Italy Active and outdoor Trips

We really enjoyed Malta and Sicily trips. All guides at sites visited were v knowledgeable and informative; both tour leaders, Chantelle and Daniele, were enthusiastic and went to great lengths to make our trip the best possible, and we had some interesting and fun fellow travellers. Thanks very much.

We really enjoyed our recent cycling holiday trip to Puglia with Explore. Massimo, our Italian guide was extremely helpful and knowledgeable about each area we visited and made each day interesting. We would recommend this area and liked cycling with a lovely group of people, well done again Explore.

We were blessed with sunny weather and as it was towards the end of the main tourist season the roads. paths and ferries were not as busy. The walks were varied and as it was autumn the colours in the woods we walked through were stunning. We saw a lot of the local area from a variety of view points sometimes using a coach, bus or ferry to get to the starts of our walks. The leader Kristians Lunins was excellent, very professional. thorough, aware of the groups needs and responded to them. He kept us informed as to what was happening when and where, what we needed to take etc. Kristians was also great company. He made it be lovely memorable holiday to look back on in the winter months.

A fabulous holiday. The hotel overlooks mountains and the lake. Steep ascents and descents often on old mule tracks through ancient villages and forests give wonderful viewpoints to the lake below and the higher mountains above. Great use of buses and ferries to complete linear walks. The best leader I’ve ever had in over 20 walking holidays with 4 different companies.

Cycle Puglia was my first cycling holiday - despite being a cyclist for most of my life. I was pleasantly surprised in that I thoroughly enjoyed it, not least thanks to the efforts of our excellent guide, who was thoroughly professional. My one qualification is that next time I would check the mix of normal and ebikes beforehand on the tour, since beginners on ebikes and experienced riders on normal bikes are not a good mix - the two ride at a different pace and have differing priorities on the road. Despite this I had a good time, and think that we were very lucky with the members of our international group, who generally got on very well with each other. But perhaps the star of the tour was Puglia itself, which is a truly amazing place. From being a poor backwater of Italy only a few years ago, the region has begun to show off its incredible landscapes and food, and fast becoming popular. The people here are friendly and welcoming, and generally tolerant of obviously out-of-town cyclists. Even English is now widely spoken. Moral - go now before it becomes too known. NB. As our guide emphasised, cycling on the right is the right thing to do!

We greatly enjoyed our Lake Como trip with Explore. The trip leader, Kris, did a great job of guiding us, making sure we were fully briefed, and ensuring the group were all managing well. Kris provided a lot of local history and color as part of the walks. He was knowledgable and communicated very well. The hotel, The Regina, is very well situated on the shore of the lake, and affords some amazing vistas. The staff were friendly and helpful. The food was okay but not fine dining. The rooms were comfortable but lean towards spartan. The trip is rated level 3. Perhaps two of the walks were level 3; the others were level 2. The walks blend time on trails and paths with time on roads going past homes and through small towns. All the walks include lovely views of Lake Como and the surrounding Southern Alps. You will need to count on time waiting for public busses as you go to and sometimes return from daily outings. It's good to have a lower impact on the environment but can be tedious and requires careful timing to ensure busses are not missed. Overall, this was an enjoyable hiking / walking trip with great scenery and expert guidance.