Cycling

This year, I’d imagined climbing Mount Everest or running the Inca Trail, but instead I opted to join a cycling trip around the Lake District in my home country of England, as it seemed like a good plan B.

If trekking’s not your bag, you prefer a day walk over a multi-day hike, or you want to up the exercise ante on your Inca adventure, there are so many other active adventures to be had in Peru.

Cycling Morocco was not only an exhilarating physical adventure, it was the best way to truly experience the gorgeous geography and diverse cultural regions of this country in a way that is still somewhat a secret.

While the frenetic streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City offer a unique insight into Vietnam’s urban life, it’s not until you’ve ridden through the serene – and surreal – surrounds of Mai Chau that you get to know the real Vietnam.

When my partner casually announced over dinner that we were going to take our next holiday cycling through Cambodia I admit I was a bit confused. The same Cambodia that has the worst roads I’d ever seen? Where I had munched on local ‘delicacies’ like tarantulas and grasshoppers? Where one in every three adults owns a motorbike, and isn’t afraid to use it?

You don’t have to sit upside down in silence for 14 days to experience wellness travel. Dedicated wellness retreats and detox ‘boot camps’ are really just the tip of the chakra. There’s a whole world of wellness travel out there – literally.

To help you in your quest to discover the next big thing in travel (before everyone else does), we’ve done the legwork. Literally. Here are six of the hottest travel trends you’ll see in 2020.

A look of pity creeps across a person’s face when you tell them you didn’t go hot air ballooning in Cappadocia, Turkey. It’s like admitting you visited Paris and missed the Eiffel Tower, or politely passed on eating pizza in Naples.

“You can do it.” I wish I could tell you that was my own voice, strong and positive, cheering myself on as I attempted to bike up my first mountain. Yes, that’s right: mountain.