyards as we explore.
Picture this: you're sitting under a vine-draped pergola in the heart of Burgundy. The sun is warm, the breeze carries the scent of lavender, and in your hand is a glass of Pinot Noir so smooth it could charm a Parisian waiter. Across the table, someone you met just yesterday is telling you about their favourite holiday destinations. You clink glasses. Santé.
These experiences are more than just an excuse to try the local varietals - they're about connecting. With the land, the winemakers - some of whom have been honing their craft for generations - and with fellow travellers who understand a good bottle is best shared.
Holidays for budding photographers
The Douro is a magnificent river, from the impressive delights of Porto through to the narrow gorges upstream where cruise ships carefully weave their way between the imposing vineyards.
The world is a big, beautiful place - and we offer holidays to some of the most breathtaking corners of it.
Whether it's the vast, cinematic landscapes of New Zealand, the ancient wonders of Indochina or the intricate artwork lining the walls of a centuries-old cathedral, many of our holidays are ideal for those with a passion for photography, helping you see more — and see differently.
You could be a guest with a new camera and a bit of hesitation, or a photo enthusiast; our top picks for photography will have you reaching for your film at every opportunity.
These journeys aren't just about technique, though there's plenty of time to hone that, too. They're about noticing the details, chasing the light, and finding beauty in places you've never been before. We can almost guarantee you'll leave with a gallery of images you can't wait to share.
View our favourite holidays for photographers
I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone wanting to explore Vietnam and Cambodia...Having reviewed the photos (note for photographers - there are photo ops at every turn in these fascinating countries!), it is amazing that we covered so many sights in such a short time and yet nothing felt rushed.
Holidays for music lovers
When travelling, music becomes more than entertainment - it's a window into a country's soul.
Telling tales of joy and struggle, celebration and resistance, music captures a moment in time, reflects the rhythm of daily life and the quiet echoes of the past. If you listen carefully, music can help you understand a place in a way words alone never could.
Many of our holidays explore destinations where music and culture are inseparable. In New Orleans, Jazz is more than just a genre, it's a legacy born from African, Caribbean and European influences. It spills out from every street corner and bar. In Vienna, the elegance of Strauss's waltzes still lingers in the air, a reminder of the city's imperial past and its enduring love affair with classical music. And in Seville, flamenco is more than a performance — it's a deeply expressive art form rooted in centuries of Andalusian, Moorish and Romani tradition.
More than musical styles, they're intrinsic to the culture, and their influence has travelled far beyond their origins, shaping global music and inspiring generations.
Whether you're tapping your foot in a jazz club, swaying to a waltz in a Viennese ballroom, or watching a flamenco dancer's heels strike the floor in perfect rhythm, you're experiencing a story that belongs to a place and the people who lived it.
This holiday was everything we expected and more. I thoroughly recommend this tour for music lovers. So many iconic places to visit, it is hard to say which one was the highlight of the holiday.
Holidays for garden lovers
Gardens are beautiful spaces that reflect the people who created them. They're shaped by climate, culture and imagination.
In Seville, the water gardens of the Alcázar shimmer with Moorish influence. It's a place where fountains, tiled courtyards and citrus trees offer cool relief from the Andalusian sun. In Giverny, a walk through Monet's garden is like stepping into one of his paintings: a riot of colour, curved bridges, and water lilies that seem to float through time.
Each garden tells a story. In Japan, you’ll find quiet Zen spaces designed for contemplation, whereas Moroccan gardens blend fragrant herbs, colourful flowers in cobalt-blue pots - a feast for all the senses. And in every garden, native plants thrive in their own corner of the world, many of which you may never have seen before.
For many of our guests, these journeys are as much about inspiration as exploration. We’ve seen notebooks filled with plant names, whispered conversations about garden layouts, and ideas for how to bring a little piece of the Alhambra or Keukenhof back home.
Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or simply someone who finds joy in a well-placed bench under a flowering tree, these holidays offer a chance to see how different cultures shape their green spaces - and how those spaces, in turn, shape us.
Excellent, also Monet's Garden was so much better when we were there in person. I’ve seen lots of photos, but you can’t beat being there. We were there in September and it was still lovely - I imagine visiting in spring must be even more amazing.
Holidays for adventure
Adventure doesn't always mean white water river rafting on the Amazon River or climbing to the top of Mount Everest. Sometimes it's about saying yes to something new - a walk through the rainforest, a train ride through a mountain pass or a boat ride through mangroves - Something that makes your heart beat a little faster and your eyes open a little wider.
It might be riding up the slopes of Mount Etna, feeling an active volcano beneath your feet. Or sailing out to the Great Barrier Reef and seeing the kaleidoscope of colours hiding in an underwater world. Perhaps you'll cross parallel 80 on an expedition to the Arctic, or spot whales and bears from the deck of a ship as you cruise through Alaska’s Inside Passage.
For some, it’s the thrill of a safari in Africa, where every rustle in the grass could be something extraordinary. For others, it’s walking through the tropical forests of Costa Rica, where the air hums with life. It might be exploring the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu, island-hopping through the Galápagos, or spending a night under the stars in a Bedouin tent in Wadi Rum.
Our top picks for adventure blend light outdoor activity, cultural immersion, and comfortable accommodation, because you can still enjoy a hot shower after a day of exploring.
These are holidays that bring you closer to the powerful forces of nature
- and to the stories, people and places that make the world endlessly fascinating. They’re not about pushing limits. They’re about expanding horizons.
Not a holiday but an adventure. Costa Rica is my idea of what paradise would be. I saw some amazing sights, stayed in some wonderful hotels and had an amazing time. Alex, our Tour Manager, went above and beyond to make it a wonderful experience. We had a superb Costa Rican guide, Carlos.
Holidays for art lovers
Art is one of the most powerful expressions of culture, reflecting the values, beliefs and traditions of the people who create it. Standing before a great work of art, you glimpse the world through someone else's eyes, shaped by their time, place and perspective.
On our top picks for art lovers, you'll explore how culture and creativity intertwine - and how both evolve over time. You could find yourself wandering through the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where Renaissance masterpieces still inspire modern minds. Gaze up at the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, seeing the story of humanity's creation and early history through the eyes of Michelangelo. Or see Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in Milan - a painting so iconic, it’s easy to forget how radical it was in its day.
But art isn't confined to the gallery walls. You’ll find it in the prehistoric cave paintings of Chauvet, in the intricate mosaics of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. It's in the landscapes that stirred the imaginations of the greats. You could walk through Monet’s garden in Giverny, where water lilies still bloom beneath the same Japanese bridge. Follow in the footsteps of Van Gogh in Arles, where the light and colour of southern France shaped some of his most famous works.
These are journeys for those who believe that art is more than decoration - it’s dialogue. A way to understand the world, and perhaps even ourselves, a little better.
The Vatican rooms and Sistine Chapel were overpoweringly, ravishingly beautiful. Bought a print of Raphael's 'School of Athens' after seeing it. Now framed in my living room.
Holidays for nature lovers
Many of the world's most unforgettable travel destinations begin with a dramatic natural backdrop. Towering mountains, glass-like lakes, dense forests and remote islands are enticing reasons why we choose one destination over another. And they remind us just how extraordinary our planet really is.
Take the Italian Lakes, for example, they offer a perfect blend of natural beauty and cultural charm. Lake Como is framed by dramatic peaks and dotted with elegant villas, drawing to it the rich and famous. Nestled between the Alps and the Po Valley, Lake Garda is larger and livelier, with lemon groves, medieval castles and a Mediterranean feel. And Lake Maggiore, with its Borromean Islands, feels like a secret garden floating on water.
Then there are the Swiss Alps — vast, majestic, and best experienced by train. Travelling through them is like watching a living postcard unfold: snow-dusted peaks, alpine meadows, and villages that look like they've been lifted from a storybook. The journey is as much a part of the experience as the destination.
An Alaskan cruise takes you to the remote reaches of the wilderness — places you simply can't reach any other way. Along the way, you might spot whales breaching, bald eagles soaring, or even arctic foxes hunting on glaciers. The silence, the scale, the sheer wildness of it all — it’s unforgettable.
And then there’s New Zealand, where every turn reveals a new cinematic landscape. From fjords and volcanoes to glowworm caves and rolling green hills, it’s a country that feels like it was designed to be explored.
But nature is not just scenery - it's about wildlife, seeing animals in their natural habitat, exploring, not exploiting the natural world. The national parks of South Africa are legendary for a reason. They’re one of the few places on Earth where you can see the Big Five — elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos, and buffalo — in their natural habitat. But beyond the big names, there’s a whole world of wildlife to discover, from giraffes and zebras to colourful birds and elusive cheetahs.
And then there’s the Galápagos Islands — a living laboratory of evolution. These volcanic islands are home to species found nowhere else on Earth: giant tortoises, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, and the finches that helped Darwin shape his theory of natural selection. The landscapes are just as striking, from lava fields to pristine beaches and cactus-studded highlands.
These journeys are a chance to reconnect with the world around us, to witness its beauty up close, and to return home with a renewed sense of wonder.
There were lots of exciting surprises that really added to our experience in India. Ranthambore was amazing - we were lucky enough to see a tigress with her cubs and lots of other birds and animals in the wild.
Holidays for architecture lovers
If you want to understand the people, culture and ideas of your favourite destinations, look up at the beautiful buildings that surround you. See the world through the lens of design, function and imagination.
Every arch, dome and column tells a story - be that of empires and revolutions, spiritual beliefs or artistic movements, of everyday life and extraordinary dreams.
In Europe, Rome's Colosseum stands as a symbol of ambition and public spectacle - walk the ancient corridors and you can almost hear the echoes of the crowds roar. Whilst high on a hill overlooking the city, the Acropolis is a reminder of the religious, political, and cultural activities of Ancient Greece and the white columns of the Parthenon have inspired architecture. Venice is a work of art with palazzos, canals and stone bridges that speak of a maritime republic that once ruled the waves. And in Split, Croatia, Diocletian’s Palace is more than a Roman ruin — it’s the beating heart of the city, still alive with cafés, shops and homes. Here, history isn’t preserved behind glass — it’s part of daily life.
Travelling further afield, to Sydney to see the masterpiece of Danish architect Jørn Utzon: the Sydney Opera House, with its sail-like silhouette, redefining performance spaces. In Agra, the Taj Mahal is a love letter in marble, blending Persian, Islamic and Indian design into something timeless. The traditional wooden architecture of Kyoto reveals a different kind of beauty - one rooted in simplicity, craftsmanship, and harmony with nature. And Jordan's ancient city of Petra, carved into rose-red cliffs, tells the story of a civilisation that thrived in the desert and left behind a legacy in stone.
These places invite us to look up, to ask questions, and to see the world through the lens of design, function, and imagination. They remind us that architecture isn’t just about buildings — it’s about people, and the stories we leave behind.
It was a great experience, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The sights were epic, the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, the temple of Karnak and the Luxor temple, plus in a different context, the Aswan dam. It was very relaxing to have some sailing-only days between the excursions because the sights on the excursions were so mind-blowing.
Holidays for foodies
Food is one of the most intimate ways to experience a place. It’s not just about taste — it’s about tradition, geography, and the stories passed down through generations.
Regional dishes often begin as family recipes, lovingly prepared with seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients. Whether it’s a hearty stew made by a German Oma, a delicate tart from a French Grand-mère, or a slow-simmered ragù perfected by an Italian Nonna, these meals carry memories — and they’re meant to be shared.
On our favourite food holidays, you’ll do more than eat well (though you’ll certainly do that). You’ll take part in the process. Learn to make paella in Valencia, guided by chefs who know the secrets of saffron and stock. Eat at local agriturismi where they've perfected farm-to-table dining and meet the farmers that produce your food. Join a cooking class in Morocco and learn the secrets of selecting the freshest herbs and using the right tools so you can recreate this dish at home.
These experiences aren’t just delicious - they’re revealing. Food showcases the history and geography of your destination. Why do certain spices dominate in one region and not another? Why is seafood central to one culture and bread to another? The answers lie in the land, the climate, and the people who’ve lived there.
And the best part? You don’t just take home souvenirs - you take home recipes, techniques, and flavours that stay with you long after the journey ends.
Guided visits were well organised and guides were knowledgeable. Valencia is a special city with loads to see and do. A highlight was the paella cooking evening in a superb location.
