Running between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin in the far southwest of Australia, the Cape to Cape Track is one of the country’s loveliest coastal paths. It is 76 miles long, but largely flat, so walking it feels more like an extended “stroll” than a trek, said Jamie Lafferty in the Financial Times – and it is even easier if you join one of Walk into Luxury’s four-day group trips, as I did last November.
This local operator puts guests up at a single hotel and drives them to the most beautiful sections of the trail for daily walks, each up to six hours long, with knowledgeable guides. From surprise picnics to dinners in high-end restaurants, the food is wonderful – and so is the wine, all of which is locally produced. The path runs the length of the Margaret River wine region, where viticulture began in 1967. Today, the region produces 2% of Australia’s wines, but accounts for 20% of its premium market.
On Walk into Luxury’s trip, guests visit several wineries, including the oldest, Vasse Felix. I loved the lunch we had there (including an excellent toothfish and miso-aubergine dish), and the Tom Cullity wine, a cabernet sauvignon and malbec blend made from grapes descended from the area’s very first vines.
Our hotel, the Injidup Spa Retreat, was also good, with guest villas and their plunge pools perched on a cliff above an often deserted beach of “flawless” pale sand. In early November, the coastal plains were “ablaze” with spring flowers, and there were lots of birds to watch during our picnics, including cockatoos, wedge-tailed eagles and superb fairywrens – a tiny species that is “unfathomably blue”. We saw a pod of playful dolphins and a pair of humpback whales (mother and calf) close to shore, and also spotted – and avoided – a dugite (a large venomous snake) sunbathing on a rock. Most magical, however, was the final day, when we walked through an ancient forest of “titanic” karri trees, listening to the birdsong and the “gentle hushing” of the upper canopy.
The trip costs from £1,855pp, excluding flights (walkintoluxury.com).
Walk through an ‘ancient forest’ and listen to the ‘gentle hushing’ of the upper canopy