James Stuart

is the founder (with Regli Alvarez) & Managing Director of Discover Andalucia. James has lived in Vejer de la Frontera, Cádiz since 1988. James’s career has been spent wholly in the Activity Holiday & Leisure industry since he started out as a ski shop technician in the French Alps at 19 years old. He has worked in all aspects of the trade both in teaching, guiding & management & his experience covers working in sports schools, retail trade & operations. James holds a Spanish degree in Sports studies & speaks English, Spanish & French.

James’ business interests include Discover Andalucia Adventure Services, the Hotel La Casa del Califa, the Jardin del Califa restaurant. The Discover Groups’ Hotel & Restaurant business has been widely acclaimed as the most original & client friendly hostelry in the province (& voted one of Spains top ten Hotels in 2002 by the ‘El Semanal’ national magazine).

James grew up in the Middle East & England with holidays spent in his native Scotland or travelling the Arabian deserts with his brothers & father. His career has taken him to many parts of the world & he has led such diverse trips as Ski Touring in the High Atlas (Morocco) to leading 32 cyclists along the shores of Lake Malawi (Central Africa). He has crossed the Atlantic east to west in a 12m. Bermudan sloop, scuba dived in the Red Sea, and camped in the Moroccan Sahara, the deserts of Saudi Arabia & the Kalahari in Botswana. When not working he is usually to be found kite surfing near Cape Trafalgar or searching for new routes on bike or on foot throughout Andalucia.

Regli Alvarez

is (with James Stuart) the founder of Discover Andalucia. Regli was involved with DiscoverAndalucia full time up until 2001 but these days her time is spent managing the Hotel La Casa del Califa & the Jardin del Califa restaurant. She is a tourism graduate from Seville University & has travelled extensively including Mountain Biking in Sri Lanka & in South Africa.

When not hard at work with the hotel Regli is usually to be found enjoying the local beaches & walking with her many dogs.

Carsten Osterloh

Since 2004 in Andalucia and since 2005 at Discover Andalucia is his he now responsible for Operations and Marketing.

Carsten worked in Germany as Snowboardinsructor for Children and Teenager. The beginning of Tourismus starts at a Operator for Clubholidays. During that time he worked as a Snowboardinstructor in Austria and as Sailinginstructor in Turkey and Spain.

Encarni Benitez

Our office manager and is in charge of administration, accounts & billing. She is a keen walker & is a great lover of the Andalucian 'fiesta' tradition.

Patrick Bennett

Has been working with us since 1.997. A background as a paragliding instructor & part time mountain bike racer, Patrick is our head guide on biking operations, is a knowledgable bird watcher, bike mechanic and even better joke teller. Watch out for that hair cut!

Elena Cardell

Hails from Sierra Nevada & Granada where she is a full time ski instructor in the winter & in charge of our Mountain Biking & Multi-Activity tours in Granada in the Spring, Summer & Autumn. Don’t try & catch her as not only was Elena a Spanish National Mogul ski champion but she is also a one time Andalucian MTB (cross-country) champion. Elena spends her free time in her log cabin in the National Park from where she mountain bikes, hill walks & makes sporadic trips to the beach to kite surf.

Carmen Reina

A tourism graduate from Jerez Tourism Institute Carmen was born & brought up in the city of Cádiz. She is in charge of our cultural, easy walking tours & our moderate grade multi activity tours. An Andalucia expert her work takes her across the full breadth of the region. Carmen lives in Vejer & is a keen walker who spends plenty of time on the local beaches whenver she gets the chance!

Juan Antonio Reina

‘Juanan’ is our top all-rounder who runs everything from culture tours to mountain biking & cycling. Originally a college Physical Education teacher Juanan escaped his native Seville to travel the world. He is an accomplished linguist speaking 6 languages fluently & has worked as a professional guide all over Southern & Central America, much of the Carribean, Italy & Morocco. When not travelling Juanan is often to be found dancing salsa & out biking.

Rudi

After getting his degree in electronics Rudy decided not to go for a career - live a dream don't dream a life became his philosophie. With 20years Rudy first left Switzerland for a longer period and since kept travelling for the past nine years visiting as many as 57 countries on 6 continents - many to go. In the wintermoths he usually works an skiinstructor in Switzerland.