When you think of an adventure vacation, it brings to mind sleeping in tents and cooking around a campfire rather than luxury hotels and fine dining, so it may not seem likely that you could combine adventure with luxury. However, there’s an increasing availability of more refined options that do make it possible to experience the thrill of adventure without having to rough it.
Modern safaris
Take safaris, for example. In years gone by, going on safari would have involved rudimentary transport, sleeping in a tent, and making do with basic rations. Now, you can stay in a luxury lodge at night and be transported to the best viewing sites in comfort, via a modern four-wheel-drive vehicle.
At your lodge, you can get full waiter service for your evening meal, which is prepared by chefs and is as good as anything you’d find in a top hotel or restaurant. You can also enjoy TV and Internet facilities in many locations.
Wilderness luxury
Getting sweaty and dirty isn’t a problem as long as you have somewhere to wash up and relax in comfort after your exertions. That’s what you get if you choose somewhere like Ruby’s Inn at stunning Bryce Canyon in Utah, USA.
You can go hiking, mountain biking, or take the ATV tour through the canyon, and have a blast exploring the landscape, then return to the Inn to clean up in your fully-equipped hotel room. Rural locations like these didn’t used to be famed for the standard of the accommodation, but now you can live like a king after a day of adventuring.
Glamorous camping
Camping has never been a glamorous way to spend your vacation, and quite probably not something you’ve considered since your days as a scout. However, even the humble tent has had a luxury makeover.
You may have never looked into glamping because you thought it sounded like hype rather than being genuinely luxurious. After all, how can a tent ever be anything other than an insubstantial and uncomfortable way of roughing it?
Luxury tepees and treehouses
Glamping tents aren’t like ordinary tents at all. They might be tepee like in design, or eco pods, or treehouses, with proper beds, chairs, cooking facilities, and many other amenities.
You can sleep under the stars but still have your memory foam mattress and your goosedown comforter, and wake up to freshly brewed coffee in the morning. Glamping gives you the best parts of the camping experience without having to endure the less pleasant aspects, so it’s well worth considering.
High class accommodation in unexpected places
It’s not only the types of vacation you go on, but the places as well that are changing. Tourism is such big business that countries that aren’t well-known for their luxury accommodations are now investing in better quality facilities to help attract the tourists to them.
You should never assume that a former communist country, for example, is still going to be a no-go area for the finer things in life, or that places that are off the beaten track can’t cater for your needs in style.
These examples all go to show, you can find many ways to fulfill your desire for the thrill of adventure, and still sink into a proper bed at night.
