What kind of holiday does Wide Open Trails offer?

Wide Open Trails offer fully guided, multi-day trail running holidays delivered in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Our tours are carefully designed to provide exhilarating enjoyment in inspiring locations for runners of all ages and abilities. We offer a range of tours, all of which can be tailored to suit the needs of everyone with detours from the route available to those who might want to run further, or higher.

What’s included in Wide Open Trails tours?

Our tours offer a land-only package in your destination country. This includes:

• design of carefully planned itinerary, ensuring distinctive tours through breathtaking scenery
• administration service for the booking of all accommodation, transport and other facilities
• the arrangement of all relevant national park or trail permits
• transport to transfer you from the airport to the start of the trail tour where required
• all other transport taken as part of the tour itinerary
• accommodation for every night between your arrival and departure
• dinner and breakfast for the duration of the tour (lunch to be purchased by yourself)
• experienced tour leaders to ensure you have a safe and enjoyable holiday, and that you have every chance of achieving the tour objectives
• comprehensive information pack to ensure you are well prepared for travel to, and subsequent running tour in, your chosen destination
• experienced Wide Open Trails staff available to answer questions and offer advice during your preparation for your holiday
• advice and information on Nutrition & Hydration, Physio & Injury Management, and Training & Coaching by following Trail Hub on our website.

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What’s the difference between a trail running tour and traditional trekking?

Wide Open Trails’ running tours are designed for those people who want to travel lighter and move more freely through breathtaking scenery. In some instances the distances traveled on a particular day might be further than you would expect to walk as part of a trekking holiday. However our emphasis is on creating a friendly and relaxed atmosphere where you can enjoy the exhilaration of running through inspirational landscapes. The day’s journey will often be completed earlier on our running tours than would be expected on a more traditional trekking holiday. This provides time to enjoy local sights, culture and wildlife, or simply relax, take in the view and prepare for the following day.

Your running tours look challenging. How much running experience do I need?

Our running tours are carefully designed for runners of all abilities. Plenty of support and advice is provided by our office staff during the weeks leading up to your tour, and on the trail by our experienced leaders, to ensure you have an exhilarating and rewarding holiday. Our tours are not a trial of physical fitness or endurance and you do not need to have run a marathon or been a competitive runner to feel comfortable running with us. If you run regularly, can jog 10 to 15 miles at a comfortable pace through undulating terrain, and are healthy and well, you should find our tours to be enjoyable and memorable.

Our ratio of experienced guides allows the pace of each day to be tailored to meet the needs of everyone, with detours from the route available to those who might want to run further, or higher.

What is the expected group size on a Wide Open Trails tour?

Our target group size for all of our advertised tours is ten clients running with a minimum of two experienced leaders. Depending on their popularity some tours might be undertaken with groups smaller than this.

For custom trail running holidays we will research, design and deliver tours for individuals and groups of any reasonable size, while being sensitive to the communities and environment that the tour will travel through.

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What is the difference between your advertised tours and your custom tours?

Our advertised tours are ones that have been researched and carefully designed to offer an “off-the-shelf” distinctive and memorable trail running experience.

Our custom tours offer a bespoke service for clubs, organisations, groups of friends, or individuals where we research, design and deliver customised trail running tours in destinations of your choice. Drawing on our own experience and the knowledge of our partners we are able to develop tours in almost any location with suitable trails and supporting infrastructure services.

Every custom tour will be tailor-made to delivery your requirements. All we need to know is: the number of runners in the party, an indication of their experience, the duration of the tour, and your chosen destination.

Do I need any specific, specialist equipment to undertake one of your running tours?

Probably the most important item of equipment for anyone joining our tours will be their running shoes. We recommend that you run in a pair of comfortable, well fitted, off-road running shoes with a studded sole or equivalent. While some people might get away with wearing road running shoes this is not recommended for the more uneven trails, ascents and descents.

Other than this the only other piece of specialist equipment would be an appropriately sized rucksack. As all accommodation and meals are provided along the trail you will only need to carry: additional clothing and items to keep you comfortable while running; a light, but warm change of clothes for the evening; toiletries; camera; and light, waterproof jacket and trousers. Follow the link to Equipment Advice for more detail on what you should carry.

All group first aid and safety equipment will be carried by our tour leaders.

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What is the accommodation like on a Wide Open Trails tour?

The accommodation we use is comfortable and clean and offers all the facilities you would expect from an independent hostel, alpine mountain hut or lodge. We occasionally use small hotels and more traditional bed & breakfast style accommodation in order to achieve a particular tour itinerary.

Accommodation on our Himalaya Foothills tour in Nepal, while still being comfortable and clean, is sometimes a little more basic. Not all Nepalese tea houses and lodges are fitted with showers or hot running water, and some are still served by compost toilets. However, experiencing the traditional way of life in the foothills is all part of the special appeal of traveling in this fascinating country.

What if I am traveling alone? Is there any single supplement?

Wide Open Trails’ tours aim to bring people together who share a passion for running. We are happy to include people traveling alone, or any number of friends booking together. There is no single supplement charged to single travelers and we feel it is part of our distinctive service to be able to provide arrangements for accommodation to suit everyone.

Questions relating to booking terms and conditions

If you have any questions relating to:

• making a booking
• paying for your tour
• cancellation terms
• transferring your booking to another tour
• travel insurance

....please follow the link to our Booking Conditions.

Any other questions?

For any other questions that you might have please call our office on: 01865 577 147 or use our Contact form to get in touch.

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