Zephyr Blog

We met Jenny Siddall last fall at our Wine Tourism Conference in Santa Rosa, California.  We were struck first by her outgoing and pleasant personality, and then by the depth of her knowledge of wine.  When we learned that she also had ten years’ experience guiding active tours and tours focused on food and wine, we knew we were a great match! Although Jenny is a Brit, she currently lives in Haro, Spain (the epicenter for Rioja winemaking).  She has a master’s degree in Viticulture (the cultivation of grapes) and Oenology (the study of wine) and has worked in several Spanish wineries.  In other words: the girl knows about wine!  Jenny is fluent in Spanish, Italian, French (and obviously, English) so will be a great asset as a guide for almost all of our active wine adventures...

Most people think there is just one Inca Trail that takes hikers from the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu — the “Classic” Inca Trail.  However, there are actually two. The Royal (Alternative) Inca Trail starts and ends in the same place as the Classic Inca Trail but instead of going up and over the mountains, the Royal Trail stays along the Urubamba River.  It is rarely visited, lower altitude, and has far fewer hills than the Classic Inca Trail, making it a fantastic option for many travelers. Zephyr Adventures guide Liz Miller guided a past Zephyr trip on the Royal Inca Trail. Here is her summary of this alternative route: At nearly 14,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes, Dead Woman’s Pass is a rite of passage on the popular Classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. The prerequisite of...

In May of 2012 I had the good fortune to enjoy a self-guided walking tour of the Camino de Santiago in northwest Spain. From the small city of Sarria to the traditional conclusion in Santiago de Compostela, the 111 km journey was nothing short of remarkable. If you aren’t familiar with it, the Camino is an ancient pilgrimage route that was initially popularized around 1000 A.D. Today, travelling the route remains an immensely popular experience for Europeans, and increasingly, you’ll find travelers from America and Asia enjoying the route. One of the best things about the self-guided walking tour of Camino de Santiago is that while the route is well-mapped, the “journey” is full of surprises, and your experience will be completely unique to you. Our pilgrimage was full of...

The first North American Wine Tourism Day is quickly approaching! The date is set for Saturday, May 11th, and there is already an impressive list of events scheduled around the country for this inagural day dedicated to promoting wine tourism. According to our partners, Local Wine Events, who is hosting the database of scheduled events, there are currently 163 events scheduled and that number is still growing. There are over 50 participating wine & tourism associations and as of today, there are over 2650 consumers who have signed up to receive updates about #WineTourismDay. Visit the Wine Tourism Day website to find an event near you! We think this is a great start!! Organizer of Wine Tourism Day and the Wine Tourism Conference, Allan Wright recently was interviewed by Lynn...

For some reason, the secret of self-guided travel has not yet gotten out. We at Zephyr Adventures have been running self-guided tours in Italy for about five years. We have found them so appealing, this past summer we spent the time to add two new destinations to our list of self-guided tours: Hiking tours on the famous Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) in Spain. Hiking tours along the route of Hadrian's Wall in England In my younger years before starting Zephyr Adventures, I spent a LOT of time traveling around the globe with a backpack, passport, and Let's Go Handbook. I had few plans, no hotel bookings, and simply a plane ticket home. Now, however, I am a bit spoiled by our tours. I love having a hotel bed each night, a nice meal after a day of exercise, and a clear...

If you are an inline skater, you know that a good skating surface is a huge factor in getting the most out of your experience.  Trust me when I say that our Idaho Skating Adventure, which takes place this year September 8 – 12, offers some of the best skating trails in the world!  It's about as close to perfect as you can get on a five-day adventure, and you can be the lucky winner of a free spot on this trip! See link below to enter to win.  Imagine yourself skating in zen-like solitude under sunny skies, or chatting the miles away with new-found skating pals.  We spend three days on the 73-mile-long Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, which is nothing short of an inline skater’s paradise.  This repurposed and mostly flat rail trail is located in the wilderness of northern Idaho...

Zephyr Adventures is excited to be organizing the first annual Wine Tourism Day in North America! Wineries and wine related businesses across the continent will host events to celebrate the importance of wine tourism to regional and local economies on Saturday May, 11th 2013. Wineries and wine-related businesses coast to coast are celebrating Wine Tourism Day, and Zephyr invites you to join in on the fun. Some wineries are hosting scrumptious food and wine pairings, others are providing education workshops, premier vineyard tours, and offering impressive discounts. Participating wineries in the Finger Lakes Wine Region of New York are not only serving up a variety of exciting wine experiences, they are also giving back to the community by donating tasting fees to one of three regional...

Did you know beer consumers have their own magazine? How about a magazine for beer consumers just in the western states? Beer West magazine is that periodical and their upcoming issue has a feature story on Zephyr's Yellowstone & Grand Teton Multisport Beer Adventure. Writer Adrienne So joined us on our tour last summer. Adrienne is a beer writer and an athlete but this was her first-ever group tour. Her writings reflect not only the beer offerings on the tour but also descriptions of the local scenery and history: In a blatant brown-nosing gesture, Meriwether Lewis named the Gallatin River after Albert Gallatin, who was the secretary of the treasury when the Corps of Discovery arrived here in 1805. In their journals, both captains give accounts of repeatedly overturning their...

Big Sky Country As the name alludes, Montana has some of the most open, pristine land in the country. With two national parks, Glacier and Yellowstone, spotting big horn sheep, mountain goats, moose, wolves, bison and bears roaming among jagged, snow topped mountains and alpine meadows is an everyday occurrence. Not to mention, the sunrises and sunsets here are considered by many to be among the best in the world. Boasting over 700 miles of trails, Big Sky Country is a place of hikers' dreams. This is the type of landscape that leaves you grasping to hold on to the moment, as you simultaneously reach for your camera. Bighorn Sheep on Logan's Pass Nowhere is the rugged beauty of Montana more evident than Glacier National Park, also known as the Crown of the Continent. Here the...

Have the pottery shipped home, of course.  But if it were that simple I would not be writing about it.  There is much more to the experience of buying something fragile that you cannot carry in your panniers.  It’s a science, in fact, and I am here to tell you how it is done in the clearest way possible so that you can try it too. Shop with a Gemini It is a universal truth that Geminis cannot for the life of them make a decision.  This is not to say they aren’t charming, don’t have your back or aren’t cheerful when the clock is ticking.  But when presented with myriad beautiful objects d’art in Deruta, for example, do not expect a snap decision from a Gemini.  Even when the sun is setting.  And the rest of your cycling group has departed for the next town, Spello. ...