Our Destinations and Activities

Bredeson Outdoor Adventures offers guided and self-guided, culturally oriented hiking, snowshoeing cross country skiing and bicycling trips for all ability levels in Europe, the northeastern United States and beyond.  Under the direction of founder Deborah Lewis, we specialize in custom trips for groups of friends, families, coed or women's groups (including Girlfriend Getaways), and major international adventure travel companies. If you assemble your own group for a custom trip we can, in many cases, offer a discounted rate.  If you prefer non-guided adventures we can plan a do-it-yourself (self-guided) trip for you. With self-guided trips we will book and pre-pay hotels, organize and usually pre-pay ground transportation, provide hiking maps and hike descriptions, and generally do everything for you except join you on the trip.  Deborah combines her experience living abroad, knowledge of foreign languages and 30 years experience as a trip leader in Europe and the U.S. with an understanding of the high service requirements of her clientele. She personally guides many of her trips, often with the co-leadership of a local guide. Trips are based in hotels and guest houses, but we also offer overnight stays in high mountain huts for those who wish to have that authentic and exciting Alpine experience. Most departures involve day hikes and thus only a day pack.  The exceptions to this are such challenging treks as the Tour du Mont Blanc and the Haute Route that can require carrying a mid-sized pack.  Our family trips have evolved from our personal experience taking our children on hiking trips to Europe and Vermont, and are appropriate for all ages and intergenerational groups. Deborah Lewis prides herself on her ability to make adventure travel safe and fun for “kids” of all ages.  Our love of local history and culture pervades all of our outings and trips, and, along with our enthusiasm and great attention to detail, distinguishes our adventures.

Our 2012 guided public schedule includes:

• snowshoeing to a vineyard in Connecticut (click here for information)
• hiking in Austria and Bavaria (click here for information)
• hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc (for details click here)
• Dolomites hiking (click here for details),
• Rambiles in England's Lake District (click here for details) , and
• Hiking in Maine (click here for information). 

Most of our itineraries are available on a private guided basis.  See our Vermont page for iInformation on our 2012 guided inn to inn snowshoeing trip in Vermont.

We also offer a wide range of self-guided hiking tours and have just posted 2012 pricing for our self-guided Dolomites and Pyrenees tours:

Cortina Hiking Loop

Val Gardena to Alta Badia Hiking Tour

Peaks and Valleys Hike in the French Pyrenees

The Meridian Way Hike in the French Pyrenees

We have also launched a special self-guided French and Spanish Pyrenees Hiking Trip.  The details of this fabulous tour are complete but not yet posted on our website. Please email us at info@bredeson.com for more information.

Some of our other recent guided trips have included: 

Snowshoeing in Connecticut  

Inn to Inn Snowshoeing in Vermont

Hiking and Touring in Sicily, A World Apart

Whistle Stop Walk on Redding, Connecticut's Hidden Greenway

Hiking Austria and Bavaria

Hiking the Best of Switzerland:  Bernese Oberland and Engadine

Fall Foliage Hiking in Vermont

Each of the above public, guided trips is also available as a private trip for your and your friends or family, either on a guided or a self-guided basis.  We also often add public departures in response to inquiries.  If you have a group of two or three people we are able to add a public guided departure and post it on our web site.  All of our itineraries are available on a private custom basis. 

We are also rolling out a new Crete and Santorini walking tour -- stay tuned for this itinerary.

Our enthusiastic integration of the rich cultural aspects of the landscape in which we walk makes us unique in the adventure travel business. Nothing compares to walking back through time in Europe and New England. Most of our daily walks incorporate historical, literary or cultural aspects of our host country by:

• Following ancient paths,
• Incorporating brief readings, and
• Including a visit to a significant landmark or museum

Sample outings from some of our trips that illustrate our cultural, literary and historical emphasis include:

Other culturally oriented possibilities include trips that combine hiking with attendance at music festivals such as the Montreux Jazz Festival or the Salzburg Summer Music Festival.

Click below for photos from previous trips, client feedback, and Deborah Lewis' biography.