Top 10 Unknown Regions

Despite the fact that St Moritz lies at one end of the valley, the Engadine in eastern Switzerland thankfully remains completely unspoiled. Today, idyllic villages such as Guarda and Zuoz look largely the same as they did several centuries ago, their cobbled streets lined with sturdy stone houses whose arched doorways and deeply recessed windows are decorated with delicately painted patterns and murals (sgraffiti) and window-boxes dripping with flowers. We offer walks and holidays in the snow here.

Portugal’s most northerly region is a land of superlatives – thought by many to be the oldest and most beautiful part of the country, the Minho is certainly the greenest. It can also boast some of the most characterful Inntravel accommodation – a selection of elegant manor houses. And although the region’s ancient valleys and vineyards have long been criss-crossed by pilgrim routes, it remains firmly off the main tourist trail, leaving you free to enjoy its verdant beauty (and a glass of the local tipple – the sparkling vinho verde ) in blissful tranquillity.

Inntravel may have been offering walking holidays to the Apennines for many years, but they remain largely unknown. Stretching from Liguria to Umbria, these rugged mountains form Italy’s spine, and are great walking country. Autumn is a particularly special time here as the woods of beech, oak and chestnut that coat the lower slopes provide wonderful displays of colour, and the abundant chestnuts and wild mushrooms are incorporated in a variety of delicious local dishes.

Simple, quiet, authentic and unspoiled… Who would have thought it possible to find such a place, just a short hop from Athens and the Greek mainland? The surprisingly large and green island of Andros, a lush oasis occupying the northernmost reaches of the Cyclades archipelago, possesses tranquil beaches, hills criss-crossed by a network of ancient paths that will appeal to keen walkers, and a rare, understated beauty.

Just north of Madrid, the ancient kingdom of Castile-Leon is strikingly beautiful and utterly timeless, crisscrossed by age-old transhumance routes and dotted with splendid castles, romantic churches, magnificent Roman ruins and perfectly preserved medieval stone villages. Here, you enjoy the sensation of being in ‘real’, undiscovered Spain – even in the cities visited on our Classical Cities of Old Castile rail journey, which takes you back to Spain’s Golden Age.

Thanks to the adverts for a certain brand of mineral water, most Britons will at least have heard of the Auvergne, even if very few have actually visited it. Admittedly, it is not the easiest place to get to – from Paris you face a six-hour train journey – but it is well worth the effort. The bulky (and deceptively high) mountains are surprisingly green, their pastures grazed by the omnipresent Salers cow whose milk is made into a delicious cheese of the same name, and the cones of the extinct volcanoes (puys) add a certain enchantment to the scenery.

Rising from Sicily’s centre, the Madonie Mountains stretch northwards towards the Tirrenian Sea. Unaware of the wonderful possibilities for walking, few tourists, British or otherwise, venture here, and the result is a great sense of space and freedom – and absolute tranquillity, broken only by the occasional cry of a royal eagle. Spring, when endemic flowers coat the ground, and autumn, when the reds and golds of the turning leaves light up the wooded slopes, are particularly special times.

Catalonia as a whole may be well known, especially because of its vibrant capital, Barcelona, and the tempting beaches of the Costa Brava, but this corner of the region in the foothills of the Pyrenees still feels very much like uncharted territory. Here, you can walk across warm, wooded hills on scenic paths that have linked the stone villages and their pretty Romanesque churches for centuries and not meet another soul all day. We offer walking and cycling holidays here amid the ancient volcanoes

Piedmont’s full-bodied, velvety Barolo wines deservedly rejoice in fame, but less well-known are the eleven idyllic medieval villages where they are produced, the unusual landscape of wave-shaped hills that surround the villages and their crumbling castles, and the outstanding regional gastronomy based on delicious white truffles, hazelnuts and flavoursome cheeses. We offer a walking holiday in this enchanting region – work up an appetite by day so that you can indulge by night!

If you’re looking for a cycling holiday somewhere that little bit different, look no further than Rügen. Despite lying off the sunniest corner of the coastline, it is little-known beyond Germany and Scandinavia, but those that are in the know hold it in great affection. What endears it to anyone who visits are its seaside eccentricities (think Belle Epoque piers and rows of canopied deckchairs on white-sand beaches), its villages which exude charm and nostalgia, its mighty chalk cliffs, and, above all, its constant ability to surprise and delight.