Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Best of both worlds for walkers (and cyclists, cross country skiers and horse - riders) |
| Disadvantages: |
If you don’t like walking (or cycling or skiing or riding) read no further |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
My grandfather, so I'm told, would go on walking holidays with just two changes of clothes. Each night, he would have the outfit he had worn during the day laundered overnight at the hotel or pub at which he was staying. In the morning he would wrap it in a parcel and stop at the Post Office to mail it onwards to his next stopping-place, where it would of course be waiting for him by the time of his arrival that evening. He could thus enjoy his walking with clean clothes every day but without encumbrance.
This was between the two world wars, in the early part of the last century. The post and hotel laundry services are no longer what they were then. But we do have Inntravel.
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People who enjoy walking (or cycling) holidays usually face a dilemma.
One option is to stay in one place and use it as the base for a series of circular or there-and-back outings. This has the benefit of simplicity in booking and obviates any need to pack light in order to heft your belongings around with you, as well as worries about running out of clean dry clothes. Against this, the best local circuits are quickly exhausted, and if the base hotel, inn or campsite is a disappointment, you’re either stuck with it or faced with a big upheaval in moving on.
The other option is to travel light, taking only what you can carry. That way, you have variety in terrain covered and sights seen, and the sense of achievement in travelling a long distance. Against this, you have the burden of carrying your gear, and the bother of finding new places to stay each night.
Inntravel aims to resolve this dilemma by taking the chore of booking accommodation and transporting luggage out of the walker’s (or cyclist’s) hands, at the same time as offering flexibility in choice of route and timing. The company is by no means the only one selling packages of this type (Headwater and Alternative Travel Group are among the better-known competitors). It is, however, the only one I have experienced personally, and having been on five Inntravel holidays, I have found them so satisfactory that I have not yet been tempted even to sample the competitors’ offerings. This is unusual for me; characteristically, I am so eager to try new experiences that I take all too little advantage of the knowledge thus acquired and find no time to return to ones I have enjoyed.
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The benefits of Inntravel that have kept me coming back for more are these:
• The practical arrangements for travel and for luggage-forwarding have always worked with trouble-free efficiency.
• The routes are scenic and interesting, and often off the beaten track.
• You walk (or cycle) independently, at your own pace and with your own variations on the recommended route, not as part of a group.
• The hotels (and, where applicable, chambres d’hôtes – like B&B with an evening meal) are usually independent and often full of character, generally with good food too. No formulaic chains.
• Value for money is mostly very reasonable.
The only drawbacks I have found are relatively minor ones:
• The route-planning and options suggested for the actual walking stages could sometimes be improved upon.
• The “walking notes” provided as guidance are often imprecise and sometimes hard to follow.
To compensate for these foibles, an ability to do your own navigating is more than useful. Fortunately for me, I am never happier than when juggling map, compass and hand-held GPS, but I have met other Inntravellers who find this aspect of the walks a significant irritant. However, I do know that Inntravel are working hard to improve this side of their service.
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The main Inntravel brochure lists 87 holidays, of which 61 are walking, 9 cycling, and 17 other (fly-drive, rail, boat, etc.) There are also: -
- a short breaks brochure, similarly oriented to walking
- a winter holiday brochure, more focussed on cross-country skiing
- a horse-riding holiday brochure, the focus of which is self-explanatory.
Apart from the holiday hotels themselves, the brochures also list hotels suitable for adding as optional extras (for example, if you were walking in the Mediterranean Pyrenees and wanted to spend a few days in Girona or Barcelona to round off the holiday).
In this op I propose to concentrate on the walking holidays, both because they are the mainstay of Inntravel’s range, and because they are the only ones on which I have been. Inntravel organises walking holidays in the UK, Western and Southern Europe and the USA. The main destination countries are France, Spain and Italy, each with between 10 and 20 main walking holidays.
These numbers may not sound very large, but the range of choice on offer is much greater than the numbers alone reveal. For a start, they encompass a wide range of regions and landscapes in all three countries, including some out-of-the-way areas. They encompass walks on terrain of differing degrees of difficulty. And generally they encompass various types of hotel or stopping-place, mostly characterful. Compared with the average “summer sun” holiday brochure that offers 100s of seemingly identical hotels in seemingly identical resorts, the Inntravel brochure is a treasure-trove of variety.
Moreover, although there is usually a recommended timescale and itinerary for each holiday, Inntravel are very responsive to varying what they offer by adding days in different places or adapting routes to suit customers’ requirements.
For most of their holidays, Inntravel also offer a variety of ways of travelling to the destination area. For France you can opt to go by air, rail or to drive yourself, maybe stopping off en route – for which they will either make the arrangements or leave you to your own devices, whichever you prefer. Prices, of course, reflect the option chosen. Air or self-drive options are quoted for in Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. For more far-flung destinations, Greece for example, air travel is normal, but I dare say Inntravel would consider helping with other arrangements if asked to do so.
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There is no such thing as a typical Inntravel holiday, and if I attempt to describe all five I have been on you’d become as exhausted reading about them as I would writing about them, in the unlikely event that I ever completed the op. So as an illustration I’ll use my most recent experience: the Amalfi Coast and Villages walk.
This is not one my wife and I would normally have chosen, both because we tend to prefer mountains to seaside and because it is one of Inntravel’s more expensive, being in a well-known holiday area with pricey hotels, rather than somewhere more remote and basic. But business and family commitments constricted us to early April (the other downside being that I missed the Ciao get-together), so we headed for somewhere southerly and not too high up. In the event we coincided with a freak cold spell and were even snowed on – south of Naples in April! – but that was hardly Inntravel’s fault.
We flew BA Gatwick to Naples, where we had to find our own taxi to the central station (€17, about £12) to catch the connecting train to Cava de Tirreni, near Salerno. Inntravel transfer arrangements vary with destination, and sometimes – like the taxi here – there is the odd bit you have to do yourself. Personally, I don’t mind; it makes me feel a little less like a commodity being processed. And the bits Inntravel do organise – like plane and train bookings in this case – have in my experience always worked like clockwork.
At Cava de Tirreni station we were collected by car to take us to the first hotel, the family-owned Scapolatiello in the little village of Corpo di Cava, only a few km inland but about 450m above sea level. We sat shivering on the balcony of our comfortable bedroom to sip a complementary Spumante and take in the awe-inspiring views east to the snow-capped mountains of the interior and south down the coast past Salerno. After a short walk round the village, our good impression of the hotel was confirmed by an excellent dinner.
On some Inntravel holidays you move on practically every day, on others less often. This is one of the latter, and the next day’s walk was a warm-up circuit in the wooded hills around Corpo di Cava. Inntravel provide local maps (which is about all you need in UK with the Ordnance Survey pathfinder/explorer series, or in France with the IGN blue series, more problematical in Italy or Spain), and their own “walking notes”. 2003 is the first year that they have featured this particular holiday, and the lack of experience and customer feedback showed in the quality of the notes.
The basic circuit was only 9km (less than 6 miles) and though it included some strenuous ups and downs it hardly constituted a full day’s walking, so we added a diversion of a couple of miles each way down to the sea – indicated as an option in the notes, but had I relied on them alone I would not have found the way. Still, magnificent views, ornate Benedictine abbey to visit en route, charming seaside town, sense of adventure, decent picnic provided – a most enjoyable day. Just a shame about the icy wind and snow!
On day three we moved on to Ravello, accompanying our luggage by car some of the way, and walking the final 9km with a loop inland through lemon-groves from Maiori; could have done more had the route allowed for it. Ravello is a beautiful old town of narrow streets and gardens, perched on a hilltop high above the sea. Here Inntravel have found another comfortable and characterful hotel with good food – the Villa Maria. But we had another quibble with the route-planning; Inntravel’s notes suggest you spend the next day (4) exploring the town. Full of interest though it is, Ravello does not require a full day, especially if you have arrived early the previous afternoon. But we found the local Tourist Office sold a local walking map for €1 showing paths down to the seashore, so this was not a problem.
Day Five: 14km loop inland through beautiful country in the Valle delle Ferriere Nature Reserve, steep precipices towering above, dense woods below – beeches, limes and pines rather than the more typical Mediterranean vegetation of the region – distant views out to sea. Then down to bustling, touristy Amalfi to catch a bus onwards to the tiny village of Bomerano in the hills some miles to the west (with more confidence in the map I might have walked direct to Bomerano from the Nature Reserve avoiding Amalfi and the wait for the bus). But Inntravel have discovered another good hotel at Bomerano, in the Due Torri, a touch basic but owned and run by the most friendly and welcoming of families.
Day Six: The best walking of the holiday, 11km on the Sentieri degli Dei, high above the coastline with spectacular views down the cliffs and hillsides along to the end of the Sorrentine Peninsula and out towards Capri. Surprisingly rustic too, with working mules and herds of goats along the way.
Then down into Positano, squeezed between steep hills and sea, to stay in the Hotel Buca di Bacco in the pedestrianised old town near the beach.
Day Seven: Nothing scheduled (another quibble; Inntravel could have suggested a walking option). We tried to a boat-trip to Capri, but the sea was too rough, so we found our own way up to Monte Pertuso to eat a delicious, copious and cheap lunch at The Ristorante Tagliata – full of locals and atmosphere, a real discovery if you’re ever in the area. By contrast, a good-value dinner in Positano – unusually for Inntravel, not included for these two nights – is quite hard to find. The town’s beautiful, but it really is a tourist trap, and an upmarket one at that, with a consequent upward impact on prices.
Day Eight: Transfer by car back to Naples airport (included in the price) and flight home. Had we had more time we could have added extra nights en route, done an extension round the end of the peninsula to Sorrento, or spent time in Naples, which looks a grim city but I’m told is full of interest by those who know it.
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The walk as we did it is graded 2 by Inntravel in on their scale, which is:
Grade 1. Easy, low-level walking but can have long days.
Grade 1-2. Generally easy walking with some short ascents &
descents.
Grade 2. Moderate walking, on good surfaces.
Grade 2-3. Mountain walking, so more ascents & descents.
Grade 3. High mountains, long days, daily ascents & descents.
In my view, this particular walk is not so much a 2 as an uneasy mix between 1-2 for distances and 2-3 for steep ascents and rough terrain. Okay, that is 2 on average, but someone looking for a moderate stroll would find some of the climbs a bit challenging. As with their route-planning and notes, I feel that Inntravel could usefully review their gradings. But again, this is a minor niggle compared to the many excellent aspects of their service.
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As stated earlier, this is one of the more expensive Inntravel holidays, reflecting mostly higher grade hotels in a sought-after area. The price is £817 p.p. for early season, rising to £887 in the high season. That includes travel (except the one taxi), luggage transfers, accommodation, breakfasts, five dinners and two picnics. By contrast, other Inntravel holidays I have undertaken, which I feel give a reasonably representative picture of the range on offer, are as follows: -
• The Cévennes. Wonderful wild country. 7 nights mixed hotel and chambres d’hôtes, dinner every night and 4 picnics, currently £630-687 by air, £580-591 rail, £465-478 self-drive.
• Dordogne Valley. Pleasant scenery, excellent food. 7 nights hotels, dinner every night and 4 picnics, currently £598-654 by air, £594-644 rail, £432-480 self-drive.
• Apennines. Stiff climbing, but worth it. 7 nights hotels, dinner every night and 3 picnics, currently £566-585 by air, £388-413 self-drive. Extra night in Bologna recommended.
• Mediterranean to Atlantic (approx. Gibraltar-Cadiz). 7 nights hotels, 6 dinners and 4 picnics, currently £738-922 by air, £535-606 self-drive. Extra night in Tarifa for day-trip to Tangier recommended.
All prices are taken from the current brochure. There are, of course, cheaper ways to holiday, but my own view is that, given the standard of accommodation and service – and the organisational complexity for Inntravel – these prices represent pretty good value.
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You can never predict with complete reliability what sort of person you are likely to meet on holiday. Our concern when we first booked with Inntravel is that we would find ourselves among hearty rambling types – superannuated scoutmasters in khaki shorts who would want everyone to march off in a group or even a crocodile, and whose attempts to corral us we would have to resort to outright rudeness to resist.
In the event, nothing could have proved further from the truth. In five holidays, we have met no one remotely conforming to this stereotype, but we have met engaging and congenial people of all ages and all sorts of background. When you find you are walking the same route with others, the initial contact tends to be a bit wary on all sides. These are people who have chosen to walk independently, and they don’t want to be stuck with you any more than you do with them.
Indeed, we have hardly ever actually walked alongside those met in transit; you say hello if you meet on the trail, but you don't fall into step. The evenings are a different matter. They become increasingly cheerful social occasions as the week wears on. After all, at the end of a day’s walking, everyone is thirsty, hungry for good food, thirsty, eager to exchange comments and experiences, thirsty and generally ready to enjoy some convivial relaxation.
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Inntravel seem to do very little, if any advertising. For publicity, they mostly appear to rely on editorial coverage in newspapers and magazines, and word of mouth. You can obtain their brochure(s) by ringing 01653-617788, e-mailing summer@inntravel.co.uk (their website is www.inntravel.co.uk) or writing to Inntravel Associates Limited, Castle Howard, York, YO60 7JU.
This is a new address, replacing their office in Hovingham, which I am told was more like a café or club than a travel agent. They are still keen to see people at Castle Howard, so if you’re interested and you live up that way, you could do worse than to drop in personally and have a chat with them.
My finger hovers between four and five on the overall rating scale. But memories of the many happy experiences outweigh the odd quibble, and I'll give it five.
© torr 2003
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
