The 5 Best Trips of 2013
1. Best SUP Odyssey: Belize
With the 180-mile-long Belize Barrier Reef, this laid-back country has long been a heaven for divers and snorkelers. It just got better with the world’s first lodge-to-lodge paddleboarding trip. On this guided adventure with Island Expeditions through Belize’s 118,000-acreSouthwater Caye Marine Reserve, you’ll paddle four to eight miles per day through calm turquoise waters, jumping off to snorkel where spotted eagle rays and barracuda glide in reef areas too shallow for motorboats. You’ll visit with researchers at Smithsonian’s Carrie Bow Caye Field Station to learn about reef biology, stop for a beachside fresh-catch lunch at a Garifuna fishing camp, night-snorkel at Southwater Cut (a deep channel where the coral blooms after dark), and sleep in rustic overwater bungalows on tiny Tobacco Caye and in the seclusion of private Southwater Caye, 12 acres ringed by white sand in the Belize Barrier Reef. $1,829 for six days.
2. Best Place to Get in the Car and Go: India
Mention driving in India to veteran travelers and they’ll recount white-knuckle cab rides and six-hour traffic jams. But on a ten-day driving trip with Mercury Himalayan Explorations, you and a caravan of like-minded adventurers gain access to crowd-free luxury lodging and villages far from the tourist hordes. You’ll pilot a Mahindra Scorpio (an Indian four-wheel-drive SUV) up to 90 miles a day, charging through the dirt roads of the Himalayan foothills or over the sand dunes of Rajasthan. A mechanic will be right behind you for on-the-fly repairs. From $1,500 for ten days.
3. Best Beaches: South Carolina
The Palmetto State has over 200 miles of coastline and an ample supply of gorgeous beaches, with comfortable water temperatures from May through October. Start in Charleston and head 20 miles north to uninhabited Bulls Island, part of the stunning 66,000-acre Cape Romaine
National Wildlife Refuge, for a hiking or kayaking tour with Coastal Expeditions(from $40). Farther north lies Pawleys Island and its laid-back beaches, and three miles north of there is our favorite stretch of the state: Litchfield Beach. The northern end is the protectedHuntington Beach State Park. You won’t find any putt-putt here, just wide-open white sand for miles.
4. Best Small Cruise: Doubtful Sound, New Zealand
As my wife and I planned our South Island road trip, the big debate was: should we do an overnight cruise into Doubtful Sound on a 70-person, three-masted sailboat? We didn’t really think of ourselves as cruising types. Then we looked at pictures of Doubtful Sound, which seemed too stunning to be real: ridiculously lush forest clinging to sheer cliff walls, pods of dolphins, towering waterfalls. So we booked the trip with Real Journeys. While we did some unbelievably cool stuff while we were in New Zealand, including helicoptering into a swanky lodge in the Southern Alps, the defining moment came during a rainy afternoon on that boat. Temperatures were in the mid-forties, and we had just returned from a short sea-kayaking excursion, wet and cold. But when I saw a few of my fellow cruisers (who, it should be said, were mostly young and adventuresome) lining up to jump off the rear deck, I stripped down to my skivvies, climbed onto a platform, and launched into the scrotum-searingly cold water. And then I did it again. My wife looked at me like I’d lost my mind. And maybe I had, at least temporarily. From $310.—SAM MOULTON
—Sam Moulton
—Sam Moulton
5. Best Comeback Country: Sri Lanka
The first decade of the new millennium was rough on Sri Lanka, with a devastating cyclone, the tsunami, and a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009. Today, this largely Buddhist island in the northern Indian Ocean, with 8,000-foot peaks and 830 miles of coastline, has bounced back big time—foreign travel grew 19 percent in 2014. There’s no shortage of fun to be had at these base camps: Book a deluxe safari-style tent at Aliya Resort and Spa in the center of the country and hike to sacred rock Sigiriya (from $221). Cape Weligama, a brand-new clifftop hotel on 12 lush acres, 30 minutes east of the port city of Galle, hovers 100 feet over the Indian Ocean, with mountain biking, diving, and paddleboarding nearby (from $767). On the east coast, the village of Arugam Bay, sandwiched between miles of beaches and an inland tropical jungle, has consistent right breaks. Rent a beach cabana at the Stardust Beach Hotel(from $38). Twenty miles south is Yala National Park, with herds of elephants and solitary leopards.
The 5 Best Trips of 2013
![The 5 Best Trips of 2013]()
Reviewed by Unknown
on
01:37
Rating:
No comments: