Picos de Europa National Park

This was my favourite Explore trip to date - have done 4 other walking holidays with Explore. The scenery was fantastic, very pleasant group of fellow walkers and wonderful guide Juan Jose -, for whom nothing was too much trouble. Food in hotel plentiful and very tasty. Visit to Potes was very enjoyable. The walking could be challenging in parts but you were met with stunning scenery and the weather for October was great. Visit to cheese cave also very interesting and Juan is a wealth of knowledge on the area - walks and local economy. If you enjoy hiking - I strongly recommend

Loved everything about this trip. Tour guide Juan-Jose organised everything so well and also took the time to socialise with us during his free time which helped the bond as a group. Scenery was beautiful and the walking was about the level I expected - no walk was particularly challenging in itself but over the week as a whole, the cumulative effect probably put it on the harder end of the moderate scale. If people wanted to miss a day out, that was not a problem (which is the benefit of a centre-based trip). We were very lucky with the weather in late-October - but can't guarantee that every time!

First, the Picos de Europa are stunning mountains, with beautiful beech forests on the lower slopes. But the logistics of walking are complicated because there are very few roads. The great thing about this tour is that the itinerary is designed to overcome those logistical challenges. The tour guide has been leading tours for 35 years and is passionate about the mountains and the paths. He and his family run the small hotel where the tour is based. The hotel is clean and simple, and the food is very good. The guide's detailed knowledge of the mountains meant that he was able to make rapid adjustments if the weather required it. Some of the walks are demanding, but all of them present awesome vistas. I thoroughly enjoyed the week and would definitely recommend it.

As usual (for the third time!) most wonderful scenic walks, warm welcoming guide and family, lovely Asturian food, comfortable accommodation. Will be back "home" again next year. Thank you JuanJo and family.

I must like the Picos, and Sotres in particular, as this was my third visit to Casa Cipriano and Juan Jo and his amazing family. It won't be my last stay in my happy place. Juan Jo's local knowledge informs his guiding of each day's walking allowing them to be tailored to the group's collective and individual abilities. I look forward to sharing the 'hills' and the bar with new companions in 2026. Thanks Juan Jo and Sonia for another marvellous holiday.

The week was fun. The hikes were significant in intensity. The people in my group were great. The host and his wife were wonderful. I hope anybody that goes on this trip gets to see a cloudless sky from up in the mountains like I did. You can't really capture that in a picture.