Why Art Tours?
ABOUT US
Our job is to make art, history and culture come to life and create once in a lifetime experiences. We use the best guides in the business because we believe it is the guide who makes all the difference to a trip. We are passionate about what we do and we know what we are doing. Many of our clients have travelled with us every year for a decade.
Meet the Team

James McDonaugh
Founder & Director

Katie Williams
Travel Designer &
Head of Product

Carly Wells
Travel Designer &
Head of Operations

Matthew Jessee
Financial Controller &
Special Projects

Gabriel Fawcett
Central Europe
Consultant

Hugo McDonaugh
Non Executive Director
Our Guides
We source the most talented and inspiring guides and lecturers. Our specialists include university academics, archaeologists, museum artists, writers and broadcasters. All our guides have superb communication skills and wield a deep and fascinating knowledge shared with a friendly rapport and lightness of touch. We carefully pair each client with the guide best suited to their interests and needs. Over the years our clients build special relationships with our guides and request them time and again.
“McDonaugh takes clients behind the scenes at many of the great museums of the world, from the British Museum and Louvre, to the Vatican and The Hermitage and many more, and often knows the curators and museum directors personally. He’s closed sections of museums during opening hours for VIPs, landed clients by helicopter at classical sites before the crowds appear, and arranged private al fresco dinners in extraordinary places, from ruins in Italy to stunning English gardens.”
Conde Nast Italy Specialist 2020
Art Tours is equipped to give the most veteran aesthete the thrill of a new perspective
The Wall Street Journal
“Grand hoteliers still bow reverentially, pink gin is mixed correctly and The Telegraph is ironed prior to delivery…Art Tours pass the Panama-Hat Test.”
Tatler
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