In the UK, there are plenty of walking festivals, but most of them run in the spring, summer and autumn.
In the southern Portuguese region of the Algarve, walking is a year-round activity, although the summers can be quite hot. The Algarve has pulled together its walking festival resources to launch a website, the Algarve Walking Season, which promotes the region’s walking events. In addition, a new walking festival in February has been announced.
The new event on the calendar is the new Santa Bárbara de Nexe Walking Festival, which will be held for the first time from February 7 to 9, in 2025.
There are still two festivals in 2024 hikers can participate in: the Barão de São João Walk & Art Fest, from November 1 to 3, and the Monchique Walking Festival, which takes place November 29 to December 1. The Monchique event, which celebrates water, includes activities such as sports walks, themed and cultural walks, family and children’s activities, workshops, ateliers, theatre, yoga, and astronomy.
The other festivals on the website are the Caminheiros Experiences on the Border hiking festival, which takes place March 7 to 9, 2025 and, from April 25 to 28 in Loulé, the Ameixial Walking Festival, the oldest walking festival in the Algarve. The festival is inspired by the theme of Escrita do Sudoeste, a 2,500-year-old script with important connections to this area.
The Algarve Walking Season (AWS) is a regional project for the joint promotion of walking festivals held in the Algarve hinterland. It includes five festivals whose scope is to value the territory’s endogenous resources, its heritage, and its communities.
The project was born in 2018 out of the need to create a structured offer of walking festivals in the Algarve region, resulting in a common calendar of events throughout the seasons and under a reinforced communication strategy.
