Seeing a city the old-fashioned way: by foot
Walking tours, a travel industry classic, predate smartphones and selfies
Last year, Butterfield & Robinson, the Canada-based travel company founded in 1966, reported a 20 per cent average increase in yearly walking tour departures. Yet that growth was part of a broader, ongoing trend: the company’s total number of walking trips in 2016 was up 188 per cent from 2010.
Backroads, the adventure travel company created in California in 1979, also has reported that walking and hiking tours are its fastest-growing segment, with double-digit growth. In March, the company reported that its walking and hiking segment more than tripled in size over the past five years — and it expects the numbers to continue to climb. This year alone it has new walking and hiking trips in Croatia and Slovenia; the Italian, French and Swiss Alps; Morocco, Namibia and Zimbabwe, Portugal, Provence and the French Riviera, and Scotland.
“Walking will be the ultimate way to explore” in 2018, the travel site Booking.com predicted last year, adding that 56 per cent of travelers said they wanted to go on walking or hiking trips this year.
Walking, of course, has already been the ultimate way to explore — it’s a positively ancient way to travel. And the walking tour is an industry classic, predating smartphones, selfie sticks and status updates. Yet it’s a tour style that appears to be enjoying a bit of a boom, attracting ever more travelers interested in seeing a city in a slow fashion.
In addition to being able to better interact with a place and its people, many travelers have taken an interest in the health benefits of walking or hiking while touring a destination. And for those who prefer privacy and going at their own pace, selfguided walking tours are blossoming — particularly in Europe.
Country Walkers, which has been offering tours for more than 38 years, has reported growing demand from travelers who want to explore destinations without a guide. In response, this year the company is offering new selfguided tours in popular places, like Andalusia, Spain and Portugal.
The “Spain: Andalusia & Seville” self-guided tour begins in Seville and features walks through cork oak forests and stays at family-owned inns (from $2,698 US a person, based on double occupancy). Other selfguided tours include “Portugal: Porto, Minho & Douro Valley” (from $3,898 US a person, double occupancy) and “Portugal: Lisbon & Undiscovered Alentejo” (from $3,798 US a person, double occupancy).
Also this year, Butterfield & Robinson is adding “Cotswolds Self-Guided Walking,” a tour through five Cotswolds counties, along with guided tours like “Holland Walking” and “Basque Country Walking” — which includes the Pyrenean summits, Spain and San Sebastian.
On Foot Holidays, a travel company based in Britain that offers some 32 self-guided walking routes in more than a dozen European countries, has a new “all-coastal,” self-guided, 124mile (200-kilometre) walking route along the Costa da Morte in Galicia, Spain, called “Lighthouse Way” (from 830 pounds a person, double occupancy, including 10 nights in bed-andbreakfasts, luggage transfers and route notes; seven nights from 660 pounds a person; five nights from 555 pounds a person. Airfare and transfers are not included).
Meanwhile, in cities like London, Rome and San Francisco, TakeWalks.com has introduced an antidote of sorts to the hop-on, hop-off bus tour: the “Walk On Walk Off” tour pass, which gives travelers the flexibility to show up for whichever itineraries they like at the times they prefer.
Yet it’s not just travel companies that are introducing and expanding tours. A number of cities have designed their own walking tours. Historic Denver, for instance, offers several ($12 to $20; combination tickets for some tours are also available). The Denver Post reported last year that the program has seen significant growth since its introduction in 2014, beginning with tours of Lower Downtown and then expanding to Capitol Hill, Larimer Square and 16th Street.
Many cities and parks also offer free, guided walking tours to visitors. Some, especially those in popular European cities, are advertised as free, though tips are expected, even requested. Free Walking Tours Amsterdam is “pay what you like,” while others are completely free.