The 5 Best Trips of 2014

1. Best Place to Tie One On: Portland, Maine

Oxbow Brewing in Portland, Maine. Photo: Andrew Foster

The other Portland may have the microbrewery rep, but it distributes its beers to half the country. Many of the best brews in Portland, Maine, can only be quaffed here. Oxbow, a classic American farmhouse brewery, just opened a tasting room downtown where you can try local favorite Space Cowboy, a low-alcohol ale, and full-flavor European-style beers like the Continental. Then head to Novare Res, one of the country’s best beer bars, with 33 rotating taps, including roughly ten Maine brews. Or join Summer Feet Cycling, which offers two-and-a-half-hour tours along the Old Port area, with stops at distilleries and breweries like Rising Tide and Urban Farm Fermenting (from $59).

2. Best Splurge: Greenland

Kayaking Greenland's Sermilik Fjord. Photo: Olaf Malver/Natural Habitat Adve

Natural Habitat Adventures’ brand-new eco base camp, with high-thread-count linens, hot showers, and a gourmet chef, is as close to a luxurious safari-style camp as you can get in these parts. Set on Sermilik Fjord at the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet, one of the least explored regions of the Arctic, the camp is within view of 5,000-foot peaks that plunge into the sea. Why pay top dollar to sleep in polar bear country in temperatures that barely hit the fifties in August? Because as Olaf Malver, the Danish camp founder who has spent 26 years exploring this coastline, says, “You will be dazzled by its dizzying beauty, strength, and simmering silence.” Guests can take guided ten-mile hikes through tundras, kayak among humpback whales, and visit Inuit villagers who live by centuries-old traditions. From $8,995 for nine days.

3. Best Way to Get Strong Quads: San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Elevation, elevation, elevation. That’s what I recall about the seven-day hut-to-hut mountain-biking trip through the San Juans, from Durango, Colorado, to Moab, Utah. Much as I want to write about the towering vistas and cascading ribbons of singletrack, you have to reach them first, and my memory of the 200-plus-mile ride is the 25,000 feet of elevation gain. The pain is worth it, with climbs ending at huts with glorious views. Note that these aren’t your gorgeous, timber-pegged cabins—they’re two-by-four-and-particle-board huts, hauled up on trailer frames. But you’re not here for raclette and a hot-stone massage; you’re just happy that you don’t have to carry your own food, water, and shelter. The cabins are well stocked, including cold beer and a warm sleeping bag on a soft pad. A couple of suggestions: carry the hut system’s maps; where it says singletrack option, take it; and read the log books (some of the comments are hysterical). When you get to Geyser Pass Hut at the end of day six, start smiling, because you’re at the top of the La Sal Mountains, and a 7,400-foot descent, aptly named the Whole Enchilada, awaits. As do the Colorado River, Moab, and a Milt’s malted and cheeseburger.
—Dave Cox

4. Best New Jaw-Dropping Hotel: Alila Jabal Akhdar, Oman

Lunch al fresco. Photo: Courtesy of Alila Jabal Akhdar

Oman is one of the most peaceful and stunning nations in the Middle East. Start your exploration of the vast Arabian Peninsula at this luxurious oasis amid date, peach, and pomegranate trees, perched at 6,500 feet on the edge of a deep gorge in the Hajar Mountains. Ffrom $325.

5. Best International Adventure Hub: Chile

Chile's Torres del Paine National Park. Photo: Jay Goodrich/Tandem Stock

Running 2,610 miles north to south, Chile is the longest country in the world, and 80 percent of it is covered by mountains. With vast wild spaces like 650,000-acre Patagonia National Park (which opened to the public this year), pristine rivers with big trout, classic old-school ski areas, and pisco sours and damn good wine, it’s hard to go wrong. Consider these dream itineraries: (1) Fly into the capital city of Santiago, then work your way south to 370,000-acreYendegaia National Park in Tierra del Fuego. The former cattle ranch opened in 2013, but very few people have been lucky enough to explore this swath of untouched glaciers and peaks. Be one of the first to take it all in on a 16-day boat-assisted hiking and sailing epic withChile Nativo ($8,000). (2) Mid-country, two hours south of Santiago in the Millahue Valley, stay at the brand-new Viña Vik, a 22-room retreat and wine spa in the middle of an 11,000-acre vineyard with stunning views of the Andes (from $1,200). Mountain-bike the 65 miles of vineyard roads, then laze by the infinity pool. (3) Eleven hundred miles north in the Atacama Desert, explore the lunar landscape on horseback, relax poolside at the luxurious Tierra Atacama (from $1,350 for two nights, all-inclusive), then set out after dark to Ahlarkapin Observatory to view the universe through the clearest sky on earth.