Europe Walking Trips

My husband and I had the most amazing honeymoon on the Simply Italy Contiki tour. Our guide and driver were amazing! With it being off-peak season in January we had a smaller group size and major tourist attractions were much quieter. This tour had a full itinerary and was a beautiful way to discover all of Italy. I recommend adding the “Free-Time Add Ons”. These were reasonable in price, and provided us with opportunities to do unique activities. Even though it was our honeymoon, we made so many friends and enjoyed hanging out with the entire group. We are so excited to book another Contiki tour in the near future!

This was our first Explore! trip. The guide was local and extremely knowledgable. We were very well looked after. Everyone bonded very quickly and we met some lovely people. The accommodation was good, last hotel excellent, and transport arranged with no hitches. Will book another trip, for sure.

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!

Excellent but challenging hiking tour of Gran Canaria. Never expected such beauty. We were lucky to have excellent weather throughout the trip and the island had heavy rain in the fall making for an unusually green landscape. The six hikes were each a bit different as far as terrain and environment and all were wonderful. Our tour leader was very knowledgeable and experienced and always attentive. David was very organized and clear. As per the itinerary, we covered a lot of ground, averaging over 8 miles each day. Elevation gains and losses were significant so could be a struggle if one isn’t in good shape. The paths frequently had loose cobble, rough surfaces and slippery spots so one had to pay attention at all times. We had a great group and everyone seemed to get along very well making this one of my favorite Explore trips. I look forward to going to others of the Canary Islands.

An absolutely fantastic tour! Everything was so well organised, with great breakfast options at most places and some delicious lunches and dinners included — which made everything easy and stress-free. The guides were amazing: super knowledgeable, genuinely caring, and by the end felt like close friends. We had the best time, made unforgettable memories, and couldn’t recommend this tour more! Oumaima, our guide was wonderful — so knowledgeable, spoke English really well and always happy to answer our many questions. Most importantly, they truly cared about our safety and wellbeing, which made us feel relaxed and confident the whole time.

Having really enjoyed the Explore hiking trip on La Gomera in January 2025, we came back for more on Gran Canaria in January 2026. The hotel in the casco historico of sleepy Aguimes was charming, albeit the breakfasts were rather basic and the double beds only 1.40m wide (we are used to 2m at home!). In contrast, the hotel in Altea lacked a certain charm, but had a super bed and a terrific breakfast. Our very affable and multi-lingual Explore leader, Brian, ensured some good extra activities (eg making goat’s cheese) and gave the group plenty of options for the free day. We rested our knees on this free day and went to the excellent Bodega Los Berrazales, a wine and coffee finca, in the Agaete valley as well as visiting, briefly before it had really woken up, Puerto de las Nieves; Brian’s information on the punctual but not very frequent public buses was spot on for this non hiking jaunt). The astronomy talk over one of the dinners at a farm outside Aguimes was a bit comical with half the slides in Spanish and an astronomer with shaky English. Dinners were not included in the tour but Brian always arranged dinners at interesting restaurants. He was at pains to describe aspects of Canarian history, culture and geology throughout the tour. The Museo Guayadque in the Guayadque Ravine (Gorge?) was fascinating. For me, also as a keen student of the Spanish language and all things Hispanic, these were just as important as purely the hiking. The hiking, and the views the hikes offered, were indeed pretty spectacular. We may have been lucky with the weather with a lot of sun at a very pleasant temperature. Apparently it had rained quite a bit the week before, so a number of areas were quite verdant. Described as moderate, the terrain, both in terms of sharp volcanic rockiness as well as steepness, both up and down, was quite tough for non-regular hikers, such as me, a 64 year old (albeit twice a week gym goer).