From wandering through wineries to mountain treks, Joanna Booth finds hikes for all levels of fitness.
When it comes to walking holidays, there’s nothing more important than picking the right pace.
Clients who like a gentle stroll won’t want to feel like they’re holding others back, whereas the super-fit will be keen to have their abilities stretched.
Most operators grade the physical activity levels of their trips, and this useful shorthand is a good starting point. Then look in more depth at detailed trip notes, taking into account daily walking distances, ascents and any rest days offered.
“Offer alternatives to oversubscribed routes such as the Inca Trail, or check out each operator’s summit success rate for peaks, including Kilimanjaro.”
For those who fear their fitness levels may not match others’, consider centre-based holidays where clients can easily take a day off the walking when they wish, or trips where, alongside the guide, there is a ‘backmarker’ – someone whose job it is to check that no one gets left behind. Saga offers this service on many of its walking tours.
Fitter, more experienced walkers will tend to have a good handle on their abilities, so your role in determining the right trip may be slightly different. Offer alternatives to oversubscribed routes such as the Inca Trail, or check out each operator’s summit success rate for peaks, including Kilimanjaro.
Find inspiration for every ability below. Prices include international flights, except when specified.
Easy
With relaxed, self-guided walking and stays in boutique hotels, Headwater’s eight-night Chablis Vineyards Walk, from £1,249, is a trip with no hint of roughing it. The route meanders past chateaux and villages, through woodland, wheat fields, and – of course – vineyards. Clients can make the most of Headwater’s wine collection service and stop off for a tasting en route.
Saga’s Walking in Crete trip, from £1,222, includes plenty of downtime, with just five easy guided walks through the rural and coastal scenery of Greece’s largest island scheduled during a two-week stay in a four-star all-inclusive hotel in Hersonissos.
Similarly, Shearings Holidays’ Walking in Austria, from £609, offers a manageable three guided walks over nine days. It takes the sting out of the steep Tyrolean Alps by mainly choosing pretty, level routes through valleys and gorges, or by having a gondola take guests to the mountaintop.
“The route meanders past chateaux and villages, through woodland, wheat fields, and – of course – vineyards.”
The three guided walks included in Solos’ seven-night Trails and Truffles tour of Umbria, from £1,709, are a great excuse to make the most of the cooking classes, wine tastings and long lunches woven into the itinerary. For something a little more strenuous, opt for Exodus’s eight-day Walking the Prosecco Hills, which includes five days of walking – plus eating and drinking – with one free day, from £1,269.
Walking trips aren’t just for adults, as HF Holidays’ Family Walking Holidays demonstrate. Trips are all based around stays at country-house hotels, with up to four guided walks of varying difficulties – usually from three miles to 13 miles – on offer each day. On the seven-night Family Walking Adventure at Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight, starting from £899 (free for under-11s), walks visit beaches, castles and windmills.
On Leger’s Walking the Somme tour, travelling on foot through the battlefields with an expert guide gives clients a unique perspective on the experience of the soldiers whose boots trod this ground during the First World War. A five-day trip starts from £599.
Moderate
The American West’s iconic landscapes are all too often viewed from inside a vehicle. Grand American Adventures’ 11-day National Parks Walks tour sets clients free to explore them on foot. The trip, which starts from £1,674, includes hikes on the rim and into the belly of the Grand Canyon, through Monument Valley with a Navajo guide, and up close to the swooping rock formations in Arches National Park.
New Zealand is similarly fertile hiking territory. Regional specialist Silver Fern Holidays can weave iconic routes, including the Milford Track or Tongariro Crossing, into any tailor-made itinerary. The operator suggests a five-day, 44-mile walk along the Queen Charlotte Walkway through the bush and coastline of the Marlborough Sounds for mid-level abilities. This trip, including hotel stays with dinner, bed and breakfast and guiding, but excluding flights, starts from £895.
“You might expect trekking in the Andes to be tough, but Bolivia’s Choro Trail can appeal to moderate walkers too – it’s mostly downhill.”
Last year saw the launch of the Jordan Trail, a 400-mile trek from the country’s north to south. It takes a biblical 40 days to complete it all, but On The Go Tours offers an eight-day, guided walk along one of its most popular stretches. The Dana to Petra Trek, priced £1,175, takes in shaded gorges and dramatic desert to approach the rose-red city from the opposite direction of most other tourists.
To really escape the crowds, suggest Explore’s eight-day Hiking in the Caucasus, from £1,099. Travellers will discover the Svaneti region of Georgia, hiking through thick forests, ascending snow-capped peaks and staying in remote villages in simple, family-run guesthouses, allowing them to interact with the local community.
You might expect trekking in the Andes to be tough, but Bolivia’s Choro Trail can appeal to moderate walkers too – it’s mostly downhill. Moving from high-altitude La Paz along rock passes with looming icy crags, through cloud forest down to tropical plantations in the approach to the Amazon, it passes through an extraordinary range of scenery. Journey Latin America includes this trek on its 18-day Hiking and Trekking Tour of Peru and Bolivia, which starts from £2,781 excluding international flights.
Challenging
Climbing Kilimanjaro is on the bucket list for many serious walkers, but it’s a tough trek. The Kilimanjaro Park says the average summit success rate on the different routes is between 40% and 75%, but on G Adventures’ five tours, between 88% and 97% of clients reach the peak. Choose the popular Marangu Route for the chance to stay in mountain huts, rather than camp, or the slightly longer Rongai Route for a gentler ascent. The former, a seven-day trek, starts from £1,556 land-only.
The popularity of Peru’s Inca Trail means not only is Machu Picchu itself packed with crowds, but the traditional access route is busy too. KE Adventure Travel offers a worthy alternative for serious trekkers on its Choquequirao to Machu Picchu, a 13-day hiking trip starting from £2,165. The Choquequirao Inca fortress rivals its more famous cousin for size and splendour, and being more remote and challenging to access, it can be explored in relative solitude. Then this long-distance trek heads for Machu Picchu, so clients can compare the two.
“Choose the popular Marangu Route for the chance to stay in mountain huts, rather than camp, or the slightly longer Rongai Route for a gentler ascent.”
Follow paths much less well known to western tourists and try trekking in Japan. InsideAsia Tours launched the 16-night, self-guided Honshu Hiking itinerary this year, including a day hike up Mount Takao just outside Tokyo, plus multi-day treks along the Nakasendo samurai route and the Kumana Kodo pilgrimage trail, linking three grand shrines. Staying in hotels, ryokans and family-run inns, the trip starts from £2,630 excluding international flights.
Challenging mountains can be found closer to home. Morocco’s highest peak is one of Intrepid Travel’s most popular hikes, with its Mount Toubkal Trek showing 65% growth year on year. The eight-day tour, from £425 excluding flights, bookends the three‑day hike to the ‘roof of North Africa’, where views on a good day stretch from the Sahara to the sea, with time to explore vibrant Marrakech.
New to Tucan Travel’s hiking programme is a trek on Corsica’s GR20, considered the toughest long-distance trail in Europe. The GR refers to the French term for ‘long hike’, but its Corsican name Fra Li Monti, or ‘through the mountains’, holds just as true. Clients stay in dormitory accommodation, and days will involve four to nine hours of hiking through spectacular mountain scenery.
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