Basque Pyrenees Traveller Reviews

All of it was fantastic.

All communication was excellent.

A fantastic well planned walk full of delightful cultural experiences and surprises - enchanting villages and valleys (each one with a different character); amazing oak forests; verdant green (so green) pastures; colourful spring wildflowers; misty mornings followed by sunny afternoons; welcoming hosts who treated us to very warm hospitality; varied walking through farmland, forests, and some lovely ridge walks. One of our favourite days was a day when the country was cloaked in misty rain all day and we we arrived to a local guest house in one of the smaller villages to be treated to a welcoming meal of pimientos, a glass of wine and fresh local cherries for desert. The memory will stay with us always! The trip had so many highlights it is hard to name them all but one that was very special was the night we discovered by chance that the whole village was gathering in the town square for a night of storytelling and traditional Basque dancing and singing, accompanied by local musicians. It was fantastic to gain these small insights into Basque culture, and left us wanting to know more about the history and ways of life of the Basque people.

This was our fourth walk with On Foot, and as always the support from the central office in advance of the walk was very helpful. Every question we had was answered promptly, and the advice for planning our itinerary (including some rest days) was excellent. The combination of walking notes, maps and GPS routes made planning each day easy, and we never had any difficulty navigating any of the routes. We had planned to take some of the shortening options, but the walking notes and opportunity to see different parts of the region enticed us to take the longer options most days. The support from Aznar - our local contact - was outstanding. He made sure we knew what restaurants were open, gave us advice when were a bit concerned about the impact of the rain on our next day's route, checked in on how we were going especially early on, and made sure our luggage got from Bera to Hondarribia before a local strike blockaded the border.

We walked Basque Pyrenees to San Sebastian. The daily routes were challenging but all achievable with some great places to stay and of course recommendations where to find excellent food in the evening. The walk had a purpose heading back to the coast and was meticulously planned from village to village through magnificent green Basque countryside. It’s yet another great job by On Foot in finding and mapping the route and also the charming small hotels and village houses each night.

On Foot are for us consistently the best walking holiday company with challenging routes with a sense of purpose, great places to stay of an interesting variety and good places to eat. They reply promptly when setting up the holiday and working through available dates and the knowledgable staff are all hugely helpful and a pleasure to work with.

A wonderful self-guided 7 night walking holiday in the Basque Pyrenees expertly organised by On Foot Holidays. . We enjoyed the warm welcome of local accommodation each night. delicious meals and a wide variety of enchanting landscapes, including farmland, mountains and coastal paths and some beautiful villages. A local guide/contact, maps and excellent walking notes ensured we were always on track and enjoying each day to the full.

Our tour operator is On Foot Holidays UK. The On Foot Holidays team are amazing. Meticulously organised, professional trustworthy and always very helpful and friendly. We were provided with many helpful, relevant details before our walk and the walking route and accommodation provided was exceptional. We were most impressed with every part of the On Foot Holiday throughout our booking, before, during and after our holiday. Our experience highlights On Foot as an operator who genuinely cares about their customers, have a high regard for safety, who know and personally check their walking routes and holidays and have a genuine interest in the regions of the holidays that are offered. A very special company.

Six days' self-guided walking, from Ziga to San Sebastian, with an extra day in San Sebastian at the end. Some quite hard uphill stretches (it's the Pyrenees after all!), but we were always rewarded with fabulous views of the beautiful countryside of this region. Lovely accommodation, varying from smaller, family-run establishments to the luxury of the Hotel de Londres in San Sebastian. Very good food and wine throughout, and all travel connections and luggage transfers worked seamlessly. Another great trip through On Foot.

This was our seventh holiday with On Foot, and as ever their service was second to none. It's so refreshing these days to have phone calls answered straightaway by a real person, who knows who you are and which trip you're going on. Promised call-backs were made, and all emails answered promptly. The route notes for the walk were comprehensive, as was the other documentation for the trip (booking confirmation, transfer details, background information about the area visited). All onward travel and luggage transfers were fine, and the accommodation was all excellent. On Foot's local contact Aznar was also brilliant and can't be praised highly enough - he was so proactive, contacting us each evening with advice about restaurants, where to get packed lunches, weather updates etc.

We self organized a couple of days in Bilbao and then picked up the on-foot leg of our holiday which was 4 days walking and 4 nights in San-Sebastian to recover. Very well organised. Lots of good information before we went. Lovely walk and friendly accomodation. Particularly enjoyed the parador at Hondarribia. Weather a bit mixed but what we expected. Challenging walking on some days but we knew what to expect. Lovely to be in the hills without anybody else on 2 days. All arrangements went really smoothly including hotels, transfers and bag transfer. Nice to have restaurant bookings made ahead in the more remote locations. Lots of options on all the routes but we did the full route. Directions were great. Really enjoyed it and would do another walk. This was our first time on this kind of holiday although we have done trekking before in South America and Africa.

Very responsive and friendly service. Always really quick to answer any questions we had. Even when I was getting to grips with a Garmin Sat nav which I had never used before they helped me out with technical support and advice. The track routes for Garmin were accurate and helpful when we were in cloud. Everything worked exactly as expected and hoped for. Our in country contact (Aznar) was very helpful on WhatsApp and even added additional information in his messages on local customs and language which was really nice.

This was the On Foot holidays Basque Pyrenees village to village hike, ending in San Sebastián. There were seven hikes, each with challenging terrain and climbing, and each ending in a beautiful village or coastal city setting.

On Foot Holidays provided excellent support, both in trip planning, and during the trip itself.

It was fascinating to be in the Basque country and to see the pride with which the locals take care of the buildings and the countryside. Everything was clean and well looked after. The places we stayed were mostly very traditional Basque houses and the hosts were very friendly and welcoming. However unfortunately we were not 'walking fit' due to earlier injuries we were insufficiently recovered from and as a result had to use the luggage transfer service on occasions, which was obviously frustrating, but we made the best of it.

Very helpful arranging the holiday, very flexible, and during the holiday the local rep was superb in arranging for us to use the luggage transfer option.

We were a group of 7 and did a 5 day trip from Elizondo in the foothills of the Pyrenees up to the coast at Hondarribia and then along the dramatic ridge to San Sebastian. The countryside was beautiful - with far reaching views of green wooded hills. We walked through small unspoilt villages and hardly saw another person on the trail for the first three days. We all loved the sense of the journey and the adventure of finding our way across the hills and valleys, finally arriving at the coast. A walk of contrasts - no two days the same.

Excellent support from the office giving good guidance on specific details on the routes and help with GPR tracking app. Aznar could not have been more helpful - the weather was potentially quite stormy and he made sure we had an up to date forecast before we left in the mornings. A lot of detail on the routes with helpful information on where to buy lunch etc.

This is a beautiful route through wooded hills, flowery pastures and villages with many traditional buildings. The high ridges are exhilarating, especially when you bestride the border! Lovely accommodation, and all the arrangements (like bag transfers) worked perfectly.

We’ve used On Foot several times now and they’re brilliant. Friendly, super-efficient and reply promptly to any queries.