Travel
Differently.
EWT Tours was built around one belief: that travel should feel personal, not packaged. Small groups. Expert guides. Itineraries designed for people who want to actually understand the places they visit.
A Travel Agent Who Got Tired of Bad Tours
EWT Tours started in 2006 when our founder took her first "group tour" to Europe — 54 people on a bus, 11 countries in 14 days, zero time to actually be anywhere. The food was pre-selected. The guides were microphone-wielding herders. The other travelers were strangers who stayed that way.
She came home and spent the next year designing the tour she wished she'd taken. Small. Slow. Expert-led. Built around meals, conversations, and the kinds of access you only get when someone local vouches for you.
The first EWT group was 8 people to Greece. Seven came back the following year for Italy. That's still how most of our growth works — not from ads, but from past guests bringing their friends.
Eighteen years later, the philosophy hasn't changed. We run tours for people who read the destination before they visit. People who want to eat where the locals eat. People who know the difference between seeing a country and understanding it.
The EWT
Philosophy
Small Groups Always
Our maximum group size is 14. Not 24, not 44. At 14, everyone gets a seat at the table, a seat near the guide, and a seat at the restaurant that only takes reservations for groups under 15.
Local Knowledge, Not Scripts
Every EWT guide lives in the region they lead. They know the bloom forecast, the hidden courtyard, the chef who'll open the kitchen at midnight for good guests. That knowledge isn't Googleable.
Food as Culture
We plan dinners the way other operators plan monuments. A market meal, a family-run trattoria, a street food crawl at midnight — food is how you actually meet a place. We take it seriously.
Slow Down
Two nights minimum per city. No "11 countries in 14 days." You can't understand a place if you've only spent one night in it. We build in free afternoons, late starts, and room to wander.
Access Others Don't Have
Fushimi Inari at 5:30am. A private room in a Kyoto machiya. A noh theater after closing. Backstage at a flamenco school. These experiences exist because our guides have relationships, not because we paid an extra fee.
Honest All-Inclusive Pricing
The price we quote is the price you pay. Flights, hotels, most meals, all activities — in. No "local payment" surprises. No gratuity that doubles the cost at checkout. You know what you're spending before you book.
Who Plans
Your Trip
Four people design and run every EWT tour. You'll interact with all of them — before, during, and after your journey.
Margaret Holloway
Designs every itinerary personally. 38 countries visited. Has never taken a cruise and never will.
David Park
Handles flights, logistics, and the 3am emergencies. Former airline operations manager. Nothing surprises him.
Sara Okonkwo
Your primary contact before and after the trip. Responds to every email within 4 hours. Knows all guests by name.
James Riordan
Scouts new destinations, writes the trip guides, and takes most of the photos on our site. Has eaten his weight in street food in 22 countries.
Our Local
Guides
Every EWT tour is led by a native guide who lives in the region. These are not contracted freelancers — they're long-term partners we've worked with for years.
Kenji Nakamura
14-year EWT partner. Tracks the cherry blossom forecast from November. Art history background. Knows every quiet corner of Gion.
Isabelle Moreau
Sommelier, food critic, and seventh-generation Parisian. Has never taken a guest to a tourist restaurant. Never will.
Alejandro Ruiz
Flamenco aficionado, olive oil expert, and the only guide who can get a private table at La Azotea on two hours notice.
Amara Diallo
Berber heritage, fluent in 4 languages. Grew up in the Atlas Mountains. Arranges the best private desert camps in southern Morocco.
Sofia Papadakis
Archaeologist turned guide. Explains the Acropolis in a way that makes it feel lived-in, not distant. Has the best connections in Santorini.
Carlos Mendoza
Quechua speaker. Grew up in the Sacred Valley. Knows the Inca Trail the way most people know their backyard. 11-year EWT partner.
18 Years of
Extraordinary Travel
First Tour — Greece
8 guests. Athens, Santorini, Delphi, Meteora. All 8 came back the following year.
Japan Joins the Roster
Kenji Nakamura becomes our first local guide partner. The cherry blossom tour sells out in 10 days — a record that stood for 4 years.
Morocco & Africa Expansion
Amara Diallo joins the team. The Sahara desert camp experience is added — still our most-requested single night of any tour.
1,000th Guest Milestone
Sandra R. from Charleston becomes guest #1,000 on the Greece & Rome tour. She's now taken 6 EWT trips.
Pandemic Pause
All tours suspended. We issued full credits to every guest — no one lost money. 94% of guests rebooked when tours resumed.
4,000 Guests & 8 Regions
South America and the Caribbean join the roster. First Alaska departure sells out in 6 hours. We hire Sara Okonkwo as Guest Experience lead.
Ready to Travel
Differently?
Start with a free 20-minute consultation. Tell us where you want to go, what you want to experience, and what you've tried before. We'll find the right tour — or build one.