Trail running, Dolomites, Italy
Stay Mountain huts
Suits Hardened runners
It sounds easy: “Cruising over rocky passes and through lush meadows.” But runners on this holiday in the Dolomites will have to concentrate hard on their footwork: the scenery of this limestone wonderland is so beautiful it would be easy to take a tumble. Dolomite Mountains’ range of hut-to-hut itineraries may be challenging, but the overnights at rifugi with scrumptiously rich food, comfy beds and drinks in the cutesy bars are just reward. The five-day Alta Via 1 covers 77km, starting in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
From €640pp for five days unguided (guides available), dolomitemountains.com
Eat, drink and hike, Basque Highlands, Spain
Stay Guesthouses and hotels
Suits Active foodies
Edurne Pasaban, the first woman to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks, now runs holiday firm Kabi Travels. It’s based in Val d’Aran in Catalonia but runs summer trips in her Basque homeland. A four-day, guided Discover the Basque Countryside group tour combines hikes in stupendous mountain scenery with great food and wine, particularly local idiazabal sheep’s cheese. Starting in the mountain village of Aránzazu, hikes take in the Urbia valley, San Adrian pass and Aralar natural park, with ancient ruins, lakes, forests and shepherds’ huts. Time in San Sebastián, 40 minutes away by train, can be tagged on.
Four days from €345pp half-board, kabi-travels.com
Nordic pilgrimage, Sweden/Norway
Stay Huts and inns
Suits Seasoned hikers
Norway’s saint Olav Haraldsson walked almost 400km from Sundsvall on Sweden’s east coast to Stiklestad in Norway in 1030, in a bid to become king of Norway and unite the country. The St Olav’s Way walking trail opened in 2013, winding through mountainous country with churches, forests and lakes. The whole thing would be a mammoth undertaking, but it breaks down into doable sections. One five-day trip goes from the Swedish ski resort of Åre over the border to Stiklestad (where Olav died in battle), with hikers covering up to 40km a day. Swedish firm Nordic Pilgrim arranges packages with accommodation and optional guide and luggage transfers.
From £426pp, nordicpilgrim.com
Meet a hornblower, Vorarlberg, Austria
Stay Campsite
Suits Fun-loving families
There’s nothing more Austrian than the sight of a mountain-dweller in traditional dress blowing a long alpenhorn. The Dunser family, owners of Panorama Camping Sonnenberg, treat guests to an irony-free display every Sunday as the sun sets over the surrounding five valleys and summits of the Vorarlberg. At 600 metres above sea level, the neat campsite has knockout views, 115 pitches, playground, cinema room and hot showers. It’s well-situated for hiking and biking, the Lünersee crater lake, the medieval town of Feldkirch – favoured by the young and hip, apparently, and Bregenz on Lake Constance for water sports and culture.
Pitch for two in high season €28, coolcamping.com
An alternative to the Alps, Georgia
Stay Homestays/guesthouses
Suits Seasoned hikers
Hiking from village to village in the breathtaking Svaneti region of the Caucasus will make you wonder why you ever bothered with the Alps. The food is delicious and cheap, the people incredibly welcoming (plying visitors with chacha, the local hooch), and the ice-topped peaks tower above many in the Alps, exceeding 4,000 metres. Travellocal has a package starting in Kutaisi, with its farmers’ market, before heading to Mestia, famed for its watchtowers, and the Shkhara glacier.
From £1,100pp, flights (Wizz Air) extra, travellocal.com
Canoe camping, Montenegro
Stay Tents and B&B
Suits Adventurous friends
Straddling the border with Albania, Lake Skadar is a peaceful 370 sq km wilderness ringed by mountains, where travellers are unlikely to meet anyone but the odd fisherman in a wooden boat. Responsible Travel’s wilderness canoeing and camping adventure has magical moments of paddling among waterlilies, spotting the rare Dalmatian pelican (no, it isn’t spotty), and swimming from freshwater beaches. There’s also a smidge of history in the Ottoman fortresses and 14th-century island monasteries, and bushcraft lessons from the guide, who cooks over an open fire each night.
From £595, with five nights’ camping, two nights’ B&B in Vizpazar, and most meals, but not flights or transfers, responsibletravel.com
Watersport city, Annecy, France
Stay Apartments
Suits Water babies
In summer, Annecy is a charming lakeside city of canals, with swimming and water sports on Lake Annecy, one of Europe’s cleanest. Try wake surfing (book with Blue Wake): it’s like wake-boarding but on a bigger board, and you let go of the rope. Piscine des Marquisats south of the centre has an Olympic-size pool and slides, and across the lake, Chateau de Menthon is a medieval fairytale castle with turrets atop a 200-metre rock. The Fête du Lac (4 August) includes amazing fireworks over the water.
Apartment for two from £121 a night in August at Le Royal (apparthotel-annecy.com), an attractive building near the old town
Local culture, Albania
Stay Huts and guesthouses
Suits Seasoned hikers
With some of Europe’s most pristine scenery, ancient pastoral traditions little-altered by modern life, and a title to capture the imagination, Albania’s Accursed mountains make for a wild holiday with an element of time travel. These peaks, which span the borders of Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro, have been easier to explore since 2012, when a hiking route, Peaks of the Balkans, opened to tempt walkers. Meeting mountain folk to learn about their well-preserved culture on visits to isolated villages is a major selling point, and accommodation is in old stone farmhouses where home-cooked meals include bean soup, spinach pie and roast lamb, with oregano tea, sheep’s milk, Turkish coffee or plum raki, depending on the mood.
Around £875pp for 10 days on a group trip including meals and luggage transfers, but not flights, bnadventure.coml. Fly with Ryanair to Podgorica in Montenegro
Hi-tech hostel, French Alps
Stay Hostel dorm
Suits Adventurous friends
In Oz en Oisans, near Alpe d’Huez, famed for its killer cycle climbs, the new Moontain Hostel says it’s a “hyper-connected”, “new-generation” hostel. This means all payments, and booking of activities from gourmet meals to cycle hire, paddleboarding or windsurfing on Lac du Verney, is done via a smartphone app. Conviviality is encouraged, there’s a bar, and dorms are decorated in fun, contemporary style. Private rooms also available.
Dorms from €23pp, family room from €30pp, moontain-hostel.com
Alm hut walking, Tirol, Austria
Stay Chalet hotel
Suits Active foodies
The Wildschonau region of the Austrian Tirol has 300km of walking routes, and so many quaint mountain hut cafes – almhütten – that walkers never risk running out of energy. Each alm hut has its specific charms: the Gressenstein’s water trough is full of cold beverages; Möslalm, above Niederau ski resort, has homemade cakes and a mountainbiker fanbase; Mittermoosen is in a sculpture park; and Achental is famous for its Wednesday doughnuts. The tourist board arranges culinary hikes to taste schnapps, spare ribs, cheese and more.
Doubles at the Tierental farmhouse in Oberau from €336 a week B&B in July
Alpine history, Switzerland
Stay Period hotel
Suits Romantics
The Weisshorn, opened in 1883, is one of the great original Alpine hotels, 2,337 metres up on the shoulder of the Val d’Anniviers, in a wonderful area for hiking. Well worth splashing out on, it is only accessible on foot. Rooms are as pine-clad as a sauna, with shared showers and loos, but that feels like a fair exchange when you’re sitting on the terrace at sunset, gawping at the Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn, Dent Blanche, Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, with liqueur-drenched apricot sorbet dribbling down your chin.
Doubles from £215 B&B, weisshorn.ch
Volcanic peaks, La Palma, Canaries
Stay Stylish hotel
Suits Laid-back romantics
If you’ve enjoyed the wilder side of the Canary Islands among the green mountains of La Gomera, you may also love La Palma, one of the archipelago’s hilliest and least-developed islands. Dramatic peaks, volcanic craters, deserts and forests hold more appeal than its small, gritty black sand beaches, and make for excellent walking. Olio La Palma in the hillside village of El Paso is right in the middle, with hikes from the doorstep, a tropical garden pool, and three doubles with four-posters and tiled floors.
Doubles €78 B&B all year, i-escape.com
Laid-back lakeside, Umbria, Italy
Stay Villa
Suits Romantics
A lesser-known alternative to the northern lakes region, Lake Trasimeno in Umbria, between Perugia and Assisi, is as foodie and cultural, but without the crowds and plastic surgery. There are three islands in the lake, two – Polvese and Maggiore – with churches and other buildings. On the south-eastern shore, La Valle nature reserve is a haven for migratory birds, with footpaths, binoculars to borrow and visitor centre. On the opposite shore, the former Aeroporto Eleutieri has been turned in to a green area with cycling trails.
A week at Trasimeno Vista, a villa with pool sleeping four near lakeside Sant’Arcangelo, costs €915 a week in July/August with holidayhomesinitaly.co.uk, which has a range of villas in the area
Lakeside sauna, Estonia
Stay Log cabin
Suits Adventurous friends
The delicious sensation of dashing from a steaming sauna into a cool lake should be experienced at least once. A traditional log cabin in the forest near the northern shore of Lake Peipus is a lovely place to try it. The Kauksi Holiday House would be great fun for a group of mates; as well as the sauna, it has a garden with a tepee, swimming and fishing in the lake, and foraging tours run by the hosts (who live nearby). And if you must do more, the university city of Tartu is 42km away.
From €40 a double a night, or €130 for whole cabin (sleeping up to 14 in three rooms) visitestonia.com
Dam impressive, Valais, Switzerland
Stay Mountain hut
Suits Seasoned hikers
Stand at the foot of the mind-boggling Dixence dam and you’ll feel like you’re in Game of Thrones. At the top, accessed via a cable car, lies the milky-blue Grand Dixence reservoir Lake ringed by rocky peaks, with a path along one side that runs through long tunnels, emerging to meadows where marmots scamper and wild flowers wave in the wind. It’s the starting point for hikes to Cabane des Dix, a 1930s mountain hut at 2,928 metres, with 120 beds, then over to Arolla, to stay in Hotel Kurhaus, a charmingly old-fashioned 1800s hotel with mesmerising views of Mount Collon.
Half-board at Cabane des Dix from £62pp; B&B doubles at Hotel Kurhaus from £75
Wild swimming, Central Portugal
Stay Hotel
Suits Fun-loving families
The chance to swim from river beaches, babbling brooks and clear mountain lakes, and walk to waterfalls and glacial valleys draws summer adventurers to the area around Portugal’s highest peak, the Serra da Estrela. Casas da Lapa, a village house with simple guestrooms in orange and red, a sauna and pool in the village of Lapa dos Dinheiros, is within easy reach of several caves, Seia village’s toy museum, the fab Burel textile factory, and a hikes to the bizarre Lagoa Comprida, a manmade drainage feature that looks like a deep, gurgling sinkhole.
Doubles from €90 B&B, casasdalapa.com
Pootle and potter, Alpujarras, Spain
Stay Villa
Suits Active foodies
For a relaxing, sunny holiday with fresh mountain air, it’s hard to beat the High Alpujarras, south of Granada. The area’s 50-odd villages are full of fine food, beautiful architecture and little craft shops. The mule tracks of the Sierra Nevada are there for the taking but less restless souls can potter around typically Arabic Cáñar, try the famous jamón in Trevelez’s many bars, or siesta by day to be fresh for the evening events in Bubion’s square.
Rustical Travel has a range of hilltop villas from around €500 a week for four. One example is property AP171, which has a pool and sleeps two for €580 in July, or four for €670
Night kayaking, County Cork, Ireland
Stay Cottage
Suits Adventurous friends
Paddling across the pitch-black water of Lough Hyne at night, acutely aware of every sound and perhaps getting mildly spooked, is a thrilling way to experience this famous saltwater lake in west Cork. Atlantic Sea Kayaking’s Starlight Moonlight tour (€50pp for 2½hrs) takes guests in single or double kayaks to stargaze and spot bioluminescence and the silhouettes of birds. A new monthly experience, Starlight Serenade, also includes music and food. Nearby Skibbereen is a charming town with the obligatory cheery pub, and handy for trout fishing at Shepperton Lakes or Lough Bofinna near Bantry.
The Apartment, a sweet upside-down cottage sleeping two in Skibbereen, costs from £366 for a week in summer with hogansirishcottages.com
Thermal pools, Low Tatras, Slovakia
Stay Chalets
Suits Sporty families
With stylish wooden cabins in the pretty Janska valley in the Low Tatras, Liptovsky Dvor hotel is a good base for outdoor pursuits. As well as rafting, walking and cycling, families can visit caves including one called the Cave of Dead Bats, ride a chairlift up 2,024-metre Chopok mountain, tackle 2,043-metre Dumbier mountain, swim in natural thermal pools in Liptovsky Jan, and explore folksy villages and historic sites. Accommodation is in two-bedroom pine-clad chalets, and there’s an indoor pool, spa facilities and restaurant.
A week in July costs around £900 B&B for a family of four, liptovskydvor.sk. Fly to Krakow, Poland, or Bratislava
Budget train trip, Chamonix, France
