Adventure Sports Guide
While lying around on the beach or by the pool might be all one traveler desires, others are looking for a bit more fun in a vacation – they want to go and do things. They want to have an adventure.
Adventure sports have surged in popularity in vacation destinations all over the globe. From surfing or cliff diving to spelunking or white water rafting, there is a sport for everyone looking for adventure.
Perhaps the best thing about adventure sports is that there are so many levels and possibilities available. Beginners in a particular sport can comfortably experiment and learn while experts can find new challenges to keep interest and desire for true adventure alive.
Rock Climbing
Test yourself while gaining views of the natural world few before or after you will ever see. Rock climbing requires specialized gear and training, but once you’ve mastered the art of climbing and safety in this type of extreme adventure sport, you’re able to climb to heights others can only dream of.
Travel to mountains, cliffs and other heights throughout the world to get the most impressive views of what the world has to offer. Many rock climbing enthusiasts train for outdoor trips in rock gyms and on smaller venues before venturing out to the larger challenges. Rock-climbing gyms not only keep seasoned athletes fresh for future climbs, but help to train and encourage new climbers as well.
Rafting
Best Places In The World For Rafting
White water rafting is a perfect sport for balancing fun, adventure and relaxation. While much of your trip downriver in a raft will be spent enjoying the scenery and the company of those around you, the rapids that come along will test your endurance, ability and how well you can function within a group as well.
White water rafting is a sport that can be suitable for families with older children as well as individuals depending on the severity of the rapids in the river you’re planning to raft down. White water rafting can easily be a day trip or even a trip for an afternoon while others may choose to turn the rafting expedition into a week-long adventure including camping along the river.
Skiing
A perfect adventure sport for families or individuals of almost any age, skiing has ample opportunities to learn the basics and then beyond. Children as young as two or three can learn to ski and as individuals of all ages master the sport, they can develop additional skills on the mountains including skiing the black, or difficult runs, that bring speed, agility and excitement to the sport.
In certain ski resorts and in the back country, skiers are able to enjoy the fresh powder after a snowstorm up high on a mountain – often making you feel as though you’re just steps away from the sky. Of those who have mastered skiing try their hand at similar sports including snowboarding and snow skating as well.
Surfing
While all beaches have waves, some beaches have such amazing waves, you can’t help but want to ride them. It’s for this reason that surfing has become one of the most popular adventure sports in the world. Surfing combines some of the most sought after elements of a vacation – sun, breeze, warm weather and the sea.
While most surfing enthusiasts seek out the beaches early in the morning, a vacation centered on surfing leaves a great deal of the day available for resting and enjoying other beachside activities as well. Surfing is a challenging sport to learn, but it is thrilling when you find success and realize how much joy can be had riding the waves and becoming one with the power of the ocean. A similar feel can be had with wind surfing, which is a bit easier to master and more readily available to those learning the sport.
Hiking
- Hiking Trails in France
- Hiking Trails in Germany
- Hiking Trails in Switzerland
- Hiking Trails in UK
- Best National Parks for Hiking
Hiking is a sport that allows virtually everyone to participate, albeit only those hardy enough for true adventure wander off on survival-style or backwoods hikes. Hiking can be as challenging an adventure as you’d like it to be. Mild and easy hikes abound in virtually any terrain – plains, waterfront or mountains. Challenging hikes require more skill to accomplish, but naturally lead to greater rewards.
In many national parks and wildlife reserves, serious hikers are encouraged to take small trails back into the woods and the wilderness to see what they can find and to test their own endurance. Many bring along tents and stay for a time in the backwoods living off the land, or very close to it. Hiking is a sport that can be done in a few hours if you’re enjoying a walk around a lake, for example, or it can be a sport that lingers for months if you’re hiking along an old trail or across a country.
Cliff Diving
Not for the faint of heart, cliff diving is a sport that offers the surge of adrenaline that is most often replicated with a bungee jump or other assisted jump. With cliff diving, however, participants aren’t strapped into a wire. They simply jump into space and free fall down significant heights before splashing into a deep pool at the bottom of the cliffs.
There are many ideal cliff diving locations all over the world, and thrill-seekers enjoy these spots not just for the luxury resorts that are often found nearby, but also for the natural lush beauty that surrounds the cliffs and pools. Jumping from a high dive would never have the same feel as hiking to the top of a cliff and simply flinging yourself off the side. It’s adventure at its finest.
Paddle Boarding
A relatively new sport, paddle boarding is catching on in many different areas. Paddle boarding combines the best things about surfing – standing up on water and riding the waves – with canoeing. With paddle boarding, you ride a long board over a lake or down a river using a paddle to help steer you along and to keep your balance.
While most paddle boarders aren’t overly interested in intense rapids, a bit of rough water adds to the fun, and the wider board and paddle make it possible to enjoy a variety of water conditions without fear of wiping out or getting injured. Paddle boarding is an excellent way to explore water ways at your own speed without worrying overly about depth or accessibility. Simply climb on your board, grab a paddle and go!
Spelunking
Caves have long fascinated and sheltered us. Today, the art of exploring caves is called spelunking, and it’s an intense way to see what the earth keeps hidden from the light. Don a lit helmet and necessary safety gear and you can crawl into some of the most fascinating caves in the world. Look into caves that were home and safety to our ancestors and enjoy the sorts of fossils and cave art that only those brave enough to explore their depths will ever see.
Spelunking comes in various degrees of intensity, with those most comfortable with climbing and enclosed spaces able to explore far more than those interested in walking through larger areas to see what the hidden, dark worlds might contain.
Mountain Biking
Don a helmet and some pads and you’re ready to see the mountains at breakneck speed – if you dare. Mountain biking gives you the freedom to whip up and over mountain trails, enjoying the challenges of riding uphill while thrilling in the wind as you surge down the mountain again. Mountain biking is a popular sport for those who enjoy cycling and who have the strength and muscle required to pedal up and down the steep trails that are often most popular with mountain bikers.
A similar, although less physical, adventure sport is dirt biking or four-wheeling in the mountains. In the winter, the equivalent to these would be snowmobiling. In all cases, a motorized vehicle assists you in getting up into the mountains to explore the natural world that those on the road, and even hikers, might never be able to enjoy.