Europe National parks Trips

I had a brilliant winter walking holiday in La Gomera — fab scenery, great routes, and nice meals in the evenings. Swimming in the Atlantic after a January walk felt pretty special! This was my first trip with Explore and I was really impressed. From booking to the end of the holiday. The group (16 of us) was lovely and our leader, Roccío, was outstanding — friendly, organised, looked after everyone, spoke impeccable English and was good fun! Explore, she's a keeper! I also liked that meals weren’t included but we often chose to eat together, with the freedom to order what we wanted. For swimmers, you can walk to the beach for a swim in the Atlantic after a walk. Hotel Torre del Conde in La Gomera was good — I upgraded to a quieter park-view room which was worth it. Some have questioned the return to Tenerife the day before the end of the holiday- without it we wouldn't have had the walk in the foothills of Mount Teide foothills which I thought was spectacular! The final night hotel in Tenerife at the Grand Muthu Golf was the only downside, ostentatious lobby and self awarded 5 stars but poor rooms and I'd rate it a 2 star given that the La Gomera hotel was a 3 star and so much better. Explore, you need to look for alternatives? My room was pretty rough and in need of significant TLC, but it was just one night, we didn't arrive until 7 for a quick turnaround, dinner, bar, bed. And I had a swim in the pool pre breakfast and the breakfast itself was fine. Overall, a fabulous, much-needed sunshine walking break. I’d definitely travel with Explore again!

Best described as excellent. The only comment I would make is that travel agents should be given better information on the details - e.g. airport transfers were included in the package - they thought we would have to make our own way to the start hotel and return to the airport at the end.

The trip we experienced with Goran, our guide was amazing! He was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and, and professional. Our bus driver Lucas was professional and friendly. We saw amazing sights including the waterfalls in their partially frozen state, the snow-covered mountains, seascapes, the Blue Lagoon, the incredible lava flow adventure, and of course the amazing Northern Lights! For those of us needing the unique adventure was the tasting of Greenland shark with a shot of Brennevin. One word of caution though, the water in your hotel rooms will have a sulfur odor. All-in-all a great experience.

Excellent trip over Christmas week 2025. La Gomera is a lovely, peaceful, rural island for walking with delicious food as well (and large portions of it!). The walking is reasonably varied with a bit of up and down, but not really demanding. I wish I had taken my poles as some of the downhill after rain was quite muddy albeit nothing serious. Our tour leader, Bert Palmen, was a superb host, guide and organiser and very funny! Strongly recommend this trip.

A really enjoyable time spent on a beautiful island with a lovely group of people. The walking was quite strenuous as it was mostly climbing up or climbing down but our group leader Bert was very knowledgeable and excellent at managing the whole group so that everyone was happy and safe. It was lovely to be sat in a Square surrounded by palm trees on a warm and sunny Christmas Day having a drink after a day’s walking and it was good to finish with a trip to Mount Teide on Tenerife as we had seen its snow covered peak from La Gomera all week.

The itinerary offered a good variety of walks and the tour leader Burt was interesting and entertaining with a lot of local knowledge. La Gomera is a lovely place, much more authentic than the busy resorts on many of the other Canary islands