About us
Who is Jonas?
Jonas was born on May 13, 1988, in Venice, the result of a bet between friends who had a dream: to build a new reality of alternative and associative tourism, aimed at all 'young people', perhaps not in terms of age but certainly in spirit. The target audience was curious, active tourists, open to discovering the world through group holidays: the idea came from previous experiences in Northern Europe, such as the German Friends of Nature and Bike Danmark. The bet was won!
MISSION:
Jonas creates sustainable vacations by bike, boat, on foot, on horseback... to travel slowly and rediscover the pleasure of getting to know places and people with whom you feel comfortable.
What does Jonas do?
Jonas has never been, and never will be, a traditional travel agency or a standard tour operator: Jonas creates sustainable vacations by bike, boat, and on foot, thanks to low environmental impact means of transport that allow you to fully enjoy the places you visit, moving slowly, in a group and with respect for the environment, to get closer to nature and slow down the pace of everyday life.
We are proud to have been the first!
We are proud to have been the first to offer Italians cycling holidays abroad: the bicycle is the greenest means of transport there is and still represents one of the best ways to experience freedom and contact with nature, even if you are not an expert cyclist.
We then specialized in sailing holidays, which we have made accessible since the 1990s even to "non-sailors," being the first to offer individual boarding, allowing even those traveling alone to enjoy a vacation in freedom, experiencing the sea to the fullest, without having to organize a group to charter an entire boat.
For all trekking enthusiasts, we also offer many walking holidays, because walking in contact with nature is good for you, dispels negative thoughts, and helps slow down the pace of everyday life. This fits in perfectly with our idea of a sustainable holiday where you can rediscover the pleasure of getting to know places and people... and feel good!
We do it as a group
A vacation is made up of places and people: all our initiatives combine the beauty of the destinations with the fun of traveling in a group. There are many people who, by choice or necessity, have to travel alone but enjoy sharing the experience with new friends from all over Italy: with Jonas, this is possible. In recent years, levels of social interaction have declined, despite the widespread use of social media, but human relationships and direct exchange are limited. That's why we take particular care in recommending the right vacation and, for people traveling alone, in combining personalities and characteristics that allow for harmony and camaraderie that will make each vacation unique.
The future
Our future outlook is to continue growing and improving, constantly devising new vacations suited to different lifestyles, not only taking Italians around Italy and abroad, but also introducing the beauty of Italy to foreigners through Jonas's eyes. We don't want to limit ourselves to focusing solely on cultural, tourist, or recreational aspects, but also want to concentrate on quality of life.
Because moving, traveling, discovering, and sharing are the best parts of life, and a Jonas vacation is life!
Some anecdotes
Jonas is truly a vacation for "young people" in every sense: there are those like Mattia who start "cycling" with Jonas while still in the womb, or those like Maria Luisa who started traveling with us at the age of 75, visiting Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Dublin by bike year after year. Or Claudio from Bolzano and Antonio from Palermo, who became friends on a Jonas vacation and since then have made traveling with us a regular event and an excellent opportunity to get together despite the geographical distance. Yes, we are not a dating agency and we don't have a magic wand, but the carefree attitude and desire to meet new people that come with being on vacation, plus a little bit of luck, have allowed more than a few people to find their soul mate. It's nice to receive a phone call from someone who left as a "single" the previous year and is now booking for two, because "you know, I met someone on vacation last year..."
In any case, it is increasingly common for groups to stay in touch after their vacation is over and make plans to meet up the following summer, or perhaps for a weekend, always with Jonas.
Why the name Jonas?
Jonas will remind you of characters from biblical history, but our choice of name actually refers to cinema history: Jonas, who will be twenty in 2000, is a 1976 film directed by Alain Tanner. The film is about a couple who, expecting a child who will be 25 in 2000, hope that on that date their son will be open to the world and to others. Taking the same name as that boy, Jonas inherits his openness and desire for discovery, without prejudice and with great curiosity. Among the reviews of the film, the New York Times declared that "in 2000, people will still be talking about Jonas": well, they were right, it's 2020 and Jonas is still here!
