Traditions of a bygone era are still alive in the rustic villages found throughout Spain. Many of our most authentic travel experiences are discovered well away from the major cities and tourist centres. The best way to uncover the true essence of these quintessential Spanish landscapes and cultures is on a walking holiday. Spain’s architectural heritage from centuries of Moorish influence remains strong in Andalucia, seen most famously at the Alhambra in Granada and in the flat roofed, white washed villages and ancient irrigation channels of the Alpujarras.
The Spanish mainland is blessed with many dramatic walking areas, including Aragon with its high canyon lands and forests. Rugged and still remote Catalonia, with its lively cosmopolitan capital Barcelona and the striking rock pinnacles of Montserrat, is another rewarding region to explore on foot. The southern flank of the Pyrenees forms the backdrop to the ancient volcanic ridges of Garrotxa and leads towards the Vermillion Coast, where the mountains drop sharply into the Mediterranean at the French border. If mountains are what inspire you most, one of our Pyrenees walking holidays will be an ideal choice.
In the far south, the flanks of the Sierra Nevada provide the setting for rewarding walks in the Alpujarras, a landscape of rolling hills that still carries the imprint of its 700 years of Moorish history. For a gentler pace, an easier walking holiday reveals the charms of the little visited Sierra de Aracena in the far south west.
Spain also includes the Mediterranean Balearic Islands, where exceptional walking awaits in Majorca’s Serra de Tramuntana. Here you can follow superb coastal and mountain paths high above the sea, visiting Soller, Deia and Valldemossa, each rich in history and literary associations.
In the Atlantic lie the subtropical Canary Islands, including Tenerife and the volcanic island of La Gomera, whose dramatic hillsides and deep ravines have inspired many walkers to return again and again.