Adventure Travel Destinations 2010 – Top Picks

The popularity of adventure excursions are one of the major trends in the travel industry that continues to grow. Combining everything from trekking and mountaineering to rafting, zip-lining and bungee jumping with uniquely individual cultures and exotic surroundings, these destinations have just about everything an adventure traveler could ask for. The following are some of the very best places to fulfill your desire for adventure.

British Columbia, Canada

Situated in Western Canada, British Columbia is a year round adventurer’s Eden offering mountain ranges, the Pacific coast and a myriad of lakes. Possibilities for invigorating outdoor activity include mountain biking, hiking, and climbing your way through the Canadian Rockies. Had enough of all this fun on dry land? The Pacific Ocean beckons with an array of wonderful sailing and sea kayaking experiences. Don’t forget to visit Vancouver while in this region as well. With spectacular views as well as multicultural charm and celebrated Canadian generosity, you’ll have all you need for a memorably adventurous trip.

Croatia

With its rich cultural history, Croatia’s place as a communications hub is marked with countless monuments ranging from Ancient Greco-Roman to New Age Secession. Croatia has a diverse natural allure. Its landscape ranges from flat plains to low mountains and highlands making it a great place for your next adventure. Inland, mountain biking, climbing, hiking, adventure racing, camping, horseback riding, hunting, skiing, fishing, white water rafting and spelunking are popular among tourists and residents alike. Sailing, diving, kayaking and canoeing are top picks on the water. Croatia also contains ten nature parks and eight national parks as well as a multitude of special ranges.

The Himalayas – Nepal/Tibet/Bhutan

One of the most strikingly picturesque ranges on the planet, the renowned Himalayas offer some fantastic hiking tours, outrageous paddling junkets, and the most demanding mountaineering excursions around. Combine these features with the area’s singular culture and spiritualism and you won’t be disappointed with a trip to Nepal, Tibet, or Bhutan. Each has its own individual charm and in order to explore any one of them, you’ll have to pass through Katmandu, a city that is as varied and diverse as the Himalaya mountain range itself.

Home to eight of the tallest peaks in the world, including Mount Everest, Nepal is proud of its mountain sports and rich culture. Known as the birth place of adventure travel, Nepal knows how to spoil backpackers, thrill seekers, and contemporary wanderers, alike. Trekking, mountaineering, climbing and mountain biking are some of the most well-known tourist activities here; however, rafting, bungee jumping, motorcycling, hot air ballooning, paragliding and mountain flights are also readily available. The southern part of Nepal, the Terai, features national parks and game preserves that offer elephant back or 4 x 4 safaris to see rhinos, Bengal tigers and crocodiles as well as an infinite number of bird and butterfly species. Cultural treks are easily found in Nepal and usually take you to the Numbur Cheese Circuit, Indigenous Peoples Trail, Tamang Heritage Trail or Chepang Heritage Trail, to name but a few.

While a comparable Himalayan adventure may be found in Tibet, the expansively, austere Tibetan Plateau will make your adventure an original unto itself. This is the side of the mountain you’re able to literally drive up to get to Everest Base Camp. On the way, you’ll be able to view Buddhist monasteries dotting the countryside located in some of the most surprisingly unlikely areas. In all probability Tibet’s borders will stay open for the remainder of 2010, unexpected regional conflicts notwithstanding, making it even more available to thrill seekers than it has been for the past two years.

Bhutan is possibly one of the most obscure and least familiar of these three Himalayan adventure sites. The government of this small monarchy has taken action to make certain that the nation retains its conventional values and has set restrictions on the total number of tourists it is willing to receive. Once admitted however, travelers are invited to tour age-old monasteries and secluded villages, while journeying through the eastern portion of the Himalaya, affording a brief look at a way of life that has remained, for the most part, untouched for centuries.

These are just the beginning! Looking for more adrenaline pumping locations and experiences? Be sure to check out Adventure Travel Destinations 2010 – More Top Picks where we’ll look at some suggestions encompassing the tropical to the frigid in terms of climate and dry land as well as water with regard to the adventure of your choice.