Walking Holidays in Spain

Walking holidays in Spain can be one of the most memorable vacations of your life.  If you are the outdoor type and you like getting out for a stroll, a nice long swift walk, a walk over the hills, a day to walk sightseeing around a foreign city, or a full-blown hike over the hills and dales, then you should be interested in some of the stuff that I will be writing about. This hub, as the title suggests is all about walking holidays Spain. One thing I suggest you do before you even consider going on a walking holiday in Spain is to really delve into some of the many websites that are around about Spain in general, tourism hotspots in Spain, places to avoid in Spain, and walking tours in Spain. An in-depth study of the different areas that you can walk in Spain is impossible for a small page like this but I will endeavor to give you as much information as I possibly can about what to see and what to avoid when you are going on any walking holiday in Spain.

Walking for Health

Walking is such a healthy pursuit, it's not as heavy on your joints as jogging and running, you don't get as far as you would if you were cycling, but as an all-around exercise and way of relaxing and seeing the different sites and areas of the country you are visiting or indeed the city in which you are staying, you can't beat a good walk. For a start you will keep your weight down. As an exercise routine, if you actually walked for an hour every day you would burn a lot of calories. But you should not only use walking as a method of exercise. Sometimes it is great to get away from everything, to clear your head, and to think. 

Many of my most lucid moments have been when I have been on my own walking, my mind would not be thinking of any particular subject, and the unconscious mind has a way of shooting quietly at your problems and coming up with solutions when you least expect them. Every time it will be the best way to view the scenery or the sites of any place that you visit. Walking is always relatively slow and placid, you can speed up or slow down whenever you want, you can stop here or there, it’s a lot like this sentence... rambling!

The prevalence of the walking holiday as a reason for going away is becoming widespread amongst all classes and ages. It is a cheap and healthy way to spend your time. There is so much emphasis placed on sun worship, drinking and eating, on going on your vacation and doing nothing. But for some people it can be a breath of fresh air to have a walk planned for every day, you know, you are actually heading somewhere, trying to get to a spot before the end of the day, seeing what you can see on the way. You can go anywhere with a walking holiday, your only limiting factor is you must be allowed to walk there, but you are not restricted by any means of transport, you're not restricted by where you are going to stay especially if you bring a tent. You're only restriction is how far you want to go. I have often walked around cities for days on end searching out little hidden secrets, and trying to get off the beaten track. If you want you can take it easy, you can speed up to suit your style and suit how you feel on that particular day.

Some of the more interesting places to walk in Spain would have to be the cities. Cities like Barcelona offer such a variety of architecture and culture that you can indeed get lost in yourself and in the spirit of the city and its people. And Spain has such a diversity that you could spend years going to each different city, and revisiting them, and still only see a fraction of what is available. And each city has some fantastic countryside surrounding it. Most of the cities are either up in, or mountains of one kind or another. When you can get out of the cities you will see parts of Spain which are virtually untouched by tourism. Here you will meet the different kind of Spaniard, people who are often more open to visitors than would be their city counterparts.

Just one of the excellent walking holidays in Spain is the Camino Santiago -- the Way of St. James. This walk has its origins well over 1000 years ago, and has been followed by pilgrims ever since. Most people, who start this walk along the northern coast of Spain, begin their journey at St Jean Pied De Port, which is in the Pyrenees, just across the French border. In the olden days the route was full of challenge, full of banditry and dangerous encounters, wolves and extreme conditions. Now, millions of modern-day pilgrims have traveled in virtually the same footsteps, hoping for a small piece of the pilgrim’s mentality to stick in their minds when they return to their homes and way of life. The journey ends is in Santiago de Compostella, which as in all long pilgrimages and treks of any kind, have within their finale, a feeling which is charged with emotion and some relief. But more so, people have a sense of achievement and of a brotherhood with those who have gone before.

So as you can see there is plenty to see plenty to do when taking your walking holidays in Spain. It will leave a lasting mark on you. Whether you walk for enjoyment or as part of a healthy lifestyle, walking holidays will always take you to places where you would not have gone otherwise. If you stick to the cities, or venture out into the countryside and mountains you will find passionate people in a passionate country. Some walks, like the Santiago, are embedded with a deep history, you are following a well worn path. Other walks of your own choosing may be virgin. As I said at the beginning in order to get the best out of your walking holiday in Spain you must search the Internet for the best Spanish walks.