Northern Spain vacation vacation, wild seascapes

Planet

We only use transport where necessary, most of the time we prefer to travel on foot.

All of our service suppliers are informed of our responsible travel policy which is clearly visible on our website.

Out in the field
We encourage you to travel responsibly and to consider the following guidelines:

- When out in wild places we encourage you to keep erosion to a minimum, keep to footpaths and avoid stepping on or picking native flora.
- Protect the environment – its flora, fauna and landscapes. We encourage you to use water sparingly particularly often in Spain it is a precious and expensive commodity. Additionally avoid buying plastic bottles of water and use your own metal or heavy-duty plastic bottle such as Nalgene to refil with water from a safe source.
- River water could also be drinking water, do not contaminate water supplies by washing in it. Any washing products should be phosphate free.
- Respect local customs religion and traditions. Adhere to local dress codes.
- Carry out some research about your vacation destination and being able to speak a few words of the Spanish language is always appreciated.
- Don’t take photographs of local people and places of religious significance without permission.
- Keep promises! Send copies of photos to local people if this is what you have said you will do.
- Buy local products such as food and souvenirs so that money directly benefits the community.
- Minimize pollution, and carry out all litter.

Wherever possible we work electronically, we are totally web based and our paper use is minimal.

People

Knowing that tourism is an important source of income for the areas that we visit, our responsible travel policy demonstrates our active commitment to sustainable and responsible tourism. Our vacations visit places that are less frequented by tourists; both our departures to the area are outside the main tourist season so our economic contribution on both counts is especially welcome.

Our transport will be local and we always use small family run hotels, guesthouses, hostels and mountain refugios are used. Many of our connections with these local providers of accommodation and transport go back many years. For example Sante and Aurora own the family hotel that we use on our Picos trips, they grow their own vegetables which Aurora uses in her cooking for the hotel guests. Aurora and Sante still have deep connections with the land.

With an economy still dominated by farming and fishing, the northern provinces of Asturias and Galicia retain a way of life less evident in the more touristy parts of Spain. The Picos de Europa are particularly famous in Spain for the production of many different cheeses and other dairy products, and the coasts around Northern Spain provide abundant sea food so there is a huge variety of local food and drink available. Each day we buy fresh local produce to make picnic lunches. There is always an English speaking local guide with a wealth of local knowledge leading the vacation.