Slow down to see the world
Pioneers.
In 1966, George Butterfield, Martha Butterfield (
née Robinson) and her brother Sidney Robinson took some students to Europe for a bike trip. Their idea was to spend each day biking to places they’d discovered on earlier travels, then go out for a great dinner and a bottle of wine. It must have been one hell of a trip, because today Butterfield & Robinson offers more than 100 exhilarating trips all over the world.
A whole new style of travel was born of that first bike trip—as was a new style of travel company. Almost four decades after that first adventure, Butterfield & Robinson still holds true to the fundamental values that make us unique and have guided us since the beginning. We’re obsessed with quality, not quantity. As George is fond of saying, “We never wanted to be the biggest travel company, just the best.”
Innovators
Over the years, we’ve constantly reinvented ourselves—and how we travel. First, we biked Europe. Then we discovered the marvels of great walks. Then we realized there was a big world outside of Europe, and our travellers wanted to explore it, too! First we travelled to New Zealand (long before it was fashionable). By the time the early ’90s rolled around, we were as far as China.
We’ve made many other great discoveries over the decades, far ahead of the pack. Varanasi, Bhutan, Myanmar, Tunis, the Baltics, Namibia…who knew you could travel in comfort and style in these places, and still experience the very essence of where you were?
In places like the Mediterranean, the Adriatic and the Galápagos, we reinvented cruising by exploring exotic, hard-to-reach destinations aboard private yachts.
And what about the kids? We’ve always believed that having kids is no reason to stop exploring the world. If George and Martha could do it so beautifully, why couldn’t our travellers? And so began
With the Kids. Our proudest moments come from watching families bond, and little eyes open wide, in extraordinary places all over the world.
Master tailors
Over the years, every once in a while one of our travellers would come to us and ask if they could up the ante and have a B&R trip created just for them. Sometimes it was to mark a special anniversary. Sometimes it was to get some old friends together. And sometimes it was to cut a swath in a previously unexplored region. As these requests happened more and more, we realized it was time to offer custom trips to everyone. And so
Bespoke was born, “private trips made to fit.”
And what of our founders? George still brings the same enthusiasm and attention to detail to overseeing B&R’s day-to-day operations. Martha is a key advisor on all aspects of the business, and together they are constantly seeking out great new places to bike or walk. Sidney? Now a senior partner at one of Canada’s leading law firms, he still plays an important role in shaping B&R strategy. As they say in our office in Beaune,
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
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