It’s Oh So Quiet: The World’s Best Remote Adventures
December 25, 2008 @ 1:19 PM - Features: Travel
Hate crowds on holiday? Then follow our guide to the best remote adventures where you won’t suffer any fools gladly (except the ones you brought with you).
Words by: Jon Lipsey
Sea Kayak in Scotland
Swapping your surfboard for a sea kayak gives you more chance of losing the crowd. Sea Kayak Scotland, based on Seil Island 16 miles south of Oban, offer bespoke trips for all abilities. You can either go for a gentle paddle or, if you’re feeling adventurous, take on the eight-knot tidal rapids and 30-foot waves in the gulf of Corryvreckan. Whatever you do, you’ll get “an incredible feeling of remoteness,” promises instructor Ken Lacey. “There will be no-one else where we camp. If we did see another tent, we’d carry on until we found our own campsite.”
Where to kip: Relaxed camping laws in Scotland mean you can pitch a tent anywhere. Alternatively, stay at Seil’s Willowburn hotel, which is run by sea kayakers.
Where to drink: The Oyster Brewery and Restaurant claims to be Scotland’s smallest brewery and has a veranda that overlooks the ocean.
What else is there to do? Get on your mountain bike and head for the trials at Eredine and Raera forests, which have tracks that range from 2-40km long.
Not enjoying the silence? Oban offers the best nightlife in the area. If you’re suffering from real crowd withdrawal, catch the seaplane to Glasgow, which takes 24 minutes and lands in the Clyde River.
How to get there: Sea kayak excursions cost £140 per day for a group (of up to five people). Equipment hire is £10 extra per person. Visit seakayakscotland.com
Cycle through Central America
Costa Rica attracts visitors but neighbours Nicaragua and Panama are almost bereft of tourism, according to Exodus, who offer two week, two-wheeled group tours through the three Central American states. Along the way local guides take you to remote communities and dense rainforest where company comes in the form of parrots and howler monkeys. You cover a hefty 70km a day on the bike but the dramatic scenery – such as the Arenal Volcano, one of the world’s most active lava spewers – should take the edge off your saddle sores.
Where to kip: You stay in a different place each night. The small, family-run stops aren’t luxurious but are big on “character and local style”, says Exodus’s Natasha Owen.
Where to drink: Join local Nicaraguans for a cold beer on the beach at San Juan del Sur, a crescent-shaped bay on the Pacific coast.
What else is there to do? Go surfing at the palm tree lined beaches of Panama’s Bocas del Toro islands.
Not enjoying the silence? Panama City, which you pass through towards the end of the trip, is a bustling mix of gleaming skyscrapers and old-style colonial Spanish buildings.
How to get there: Cycle Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama with Exodus travel from £1,899 (including flights and accommodation). Visit exodus.co.uk
Surf in Ghana
If you imagine your ideal surfing destination the scene probably doesn’t include hundreds of people jostling for the same wave and knocking each other out with their boards. That’s because the best surf spots are the ones where it’s you, the waves and not a lot else. And that’s exactly what you get in Ghana, which, according to Errant Surf’s Chris Thompson, is “like Morocco 40 years ago because there are no crowds and the locals are friendly”. You won’t have the four-foot waves and point breaks completely to yourself though; Thompson reckons you’ll have to share the 100-mile stretch of coast with about half a dozen local surfers.
Where to kip: The renovated slave fort at Princes Town is basic (as in no electricity) but you are at least sleeping in a castle.
Where to drink: If you’re after a marathon session, prop yourself up at the Baze bar in Accra, which stays open all weekend.
What else is there to do? Visiting the dungeons where slaves were held before being shipped off to work for European colonisers is a sobering but worthwhile trip.
Not enjoying the silence? Practise your haggling skills and get down to the Wednesday market in Accra, where you can pick up handcrafted statues and munch on local fruit and fish.
How to get there: Ghana Surf Tour with Errant Surf, £1,030 (not including flights). Fly to Accra with KLM from £458 return.
Next: heli-boarding in Russia, snowkiting in Iceland and cross-country skiing in Norway…
