Did you know that there are multiple “special interest” cruises and tours you can join to enhance your appreciation for and understanding of things you enjoy?

Let’s take wine for instance. There are multiple escorted land tours through the heart of wine country in both Europe and the USA. We really enjoyed our wine appreciation themed river cruise on the Danube from Prague to Budapest.

Speaking of river cruises there are several regions in Europe that offer amazing wine themed cruises. The Burgundy and Provence areas of France are world famous wine regions and there are several amazing wine appreciation themed cruises in those areas.

At the top of my wine appreciation river cruise list are the Moselle River along with the Main and the Gironde and Dordogne. Portugal is a fantastic wine region and you can be introduced to the area equally well by escorted tour or river cruise.

There are beer appreciation river cruises on both the Rhine and the Danube and of course escorted land tours including Germany in October will give you a front row seat to Oktoberfest. My escorted tour of Ireland was themed “Pub and Folklore Tour” and included lots of both.

I love culinary themed travel and frankly all river and most ocean cruises would fit into this “theme”. Cuisine themed travel is usually focused on Italy, France, Germany and the Danube region.

Art and Impressionist cruises focus on France and include Giverny (Monet’s home), Honfluer, Rouen and Paris. We just enjoyed a river cruise from Cannes to Paris and many of the ports of call featured experiences with fabulous works of art and an introduction to the artists who lived and worked in the area.

Amsterdam is another area easily accessible by ocean cruise, escorted tour or river cruise and its home to two museums that are alone worthy of the trip, the Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum. Throw in the Ann Frank house and you see why Amsterdam is at the top of every bucket list.

Let’s not forget Barcelona, Florence, I can go on and on if it’s art you want to focus your travel around.

Christmas Market travel is huge in Europe. You can enjoy Christmas themed tours by land, river or independently.

Garden and Nature travel is for those of us who are passionate about gardening. I think the Tulip Time river cruise in April (Amsterdam) would be simply breathtaking, however many destinations offer fabulous gardens and stunning natural beauty. Butchart Gardens in Victoria Canada, Versailles just outside of Paris, the natural beauty of the Lake District and Grasmere region of England, opportunities abound.

There are some fantastic history buff travel opportunities, including the Band of Brothers Tours, river cruises that include Normandy, Habsburg Dynasty themed Danube river cruise, Jewish Heritage cruises, European History and Politics cruise; did you ever imagine there would be so many?

What about music and opera appreciation, or jazz? What about Jewish Heritage tours? Active Discovery travel, golf-focused travel, the opportunities are endless. If you have a hobby or area of interest, we have a travel itinerary that will satisfy you.

Joy Gawf Crutchfield owns and operates The Joy of Travel. Contact Joy at 918-339-4805

Special Interest Travel, Travel with a Theme