Guided walking vacations in Europe

Going on a guided walking vacation in Europe is like going undercover. Your guide sneaks you into towns like Amalfi at 10am, before the coach groups arrive, or through vertiginous backstreets that the locals use as shortcuts. They’ll suggest the least busy beach and footpaths worn by farmers leading their pack mules full of supplies up from town.

“Amalfi’s always crowded because you have one main road going into the town,” says Vania. “But as soon as you take these little roads down the side… you see another town. It’s a completely different place and it’s quiet.”

“When we first approach locals about guiding they’re a bit nervous, because it’s not a touristy area where we are, so English doesn’t come that easily. But we tell them, ‘You can do it!’ and they get by… They’re full of enthusiasm and fantastic local knowledge – they know the plants, the wildlife, the geology, the local history. They’ve always got anecdotes to tell. They’ve got all this, and they get it across; people find it fascinating. They give you the kinds of things that you’d never find in the guidebooks.”

“It’s interesting,” says Simon, “because people think geology is a bit of a boring, yawny subject, but actually when you’re in the mountains and you’re seeing it, and you’re walking on it, it brings it all to life and you have a totally different concept of it by the time you’ve left.”

“Especially when you’re hiking about 2,000m above sea level,” adds Lucy, “and then you just bend down and pick up some fossils, and you say, ‘Look! These were under the sea before.’”

While you’re concerned with stepping over tree roots and getting used to your hiking poles, your guide is busy checking the treetops for golden eagle eyries or ready to steer you down a near-invisible path. Your guide will teach you how to look for little signs of life that you’d otherwise miss: farmers opening the gates and letting their goats flow down the mountain; bear and wolf tracks; the outline of a ghost village that tells a tale of the exodus of people from the countryside. You just need to come with an open mind, ready to absorb the experiences.

Guides are also guardians of the places you visit and that they love. Walks often take you through delicate and scientifically significant terrain. You might hike the precious national parks squeezed between some of the most trampled towns on the Amalfi Coast, quietly follow bear tracks in the Carpathians, or pick over the delicate paths of the Picos de Europa.

Up close, your guides will show you how these fragile environments are changing thanks to the climate and human activities. They’ll teach you how to leave as small a bootprint as possible by showing you how to avoid puddles without eroding the footpath and pointing out near-invisible patches of wildflowers to step over.

Tougher walks are led by guides with more training, such as high mountain guides equipped with safety training that they can then share with you. Ana Rodriguez Garcia is the founder of Peak Me, and runs some of our Spanish language and walking vacations. Many of her guests choose to hike the little-known Picos de Europa in their spare hours between lessons. It can be challenging terrain, but accessible to most with a pep talk from a guide.

“One of the hikes you can do has one of the highest bridges,” says Ana. “It’s climbing for non-climbers; anyone can do it if you have a head for heights. Our guides are brilliant – they can get anyone across the bridge.”

The guides know best, so they often create the routes from scratch. Michelle Braddock, from our Canary Islands experts Lanzarote Retreats, asked a local guide to design a walk that explored the island from north to south.

“He’s from Barcelona, but he’s absolutely passionate about Lanzarote, so he’s a brilliant guide to walk with,” says Michelle. “He spent a long time getting this perfect route down the island. It’s such an achievement when we get down to the south coast… you’re seeing all the wildlife and a side of the island that no one sees. We’ve walked through villages and I’ve gone, ‘I don’t even know where that is,’ and I’ve been here for nearly 30 years and it’s a small place.”