We explain this in more detail in the About Us section of our website, but we can also summarize it as follows:
Troulanda.com is your travel partner for finding and booking unique travel experiences that help you deep travel the places you visit, their history, and their cuisine. Here you will find unusual activities designed for travelers seeking memorable and authentic adventures beyond traditional tourist circuits.
At Troulanda, we are committed to promoting local culture and economy, which is why
- The guides, agents, and companies that you will connect with through our experiences are 100% local operators. They are our hosts in the place you visit.
- Each visit, tour, and workshop promotes a part of the culture, traditions, stories, and way of life specific to the place you visit. For example, here you will only find a hiking trail or a kayak trip if that activity brings you closer to the stories, present, and past of the territory.
- All visits have their season. Territories evolve with the seasons, gastronomy is seasonal, and the weather makes us stop offering certain activities from time to time. In addition, we try to bring you closer to traditions that only happen once a year.
- Our groups are small. The only time we will join a large group is if there is public transportation that allows you to enjoy the activity, such as boats and catamarans.
- We do not offer free tours. We are not against each guide setting their own pricing model, but we also know that it is very difficult for a local project to survive without knowing how much it will earn at the end of the day. We have also seen terrible abuses in the most crowded places and do not want to repeat the mistakes of others.
- We support the local economy in many ways: with local suppliers (guides, wineries, transportation, etc.), with locally sourced cuisine, and by promoting sustainable tourism.
It’s very simple: our hosts are people who live in the area you are visiting, usually in the same town, and who have decided to invest there. They may or may not have been born there, but their lives, families, and businesses are deeply connected to the area they are guiding you through.
Authenticity is not something we decide, but rather something determined by the local population. The events we bring you and the activities you will participate in are not designed “for tourists,” but rather for the local population. Here you will find people who come from far away to visit their families, neighbors who want to learn more about their towns and cities, or who want to discover a different perspective on the landscapes they pass through almost every day… and some travelers like you.
We love that you asked us this question. Our travelers are respectful travelers like you and know how important it is to protect the local culture and economy. But in addition, all of our experiences seek to strike a balance: small groups, guides who bring you closer to tradition, and non-intrusive participation. We want you to understand the whys and hows without changing anything that happens.
Yes. All our activities seek to promote traditions, but we also collaborate with local associations and projects for the conservation and regeneration of the local environment, popular culture, and traditions. You can find these initiatives on our social media, but our Troulanda Passport travelers also help us choose the projects in which we invest part of our profits at the end of the year.
Yes. We carry out activities in which animals are the protagonists, but in which you will not interact with them (such as the Rapa das Bestas or a walk accompanied by donkeys from a species conservation project). We also offer some horseback rides in which the animals are the leading feature, narrating a territory in which the population used to travel (and still travels) on horseback to cover long distances.
In these cases, we ensure that the animals are not only well cared for, but also that the activity takes place safely and without exhausting the animal, in quiet places that do not cause them additional stress, and that the presence of the horse has a purpose (riding a horse for the sake of riding a horse is not something we are interested in).
You will not find places for interaction with wildlife, but you will find wildlife observation in the wild with expert biologists, ornithologists, and mountain guides.
We can’t always avoid crowds at popular events (the Rapa das Bestas welcomes around 3,000 people just at the Curro venue, and Arde Lucus attracts around 200,000 people every year), but here we are just one more person, and our role is to help you understand what’s going on and integrate you as a local.
But these occasions only happen once a year. The rest of the year, we introduce you to little-known places, small towns and villages, activities with less crowded schedules, unusual itineraries, and themes that go beyond the “basics.”
Plus, in places that are already very crowded, as our groups are small, we can adjust the route so that you can enjoy it in the best possible and less intruding way.
On our Spanish language version, you can book most activities and pay for them directly on the website. This way, you receive immediate confirmation.
However, for activities in English, we need to manage this ourselves to ensure that the local guide speaks and understands the language well. In these cases, you will fill out a form (you can also write to us via chat) and we will take care of it.
You will still pay online via a secure payment platform (Stripe) to guarantee your place as soon as we give you the go-ahead.
Yes, once you have completed the booking process and payment has been processed, you will receive a confirmation email with all the details: date, time, meeting point, contact details for the guide/museum/other, and any other relevant information.
It happens sometimes, but don’t stress, there’s a solution:
- Check your spam folder to see if it ended up there.
- Check that your email inbox isn’t full. If it is, delete some emails you don’t need so that the system can try to send you the email again.
- You may have entered a different email address when making the reservation or you may have made a typo without realizing it. If this is the case, we will need you to send us a message telling us what you booked, under what name, for when, how many people, and how you paid (we do not need your card number unless you paid by card or another payment method). We will look for it in our system and if it is registered, we will send it to you correctly.
Yes, you can cancel with us. We will make the needed arrangements for you without having to contact anyone else.
The accesibility of activities depends on each individual activity. The description of each experience usually indicates whether it is suitable for children, whether there are minimum age requirements, or whether it is accessible for people with reduced mobility. If you have any special needs, please do not hesitate to contact us before booking so that we can confirm or make adjustments (whenever possible).
In the event of adverse weather conditions or any other unforeseen circumstances that prevent the activity from taking place safely, we will contact you to offer you an alternative (change of date, similar activity) or, if this is not possible, a refund. We recommend that you always check the emergency contact details provided when booking to make sure that we can contact you in these circumstances.
Generally, our experiences do not include transportation or accommodation, unless explicitly stated in the activity description. Please contact us if you require assistance with transportation (whether specific directions or a driver for you or your group) or if you are seeking specific accommodation. As travel agents, we are continuously exploring new options for our travelers.
No need. We repeat: NO.
Have your confirmation email on your cell phone, along with an ID with the name of the reservation, and the person in charge of the reserved experience will confirm your reservation with that information before starting the activity.
By avoiding printing, we help the environment a little bit.
We recommend arriving 15 minutes early so you can find parking (it’s not always easy), check your reservation, and make sure we all start on time.
If you arrive late, even if it’s only two minutes, the activity may have already started and you may not be able to join in. In these cases, it will count as if you hadn’t come and the standard cancellation policies will apply. So if you see that you’re not going to make it, let us know in advance so we can try to find a solution before disaster strikes (it’s not always possible, so keep that in mind).
At Troulanda, you will find activities in Spanish and in English. But we do not offer bilingual tours as we have witnessed really messy trips where half of the group doesn’t get part of the info and the other half gets bored while waiting. So it is either English or Spanish (if you find the description in English, it is available in English).
In addition, all our activities can be carried out in the local language of the place where they take place: Galician, Basque, Asturian… and other languages, facilitating not only the immersion of travelers but also the reinforcement of the local culture and language. Let us know if you want to run the activity in any of these.
Oh, and we also offer Spanish Sign Language interpreters. It’s not free (we haven’t managed to get it subsidized yet), but we want our activities to be available in all the official languages spoken in the territory you visit, so we try to make all activities accessible to deaf people too (LSE has been official in Spain since 2007).
All our getaways are safe for men and women. At Troulanda, we are female travelers (100% of Troulanda’s partners and management team are women), plus many of our hosts are also female.
If you encounter any problem (no matter how big or small) during our activities and getaways, contact the host or us directly and we will do everything possible to solve what can be solved and help you carry out the appropriate activities for what cannot be solved.
*Neither we nor our guides use inclusive language. This is not a political decision but a pragmatic one: we welcome travelers from all over the world, and it is an additional barrier that we have not yet figured out how to overcome.
At Troulanda, we work with our hosts to ensure they are welcoming to all sexual orientations and gender identities. We do not organize specific activities for any group separately, but we are aware that you may be sharing the activity with other travelers who may not be LGBTQ+ friendly.
If you encounter any problems during our activities and getaways, please contact the host or us immediately and we will do everything possible to resolve any issues and help you participate in the activities. We appreciate your help in making tourism an open and welcoming sector.
* Neither we nor our guides use inclusive language. This is not a political decision but a pragmatic one: we welcome travelers from every corner of the world, and it is an additional communication barrier that we have not yet figured out how to overcome.
We are here to help! You can contact us through our website form, send us an email to [hola@troulanda.com] or connect via the we chat that pops up so annoyingly.
Of course! Our customer service team is available in English and Spanish to answer all your questions and help you with whatever you need. We also respond in Galician and we hope to include other official languages of Spain and Portuguese soon.
