SOME IDEAS FOR YOUR TRIP

Trip length:  Seven to ten total days seems to work best. This usually means five to eight days of activity, with one day on each end for travel or cultural visits. But if you want a longer or shorter trip just ask.

Time of year:  Mid April to mid October, usually avoiding most of July and August due to temperatures and vacation crowds. Selecting destinations within this time frame will usually mean good weather and relatively uncrowded trails or roads.  Absolute best times for walking and biking in most of the country: May to mid-June and most of September. 

Suggested difficulty level:  Walking: About 6-12 miles (usually 7-9 miles) with less than 1640 ft (about 500 mtrs) accumulated ascent, mixture of dirt roads and paths, no important technical difficulties, altitude usually under 4,200 ft (about 1500 mtrs), sometimes up to 6,500 ft (about 2,000 mtrs) for short periods.  Notes: Trail maintenance is less frequent in Spain than other parts of the world, so some paths may have some loose rock, tree roots, vegetation at the sides of the path or other minor difficulties. Sometimes distances may be longer, like parts of the Road of St. James, especially if terrain is flatter or villages to break up the day so distances seem shorter.  Biking: 30-40 miles (50-60 kms aprox) for base distance, most days with loops to add distance. Terrain can vary widely; please advise whether you want a relatively flat ride or a challenge. Note: For biking we suggest working one of two ways: either choose destination and take what terrain that destination offers (tweaking to your preferences where possible)   OR   deciding difficulty level (easy to challenging) and time of year, then selecting a destination based on that.

We suggest moderate difficulty to allow time to enjoy the scenery and culture - after all, if you spend most of your day on the trail or on your bike, you won't have much time to enjoy being in Spain.

Mixture activity and culture:  Just being in another country is a cultural experience. You can see different ways of life, different kinds of people, popular architecture, a great bakery or "minor" cultural sights like castles or village churches (many of which are not in the mainline guidebooks), all of which will seem more special and more "yours" if you discover them while walking or biking - we suggest moderate difficulty so you will have time to soak all this up.    

If you would like to see classic cultural destinations while on your trip, please ask. Some of our trips are near wonderful places (Madrid, Salamanca, Barcelona, Girona, Santiago de Compostela....) and we can often arrange a guided visit or some free time to see a place on your own.

Opportunities for multi-activity trips:  In some areas we can arrange a change of pace: water sports, biking on a walking trip or walking on a biking trip, etc. Please ask if you are interested.