For more inspiration, make sure you pick up Country Life's December 30 issue — it's our annual travel special, full of many more ideas for adventures far and near.
Go on a subterranean adventure
Deep cave systems are fascinating places — if you're not convinced, read Robert MacFarlane's superb Underland. Bonus points for heading to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, and scuba-diving through the extraordinary flooded cave system.
Set foot on one of the world's most remote islands
Pick any one of the trio of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha — if you make it to any, we're impressed, but particularly the latter. Be warned: there are no organised tours, and tales abound of keen travellers coming thousands of miles, only to be frustrated by high seas making it impossible to make landfall.
A tour of Greenland
The world's largest island — assuming that you're happy to count Australia as a continental land mass – is unexpectedly fascinating. Tourism is picking up — expect to sail through dazzling fjords, go on a husky safari and fly over towering glaciers.
Visit a true desert island
It may not feel like it, but there are uninhabited islands everywhere — you'll be able to do so in the Isles of Scilly or the Outer Hebrides for starters. That said, one in the South China Sea or South Pacific would be more exotic and deliver those Mutiny on the Bounty / Robinson Crusoe vibes. But remember — as the phrase goes — make sure you leave only footprints.
Rarotonga Island, one of the Cook Islands, with the Muri beach and lagoon in the foreground.
Trek through virgin jungle
The Amazon, Borneo or the heart of Africa are among your options, should you wish to live out your Indiana Jones fantasies — but be careful where you step, for these can be dangerous places. Take the Darien region, for example — this is mountainous and unforgiving terrain with no infrastructure at all (there's no river and no road, despite there being just 100 miles between the southernmost Panamanian settlement and the northernmost Colombian one) full of tales of bandits and hardened criminals preying on the unwary.
Take a great train ride
The Trans-Siberian is top of the list for length and the Rocky Mountaineer in Canada the best for sustained, staggering scenery, but you needn't go quite so far if time and budget are a problem. The West Highland Railway and the Norwegian lined between Oslo and Bergen are both breathtaking as well.
An Antarctic Odyssey
Tourism is becoming surprisingly popular to Antarctica, with many now plying the route between Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctic Peninsula, which juts out from the landmass into the Southern Ocean. Few trips head into the Antarctic Circle, though with scenery such as this you're unlikely to be too worried about such technicalities.
Climb up to Everest Base Camp
If you think that 'only' going to Base Camp won't tax you, think again: it's at 17,500ft (altitude-related effects, for most people, begin at 10,000ft) and offers a real sense of the excitement and adventure of the Roof of the World.
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The century-old enamelling technique used to create Van Cleef's lucky ladybird brooch — which has something in common with Country LifeThe technique used in the jeweller's Geneva workshop has been put to good use in its latest creation.
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‘The best sleep in the sky’: What it’s like to fly in United’s Polaris cabin, approved by American icon Martha StewartUnited’s Business Class cabin goes by the name Polaris and Martha Stewart is a fan. So, how does it fare?
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‘The best sleep in the sky’: What it’s like to fly in United’s Polaris cabin, approved by American icon Martha StewartUnited’s Business Class cabin goes by the name Polaris and Martha Stewart is a fan. So, how does it fare?
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How to disconnect from reality and feel like a new person in under 72 hoursOur round-up of the best British retreats that work wellness wonders in under 72 hours.
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Scotland's majestic landscapes meet holistic wellness aboard Belmond and Dior's inaugural train retreatThe Royal Scotsman, A Belmond Train, and Dior have announced a three-night travelling wellness retreat.
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Art, architecture and plastic bricks at Lego House: 'It's as if the National Gallery set up easels and paints next to the masterpieces and invited you try your hand at creating a Van Gogh'The rural Danish town where Lego was created is dominated by the iconic toy — and at Lego House, it has a fittingly joyful site of pilgrimage. Toby Keel paid a visit.
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How to cruise in the wake of Mark Twain on the great Mississippi River of the American South'You cannot understand Twain without understanding the great river that winds its way as twistingly through his work as it winds through the middle of America.'
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From party island to arty island, Princess Margaret's private Mustique haunt announces burgeoning arts programmeArt Basil is the new Art Basel.
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‘It is as real and lasting as any other relationship I know of’: Everything you need to know about Venice in time for the 2025 Biennale ArchitetturaYour ultimate guide to Venice, Italy — for the Biennale and beyond.
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Dawn Chorus: Heathrow gives its VIP terminal a facelift and King Charles’s Land Rover Defender comes up for saleA Land Rover Defender 90 ‘supplied new in 2010 for the sole use of King Charles’ — with ‘minor wear to the driver’s seat’ — is due to be auctioned off towards the end of the month.
