Explore Europe on Foot: Your Complete Guide to Planning a Cultural Hiking Adventure

by Cassandra Overby

Overview

2018 Chanticleer I & I Grand Prize Book Award Winner
Move over traditional sightseeing, throngs of visitors, and tourist traps! Explore Europe on Foot gives travelers an alternative way to discover Europe. A hiking vacation offers countless rewards: the time to admire the tidiness of a village farm, soak in the rugged alpine view from a rocky perch, and absorb a country through the smells of its landscape and encounters with locals. Explore Europe on Foot is a complete guide to conceptualizing, planning, and executing the slow-travel hike (or hikes!) of a lifetime.

Author Cassandra Overby tells you how you can spend all, or even just part, of your vacation enjoying scenery, small towns, and cultural experiences most travelers miss—all without carrying a big backpack. This guide offers all the nuts and bolts you need: how to choose a route that is right for you, how to plan, what to pack, what to expect, how to find accommodations and food, how to deal with challenges along the way, and so much more. These aren’t wilderness backpacking trips, but rather a wide range of town-to-town walks that offer the opportunity to have an authentic, affordable, restorative vacation.

Travelers will also appreciate overviews of fifteen long-distance trails in Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey, with itineraries that range from one to fifteen days. For those unwilling to go all-in, Cassandra also offers tips on incorporating day-hike outings into a more traditional vacation. The focus is on how to craft that more immersive vacation so users of the guide will be able to apply what they learn to their own dream destinations.

15 Handpicked Walks include: Rota Vicentina, Portugal English Way, Spain Mont Saint-Michel, France Alsace Wine Route, France Tour du Mont Blanc, France and Italy Cinque Terre 2.0, Italy Lycian Way, Turkey Alpine Pass Route, Switzerland King Ludwig’s Way, Germany The Moselle, Germany The Ardennes, Luxembourg and Belgium The Lake District, England, UK West Highland Way, Scotland, UK Laugavegur Trek, Iceland The Sahara Desert, Morocco

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781680511079
Publisher:	Mountaineers Books, The
Publication date:	09/10/2018
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	160,273
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Cassandra Overby is a freelance travel and outdoors writer who loves combining her enthusiasm for foreign travel and hiking by encouraging people to explore the world on foot—and helping them do it. Learn more at explore-on-foot.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Start Here 7

Why Explore on Foot 11

Why Europe 15

Why You 19

Why This Book 23

Get Out There and Do It 24

Part 1 Dreaming 27

Chapter 1 Understand What's Ideal for You 29

Chapter 2 See What's Possible 38

One-Day Wanders Overview Map 45

Starting Simply: One-Day Wanders 45

Chapter 3 Get a Recommendation: Fifteen Handpicked Walks 60

Handpicked Walks Overview Map 61

Walks at a Glance Chart 63

1 Rota Vicentina Portugal 65

2 English Way, Spain 71

3 Mont Saint-Michel, France 76

4 Alsace Wine Route, France 81

5 Tour Du Mont Blanc, France and Italy 86

6 Cinque Terre 2.0, Italy 91

7 Lycian Way, Turkey 96

8 Alpine Pass Route, Switzerland 101

9 King Ludwig's Way, Germany 107

10 The Moselle, Germany 112

11 The Ardennes, Luxembourg and Belgium 118

12 The Lake District, England, UK 123

13 West Highland Way, Scotland, UK 128

14 Laugavegur Trek, Iceland 133

15 The Sahara Desert, Morocco 139

Chapter 4 Make a Final Decision 145

Part 2 Planning 149

Chapter 5 Find (The Right) Adventure Companions 153

Chapter 6 Walk Independently or Hire Help 161

Chapter 7 Get There 175

Chapter 8 Find a Place to Stay 186

Chapter 9 Train for the Trail 202

Chapter 10 Be Prepared for Anything 213

Chapter 11 Make Your Walk a Cultural Experience 224

Part 3 Packing 239

Chapter 12 Clothing 244

Chapter 13 Footwear 254

Chapter 14 Toiletries and Medication 258

Chapter 15 Trail and Travel Tools 263

Chapter 16 Electronic Tools 275

Chapter 17 Packs 282

Part 4 Traveling 287

Chapter 18 Check Off Your Final To-Dos before Walking 290

Chapter 19 Make the Most of the Experience 302

Checklists 311

Acknowledgments 317

Resources 321

Index 327

Editorial Reviews

Have you ever wondered what a walking vacation in Europe would be like - but also wonder if you can pull it off on your own? Have you "been there, done that, I'm over it" with European travel packages that take you (and so many thousands of others) to popular insanely crowded destinations? Are you actively seeking the tools to plan your own European slow travel experience in the outdoors? Affirmative answers mean you need this full color, carefully detailed guide book. Explore Europe On Foot takes you by the hand now, so your feet can take you on a cultural hiking adventure later.

Hiking For Her - Diane Spicer

There is something here for everyone, whether you want to travel in a group, with another person or on your own; whether you are fit and prepared to walk long distances or want to do day trips. I won’t say buy this book if you are planning to hike through Europe—I would say buy it even if it is a distant dream. Overby will convince you and guide you into making that dream a reality.

Women on the Road - Suroor Alikhan

After looking at this book, now I want to go to Europe and hike the outdoors…. I would definitely recommend reading this book. It provides a wealth of information.

Kelly's Thoughts on Things - Anne PH D

Thinking about taking a trek in Europe? Author Cassandra Overby has you covered with her extensive new guide, Explore Europe on Foot.

Beers at the Bottom

If you’re one to take time off for exploring new places, check out Seattle author Cassandra Overby’s new guidebook, Explore Europe on Foot. Overby provides information on 15 long-distance trails, from Portugal’s Rota Vicentina to Iceland’s Laugavegur Trek. The book helps readers discover a new way to experience European culture while also preparing you with the information you need to get the most from your trip.

South Sound Magazine

’Explore Europe on Foot’ is a comprehensive resource guide to traveling on foot through some of Europe’s most spectacular, awe-inspiring and enchanting settings…. Overby is your virtual guide as she escorts you step-by-step through the planning process from dreaming of places to go, preparations for planning and packing, and making the most of your walking holiday.

EuroTravelogue - Jeff Titelius

This book is pretty awesome. It’s a guide that makes walking through Europe really accessible.

Be Bold Podcast - Beth Whitman

Whether a 2.5 mile (round-trip) trek on Mount Vesuvius in Italy or a 47-mile hike along the Rota Vicentina Fisherman’s Trail in Portugal is more your flavor, you’re sure to find the adventure of a lifetime within these pages.

Seattle Book Review - Jennifer Melville

In "Explore Europe on Foot: Your Complete Guide to Planning a Cultural Hiking Adventure" she draws upon her years of experience and expertise to give travelers an alternative way to discover Europe.... The focus is on how to craft that more immersive vacation so users of the guide will be able to apply what they learn to their own dream destinations.

Midwest Book Review

After looking at this book, now I want to go to Europe and hike the outdoors…. I would definitely recommend reading this book. It provides a wealth of information.

Kelly's Thoughts on Things - Anne