How We Got Here
Back in 2019, a small group of us were planning weekend getaways for friends. Nothing fancy — just trying to find interesting places that weren't overrun with tourists. What started as personal recommendations turned into something bigger when people kept asking us to plan their trips too.
By early 2024, we'd organized dozens of weekend tours. Some went brilliantly. Others taught us what not to do (like scheduling six activities in one Saturday — exhausting). We learned that people don't want to rush. They want time to actually experience places, not just photograph them.
So we built Delvexon around that idea. Small groups. Thoughtfully paced itineraries. Local insights that guidebooks miss. The kind of weekends where you come home feeling recharged instead of needing another holiday to recover.
What Makes Our Tours Different
We don't follow the standard travel agency playbook. Our approach focuses on quality over quantity, and we design each tour with real input from people who actually live in these places.
Local Knowledge
Every destination we offer includes recommendations from residents. Not sponsored spots or tourist traps — actual places locals go when they want a good meal or an interesting afternoon.
Realistic Timing
We build in downtime. No rushing from one attraction to another. If you want to linger over coffee or explore a neighbourhood that caught your eye, there's room for that.
Small Groups
We cap tours at 12 people. Large groups mean waiting around, compromising on restaurant choices, and missing out on experiences that only work with fewer participants. Small groups just work better.
The People Planning Your Weekends
Our team combines travel planning experience with genuine curiosity about places. We're the people who spend hours researching a city's food scene or tracking down that perfect hiking route.
Silje Magnussen
Tour Design Lead
Silje spent five years working with heritage sites across Northern Europe before joining us. She's particularly good at finding cultural experiences that don't feel forced or overly touristy. When she's not planning tours, she's usually hiking somewhere in Scotland.
Elowen Trevithick
Operations Coordinator
Elowen keeps everything running smoothly behind the scenes. She's the reason your accommodation works out, your transport connections make sense, and those restaurant reservations don't fall through. Before Delvexon, she managed logistics for outdoor education programmes across the UK.
What Matters to Us
These aren't just nice-sounding corporate values. They're the principles that guide how we design tours, work with local partners, and communicate with travellers. We revisit them regularly to make sure they still reflect how we actually operate.
Authenticity Over Performance
We're not interested in staging "authentic" experiences. Real moments happen when you're not trying too hard. Our tours create opportunities for genuine connections, then get out of the way.
Honest Communication
If a destination isn't right for what you're looking for, we'll tell you. If weather might affect an activity, you'll know upfront. We'd rather lose a booking than send someone on a tour that doesn't fit their expectations.
This extends to how we handle problems too. Things occasionally go wrong with travel — trains get delayed, restaurants close unexpectedly. When that happens, we focus on solutions rather than excuses.
Sustainable Choices
We prioritize train travel where practical. We work with smaller local businesses instead of international chains. We design itineraries that spread visitor impact across different areas rather than concentrating everyone in the same spots.
Continuous Improvement
After every tour, we collect detailed feedback. Not just satisfaction scores — actual insights about what worked and what could be better. We update itineraries based on this input. Some of our best tour features came from traveller suggestions.