The Wayfarers | Walking Vacations, Travel, Adventures

Austria - Innsbruck to Salzburg

Experience the essence of the Alps with this colorful trip through Austria, exploring some of Europe's most panoramic landscapes.

Starting with the famous sporting sights of Innsbruck, we journey through alpine forests and traditional villages, across flower-strewn meadows with views of snowy mountain peaks. We travel in cable cars and on mountain railways; we hear Tyrolean music and sample the hearty local cooking, explore magnificent palaces and walk the shores of the dramatic Schwarzsee, or Black Lake.

A popular highlight is the chance to see the Von Trapp family home in Salzburg, setting for the iconic film, The Sound of Music.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Austria, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: June
FROM: $3895
DURATION: 7 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Luxury Walking Vacations - Austria Innsbruck to Salzburg

Croatia - The Dalmatian Coast

Croatia's historic walled city, Dubrovnik, is the starting point for this eight-day journey through one of Europe's most diverse and beautiful countries.

Following paths through cypress woods and medieval towns, we explore Croatia's sleepy harbor towns and villages, and the milk-white limestone buildings that recall a bygone Mediterranean. We discover ancient monasteries and cathedrals, meander along rambling streets and through dramatic gorges.

A highlight of this Walk is the private boat-trip from the foot of Vidova Gora Mountain, which takes us to a secluded terrace restaurant overlooking the sea where we dine on fresh fish caught that morning.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Croatia, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: June, September, October
FROM: From $3,995
DURATION: 8 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Walking Vacation in Croatia including Dubrovnik and Split

Czech Republic - Vienna to Prague

Discover the modern spirit of the new Czech Republic against the historic landscape of one of Europe's oldest countries.

Crossing the border from Austria, we discover a land of rural villages rich in folklore and tradition, wooded hills, rare flowers and tranquil lakes. We marvel at Baroque architecture and meander through majestic landscaped parkland.

We explore the unspoilt town of Cesky Krumlov and sample the beer in one of the oldest breweries in Europe.

Our trip ends in the vibrant capital city of Prague, where we walk the famous Charles Bridge and visit Prague Castle, the largest ancient castle in the world.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Czech Republic, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: June, July, September
FROM: $3,995
DURATION: 8 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Luxury Walking Vacations in Czech Republic - Vienna to Prague

Wales - Pembrokeshire Coast

Poetry and motion are the key words for this new Welsh walk that blends literature and landscape in a novel format.

After days of varied but always breathtaking scenery on parts of the 186-mile Pembrokeshire coast path we dine with Gillian Clarke, the Welsh Poet Laureate whose award-winning works have been inspired by local land and seascapes.

The coast path offers great variety from rugged cliff tops to sheltered coves, spacious beaches and lazy estuaries, while the hand of Man is evident in a 5000-year-old New Stone Age cromlech and, in contrast, the national cathedral of Wales in St Davids.

Literary associations continue with a final-day visit to Dylan Thomas' boathouse on the Teifi Estuary.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: England, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: July, August
FROM: $3995.00
DURATION: 7 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Walking Vacation in Wales

England - Pentillie Castle

Live like a Lord and join us for six sumptuous nights at Pentillie, reserved exclusively for The Wayfarers. The elegantly restored Pentillie Castle (built 1698) on the banks of the Tamar River, which forms the border between Devon and Cornwall, provides a springboard for visiting the pick of the best features in both counties.

The week encompasses a tour of historic Plymouth (Pilgrim Fathers, Spanish Armada), coastal walking, wild walking on atmospheric Dartmoor (home of the Hound of the Baskervilles) and a visit to a former home of Sir Francis Drake. Gentler coastal estates include Tudor Cotehele with its own quay and stewpond, Mount Edgcumbe with its Grade I Cornish gardens, and Antony which was used recently as the filmset for "Alice in Wonderland" starring Johnny Depp.

There are options every day - to walk in the mornings only and return to Pentillie after lunch to relax in its calming splendor, fascinating visits or more walking each afternoon. It's a week of walking a la carte!

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: England, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: September, October
FROM: $3995.00
DURATION: 7 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Luxury Walking Vacations - South West England

England - Suffolk Coast & Cambridge

Landscapes that leap from the palettes of John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough, idyllic English villages, and medieval churches will fully repay the explorer walking by lazy streams, over gentle undulations, salt marshes, and shingle shores beneath Suffolk's open skies.

We visit Aldeburgh, home for many years of composer Benjamin Britten and of the eponymous international music festival. We walk in a national nature reserve and step back in time in villages of half-timbered homes and moated manor houses.

A river trip takes us from Orford with its 12th century castle built by King Henry II, while one of the highlights is the farewell dinner in one of the noted College Dining Halls of Cambridge University.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: England, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: July
FROM: $3895
DURATION: 7 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Luxury Walking Vacations in Suffolk & Cambridge

France & Spain - Le Pays Basque

Ideally situated in the South West of France and North West of Spain at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains and on the Atlantic seaboard, the Basque-country has kept its superb natural environment, unspoiled and jealously guarded by its proud inhabitants.

The coastal paths meander beside endless stretches of golden sand, in sight of the Atlantic surf. The untamed beauty of this wild coast is interspersed with sophisticated Basque cities with their heady mix of port and beach life. On the mountainside, the pretty villages and farms nestle in green valleys surrounded by open slopes and a semi-wild landscape.

The origins of the Basques remain shrouded in mystery but the songs, festivals, local sport, distinctive regional cuisine and folklore reveal a unique history and strong cultural identity where they still speak the oldest living language in Europe.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: France, Spain, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: May, October
FROM: $3,995
DURATION: 7 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Walking Vacation in Le Pays Basque region of France and Spain

France - The Historic Dordogne

Discover 15,000 years of French history as we walk the Dordogne, one of France's most beautiful and unspoilt regions.

Setting off from Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, where 'Cro-Magnon man', one of the earliest modern humans, was first discovered, we explore an ancient world of caves, historic castles, lush farmland and elegant châteaux. We take a boat along the Dordogne River, visit cliff-side villages, dine in majestic surroundings and wonder at the perfectly preserved prehistoric cave paintings of Grottes de Font-de-Gaume.

We also visit Les Milandes, former home of 1930s music-hall queen, Josephine Baker, where we enjoy lunch and a display of falconry.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: France, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: June, September
FROM: $3,895
DURATION: 7 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Walking Vacations in France's Perigord Region

France - Cezanne's Provence

Discover the color and radiance that inspired the Impressionist masters Cézanne, Van Gogh, Monet and Matisse. Brilliant blues of sky and water, dazzling flower fields and groves showered in sunshine where the Muses are still heard by a thriving creative community. We walk through cherry orchards and gentle hills, explore dramatic limestone gorges, and follow packhorse trails past towering medieval châteaux. Taking a winding path through woods and vineyards, we reach the Marquis de Sade's picturesque village of Lacoste. Then, heady scents of rosemary, cedar and thyme accompany us to old Ménerbes. We visit a wine grower and taste the Luberon wine.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: France, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: May, September, October
FROM: $4495.00
DURATION: 7 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Walking Vacations in Provence, France

France - The Loire - River of the Kings

The Loire, France's most fabled river, is our companion for this seven-day Walk through the historic garden of France. Crossing undulating countryside and fertile riverbanks, we encounter a royal abbey, privately owned châteaux, vineyards and orchards, underground passageways and troglodyte caves. We dine on traditional local produce, visit a mushroom farm, sample the sparkling and still wines of Saumur, play locals at the ancient game of boules de fort and enjoy a delightful dinner on board a traditional barge on the river Loire as we watch the sun set. In Chinon we discover a medieval fortress where Joan of Arc met Charles VII and we visit Fontevraud, the royal necropolis of the Plantagenet family: Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lion-Heart, and the only mixed monk and nun community in France. Nearby we enjoy strolling through a charming medieval floral garden.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: France, EUROPE
AVAILABILITY: June, September
FROM: $3,995
DURATION: 7 days
AUDIENCE: Solo Adventure Travel and Singles Vacations, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!, Vacations for Couples & Partners
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Luxury Walking Vacations - Loire France