Discover the Undiscovered: How Globus and Cosmos Take You Beyond the Guidebooks
Undiscovered Tours in Europe challenge our assumptions about the destinations we think we know. As Aldous Huxley famously observed, “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”
There is something hauntingly true about that. The version of a destination that lives in our minds, built from postcards and travel reels and word of mouth, rarely survives first contact with reality. Sometimes the real thing is better. And sometimes, even better
That is exactly where Undiscovered Tours from Globus and Cosmos come in. In this post, we will share highlights from a few itineraries across Italy and Scotland and explain why this style of travel tends to stay with you long after a more conventional trip has faded from memory.
Why Undiscovered Travel Matters
A handful of the world’s most iconic sights carry an almost impossible burden of expectation. Visited by millions and photographed endlessly, they sometimes leave travellers wondering whether the experience quite matched the anticipation. It is a reaction you hear more often than you might expect.
You have probably felt a version of it yourself. You travelled far, arrived somewhere you had long wanted to see, and found the experience somehow smaller than the idea of it. Not the place’s fault exactly, but the version of it available on that particular day.
The good news is that this only describes a very small number of places. Beyond that overcrowded circuit, there is an enormous world of lesser-known monuments, pristine landscapes, and living traditions that most guided itineraries never reach. Places where local food is made for the people who actually live there, where traditions are kept alive because they still mean something, and where the pace gives you room to look around and actually take things in.
Globus and Cosmos have built entire itineraries around that world. Here is a closer look at four of them.
Globus Undiscovered Tours: Two Hidden Gems
Southern Italy Beyond the Tourist Trail
Italy is one of the most visited countries in the world, yet a large part of it remains genuinely unknown to most travellers. The south of the country and the island of Sicily have a history, cuisine, and a way of life that is quite distinct from the north, and Globus’s Highlights of Sicily and Southern Italy is one of the most considered ways to experience it.
Bari is a good example of what this tour does well. It is a working port city on the Adriatic coast, and its old quarter, Bari Vecchia, is the kind of place that has not been tidied up for tourism. You follow narrow alleyways past local women hand-rolling orecchiette in doorways, visit the ancient Basilica di San Nicola, and eat a pasticciotto in Lecce before arriving in Agrigento, where a ridge of Greek temples overlooking the sea ranks among the finest archaeological sites in Europe. Alberobello, Matera, and a generous number of overnights in the Taormina Riviera round out a 14-day tour that covers ground most visitors to Italy never reach.
Exploring Scotland’s Remote Highlands and Islands
Fancy a Bonnie adventure in Scotland? Most visitors to the country spend a day or two in Edinburgh, perhaps visit Loch Ness, and return home. The Globus Scottish Highlands and Islands tour takes a very different approach, spending 14 days working through landscapes and communities that most travellers simply never reach.
The Orkney Islands are a good starting point for understanding what this tour is about. Its prehistoric sites predate the pyramids. Ullapool is a small fishing port on the shores of Loch Broom on Scotland’s northwest coast, it is the kind of village that looks as though it was assembled specifically to demonstrate what an ideal Scottish coastal town should feel like. Whitewashed cottages, a working harbour, the smell of the sea, and a lunch of fresh fish and chips at a local restaurant. The tour passes through on the way south from Thurso to the Isle of Skye, and it is one of those stops that people consistently mention when they talk about what made the trip feel real rather than curated.
Add a whisky distillery, the islands of Mull and Iona, and the Glenfinnan Viaduct, and you have a trip worth every bit of the journey.
Cosmos Undiscovered Tours: Two Gourmet Itineraries
Cosmos takes the same off the beaten path philosophy and pairs it with something that resonates deeply with how people actually experience a place: through its food. These two Italian itineraries are built around culinary traditions that have been perfected over generations in regions most travellers only read about.
A Culinary Journey Through Puglia
Puglia is the sun-baked heel of Italy’s boot, and it has been a quiet favourite among Italian food lovers for years. The Gourmet Puglia tour is based in Martina Franca and spends eight days going deep into the region rather than skimming across it. A few things you will do along the way:
- Visit a family-run olive farm and taste varieties you will never find on a supermarket shelf
- Learn to make orecchiette by hand in Lecce and eat it the same afternoon with local wines
- Walk the whitewashed hilltop streets of Ostuni and the UNESCO-listed trulli of Alberobello without an overwhelming crowd in sight
This is a part of Italy that is enormously popular with local travellers and almost entirely overlooked by everyone else, which is precisely what makes it worth your time.
Discovering Tuscany Through Food and Wine
Tuscany needs no introduction, but the Gourmet Tuscany tour makes a convincing case that most people have only seen a fraction of it.
Based in Montecatini Terme, the tour ventures out each day into a different corner of the region. You spend a morning in Vinci, birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, visiting the museum dedicated to his life before stopping at a local bakery for bread, cheese, and olive oil that tastes nothing like what you get at home. The Chianti Valley takes up another day, with wine tasting at a historic estate that has been producing the same Sangiovese for centuries.
In Bolgheri, you taste Super Tuscan reds in the village where they were first made in the 1980s and have been rivalling French Bordeaux ever since. And somewhere in the middle of the week, there is a hands-on cooking lesson at a rustic farmhouse where you team up with a chef to prepare a traditional Tuscan meal, and eat it with your group that evening. It is Tuscany at a pace and depth that most visitors never find.
The Benefits of Choosing Undiscovered Tours
Fewer Crowds, More Wow Moments
Quiet towns and uncrowded coasts allow you to experience places without distraction. The beauty feels personal rather than staged for mass tourism.
Authentic Immersion
From local legends in Italy to whisky traditions in Scotland, these tours bring you closer to the cultural heartbeat of each destination.
Unique Bragging Rights
When you return home, your stories will not begin with the same landmarks everyone has already seen. You will speak about villages, flavours, and encounters that most travellers overlook.
Guided Expertise You Can Trust
Tour Directors and Local Guides who belong to these regions provide context and storytelling that transform a visit into being genuinely immersive. Their insight ensures that you see beyond the surface.
Discover What Others Miss
Travel is not only about seeing the world. It is about discovering the parts most people overlook.
With Globus and Cosmos Undiscovered Tours, you move beyond the guidebooks into courtyards, coastlines, kitchens, and communities that feel original and unhurried.
If the idea of undiscovered tours in Europe appeals to you, whether that means hidden gems in Italy, off the beaten path vacations in Scotland, or simply a more authentic local travel experience than the usual itinerary offers, Globus and Cosmos have worked on exactly that.
Explore the list of our Undiscovered Tours and find the one that matches where your curiosity is taking you next.
Frequently Asked Questions About Undiscovered Tours in Europe
Undiscovered Tours in Europe take travellers beyond the most visited tourist attractions to explore lesser-known destinations, authentic communities, and unique cultural experiences.
Undiscovered Tours offer fewer crowds, deeper cultural immersion, authentic local experiences, and access to destinations that are often overlooked by mainstream tourism.
Popular destinations include Sicily and Southern Italy, the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Puglia, Tuscany, and other hidden gems across Europe.
Yes. These tours combine expert planning, guided sightseeing, and unique experiences, making them suitable for both first-time and experienced travellers.
Travellers can explore Bari, Matera, Alberobello, Agrigento, and the Taormina Riviera while enjoying authentic cuisine, rich history, and regional culture.
Highlights include the Orkney Islands, Isle of Skye, Mull, Iona, whisky distilleries, coastal villages, and breathtaking Highland scenery.
Cosmos Gourmet Tours combine sightseeing with regional food and wine experiences, including cooking classes, winery visits, olive oil tastings, and local culinary traditions.
Yes. All tours are led by experienced Tour Directors and Local Guides who provide insights into the history, culture, traditions, and hidden stories of each destination.
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