Andalucia cycling holiday
| country: | Spain |
| location: | Andalucia |
| trip type: | Moderate cycling holidays |
| departures: | 2008: 5 Oct |
| price: | From £745 - £845 (8 days) excluding flights. Optional single supplement from £55. Bike hire £65 - £95 paid on booking. Price includes 7 nts hotels and all breakfasts, 4 lunches, 3 dinners. We can arrange flights from the UK. |
the amazing things you'll be doing
An excellent off-road cycling week exploring beautiful national parks, mountains, wild coastline and Moorish towns. Andalucia is best discovered on two wheels. This week is a great way to explore its little-known Atlantic coastline and rich national parks and is a great introduction to off-road cycling.
An almost inexhaustible network of paths cross this area of remarkably diverse flora, fauna and landscape. We pass Roman ruins, Barbary pirate watchtowers, bull-breeding country and mediaeval Arab towns. En route, we can stop at deserted beaches for a swim, explore Cape Trafalgar and plunge into mountain streams. This is a perfect off-road adventure, with exhilarating descents, stunning scenery, fascinating wildlife and fine revitalising food.
An almost inexhaustible network of paths cross this area of remarkably diverse flora, fauna and landscape. We pass Roman ruins, Barbary pirate watchtowers, bull-breeding country and mediaeval Arab towns. En route, we can stop at deserted beaches for a swim, explore Cape Trafalgar and plunge into mountain streams. This is a perfect off-road adventure, with exhilarating descents, stunning scenery, fascinating wildlife and fine revitalising food.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly to Seville; transfer to Zahara de los Atunes. |
| Day 2: | Transfer to Tarifa for stunning coastal ride overlooking Straits of Gibraltar and Rif Mountains of Morocco; return to Zahara through rolling pastureland. |
| Day 3: | The Cork Collectors' trail through Europe's largest oak forest; short transfer back to Zahara. |
| Day 4: | Ride around Celemin Lake, famous for its wildlife and birdlife. Cross the watershed of the sierras to the white-washed village of Alcala. |
| Day 5: | 'Heart of the Forest' ride through Los Alcornocales N.P.; spend the night in recently renovated Marques's Palace, in hilltop town of Medina Sidonia. |
| Day 6: | Moorish towns ride through typical Andalucian 'fincas' with 'Andaluz' horses and fighting bulls; lunch on El Palmar surfers beach; finish in lovely Vejer. |
| Day 7: | Ride downhill through Las Brenas N.P. towards Los Canos beach. Continue along coast to Cape Trafalgar overlooking the North African coastline; back to Vejer. |
| Day 8: | To Seville; fly to London. |
small group adventure holiday
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends its good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as seeing new places.how this holiday makes a difference
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The tour itinerary spreads the time across the Andalucia and it’s Moorish towns and utilises a wide range of small locally owned businesses. These cover accommodation, restaurants and shops. We use predominantly locally owned and run accommodation on this trip. This contributes directly to the local communities as local staff are employed and locally produced and sourced goods are bought for the accommodation benefiting the wider community. Our partners in Spain also employ the use of a local company to transfer the baggage from hotel to hotel and a local bike supplier.
The trip visits the Alcornocales Natural Park, covering over 400,000 acres and home to the largest cork tree forest in Spain and probably the most important in the world. Wildlife including deer, wild boar and otter are also protected within the park. Also, as this is a cycling trip the impact on the environment is minimal and the number of passengers travelling each week does not reach a number that could be threatening to the rural communities we visit. At our UK offices we have worked to reduce our carbon footprint through a reduction of energy use and energy conservation measures. We also actively reduce the waste produced by having active reduction and recycling policies in place. We run annual staff workshops on Responsible Tourism. Carbon balancing - Global warming is a reality and to help you make a difference by reducing the carbon dioxide that is produced when you travel we offer a chance to carbon balance your flights. We encourage all our clients to do this and do so for all our staff travel. Go on do your bit! |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |