History Appreciation Tours

The Route

Fifteen stops, a year or two, and a great many letters home.

There was never just one Grand Tour. Everyone took their own route, and it changed from one decade to the next. But by the 1700s it had settled into a shape most travellers would have recognised. This is that shape.

LondonDoverCalaisParisLyonMont CenisTurinGenoaFlorenceRomeNaplesVeniceViennaDresdenThe Hague
The usual circuit, give or take: out through France, over the Alps, down to Rome and Naples, and home by Venice, the German courts and the Low Countries. Filled dots have letters waiting.

Leg 1 · Setting out

  1. London

    Setting out, usually in spring

  2. Dover

  3. Calais

    First sight of the Continent

  4. Paris

    Manners, dancing masters, the opera

Leg 2 · France, and the Alps

  1. Lyon

  2. Mont Cenis

    Carried over the Alps in a chair

    Why Did Everyone Hate Mountains Until About 1750? →

Leg 3 · Into Italy

  1. Turin

  2. Genoa

  3. Florence

    The Uffizi Tribuna

    The Most Beautiful Statue in the World (Allegedly) →

Leg 4 · Rome

  1. Rome

    The whole point of the journey

    Under the Porta del Popolo →

Leg 5 · Naples

  1. Naples

    Vesuvius, Pompeii, Herculaneum

    The Ambassador Who Kept Climbing the Volcano →

Leg 6 · Home the long way

  1. Venice

    Carnival, Canaletto

  2. Vienna

  3. Dresden

  4. The Hague

    Home through the Low Countries