The best new routes for 2002

Gen up on Moroccan cooking after walking in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains on a nine-day holiday with Kudu Travel (01722 349009; www.kudutravel.com). Back for a second year by popular demand, the tour comprises invigorating twoto three-hour walks past carob groves to hamlets, through juniper and fir trees to a Berber village. On the fourth day, after a riverside picnic in the fertile Agoundis valley, relocate to a riad in Marrakesh for cookery demonstrations which impart classic dishes such as tagine and pastilla. A visit to the fashionable port of Essaouira ends with a stroll on the vast, romantic beach. Departs Marrakesh 17 May; £1,490pp full board, including cookery demonstrations. British Airways (0845 773 3377) has returns to Marrakesh from £319.

Spectacular views from medieval hill villages and the glamour of the Côte d'Azur are combined in a week-long Provence coastal walk with Headwater Holidays (01606 720033; www.headwater-holidays. co.uk). The three-star Hotel les Alycons near Le Lavendou is the base for daily trips of moderate walking along semi-shaded coastal paths. Visit characterful Proven?al villages such as Bormes-les-Mimosas and Ramatuelle, take a ferry to Ile de Porquerolles and sail from Port Grimaud to Millionaire's Bay on a private yacht. From £879pp full board, including flights to Marseille.

Go island-hopping in the Faroes, atmospherically adrift between Iceland and the Shetland Isles. There are daily hikes - including one to a puffin colony on the island of Mykines, and another to the top of Enniberg, Europe's highest headland, on Vidoy. The nine-day tour with Explore Worldwide (01252 760000;www. exploreworldwide.com) costs from £885pp B&B in various hotels (and half board in hostels), including flights to Copenhagen and on to the Faroes.

The Krkonose mountain family walk in the Czech Republic will woo easily tired young ramblers - many of the mountain summits can be reached by chairlift or cable car. In the resort of Spindleruv Mlyn on the banks of the Elbe, the eponymous hotel is the base for daily walks, taking in the Cervena (Red Rock), a haunt of mountain eagles, and Pec Snezka, the highest Czech summit. Departing 1 June, the one-week tour with Walks Worldwide (01524 262255; www.walksworldwide.com) costs £660pp (ages seven to 11, £440pp), including full board in hotels, all meals on walks, transport and flights to Prague.