I'm a solo traveller who has been to 60 countries. These are the places you MUST visit and the very popular destinations to skip - including the region I'll never go back to: EMILY LUXTON
Boarding a flight to Bangkok back in 2016 – the beginning of my first ever solo trip – I remember thinking: I don't think I can do this. Arriving in the hectic, humid city to a cacophony of voices screaming 'TAXI!' wasn't much comfort, either.
But I was there for a reason. A few months previously I had split from my boyfriend, realising we wanted different things (him to settle down, me to see the world). After a good few weeks vegetating on the couch, it was my younger brother who finally gave me the courage to take the plunge and head out travelling – all on my own.
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40 minutes ago
- Times
Supercharge your summer holiday with these 15 adventurous breaks
I don't get it. What's the appeal of a fly-and-flop holiday? You spend your whole life glued to seats: at home, at work, in restaurants, on a train. Then, when you finally get some time off, you find the nearest sunlounger and sit down. What's so refreshing about that? • 16 of the best family adventure holidays For me, holidays should be about getting up, getting active and rekindling your sense of adventure. It's a great time to give the old grey matter a workout too. If you agree, well, you've come to the right place. Here are 15 holidays where you can do just that, and they can all still be booked this summer. Prices listed are for July and August. This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue Scenic surf safariPick up a camper van from Knock airport, fill it with wetsuits as well as family and/or friends, and you've got the makings of a beginner-friendly surf safari, heading north into Donegal Bay in northwest Ireland. Surf lessons can be had at Strandhill (from £42; and Tullan (from £39; Several campsites provide hot showers and electric hook-ups (from £39 at Strandhill; And there's a ready sense of wild, edge-of-the-world romance too, stoked by sunset views from ancient hillforts and the words of WB Yeats. His poem, The Stolen Child, is deeply rooted in this Seven nights' self-catering for four from £1,320 ( Flight-free island-hoppingRestless souls will love the Frisian Islands. Low-slung scraps land on the edge of the North Sea, they're in a state of constant flux — washed by powerful tides and tousled by sea breezes. This flight-free holiday serves up three of them, starting with rail travel from London to Amsterdam before transferring to Texel, Vlieland and Terschelling by ferry. Expect lonely lighthouses, freewheeling bike tours and artisan ice cream — as well as an enveloping sense of the sea. Accommodation comes courtesy of boutiquey properties such as the Hotel de Walvisvaarder on Terschelling, a brick-floored former Nine nights' room only from £1,375pp including rail travel and ferries ( • 11 of the best things to do in the Netherlands Alpine all-inclusiveNot every all-inclusive resort stands with its feet in the sea. The Adler Lodge Ritten, near Bolzano in northern Italy, gives you the South Tyrolean Alps rather than the sea — and every aspect of life here deepens the sense of place: the chic suites and private chalets smell of the local spruce or larch from which they're built; menus groan with produce from the resort's organic farm; and the region's underrated vineyards furnish much of the wine. There's plenty of scope for relaxation in the forest spa and infinity pool, but don't get too comfy — 'movement is life' is the motto here, with yoga classes, mountain biking and guided hikes all part of the All-inclusive suites from £666 ( Fly to Bolzano Learn the ropes on a tall shipHere's a sure way to escape summer-holiday clichés: step aboard the Santa Maria Manuela. The four-masted, 221ft schooner began life fishing for cod and is now an elegant, beginner-friendly sail-training ship. This August it's sailing the Azores, a nine-island archipelago 1,000 miles west of mainland Portugal, and up to 44 guests aged between 14 and 80 can join the professional crew — learning the ropes, climbing the rigging and keeping a lookout for whales and dolphins. This six-day round-trip from Terceira includes the volcanic island of Pico, as well as the rugged Sao Five nights' full board from £1,105pp ( Fly to Lajes A freewheeling historical rideEvery day will be different on this one-week, family-friendly cycling tour that circles out from hilltop Chinon, southwest of Tours, and takes in two nights each in Montsoreau and fairytale Azay-le-Rideau before heading back to base. Every day will be magnificent as you follow a mix of easy, traffic-free cycle paths and quiet country roads to some of the country's most eye-catching châteaux — Château de Villandry, with its neatly clipped parterres, is also on your hit list. So too are four fine dining gastronomic dinners (included in the price) that are sure to soothe the parents' aching Seven nights' B&B from £1,440pp ( Fly or take the train to Tours Fly-drive into the fjords'I'm bored' is a phrase you won't often hear from your kids on this one-week, self-guided tour of the fjords near Bergen, on the west coast of Norway — especially not on the fourth day, when you ride the spectacular Flam Railway from Sognefjord up to Myrdal before mountain biking back down to the water. En route you'll stay in hotels with three or four stars, as well as a national park cabin, with white-water rafting, a Rib tour in search of seals and a glacier walk all on the menu. From start to finish, your eyes will be out on Seven nights' B&B from £3,025pp, including flights ( Kite-surfing by the SaharaSummer holidays on the edge of the Sahara desert sound insane, unless you're a kite-surfer keening for strong, steady and reliable winds, in which case a trip to the Dakhla Lagoon — where it's windy 300 days a year — is a must. Here the low-slung Caravan Dakhla hotel is the big draw, thanks to its Maghreb-influenced decor of lime-plastered walls and intricately carved doors, as well as its outdoor cinema and all-inclusive meal plan. Book a New Adventures package of more than three nights and beginners will get a free kite-surfing lesson Full-board doubles from £212, including transfers ( Fly to Dakhla Sea kayaking on the Dalmatian coastIf you've ever looked up from a Dalmatian sunlounger and worried that you're missing out, this guided, five-day sea-kayaking adventure will confirm your worst fears. Paddling the coastline of the Peljesac peninsula and Korcula Island on this group tour, you'll carry your tents with you and discover a landscape of secret coves and empty beaches. En route there's time to wander the medieval streets of the main town on Korcula, but the biggest treat of all will be all the swimming you'll do, whenever you drag your kayaks Four nights' full board from £996pp ( Fly to Split Slow train along the Atlantic coastThe Feve network of slow, narrow-gauge railways in Spain seems tailor-made for inquisitive travellers. Dipping in and out of underrated cities, they weave along the verdant northern coast and offer plenty of seaside stops en route. This one-week itinerary makes its way from the fishing village of Cudillero to beachfront Ribadesella via cultured Oviedo, serving up a giddy sense of history, from the prehistoric cave paintings at Tito Bustillo to the 19th-century trophy homes built by emigrés returning from the Americas — you'll stay in two of them during your Seven nights' B&B from £805pp ( Fly to Oviedo Coast, cities and mountainsThe Albanian coast may be in the spotlight, but inland its majestic landscapes remain underpopulated and undervisited, while archaeological sites layer up thousands of years of history in an intriguing mix of Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman remains. This seven-day escorted tour from Tirana takes in the extraordinary island castle of Ali Pasha, lunch in a remote shepherd's hut in the mountains and the bucolic riverside city of Berat, capped by a Byzantine citadel and where every backstreet seems strewn with Six nights' B&B from £1,249 ( Fly to Tirana • 11 of the best hotels in Albania Alpine village reached by cable carIn 1965 the inhabitants of Chamois, in the Italian Alps, voted on how to replace the mule track that was their only link to the outside world. They decided on a mountain lift rather than a road, and now their village is the only one in Italy that cannot be reached by car. Several of its wonky barns have been converted into B&Bs too, including La Ville, which has a snug, four-person family room with a kitchenette. A family with tweenagers will love it, not least because up here — with no traffic to worry about — the old, freewheeling freedoms of childhood B&B family rooms from £191 ( Fly to Turin Nonstop seaside activityFor sporty families who love the sea, it's hard to beat a week at a beach club run by Neilson or Mark Warner where a combination of kids' clubs, sailing facilities, tennis courts, guided runs, fitness classes and bike rides offer nonstop activity from dawn to dusk. Just be sure to aim for the back end of August, so you can dodge the worst of the heatwaves in the Mediterranean, where they're all based. The Phokaia Beach Resort in Turkey is typical of the genre, with the attraction of sunset beach volleyball sessions to add to the social Seven nights' half-board from £1,385pp, including flights ( A big drive with no trafficIceland may be fretting about overtourism, but you won't know it when you hire a camper van from Keflavik airport, head northwards and sample a stretch of the 560-mile Arctic Coast Way. Up here neat, well-run campsites are almost never full and cost about £13pp a night ( while scenic outdoor hot tubs and thermal pools are on hand in every significant settlement to supplement the faint warmth of sun. The real thrill, however, comes from the landscape — not the big set pieces such as the mountainous Skagafjordur peninsula or the thunderous waterfall at Dettifoss, although they are undeniably impressive; it's the emptiness in between them that you'll Seven nights' self-catering for four from £1,198 ( Fly to Keflavik • 22 of the best things to do in Iceland The west coast by train The clear seas and rocky shores of the islands in Vastra Gotaland are your goal on this tailor-made ten-day tour. But you're not going to hurry getting there — en route by train, you'll explore Hamburg, Copenhagen and Gothenburg, before the island-hopping begins. Sea-kayaking, mussel-picking and a foraging tour all feature, as does a near-constant sense of exploration. From seeing the vibrant nightlife of the German city to the pretty harbour town of Marstrand and on to the rocky islets around Tjorn in Sweden, every day is going to be different. Hotels range from friendly guesthouses to stylish four stars, depending on your Nine nights' room only from £2,095pp, including train travel from London ( The biggest lake district in EuropeHow do you make sense of a region that is fractured into 188,000 lakes? This family-friendly fly-drive into the Finnish Lake District does it by tackling the biggest of them all: Saimaa, which is hundreds of times larger than the Windermere. There is room here for all kinds of holidaymaking — touring medieval fortresses, cruising on steamers, paddleboarding, rowing, swimming. As you flit between three different lakeside resorts and manor houses you'll get the chance to try all these activities, but the most important one is simply to stop and let the sense of serenity soak Eight nights' B&B from £1,700pp, including flights (
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
I'm a solo traveller who has been to 60 countries. These are the places you MUST visit and the very popular destinations to skip - including the region I'll never go back to: EMILY LUXTON
Boarding a flight to Bangkok back in 2016 – the beginning of my first ever solo trip – I remember thinking: I don't think I can do this. Arriving in the hectic, humid city to a cacophony of voices screaming 'TAXI!' wasn't much comfort, either. But I was there for a reason. A few months previously I had split from my boyfriend, realising we wanted different things (him to settle down, me to see the world). After a good few weeks vegetating on the couch, it was my younger brother who finally gave me the courage to take the plunge and head out travelling – all on my own.
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Airport bomb threat sparks warning for Aussies travelling to popular holiday destination
Aussies heading to Thailand have been issued an urgent travel warning after a bomb was found near Phuket International Airport this week. 'There's an ongoing risk of terrorism in Thailand,' Australia's official travel advice service, Smartraveller, said in a statement on Saturday morning. 'Popular tourist areas may be the target of terrorist attacks anywhere across Thailand, including Bangkok and Phuket. 'This follows discovery of an explosive device near the airport this week. 'Thai authorities defused devices in Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga this week and have made related arrests in recent days.' The service added that Phuket International Airport has increased security measures and that passengers flying out of the airport should arrive well ahead of their flights. 'The security situation in Thailand can be unpredictable,' the advice continued. 'Large protests have occurred in Bangkok and other areas. In previous years, large political protests and government crowd control operations have resulted in violence.' The service also urged Aussies in Thailand to be alert to risks around drink spiking, and to never leave food or drinks unattended. Holidaymakers should stay with people they trust at bars, nightclubs and in taxis. Travellers were told to exercise a high degree of caution in Thailand overall due to security and safety risks, while they should 'reconsider the need to travel' to Yala province, Pattani province, and Narathiwat province due to ongoing risks of insurgent activity, including terrorism. Thailand is a major destination for Australians, with about 800,000 Aussies visiting the country each year before Covid.
