From Idea to Adventure: The Journey of Creating Our Trips

Ever wondered how one of our trips comes to life? Do you know what happens before an itinerary finally makes it to our website?

Here's a sneak peek: it's a process that requires time, a lot of passion, and meticulous attention to detail. It involves several crucial stages and doesn’t end once the trip is published. 
In this article, we'll take you through the journey from an idea to the perfect walking holiday. 

Destination Research 

It all starts with an idea—or rather, a place. We find places that intrigue us, whether they’re iconic or lesser-known spots we’d love to take you to. We study them thoroughly to see if they’re suitable for one of our walking holidays, identifying the best routes and views, and sometimes even creating new paths to include the highlights. Even well-known routes are reviewed from our perspective to ensure they meet our clients' needs. Some routes are entirely our creation—like our trip along the Salento Coast, designed by our CEO Tullia, who fell in love with the area and knew it would be perfect for our travelers. 

Selecting Suppliers 

We find local ambassadors who can host and welcome you: hoteliers, transporters, guides—we contact them to understand their vision of the area they inhabit. We carefully select hotels that align with our hospitality standards and reliable drivers for you and your luggage. Establishing a strong relationship with local suppliers is crucial, so we visit them in person to ensure they’ll be able to assist you in case of need. 

Creating the Package

At this point, we create a “provisional” package: we combine the chosen itineraries and other services into a package we think will suit our travelers. It’s called “provisional” because it will be tested in the next phase. We start organizing our “scouting” trip to explore the area and verify the package’s suitability. 

Scouting and Mapping 

This phase is essential: a team member or one of our trusted guides visits the area with our itinerary in hand. They explore the location and meet the suppliers, visiting every hotel to ensure it meets our (and your!) standards and introducing themselves to the hoteliers. Then, they walk every single route, as putting ourselves in your shoes helps us understand and perfect the journey. While walking, we “map” the route, recording the GPS track for our app and taking notes for all the documentation we’ll provide you. This step is crucial to making the new trip truly perfect for you. 

Creating the Documentation 

Back at the office, it’s time for processing: we review our notes and new insights, making any necessary adjustments to the package. We create the documentation for you, organize the GPS tracks and add the itinerary to our app, and brief our team so they’re ready to answer all your questions. We write engaging descriptions of the new holiday and finally publish the trip on our website. And of course, we celebrate, because it’s always exciting to add a new trip to our catalog! 

Recycling and Rewalking 

What’s next? We keep a close eye on all our itineraries: we read your feedback carefully and are ready to step in if there’s an issue with the route we designed for you. If a problem arises, we personally visit the location to find an alternative solution for that specific section. Even if everything is going smoothly, we regularly revisit the itineraries for what we call “rewalking”—walking the routes again to ensure they’re still perfect. 

This process applies to the packages we create from scratch, which make up most of what you see on our website. In some cases, we rely on local partners who know the area inside out, such as our trips abroad, often created by other S-Cape offices in Europe or by trusted partners who we know will take great care of you. 

It’s a process we’re very proud of, and we wanted to share it with you so you can appreciate the effort behind the holidays you see in our catalog—and the dedication we have to ensure you travel happily and experience the best each destination has to offer.