The first edition of the Monchique Walking Festival will take place from the 10th to the 13th of June, on the trails of that mountain, with offers for all tastes, ages and physical forms.
The news was announced yesterday by Rui André, mayor of Monchique, the organization that organizes what will be the fourth hiking festival to appear in the Algarve region. The mayor was speaking precisely at the closing session of the training actions “Prepare Monchique for the Walking product”, promoted by the project “Revitalize Monchique – Tourism as a Catalyst”, within which the new event is promoted and financed.
Rui André added that the theme of this new festival will be water, an omnipresent element in the landscape and experiences in the Monchique mountains. “Here in Monchique, there was an event around the water and the best way to promote it is through hiking”, he explained. «Here we have sacred waters, water from the streams, thermal water, water from irrigation tanks… we even have burning water!», he joked.
Thus, «around the theme of water, the paths of water», Monchique is already «preparing, with our small team, a very attractive event, in our style. Anyone who already knows our events, knows how it is, see the Camellia festival».
Although there is little more than a month, the program is still being defined, but the mayor said that there will be a series of events and activities around the walks: «we will have workshops, workshops, theme walks, sport walks, baths. forest, theater, meditation, yoga», he enumerated.
It will be "four days of people's relationship with water, with nature, with the mountains, in a set of very attractive proposals that we are building", added Rui André.
The promotion campaign, which will feature several pieces, including a promotional video, is being produced by the Algarve company 1000olhos, from Aljezur.
"Over the next week, there will be more news on this topic," promised Mayor Rui André.
Anabela Santos, superior technician at the Almargem association, which organizes another of the Algarve's hiking festivals – that of Barão de São João, Lagos – and who is the promoter of the Via Algarviana and of the “Revitalize Monchique” project, he stressed that the Algarve Walking Season it is “a good example of synergies”, of networking. «We are talking about the Alcoutim Chamber, now Monchique, the QRER cooperative and Almargem», entities that created a calendar throughout the year, with walking activities, but with different festivals – Barão de São João has a Ameixial has another particularity, Alcoutim's as well and Monchique's will also have”.
«Each of the festivals has its own identity and the places where they take place are completely different, the landscapes are different», stressed Anabela Santos, explaining that this guarantees a loyal audience for this type of event.
In 2020, because of the pandemic, the only one that took place was the Barão de São João Hiking Festival, in November. «We had a tree of interest, we opened registration and, on the first day, we had around 400 interested people. Despite the great restrictions imposed by the pandemic, we didn't only have people from the Algarve, there were people who came from Coimbra, Lisbon and even further away», he recalled.
“I don't know anyone who doesn't want to go hiking in Monchique. But more than that, people want to stay in Monchique, they don't just want to walk. Anyone who signs up, especially if they do it for more than one day of activities, will want to spend the night in the territory, will want to eat, even because Monchique is known for the quality of its cuisine». And all this brings dynamics and business to the local economy, whether in terms of accommodation, restaurants, tourist entertainment companies or partners from other areas, such as sausage, honey, bread, handicraft, medronho brandy, sweets .
For her part, Ana Vargues, manager of the Nature, Sport and Health and Well-Being product of Associação Turismo do Algarve, stated that she has «no doubts that these festivals are part of the Algarve Walking Season they are an asset for the competitiveness of the Algarve, to show that, throughout the year, initiatives take place here, with a diversified offer».
One of the issues discussed at the round table closing the training actions aimed at local accommodation and tourist entertainment entrepreneurs was the fact that nature tourism in the Algarve, namely hiking, is gaining more and more followers in Europe. The biggest source markets for ecotourists are Germany and the Netherlands and, before the pandemic, these were also the nationalities of most hikers in the Algarve and even visitors to the Monchique Tourist Office. But the French and even the Portuguese are also growing.
This year, due to the pandemic, the main focus of this 1st Monchique Hiking Festival will be on the regional and national market, as, as Anabela Santos pointed out, «the Algarve, in this matter of hiking festivals, is ahead of the other regions of the parents".
But the responsible for Almargem also stressed that “it is necessary to think about the continuity of the project” of this festival in Monchique. «The first edition is financed 100%, because it is still part of the Revitalizar Monchique project. But it is necessary that, in the next editions, the new executive of the Chamber of Monchique, whoever he may be, wants its continuity, wants to invest in the project, even if it is giving it a personal stamp, but not letting it fall».
The program for the 1st Monchique Hiking Festival should be made available next week, as well as registration. For now, this weekend of May 8th and 9th, the pioneer returns Walking Festival Plum, in that parish of Serra do Caldeirão, in the interior of the municipality of Loulé. There's nothing like being out in the open and in total safety.
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