Every week our Holiday Hero Neil Simpson takes an in-depth look at a brilliant holiday topic, doing all the legwork so you don’t have to. This week, walking holidays for the first time.
Enjoy fresh air, wide-open spaces and beautiful landscapes when you walk holidays.
However, what if you have to carry a large backpack while you climb up massive hills?
Treviso (above) is one of the Italian towns that walkers visit on the Walking The Prosecco Hills tour with Exodus Travel
Those days are over. Nowadays first-time walkers don’t need to be particularly fit or spend money on a back-breaking rucksack to enjoy them.
Holidays can be based at one hotel, with daily walks to local beauty spots. Some routes take you to another hotel, your bag being transported along the way as you walk.
The distance of the trip will vary, and it is usually rated as easy or difficult. A small group tour, with a guide available 24/7, is also possible. Self-guided tours allow you to follow your own route and get all the details daily.
Exodus Travel offers the Walking The Prosecco Hills trip, which is very close to the easier end. It’s a small group trip starting north of Venice. For seven nights guests will stay in one hotel. During the day, they’ll be joined by a guide who leads them on walking tours to famous Italian towns like Treviso and Asolo. Lunches can be eaten outdoors in vineyards or wine-tastings will be included. From £1,349pp plus flights.
Exodus Travel’s seven-night Sicilian Volcanoes holiday offers walks round active Mount Etna (pictured)
Or pick the firm’s seven-night Sicilian Volcanoes holiday, starting in Catania. It’s a self-guided tour with an early highlight being walks round active Mount Etna. Also included are hydrofoil rides to the nearby ‘black pearl’ volcanic islands of Stromboli and Lipari, where you walk across rocky beaches and dried lava fields. From £1,379pp plus flights (exodus.co.uk).
A Channel Islands seven-night tour allows you to island hop closer to your home.
This tour begins in Jersey and takes you to tranquil coves, golden beaches and the most beautiful of the Caribbean. Next it will take you to Guernsey where your can explore the subtropical garden. Then it’s on to the car-free island of Sark to walk along La Coupee, the clifftop footpath leading to Little Sark.
With Macs Adventure, step out and walk La Coupee along the footpath on the cliffs leading to Little Sark.
From £960pp plus flights (macsadventure.com).
Ramblers Holidays is a great option if you are unsure about how far it will take to walk each day. Many of the company’s itineraries include regular opt-out points where you can take short cuts to the end of the day’s route.
A top choice is the seven-night Emerald Coast tour of northern Portugal – one of the quietest, greenest corners of the country. From £985pp, including flights to Porto (ramblersholidays.co.uk).
Muddy Boots Holidays provides self-guided holiday options in the Yorkshire Dales, including a trip to Aysgarth Fall (pictured).
Inn Travel’s three-night Heart Of The Tyrol holiday in Austria offers a choice of daily walks. The shorter option takes you through charming villages on the banks of Lake Achensee, before taking you back by boat. A second option allows walkers to reach a top of a mountain by cable car before returning to their hotel to relax at the spa. From £660pp excluding flights (inntravel.co.uk).
While most walking tours companies like Explore, Inghams and Responsible Travel offer many holiday options, smaller local operators are worth looking into.
Muddy Boots Holidays, based in the Yorkshire Dales offers self-guided holiday options, such as a three-night Boutique Wensleydale Tour staying at country inns, and visiting Aysgarth falls. From £400pp (muddybootswalkingholidays.com).
Trek along the shores of Lake Achensee, pictured, with Inn Travel’s three-night Heart Of The Tyrol holiday