Black Tomato

A Tailor-Made Trip Designer, Not a Tour Catalog

Black Tomato is a London-based luxury travel company that designs private, tailor-made trips for couples, families, solo travelers and groups. It describes itself as a company that designs fully personalized itineraries rather than templates or off-the-shelf tours, and its homepage says it has been "trusted to deliver tailor-made journeys across 100 destinations." The about page adds that it takes people "to all seven continents, designing all of our trips from the ground up." The destination menu is organized by region: Africa (including Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, Morocco and South Africa), an Arctic Circle section (Antarctica, Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, North America and Australasia.

It matters how the company is set up. Black Tomato plans and sells the trip; the footer states that "Package holidays are sold by Black Tomato as an agent for Hays Tour Operating Ltd, ATOL 10531." The site presents each trip as designed for one client rather than sold as a fixed group departure. The UK office is at Albert House, 256-260 Old Street, London EC1V 9DD, with a UK phone line (+44 207 426 9888) and a US line (+1 646 558 3644) in the site header, and separate UK, US and Rest of World versions of the site.

The about page says the company was "founded in 2005 by Tom, James and Matt," three friends who wanted to "sweep aside the prevailing current of 'package' trips," and named it after a black tomato they were told was a "rare and remarkable" dish in Eastern Europe.

Adventures, Safaris and Signature Series

The Experiences menu groups trips by who is traveling (family, couples, larger groups, honeymoons, multi-generational trips, solo travel) and by theme. The adventure theme promises trips to "Hike across mountain ridgelines, scramble across glaciers and kayak down rivers." The safari theme leans on staff background: the site says it has "a team of experts that have worked as conservationists and wildlife photographers." Other themes cover beach stays, food, slow travel, eclipse trips, luxury train journeys and proposals.

Several named series go further:

• Get Lost, which the site describes as a challenge where travelers "train with elite survival experts before traversing a polar, jungle, coastal, mountain or desert region" on their way back to civilization.
• Blink, pop-up luxury camps: "From the Sahara desert to the Andean Mountains, with Blink anywhere you can envisage it, we will create it."
• Field Trip, educational trips for younger travelers, and Take Me on a Story, family trips built around children's books.
• Collaborations, including James Bond-inspired trips (the site says it was selected as "the official travel partner"), an Agatha Christie Grand Tour series, and road trips created with Auberge Resorts Collection.

A sample Iceland itinerary on the homepage shows the kind of day these trips include: a super jeep drive to Langjökull glacier, which the page calls "the perfect arena both for photography enthusiasts and for a dose of high octane fun in the super jeep," and a glacier walk at Sólheimajökull where travelers "strap on your crampons." How physically demanding any trip is, the site leaves to the planning conversation.

How a Trip Gets Planned

There is no book-now button with a price. The site's main call to action is "Enquire Now," alongside the 2 phone numbers and a "My BT Login" client area. The about page describes the process as personal: "Like a perfectly tailored suit, each trip we plan is different," with "obsessive attention to detail." The company also promotes a tool it calls the Feelings Engine, which the awards page says won "Best Use of Artificial Intelligence 2025," built on its founding idea that "It's not where you want to go; it's how you want to feel."

The Our People page lists the travel specialists by role, such as Travel Expert and Training Manager. The awards page notes that Sunil Metcalfe, listed on the team page as Sales Director, was named a Robb Report Travel Master for 2024, and the about page cites a commitment, since 2005, to trips that support local economies and preserve cultural heritage.

Recognition on the Awards Page

The awards page is long. Recent entries include The World's Top Travel Advisors 2026 on the Travel + Leisure A List, Best Tour Operator for Best Bespoke Itineraries from the Men's Journal Travel Awards, Best Custom Luxury Vacations 2025 at the Best of Luxury Travel Awards, a place on Inc.'s Best in Business list 2024, and 3rd Best Travel Specialist in the World 2024 in the Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Choice Awards. Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice entries list Best Tour Operator in the World 2023 and Best Tour Operators in the World 2022, and The Travel Marketing Awards appear several times, with Travel Brand of the Year in 2022 and 2023 and Team of the Year 2025. Older entries go back to Online Tour Operator of the Year 2011. The press page lists coverage in Bloomberg, Vogue, Afar, Fortune, Monocle, The New York Times and others. These are the company's own selections.

What the Site Leaves Open, and Who It Suits

Prices, deposits, cancellation terms and trip lengths are not on these pages; the footer points to separate booking conditions, and quotes come from a travel expert once a trip is designed. Because every trip is built to order, the site also does not give group sizes, fitness requirements or age limits for its adventure trips. Those are questions to ask during the enquiry. The footer names ATOL protection for package holidays, but the site does not explain how protection works for bookings made through the US site.

Black Tomato suits travelers with a flexible budget who want a private adventure, a safari or a family trip built around them, with one team handling hotels, guides and logistics, and who enjoy the idea of a themed journey such as Get Lost or a Blink camp. It suits less well travelers who want to compare fixed prices online, join a small group of strangers, or book a single day activity, since the company sells complete trips through a conversation rather than individual tours.