Alasdair, from the KE office, took his wife to Italy to take on our very popular Tuscany self-guided walking holiday. It was tough, but somebody had to do it.

This is an easy, low level walking holiday through the Tuscan countryside. The shorter distances allow you to spend more time immersing in the ancient culture and heritage of Tuscany, as well as leaving plenty of time to sample local produce.

Incredibly easy. This is an ideal first or easy walking holiday. Heather had never done a walking holiday before and was apprehensive as to how she’d feel. So this was a great test of how she felt for future walks. In this case we were only walking for a couple of hours a day so we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the surroundings. By the end of it she was happy and geared up for the next adventure.

One of my greatest concern was navigation in lowland environment, which from my D of E days was always difficult. However, the app was incredibly easy to use so we never got lost. Others we met used a map and compass to great affect as well. Plus there were details turn by turn notes.

Sublime. While it can vary depending on each hotel availability, we were generally in 3* accommodation with everything we needed. Most of the hotels are located in the actual hill top villages, one of ours was right on the traditional piazza. Opening the old wooden shutters to the view of an old Tuscan village was exactly what we’d signed up for on a walking holiday in Italy.

It’s Italy, it was always going to be amazing and very local. In the Northern areas of Tuscany, around Chianti, we had lots of cured wild boar salami, which was delicious. There was also copious amounts of pasta and pizza. We spent a morning in Pisa before out flight home and had one of the most amazing pizzas we’ve ever had with a view of the famous leaning tower of Pisa.

Siena was a standout highlight. We’d braced ourselves to be fighting crowds of tourists. But instead it was very spacious. While there were tourists there we never felt crowded and spent an enjoyable afternoon visiting Romanesque Cathedrals, medieval towers and stunning biblioteques, before relaxing in the Piazza del Campo with an Aperol Spritz imagining the horse race that takes place in this tight course (it was also a scene from James Bond)

Look at the notes before you go and read up about each place. There is often a lot to do and as you have time you can find yourself exploring a lot.

One thing many others have done is to add a day in Florence before and a day in Pisa after. Both these cities are incredible to look around and warrant a day each. This is very much a relaxing walking holiday about exploring the cultural side of Italy!