Portugal, Italy and Spitsbergen among Ramblers’ new Cruise & Walk holidays

Unveiling its 2020 trips, Ramblers Walking Holidays is offering a choice of 21 holidays across 67 different departure dates. The new Cruise and Walk tours are available from a choice of five UK ports as well as a selection of overseas ports for the fly-cruise departures. 

Itineraries include Roaming Around the British Isles and The Baltic Discovery to European tours along the Atlantic Coast and into the Mediterranean Sea as well as longer-haul destinations such as Iceland, the Canaries and Caribbean. 

Kevin O’Regan, Ramblers’ managing director said the holidays “offer the best of both worlds” adding: “They combine all the relaxed pleasure of cruising on board Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines fleet of award-winning small cruise ships with our carefully planned, small group walking programmes to make the very best of each destination.”

To help groups select the right holiday to suit their preferred walking pace, ability and/or fitness, there is several grades ranging from ’leisurely’ to ‘moderate’.

Some of the new itineraries for 2020 

• Amalfi Coast, Tuscany & the Italian Riviera: The 22-night holiday takes in some of Italy’s most sought-after destinations – the Amalfi Coast, Tuscany and the Italian Riviera. You’ll cruise the coast from Sorrento to Rome as well as embarking on a number of locally guided walks and having a guided  tour of Naples and Pompeii.
  
  Other highlights include the hilltop villas and gardens of Ravello; Rome’s Piazza Navona, Pisa’s famous tower and a coastal walk to the town of Santa Margherita Ligure and Christopher Columbus’ hometown Genoa. 

• Portugal & the Azores: This trip includes cruising along stretches of Portuguese coast and out into the Atlantic to the volcanic islands of the Azores where passengers will discover the islands on foot visiting the Renaissance UNESCO World Heritage listed city of Angra do Heroismo before hiking to the volcanic rim of Monte Brasil.
  
  The trip calls at Lisbon, Porto and the island of Madeira along the way; other highlights include locally guided walking tours of Lisbon, Porto’s colourful maze of streets and the banana palms and custard apples of Funchal. 

• Journey to Spitsbergen: Experience eight days when the sun doesn’t set, crossing the Arctic Circle and continuing to a land of glaciers, sea cliffs and fjords. Taking in the Norwegian coast, the 16-night holiday includes walking around the coastal towns of Honningsvåg, Kristiansund and little visited port of Harsted, before sailing out to Spitsbergen Island, just 800 miles from the North Pole.
  
  Returning to the mainland, you’ll wander around the island city of Tromsø, take the cable car up Mount Storsteinen and climb Holandsmelen for 360° sea and mountain views.