Sierra de Aitana Trek

Challenging trip  just as trip notes said!!! good value for money  eatable mealsthe sun shone no rain just as the brochure suggested  interesting lively guide

Great trip to a beautiful and interesting area. The fragrant wild flowers (in June) were an added treat. Probably not considered a headline destination but shouldn't be missed. The local accommodation was clean, comfortable and hospitable and situated near two lovely villages.

Have just returned from a hugely successful trip to Sierra de Aitana and can thoroughly recommend it! The trip had all the ingredients of an Exodus holiday that will live long in the memory: a knowledgeable, organised and thoughtful guide in Jose who grew up in the area and knows the hills and mountains like the back of his hand; a charming hotel with welcoming staff and delicious home-cooked food; a beautiful and varied landscape with eye-popping scenery and, in my case, a really friendly group who were great company throughout the week. The trip was a real antidote to the onset of Winter in the UK being mild even at this time of the year. I would imagine that it is equally attractive in the Spring and Summer.

Excellent from start to finish. Great leader in Jose. Hostal El Trestellador in lovely location with warm & friendly service. Meals were superb, home cooked traditional food, tasty and plenty to eat. Hikes were enjoyable & challenging. We had great weather and views. Nice day off in Altea, then pleasant barbeque that evening. The hiking group were excellent and friendly, a pleasure to meet.

A great combination of vistas, food and wine in a really wonderful location.

Brilliant holiday if you want to clear your head and get away from it all. Stunning views, amazing local food and practically no extra expenses (apart from lunch and dinner on a free day). I was really surprised that such a dramatic, unspoilt place still existed in a 2-hours flight distance from London.

Fantastic walking with stunning views.  The beauty of this region exceeded my expectation.  And, then there was a fun group and a great guide and his humongous sandwiches.  Very enjoyable! 

This was a demanding but thoroughly enjoyable trip for a pair of novice walkers. It was our first ever walking holiday and as the trip loomed we were worried that we may have been a bit ambitious selecting a Moderate/Challenging trek despite doing a good amount of preparatory walking to get fit. The walking was tough with around 800-1000 metres of accent on each walk coupled to quite long days. A couple of our fellow travellers who had been on other ‘challenging’ grade trips mentioned that they thought this trek was more demanding. This is probably down to the fact that the terrain is very rocky and uneven in places and considerable sections of the walks were on rough trails which was quite hard on the feet. The ascents were generally not a problem and although hard work they were conducted at a civilised pace with everyone finding their own speed. There is an excellent balance to the days which were very satisfying with the hard work being rewarded by some fantastic views over the surrounding area, which is totally unspoilt and a world away from the costal resorts of Alicante and Benidorm. More importantly (I think) there was a heavy emphasis on refreshments in the evenings with plenty of food, wine and beer which I don’t think anyone felt the least bit guilty about indulging in after a day’s toil in the hills. The accommodation was very good. The first hotel was clean and basic with a good breakfast and dinner in the evenings. The second hotel, which I was expecting to be more remote and rustic, was Casa Roc in the lovely little village of Sella. This was a charming spot with clean and comfortable rooms and communal kitchen areas and terraces. The honesty bar with its seemingly inexhaustible supply of beer and wine was particularly popular. We didn’t find sharing facilities too much of an issue, we shared a bathroom with two other people and were quite happy to trade the earlier slot in the shower for an extra half hour in bed! The hosts Steve and Liz were very friendly and clearly work hard to keep their guests happy. Liz did a fantastic job producing delicious authentic Mediterranean meals for us in the evenings, no mean feat considering how many people she was catering for. Steve did an equally good job keeping the jugs of wine and the bread baskets topped up. There were 14 people in our group and without exception everyone was friendly and sociable and for us this really made the holiday that extra bit special. There were people who were obviously more experienced and fitter than us but they were very supportive and encouraging, especially when we expressed doubts about joining the group on the last day for the climb to the 1408 metre summit.

Great walking, stunning scenery and plenty of wine and beer - what more could you want!

A really enjoyable trek in spectacular surroundings. The trek was made so much more memorable by the local guide (Jose Miguel) who was: knowledgeable, friendly, well organized and provided some much more information about the local history and customs. Each day was a different trek from a central location which was itself friendly and provided good food. I would strongly recommend this trip to anyone who wants to enjoy the scenery of this region but with the support of an extremely good local team.