This particular departure is designed with solo travelers at its heart. It remains a self-guided trip but with others traveling at the same time, you will tend to find that you can choose the degree of sociability that suits you best on any given day. What's nice is that you have the chance to dine with others and chat through your day's walk whilst always being able to retreat to the comfort of your own room.

As with all of our self-guided trips, you have someone locally you can contact in case of need while you are traveling. But there is not a full-time tour leader, no. This is a self-guided trip using routes on our navigation app and local tips and information we provide. You may have guided visits of specific sites during this trip but these are local guides for a few hours in a particular place.

The weather should generally warm and sunny. Spring is a lovely time to visit as wildflowers begin to emerge and you may see the world's only sea-nesting white storks beginning to build their nests above the Atlantic Ocean.

We provide step-by-step instructions for each walk and GPS routes which you can follow on your smart phone and which will soon beep at you if you stray off course! Ultimately it would be very difficult to get lost, but even if you do manage it, help is always at the end of the phone.

You leave your bags packed in your accommodation and we come to pick it up and deliver it to your next hotel while you walk.

Yes, it is usually possible to simply hop in with your bags to be driven to your next hotel. You would need to arrange this with us by the night before at the latest.

This is a walking vacation, so in that sense active, though it should not be terribly challenging for anyone used to hill walking in the UK or elsewhere in Europe. Although the itinerary has you walking every day, you should also have plenty of time to relax into the slower pace of life in Alentejo.

Distances on your walking days average around the 15km mark, with one shorter day of just 7km. Elevation gains/losses are not dramatic. In some cases, particularly at the coast, your walks can be lengthened or shortened according to how much you want to walk.

In keeping with the very varied nature of the places you see on this trip, your accommodation is equally mixed.

For most of the first few nights of your trip, you stay in local guesthouses, which are friendly, family-run type places. Not overly fancy, but very comfortable, and extremely welcoming.

The first night's accommodation is the most basic/simple; there aren't a great many options in this very remote part of Portugal. It does however give you access to a unique walking route, and a great insight into rural life.

In Marvão you stay at a guest house managed by a local family that offers stunning views over the surrounding plains.

Moving west, your hotel in Évora is a delightful place near the city walls, with a lovely terrace and very comfortable rooms. You end the trip in the charming Herdade do Touril, where you can enjoy great hospitality, delicious food, and a welcoming swimming pool.

One advantage of the slow pace of an inn to inn walk is that it allows you to enjoy not only the nature around you, but also gain a deeper insight into the local life of the area.

This vacation takes you into contrasting areas of Alentejo; from the rural heartland of the world's largest cork-producing area, to the rugged Atlantic coastline. Life in these regions is very different in many ways, though in both cases has changed little over the years.

Your pause from walking, between inland Alentejo and the coast, takes in Évora - the capital of Alentejo. The layers of history here are self evident, from the Roman temple to the imposing cathedral, and the eerie Chapel of Bones to name a few key points.

This exclusive itinerary has been designed so that you have guided transfers between the coast and inland, so have that resource to widen your understanding of local life and history. All this ensures that you have a rich cultural experience at each stage of your journey.

Food and wine will be a big part of your cultural experience in Southern Portugal - from the fantastic wines near Evora to the absolutely stunning sea food of the Atlantic coast.