Getting a significant chunk of time off work isn’t always easy, but the rewards can be substantial. So-called ‘long trips’ let you really explore a destination, slow down the pace of adventure and reduce your carbon footprint by skipping internal flights. So tell your boss you won’t be in on Monday. We’ve rounded up our favourite ‘long trips’ for 2022.
Planning a month-long, globetrotting journey on your own can be tricky, which is why we’ve put together a specific range of ‘long trips’. These are Intrepid adventures that combine multiple short tours into epic, winding, continent spanning itineraries, where all the planning and logistics are already taken care of. Most of them deliberately skip internal flights, too.
This not only cuts down on your carbon footprint (very important when you’re ticking off multiple countries) but also gives you a feel for a destination. Driving from place to place, crossing borders on the ground, sleeping in train carriages and seeing the landscape change as you make an epic journey, they all connect us to a slower, much older style of adventure.
“After such a long time being limited to our own cities, it’s no surprise that people are keen to start travelling again,” says Intrepid’s Erica Kritikides. “But there’s been a fundamental shift. With borders opening up again and cross-border travel getting easier, we no longer take travel for granted – it’s not a given. And for that reason, I think many of us are willing to consider longer trips away from the desk and the daily grind.’
Spain, Portugal & Morocco | 24 days
Can’t choose between Spain, Portugal and Morocco? You don’t have to. We’ve built a 24-day mega trip that covers them all. Starting in Madrid, our route loops west into Portugal, hitting Coimbra and Lisbon, then swinging south to the stunning beaches of the Algarve. A hop over the Strait of Gibraltar, and we’re in Morocco, with stops at the blue city of Chefchaouen, medieval Fes, windswept Essaouira and a remote desert camp among the dunes of Erg Chigaga. For fans of Moorish history, or good food, culture and north African hospitality in general, this is the ultimate long trip. You’ll go from modern art galleries in Madrid to wine bars in Lisbon and a Berber homestay in the High Atlas Mountains – all on a mix of public and private transport.
South East Asia Loop | 30 days
First-time visitors to South East Asia often find it hard to choose between Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Each destination offers a slightly different blend of history, food and scenery, which is why we’ve crafted this 30-day combo trip, looping from Bangkok to Luang Prabang, over to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and finally Phnom Penh. It’s actually a mix of some of Intrepid’s best-selling and most popular tours – we’ve just combined them back-to-back. Many travellers opt to continue their journey this way, so there’s a good chance your new friends on the tour will follow you from country to country. You’ll see it all on this adventure: the jungles of Chiang Mai, the UNESCO-listed Ha Long Bay, epic overnight train journeys, the charming countryside of Battambang and the towering spires of Angkor Wat.
Scandinavia & Baltic Circuit | 32 days
A lot of travellers hit up the obvious Nordic highlights, like Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm, but not many get to combine these with the fairy-tale turrets and cobbled lanes of Tallinn, or the baroque flair and Soviet history of Vilnius. For this long trip, we wanted to mix the best of Scandinavia with the best of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Travelling mostly via train and ferry, you’ll journey from Denmark, up through Norway to the fjord lands, then over to the Swedish lakes district and Stockholm, before jumping down to Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius, with a stop at the stunning Aukstaitija National Park along the way. It’s a proper, old-school, seafaring, 32-day adventure that spans five countries and a dozen major cities. Just remember to pack warm.
Amazing Southern Africa | 22 days
Like Europe, Africa lends itself nicely to long trips: there are dozens of small countries, most relatively accessible, and landscapes vary wildly from one place to the next. This particular itinerary is an overland adventure, which means you’ll be travelling through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe in a purpose-built overland truck, staying in a mix of guest houses, lodges and even two nights on a house boat on the Okavango Delta. What’s nice about this itinerary is the change of pace: you’ll start by the coast, in Cape Town, but soon you’ll be surrounded by epic sand dunes at Sossusvlei, or the red rocks of Fish River Canyon. There are game drives, canoe journeys, and sunset cruises along the Chobe River. It’s all the highlights of southern Africa, rolled into one 22-day itinerary.
Gorillas, Game Parks & Beaches | 27 days
One of our most popular long trips, this tour is truly unique. Not only do you get to trek through Uganda’s misty rainforests in search of mountain gorillas, but there are also game drives in Lake Nakuru National Park, safaris across the Serengeti, a visit to Ngorongoro Crater, and a couple of nights camping in the Masai Mara Reserve. Gorilla trek permits are included, and you’ll travel by overland bus, 4WD safari vehicle and ferry, with no internal flights. The whole thing wraps up on the white beaches of northern Zanzibar, with a couple of days leisurely snorkelling in the archipelago (all that animal spotting is hard work). It would be hard to squeeze more African highlights into a single itinerary, although, if you’re feeling really adventurous…
Like the idea of long trips? We’ve got plenty more multi-country adventures over here.
