Hiking

Visitors can take a culinary walking tour in the historic port city of Falmouth, Jamaica, with Jamaica Culinary Tours (Kingston, Jamaica; phone +1 876 586 1817, jamaicaculinarytours.com).

Scheduled to start at 11 a.m. each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the 2½-hour tour ($55 per person) will include at least five food tastings, possibly including in a private home. Vegetarian options are available.

13-day, 12-night “strenuous”-level hiking trip in northern JAPAN. Six days of hiking 2-6 hours a day. Departures Aug. 21 & Sept. 11, 2020. Highlights: In Tokyo, Sensō-ji Buddhist temple/hike to Nikko Nat’l Park/cruise Sumida River to Hamarikyu Gardens/Oze Nat’l Park/Tochiomata Hot Spring/bullet train to Dewa Sanzan for 13th-century Gyokusenji Temple/feudal town of Kakunodate/bike through Tono valley. From $4,950 ppdo. Single supp., $390. Oku Japan (Kyoto, Japan; in US, 888/683-4929, www.okujapan.com).

Swiss map publisher swisstopo (phone +45 58 469 01 11, www.swisstopo.admin.ch) released new, updated hiking maps in August. The printed maps (scaled so that 1cm = 0.5 km), are color-coded corresponding to signage on the trails: red for hiking, yellow for mountain hiking and blue for Alpine hiking. Also indicated are SwitzerlandMobility hiking routes for those with mobility issues.

Starting in Prague, guided hikes in Czechia can be booked with Czech Trek (phone +420 720 31 39 30, www.czechtrek.eu).

The full-day “Great Escape” and “Wilder Side” hikes (€59, near $66, per person) involve some hill climbing. The half-day “Country Stroll” (€39) is on flat ground. Maximum group size is six. Custom hikes can be arranged.

Travelers with smartphones can take walking tours of more than 150 cities and locales using the app VoiceMap (free on Apple and Android). 

GPS on the phones track the walkers, and VoiceMap’s prerecorded guides tell them what they’re looking at and where to go next, alerting them if they’ve gone off track. Each tour must be downloaded separately and, once downloaded, can be used without a network connection. 

On a walking tour with Free Tours By Foot (www.freetoursbyfoot.com), YOU get to decide how much you pay for the experience. Free Tours By Foot’s volunteer guides lead thematic tours in eight major European cities and have partnered with other companies to offer free tours in Europe, the UAE, India and the Americas.

Available tours include an East London food tour, a tour of medieval Barcelona and a Berlin Wall tour. The “free” tour includes only the guide; any food or goods must be purchased by the participant.

11-day, 10-night adventure tour (“moderate”). Monthly departures. Group limit, 12. Highlights: In Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Confucian Temple of Literature, bike around West Lake/Sapa village/hike Lao Chai to Ta Van for homestay/bike to Mai Châu/karst mountains in Ninh Bình/Cat Ba Island in Ha Long Bay. $1,375-$1,585 ppdo per date. Single supp., from $200. Intrepid Travel (New York, NY; 800/970-7299, www.intrepidtravel.com).