The best adventure holidays for adrenaline junkies

Sometimes a relaxing beach holiday doesn’t quite cut it. Whatever the weather, the thrill of an adventure holiday is one of the best ways to make memories. Whether it’s raising your heart rate, the sense of achievement after a challenge, or the thrill of flirting with danger, if you’re looking for an active getaway, these are some of the best.

Everest Base Camp, Nepal

Everest is practically synonymous with adventure: at the very least, it is a “quintessential bucket-list” destination for anyone with an outdoors itch to scratch, said Outlook Traveller.

Whereas scaling the full summit is riddled with danger, exploring “the roof of the world” by reaching base camp lets you soak up the “incomparable” views without sacrificing safety.

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Time is of the essence, however. The best times to travel are pre- and post-monsoon (March–May and September–November), “when the skies are clearer and the weather less full of surprises”.

Horse riding in the desert, Mongolia

Expect “undoubtedly epic” sights from the saddle in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, said National Geographic. Home to the world-renowned Mongol Derby, a 620-mile equestrian endurance race riding semi-wild horses, adventure is never far away.

For something a bit more laid-back (but still not for the faint-hearted), consider taking a five-day horse riding holiday, averaging about 20 miles a day. Leave the comforts of civilisation behind to visit Buddhist temples, nomadic families, and camp beneath the “starry skies with your steed tethered close by”.

Hiking in the Dolomites, Italy

The mountain range has been there for millions of years, but Italians “caught on to the joys of a Dolomites summer during the pandemic”, said The Times. You can scale up the difficulty of the challenge depending on your ability. One of the “favourite” paths, from Cortina following the Alta Via 1, “cheats” by incorporating links to bus routes and “eschewing mountain refuges for the sort of small Alpine hotel you usually see on cuckoo clocks”. For a “pinch-me combination of sheer mountains, ultra-green meadows and cool air”, you can choose more tortuous routes (although you might prefer to take the cable car).

Extreme sports, New Zealand

New Zealand has been the go-to for adrenaline junkies for years, said The Independent. On your doorstep, you can find the “crème de la crème of bucket list activities”, such as skydiving, bungee jumping, and season-dependent snow sports on both the North and South Islands. All that’s required for this adventure holiday is a “leap of faith”: try a bungee jump with 8.5 seconds of freefall, 134 metres about the Nevis River, or skydive out of a plane 9,000 feet above Queenstown. That will get the heart racing.

Canyoning and diving, Portugal

Madeira is an “unsung paradise” for adventure seekers, said Euronews. Stella Kamba, founder of active travel company More Life Adventures, said that diving is the best way to explore the “reefs, caves and volcanic rock formations”. The archipelago’s abundance of outdoor activities makes it the “ideal shoulder-season destination”. Brits are starting to take notice; there has been a 12% rise in flights to the island since 2024.

The three-and-a-half-hour “Pico to Pico” trail is a particular highlight, scaling two mountains. If you prefer the water, the island’s Laurissilva Forest is perfect for “seasoned” canyoners, though there are plenty of beginner sites available too.