After a disproportionate amount of time spent inside over the past year, we’ve all got a new found appreciation for the great outdoors. And, as travel restrictions begin to ease, Europe offers an abundance of different options for an active adventure, from climbing to coasteering, wild camping to wildlife watching.
To celebrate the release of Outdoor Europe, our new book packed with over 150 different activities, here’s a list of just 10 active adventure ideas featured within the book to inspire a different type of adventure across the continent. Want more? Get the book now.
To celebrate the release of Outdoor Europe, our new book packed with over 150 different activities, here’s a list of just 10 active adventure ideas featured within the book to inspire a different type of adventure across the continent. Want more? Get the book now.
Outdoor Europe
View BookCanoeing the Tar Route, Finland
Finland’s Tar Route offers a remote canoeing adventure along waterways that were once used to transport barrels of tar from the Russian border to the Baltic Sea. Starting on Lentiira, a tree-lined lake in the west of Finland, you’ll spend several days tracing this isolated route, paddling your open-top canoe south to the town of Kuhmo and wild camping on uninhabited islands along the way.
Paragliding over Lake Annecy, France
The mountainous limestone ridges that surround France’s Lake Annecy, covered in a carpet of pine forest, make a spectacular backdrop for paragliding. They also shelter the serene valley in which the lake sits, meaning that the weather in these foothills remains reliably calm for flying.
Trail running in the Dolomites, Italy
When the Dolomites gleam white beneath azure skies on a summer’s day, these limestone massifs just might be Europe’s most beautiful mountains. When lowering clouds mask the blue, they loom like broken teeth, stark and forbidding. But whatever the weather, they demand a closer look. The best way to do that is on two legs, running the varied trails that lace high plateaus, wildflower meadows, and verdant valleys.
Bouldering in Albarracín, Spain
Perched precariously on a hilltop above the Guadalaviar river in eastern Spain, the spectacular medieval village of Albarracín – declared a National Monument in 1961 – is well worth a visit in and of itself. Its narrow, cobbled streets are lined with red-brick houses that haven’t changed for centuries, and the 9th-century castle looks as if it grew straight out of the cliff edge. Undoubtedly scenic, this craggy setting also makes the village a haven for climbers, with a huge bouldering playground lying right on the doorstep, in the surrounding mountains and national park.
Ice climbing in Mlačca Gorge, Slovenia
Small but perfectly formed, the icefalls in Mlačca Gorge, in Slovenia’s Julian Alps, make an excellent introduction to ice climbing. The Gorge’s three waterfalls freeze over for a short but satisfying winter season each December. The solid sheet, peppered with great cauliflowers of ice, is a startling sight, but it’s easy enough to ascend – you’ll see children as young as 10 scrambling to the top. Don your crampons, rope up, and start ice-climbing your way after them.
Kayaking in Tromsø, Norway
Perched in the middle of an expansive sound in the far north of Norway, the island-city of Tromsø is the perfect base for a sea-kayaking adventure. The rugged coastline here offers an unbeatable backdrop for paddling: think fingerlike fjords surrounded by snowy peaks and wide sounds dotted with rugged islands. But kayakers don’t just paddle here for the stunning scenery – they come for the diverse wildlife with sea eagles, terns, porpoises, seals and even killer whales spotted in nearby waters.
Ziplining in Cetina Canyon, Croatia
The Cetina River courses 62 miles (100 km) from the Dinaric Alps to the Adriatic Sea, carving a path through the rocky karst landscape of south Croatia. Close to the river mouth and the coastal town of Omiš, the narrow channel cuts deep into the riverbed and has created a gloriously scenic steep-sided canyon. It’s here that adventure company Zipline Croatia has set up a series of eight steel wires for a couple of hours of adrenaline-fueled fun in the great outdoors.
Whitewater rafting on the Tara River, Montenegro
The Tara River flows across Montenegro, snaking 91 miles (146 km) from the rugged Komovi Mountains in the southeast to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the northwest. Fed en route by numerous springs and tributaries, the river’s waters become increasingly powerful over the course of its descent, forming dozens of roaring cascades and churning rapids. This in itself would be reason enough to reach for your paddle, but the Tara gets even better as it picks up pace. The latter half of its length weaves through the craggy splendor of the 48-mile (78 km) Tara River Canyon, the deepest canyon in Europe at a dizzying 4,265 ft (1,300 m) – and the second deepest in the world, after the US’s Grand Canyon.
Hut-to-hut hiking in GR20 trail, Corsica, France
Corsica has a soul as tough and dramatic as its landscapes – and as the trail rated by many as Europe’s most demanding long-distance trek. The Grande Randonée (GR) 20 snakes 112 miles (180 km) southeast from Calenzana to Conca, along the backbone of this spectacular Mediterranean island. Over 16 stages, you’ll plunge through dense, aromatic scrub, along vertiginous ridges, down into deep valleys, and over lofty cols. And each night, you’ll bed down in a mountain refuge alongside fellow trekkers, sharing tales of the day’s travails.
Kiteboarding in Óbidos, Portugal
Portugal’s Silver Coast, which gets its name from the effect of the sun’s reflection sparkling off the Atlantic waves, is a haven of rugged coastlines and expansive beaches, not to mention some excellent kiteboarding spots. The best of these is to be found at Óbidos, a charming medieval town made up of winding cobbled streets that burst with blooming bougainvillea. The town itself is situated inland, but the Atlantic coast to its immediate northwest is home to the glittering expanse of the Óbidos Lagoon, the largest saltwater lagoon in Europe. The coast here is prime kiteboarding territory, with mild temperatures and consistent winds.
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