If nothing gets you hyped quite like a daring, life-threatening activity, you’re in good company with Travel The Unexpected. We may be scaredy-cats in our homeland, but once we’re in a foreign country, our inner adventurers are unleashed! Whatever allows us to return home with the craziest story gets added to our itinerary every time. Whether you want to get up close and personal with a ferocious animal, swing through a canyon, or zipline 1,300 feet below the Earth’s surface, we’ll point you in the right direction. These are the most thrilling adventure trips around the world.
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Africa Adventure Trips
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is one of the most underrated destinations for wildlife safari adventures. It’s home to Mana Pools Safari Park, one of the last places you can partake in a walking safari. Walking safaris bring you even closer to the wild animals in their natural habitat. But it also feels a bit more dangerous since you have no vehicle to escape in if they charge! Zimbabwe offers another unique kind of safari, which is the Zambezi River canoe safari. You’ll get more of a sense of “roughing it” here since it involves camping on riverbanks at night. But by day, you’re exposed to crocodiles, elephants, and other animals!
Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe is also considered the adrenaline capital of Africa thanks to its whitewater rafting, bungee jumping, gorge swinging, and rhino tracking. The whitewater rafting is particularly thrilling thanks to its Class IV-V rapids.
Asia Adventure Trips
Mongolia
If you’re looking for untamed, raw, desert adventures, you’ll love the thrills of Mongolia. This is a destination for those who want to be really off the beaten path, which may also involve a lack of luxury and modern amenities.
Horseback riding originated in Mongolia, making a trek on horseback a must-do here. But don’t expect a scenic stroll on the beach like you’d find on a trip to an island. Expect a more rugged ride traversing through the vast terrain. You could also venture into the Gobi Desert and ride a camel, go off-roading, and hunt for fossils.
Nepal
Nepal may be a smaller country, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in dramatic landscapes. It has 8 of the 14 highest peaks in the world, including Mount Everest, making it THE destination for hiking and trekking trips. You can even join a 2-3 week trek to the base of Mount Everest. It will take you through local Sherpa villages and ancient monasteries along the way. Other common treks include Annapurna Circuit, Langtang Valley, and Manaslu Circuit.
If cardio isn’t really your thing, you can get your heart pumping by paragliding with Himalayan views, mountain biking, ziplining, and bungee jumping. The Last Resort is our top recommendation for adventure travel companies in Nepal.
Nepal is also well known for Chitwan National Park, where you can enjoy a jeep or canoe safari. Keep your eyes peeled for tigers, rhinos, crocodiles, and elephants!
If you’re looking to get more bang for your buck, Nepal is a great choice. It’s one of the best adventure vacations on a budget.
Europe Adventure Trips
Switzerland
Switzerland absolutely changed my life, and it’s not just thanks to the epic fondue gondola we ate in! It’s because it was the first place where I really faced my fears and fell in love with adventure activities.
Switzerland is one of the best adventure travel destinations thanks to Outdoor Interlaken. They offer skydiving, paragliding, canyoning, canyon swings, bungee jumping, white water rafting, and more. And those are just the summer activities! For winter activities, check out their ice climbing, ski lessons, mountaineering, and snowshoeing. They offer lots of classes, making it an incredible destination for skiing and snowboarding trips, even for beginners!
We visited in the summer and elected to go skydiving and canyoning. The skydiving was an absolute blast. I felt as safe as anyone can while jumping out of a plane, in spite of my fear of heights. That’s all thanks to the amazing and supportive team and jumpers at Outdoor Interlaken. For canyoning, they offer three levels and I chose the middle one: Grimsel. It begins with a 164-foot rappel down the side of a mountain. Terrifying is an understatement! If you’re looking for slightly less of a thrill, you could opt for the first level, Canyoning Interlaken, which, in my opinion, is more beginner friendly.
Grindelwald is another area of the Jungfrau region of Switzerland known for its thrills. Our favorite is the First Glider, where you soar like an eagle through the mountains to get to Grindelwald First, a lookout point that feels like an adventure all on its own. If you don’t want to take the gondola down, you can mountain cart, bike, or toboggan down!
Wales
Wales puts an unexpected spin on common activities, making it one of the most unique and best places for adventure travel.
You might be adventurous, but are you brave enough to go over 1,300 feet below the surface to sleep in an old mine in Snowdonia, Wales? Or to try the longest underground zipline in the world? Go Below is a company in Wales that specializes in unique adventure trips. You can choose from four levels of adventure that include abseils, ziplines, traverses, ladders, bridges, boats, and freefall jumps all beneath the Earth’s surface. This place is no joke, and though the easiest level allows kids 10 years and up, we think this one’s best reserved for the older kids and adults.
If you’re more of a zipline-above-ground kinda person (we get it!), we highly recommend Zipworld. At the Penrhyn Quarry location in North Wales, you can ride Velocity, the fastest zip line in the world! You’ll be flying at up to 100 miles per hour overlooking Penrhyn Quarry. They have other activities such as the Aero Explorer (a zip line coaster), Quarry Karts (mountain karting), Penrhyn Quarry Tour (a tour in an ex-army truck), and Quarry Flyer (a smaller, less daunting zip line). Their site also ranks each activity’s adrenaline level out of 5, so you know how crazy things will get. Across their other locations, you can experience a forest coaster, a zip safari, a sky swing, a deep mine tour, underground golf, and a 100-foot trapdoor plummet. Our favorite is the plummet since you can opt to do it with a partner, sharing in the thrilling experience together.
Iceland
Want to scuba dive in the clearest water on Earth? Maybe that sounds fun, but not quite adventurous enough. But what if we add in the fact that it’s between tectonic plates? That’s right, you can snorkel or scuba dive in the Silfra Fissure smack dab between North America and Europe. If you’d rather stay on land, you can take a hike through recently erupted volcanoes and see steaming lava fields in Iceland.
Iceland is also an iconic location for snowmobiling on glaciers, caving in lava tubes like Raufarhólshellir or Víðgelmir, glacier hiking, ice climbing, whitewater rafting in the Hvitá River, ice caving, and jeep adventures.
North America Adventure Trips
United States
If you’re an American, you don’t need to travel internationally for an epic, heart-pounding adventure. You can get that right here in the States. And it comes with a ton of variety.
Much like Switzerland, Utah is an excellent year-round adventure destination. In the summertime, whitewater rafting through Cataract Canyon or Desolation Canyon is a must. Cataract Canyon is best for those looking for major thrills. Desolation Canyon is a better choice for beginners or the Nervous Nellies amongst us. Summer activities include base jumping, white water rafting, spelunking, packrafting, rock climbing, and canyoneering (you can even do it at Zion National Park!), to name a few. For winter activities, try out fat biking, snowshoeing, and backcountry skiing.
Alaska is also one of the most adventurous places to visit in the U.S. We’re especially fond of dog sledding on a glacier. How epic does that sound?! Alaska also has a large number of national parks, so there’s an endless array of hiking, backpacking and rafting. It’s also excellent for kayaking and canoeing trips, and you’re likely to spot plenty of wildlife along the way.
Oceania Adventure Trips
New Zealand
Imagine dangling in the air like this man pictured above, your stomach churning as you prepare to drop suddenly and swing over the water. If the thought of that gets you pumped up, you may need to make New Zealand your next stop! This activity is called the Nevis Swing, and it drops you 230 feet before you swing through the canyon.
Velocity Valley is home to what is in my opinion, the most terrifying yet thrilling activity on this list. From 141 feet above the ground, you’ll free-fall completely untethered into a safety net below. If being attached to parachutes, cords, or any other failsafe mechanisms makes you feel too safe, you’ll be right at home here!
For water activities, you can take on the highest raftable waterfall in the world! Or you can try river sledging, where you navigate the rapids on a bodyboard with flippers on your feet. Visit Kaitiaki Adventures to try out these unique activities.
New Zealand is also one of the best adventure trips for families. Manioto Adventure Park is a family-friendly destination where people of all ages can enjoy curling, mountain biking, ice skating, and a gold rush luge.
Australia
If your definition of adventure involves swimming with the wildest and most terrifying animals in the world, then Australia is the adventure destination for you.
If the name “Cage of Death” doesn’t send chills down your spine, we don’t know what will! This terrifying excursion at Crocosaurus Cove involves going underwater with only the tube you’re encased in separating you from the crocodiles. Here you can watch them swim around from below the surface.
If you’re more of a shark fan, Australia is also well known for its shark diving tours. Truthfully, these freak us out more than Cage of Death, since there are slats in between the cages in shark diving, which makes them feel even closer. Just don’t watch any shark movies leading up to this trip!
Central/South America Adventure Trips
Costa Rica
Costa Rica is the perfect destination for jungle adventures. We recently had the opportunity to stay at one of our bucket list hotels, Hotel Costa Verde. This unique hotel with converted airplane rooms offers a ton of outdoor adventure activities that will immerse you in the stunning landscape of Costa Rica. We opted for the Canopy Bike and Zip Coaster. The Canopy Bike is less of a heart-pounding activity, making it better suited to those looking for less of a thrill factor. It offers an approximately ten-minute motorized chair ride through the rainforest. The ZipCoaster is, as it sounds, a zip line/rollercoaster with dips that make your stomach drop as you speed through the forest. You’re less likely to spot wildlife on this one, but you’ll have an absolute blast. Costa Rica is one of the best adventure vacations on a budget. Both of these activities cost just $14 each per person.
We also opted for a catamaran cruise with snorkeling and were able to jump, flip, and dive from the top of the boat into the ocean below. We even watched young children do this – talk about brave! They also offer two slides at varying heights that propel you into the water.
Chile
Chile offers a wide range of terrains. You can surf, ice trek, climb a volcano, and sandboard all in one country!
The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on Earth. Its towering sand dunes make it an excellent location for sandboarding. It’s also home to volcanoes that you can actually climb! Chile’s fjords are excellent for kayaking, and you can surf along the coastline in Pichilemu. This country is an absolute playground for adventure travelers!
Travel can bring out a different side of us, getting us to try things we never would otherwise. These adventure trips help to bring out the inner child in all of us, reminding us to break out of our comfort zones. Whether you want the authentic adventure of a horseback trek in Mongolia, a daring canyon swing in New Zealand, or paragliding in Nepal, there’s an adventure trip waiting for you.
Looking for more bucket list adventures? Check out our list of unique activities for adults around the world.
