The tapas bar appeared out of nowhere, like a mirage. We were 14 miles into the longest day of a hiking trip on Spain’s Camino Norte, with four more to go, and the map showed nothing but a rural farm road crossing the trail. But there it was, with an outdoor deck, cold San Miguel beer on tap, and a glass case full of cheap, delicious pintxos. The Basque word for tapas, pintxos are a culinary fixture of northern Spain, and to a hungry hiker, a godsend.

Our group of seven friends did not ask permission to stop. We did not take a vote. Instead, we rushed to the bar, ordered beers, and excitedly grabbed pintxos. We lingered on the deck because we could, with no time constraints, knowing that now suitably fortified, we’d make it to the end. This kind of discovery, and the freedom to do and eat what you please, when you please, is one of the advantages of self-guided active travel. But it’s hardly the only one.

Americans are hiking and biking more than ever—in 2024, participation in outdoor recreation grew three percent to a record 181.1 million people, or 56.6 percent of all Americans aged six or older, according to a report by Outdoor Industry Association. And the active travel industry—which focuses on hiking, biking, and multisport trips around the globe—in particular has been on a run of consecutive record-breaking years. Now, self-guided active travel trips are taking off like never before. Kristi Elborne, the chief experience officer for industry leading luxury tour operator Butterfield & Robinson, says the company has seen “a marked surge” in bookings for self-guided trips. “It’s the sweet spot between spontaneity and support,” says Elborne, “and it’s entirely your own.”

Most companies specializing in active travel vacations provide a few key functions for travelers. There’s a pre-planned itinerary with curated routes and local knowledge; stays at hotels along the way; luggage transfers while you ride or hike; a slate of cultural stops, such as museum visits and cooking classes; many meals and restaurants pre-selected; and, of course, there’s a guide.

Arranging a self-guided trip with one of these companies checks the most important boxes: They give you an itinerary and planned route, almost always with a detailed app, and take care of hotels and luggage delivery. But you get to decide when to go, what to stop and see, where to eat, and—this is key—who joins you. Signing up for a group cycling trip through Tuscany with 15 strangers can be great fun—I’ve done it and loved it—but it’s cooler with your best friends. Oh, and it’s always cheaper.

Ready to embark on your own self-guided journey? Here are some of the best companies to book with.

Self-guided trips have always been more popular with Europeans, and the U.K. company Macs Adventure has been specializing in them since 2003. A couple of years back, Macs saw the trend emerging in the States, opened a U.S. office in Denver, and bookings skyrocketed. From 2022 to 2023 bookings by Americans jumped more than 70 percent; 2024 was up another 10 percent. Macs is unusual in that it only offers self-guided trips. They have hundreds of options, across Europe, Japan, and New Zealand, with multiple levels of luxury, from shared bathrooms to boutique hotels, and on fancier “In Style” trips, included meals.

Macs takes the most basic approach, with pre-booked hotels, luggage transfers, and little else, but they’re renowned in the industry for their value proposition and proprietary app, with exquisite turn-by-turn, door-to-door directions. It even warns you if you veer off trail, or in my case on the Camino Norte, worries when you linger too long over tapas.

Canada’s Butterfield & Robinson is generally credited with inventing the entire luxury active travel category, way back in 1966, and ever since has sat atop the pedestal of fancy. They partner with Four Seasons and Relais & Chateaux and include sumptuous meals and wine, plus VIP extras such as visits to private wineries and after-hours tours of museums and attractions. But interestingly, among the handful of competitors at the highest-end of this industry, B&R, as its ultra-loyal fans know it, is the only one with cheaper self-guided trips—cheaper being relative here, of course. A six-day cycling trip in Tuscany runs about seven grand on a “regular” B&R trip and $5,695 self-guided, almost 20 percent less.

My wife and I did a self-guided cycling trip through Burgundy because it was as big a splurge as we could handle, and it was fabulous, just like their regular trips but with only the two of us, on our timetable. Unlike many other companies, B&R holds nothing back on self-guided except the guide, with the same great hotels, stellar meals, VIP extras—and 24/7 roadside assistance. While their guided trips span the globe, self-guided trips are limited to Europe, Canada, and Vietnam, with about two dozen options.

Tourissimo is an Italy-based cycling and hiking company run by a couple who want nothing more than to share their passion and insider knowledge, from historic accommodations to hyper-local culinary specialties and cooking classes. I’ve traveled with Tourissimo twice, cycling and hiking, and loved both experiences. “We’ve been getting more and more requests for self-guided,” says cofounder Heather Dowd. “A typical self-guided tour isn’t really our style, so we created a hybrid, what we call Co-pilot Tours.” On these, guests are met by a Tourissimo guide who assists with the bike fitting and answers any questions about the itinerary (they take care of hotels and can book meals and experiences). The Co-pilot guide is then on-call 27/7—if the guests need them.

Halfway across the globe, Walk Japan focuses on hiking, walking, and snowshoeing (unusual but fascinating) trips all over the country, with a heavy emphasis on culture, food, customs, and education. I had visited Japan more than half a dozen times, but I learned more about the Japanese way of life on my walk than all the previous visits combined.

Walk Japan offers eight self-guided itineraries, and for each includes a detailed logistics package with maps, recommendations for food and sites along the way, baggage transfers, pre-arranged taxi when necessary, and 24-hour support. Hotels with breakfast and dinner daily are almost always included. (You can check out a sample of an itinerary on their site.) The self-guided trips are also a steal; as an example, the 10-day self-guided version of their nine-day guided Michinoku Coastal trip is 35 percent less even with the extra night of lodging—about $2,100 versus $3,245.

New England-based KC&E Adventures is more of a niche player, mostly focusing on deep-dive custom itineraries in Italy, Morocco, the U.S., Iceland, and Croatia. In addition to hiking and road biking, they do much less common gravel riding and off-road mountain biking. They do offer a handful of scheduled group trips, and the price differences between those and self-guided adventures can be extreme. The 2026 group hiking trip in the stunning UNESCO World Heritage Dolomites region of Italy, for example, is $7,200 per person, while a self-guided option starts at $4,300.

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