Spain hiking vacation, Walking in blossom

Planet

The hotel we use on this vacation is Alqueira De Morayma set in its own grounds and has an organic farm attached to it where they produce their own olive oil, wine and St Johns Wort oil. This is all done using as much solar power as possible. The rooms are part powered by solar power and wind power and built in the traditional Alpujarran way.
Our vacations have a very strong focus on nature and the environment and we spend a lot of time in local nature reserves. Guests are made aware of the unique flora and fauna and we talk specifically about endangered species and reintroduction efforts. We focus our guests attention on local efforts to preserve flora and fauna and we like to think our vacations significantly contribute to raising awareness of the Spanish mountain environment.

We do everything we can to reduce carbon emissions from transport by encouraging guests to travel by train. We minimise our pick-ups by grouping people together. We also make a concerted effort to reduce transport during activity days by offering as many local walks as possible and with at least one 'transport-free day'.

People

This vacation has a strong focus on the local culture. We discuss how people lived in the past, how the Sierra Nevada and Alpujarras valleys got depopulated and we try to encourage discussion about and understanding of the local history. We discuss the varied and interesting history. We also visit a small museum which houses old artefacts from the local area and gives a great idea of how people farmed and lived in times gone by. We visit the unspoilt villages of the region and have lunch in the local bars where possible, this is a good way of giving money back to the local community.

Where possible we employ local staff and make use of local services. We encourage our guests to visit the local markets and make use of local activity providers while on our vacations. A large proportion of the income derived from our vacations goes directly into the local community and we try to ensure that this is directed to small, local businesses.