Welcome to Campaigns & Culture

QUALITY HISTORICAL, NAPOLEONIC BATTLEFIELD, CAMPAIGN & CULTURAL TOURS

Seasons Greetings from the

Heritage Tour Agency of the Year 2024

SMALL GROUP BESPOKE TOURS

Tailor-Made Just for You

ALL-INCLUSIVE

Quality Hotels, Meals & Transport

UNIQUE INSIGHTS

Historical, Cultural & Gastronomic

BOOKING 2025 & 2026 NOW

Personalised to your Wishes

WHERE TO GO

Popular Destinations: Sample itineraries for 2025 & 2026 launching soon!

From the smallest action to the largest battlefield, our small group tours take you to places on the campaign trails that others simply can't reach

Peninsular War

1807 - 1810

Portugal

Peninsular War

1809 - 1812

Spain

Peninsular War

1813 - 1814

Pyrenees

Waterloo

1815

Belgium

The Very Highest Standards

We provide tours with real personality; truly unique, extensive and personalised historical, battlefield and cultural tours built on deep knowledge, repeated visits, exploration and a genuine love for the landscapes we visit.

Our expert guided tours are popular with the most expert militarian through to the historical novice, family and friends looking for a great and original holiday. And if you've been inspired by Les Miserables, Ridley Scott's Napoleon, Sharpe or Vanity Fair, you'll love our tours with the real stories and locations of the era.

Nothing beats standing where history was made. Our relaxed conversational style reveals these places with real depth, accuracy, insight and entertainment. We'll show you how to challenge accepted history with fresh interpretation, sharing the very latest knowledge and discoveries, many of which are unknown to the history books.

Check our Testimonials page where you'll find the words and videos of our delighted tour guests who kindly rate us "OUTSTANDING" at what we do.

Beyond the Battlefields

If you like memorable experiences, visiting fascinating places with a small group of like-minded people, in style and comfort, then we are just what you've been looking for.

Stand and walk with history, learning how terrain, planning, knowledge, timing, decisiveness, fortune and fortitude influenced the fine margins between victory and defeat. You'll experience real history through maps of the time and the diaries, letters and memoirs of men and women of all nations, eyewitnesses to momentous events.

We're genuine lifelong experts at what we do. We specialise in running tours only where our repeated visits and wealth of knowledge create the very best tours on the market.

Along the way we enjoy great food and hospitality, whether as part of a scheduled small-group tour or a bespoke journey specially tailored just for you. We've tried and tested every hotel and restaurant countless times, and only the best meet the grade.

Do join us!

KEY FEATURES OF ALL OUR TOURS

Battlefield Journeys

From the smallest action to the largest battlefield, our small group all-inclusive tours take you to places that others simply can't reach

Statue of Napoleon mounted as a great military leader

Great Leaders

Napoleonic Map

Unique Interpretation

Old drawing of First battle of Porto 1809

Where History Was Made

Toledo

Treasured Cities

Photo looking down into Barba del Puerco gorge on the River Agueda, site of the famous 95th Rifles action

Off The Beaten Track

Ghent illuminated properties looking onto the canal

Cultural Delights

Remarkable Memoirs

Robert Pocock above the Maya Pass on campaigns & Culture Peninsular War Pyrenees tour

Dramatic Viewpoints

Momentous Times

Tailor-Made Tours

All year round

Scheduled or Bespoke ...

Photo of Bruges in the evening visited on Campaigns & Culture Cavalié Mercer Bespoke tour

Besides our scheduled tours we also offer bespoke deeply personalised journeys focusing entirely on your specific interests, wishes and requirements.

You may wish to linger for longer in certain places, to enjoy a break, to explore in even more depth, or intersperse with days off for remote working or other activities, or to add more vineyard visits.

Or join one of our scheduled tours and add an extension, whether it be to yet another historic battlefield, to add insights on a different era or travel to a gorgeous place on your bucket list.

Bespoke Out of Season

Weather-Watch Tours

Out of the main touring season ...

November sunshine on the Waterloo Battlefield on a Campaigns & Culture Weather-Watch Bespoke Tour

From years of experience we run most of our scheduled and bespoke tours when the weather and landscapes tend to be at their very best. Yet we also run tours and our own research trips during the off-season.

Each season offers its own unique landscapes, just sometimes with more intense or variable weather.

Our solution is to plan ahead. If you are flexible, we can improve the odds by watching the weather forecasts with you, booking last-minute journeys to maximise the chance of clear blue skies. This is a great way to travel when it suits you best.

Bespoke 4 Wheel Drive

Guided Adventures

Individual, couple, family or friends ...

Photo of Campaigns & Culture Bespoke tour vehicle at battlefield of Talavera

Discover the battlefields the way we did! We trek to remote places well off the beaten track, reaching further and digging deeper into history, heading down tracks and up ridges inaccessible to other vehicles. We cover more ground, showing you more vistas, viewpoints and unique locations.

Great for individuals and couples travelling in our 4WD, also a super solution for families or friends, for whom we can lead your party while you follow in your own vehicle(s) or one hired for you.

These are outstanding personalised tours reaching the parts that others don't reach.

Landscape & Lifestyle, Art & Architecture, History & its Horrors, Food & Wine

Each tour takes in world famous heritage sights and even more special places off the beaten track. These are often unknown to those who haven't truly understood the history books or fully explored the regions through which we travel.

Besides our history we often include features like local food tours and vineyard visits. Every day we include a great breakfast, a light lunch, then a superb dinner with choice wine, varying in style day-by-day depending on our itinerary and locations.

Each of our top quality 4* & 5* hotels are hand-picked, tried and repeatedly tested, historic in their own right. We always aim to secure Superior rooms to give you the very best comfort, space and views.

Extra days are available pre and post tour if you would like to stay longer.

TOUR IDEAS

2024 & 2025 Napoleonic Tours: Scheduled & Bespoke

Waterloo Anniversary Battlefield & Campaign Scheduled Tour

8/9 days, June 2025

One of the greatest battles of all time, the conclusive campaign of 1815 that shattered Napoleon's power, forging much of the Europe we know today. Epic history set in beautiful Belgian countryside. Unique itinerary, insights & access.

"Campaigns & Culture sets the standard for Waterloo Tours!"

Three Invasions & Wine Harvest Tour

Portuguese Peninsular War 1807-1811,

13/14 Days, September 2025

Travel from Lisbon via the Spanish border to Oporto, including a stay on the Douro to enjoy the heady scents of wine-picking season.

The future Duke of Wellington's defeat of three French invasions, visiting the battlefields of Roliça, Vimeiro, Porto, Almeida, Coa, Bussaco, Torres Vedras, Tomar, Coimbra, Sabugal, Fuentes de Onoro & much more besides. Our superb hotels include a castle, a palace, a winery and a fortress, so you can just imagine the food!

Bespoke Peninsular War 4WD Tours

all durations, May to October, 2025

Across Portugal, Spain & the Pyrenees to France, covering major, minor and virtually forgotten, untouched, unspoilt battlefields, palaces, castles & cathedrals, great culture, wine, food and vineyards.

Your very own guided tour going off-piste, built by us to match your specific interests, delivered in style and comfort!

Bespoke 4WD Tours

Waterloo, Quatre Bras, Ligny & Wavre

all durations, May - October

An in-depth study of all the battlefields and campaign routes tailor-made to your requirements, special interests and wishes, with as much or as little walking as you like.

We know these routes better than the back of our hand!

Bespoke 4WD Tours

Cavalié Mercer's Waterloo Campaign

Revelations on this most famous officer, author of "Journal of the Waterloo Campaign". Covering the man, his life and his elite G Troop Royal Horse Artillery, we share unpublished material and game-changing facts on his role within the Waterloo Campaign. His cities, his countryside, including Bruges, Ghent & Brussels.

Rifles in Portugal Tour 1808 - 1811

Peninsular War 14 days & other durations

Bespoke 4WD 2025

Starting in Lisbon and ending in Porto, we follow Wellington's campaigns in Portugal with a special focus on the riflemen of 5/60th & 95th. Including Lisbon, Torres Vedras, Sobral, Monte Agraco, Vimeiro, Roliça, Maciera Bay, Obidos, Tomar, Pombal, Redhina, Casal Novo, Foz do Arouce, Bussaco, Sabugal, Fuentes de Onoro, Fort Concpecion, Almeida, Coa, Barba del Puerco & much more.

With Wellington Across Spain 1809 - 1812 Peninsular War 14 days & other durations

Bespoke 4WD 2025

Starting and ending in Madrid, palaces, fortresses, battlefields & vineyards across Castilla La Mancha, Extremadura & Castilla Leon. Including Toledo, Talavera, Almaraz, Miravete, Trujillo, Arroyomolinos, Mérida, Badajoz, Olivenza, La Albuera, Elvas, Evora, Alcantara, Barba del Puerco, El Bodon, Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca Forts, Salamanca, Alba de Tormes, Garci-Hernandez, Tordesillas, Venta del Pozo, Burgos & Somosierra Pass.

Wellington Across the Pyrenees 1813 - 1814

Peninsular War 14 days & other durations

Bespoke 4WD 2025

Starting and ending in Bilbao, landscapes abound as we journey across the Basque region from the great battles and sieges of Vitoria, San Sebastián & Pamplona to the mountain passes and beyond, returning for a superb few days amongst the bodega vineyards of Rioja.

Battlefields include San-Millán, Osma, Vitoria, San Sebastian, Maya Pass, Vera, La Rhune, San Marcial, Bidassoa, Bayonne, Nive, Tarbes, Orthez, Roncesvalles & Sorauren.

Light Division Country

Peninsular War 7 days & other durations

Bespoke 4WD May to October 2025

A detailed exploration of the landscapes of General Bob Craufurd's Light Brigade & Division, on the back roads and tracks of our favourite outpost border country where they built their renown. Now seemingly untouched by time, we explore the Côa & Águeda, from Barba del Puerco, Fort Concepcion, Almeida & Fuentes de Onoro to the ultimate tragic loss of their commander at the storm of Ciudad Rodrigo.

Napoleon's 1814 Campaign & Champagne

An unbeatable mix! Often lauded as the most incredible demonstration of the Napoleonic 'genius', featuring the "Six Days Campaign" with 4 victories, in the company of Andrew Field. The final French victory was Reims, capital of Champagne, so expect a fantastic wine tour too!

Longer or shorter?

All our tours can be lengthened or shortened, expanded or focused to suit your requirements. We're extremely flexible, we just love visiting all these sites!

Remarkable History in Remarkable Landscapes

No rush, we take time to share, explore, enjoy and absorb.