These Vacations Will Get You In Shape
Susan Sumner, 43, wanted to "do something really hard." So, this spring, she went on vacation. With a group of like-minded women, Sumner biked some 35 miles a day for a week through Sonoma Valley wine country. "It was absolute joy," says Sumner, who runs a medical records transcription business and lives in Santa Fe, N.M. Her next goal: a rafting trip with her husband through the Grand Canyon.
Lazy days at the beach? A week of golf (by golf cart)? Not for a growing number of middle-aged travelers bent on getting healthy while they're having fun. Active travel represented an estimated $55 billion slice of the vacation market in 2006, and that figure is climbing rapidly. People get in shape so they can go on one of these trips, says Colleen Cannon, a world champion triathlete and founder of Women's Quest, the Colorado-based travel company that ran Sumner's vacation. Then they often go home and continue a fitness program. She expects some 400 women to attend the athletic getaways offered this year, up from 60 a decade ago. At GordonsGuide.com, a Web resource for active travelers, more than 1,200 tour providers list more than 10,000 trips, half again as many as were listed in 2004.
The choices appeal to a range of fitness levels, from the superfit to the couch potato. At travel site Gorp.com, for example, "easy" trips are typically fine for young kids and formerly sedentary vacationers. A "moderate" rating might require you to walk, hike, or paddle for two to three hours daily, or bike at least 20 miles. On a difficult trip, you must be a hardy soul who can hike or bike for hours over steep or rugged terrain at elevations that sometimes exceed 10,000 feet. Typically, tour operators customize activities to suit the group-making some optional or providing two routes to a destination, say. And they bring up the rear with transport in case anybody needs a time-out. Some offer luxurious accommodations and gourmet meals; others put up tents at rugged campsites.
Click on the links below for a sampling of our favorite "workout vacations" from around the country:
Rafting the Green River • Backpacking in the Grand Canyon • Biking the California Coast • Biking the Sonoma Valley • Biking the Maine Coast • Cross Country Bike Trip • Glacier National Park Multisport Vacation • Hiking in New Mexico • A Pack Trip on Horseback • Kayaking in South Carolina • Yellowstone/Grand Teton Multisport Vacation