Portuguese Camino - Lisbon to Coimbra

Great hike to sample some of the best locations along the Tour Du Mont Blanc. Our guide Sara was great at maintaining pace and knew the route very well. The scenery was amazing especially the tall mountains close to our accomodation. The accomodation provided great 3 course dinners, and we got to sample French, Swiss and Italian food. This is not an easy hike, but as long as you are able to do 1000 mtr elevation gain hikes, this is thoroughly enjoyable. ...more ...less

UTracks did everything they promised, but it is what they did above & beyond that stands them apart. We were caught in the fires in Portugal & they arranged transport to get us out of danger, changed hotel bookings to accommodate the new circumstances & made us feel very safe. We were more than impressed with the level of communication & service. I won't be looking anywhere else when I book my next trip. ...more ...less

Fantastic trip! Well organised and everything went smoothly. Would probably split the two big 30+ days if I were to have my time again. The heat adds another level of difficulty. Accommodations were all different but all clean and welcoming. Meals were varied as we walked into different regions the food changed to what was local. We never had a bad meal or a bad stay anywhere. Highly recommend this trip through France. A nice quiet Camino compared to the Frances but far more challenging. Very enjoyable. ...more ...less

U Tracks El Camino Self Guided Rambler tour/walk, Sarria to Santiago de Compostela 1.3.25 to 11.3.25. This tour suited my age (67) and fitness/health as it was not at a heavy pace but you had to be an active person to complete it. By that I mean prepare by regular walks everyday for a few months beforehand; a gym is not necessary. Of course regular hikers or younger persons can do this all in half the time and twice the distance and are able to either camp out or go to sleep in Albergues, but that is not me! It was all well coordinated with pickups came without fault and my luggage was delivered correctly to each new hotel. This tour is certainly ideal for those over 60. All hotels were of top standard and the staff at those hotels were all high quality as were their breakfasts and dinners. I hope all these venues are retained. I did rest and eat well to prepare me for the next days travails. Each day was well planned on their guide for each day. What was of great help was the GPX App which guide me over the trail to Santiago. Even though there is signage, some of it can be obscure and this coupled with the small number of pilgrims in early March to help guide the way, you are prone to errors in navigation. Whenever I was unsure, it showed me where I was and where I should be. On two occasions it helped me big time. The GPX also showed you how far you had to go and where you were in reference to the next towns. One disadvantage of travel along the Camino during this period, was that many Albergues, cafes and churches were locked shut. Whilst I did not need any of them for accommodation, it meant stamps for your Credential were hard to come by and toilets were at a premium. I did carry fruit juice and chocolate bars just in case I could not grab a snack or refreshment along the way. In the end I bought a coffee to any place that would stamp my Credential. At one place a church had a sign for stamps but was locked shut! However, an upside to this lack of fellow pilgrims, cafes, stamps and toilets was the chance to contemplate for long periods in the wonderful Gallaecian countryside and take in its special ambience. It did give me confidence in being self-reliant and resourceful. When there was a café or toilet there was no line up and when entering the Pilgrims Office in Santiago there was no que. I had my Compostela Certificate as quick as it took me to enter my details in the computer and wait for my number which was almost immediate as only 216 pilgrims completed their walk on that day. Yes there were still pilgrims to have a yarn now and then. Weather wise it was cool and on a couple of days it was wet, but due to one's energy expended in walking it was not at all uncomfortable. I would not have tolerated the exhausting high temperatures or sunburn of summer at all. The topography varied from flat one day to steep the next. Some of the trail was wet, slushy and slippery (a bit of a slog sometimes), but good footwear solves this. My Merrells were my most valued asset, not a slip and not one blister! Don't let someone con you into sandals, bare feet or some cheap brand footwear. Walk in new footwear everyday for 2 weeks before your Camino. A poncho is your best friend when it rains. Really that was as bad as it got. Bottom line: value for money self-guided tour and although done during the off season it became an advantage. You get to see Spain at such a close level not possible with a regular tour in a bus. A worthwhile experience and achievement! Buen Camino. ...more ...less

Hassle free self guided tour around the most scenic Austrian hills and lakes. All our heavy baggage taken care of from hotel to hotel. Hiking not difficult at all, instructions are v clear. I recommend use online GPS map. In case someone want to shorten the walking, various options (bus / boat) provided. ...more ...less

Very satisfied with the service provided. Hotels especially the one in Tui and in Padron were beautiful, great service as well, the only drawback is Padron's hotel a tad far from the Camino way, really way off. Otherwise, baggages arrived on time. Would be better if printed maps were provided as internet is not always available. ...more ...less

Recently two trips with utracks. Mont Blanc self-guided and Austrian hike-bike. In summary, the experience is only as good as the local partner. In Austria, Helmut was amazing! Met with us prior - went over every detail of the trip, answered his phone if we had a concern. Mont Blanc, the partner would only communicate by text, did not meet us on arrival, and would not return calls even when we had an emergency. Other concerns we raised with utracks staff were not responded to adequately leaving the feeling that they had our money, job done. ...more ...less

Self-guided Hadrian’s Wall Walk. The local agent’s documentation needs immediate updating to include current accommodation used and their locations. I also had to uncover (it was not proactively disclosed to me) a double up in accommodation location booking (same town over two nights but different accommodation 160 metres apart) by the same local agent which resulted in me having to walk two days of distance in one day, back track for accommodation on the second night and be charged for a 160m bag transfer! UTracks did apologise and the local agent covered my dinner one night as compensation, but the situation would not have happened if either UTracks or their local agent had reviewed their itinerary which would have called out quite loudly to them the messy issue, before finalising it and providing it to me. I was later contacted by UTracks to acknowledge my post trip feedback, but stating that both UTracks and their local agent had been in contact with me THROUGHOUT my walk. To be clear - I had one phone call initiated by UTracks after I had identified the issues and emailed them, and the only contact with the local agent were two emails and one phone call that I initiated to inform them of the issues they created, that I had to uncover. I wouldn’t describe that as anyone from UTracks or their local agent being in contact with me throughout my trip. It is important to not over state the service or support that people provide to a client. ...more ...less