10 of the best restaurants

Right on the seafront is Boudin Bakery, and its speciality is soup in a sourdough breadbowl. The lid is the roof of the loaf to dip in the soup. Perfect after a windswept boat trip across to Alcatraz. Sit outside with the wharf and the trams right there, sea lions honking in the background. Clam chowder is the best to eat so close to the Pacific. A unique lunch stop is Hamburgers, just across the street from the ferry terminal. It’s a tiny place with a line of lunch customers along the sidewalk. Burgers are delicious and made to order. Expect to pay around $10 with fries. There’s no room to eat in there, so find a bench and enjoy the views across the bay: Alcatraz across the water, the Golden Gate to the right, Oakland to the left and San Francisco beyond. San Francisco is well catalogued as a vegan’s paradise (Mission District’s Gracias Madre’s warm potato gorditas with avocado and piquant salsa verde are fantastic), but in Berkeley is where you’ll find the world’s best cinnamon buns. The warm, chewy pastries at Cinnaholic are not only all vegan, they can also be customised with warm cookies, mocha frosting and sprinkles.

Great treks around the world

Trekking through forests, mountains and other great wildernesses is a fantastic way to explore the world. Tell us all about your favourite trek (at least two days, not just a long walk), including how to do it, what you saw and perhaps a little on the overnight stops. The best tips will appear in print in next weekend’s Travel section and the winner, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet, will receive a £200 hotel voucher from Hotels.com, allowing you stay in over 260,000 places worldwide. Submit your tips by clicking on the blue button and using the text tab. Try and include as much detail as possible – location, any website addresses etc – and feel free to add a photo if you own the copyright to it, but it will be the text we’re judging! Your tip should be around 100 words long. Terms and conditions. GuardianWitness is the home of user-generated content on the Guardian. Contribute your video, pictures and stories, and browse news, reviews and creations submitted by others. Posts will be reviewed prior to publication on GuardianWitness, and the best pieces will feature on the Guardian site.

Skiing in the USA

Where do you go for the best skiing and snowboarding in the USA? Send us your tips on the best places and things to do this ski season. The best tips will appear in print in next weekend’s Travel section and the winner, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet, will receive a £200 hotel voucher from Hotels.com, allowing you stay in over 260,000 places worldwide. Submit your tips by clicking on the blue button and using the text tab. Try and include as much detail as possible – location, any website addresses etc – and feel free to add a photo if you own the copyright to it, but it will be the text we’re judging! Your tip should be around 100 words long. Terms and conditions. Closes 17th December 10am GMT · GuardianWitness is the home of user-generated content on the Guardian. Contribute your video, pictures and stories, and browse news, reviews and creations submitted by others. Posts will be reviewed prior to publication on GuardianWitness, and the best pieces will feature on the Guardian site.

your travel tips

Stretching across southern Chile and Argentina, seeing all of the staggeringly beautiful Patagonia is no mean feat. The vast landscapes of lakes, flatlands, and mountains are an explorer’s dream. There are a wealth of adventures to be had at the tip of South America. Send us your recommendations on everything from where to stay and eat to organised and self-guided tours and walks. The best tips will appear in print in next weekend’s Travel section and the winner, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet, will receive a £200 hotel voucher from Hotels.com, allowing you stay in over 260,000 places worldwide. Submit your tips by clicking on the blue button and using the text tab. Try and include as much detail as possible – location, any website addresses etc – and feel free to add a photo if you own the copyright to it, but it will be the text we’re judging! Your tip should be around 100 words long. Terms and conditions.

Glenlough, Ireland

The valley of Glenlough lies facing the wild Atlantic in south-west Donegal, Ireland. It’s en route from Port to Maghera, which is a comfortable two-day trek, edging the coast, along spectacular cliffs and breathtaking scenery. Accessible only on foot, the valley was once briefly home to poet Dylan Thomas, who spent the summer of 1935 living and writing there. (The old stone cottage where he stayed is now a ruin.) The area and surrounding mountains are also home to rare flora and fauna and have been described by the Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of the last remaining “wilderness frontiers” in Europe, and the sea stacks offshore are some of the largest in Ireland. glendoan

Winter walks

Wrapped up against Jack Frost with a rewarding mulled drink upon your return, a winter walk is a great way to see off some of the festive over-indulgences at this time of year. Whether it’s stomping across frosted fields, a hike up a snowy hill, or a stroll along a coastal path, there are winter walks with beautiful sights for all to enjoy. Let us know the details of your favourite winter walk – where it starts and finishes, and what you see en route. How easy or challenging it is? Will the kids enjoy the walk? And how about the dog? If you have map references, tell us them too. The best tips will be published on the Guardian website. Closes 15th December 5pm GMT

Great treks around the world

Trekking through forests, mountains and other great wildernesses is a fantastic way to explore the world. Tell us all about your favourite trek (at least two days, not just a long walk), including how to do it, what you saw and perhaps a little on the overnight stops. The best tips will appear in print in next weekend’s Travel section and the winner, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet, will receive a £200 hotel voucher from Hotels.com, allowing you stay in over 260,000 places worldwide. Submit your tips by clicking on the blue button and using the text tab. Try and include as much detail as possible – location, any website addresses etc – and feel free to add a photo if you own the copyright to it, but it will be the text we’re judging! Your tip should be around 100 words long. Terms and conditions. Closes 7 January 10am GMT · GuardianWitness is the home of user-generated content on the Guardian. Contribute your video, pictures and stories, and browse news, reviews and creations submitted by others. Posts will be reviewed prior to publication on GuardianWitness, and the best pieces will feature on the Guardian site.

holiday days out

The 10th National Forest Wood Fair takes place at Beacon Hill, Leicestershire, on Monday. Activities include tree-climbing and pyrography, forestry demonstrations on lumberjacking and horse logging, and top “bodgers” competing in the wood-carving competition. Refreshments include Melton Mowbray pork pies and local ales. • 25 August, 9am-6pm, adults £9, children £6, families £25, nationalforest.org Smart walking, nationwide The Royal Geographical Society has devised almost 100 new walks around Britain designed to engage your brain as well as your feet. Each walk helps you understand how the landscape was shaped by nature, history and people: for example, you could find out why there are so many deep bodies of water in the Lake District. • Find a walk near you at discoveringbritain.org Summer festival, Kew Gardens Kew Gardens’ summer festival, Plantasia, continues for another two weeks, and it is open later than usual (until 7.30pm) this bank holiday weekend. Look out for the Healing Giant made from medicinal plants, the barefoot walking trail, and soundscapes in the Palm House. You can also climb the pagoda, play plant croquet, try a tai chi session and drink cocktails in the gin and tonic garden.

Yosemite, California

“It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter.” So said John Muir, the Scottish-born conservationist whose passionate and influential writing helped persuade Congress to pass a bill leading to the declaration of Yosemite as the US’s third national park, in 1890. This made the protection of 1,200 square miles of deep valleys, wild-flower meadows, giant sequoias and waterfalls a legal obligation. More than a century later, Yosemite is still one of the crown jewels of the American national parks system. Visit in summer for hiking, rafting, fishing and rock climbing; in winter, some roads and trails are closed but there is the chance to enjoy the quiet splendour of the landscape without the crowds. Several events are planned to mark the 125th anniversary on 1 October, including tours led by an actor portraying Galen Clark, who explored the park many times with Muir and was instrumental in its gaining protected status. If you are planning to stay overnight, check out yosemitepark.com/lodging for accommodation: it lists options from permanent camps in the High Sierra to the hotel of choice for visiting dignitaries, the luxury Ahwahnee. For a longer trip, Yosemite Valley is also the start of the magnificent John Muir Trail, which passes through 211 miles of spectacular scenery in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It makes up part of the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650-mile path running from Mexico to Canada that is about to get its moment in the Hollywood limelight with the release, on 16 January in the UK, of Wild, based on a true story, in which Reese Witherspoon plays Cheryl Strayed, a troubled woman grieving after her mother’s death, who hikes 1,100 miles of the trail alone. Despite gory close-ups of blisters, the film is likely to inspire countless journeys into the wilderness.

where to go in 2015

Málaga’s credentials as a cultural city-break destination will get a serious boost this spring, when the Pompidou Centre opens its first outpost outside Paris there. The Cube – a striking €5m glass building on the revamped marina – will house a permanent modern art collection and run a programme of arts events from dance to video. The birthplace of Pablo Picasso is also set to be home to a branch of the St Petersburg State Russian Museum, showcasing art from the 15th to the 20th centuries. The Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology, opening later in the year, will complete the triple whammy of new attractions. Besides museums, Málaga has plenty for the foodie traveller, plus cheap flights, great shopping and nightlife, and access to some of the Costa’s best beaches – a winning weekend break combo. The Soho Boutique hotel opened last year in the arty Soho barrio, south of the old town, with doubles from €63 room-only.

The lure of the Loire

riginating in the rugged central Ardèche region of France and emptying into the Atlantic near the shipbuilding port of Saint Nazaire, the 1,000km-long Loire river is as French as the Mississippi is American. This is the river the French love best: for the soft green beauty of the regions it waters and because it has so profoundly shaped their culture and identity. The constellation of magnificent chateaux found in the Loire valley has stoked the world’s romantic imagination, making the area between Orléans and Angers one of the most storied and visited destinations in France. Beyond their beauty, the chateaux of the Loire are an acute expression of the region’s history, too. During the middle ages, fortified seigneurial residences were the focal points around which towns and villages grew. During the hundred years war between the French and the English the Loire valley was a frontier zone, so many castles transformed into fortresses. When peace came during the mid-15th century, they were remodelled as pleasure palaces for the aristocracy. Besides castles and spectacular scenery, several lively towns and cities, each with their own charms, add appeal – from Nantes, a thriving cultural hub in the west, to the ancient cathedral town of Tours, the main town in the valley, and Angers with its busy nightlife.

Sleep inside a snowball

For the ultimate never-been-done experience this winter, why not sleep inside a giant snowball? Don’t worry, none of these epic creations have been hollowed out by small children; they’re the work of a snow sculptor with over 10 years’ experience and are fixed on flat ground so no one’s going to roll you down a hill and put it on YouTube. Inside each snowball bedroom you’ll find an insulating reindeer skin topped with a thermal sleeping bag with a polar fleece liner, so you’ll be snug despite the temperature being around -5C. A night in the snowball is available on Artisan Travel’s February trip to the Jokkmokk Winter Market, a celebration of the indigenous Sámi people and culture. Here, you can also enjoy stalls with local cheese, honey and reindeer meat, and the largest collection of Sámi handicraft, or duodji.

winter activity breaks

Once you’ve reached your remote spot by snowshoe, and had some expert tips on good and bad construction, you’ll realise that building your own igloo is nowhere near as easy as it looks in cartoons. But the graft will be well worth it when you’re standing at the snowy door arch of a dwelling of your own creation, having had dinner under the stars. Undiscovered Alps runs Winter Multi Activity Holidays in and around the Écrins national park, where you can pick your activities for the week based on a points system. Alongside the igloo expedition, it offers ice-climbing, ski-joering, snow-scooting, paragliding, snake sledging, a giant zip wire and more traditional snow activities, such as ski touring and snowshoeing. • Seven nights’ from £342pp, including accommodation in the Orcieres 1850 resort, or nearby ski villages, snowshoes and poles, unlimited use of swimming pool and ice skating and nine activity points (a two-day igloo expedition is five points including dinner and breakfast, snowscoot is one, as is a moonlit snowshoe walk), 0845 009 8501, undiscoveredalps.com Monarch flies from Manchester to Grenoble from £58 return

Small ski resorts in Europe

WINNING TIP: Dienten am Hochkönig Dienten is a small, traditional Austrian farming village in the middle of the Hochkönig ski area. In the past few years there has been a big investment in the area's ski infrastructure, with lots of new lifts now linking Dienten to the surrounding villages. Despite being only an hour from Salzburg, it is still relatively unheard of and prices have been kept low. We stayed over the New Year week and never once queued for a lift or battled for space on the 150km of pistes. We especially enjoyed numerous beautiful mountain huts serving hearty treats and schnapps. Pamporovo I visited this lovely Bulgarian Village 17 years ago and loved it and, on my return this year, I loved it even more. Pamporovo offers fantastic family-friendly skiing and pretty runs allow for all to be involved. The ski school is fantastic whether you are a beginner or an expert. It's great value for money without feeling budget. Give this resort a chance, especially if you are a family considering a first skiing holiday. Seven hours drive from Calais, or less than 90 minutes from either Basel or Strasbourg, there are plenty of places to ski in the Vosges. It's quite low, so snow is not guaranteed, but there are some runs with artificial snow. There are also maybe a dozen other places with one or two lifts perfect for a morning's skiing. Suitable for intermediate rather than expert skiers (only a couple of black runs) they're also ideal if you are a bit rusty and want a quick day or two to get back into the swing. Runs are around 2km maximum length, so it's great if you're not (ahem) perfectly fit. Prices are reasonable and there are plenty of nice cheap places to have lunch (¤10 covers a basic meal). Auron 1600 is a surprise. Less than two hours from Nice, it captivates you with its charming village atmosphere. The skiing is suitable for all the family, catering for novice to expertall levels. It's a fantastic journey up to the resort, hard to believe that you can be transported from the blueness of the Côte d'Azur to the crystal whiteness of the Alpes-Maritime in such a short space of time. The food and accommodation isare delightful, with numerous après ski activities.

Skiing and snowboarding

What’s the big news this season? Sam Haddad, editor of coolermag.com As someone who always panics that I’ll have picked a resort with the worst conditions in the region, I’m excited about the Nomads powder bus, an old American school bus converted into a powder-chasing hostel on wheels, with beds from €50 a night. It’ll be based in Berne, Switzerland, for January and February, and Chambéry in the French Alps for March and April. Mark von Roy, editor-in-chief, Downdays At the Nine Knights event in Livigno, Italy (4-11 April), you can watch the best freeskiers performing crazy tricks on an immense snow castle. It’s also a time for crazy parties and catching some spring powder if the clouds align. Livigno is a tax-free zone on the border with Switzerland, in a valley accessed by a single-lane tunnel. It offers great all-mountain skiing, from groomers, to freeride lines, to park skiing and lively après ski. Sam McMahon, online editor, Whitelines magazine For the first time, the Freeride World Tour will be heading to the dream destination: Alaska. With some of the best riders on the steepest ridable faces in the world, it’ll be the event to watch online this season. Closer to home, the finals of the FWT take place on the Bec des Rosses in Verbier in March. The gnarliest terrain on the tour will meet the world’s top skiers and boarders, but you’ll be able to view it live from the Mont Fort piste on the other side of the valley in relative comfort. Nicola Iseard, editor, Fall Line There is a lot going on in Utah. Its 15th resort, Cherry Peak is open for this season. It’s in the foothills of Richmond near Logan, and while on the small side (only three lifts), the tree skiing looks to be epic, given Utah’s mega annual snowfall.

readers' travel tips

Winning tip: Mount Bachelor, Oregon Underrated and little-known, Mount Bachelor is snow-sure with winding, tree-lined pistes and plenty of accessible backcountry. It’s just one of the spectacular volcanic peaks which dot the western US.A ride on the “Summit Express” to the 9,000ft peak offers views across to the Three Sisters trio of peaks and numerous marked and unmarked routes back down the mountain. Cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are also popular activities in the area. youcantalan Waitsfield and Warren, Vermont The twin Vermont ski villages of Waitsfield and Warren are a real joy, full of organic bakeries, artisan studios and friendly locals who frequent the range of après-ski bars and restaurants and make tourists feel welcome and valued. nicolletta Las Vegas Ski, Nevada You probably don’t think of Vegas for skiing but there are some fun runs in the Spring mountains at an altitude around 2,800 metres, ranging from beginner to expert and the scenery is stunning. For après-ski, the Vegas strip is just down the road.

Holiday guide to Calabria

“You’re the first British person I’ve spoken to on this beach in the 40 years I’ve been coming here. How did you find it?” It was a good question, given the huge number of beaches along Calabria’s 500-mile coastline. I was in tiny Caminia on the Ionian coast talking to Nuccio, a Briton whose Calabrian mother lives in nearby Catanzaro Lido. He confirmed what I had already discovered: that the elongated toe of southern Italy is one of the country’s least-known regions among British people. Italians, on the other hand, spend August swarming around Calabria’s Tyrrhenian and Ionian coasts. Come September, even though schools wouldn’t be opening until the middle of the month, many sunloungers are packed away in defiance of the 28C heat and clear blue sea almost as warm as a bath. But despite the out-of-season atmosphere, late September and October is an excellent time to explore this underrated and often misunderstood region – and savour some of the spiciest cuisine in Italy, thanks to the ubiquitous red peperoncino (chilli).

The Borough

Lancaster doesn’t have a nightclub scene, but it does have great pubs,” Rory Walker tells me. Given how embedded in that world Rory is, he should know. We are standing in the Borough’s cellars, where Rory brews, as Borough Brewery, three of the eight real ales you’ll find on the bar upstairs: try his hoppy, US-style Pale. That commitment to real beer is one reason why this gastro-boozer, a listed Georgian townhouse, once the mayor of Lancaster’s house, is so popular locally. Even on a Tuesday night – mid-World Cup but no telly on – it is busy. Now, with nine new bedrooms, visitors can ponder its appeal. On the third floor, and in the building next door, these rooms are so new that, on my visit to the suite, there is still a stray streak of paint on the rear window pane. That window looks on to a fenced patch of rubble and earth, yet to be titivated. The blind had been pulled down to hide all this. Little wonder. That work-in-progress is in stark contrast to the view from the lounge across handsome Dalton Square or the room itself which, overall, is peachy. The panelling covering the original fireplaces is ugly, and some of the furnishings (cream leather sofa, silvery velvet cushions) borderline bling, but the off-white/grey colour scheme is neat, the modern, patterned wallpapers smart and clutter-free. Ornamentation is limited to a centrepiece of flowers and a lovely antique, freestanding mirror. All fixtures in the wet-room bathroom feel solid and robust – reassuring for this clumsy lummox – and I like the posh Cumbrian Bath House toiletries. Huge dividing doors shut off the bedroom from the lounge and, in this silent cocoon, on a six-foot wide bed (cotton sheets; topped, super-thick, firm mattress), I sleep soundly. Admittedly, that was after a few pints with dinner. Eat in the cosy bar area if you can (all burgundy Chesterfields, ancient blanket boxes and flea-market Victoriana), rather than in the plainer restaurant section, where loud music (Stone Roses fine; UB40 not) bounces off its hard, wooden surfaces.

Wellbeing retreats

To escape from the stresses, toils and strains of life, a retreat is the perfect way to find a bit of peace. Whether it’s a weekend yoga retreat, time away to focus on mindfulness, or a two-week stay in silence, the personal rewards from a retreat can be tremendous. Tell us all about the best retreat you’ve been on, what you experienced and where it was. The best tips will appear in print in next weekend’s Travel section and the winner, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet, will receive a £200 hotel voucher from Hotels.com, allowing you stay in over 260,000 places worldwide. You can share your tips by clicking on the blue ‘Contribute’ button on this article or you can also use the GuardianWitness smartphone app. Try and include as much detail as possible – location, any website addresses etc – and feel free to add a photo if you own the copyright to it, but it will be the text we’re judging! Your tip should be around 100 words long. Terms and conditions. Closes 14 January 10am GMT • GuardianWitness is the home of user-generated content on the Guardian. Contribute your video, pictures and stories, and browse news, reviews and creations submitted by others. Posts will be reviewed prior to publication on GuardianWitness, and the best pieces will feature on the Guardian site.

Your guide to new

Family skiing’s fun, but if you want to be sure of some adult downtime – or slope time – you need a holiday where children are entertained. A ski trip that includes a seven-day circus camp with La Source in the Chamonix valley over New Year should do the trick. Circus skills classes include juggling and plate spinning, in a venue accommodating up to 22 families. There’s daily yoga and other activities, along with generous discounts on ski school and ski hire. The price is for fully catered accommodation, with each family sharing a six-bedroom en suite dorm room, and also includes a Mont Blanc Unlimited six-day ski pass worth €280. Murren, Switzerland A new early-season event in the cradle of Alpine ski racing, the Murren Kandahar Snowsport festival promises to be a blast for all the family, featuring daily races for all ages and abilities, training clinics with ski celebrities (such as Swiss World Cup racer Kurt Huggler and two-times World Extreme Snowboard champion Karleen Jeffer), and off-slope fun including barbecues, live music, skating and tobogganing. Panorama, Canada The Canadians do family skiing very well, and the relatively petite resort of Panorama in British Columbia is one of the best. Its Pano kids’ camps will take the little treasures off your hands for three days of instruction, and its Discover programmes take first-time skiers through their paces. There’s even an on-slope nanny for youngsters needing more personalised care. Oh, and the resort benefits from piste-side hot pools, which make the perfect après for any family.

20 family villa holidays

Not many smaller rentals come with a pool, so this two-bedroom, bougainvillea-clad villa in the village of Casabermeja near Malaga is a good find, especially as the pool is gated. The homely, whitewashed former artist’s studio is well placed for exploring the area’s historic towns (Antequera is closest, Granada is a 40-minute drive) or the beaches of the Costa del Sol half an hour south. It’s equipped with everything you might need, including blackout blinds, changing mat and bath toys. Costs from £846 a week (rising to £3,908 for the six-week summer holiday period) The Scandinavian sauna with piped music might not be a good reason to book this enormous traditional country pile in the hills of south-east Mallorca. But add in a volleyball court, hot tub, gym and pool, and you get a surprisingly swanky pad for the price, especially if you have enough flexibility to travel outside the main school holiday period (celebrating the end of exams, for example). There are bikes on site for exploring the trails of the n earby S’horta valley. Older kids will love the Hobbit-style architecture of this off-grid two-bedroom house in a cave. Fruit trees line the dirt track to reach it, but despite the rustic location the house is light and modern inside. Outside, there’s just enough space to have a meal from the built-in barbecue, while enjoying the views across the maquis to the Els Ports mountains. There are bars and restaurants in the nearby riverside village of Tivenys, and the limestone gorges of Puerto de Beceite are good for young (and old) explorers.

The Bridge Inn

crawled on the specials board, one dish in particular caught my eye: “Boss-shot pheasant, stuffed with Stornoway black pudding and wrapped with Ayrshire bacon, served with a kale cake, green beans and jus.” The aforementioned pub boss, Graham Bucknall, killed the pheasant at a local shoot, head chef Ben informed me. There was also venison on the menu but, up in my room, I’d been reading about the pub’s pigs, so it had to be the signature pork plate: wrapped loin, rillettes, belly, crackling and baked beans (£19). “It’s the last of our home-reared Saddleback,” Ben added, “although it’s not strictly Saddleback. The Saddlebacks got friendly with the Gloucester Old Spots ...” The Bridge Inn ticks all the right boxes in terms of provenance. You can’t get more local than herbs and vegetables grown in the walled kitchen garden of Graham and wife Rachel’s home, nearby Ratho Hall, or the pigs reared in their fields. The inn sits happily on the historic Union canal in the little village of Ratho, 20 minutes by car from the centre of Edinburgh – and a handy 10 minutes from the airport – although it feels a million miles away from both. Dating from the mid-18th century, it was originally a farm building, converted into a pub to service the navvies building the canal between 1818 and 1822. The Union is a linear, or contour, canal, all on one level so there are no locks, and it stretches for 31½ miles from Edinburgh to the Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift that connects it to the Forth and Clyde canal – and is a tourist attraction in its own right. The Bridge also has a less salubrious claim to fame: in 1864, George Bryce, the son of the then landlord, murdered a nursery maid here and was hanged on the Royal Mile. It was one of the last public executions in Scotland.

The 2015 Holiday

Beach escapes What kind of beach-bum are you? A Robinson Crusoe in search of a thatched hut on a remote stretch of sand, a parent in search of a child-friendly shore or someone who needs a dose of culture with your daily dip in the sea? Our collection shows the diversity of beach breaks you can enjoy: from budget-friendly stays around the world via once-in-a-lifetime exotic destinations to family-friendly apartment and villa stays right on the beach … Whether by the sea, in the countryside, or in the city, find the right base – in the right location, with child-friendly facilities - and the rest of your holiday should fall into place. The following breaks – featuring hotels and self-catering options – cover the most popular destinations in Europe and the Mediterranean. City stays, whether a weekend break or a longer sojourn, offer travellers that great mixture of art, culture, attractions, cafes, restaurants and the allure of stays in cool hotels. This selection picks out cities that have an enduring appeal, both for their most popular sights as well as the opportunity to explore and find somewhere that feels fresh and new. Holidays don’t always have to be sedentary affairs; the chance to get kitted out and head off into the elements often rewards travellers with the kind of views you don’t see from a car. Explore our features on iconic wildernesses in far-flung corners of the world, but also our guides to making the most of the UK’s beautiful landscapes.

The best adventure holidays

Hard-pushed to pinpoint it on a map? You’re not alone. On the Horn of Africa, bordered by Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, this tiny country is hardly on the tourist radar. But its lunar-like landscape, sculpted by volcanic activity and wind erosion and punctuated by salt lakes, where nomadic tribes still roam, makes a great setting for an adventure. Visitors can kayak or snorkel from the former beachside capital, Tadjoura, explore villages and waterfalls in the Goda mountains and kick back in Djibouti City, once a sleepy French outpost, now a lively port town. Explore has a new 12-day trip toEthiopia and Djibouti for £2,676, including flights and most meals. It’s not the cheapest place for independent travel, but there are some great places to stay (see lonelyplanet.com). Ethiopian Air has flights from Heathrow via Addis Ababa for about £500. Burma has been one of the best-selling destinations of the past few years for adventure operators, which continue to be creative with itineraries. Imaginative Traveller says it expects its new Burma by Bike package (from £2,049pp for two weeks with B&B accommodation, flights extra) to be a bestseller. It includes rides to the lakeside Inthein pagodas, minority villages on Inle lake and Mandalay, the last royal capital of Burma. Specialist operator Inside Japan Tours is launching Inside Burma Tours for 2015, after success with its Inside Vietnam offshoot. Trips will include a 15-night Kipling’s Burma trip (15 nights from £2,650pp, flights extra) to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the author’s birth, which covers Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay and a two-night cruise on Irrawaddy river – sites relating to the colonial era and Kipling’s writing. Those who want to travel independently – which is now easy and safe to do in Burma – might find local operator mrmyanmartravel.com useful for ideas and some arrangements, such as domestic flights. You need to reserve hotel rooms well ahead in busy places such as Yangon.