From Two Wheels to Two Feet: Our Alentejo Experience Wins Gold at the 2026 Magellan Awards
We’re proud to share some exciting news from our team.
Live Love Ride, our cycling sister brand, has been recognised at the 2026 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards for its Alentejo Cycling Experience, receiving two awards in the Tour Operators category:
🏆 Gold – Tour Operators, Overall
🥈 Silver – Tour Operators, Service
The Magellan Awards recognise excellence across the international travel industry, and seeing an experience created by our team in Portugal recognised at this level means a great deal to us.
While the award was presented specifically for our cycling experience in the Alentejo, the philosophy behind that journey is very much the same one that shapes our walking tours at Live Love Hike: travel slowly, choose beautiful routes, work closely with local partners and give our guests the time to genuinely connect with a destination.
And nowhere represents that philosophy better than the Alentejo.
One region, two ways to explore it
The Alentejo is a place that rewards slow travel.
Vineyards stretch towards the horizon, cork oak forests cover the rolling countryside, medieval villages rise above the plains and centuries of history can be found along old paths connecting small towns and rural communities.
Exploring it by bicycle is wonderful.
Exploring it on foot offers an entirely different perspective.
Walking allows you to notice the details: the changing landscape beneath your feet, the silence of the cork forests, ancient stone paths, small villages, vineyards and the rhythms of rural life that are easy to miss when travelling more quickly.
This is exactly what we wanted to capture when we created our Guided Walking Tour in Alentejo – Heritage and Wine Country.
Walking through Alentejo’s Heritage & Wine Country
Our walking journey through the Alentejo shares much of the spirit that helped make our cycling experience an award winner.
Over seven days, the journey connects some of the region’s most remarkable landscapes and historic places, including Marvão, Castelo de Vide, Monsaraz, Alqueva and Évora.
Days are spent walking through peaceful countryside, vineyards and historic landscapes, with distances designed to leave time for everything that makes the Alentejo special beyond the trail.
There are medieval fortresses and UNESCO World Heritage sites, local gastronomy and Alentejo wines, traditional villages and some of our favourite places to stay in the region.
The journey also includes experiences such as walking around the landscapes of Lake Alqueva, exploring Monsaraz, visiting a winery and discovering the extraordinary history of Évora.
Discover our Walking Tour in Alentejo – Heritage and Wine Country
The same local knowledge, on foot
The award may have been given to a cycling journey, but much of what makes that experience special has nothing to do with the bicycle itself.
It comes from knowing the destination.
It means understanding which roads and trails reveal the best landscapes, which villages are worth spending time in, where to stay, where to eat, which local producers to visit and how to balance an active day with enough time to enjoy where you are.
Our cycling and walking teams share that knowledge.
They also share many of the same relationships with the hotels, wineries, restaurants, guides, producers and local partners who help us create our journeys throughout Portugal.
That experience on the ground is at the heart of how we design our Walking Tours in Portugal.
A thank you to our guests and partners
This recognition also belongs to the people who have helped us shape our experiences in the Alentejo over the years.
To the guests who have travelled with us and shared their feedback, thank you. Every journey teaches us something and helps us continue refining the experiences we create.
And to our guides, hotels, wineries, restaurants, local producers and partners throughout the Alentejo, thank you for sharing your knowledge, hospitality and passion for the region with our guests.
The best journeys are never created by one person or company. They are built through years of exploring, listening, learning and working with people who know and love the destination.
Discover the Alentejo on foot
If the landscapes, wine, heritage and slower rhythm of the Alentejo appeal to you, walking may be one of the best ways to experience them.
Our Alentejo walking holidays combine carefully selected trails with comfortable accommodations, local gastronomy, cultural experiences and support from our team in Portugal.
From the vineyards and historic villages of inland Alentejo to the dramatic Atlantic landscapes of the Southwest Coast, there are several very different ways to discover this remarkable region on foot.
Explore all our Walking Tours in Alentejo
We’re incredibly proud to see an Alentejo experience created by our team recognised with Gold and Silver at the 2026 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards.
But most of all, we’re proud of what that recognition represents: the care, local knowledge and attention to detail that we put into every journey we create – whether you explore Portugal on two wheels or two feet.