Short break adventure travel guide

Booking a short break adventure holiday is a whole different animal to a big holiday bonanza. Most people want a quick hit of adrenalin but without too much hassle. The test of a top notch shortie is when you come home feeling as if you have been away for a fortnight. When you get back from sea kayaking in Croatia or coasteering in Wales and can still taste the salt on your lips back in the office on Monday morning.

Or you can recall the motion memory of being pulled through the snow at speed on a husky sled as you start your commute to work. And when that sprig of Provence lavender fills the air with just enough perfume to remind you how good for you it really was to briefly swap banal for beauty. This short break adventure holidays travel guide aims to jolt you out of the quotidian and quench your thirst for quick thrills.

… you don’t do small group holidays. In order to get as much fun as possible out of a few days, it helps to be guided and travel in a group with a well crafted itinerary. … you aren’t flexible about plans if the weather doesn’t turn out good. A good tour operator will organise alternative activities if the heavens open. … you are after motor powered adrenalin hit. Jet skis and motor boats aren’t our thing. Kayaking and good old fashioned walking are though. … downhill skiing is your idea of a quick winter break. We think it’s a slippery slope when it comes to the environment, so check out snow shoeing and husky sledding instead.

If getting in the water is your way of shaking off stress, then there are wonderful short breaks out there to awaken the senses. Croatia is close and simply made for sailing, with the Elaphiti Islands just off Dubrovnik. As the sea isn’t tidal, you can cover good distances in short periods of time. Kayaking is slower, but there is nothing like paddling up to the prettiest of beaches on uninhabited islands. Or just staying on one, such as Lopud, and kayaking out to different coves every day. Paddling in Pembrokeshire might not be as warm, but it is way up there in the prettiness stakes and, given that it is the home of coasteering, it certainly is always exhilarating.

For some people, it is only the mountains and hills that will lift them out of the stresses and strains of daily life. It’s an elevation thing. Something about gaining perspective from up on high, as all those trivial problems pale into insignificance. There are some wonderful short break hiking holidays out there where everything is organised for you. You have a mountain leader, your bags are transported for you, food awaits and all you have to do is pack your boots, layers, water bottle and go. And in a few days, it is amazing how much of the Brecon Beacons, the mountains along Turkey’s Lycian Way, the Alps or even Morocco’s Atlas mountains you can cover.