Troy B Marden Travel

The Wonders of Africa--Tour #2
2025-08-14 00:00 - 2025-08-30 23:59 (America/Chicago)
These tours will explore ALL of the wonders of Africa—history, nature, art, food, wine, culture, and of course, gardens! From the roar of Victoria Falls to the roar of lions, and from the tip of the Cape of Good Hope to the top of Table Mountain, we’ll explore South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe through the eyes of the locals as they show us their lands, tell us their stories, tempt us with their cuisine, and treat us as friends. This tour is one day longer than Tour #1 and is a slightly different itinerary, including a 2-night stay at Chobe National Park (Chobe is included in Tour #1, but will be done as a daytrip from Victoria Falls). Included are your hotels, daily breakfast, transportation by private coach, local tour guides throughout the tour, all entry fees for sites and activities outlined in the final itinerary, meals as specified in the final itinerary, and all internal flights in the final tour itinerary (these are the flights within Africa, after your arrival from the U.S.–international airfare from the U.S. is not included). Hotels are 4- and 5-star accommodations throughout the tour and include all group safari activities in Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park, and Kapama private reserve as noted in the final itinerary. These small group tours are limited to 10-12 participants each to ensure that we can provide each guest with the most personal experience possible.

Some of the activities on this tour include: Two nights in Johannesburg–Regina Mundi church, the Nelson Mandela House, Soweto township, the Apartheid Museum, and lunch and dinner at traditional South African restaurants. Two nights in Chobe National Park, where we will enjoy the hospitality of the Chobe Marina Lodge and Resort. Our stay here will include daily safari activities, as well as a river cruise during our stay. Two nights at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, including a visit to Victoria Falls, a sunset river cruise, a village tour, lunch at the Lookout Cafe, and a Boma Dinner including traditional music and dance. Our three nights in Cape Town will find us visiting Table Mountain, District Six Museum, the world-renowned Kirstenbosch Gardens, and more. We’ll also spend an incredible day out on the Cape of Good Hope, beginning with an unforgettable motorcycle ride as sidecar passengers on vintage, WW2 motorcycles. This excursion will take us along the seafront to Chapman’s Peak with a dropoff at Hout Bay for our Seal Island cruise. We will also visit the penguin colony at Boulders Beach and take the funicular to the summit of the Cape of Good Hope. Two nights in Franschhoek and wine country–Iconic wineries such as Babylonstoren, Haute Cabriere, and Bartinney will be part of our visit to this region of South Africa. We’ll also experience a top-of-the-line lunch at the Fairview Estate along with a master tasting of the estate’s wines. Stellenbosch will round out our visit to this area. We will end our tour with three nights at the extraordinary Kapama Buffalo Camp, where we will experience 5-star African hospitality at its very finest. Included in our “grand finale” are 3 meals daily, morning and evening daily game drives/safaris, an opportunity to do an optional bush walk to experience African wildlife in the most up close and personal way possible, as well as some free time to enjoy the exceptional features of our spa resort.

Double Occupancy Price: $9,850 per person, ground package including internal flights within Africa. (International airfare from and returning to the U.S. is the responsibility of individual guests.)

Single Occupancy Price: $11,500 per person, ground package including internal flights within Africa. (International airfare from and returning to the U.S. is the responsibility of individual guests.)

For complete details about this once-in-a-lifetime tour to experience the Wonders of Africa, please email troy@troybmarden.com

Chateaux & Gardens of Normandy and the Loire Valley
2025-10-05 00:00 - 2025-10-16 23:59
Jason Reeves and Troy Marden are off once again, this time to two of the most beautiful regions of France—Normandy and the Loire Valley! Beginning and ending in Paris, first we’ll head north and west as we explore the region of Normandy. We’ll use Rouen and Caen as our home bases for this part of the tour, exploring some of the most beautiful gardens in France along the way. No trip to Normandy would be complete without visits to the D-Day beaches, the American cemetery, and other historic World War II sites, and we’ll be sure not to miss them. Then we’ll head south to the indescribable Loire Valley, where you can toss a stone in any direction and hit a chateau, each one grander and more exquisite than the next. We’ll explore the valley from its west end to its east as we complete our loop and eventually make our way back to Paris.

Complete details will be available in September 2024. To be added to a list of interested guests, please email troy@troybmarden.com and you will be notified once the final itinerary and pricing are complete.

Japan--Cultural Masterpieces!
2025-11-06 00:00 - 2025-11-20 23:59
Another joint venture with friend and colleague, Charles Yurgalevitch. With Charles’ contacts in Japan from his tenure at the New York Botanic Garden, and excellent assistance from a travel agency specializing in Japan and all it has to offer, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience centered around the gardens and temples of Japan, from Tokyo to Miyajima, set in the peak of fall color season!

In addition to beautiful gardens and temples, we will completely immerse ourselves in and experience the culture of this exceptional country; traditions and ceremonies going back hundreds of years, cuisine unique to this island nation, art that has influenced generations of other artists, and much more will all be a part of this itinerary—truly something for everyone!

Pricing and details for this tour will be published approximately 12 months prior to the tour—once we are able to secure firm pricing on hotels and transportation. To be added to the list of interested guests, please email troy@troybmarden.com

The Floralies and Spring Gardens of Belgium
2026-04-29 00:00 - 2026-05-08 23:59
The Floralies (or Floraliën Gent) in Ghent, Belgium, is a prestigious international flower and plant festival that happens only once every four years. Taking place at multiple venues, including the Citadel Park which features the iconic Floralies Hall, it is a historic event that dates back to 1809, and its infrequency makes it particularly special. The Floralies showcases creations by national and international florists, ornamental horticulturists, and artists. The 2026 theme is “Flowers Connect Us” and a visit to the show will be one of many highlights of this tour featuring some of Belgium’s most beautiful springtime gardens, both public and private.

Of course, no trip to Belgium would be complete without visiting some of its magnificent castles—and we will! We would also be remiss not to include some of the country’s finest cuisine (and let me assure you, there are some amazing restaurants!), delicious chocolate (of course!), some of the best beer in the world (it’s good even if you’re not much of a beer drinker!), and so much more! Flying into and out of Brussels, we’ll first head to the beautiful small city of Bruges, where we’ll enjoy the hospitality of the Hotel Heritage for three nights. Then, we’ll make our way back to Brussels to the Warwick Hotel, using this beautiful city as home base as we explore the rest of Belgium, from Antwerp in the north to the magnificent Castle and Garden of Annevoie in the south, and many points in between.

For complete details, please email troy@troybmarden.com

Hill Towns and Gardens of Tuscany
2026-06-09 00:00 - 2026-06-20 23:59
It has been some years since I’ve done a main season, early summer tour to Tuscany—usually we go in the fall—and I decided that 2026 was the year to bring it back! The spring rains have ended, warmer summer temperatures prevail (but it isn’t sweltering yet!), the wheat fields are in their full glory, and the sunflowers are beginning to bloom. And the light… especially in the mornings. It’s a wonderful time to be in Tuscany! But who am I kidding? There is never a bad time to be in Tuscany!

This tour will begin in Rome and end in Florence, and we will spend three nights in each of those magnificent cities. For the four nights in between, we will base ourselves in the Tuscan hill town of Cortona, of Under the Tuscan Sun fame, and use it as home base to explore some of the surrounding hill towns, as well as several nearby villas, wineries, castles, and more. We’ll experience La Dolce Vita, the sweet life, firsthand as we participate in “la passegiata” (the nightly stroll), partake of the local food and wine, become regulars at the local coffee shop, mingle with the townspeople on the square. For those who have been with me before, we’ll visit some old favorites like Castello Ruspoli on our way from Rome to Cortona, and Palazzo Corsini while we’re in Florence, but we’ll add plenty of new sights, too, for those who have “already been”! This will be a tour of Tuscany you won’t want to miss!

For complete details, please email troy@troybmarden.com

English Gardens of Kent and Sussex
2026-07-08 00:00 - 2026-07-17 23:59
This year’s tour to England will feature the counties of Sussex and Kent in the southeastern corner of the country. We have touched on Kent before and this time we’ll cast our net even wider, visiting gardens like Goodnestone Park, Old Bladbean Stud, Walmer Castle, and others. County Kent is also home to Canterbury Cathedral and the white cliffs of Dover and we’ll do our best to include them both while we’re in the area.

County Sussex also has amazing gardens, including my favorite garden of all, Great Dixter, so you know we’ll be visiting there! Other gardens nearby include Borde Hill, Gravetye Manor, Nymans, Wakehurst and many, many more. It’s a long list, but we’re going to work as many of them into the schedule as we possibly can in the time we have available!

On the way back to London at the end of the tour, we’ll spend most of the day at the RHS garden, Wisley, with its grand borders, astounding rock garden, exotic garden, glasshouse, and so much more! We will end the tour in London on a Thursday night for people to fly home on Friday OR extend your stay in London on your own for the weekend! This is going to be a good one! For more information, please email info@troybmarden.com

Gardens from Montreal to Quebec City 2026
2026-08-01 00:00 - 23:59
This is just a place holder for this tour with official dates in the month of August and more information coming soon.

This tour will be a collaboration with good friend and colleague, Jason Reeves, of the UT Garden in Jackson, TN.

New Zealand
2026-11-01 00:00 - 2026-11-22 23:59
This will be a 5-star tour of New Zealand, with top-of-the-line hotels and experiences. Covering both the north and south islands of New Zealand, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime discovery of some of the best of New Zealand. This year’s tour will include visits to at least 5 private gardens (more if they can be arranged), 4 or 5 public gardens, an overnight cruise on Milford Sound, a scenic ride on the Tranzalpine Railway, the Waitomo glowworm caves, the geothermal area of Rotorua, Hobbiton (part of the Lord of the Rings movie set), and much, much more! This tour will be strictly limited to 15 guests.
