Travelling this year? There are still many trips available for 2024.
With over 500 exciting self-guided trips to 40 countries worldwide and over 20 years of experience in the outdoors under our belt, we know a thing or two about what makes a great walking or cycling holiday.
Even with over 21,000 independent reviews, we continue to listen obsessively to our customers to develop our walking, cycling, and active adventures. Our trips give customers the freedom to travel at their own pace, confident that we’ve meticulously planned their holiday.
Did you know we have a Macs Adventure Facebook community? Over 8,000 members of passionate adventurers share tips, exchange stories and support each other. Join our community today!
Neil Lapping
Chief Adventure Officer
Back in 2003, I was hiking in Scotland and saw a huge bus pull into Ullapool, a small town on the Northwest Coast of the Highlands. The passengers poured out, took some photos, interacted with no one, then piled back on the coach and drove off again. I thought, this can’t be the best way for people to explore a region and make a positive impact on local communities.
That’s when I decided to launch a range of guided and self-guided walking holidays in Scotland. I wanted to create a more active way to explore that immersed and connected visitors to the place and the people who lived there. Turns out I wasn’t the only one who felt this way and thus, Macs Adventure was born.
Since then, we’ve evolved our offering and now organise self-guided trips around the world with a mission to empower our customers and introduce more and more people to tourism and a way of travel that benefits the local communities.
We think of ourselves as the people behind your journey, and over 20 years later, hearing our customers’ #MacsMoment experiences is still what gets me out of bed in the morning!
The Macs team thrive on making travel dreams come true. By arranging everything from hand-picked accommodation and hassle-free luggage transfers to precise mapping and our free Macs app, we give you unique travel experiences and make #MacsMoment memories happen with everything taken care of.
It’s been an exciting journey to get to where we are today - a company of over 150 passionate travel enthusiasts, working together to develop and deliver outstanding active holidays. I’m so proud of where we’ve come, and with lots of exciting developments in the pipeline, I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Find out more about the Macs Way of travel and get a flavour of our business by reading about our values.
Oh, and if you’re wondering who Macs is, our name is a play on ‘maximum adventure’ but with a Scottish twist. ‘Mac’ is a Scottish and Irish Gaelic surname prefix. So in keeping with our Scottish heritage, I decided to swap ‘max’ for ‘macs’. See what I did there?
Neil Lapping
Chief Adventure Officer
We want to help you explore the world the active way, at your own pace, making discoveries that are uniquely personal to you. Our trips are self-guided which means you can choose your own travel companions (or go solo for some me-time), pause when you want to take in the surroundings, explore local attractions at your leisure, and enjoy the immense satisfaction of knowing you've achieved something every day. No guide-led groups here! Of course, the trip will be meticulously planned by us, and you'll have full phone support available 24/7. So though we're always here when you need us, we’re never there when you don’t. Find out more here.
With over 500 trips to choose from, we get that picking your next adventure can be a bit confusing. So, we’ve grouped our active adventures into five categories to help you navigate your way towards your ideal route. Discover which trip type is for you and get inspired. Find out more about self-guided active travel here.
Our 'People Behind the Scenery' are dedicated to delivering the best experience for our customers. Our many years of planning adventures mean that you'll always have peace of mind that your trip is exactly what you want it to be. We recruit people who are very much on board with our customer-first ethos, and enable them to walk the trails and pedal the paths so that they fully understand your needs.
‘Sustainable travel’ and ‘Responsible travel’ are terms that are used quite a lot, but what do they really mean? We want to cut through the buzzwords and be transparent about the steps we’re taking to make a positive impact. At Macs, we focus on four key areas where we can make a real difference. Measuring our carbon footprint, maintaining and restoring trails, becoming B Corp certified, and advocating for low impact self-guided travel. Read more here.
From our origins in Scotland, we've grown into a global team with customers and travel destinations around the world. Today, Macs Adventure's offices are based in Glasgow UK, and Denver CO USA, but of course our network of partners from hoteliers to luggage teams operate around the globe.
Our company was founded in Glasgow, Scotland, and the city is home to our headquarters today. Our team enjoys flexible working from home with the option of working from our office space in the city centre to catch up with the team.
Our US office opened in 2017, and the team has grown fast. So many of you, our adventurers, are based in North America, so the team of specialists in Colorado are there to offer you a bespoke service and tailored advice.
Hallo aus Deutschland! Our colleagues in Saarbrücken, Germany develop and plan walking and cycling trips specifically for our German customers. Our German team offer top local advice, expert routes, German language information and dedicated support for Germans and German-speaking customers. Browse AbenteuerWege here.
Our specialists are here to help connect you with your perfect adventure. Just get in touch if you have any questions.
At Macs, we don’t do tour buses, groups, or guides. Instead, we give you the freedom and confidence to have your own self-guided walking or cycling adventure.
This is active travel led by you.
You choose your departure date and who you travel with, we do the rest.
We sort accommodation and luggage transfers and provide your route in an easy-to-use app.
We give you everything you need to travel independently but we're here 24/7 if you need us.
Getting from A to B under your own steam is intensely rewarding. With Macs, you'll see the world, and yourself, differently.
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
European Union