Canary Islands Walking - La Gomera and Tenerife

Absolutely loved La Gomera…wonderful views, great walking, in parts challenging (rocky uneven terrain), lots of ups & downs, so helps to have good knees and/or knee ointment if needed! I’ll echo previous reviews, plenty of layers to cope with variation in weather and altitude a must. Good variety of restaurants with lots of local fish dishes. Hotel was great… family owned, welcoming, simple, clean, copious breakfasts…..just a couple of minutes’ walk to the beach…perfect at the end of a day’s walking. Bert, our tour leader, regaled us with many interesting stories about the island(s) during the week. San Sebastián has plenty to explore on free day. Last day on Tenerife and walking around base of el Teide enjoyable, but not as interesting as La Gomera. On reflection would have preferred to get cable car and walk around the crater. Understand that options are limited for a one nighter on Tenerife, so hotel (big resort variety) served a purpose & was a bolt back to reality after the magic of La Gomera. Group was a wonderful mix of people, the majority of whom were travelling solo (10 in total including Bert)…..all meals enjoyed happily together. (Itinerary could do with a bit of updating as there were some variations/differences in a couple of sections).

Great holiday, good guide ( Bert) and fun group. For me La Gomera was the hi-light with wonderful walks. Last day on Tenerife my least favourite - a lot of travelling for limited walking time and hotel not to my taste.

Very enjoyable trip to La Gomera. Varied walks with a reasonable level of downhill. Special mention to the leader, David, who looked after us all very well, arranged meals out in the evenings for the group, and was very friendly and informative.

A great hiking trip on a beautifully rugged unspoiled island. The hotel (Torre del Conde) was very comfortable with an extensive breakfast buffet. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and organised. Bring layers and a wooly hat so you are prepared for cooler and damper conditions in the Garajonay National Park (cloud forest) and warmer conditions on the steep descents!

Dave was a truly excellent guide. The hotel was good but now with so, so many hiking tourists the breakfast period was totally over run making it difficult to fit in prep for hiking with grocery purchases for lunch.

David was one of the best leaders I have experienced with Explore. He was knowledgeable, keen and willing to go above and beyond the duties of the role. He knew the hike routes inside out and ensured the group both took care and enjoyed the walks. The main La Gomera hotel was well located but lacked a bar to wind down at the end of the day.

This was my first trip with Explore and I was very satisfied with the excellent guide, the variety of walks and the accommodation which was conveniently very centrally located in the delightful small city of San Sebastian and close to many good restaurants and the beach.

Some walks were uncomfortable for me as I have vertigo and this was not covered in the itinerary

This was a great trip: varied walking, epic vistas, lush vegetation and some really unusual geology. The main hotel in San Sebastian was really good: plentiful breakfasts and a spacious room/shower. The itinerary wasn't too long so there was time to return and freshen up before the evening activities. In this way we were lucky (well some thought so) to have a local festival on while we were there including the fab talcum powder night! We were also fortunate in having Mike as our leaser who was brilliant: so well-organised, knowledgeable and inclusive. Some people felt the walks were more than moderate and the surfaces, including a lot of descents can be a bit challenging - so don't do this tour if you're not fit or a competent walker (a common problem on these tours). Finally, can you simplify the reviewing process? Asking for one for Explore and another here for Feefo feels onerous :(