Sierra Nevada and Granada walking vacation in Spain

Planet

Activity:
Few vacations have as little detrimental impact on the environment and local residents as a walking trip. Erosion on and adjacent to popular paths is a growing problem in certain places and therefore our trip leaders encourage clients to stick to advised routes in order to minimise this. We do believe in leaving no more than footprints, although this tour actively encourages guests to talk to local people, visit local cafes, use small businesses to purchase traditional gifts and crafts and get a real impression of the Sierra Nevada. We have the chance to explore several towns and villages and rural locations where our commerce has a really positive impact.

Water:
Water is a really important issue with active trips and whilst we must stay hydrated, it is also vital that we have a system for providing clean water without causing lots of waste with plastic bottles. We suggest that instead of repeatedly buying bottled water, guests should re-fill a singular bottle. Our guides can advise where to fill them and where to recycle any litter.

UK office
It all starts at home so we have first worked at reducing our carbon footprint in our UK offices. Through energy conservation measures and recycling policies in place, we are proud to be actively reducing the waste produced and our impact on the environment. We support various projects all over the world to try and give something back to the places we visit.

Group size
We operate small group tours that have a low impact on the communities we visit and we always ensure our operations do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people. This allows us to stay in unique and characterful accommodation that would not have benefitted from tourism due to their limited size.

People

Community:
We suppport the community by using local businesses in the region. We use a locally-owned transport company for transfers and we stay in a relatively unknown area of Spain, so we are providing income to an area that would usually not benefit from tourism. On day 5 we visit the white village of Trevelez that is famous for the quality of its world-renowned Jamon Serrano. Whilst we are in the village of Trevelez, there will shopping opportunities and a chance to sample the ham at its source that will help support the local community and businesses.
Accommodation and Meals:

We base ourselves for 6 nights in the old rural town of Berchules, which dates back 800 years to when the Moors first cultivated the farmland that surrounds the town. On this trip we spend 6 nights in the family-run Hotel Los Berchules, where all the hotel food is homemade from locally produced and sourced goods and meals are accompanied by a good selection of local and other regional Spanish wines. The hotel is set in a spectacular location overlooking the mountains and valleys of the Sierra Nevada and the hotel gardens are well stocked with many interesting flowers and shrubs, tomato plants and a small almond grove. Guests who arrive in October, when the almonds are ready to harvest, are welcome to pick their own.