Namara Tours The Namara Way

The Namara Way

Travel as a way of being.

Small groups. Hand-picked hotels. Local guides. The quiet luxury of being taken care of, and the rare joy of a place that stays with you long after.

Our Story

A small house, two countries, one belief.

Namara Tours began in a kitchen in County Clare, between a conversation about a favourite hilltop village in Andalucía and a list, on the back of an envelope, of the places we kept returning to. We are guides, hosts and obsessive planners — based between Ireland and Spain, with family ties, friends and favourite restaurants across both.

We design journeys for travellers who would rather be shown a place than sold one. No grand hotel chains, no bus windows. Just the right rooms, the right people, the right pace — and the rare feeling of being welcomed somewhere rather than processed through it.

Niamh & Antonio Founders, Namara Tours
Hands shaping dough in a warm kitchen
Clare · 2014

Why travelers travel with us

Ten quiet reasons we hear most often.

No loyalty programmes. No upgrades in lieu of substance. Just the things that make a journey feel held, looked-after, and quietly extraordinary.

  1. 01

    Small groups, never crowds

    No more than eighteen guests on any escorted journey — small enough to slip through a side door.

  2. 02

    Hand-picked boutique hotels

    Family-run palazzos, restored convents, a few modern design hotels. Never chains.

  3. 03

    Local guides, born to the region

    Storytellers, historians, sommeliers — people who actually live where they walk with you.

  4. 04

    Private moments of access

    Cellars after closing, kitchens before service, gardens with no other visitors.

  5. 05

    One tour director, start to finish

    The person who welcomed you at the airport is the one raising the last glass.

  6. 06

    Family-run restaurants

    Where the grandmother still makes the pasta and the wine list was written by hand.

  7. 07

    Slow, thoughtful pacing

    Two-night stays wherever a place deserves it. Long mornings. No 7 a.m. bus calls.

  8. 08

    Time left unscheduled

    An afternoon for a long lunch, a wander, a nap. The best things rarely fit on a timetable.

  9. 09

    Concierge before, during, after

    A real person answers the phone in Dublin or Granada. We stay in touch long after you return.

  10. 10

    Designed for American travelers

    Dollar pricing, U.S. toll-free support, sensible flight guidance, and the absence of hidden fees.

In their words

A few notes from recent travelers.

Reviews shared with kind permission from guests who travelled with us in 2024 and 2025.

We have travelled a great deal and this was the first time we felt genuinely looked after. The hotel in Seville was the loveliest we have stayed in anywhere.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Margaret & David Whitcomb Andalucía, Slowly · May 2025

Our tour director remembered every name by the second day and every preference by the third. We came home talking about the people more than the places — both were extraordinary.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Patel Family Taste of Italy · August 2025

I have run incentive trips for twenty years. Namara understood what we wanted better than we did. The private dinner at the villa was the best evening of the trip.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Janelle Carter, VP People Lake Como, Rewarded · September 2025
Portrait of Saoirse, a Namara tour director, smiling outdoors

Meet a Tour Director

The person who quietly holds the whole journey together.

“My job is to make the planning disappear. To know the back door of the cathedral before you arrive, and to remember that you prefer your coffee small and black.”

Saoirse grew up on the coast of Clare and spent fifteen years working in luxury hospitality across Europe before joining Namara in 2019. She has led journeys across Ireland, Italy, Andalucía and the Azores, and is the reason most of our guests travel with us a second and a third time.

Every Namara tour director is selected for the same qualities: warmth, taste, the kind of calm that comes from having seen a small village at every hour of every season. They travel with you from the first welcome dinner to the last airport goodbye.

Based in County Clare, Ireland
Speaks English, Italian, Spanish
Years guiding 15+
Favourite region Southern Sicily

Four ways to travel with us

Different shapes of journey, the same care through every one.

Whether you travel as a couple, a family or a community of forty, the Namara way stays the same: hand-picked, beautifully paced, hosted by people who actually know the place.

White Andalusian village on a sunlit hillside
One

Private journeys, made for one party at a time

A honeymoon, a milestone birthday, a long-overdue reunion. Every detail designed around the people taking it, and never repeated for anyone else.

  • For couples, families and friends, from two guests
  • Your own driver-guide, your own pacing
  • Doors opened just for you
Start a conversation
Hands shaping fresh pasta on a wooden board
Two

Small group journeys, escorted throughout

Up to eighteen guests, one tour director from start to finish. Small enough to slip into a family-run trattoria, unhurried enough to truly live the places you visit.

  • Up to 18 guests
  • A dedicated Namara tour director
  • Hand-picked hotels and local guides
See sample journeys
Candlelit wine cellar with stacked oak barrels
Three

Incentive & corporate travel, that feels personal

Reward programmes and leadership retreats that never feel packaged. Culture, light adventure and moments of exclusive access — handled end to end so your team simply arrives and enjoys.

  • For top-performer rewards and client hospitality
  • Any size, from a leadership team to a full sales force
  • Branded touch-points, off-the-shelf warmth
Request an incentive proposal
Boutique villa and garden on the Mediterranean coast
Four

Grand group experiences, with the same personal care

For choirs, clubs, associations and communities travelling together — twenty to forty guests, with a tour director, a private coach, and dinners in settings you would never find on your own.

  • 20 to 40 guests
  • Tour director and private coach throughout
  • Group dinners in memorable settings
Plan a group journey

How a Namara journey is made

Four steps, one quiet process.

From the first note to the last goodbye, the work behind a Namara journey is the same whether you are two guests or forty. Here is how it unfolds.

  1. 01

    Listen

    A long, unhurried conversation about who is travelling, what you love, and what a perfect day looks like.

  2. 02

    Shape

    Every day is written by hand, by people who know the places and the people in them.

  3. 03

    Travel

    A tour director hosts you throughout, from the first welcome to the last airport goodbye.

  4. 04

    Remember

    We stay in touch, share the photographs, and begin shaping the next one when you are ready.

As featured in & members of

  • Travel + Leisure
  • Condé Nast Traveler
  • AFAR
  • The Irish Times
  • USTOA
  • IATAN
  • ABTA

Ready when you are

Begin with a conversation.

Tell us who is travelling, when, and what you dream of. We reply personally to every enquiry, usually within a day.

Plan a Journey Back to top

Or write to us at hello@namaratours.com

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