Europe walk operator, On Foot Holidays, has revealed its five most popular routes for 2022, with customers, including Australians and Kiwis, voting with their feet for hikes in Spain, Italy and Spain.
On Foot Holidays offers 34 baggage-free, self-guided , inn-to-inn walks in 11 countries across Europe. Based on bookings, the most popular routes for 2022 are:
1: Lighthouse Way, in Galicia, Spain
2: Tuscany in Italy
3: Dordogne Valley in France
4: Basque Pyrenees in Spain
5: Dolomites, Italy
On Foot Holidays Director, Simon Scutt, based in the UK, said Australians and Kiwis made up to 20 per cent of its customers pre-Covid but were again climbing the ranks in nationalities hitting its tails across Europe. “It’s heartening to see more and more Australian and New Zealanders once again inquiring and booking our walks,” Mr Scutt said. “Australians and Kiwis are greatly liked and admired by our inn hosts as solid walkers with a relaxed, flexible, resourceful, can-do attitude.
“You really don’t fully experience a place unless you slow down and see it on foot.”
Dine at Michelin-starred restaurant on French hike and save £100 per couple
To reward hikers undertaking its third-most popular walking route – the picturesque Dordogne Valley in southwest France – On Foot Holidays is offering a saving of £100 per couple on the cost of the walk when they buy a three-course ‘Découverte Accord mets et vins’ gourmet meal for two with paired wines at the end of the Dordogne walk at the Michelin-starred Pont L’Ouysse restaurant, which is nestled by a peaceful stream near Rocamadour in the Dordogne Valley. The culinary experience normally costs €180 per couple (approx. A$265 dep on exchange rates).
On Foot Holidays’ seven-night Dordogne journey traces less-travelled byways through some of the loveliest scenery in France, with ‘slow travel’ walkers fully immersed in the landscape, enjoying the famous flavours of French food and wine along the way. The comfort-filled walk takes travellers through country meadows and picturesque villages as guests stay in traditional inns and hotels along and near the river, experiencing local life and authentic French cuisine.
The seven-night walking holiday is graded medium with up to five and a half hours of walking each day. Including seven nights’ accommodation in family-run hotels and B&Bs, seven breakfasts, four picnic lunches, three evening meals, maps and directions, taxi transfers to nearby railway stations at the start and end of the walk and all luggage transfers between hotels along the way – meaning walkers simply carry a day pack each day – the route costs £975 per person, twin-share (approximately A$1700 depending on exchange rates), including the £50 discount when buying the Michelin-starred meal to celebrate the end of the walk.
Direct link to Dordogne walk: www.onfootholidays.co.uk/
Australians and Kiwis who book 2023 hikes before September 30, 2022, can pay current 2022 prices, saving around 10 per cent. Visit www.onfootholidays.co.uk
