Every week our Holiday Hero Neil Simpson takes an in-depth look at a brilliant holiday topic, doing all the legwork so you don’t have to. This week, he shows how you can get fit – even on holiday.
Booking a sporty summer holiday is a great way to keep New Year fitness goals in reach beyond the end of this month.
There are plenty of inspiring, fitness-focused trips to choose from, whatever your age and your budget.
Cycling
Up for a challenge: Try cycling across stunning Italy from Puglia to the Amalfi coast on a bike holiday
Bike holidays with Exodus have a new set of seven activity grades so you know if your trip will be leisurely, tough or something in between.
One of the most popular of the challenging level five trips is the Puglia To The Amalfi Coast holiday.
You go west from the Adriatic coast, taking in Matera, the mountain village of Castelmezzano and finish in Sorrento. Rides are long but there’s a support vehicle if you tire.
Eight-day tours start at £1,949pp including flights. Visit exodus.co.uk.
Walking
Walkers can explore the Cotswold Way, pictured, on an eight-day holiday. You’re given maps and cover 17 miles a day
Spend the night in gorgeous country house B&Bs, ancient coaching inns and stylish pubs with rooms as you walk the Cotswold Way on an eight-day holiday.
You’re given maps and cover 17 miles a day while your luggage is transported by taxi. The route starts in Chipping Campden, takes in some beautiful villages and ends in Bath.
The company also has other UK walks – Hadrian’s Wall is popular – and tours as far afield as New Zealand and Japan.
It costs from £595pp with macsadventure.com.
Running
The Victoria Falls marathon goes alongside the Zambezi River, through the National Park and ends just after the falls, pictured
The Victoria Falls marathon in Zimbabwe is one of the world’s great races, not least because a 7.5k fun-run takes place alongside it so almost everyone can take part.
The main route goes alongside the Zambezi River, through the National Park and ends just after the falls.
Enter at vicfallsmarathon.com and find accommodation with africaalbidatourism.com – two-bed self-catering lodges start at £143 a night.
Swimming
On a small group holiday to Ibiza, pictured, you swim about three miles a day, with guides at your side at all times
See a different side of Ibiza by diving into its rich blue waters and swimming across quiet coves and through secret caves and natural tunnels on the island’s quieter northern coast.
On a small group holiday you swim about three miles a day, with guides at your side at all times.
Also look at other swim breaks in the Seychelles, Sardinia and dozens more locations.
A seven-day Ibiza break with swimtrek.com starts at £1,290pp plus flights.
Working out
One of the rooms at the Equinox club in New York, where the massive fitness facility in the Hudson Yards area now has 212 stylish rooms alongside it
Why go to a bland hotel gym when you can pick a celebrity-filled mega gym with a hotel attached?
That’s the thinking behind the latest Equinox club in New York, where a massive fitness facility in the Hudson Yards area now has 212 stylish rooms alongside it.
The city’s best personal trainers are on site and the complex has been dubbed ‘the fittest hotel on the planet’. Rooms from £450 a night at equinox-hotels.com.
You can also stay fit while packing light at Westin hotels (westin.com) from Malta to Melbourne by taking advantage of a scheme called Gear Lending.
For about £3.75, you can borrow freshly laundered New Balance sports kit and trainers for workouts or runs.
Yoga
Find peace at the outdoor yoga circuit on the sandy island of Landaa Giraavaru in the Maldives.
There’s a trail with 15 signposted yoga stations at some of the island’s most scenic spots, including the atoll’s oldest banyan tree where you can try a ‘hanging firefly’ amid thick greenery.
Take the trail yourself or join an instructor for a 75-minute guided experience.
Rooms cost from £684 per night – visit fourseasons.com.
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