Active travel is my favorite kind of travel. It’s a subject I have been covering for decades but it has never been hotter, with huge jumps in participation in outdoor activities such as hiking and cycling since the pandemic. Top tour companies have added tons of new trips and destinations, there are more great options than every before, and it is just a wonderful time to be enjoying these kinds of trips. In order to help you plan your best active travel, I’ve put together some tips and updates based on expert advice and vast personal experience.

Plan Your Best Active Travel Vacations

Active travel is a kind of vacation that involves participating in a physical activity, most commonly cycling, hiking or “multi-sport,” adventurous vacations that usually combine both hiking and cycling with one or more additional pursuits, most often paddling (kayaking, canoeing, rafting) but can add anything from caving to zip lines. In theory active travel would also include ski and snowboard trips, participation in marathons or triathlons, increasingly popular open water swimming, and even golf. But for our purposes I am focusing on the traditional core of the active travel industry, hiking/trekking, cycling and multi-sport.

Hot New Active Travel Destinations

For half a century the hotbeds for cycling trips were Tuscany, Burgundy, Provence and the Napa Valley. For hiking, the Swiss and French Alps, Dolomites, Northwestern Canada, Patagonia and the American West have long been the gold standard. Multi-sport trips were more diverse but dream highlights for this kind of active travel have always included Costa Rica and Belize, along with Alaska. However, in recent years the possibilities have exploded in scope and number and there are great trips of all these kinds all over the globe.

Thumbing through the glossy catalogs of top tour companies like Backroads, DuVine or Butterfield & Robinson you will find tempting dream trips on almost every page and in parts of the world you may not have previously considered, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Peru and Japan, all of which have been very popular now been for several years. Not so long ago an “up and coming” destination, Croatia has been so popular for active travel that it is hard to visit without seeing a cycling or hiking tour group pass by (you can read my recent story on cycling in Croatia here at Forbes). So, what’s next?

Greece

Cari Gray is the owner of Gray & Co. the most luxurious active travel specialist on the planet, and probably the smallest specialty company ever to win Travel + Leisure Magazine’s World’s Best Tour Operator. Gray & Co. does nothing but completely bespoke custom private trips, one-of-a-kind Bucket List Dream vacations for the active private jet crowd (read more about this high-touch luxury company here at Forbes), and she is always ahead of the curve. A few years ago, I asked her to name up and coming destinations, and everyplace she mentioned, from Texas Hill Country to Mallorca to Bhutan became a major active travel hotspot just as she predicted. Most recently, a year ago she surprised me by suggesting hiking in Greece, a country best known in travel circles for the sunbaked overtourism of Santorini and Mykonos.

Well, she was right again. In the northwest, neat the border of Albania, lies Zagorohoria, where 46 ancient mountain villages are linked by a delightful network of 15th century shepherds’ paths, a region just declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023. Crete, the nation’s largest island, also has world class hiking and cycling, and another top tour operator, luxury cycling specialist DuVine, just added its first land based Greece trip, an epic 6-day loop of the less visited but easily accessed Mani Peninsula on the mainland, not far from Athens, and in prime Greek wine country. DuVine is also a pioneer in small sailboat based bike trips, including one to rarely visited Greek Isles, a very uncommon case where you almost certainly will not encounter another cycling tour group, a unique style of trip I wrote about here at Forbes.

Eastern Europe

When I went cycling in Croatia last year I loved it, but the region has become so popular that we saw multiple cycling tour groups from many different companies almost every day—not to mention a cavalcade of giant cruise ships. For those seeking the next big thing, everyone I met locally told me to push on to the other still emerging hotspots of Eastern Europe. Slovenia is the “new Croatia” (and cheaper), but even newer are Poland, where the largest player in the luxury active travel space, Backroads, just jumped in. Backroads added an enticing new three nation cycling trip from Krakow to Budapest, through Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. Krakow, a city that unlike almost all of its neighbors, was spared much e World War Two destruction, has emerged as one of the next big urban hotspots in world travel, with a wonderfully preserved city center and amazing global culinary scene. It has some of the best priced Michelin-style fine dining on the Continent, making it a suddenly hot foodie destination. Backroads also has a Poland and Slovakia hiking trip.

Meanwhile, just two years aago Romania unveiled one of the world’s top new hiking trails, the 870-mile Via Transilvanica through Transylvania’s “Dracula country,” and venerable active travel specialist MT Sobek has a new 9-day trip.

Bhutan

Another ultra-high profile new hiking trail runs the length of Bhutan—another recent Cari Gray pick—and has led multiple active travel companies to jump into the Buddhist nation, the only one entirely contained within the Himalayas. Bhutan is known for hiking but has also quickly proven popular for multi-sport adventure, with options including mountain biking, rafting and even the national sport, archery. The 250-mile Trans Bhutan Trail opened in 2022 and I wrote about it here at Forbes.

South Africa

I am a huge fan of African wildlife safaris, and to me South Africa is the best destination because it allows you to combine topnotch safaris and some of the finest luxury lodges on the Continent with many other activities, from art museums to wine country to world-class golf to luxury trains and one of a kind attractions like the UNESCO World Heritage Cradle of Humankind paleolithic site.

But most recently South Africa has been emerging as an adventure hotspot, and is another top Cari Gray pick, with surprisingly excellent road cycling. Butterfield & Robinson also added an uncommon road cycling group trip in South Africa. But one of the rarest options in luxury active travel is off-road mountain biking, as most top companies such as Backroads and Butterfield & Robinson do not do mountain biking. The one notable exception among the best white glove companies is DuVine Cycling + Adventure Company, which has a new 6-day mountain bike trip around the Cape Winelands region, just stunning. This is one of several emerging mini trends in cycling travel I recently wrote about here at Forbes.

Tim Neville, one of the best outdoor journalists in the business, just published a big New York Times travel feature on hiking in Drakensberg, the country’s highest mountain range (over 11,400-feet in spots) and described it as “a hiking heaven with endless miles of single-track trails that push past waterfalls, through wildflower meadows and along ancient rock art sites.” You can read Neville’s detailed story here. Few Americans have heard of this hiking heaven, but that’s why you sometimes have to follow the advice of trend-sensitive experts.

Japan

Japan has been one of the hottest destinations on earth for Americans the past few years, with record breaking visitation and near record low prices thanks to a strong dollar. But the vast majority of visitors head to Tokyo and Kyoto and the most crowded tourist sites, overlooking the fact that Japan is a mostly rural, almost entirely forested and mountainous country with tons of coastline and very low population density.

In terms of active travel, it is most famous for skiing and snowboarding, and rightfully so, with arguably the best powder skiing in the world and lots of major resorts. But the world-class hiking and biking get a lot less attention, even though it is home to the only other UNESCO World Heritage Pilgrimage hiking route on earth besides Spain’s famous Camino de Santiago. I went last year on a trip with local walking and hiking specialist Walk Japan, which was fabulous (read about it here) and previously on an unforgettable cycling trip with Butterfield & Robinson around the rural Noto Peninsula, which was full of stunning scenery, nearly empty traffic free roads, amazing cuisine, onsen hot springs bathing and some of the nation’s most luxurious ryokan lodging. Especially for foodies, Japan is an active travel wonderland.

How To Go Active And Who To Travel With Hiking, Walking & Trekking

If you want to travel by foot, variations on the them include walking, hiking and trekking, in ascending order of physical exertion and scale. In Japan only, local specialist Walk Japan does both lower key walking tours that are not especially strenuous and higher output hiking trips, along with customizable private trips. The two biggest luxury operators spanning the entire active travel space (cycling, hiking, multi-sport and more), Backroads and Butterfield & Robinson, both also offer a broad array of walking and hiking trips from easy to moderate to challenging. Trek Travel, another high-end active travel specialist long best known for cycling, recently expanded into the hiking space and offers some interesting moderate to challenging trips on foot in Chile, Costa Rica and the British Isles among others.

The more strenuous alternatives are longer treks in the mountains, including world famous routes such as the Tour du Mont Blanc, a three-country epic that circumnavigates the highest peak in the Alps passing through Italy, Switzerland and France. This is a true Bucket List journey for hikers, but because it is a bit longer and tougher, it is offered more by companies with an expedition oriented catalog of trips, the best of which at the high end is MT Sobek, which also does epics such as Everest Base Camp, New Zealand and Patagonia.

Cycling Styles & Trends

For road cycling the luxury leaders are DuVine, the only one that does not have a hiking division and stays specialized on cycling, along with Backroads, Butterfield & Robinson and Trek Travel. In recent years most have added the option of electric motor assisted e-bikes, and this has become increasingly controversial and contentious. Originally this option made trips more accessible, allowing a less active partner to join their athletic mate, or the youngest and oldest family members to keep up with their relatives. But it quickly grew so popular that on my most recent “cycling” trip the small minority of us who actually pedaled and used our muscles felt like outsiders and my take was that many of the participants, even in the mid-30s, did not want active travel at all, wanted the bikes to do the work, and it made me wonder why they even chose this kind of trip over a bus tour or cruise.

For this reason, Backroads recently unveiled an entire large slate of “Unplugged” trips that do not allow e-bikes, for cycling purists and enthusiasts. Likewise, DuVine has a series of more demanding “Challenge” trips, such as a ride across the width of Italy, coast to coast, and another down the spine of the Pyrenees mountains, none of which utilize e-bikes.

As mentioned above, there are far less opportunities for luxury trips catering to mountain bikers, but DuVine has South Africa, and local Italy specialist Tourissimo also offers off road rides. Tourissimo in another excellent top tier cycling operator I have gone with that specializes in Italy and if you want a deeper dive into locally owned establishments and regional cuisine, they are a great choice. They are also often a better value than the bigger international brands.

In recent years the fastest growing category of cycling has been “gravel grinding,” basically beefier road biking on unpaved roads, which allow deeper immersions into nature and far fewer cars, the biggest appeal. While in outdoor recreation this segment has exploded in popularity, it has been much slower to reach the guided tour community, and among the big players, only Trek Travel has really embraced it with a slate of trips worldwide. At the more local level, Italy specialist Tourissimo also offers gravel rides in what is considered the planet’s Bucket List destination for this, Tuscany.

Another subset of both hiking and biking trips that has been growing is active culinary travel, combining the best of outdoor exercise with everything foodies love, market visits, cooking classes, Michelin-starred meals, wine tasting, and even famous celebrity chefs as guest hosts. Just about everyone loves Italian food, and Tourissimo has long been a pioneer in this growing space with an annual slate of several famous chef-led bike and hike tours in all the key regions of Italy. The latest addition this year is legendary BBQ chef, pitmaster cookbook author, and frequent “Beat Bobby Flay” judge Hugh Mangum of Mighty Quinns BBQ fame (also an avid cyclist) leading a trip in Sicily. DuVine also has several Chef on Wheels and Vintner on Wheels tours, while Backroads focuses on epicurean-themed hiking trips.

Multi-Sport Active Travel

Multi-sport trips are a good option for those who want to stay active but have never tried an active trip before and aren’t sure what they might like, or for groups of friends or families who are not necessarily all into one thing such as cycling. It is also a great opportunity to try new things such as a mountain Via Ferrata or white water rafting. The key is to pick a destination you really want to go and then make sure the multi-sport component includes things what sound like you will enjoy them. For example, if you have tried sea kayaking and didn’t like it, make sure not to pick a multi-sport trip with kayaking. All the top companies offer multi-sport, even DuVine, which otherwise does not do hiking.

Self-Guided Active Trips

There is one other notable way to do these kinds of trips, whether hiking, biking or multi-sport, and that is self-guided. These are streamlined versions of the luxury experience, where your luggage is still moved from hotel to hotel, leaving you with just a light day pack, while routes are meticulously curated and mapped on digital devices, but you have no guide.

There are several advantages to this, most obviously that it costs much less. But self-guided trips are also private, meaning you go with just who you want to travel with, no strangers, and you do it on your own schedule, not some pre-set group departure date. Not many of the top luxury operators offer these trips, and among them the best known is Butterfield & Robinson, which provides a still white glove take on the genre.

There is one huge active travel company that does nothing but self-guided, all over the world, with a vast catalog. Macs Adventures out of England (with a U.S. office) has different tiers of price and style, including trips with more luxury lodging, though they typically skip extras such as included dinners and private tours of attractions you would get with Butterfield & Robinson. I have traveled with Macs and they do a great job, especially for people who want to discover their own places to eat and see the attractions they want to see, not some pre-selected art gallery or winery.

This kind of active travel offers all of the convenience with maximum flexibility and is much less expensive. Macs Adventures also offers awesome much longer trips than most companies, such as the entire Camino de Santiago over months, or breaks these into weeklong segments, with far more options than other companies. I wrote more about the pros and cons of self-guided active travel here at Forbes recently. Personally, I think these trips are best for places where finding great food on your own is easier (Western Europe) and the language/cultural barrier is less intense. I’d still want an expert local guide in Japan for example, but don’t need one in Spain.

Bespoke Luxury Active Travel

At the opposite end of the spectrum from self-guided is the Gray & Co. model of only highly guided. Because every trip is bespoke and their experience is vast, Gray & Co. can do any kind of active travel, road cycling, mountain biking, hiking, trekking, etc. They can add scuba diving and kite surfing and heli-skiing if you want or bring in personal trainers and yoga instructors for morning workouts, and often visit places lacking in other adventure companies, from Uruguay to the arctic regions to St. Barts, where no other company I know of has done an active vacation.

Another solid company in this same bespoke-only ultra high-end space is KW&E Adventures, which also offers a full array of active travel, but is especially strong for off-road mountain biking and gravel riding trips.

Plan Your Best Active Travel Vacations

So that’s a round up of the industry, with a little something for everyone. If you have never done an active trip before, a scheduled group multi-sport trip with a top operator is a great way to dip your toe in. If you have a narrower focus such as a passion for road cycling, gravel grinding, serious hiking or a real love of food, there are specialized trips for you in the descriptions above. If you just want to ride your bike or walk through beautiful places and get exposed to a lot of culture, again, almost all of these companies have offerings for you, and if you want to explore someplace new in a different way, consider the emerging destinations above. You may have been to Greece or Romania, but probably not like this. In every case, these are great ways to plan your best active travel vacations in 2026 and beyond.