Travel is back — but not any old fly-and-flop holiday will do.
After two long years of lockdowns, restrictions and Covid admin, the adventure side of the travel industry looks set to bounce back. According to Skyscanner, there’s been a shift in holiday attitudes with 41 per cent of UK travellers ravenous for adventure.
Ready to run towards the extraordinary? We’ve sought out the weirdest, wildest and downright peculiar holidays to book now.
Dive between tectonic plates, Iceland
So you’ve embraced wild swimming; time to take it to the next level. Swap London’s genteel waters for Iceland where you can dive between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. SevenTravel will whisk you off to Reykjavik and around the Golden Circle before heading to the glacial meltwater of Silfra Fissure for a dunking like no other. What the waters lack in wildlife they make up for in HD-like visibility; you’ll be able to see the underwater rock formations down to 100m.
Rather stay above water? Fish&Pips has four-nights surfing and SUP in Iceland’s Fjord Hvalfjodur from £1,275pp, based on two sharing on a B&B basis at the swanky EDITION Reykjavik.
Best for: families seeking a proper pinch-me moment.
From £7,395 per family (excluding flights), seventravel.co.uk
Knock on the Door to Hell, Turkmenistan
Knock on the Door to Hell, Turkmenistan
Decades of Soviet rule means central Asia remains a largely overlooked travel destination. Now you can discover ‘The Stans’ with Explore, which offers a 21-day Five Stans of the Silk Road trip through this fascinating region. The highlight? Camping in Darvaza, AKA the Door to Hell. The gas crater has been burning continuously since the Seventies as the result of an experiment-gone-wrong by Soviet geologists. Turkmenistan’s president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov recently announced plans to close the site, so this could be your last chance to witness the phenomenon. Native Eye also offers Turkmenistani itineraries to Darvaza as well as to the canyons standing sentinel over the Caspian Sea.
Best for: toasting marshmallows somewhere truly unique.
21 days from £4350pp, with flights from £663pp, explore.co.uk
Go skiing - in Iraq
Untamed Borders offers round trip itineraries to the northern city of Erbil where, after a day of sightseeing, you’ll journey onwards to mountains to hit bucket-list powder. Slalom the slopes of Halgurd (Iraq’s highest peak) and other pristine areas, much of which has never been skied before. Travel dates are timed to coincide with the Choman Winter Festival and the Iraq Ski Rally, which you can compete in if you’ve got what it takes.
Best for: bragging rights at every apres-ski from now until forever.
From $2,400pp,(£1,700; flights excluded), untamedborders.com
An Agatha Christie-style Grand Adventure, multiple destinations
This year marks the centenary of Agatha Christie’s 10-month world voyage. To celebrate this and the release of Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile, luxury travel operator Black Tomato has devised four epic itineraries tracing her footsteps. Fans of the author can book multi-leg journeys that kick off in the UK and on to Africa, Australasia and North America seeing the world through her eyes but with Black Tomato’s famous luxe filter (think Belmond hotels and private flights). Splash out on the whole 40-day trip or pick a smaller packages.
Best for: Adventure-hungry bookworms.
From £5,350 per person, blacktomato.com
Gawp at Pageant of the Masters festival, California
If you visit Orange County’s Laguna Beach from July 7 to August 31, you’ll come across a peculiar sight. Hundreds of participants posing in opulent outfits to recreate some of the world’s most famous classical and contemporary works of art for the Pageant of the Masters festival. Gaze at the “living pictures’’ (tableaux vivants, if you want to be arty about it) in a star-lit amphitheatre and steal styling tips for your next fancy dress outfit. Set between LA and San Diego, there’s plenty of opportunities to top or tail your trip with a visit to either Pacific-facing city.
Best for: Cultural cosplay.
Best avoided if: you normally go straight to the gallery gift shop.
Learn more at visitcalifornia.com; flights from London to LA from £520.26, britishairway.com
Shop at The Witches Market, Bolivia
For those running low on quality ingredients to sling into their cauldron, a trip to a Bolivian witch market is calling. The La Paz market specialises in grotesque wares: think hand-made potions and dried frogs, thought to ward off unfriendly spirits. You might have trouble explaining the contents of your hand baggage to airport security, but if you’ve a stomach for the peculiar, it doesn’t get more curious than this. Luxtripper includes La Paz as part of its 10-day itinerary through Peru, Bolivia and Chile which also includes a rail trip up to Machu Picchu, as well as to the ancient mummies of Alcaya, flamingo hot-spot Laguna Colorada, and two nights sleeping in pods on the otherworldly Bolivian salt flats; the Uyuni desert is said to be the closest you’ll get to feeling like you’re kipping on the lunar surface. Spellbinding.
Best for: Hogwarts wannabes.
From £8,923.95 per person including international and domestic flights as necessary, luxtripper.co.uk
Go on a heli-pub crawl, Australia
The Outback is vast; it covers more than 70 per cent of Australia. Needless to say, getting from A to B is a mission. Unless, that is, you’ve got a chopper at your disposal. Travel to freshly poured pints across Darwin and the Top End via a private helicopter in a pub crawl adventure to tell the grandkids. Over the full day experience, your pilot will set you down from one Outback watering hole to another, spotting wildlife and wetlands on the way, and swapping tales with the locals when you get there, with an hour’s stop at each pub. Destined to be one hell of a G’Day.
Best for: Downing pints like a rock star.
Fares cost from £420pp, northernterritory.com
Do the Lunana Snowman Trek, Bhutan
If you’re a hiker, few challenges are tougher than the Snowman Trek; more people have summited Everest than have finished this gruelling expedition. You’ll cross 14 high mountain passes in Bhutan and beyond, through remote and uncharted terrain, taking in views few on this planet have seen. Clear your diary; you’ll need five weeks to complete this once-in-a-lifetime trek. The next trip departs in October, so plenty of time to break in your hiking boots.
Best for: Viral selfies in the clouds.
£8,105 flight inclusive, or £7,195 land only, mountainkingdoms.com
Fight like a samurai, Japan
Aman hotels are some of the finest in the world, offering exclusive experiences to match their luxury lodgings. In the Tokyo outpost, the concierge can arrange private Iaido sessions through the Misogi Experience, which focuses on the ancient and graceful martial art of the samurai, Japan’s legendary warrior. Slice in the class between exploring this metropolis, which mixes gleaming skyscrapers with opulent holy temples.
Best for: Sharpening your knife skills.
Rooms from £606.55pn, classes £171.09 per adult, £85.54 per child, aman.com
Go giraffe-kissing, Kenya
PDAs might have been on hold during the pandemic, but now you can get up close and personal with the world’s tallest animal, the Rothschild giraffe. These naturally stylish creatures (giraffe is the new leopard print, folks) can be found at Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, which helps rehabilitate the most endangered of giraffe subspecies. You can even have breakfast with them by booking in for a night’s stay at Giraffe Manor. Somak Luxury Travel can sort trips and overnight stays as part of a wider Kenya itinerary before you hit the beach or spot the big five on a safari trip.
Best for: Feeling the love
