Learning holidays for adults travelling alone: paint, stargaze and walk through history

Learning holidays for adults work best when someone who knows the subject is standing next to you, and when you have people to talk it over with at dinner. Spice Escapes runs small hosted group holidays built around exactly that: a painting teacher in northern Spain, a Cambridge astronomer for a total solar eclipse, a battlefield guide at Ypres, and licensed guides in Athens and Kraków, with a Spice host travelling with the group and most people booking on their own.

This page is for the grown-up who wants to come home knowing something they did not know before. Perhaps you have always meant to learn to draw, or you want ruins explained by someone who can read them. You do not want a classroom and you do not want a lecture tour. You want the subject, good company and a room of your own after the lesson.

Why learning goes better in a small group

Learning on your own abroad has two problems. The first is access: the expert, the guide, the tuition and the transport all have to be found and booked. The second is that there is nobody to turn to afterwards and say "did you know that?" A hosted group solves both. We arrange the teacher or the guide, and the group gives you people to compare sketches with, or to sit beside in quiet at a memorial, or to argue happily with about what a temple was for.

Groups are around fifteen people, and some reach twenty. That is small enough for questions to get answered and for you to know everyone's name by the second evening. The host is there for the practical side, so the expert can stick to the subject and you can stick to listening. If you have never joined a group before, our page for first-time solo travellers walks through how the first day goes.

Learn to paint in a house in Cantabria

The Spanish Drawing and Painting Break with Tuition is 7 nights at Agara, a twelve-bedroom house in the green north of Spain, with tuition from Dale Scott. Dale is very experienced with every level, from people already painting to people who have not held a brush since school. Sketch pads and a canvas are provided, and you can bring your own materials or have a beginners set ordered for you to collect when you arrive and take home afterwards.

Each day has a subject: seascape on the coast at Comillas and San Vicente de la Barquera, buildings in the village of La Colsa, the old bridge at Barcena Mayor, landscape from the mountain pass to Carmona over a picnic, and still life back at the house. All mediums are welcome. The house has local wine, beer and spirits and you help yourself, and there is a very friendly resident dog. Only three bedrooms have their own bathroom and those carry a supplement, the rest share four bathrooms, so ask early if that matters to you. Dates: 25 Apr 2027 – 2 May 2027. From £929, places left: 9 places left.

Watch a total solar eclipse with an astronomer

Chasing the Eclipse is the one learning holiday on this page that cannot be repeated. We secured rooms in the path of the total solar eclipse at Vejer de la Frontera in Andalucía, and the expert for the week is Dr Matthew Bothwell, the University of Cambridge Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy. Eclipse day is planned around the sky.

The rest of the week is southern Spain: a day in Jerez for sherry bodegas and flamenco, the old town of Cádiz almost surrounded by the Atlantic, and a guided walk around Vejer itself with a local guide who knows its Moorish history. You stay in a restored Franciscan monastery from the seventeenth century with original mosaics and frescoes. It runs for 7 nights with Rob Thompson, dates 31 Jul 2027 – 7 Aug 2027, from £2,899. Places: 18 places left. For more on the region, read where Andalusia is and what it is known for.

Ancient Athens with a licensed guide

Ancient Athens starts with dinner together at a local restaurant, which is the easiest way to meet the group. On the next day there is an optional private tour with a licensed guide through the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora where democracy began, and the Agora Museum, covering the myths, philosophy, politics and architecture that shaped the city. Later there is an optional food tour with more than eighteen tastings, and an optional afternoon trip to the Temple of Poseidon on its sea cliff at Cape Sounion.

The hotel is a short stroll from the Acropolis, the New Acropolis Museum and the Plaka. It is 4 nights with Jackie Whyte, dates 10 Mar 2027 – 14 Mar 2027, from £579. More Greek trips are on our Greece page.

Ypres and the Western Front, by train

World War I, A Journey of Memory and Meaning is history learned in the place it happened. You take the Eurostar from St Pancras, so there is no airport, and stay at the family-run Albion Hotel in Ypres, minutes from the Menin Gate where the Last Post sounds each evening. An expert local guide takes the group to Tyne Cot and the trenches at Sanctuary Wood.

It is a moving few days, and many people go to trace a family name. A group helps: there is someone to have a quiet coffee with afterwards. It is 3 nights with Claire Dymond of Wings, dates 8 Apr 2027 – 11 Apr 2027, from £1,019.

Kraków, for the twentieth century up close

Kraków Discovery leaves your days open for Main Market Square and Wawel Castle, then offers three optional visits that are the reason many people choose it: Schindler's Factory Museum, the Wieliczka Salt Mine, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a full day at Auschwitz-Birkenau. These excursions have limited places and are booked by name, so reserve them when you book the holiday. It is 4 nights with Jackie Whyte, dates 26 May 2027 – 30 May 2027, from £589.

Every holiday here sits in our Culture and Discovery collection, and our Spain page lists everything else we run there.

Your own room and what it costs

Every Spice Escapes holiday carries a single supplement or room-to-yourself cost, and we show it plainly before you book. Our single supplement page explains how it works. If you are travelling alone and over fifty, our over 50s solo holidays page shows the full range beyond learning trips, and what makes a Spice Escape different explains the role of the host.

Questions people ask

Do I need any experience to join the painting break?

No experience is needed. Dale Scott teaches every level, including complete beginners, and adapts each day to the group. A beginners set can be ordered for you to collect when you arrive.

Are the guided visits included or optional?

It depends on the holiday. On Ypres the battlefield guide is part of the trip, while in Athens and Kraków the guided tours are optional extras you choose when you book. Each holiday page lists what is included.

Will I be the only person travelling on my own?

Almost certainly not, because most people on our holidays book on their own. The host introduces everyone early, usually over a first evening meal.

Is a learning holiday heavy going?

The days are shaped around the subject, but there is free time on every trip. You can join the visits that interest you and spend the rest wandering, reading or sitting in a café.

Who do I speak to about which trip suits me?

Ring or email the team and tell us what you would like to learn. We will tell you honestly which holiday fits and what the days involve.

Tell us what you want to learn

Pick the subject first and the holiday follows. Rob Thompson, who owns Spice Escapes and hosts the eclipse week, is glad to talk through any of these trips, including which rooms are left and how the group usually comes together. Contact the team with a question or to hold a place, and we will come back to you personally.