Think you could survive in the jungle better than Tarzan? Find out what it takes on an adventure into the Amazon. Fly by light aircraft from Georgetown, Guyana’s capital, to the village of Surama, where you’ll be kitted out with specialist equipment by a survival instructor and two local guides.
As you venture deep into the wilderness you’ll begin honing skills to keep you alive, including how to find water, build a fire, hunt game with a bow and arrow and signal rescuers. Once your training is complete, it’s time to go solo (or with a buddy, if you choose) with your newly acquired knowledge. Don’t fret if the situation gets a bit hairy – instructors are on standby to help out.
Learn to outwit, outplay and outlast in the jungle.
Prepare to have all your preconceptions about Japan’s quirky side confirmed on this eccentric, off-the-beaten-path adventure. Begin in Tokyo, with a leisurely day strolling through its art-filled neighbourhoods. Then it’s all aboard a train travelling to a traditional onsen in the alps where you’ll soak and spy snow monkeys bathing in hot pools, before uncovering a secret underground bunker complex in Nagano.
In Osaka, come face to face with the most unlikely of monuments – the world’s largest garbage incinerator – and try your hand at driving a simulated shinkansen at Nagoya’s Japan Railway Museum. At the Site of Reversible Destiny you’ll traverse a bizarre landscape of thought-provoking art, before you settle in for a stay at a centuries-old former brothel. This is the Japan you’ll be raving about long after you’ve returned home.
Move over Guinness, there’s a thirst for a different kind of brew growing in Northern Ireland. Tap into the beer boom at several iconic Belfast establishments on this three hour brewery and street eats tour.
Taste and Tour’s resident beer expert will guide you through the burgeoning local beer and street food scene in Belfast. You’ll visit a range of fantastic craft beer bars and street food venues, tasting at least seven beers and sampling four very different street eats.
Start at Ireland’s oldest independent brewery, Hilden Brewing, where they’ve been perfecting six craft beers over the past 35 years. Next, it’s off to Boundary Brewing, a co-operative that invites beer evangelists to purchase a stake in the business and become co-owners, allowing the crew to experiment with unusual flavours, such as the Pari Gagnat: a saison with seaweed and green tea.
Your final brewery? It’s a surprise and will be revealed on your tour day. Interested? We are too! There’s more to Ireland’s drinking scene than Guinness.
Take a walk on the wild side in Zambia. Your adventure begins at Victoria Falls, where 540 million litres of water thunder over a precipice each minute. Next, try your luck at glimpsing another of Africa’s wonders, the white rhino, while hiking upriver past zebras and giraffes in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. After catching a flight a thousand kilometres to the north-east, you’ll meet with an expert guide who will lead you through South Luangwa National Park on foot.
Your next five days will be spent tracking elephants, giraffes, hippos and lions through some of the most pristine land on the continent under their watchful eye. Dust and heat might become the norm, but nights will be spent in luxury. And as you watch wildlife wander by your canvas tent at Tena Tena Camp (the name translates to ‘temporary home’), you’ll wish you were a permanent fixture.
When it comes to action, Oman’s terrain is an adventurer’s playground and this tour ticks all the right boxes. Begin at the ruins of Tanuf, where you’ll get a dose of technical cycling as you pump up a series of switchbacks before descending through date palm plantations and weaving among the mud houses of Al Hamra, one of Oman’s oldest villages. Later, amble through an oasis-like wadi to Al Hoota Cave. Here you’ll abseil into darkness and, headlight beaming, explore vast chambers littered with car-sized boulders and towering ’tites and ’mites.
The next day, reach dizzying heights at Jebel Shams, Oman’s highest mountain. Witness the rippled chasms of Wadi Ghul – Oman’s Grand Canyon – before attaching yourself to a via ferrata and sidling along its ochre walls, with a kilometre-deep drop behind you. Cap off your adventure with a picnic at the top, overlooking the incredible landscape you’ve just traversed.
Give Michelangelo a run for his money by refining your artistic expertise in the Eternal City. Your journey begins with an introduction to Rome, exploring its numerous piazzas, ruins and cobbled streets. Later you’ll delve into a relief sculpture workshop, using an arsenal of glass and acrylics to create your first masterpiece (definitely too precious to bring home in checked baggage). Private tours of the Vatican Museums and Galleria Borghese will take you into Italy’s rich past to gape at some of the world’s best Renaissance artworks.
Once you’ve fuelled up with inspiration, dive into learning fresco-painting techniques and the delicate art of mosaic. Plenty of free time is provided between classes, so when you’re not nurturing your inner artist, you can hunt down the finest supplì (the local take on arancini) and red wine Rome has to offer – after all, sustenance begets art, right?
Hong Kong’s largest island is just the scenic spot you need to add to your next city break. So pull on your hiking boots, pack a thermos and embark on a sunrise trek to Lantau Peak, the region’s most majestic summit. At 934 metres, it’s not Hong Kong’s highest mountain (that award goes to Tai Mo Shan) but its ethereal views are worth the slog.
Meet your guide Rory under the cover of darkness and begin your ascent through the mountain’s north ridge. For the next three hours you’ll hike through tawny grass, glimpsing coastal villages and even a star-lit sky away from the city’s smog, before making the final scramble to the summit. Pat each other on the back, clink your hot bevvies and turn your eyes to the horizon to watch dawn’s glow wash over.
Get a fresh perspective on this Chinese territory.
Most people associate Uganda with wildlife safaris, not summiting peaks. But a trek through the Rwenzori Mountains to the crest of Margherita Peak offers both. Take your first steps through montane forest, where you’ll spot chimpanzees and, if you’re lucky, L’Hoest’s monkeys, distinguished by their characteristic white beards. Then feel the burn as you begin the steep ascent; first, along a winding path deep into thickets of bamboo, and again through Namusangi Valley to sheer cliffs and thundering falls.
When you reach Bamwanjara Pass, you’ll be rewarded with panoramic vistas of glacial lakes below and snowy peaks above, and perhaps a sighting of the endemic scarlet-tufted malachite sunbird. Then, under the cover of darkness, boost yourself up frost-free rocks before making the final scramble to the summit of Margherita Peak and its jaw-dropping views.
Everyone else is on safari, so you’ll have this unique slice of Uganda all to yourself.
Delicious seafood, surprising landscapes, entertaining history and a dash of mythology – Portugal has it all. And there’s no better way to suck the marrow from this bucket-list destination than by hiking it. Meet your guide in Sintra, where colourful palaces freckle the green landscape and twisted, tiled alleyways connect the town’s many tabernas and bakeries.
Later, amble up the Sintra Mountains for a picnic as the sun sinks into the Atlantic Ocean. The next day, wander Europe’s westernmost point, Cabo da Roca, stopping for a dip in the ocean and to fill your belly with clams, prawns and fish served up at a local restaurant by the sand. Take in coves, sample wine from one of Portugal’s oldest cellars, and discover the magic that has drawn nobles to Sintra for centuries. Earn your appetite.
It’s easy to find superb food in Canada’s coolest city, but eating like a Montrealer is another experience altogether. Local pals Danny and Anne-Marie have stitched together a small-group tour of their favourite tastes in Little Italy and the up-and-coming Mile-Ex neighbourhood. At Marché Jean-Talon you’ll wander aisles of lovingly arranged produce and meet owners of artisan dairy stalls and creative charcuteries who will ply you with ice cream and cured meats.
Your guides will share the history of the region over fresh coffee, brief you on the influence of immigration as you pile pickles onto Salvadoran pupusas (thick savoury pancakes packed with fillings) and introduce you to sour beer at a craft brewery decked out in blush tones, wood and marble. The final touch is a picnic in a park, where old men play cards beneath the trees. We won’t divulge the complete menu, but it’s a finger-licking affair. Make Montreal home, at least for a day.
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