About Cox & Kings

Our book with confidence policy allows you to change or postpone your holiday, for any COVID-19 related reason, up to 30 days before your travel date­.

You can also add on pre and post group tour extensions, room and flight upgrades, optional excursions and fly from any regional airport of your choice – it’s your holiday, so you choose what works for you and we’ll make it happen.

Whilst you are on holiday, our local teams on the ground will assist you in trying to secure a PCR test before returning to the UK, please ask your travel consultant for more information on how we can support.

Please note, many countries will also require you to arrange your own COVID-19 test, and provide a negative result, before they will allow you entry. Visit the FCDO website to check the latest entry requirements for your holiday destination. ....less

We believe that tourism should be a force for good. As part of the Abercrombie & Kent family, we work with Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy (AKP) who partner with more than 40 local grassroots projects that positively impact lives and livelihoods in the communities where our guests travel. We also use local tour guides on all our tours, making sure your money stays in destination. Simply by travelling with Cox & Kings you are helping to give back to the communities we visit. ....less

Cox and Kings offer award-winning small-group tours and private journeys to the world's most captivating destinations.

We also offer single-centre European Spotlight tours, expert-led Arts & Culture tours and group tours specially designed for Solo Travellers. ....less

Cox & Kings Travel is part of the Abercrombie & Kent family and we work with A&K Philanthropy (AKP). A&K founder Geoffrey Kent pioneered the community-first approach to conservation more than 60 years ago. Today, we still believe that the best way to protect our planet’s remaining wilderness is to invest in the communities who live there.

In alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals, our projects focus on education, enterprise, health and environment.

Through these initiatives, we aim to support, empower and educate local communities to facilitate the protection of their surroundings, and to ensure that the people in the places where we travel are also benefitting directly from tourism.

The A&K Philanthropy nonprofit network now spans 24 countries on all seven continents, positively impacting hundreds of thousands of lives and helping preserve some of the world’s most precious ecosystems, as we continue to celebrate travel as a force for good. ....less

ATOL
ABTA
AITO
Travel aware
British Airways ....less

Specialist Luxury Tour Operator - Finalist
TTG Luxury Travel Awards 2022

Best Escorted Adventure Holiday Company - Silver
British Travel Awards 2020

Best Luxury Tour Operator - Silver
Travel Advisor Awards 2020

Best Holiday Company to The Middle East – Gold
British Travel Awards 2019

Best Luxury Holiday Company – Silver
British Travel Awards 2019

Best for Luxury and Middle East & Africa
Travel Weekly Touring and Adventure Hotlist Awards 2019

Best Holiday Company to Southern Asia – Silver
British Travel Awards 2019

Best Luxury Holiday Company – Silver
British Travel Awards 2018

Best Holiday Company to South and Central America – Silver
British Travel Awards 2017

Best Escorted Tours Holiday Company – Silver
British Travel Awards 2016

Award for Excellence in Quality Group Tour Operation – UK
AI Business Excellence Awards 2015 ....less

Cox & Kings is the longest established travel company in the world, having marked its 260th anniversary in 2018.

Founding the company

The company’s history stretches back to 25 May 1758 when Richard Cox was appointed as regimental agent to the Foot Guards by his mentor, Lord Ligonier, the commander-in-chief of His Majesty’s Armed Forces.

The role of agent included the arrangement of payment of officers and men, the provision of clothing, acting as a go-between for the buying and selling of officers’ commissions, and acting upon any special requests from the regimental adjutant.

Regimental agents did not have a very good reputation before Cox, but such was his honesty, reliability and organisational ability that he made it a respectable business and Cox & Co soon became the agent for the majority of British regiments. By the end of the 18th century the company served 14 cavalry, 64 infantry and 17 militia regiments. The company’s business grew hand in hand with the British empire, becoming involved in banking and shipping in addition to its other agency activities.

Becoming established

Henry S King & Co, a rival bank and shipping agency, was started by Henry Samuel King in 1868 and subsequently run for more than 45 years by his son, Henry Seymour King, an MP and renowned mountaineer. The company had particularly strong links with India. After the first world war, the two companies merged as Cox’s & King’s and moved into grand premises on Pall Mall (now the site of the Sofitel St James Hotel). In 1923, the business was sold to Lloyds Bank and, while the banking arm stayed with Lloyds (becoming the Cox & Kings branch, as it is still known), the shipping agency became a separate company, running tours and organising the passage of people and their belongings around the world, notably to Egypt, India and south Asia.

Modern times

In 1970, Cox & Kings Agency was bought by Grindlays Bank as part of a deal with the then Indian prime minister, Indira Gandhi, to develop tourism into the country… and so the modern history of the company began. Initially specialising in cultural and wildlife tours throughout the subcontinent, during the 1980s the company diversified and developed similar expertise in areas such as Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, the Far East and Europe.

Today, Cox & Kings UK has built on the tradition of high-quality service and attention to detail established by Richard Cox more than 260 years ago and now provides travel arrangements of the highest calibre in many of the most culturally and naturally fascinating parts of the world.

In December 2019, Cox & Kings UK joined the Abercrombie & Kent family. This exciting new venture witnessed two heritage brands come together to offer an even greater breadth of holiday experiences. As custodians of Cox & Kings’ extraordinary legacy, the company continues to operate just as it always has done, offering the same award-winning service and attention to detail, with the additional patronage of an even wider network of expertise. ....less

Sustainable and responsible travel is important, and as part of the Abercrombie & Kent family, we work with Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy (AKP) who partner with more than 40 local grassroots projects that positively impact local communities.

We also use local tour guides on all our tours, making sure your money stays in destination. Simply by travelling with Cox & Kings you are helping to give back to the communities we visit. ....less