‘Essential Picos’ is THE hiking tour of 2025 to get on.

100% local family run apartment-style accommodation
Experienced Irish and local Spanish guides who know the area well or who live there
Best routes chosen to match your fitness, maximum enjoyment and for variety, wild-life encounter and dramatic scenery
Stay in the heart of the Picos with a local family run restaurant supplying your chosen evening meal
6 day tour- 4 days in the hills, 2 taking in the local ambience on travel days

We have been running successful tours in the Picos de Europa since 2015. Now we are planning our return in 2025 to be the best possible tour yet. We regularly ask our customers what they think or our tours. Then we tailor our new tour to meet these expectations where possible. Every year we try something a little bit different in response to what worked best from prior Tours. We have honed our itinerary to produce a package with a punch for 2025. The main difference to previous years is that we will be based in one place. The beautiful Espinama village is in the heart of the Picos and we have developed a great relationship with local people there. We will travel to our hiking trail from Espinama each day, either on foot or by coach, depending on the proximity of route.

For those of you new to the region, the Picos de Europa is an alpine National Park in Northern Spain. It is approximately 2hrs south west of Santander, where we generally fly to. (Please note flights are not included in the tour price and most be booked by you separately.) Often termed ‘Green Spain’, the region is heavily wooded in parts and has alpine meadows where the wolf still runs wild. The Picos spans the Spanish rural departments of Cantabria, Asturias and Castille y Leon. These areas share an ancient culture with celtic resonances- sharing many symbols, such as the tri-spiral, or triskele, with Ireland. The mountains themselves are limestone, featuring dramatic cliffs and peaks, which will be snow-capped in winter. The National Park in the Picos provides a network of beautiful walking trails, mostly between 500-1,500metres for the recreational hiker. There are higher trails too, served by a network of mountain refuges, generally above 2,000metres.

‘Essential Picos’ will go off the well-trodden track as well as tread some of the best-loved gems in these 2000m+ peaks. From touching the snow-line at the bijoux mountain hut made from the tail fin of an airplane wreckage at Cabana Veronica, to listening the deer rutting under the glorious Pena Prieta in the nearby Cordillera Cantabria, Essential Picos will not disappoint. You should enjoy hiking already and have some experience already in the hills and mountains of Ireland of Great Britain or Europe up to 800metres. You should enjoy a medium to long day on the trail (shortest day 4 hours, longest day 8hrs). You should be in general good health and enjoy the company of other like-minded walkers. This is a tour in a small outdoors-loving group of people.

The Essential Picos tour is a fantastic way to get to know the region. You may be tempted to re-visit the Picos once you have the bug. Or to extend your stay after the tour to do some personal walking. Our tour starts with an airport pick up at Santander airport where you will be taken in a private coach to Espinama. Flights to Santander from Dublin, London and other european cities are available. The tour price shown is costed for a twin or double room. If you book one tour place you would naturally share a twin room in an apartment with another tour participant of the same gender, unless you request and pay for a single room occupancy upgrade.

Pay a booking deposit of only £100 today to secure your place! (Please read our downloadable Terms & Conditions before doing so).

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Meet Our Instructors

Lorcan McBride

Director

I have been making the outdoors both my work and passion for over 10 years now- and every activity brings new people, new places, and new discoveries. What keeps me smiling is discovering the depth of Ireland’s natural heritage- and how people take to it so positively. I have been working with community leaders in Aotearoa/New Zealand for years to understand our own indigenous identity.

Michelle McLaughlin

Adventure Guide

Hiya I’m Michelle. I’ve been coaching Outdoor Education for over 30 years. As well as teaching I avidly do Outdoor Pursuits for my hobbies. It’s an amazing feeling empowering people to get out of their comfort zone and find a buzz that will stay with them for a long time