European highs
Padded shorts a must
The Haute Route is one of the old classic mountain tours, usually completed by foot. New for 2007, you can ride The Haute Route by mountain bike as part of a guided itinerary by Crystal. To complete the journey between Chamonix in France and Zermatt in Switzerland makes a highly-satisfying ride, pedalling through several mountain passes, many kilometres of forest trails, and challenging single-track descents.
Of course, what goes down must come up, so you need to be pretty fit for this one. And don’t forget to pack the padded shorts.
www.crystalholidays.co.uk, 0870 888 0266
Thrills and tapas
Until now the array of outdoor activities in the central Spanish Pyrenees has been a rather well-kept secret. But with the country’s largest ski group, Aramon, now opening its resorts for the summer, outdoor enthusiasts have a wealth of outdoors activities to choose from.
Aramon’s five resorts offer the thrills of white-water rafting and bungee-jumping, the highs of rock climbing and mountain biking, or you prefer something more sedate, there’s walking and exploring, or simply chilling by a mountain lake.
www.aramon.co.uk
Emerald river
Located on the banks of the emerald-coloured Soca river, which wends its way through the Julian Alps in Slovenia, the Maya centre offers a host of both ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ activities. And you can cram a lot of rafting, canyoning and kayaking into a long weekend.
Activities Abroad offer a three-night stay in a three-star hotel in Tolmin, and activities, for £365 based on two people sharing. Transfers to and from Trieste are also included. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) fly to Trieste from UK airports.
www.activitiesabroad.com
Walk on by
New to the South Tyrol region this summer are special ‘Vitalpina’ hotels that cater for people with a passion for activities and the outdoors. These hotels offer specialist gear, healthy-eating menus, plenty of organised hikes, and advice and information on other activities.
Nordic walking is this year’s craze – not absurdly strenuous, but it keeps you fit, burning about 400 calories per hour. The South Tyrol is one of the best places in Europe to try Nordic walking, with a network of walking trails, Nordic walking instruction, and unspoilt scenery. In the South Tyrol’s Val Gardena’s Vallunga valley/Langental valley, there’s even a Nordic Active Centre, with three circuits to walk around while enjoying the surrounding nature reserve.
www.suedtirol.info
www.vitalpina.info
Footloose and fancy free
The outdoors is part of the Norwegian lifestyle: hiking, kayaking, camping and cross-country skiing are all popular pastimes. For a bird’s eye view of Norway’s extreme sport capital, Voss, try paragliding. There are more than ten flight locations, covering most wind directions, which makes Voss one of the best sites in the world for paragliding. To start with, you are towed by a boat to get up in the air, and then released from the tow, still strapped to your instructor, who controls the paraglider.
The scenery from 1,000 metres up in the air includes spectacular mountains surrounding the city and lake.
www.nordicventures.com
www.visitnorway.com
The Haute Route is one of the old classic mountain tours, usually completed by foot. New for 2007, you can ride The Haute Route by mountain bike as part of a guided itinerary by Crystal. To complete the journey between Chamonix in France and Zermatt in Switzerland makes a highly-satisfying ride, pedalling through several mountain passes, many kilometres of forest trails, and challenging single-track descents.
Of course, what goes down must come up, so you need to be pretty fit for this one. And don’t forget to pack the padded shorts.
www.crystalholidays.co.uk, 0870 888 0266
Thrills and tapas
Until now the array of outdoor activities in the central Spanish Pyrenees has been a rather well-kept secret. But with the country’s largest ski group, Aramon, now opening its resorts for the summer, outdoor enthusiasts have a wealth of outdoors activities to choose from.
Aramon’s five resorts offer the thrills of white-water rafting and bungee-jumping, the highs of rock climbing and mountain biking, or you prefer something more sedate, there’s walking and exploring, or simply chilling by a mountain lake.
www.aramon.co.uk
Emerald river
Located on the banks of the emerald-coloured Soca river, which wends its way through the Julian Alps in Slovenia, the Maya centre offers a host of both ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ activities. And you can cram a lot of rafting, canyoning and kayaking into a long weekend.
Activities Abroad offer a three-night stay in a three-star hotel in Tolmin, and activities, for £365 based on two people sharing. Transfers to and from Trieste are also included. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) fly to Trieste from UK airports.
www.activitiesabroad.com
Walk on by
New to the South Tyrol region this summer are special ‘Vitalpina’ hotels that cater for people with a passion for activities and the outdoors. These hotels offer specialist gear, healthy-eating menus, plenty of organised hikes, and advice and information on other activities.
Nordic walking is this year’s craze – not absurdly strenuous, but it keeps you fit, burning about 400 calories per hour. The South Tyrol is one of the best places in Europe to try Nordic walking, with a network of walking trails, Nordic walking instruction, and unspoilt scenery. In the South Tyrol’s Val Gardena’s Vallunga valley/Langental valley, there’s even a Nordic Active Centre, with three circuits to walk around while enjoying the surrounding nature reserve.
www.suedtirol.info
www.vitalpina.info
Footloose and fancy free
The outdoors is part of the Norwegian lifestyle: hiking, kayaking, camping and cross-country skiing are all popular pastimes. For a bird’s eye view of Norway’s extreme sport capital, Voss, try paragliding. There are more than ten flight locations, covering most wind directions, which makes Voss one of the best sites in the world for paragliding. To start with, you are towed by a boat to get up in the air, and then released from the tow, still strapped to your instructor, who controls the paraglider.
The scenery from 1,000 metres up in the air includes spectacular mountains surrounding the city and lake.
www.nordicventures.com
www.visitnorway.com
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