What makes us happiest? Experiences, not stuff. Relationships, not material possessions. Awe and wonder, not things. This holiday season, șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Run editors curated five dream running trip ideas to gift your loved ones this year.

Elevated Experiences in Aspen, Colorado

Perhaps better known for its skiing, Aspen, Colorado, boasts an impressive trail system for all off-road adventurers in search of steep fun. Challenge your quads on the local test piece , with over 1,000 feet of vertical gain in less than a mile. Traverse over to the Sundeck at the top of Aspen Mountain for a mid-run refreshment, and bomb down the popular summer road on the ski hill face, or take the free lift down to save your knees. If you’re looking for more, meander on the for incredible views and wildflowers in late June-July.

For food, dive into vegan nachos at the in downtown Aspen for aprĂšs vibes all day, or check out the for post-run brews and small plates. For a more upscale post-run experience, the was a longtime favorite of local Hunter S. Thompson, and offers incredible cocktails and small plates (as well as the best veggie burger in Aspen).

Get off the beaten path at the , which is free and open to the public and features a well-curated rotating array of installations. is a charming local bookstore where you’ll be sure to get a personalized recommendation for your next favorite read. For those in search of more active adventure, rent a bike and take the Rio Grande trail to the (approximately eight miles) for truly next-level nachos and margaritas.

KEY GEAR:Ìę

Take on The Wonderland Trail

Imagine running 92 miles in three days around Washington State’s largest volcano, Mount Rainier, at peak wildflower and berry-picking season. Imagine spending every day following one of the most iconic, awe-inspiring trails on Earth and having your gear, a hot meal, and a cold beverage, waiting for you at the end of each day.

If there is someone in your family who loves multi-day mountain adventures, Rainier’s Wonderland Trail is about as good as it gets. The experience combines rich geologic wonder and well-marked single-track, in one of the country’s most dramatic National Parks. The route encircles the mountain’s base to offer a 360-degree experience.

Consider organizing a 3-day circumnavigation, starting at Longmire, and camping at Mowich Lake, night one. Day two would travel from Mowich Lake to White River, and the third day, back to Longmire. Because the route is fairly remote, pick up all your pre-run gear needs at the , in Ashford. If you are running support or shuttling, be sure to stop in, on day two, at for the best coffee at the base of Mount Rainier. You’ll hardly believe the quality of this small-town gem. Summer months in the park see its fair share of visitation, so consider camping just outside the park, at .

For those wanting to hire an outfitter to organize all of this for you, join one of six sections with , a guided service based out of Bellingham, Washington. Travel to Seattle and their guides will take care of the rest. They scoop you up at the airport, do all the permitting (a significant factor if planning it on your own), and prepare every meal and camping reservations. All you have to focus on is running world-class single-track trail for three days, joining a small group, and traveling at your own pace. Shorter trips in the Pacific Northwest are also available.

KEY GEAR:Ìę

• .

Trails and Tubes in Missoula, Montana

Running rivers isn’t the only kind of running in Montana. Trails and mountains abound in the Big Sky State, and Missoula might be your perfect launch pad. This three-day itinerary starts with a strong locally-roasted coffee at , before a run up the most iconic slope in Missoula, Mount Sentinel. After basking in the views from the top and getting oriented to this university town, descend for tacos at before taking a peek inside the (voted the best public library in the world!), then heading to the historic for a show. Consider a wide range of AirBnb rentals (.)

The next day, grab a breakfast burrito at or before heading up Stuart Peak in the Rattlesnake Wilderness, 15 minutes from town, for an 18-mile out-and-back with stunning views from the top. Return to Missoula for a two-hour tube float down the Clark Fork River (try for easy rentals and shuttling), followed by drinks at , , or , and dinner at or , ending with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream in a homemade waffle cone from . For two nights and three days, this is about the perfect, logistics-minimal running experience in western Montana.

KEY GEAR:Ìę

Something for Every Runner in Asheville, North Carolina

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville, North Carolina, attracts trail runners year-round with mild temperatures, but most often during its spectacular leaf-peeping season. This equally artsy and foodie city supports its running community so much that its visitors bureau created its own .

Beaver Lake Trail (and Bird Sanctuary) has been called a “hidden oasis in the city.” This can be a flat recovery run or the perfect loop to do 2-mile repeats. One of the more popular routes for locals is the 6-mile Hard Times Trail Loop located in the Bent Creek Experimental Forest. The rolling path provides great views of mountain ridges and Lake Powhatan.

is a luxurious stay designed to look like a plush 19th-century hunting lodge. It is a great home base for runners since it’s minutes away from over 20 miles of forested trails on the Biltmore estate. combine the nostalgia of a campground with hotel conveniences. The Sixteen A-frame “Scappalachian” (Scandinavian design meets Appalachia) are conveniently located right across from the French River Greenway, a 3.5-mile asphalt path. Located in the historic neighborhood called The Block, is known not only for its “Affrilacian” cuisine, but the ways it has preserved the memory of the African-Americans who had a professional impact on The Block.

If you’re looking for quality comfort food using locally sourced ingredients, check out , whose slogan is “slow food right quick.” It’s a perfect stop only two miles from an interval run at Beaver Lake. Stop in for a group or private sound healing session or book a Mountaintop Vortex Yoga experience at sunset through .

KEY GEAR:Ìę

Run and Recover in Mendocino, California

This enchanted, historic seaside town is a great hub for trail adventures along northern California’s rugged coast or through nearby acres of redwood forests filled with fern-covered canyons and stream-lined paths.

Mendocino was eco-conscious before it was trendy. Run through towering redwoods to a 30-foot waterfall by taking the 3.9-mile Russian Gulch Waterfall Loop. Or for stunning coastal views, cruise the 4.2-mile out-and-back Mendocino Headlands Trail.

For a cozy treat, book one of 11 rooms at the , a bed and breakfast made of eco-salvaged redwood and perched on the bluffs overlooking Smuggler’s Cove. Don’t miss the wine hour or the guided forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) tour. Add the North Coast șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű package for a guided horseback ride down the beach, followed by a kayak tour through sea caves.

Take your running pals on a glamping trip to the slightly rustic , only minutes from trails at Big River Beach and Estuary. Your heated bed in a spacious tent will welcome you after a day on the trails. The bathhouse comes complete with organic bath products and a designated shower for your canine trail companion, too.

For the ultimate culinary experience in plant-based meals, check out , a restaurant known for locally harvested sea palm and chanterelles. For fresh off-the-boat seafood caught by an all-women crew, travel a few miles north to . Or for Californian vegan cuisine with a southern twang, try .

After a long day on the trails, step into the clothing-optional redwood hot tubs at . If you’re into the healing benefits of cannabis, visit the for its tasteful selection of lotions and potions set in a vintage apothecary.

KEY GEAR:

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We live inÌęthe 21st century, butÌęit still takes a good 30 minutes to board a plane (on a good day). And don't get us started onÌętheÌęlodging horror stories! The outdated guidebooks! The soul-sucking process of renting a car!

That's why we areÌęrooting for these seven revolutionary ideas.ÌęFrom an Airbnb for adventurous car rentals to pain-free new ways to board planes, theseÌęinnovationsÌęare changing how we get out and see the world.

1. Hipcamp Is Revolutionizing Campsite Booking

On New Year’s Eve in 2012, Marin County, California, resident Alyssa Ravasio drove a few hours south to camp in Andrew Molera State Park, at a coastal meadow in Big Sur. It was the perfect place, as she puts it, “to take in the first sunrise of the year.” The only hitch: the park’s website—a bare-bones dot-gov run by the state of California—neglected to mention a nearby surf break. A big swell was coming in, and Ravasio was caught without her board.Ìę

Inspired to create a better resource for campsite info and reservations, Ravasio, 27, learned how to code and launched in 2013. The site originally had 90 California state park campground listings, each with photos tracked down by Ravasio’s sisters and friends. But it grew quickly, transforming into a sleek hub with stunning photos, detailed information on more than 8,000 campgrounds in 50 states, and search tools that allow you to filter by activity or browse on an interactive map. Today, Hipcamp boasts more than 250,000 active users, and the company raised $2 million last year.

Hipcamp’s goal is to be a one-stop source for everything from learning about to securing a spot in the nation’s campgrounds. Its main hurdle? The way the government handles reservations for public campsites. Since 2005, a company called has administered and controlled campsite reservations for the Park Service, the Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management, among other agencies, giving it a monopoly but little motivation to provide better descriptions or features like user comments.Ìę

So last year, Hipcamp partnered with the Sierra Club, REI, and more than 50 other companies and nonprofits to pressure the government to open Recreation.gov to third-party booking. The campaign was a success: within two years, Recreation.gov will allow access to Hipcamp and other apps, and we’ll be able to say farewell to clumsy government booking.Ìę

Hipcamp is also creating a national network of campsites on private land. All too often, campgrounds owned by companies like KOA are grim roadside dirt patches packed with RVs. Hipcamp aims to change that, turning underutilized properties—farms, ranches, even big backyards—into campsites by allowing owners to use its platform to rent them out. There aren’t many available yet, and they’re mostly in California, butÌęthe company is aggressively scouting for openings and offering a bonus to anyone who refers a new host.* ÌęMeanwhile, campsite info has broken out of the Stone Age. Had Hipcamp existed before Ravasio’s trip to Big Sur three years ago, she could have seen one commenter’s tip: “Make sure to bring your surfboard.”
—David MacNeal

Our favorite private properties on Hipcamp

—Upstate New York
Sleep in the shadow of the legendary walls of the Shawangunks, then wake up for a full day of sending. $38Ìę

—Central California
A perfect chance to sleep in a huge meadow overlooking the Pacific in Big Sur with a group of your friends. $300 for up to 15 peopleÌę

—Northern CaliforniaÌę
No tent required here: a pair of off-the-grid geodesic-dome cabins, just steps from the Garcia River on the coast. $325 for up to ten people

*A previous version of this article stated that Hipcamp was offering bonuses to new hosts. The bonus is in fact only for referrals of new hosts.

2. New Companies Let You Use Your Neighbor’s Gear Shed or Borrow Their Stuff

Some make more sense than others. Presented on a scale of “notÌęsoÌęsure” to “sign me up!”:

:ÌęStash stuff in a neighbor’s spaceÌę

: Eat a meal cooked by a stranger

: Pet-sit someone else’s best friendÌę

: Borrow cameras and other equipmentÌę

:ÌęRent a stranger’s vessel

3. șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Beta Is Better Than Ever

Ask a rock climber about his favorite crag and odds are he’ll direct you to its page. The online guide, run by a company called , is the biggest name in climbing beta—three million users have contributed detailed, up-to-date information for more than 130,000 routes across the globe, from annotated photos of sport walls to guides to 31-pitch routes in Yosemite.

The site was co-founded in 2005 by Boulder, Colorado, climber Nick Wilder, 43, to harness the recent explosion in climbing info online. But he didn’t stop there. Wilder began turning șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Projects into an all-purpose outdoor resource when he launched in 2013. The site gives mountain bikers the same kinds of information that climbers have come to rely on, and in two years it has grown to half the size of its sister site, with 51,000 miles of user-added trails in its database. In April 2015, șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Projects added , , and (for backcountry skiing).Ìę

The reach and depth of information on these sites attracted the attention of REI, and in May șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Projects was acquired by the retail behemoth. “The sale gave us this opportunity to forget about selling ads and focus on building great products,” Wilder says. These will include smartphone hiking guides to national parks, in conjunction with the National Parks Centennial in 2016. The guides will offer descriptions and ability level for every single trail, and like the company’s other products, they’ll work offline, so you won’t need a cell signal or Wi-Fi.

Some users think there’s a downside to șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Projects’ expansion. Don Morris, a Denver-based Mountain Project user since 2007 who has made more than 400 contributions to the site, said he wasn’t interested when he got an e-mail invite to Powder Project. “It totally doesn’t make sense to say, ‘Here’s a great place to backcountry ski,’ ” he said. “Once I’ve published that, I go out there for my day and it’ll be trashed.”Ìę

Wilder doesn’t see it that way. “I use the sites and find all kinds of great trails and go places that I wouldn’t otherwise. I believe in sharing this stuff.”
—Bryan RogalaÌę

4. Your Next Guide Could Be a Badass

New, small guiding outfits are making their mark with extremely overqualified employees.

Escape and Explore
specializes in urban thrills in and around Cape Town and pioneering trips throughout the continent, from SUPing Botswana’s Okavango Delta to hiking South Africa’s undiscovered Wild Coast. Its guides’ rĂ©sumĂ©s include competing in the and summiting Kilimanjaro barefoot.Ìę
Book This: Nine-time South African women’s surf champ leads excursions out to the remote Maputaland Marine Reserve to access empty waves near Zulu villages. .

Irwin Guides
Two Crested Butte, Colorado, companies in December 2013 to offer year-round adventures, like mountaineering in Bolivia and backcountry splitboarding in Japan. Its guides are experts, like former North American ski-mountaineering champion Jeff Banks, but also down-to-earth enough that you’ll look forward to sharing a drink with them around the fire.
Book This: Big-mountain skier has appeared in critically acclaimed ski porn like Solitaire and Valhalla. He’ll take you to the powder promised land during Irwin’s five-day backcountry camp in Crested Butte. .

Epic Europe
A luxury outfitter focused on alpine adventures in Switzerland, the company is run by a former Rossignol-sponsored freeskier and a Teton Gravity Research movie producer. As the pedigree might suggest, Epic Europe offers outings more adventurous than the staid competition, like untracked powder-day face shots and Matterhorn summits.Ìę
Book This: Ride Switzerland’s Rhone Valley with born-and-raised local . The former pro skier is no slouch on a mountain bike and will show you the best singletrack in Zermatt and Verbier, with detours for wine and to villages otherwise accessible only by cable car. .
—Jen Murphy

5. You Can Vacation with a Stranger's Car

There was a time when it may have felt strange to crash in a stranger’s apartment on a trip. But with the help of a slick, easy-to-use website, Airbnb made staying in a random person’s house a normal way to travel. Now is doing the same thing with car rentals.Ìę

The affordable options at most traditional rental companies are exceptionally boring. A beige Chevrolet Cruze is fine if you’re attending an insurance-adjusters conference in Des Moines, but what if you’re hauling camping gear to the end of a dirt road, say, or surfboards to the beach?Ìę

For more adventurous travel, the appeal of RelayRides becomes obvious with a quick scan through the listings. Flying into Denver for a ski weekend? There’s a four-door Tacoma with snow tires, ski rack, and luggage pod available for $83 per day. Go native in L.A. with a Porsche convertible ($50), or play like a billionaire coding genius in the Bay Area, where there’s a whole fleet of Teslas for rent (starting at $179).

What’s the motivation for owners to loan out their wheels? Some cars often sit unused; the company offers a way to put them to good use, and owners keep 75 percent of whatever they charge. Renters handle gas, and the company’s insurance covers the vehicle while it’s checked out.Ìę

The RelayRides website does everything it can to make the rental experience seamless, but the reality is that you’re making a deal with another person. Car owners might have ground rules; airport pickup could mean a detour to drop off the car’s owner. Those sorts of logistics could be deal breakers for travelers used to walking right up to a rental counter and hitting the road. But the company has seen revenue quadruple over the past year and has raised more than $53 million in investments from Google Ventures and other venture-capital firms. And a lack of concierges and continental breakfasts hasn’t stopped Airbnb.
—Chris Cohen

6. Digital Tools Are Now So Good, You Won’t Miss Guidebooks

The social-fitness app now offers city guides featuring classic routes and the best stops.

Ìę
This hyper-detailed site devoted to Colorado’s highest peaks makes for oddly compelling reading.Ìę

Ìę
The definitive road-tripping app, with up-to-the-minute info about traffic and speed traps from fellow users.
—C.°ä.Ìę

7. Getting On and Off Airplanes Could Soon Go Much Faster

We break down three proposals for better boarding—and tell you who’s doing it best
—Matt BellÌę

Do the Math
A scientist named Jason Steffen calculated the fastest boarding method: From back to front, fill every other row’s window seat on one side of the plane, then the other. Repeat on the skipped rows. Board the middle seats and the aisles the same way. In tests, boarding went twice as fast.Ìę
Odds of Adoption: It could work! It doesn’t require new airport infrastructure or planes. It’s not practical with families and late arrivals in the mix, but Dutch carrier KLM is working on a similar scheme.

Build Fatter Planes
A German design firm that’s wider in the middle, to accommodate double doors and an aisle broad enough for people to pass each other. The firm claims that boarding could be accomplished in ten minutes.
Odds of Adoption: When pigs fly. The big door weakens the structure, and the fat middle isn’t great for aerodynamics. Still, plane manufacturer Airbus purchased the patent.

Use Both Doors
Planes have an entrance at the back, too. Using it would help immensely.Ìę
Odds of Adoption: European carriers like EasyJet already do this, by positioning staircases on the tarmac. Most U.S. airports use jet bridges that go only to the front door. Alaska Airlines has experimented with front and back bridges in San Jose and Seattle; they typically save ten minutes. Adding them to every airport would be costly but not impossible.Ìę

The Carrier That Gets It Right
Boarding is more civil with fewer passengers stashing carry-ons in the overhead bins, and it’s noticeably quicker on airlines with free luggage check. While bag fees raked in $3.5 billion last year, it costs airlines $30 for every minute a plane sits at the gate, so better efficiency could boost both profits and customer happiness. Southwest doesn’t charge for bags, and its open seating by boarding group is the most efficient method currently in use. Meanwhile, the carrier is consistently profitable and ranks high on customer-satisfaction surveys.
—C.°ä.

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A solid outfitter is the lifeblood of an adventure mecca. It probably won’t come as any surprise that each of our sixteen Best Towns finalists has an awesome place to get geared up.Ìę

Chattanooga, Tennessee:ÌęRock/Creek Outfitters

has been the epicenter of adventure in Chattanooga for more than 25 years, growing from a single shop to five distinct stores throughout the city. Climbing is king in Chattanooga (Rock Creek is a big sponsor of the Triple Crown Bouldering Series), and Rock Creek carries a big selection of climbing gear from Black Diamond and Patagonia, as well as favoriteÌęlocal company Granola.Ìę

Port Angeles, Washington:ÌęBrown’s OutdoorÌę

started as a consignment shop almost 100 years ago. Four generations later, it’s still owned by the same founding family, who giveÌęlocals a well-curated selection of hiking and backpacking gear so they can hit Olympic National Park. The rain jackets from Outdoor Research are obviously popular because, you know, it’s Washington, so there’s rain.Ìę

Pagosa Springs, Colorado:ÌęSki and Bow Rack

There isn’t much that you can’t get for the outdoors at , which has been keeping Pagosa Springs geared up since ‘85. MSR tent for exploring the San Juans? Check. Fat skis for a powder day? Check. Custom cut arrows from Beman? Check. It makes sense considering you can pretty much do anything you want in the mountains of Southwest Colorado.Ìę

Middlebury, Vermont:ÌęMiddlebury Mountaineer

Long-time anglers and skiers Steve and Marion Atocha run out of a primo location in historic downtown Middlebury. From the shop, you can hire a guide to take you climbing, backcountry skiing, or fishing. In the summer, you can rent a Wilderness Systems kayak decked out for hunting pike. In the winter, geek out on the massive selection of cross-country and backcountry ski gear.Ìę

Lake Placid, New York:ÌęLake Placid Ski and Board

Everything you need to know about Lake Placid is in the name of , which is located in downtown across the street from Mirror Lake. Ski or board? Those are your options, regardless of the season. The shop has been offering locals and tourists killer ski service and gear since ’84 (it was called Maui North back then) and is best known for its massive ski selection, but in the summer, it’s all about hitting the lake. The shop has you covered there too with water skis, tubes, and a huge fleet of SUPs.Ìę

Annapolis, Maryland:ÌęAnnapolis Canoe and Kayak

If you’re in Annapolis, you better be on the water—and you better check in with first. The store has been serving watermen (and women) since ’90, and has a primo spot on the edge of Spa Creek and the Annapolis Harbor (check out the weekly shop paddles). Peruse the huge selection of touring and recreational kayaks and SUPS, as well as all of the accessories you’ll need to make a paddle happen, whether it’s a short cruise around Spa Creek and Ego Alley or a massive tour of Assateague. Their sea kayak specialist even builds his own “skin on frame” kayaks. Now that’s legit.Ìę

Bar Harbor, Maine:ÌęCadillac Mountain Sports

Named for the towering pillar inside Acadia National Park that rises more than 1,500 feet from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, has become an adventure pillar in its own right, serving Bar Harbor since 1980. Locals dig the shop’s selection of cross-country skis from Fischer and Salomon in the winter, and the broad range of kayaks during summer.Ìę

Spearfish, South Dakota:ÌęRushmore Mountain Sports

started as a bike touring company in the back of another outfitter in 1999, and grew into a full-service shop of its own, then grew into a full fledged outdoor shop after the companyÌętook over an old gas station on Main Street in downtown Spearfish. The shopÌęstill stocks plenty of bikes, but also snow gear and climbing equipment, because that’s what you do in Spearfish. You ski, bike and climb.Ìę

Iowa City, Iowa:ÌęFin and Feather

The was founded in 1967 by Roger and Linda Mildenstein as a family-run fishing and hunting shop (all of the Mildenstein kids held jobs counting night crawlers at the store when they were young). The store still has a robust hunting department (complete with an archery range), but it’s expanded into a complete adventure outfitter, with a killer selection of backpacking gear and everything you need to paddle local lakes.Ìę

Eau Claire, Wisconsin:ÌęRiverside Bike and Skate

was established in 1972 as a hockey gear store (it doesn’t get much more “Wisconsin” than that), and you can still get your hockey blades repaired at the shop. But you can also get your bike tuned up and throw down your hard-earned cash for that Mad River Canoe you’ve been drooling over.Ìę

Rochester, Minnesota:ÌęTyrol Ski and Sport

You might think is only about winter sports, but the shop makes the most of Minnesota’s short summers, carrying a massive selection of kayaks, canoes and standup paddleboards from Wilderness Systems, Dagger, and BIC (among others) and holding regular demo days. In the winter, take your pick of downhill and touring gear from everyone from Blizzard to Volkl.Ìę

Beaufort, South Carolina:ÌęHigher Ground Outfitters

Helping to anchor Beaufort’s Town Center, is all about the water, with a huge selection of KC kayaks and Odyssey SUPs (among other brands). There’s plenty of camping gear too, in case you’re considering an overnight on Hunting Island State Park, but be sure to dress like a local and pick up a pair of Southern Marsh Dockside fishing shorts, because they look cool, and they’re made in the Low Country.Ìę

Boone, North Carolina:ÌęMast General Store

started as a general store for the small town of Valle Crucis in 1883—a place where you could get nails, cheese, and your mail. The original location is still there, and still the place where locals can get their mail, but Mast has grown into a comprehensive outdoor outfitter with several locations throughout North Carolina. At the shop in downtown Boone, you can still get overalls and candy from a barrel, but you can also find wicking layers and the latest hiking boots and water shoes.Ìę

Athens, Georgia:ÌęHalf-Moon Outfitters

has been supplying the Southeast with gear since 1993, starting with a single location in downtown Charleston before quickly expanding throughout the state of South Carolina with multiple locations. The shopÌęmoved into Georgia in 2008, opening this location in downtown Athens, which is dangerously close to Mexican-food standby Taqueira Del Sol. Peruse the huge selection of hiking boots from Keen and Merrell, but definitely pick up something from Half-Moon’s own line of preppy Oxford shirts.Ìę

Glenwood Springs, Colorado:ÌęTreadzÌę

Are mountain athletes stylish? Probably, if they shop at , which started as a shoe store in 1993 but has grown into a head to toe style monger for the mountain athlete. Timberland, Lucky jeans, Icebreaker and Nau
if it’s hot, it’s at Treadz, which makes sense considering the shop’s proximity to Aspen and Vail.Ìę

Flagstaff, Arizona:ÌęPeace Surplus

In 1973, when was founded by the Chatinsky family, it was the place to go for military surplus like parachutes and ammo cans. Today, Peace Surplus is Flagstaff’s comprehensive gear shop with everything a skier, hiker, climber, or paddler could need. TheÌęshopÌęalso hasÌęa killer rental program, where you can pick up big-ticket items for backpacking trips during the summer and ski sessions during the winter.Ìę

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Sure, the men and women who take us skiing, fishing, rafting, and climbing get to work in beautiful country. But they also have to deal with 16-hour days, dirty diapers, beach sex, rogue clients, hangovers, low pay, bear encounters, and love affairs that aren't always a good idea. Don't believe us? Just ask them. (And check out the responses to our anonymous survey of 500 guides to get a glimpse of the greatest tips, worst clients, and occasional murder threatsÌęof the job.)

Everybody Starts at the Bottom

Garrett Madison, 36
Owner of ; guide on the Seven Summits and other peaks

I was 20 when I was first hired at . Back then they held guide tryouts. There were maybe 90 of us, and we were all competing for the same ten jobs. We had to get up and tell everybody why we thought we should be hired, which was one of owner Peter Whittaker’s tests. Another was the Death March, a one-mile, 1,500-vertical-foot run from Paradise up to Panorama Point. They said, “It’s important to finish near the front of the pack.” They had one of their stronger guys lead us out of the parking lot and up the hill through the snow. He took off at 100 percent, and it was a struggle to keep up. Then we got to the halfway point: their strongest guy had hiked up earlier in the day and was waiting for us. He dropped everybody. I don’t think the results even mattered; it was just the Whittaker way. Once I was hired, I made $60 per day, and sometimes it was a 24-hour day. We worked two to three weeks in a row leading two-day summits. We would take a group up, come back down, get the next group, and summit again. I once made five Rainier summits in a week. We called them yo-yos. We barely slept. I’m not sure I could do it now.Ìę

It’s the Guide’s Job to Deal with the Sh-t

Doug Grady, 44
Former guide in the Andes and Himalayas for

I was on a two-week trip guiding on Cayambe, the third-highest mountain in Ecuador. It’s 19,000 feet. There was weather up high, a snowstorm, and we were getting battered. So we hunkered down on the lower glacier for a few days. When that happens, all you can do is sit, eat, talk, and shit.

A guide is always keeping an eye out for whether people are warm, dry, well fed and hydrated, and having fun. You also want to make sure they’re going to the bathroom regularly.Ìę

I noticed that one woman—she was attractive and always really put together—wasn’t. Well, this woman’s tentmate came to me and said, “I don’t know what’s going on, but my tent smells like shit.” Right then I knew something was wrong.Ìę

So I waited about an hour, to give the tentmate some plausible deniability, and then went to talk to her. I said, “Are you warm? Are you dry? Are you having normal bowel movements?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Where have you been using the latrine?”Ìę

“Well, I’ve been taking care of it on my own.”Ìę

I kind of paused and said, “What does that mean?”

She said, “I brought these Depend adult diapers so I could go in my pants and then take them off and put them in my backpack.”

I don’t know how long I paused before I said, “You have to stop taking shits in your own pants.”Ìę

As you can imagine, it was a pretty foul scene in that tent. And, being the guide, I was the one who had to take care of the diapers.

There’s No Such Thing as Privacy

Angelisa Espinoza, 37
Cycling guide for

The only way to deal with the craziness of guiding 24 hours a day is to shut off everything personal. When I’m on a trip, I don’t talk to my family, I don’t pay bills, I don’t deal with anything that’s not right in front of me. I’m taking care of people psychologically and logistically. You spend every day with them. That’s a lot of time, although it’s also the greatest part about the job—the people are usually lovely. But you never get a break. Wherever I guide, there’s a house for the staff. It’s like The Real World: everybody has a shared living space. Your office is there, too, and those people are your social life, because you’re there alone in Hawaii or Thailand or wherever.Ìę

When you’re young, it’s exciting. You don’t have many expenses, and you get to travel to all the places you’ve always wanted to see. But when you’ve been guiding for a long time, you start praying for privacy and time off. Now I just want to be at home with my man. I don’t really care if I go to New Zealand or Vietnam, because I’ve been there.

The Perfect Prank Requires Perfect Timing

Chris Glatte, 46
Former river guide in Oregon and Idaho

On the last day of a Rogue River trip, in Oregon, we always stayed at Decision Rock, and we always had bear trouble. So for years we would stack rocks nearby to throw at them. You’d hear other camps banging pots and pans, and you knew they were hosed. But the bears would never mess with us more than once, because of the rocks.
The summer of 1998 was my last season as a guide. Before we put in on my last trip, I went to a costume shop in Grants Pass and asked for a bear suit. They didn’t have one, but they did have a gorilla. So I rented that and packed it in my drybag.Ìę

When we got down to Decision Rock, the clients all left to camp above the river. As we got ready for bed, I told the other guides, including my brother, Hayden, and his future wife, Margie, “Hey, the last time I was here there was a bear cub, and I don’t want to hurt the cub, so I think we should bang pots and pans tonight instead of throwing rocks.”

So I got all these pots and pans and put them next to ±đ±č±đ°ùČâŽÇČÔ±đ’s heads. Hayden said, “I’m not doing that. It doesn’t work.” So he stacked up a bunch of baseball-size rocks beside him.

We went to bed, and I set my alarm for two o’clock in the morning. When the alarm went off, I snuck away. I took several life jackets, and I strapped them on all over—around my shoulders, like a diaper, everywhere. Wearing all that with the costume over it, I was huge.Ìę

I ambled down to the river on all fours, and I put my hands on the table and knocked stuff around. I was making all this noise: “Grrr, grrr.” Margie woke up and elbowed my brother. “Hayden, it’s a bear! He’s right there!”Ìę

Hayden got up, pretty groggy, and tried to focus on what he was seeing. When he reached back and grabbed a rock, I stood up and started running at him as fast as I could. He was tangled up in his sleeping bag, and I jumped through the air at him, but he got his feet up in time. So instead of landing flat on top of him, I landed on his legs, and he started jackhammering me in the gut.Ìę

Meanwhile, I was swiping him in the face, trying to claw him with the rubber gorilla hands. He was screaming in terror. I looked over and saw Margie, who was beside me, with her pot in her hand, and she was banging the pot, trying to scare me while I was mauling Hayden. When I saw that, I lost it and started laughing so hard I rolled right off him.

At this point, all the guides were awake. My brother was hyperventilating. He told me later, “As I was kicking you, I was thinking, He’s kind of soft for a bear.”Ìę

A coda to the story:Ìę

After that, I circled a bunch of kids from New York City who were on the trip. They all woke up and stared—not making a move.

In the morning, one of the kids said, “There was a bear last night!” And soon all of them were telling stories about what they saw.Ìę

But one of the kids, Brian, wasn’t saying much.Ìę

“Brian, did you see the bear?” I asked.

And another kid said, “Don’t ask Brian. He thought it was a gorilla.”Ìę

You Can’t Predict What Will Go Wrong

Peter Grubb, 57
Owner of

On one section of Idaho’s Lower Salmon River, we do a lot of family trips. It’s warm, intermediate whitewater with plenty of big beaches for camping. One year I was rowing that stretch and I had a family in my boat—a mom, a dad, and a couple of kids, maybe 10 and 12 years old—and I saw something on the beach but couldn’t make out what was going on. As we drifted, I said, “It looks like they’re playing Twister.”Ìę

As we got closer, the details came into view: There was a naked guy balanced on his hand. There was a large naked woman on top of him. And let’s just say there was another guy involved, too. I turned my boat so that the family was facing the opposite shore, trying to edit their view. But it was no use.Ìę

When the three people saw us, they broke apart. But instead of hiding, the woman ran down to the water’s edge. I was as far away from her as you can possibly get on the river and still be wet, but she kept yelling, “Come on over! Come on over!”Ìę

That particular section of river has a lot of interesting geology, so I started talking about basalt flows. We ignored her until she went back and resumed her activities with one of the naked men. But the second naked guy, he got on an ATV and started doing donuts around the couple while they were going at it.Ìę

We still call that spot Twister Beach.

Everything Is the Guide’s Fault

Chris Dombrowski, 39
Fishing Guide in Montana; author of Body of WaterÌę

On my first day, I took this couple down the Big Hole in Montana. The husband had a fly-rod outfit, but the woman had nothing. I had only one combo, but I said, “You can borrow my rod and reel for the day.” We fished through the morning and stopped to eat lunch on a high bank overlooking this nice run, so we could see if fish were rising. We got back in the boat after lunch and pulled away from the bank, and I said, “OK, cast to this left bank near the grass.” And the woman said, “Where’s my rod?” And I said, “What do you mean?” And she said, “Well, I just leaned it against the boat at lunch.” I started booking it upstream to see if the rod was still there, but of course it was gone, swept away in the river.Ìę

When I got back to the fly shop, I complained to my boss. He said, “If a guy falls in the river because he’s drunk, it’s your fault. If a woman gets lost in the woods while she takes a piss, it’s your fault. And if someone loses your rod, it’s your fault.” In our business, there’s a lot of truth in that.Ìę

A True Professional will do Anything for The Client

John Race, 46
in Alaska

In 1992, I led my first trip on Denali. I was 23, and my assistant, Matt Belson, was 21. When we met our clients at the airport in Anchorage, you could tell they thought we’d be older. “Where are the guides?” they asked. “That would be us,” I said. So I was eager to impress them. But when our driver showed up, she had a van that was too small for our group and all our gear. Behind her were two Jeep Cherokees driven by a couple of Germans. She explained that the larger vehicle she usually drove had caught fire earlier that day, when she had been driving the Germans to Anchorage to rent the Jeeps for a trip to the north side of Denali National Park. She convinced them to transport our group to Talkeetna, and in exchange, we’d cover some of the rental costs.

We climbed in and drove all the way through Anchorage in bumper-to-bumper traffic before Belson remembered that we had forgotten to grab the dry food at the airport. We told the Germans that we had to turn around and drive all the way back. They were pissed, but they complied. We got the food and headed back out of town. Our usual arrangement was to then stop in Wasilla to pick up fresh food items. Nobody had mentioned this to the Germans, but again they complied. I went in to shop and was collecting 12 pounds of butter when Matt ran up and told me that the Germans were leaving. All our gear was in those cars, so I ran outside and saw the Jeeps hit the main highway.Ìę

I sprinted across the parking lot, across a ditch, and onto the road waving my arms. I locked eyes with the older German man driving the first Jeep. Instead of stopping, heÌęaccelerated. I jumped into the air just before he ran me over. I hit the windshield, rolled onto the top of the car, and grabbed the roof rack right before I went off the back.ÌęWhen the German slammed on the brakes, my group surrounded the car, dragged him out of his seat, and pushed him to the ground. Then I grabbed one of my clients, stuck him in the driver seat, put the old German in the back, and told the new driver to take the group to Talkeetna and make sure our gear was OK. Then I finished my shopping.Ìę

Nothing Beats a Client with a Good Attitude

Cameron Scott, 37
in Colorado and Oregon

One day I picked up the clients of a retired guide in Basalt, Colorado. The trip had three generations of women in one family—a grandma, a mother, and a daughter. Another guide took the mother and daughter, who was maybe 13. And I had the grandma, who had fly-fished with us forever. She was one of those women who found fly-fishing in the 1970s and kept doing it even though it was a very male-dominated sport. Now that she was older, she’d gotten really severe dementia. But she retained that love.Ìę
It was a mid-August Colorado day in 2012, the monsoons had just quit, and it was sunny and warm. The green drakes were hatching in the afternoon. The water out of the dam was cold enough to hurt your hands.Ìę

We were on the Fryingpan—a magnificent fly-fishing river—and there were four billion fish out there. The grandma would catch one, bring it in, get this huge grin, and comment on how beautiful it was. Then we’d let it go. And not 20 seconds after, she’d say, “Cam, when am I gonna catch a fish?” Just as if she hadn’t caught one yet. She remembered how to cast. She remembered my name. She remembered the Fryingpan. And every time she caught a fish, she was mesmerized. But whatever it was about her dementia, she couldn’t hold on to that moment. It was almost like the excitement was so pure, she couldn’t get back to the present afterward.Ìę

This went on for about four hours. Finally, it was the end of the day, and she said, “Cam, I really had a great day. But I really wanted to catch a fish.” And I was crushed. I wanted nothing more than to have her know that she caught a fish.

But the thing was, she had such pure excitement each time she caught one. Rarely are adults that excited. So often they catch a fish—even a big fish—and all they want to do is catch another one. But with her, I got to see the excitement of that first fish over and over again.

Never Assume the Client Has a ClueÌę

Scott Schell, 42
Former mountaineering guide with

One guide I know had a Japanese client who was a novice skier. They met in the morning and went out, but the client was really suffering. The man spoke only Japanese, so the guide couldn’t understand what the problem was. The client just kept pointing at his boots. Finally, the guide sat the man down in the snow to look at his feet. Now, this client was just a little guy, maybe five foot six. But the guide noticed he was wearing these massive ski boots—maybe size 14. “We’ve got to take these off,” the guide said. “There’s no way they should be hurting so bad.” He unbuckled the boots and found the problem: inside, the guy was still wearing his leather dress shoes.Ìę

Making the Job Your Life Means Making Compromises

Dave Hahn, 53
Mountaineering guide for RMI

I’m on the road eight months of the year, and that’s good and bad. Buying a house was smart, in terms of establishing a base, but now I have something to miss. Before, what did I miss? My car? The toughest thing for me is packing up for Mount Everest in the spring and missing the end of ski-patrol season at Taos, New Mexico, which is the funnest time. I go to ten weeks of cold, nasty, mean Everest weather just as the flowers are pushing up and the birds are singing in my yard. It’s different when you’re prepping for a personal climbing goal, but I’m leaving to go to work, even though I’m excited once I get there. I’m not whining. It’s just what happens when you turn something you love into a job.

Expedition guiding is something of a selfish pursuit. If you’re pining for someone at home, you probably won’t be a good guide. I feel like it’s wrong to repeatedly leave someone behind to go on long expeditions. You’re putting them through hell. I think the only way it can work is if the person you’re involved with is just as into doing their own thing while you’re off doing yours. Personally, I’ve never had any grand scheme to avoid marriage and family. I figured I’d do it all when I grew up, but growing up has turned out to be time-consuming and tedious.ÌęÌę Ìę

Contributing editor Christopher Solomon wrote about skiing in British Columbia in November.

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Europe is the birthplace of the bicycle, though exactly where it was first invented is up for debate (the French contend the inventorÌęwas a Frenchman, the English say heÌęwas one of theirs, and the Scots throw in a claim, too). Cycling culture runs deep in Europe, making it one of the best destinations for a two-wheeled tour.ÌęThe locals will not only respect you on the road, they’ll also embrace you in the pub,Ìętaverna, orÌęcafĂ© for taking the time to explore their countriesÌęin such a civilized manner.

The trips listed below are fully supported, meaning they include vehicles en route to pick you up if you need help andÌęmechanics to fix your bike if it breaks. The tour guides have extensiveÌęknowledge of the area and can,Ìęif necessary, offer encouragement duringÌęa long day. Here are six trips to put on your calendar.

The Napoleon ExpeditionÌę

Paris to Moscow:ÌęRide & Seek Bicycle șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs

This epic from Ride & Seek Bicycle șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűsÌęroughly traces Napoleon’s 1812 Russian Campaign.ÌęIt begins in Paris with a spin down the Champs-ÉlysĂ©es, followed by aperitifs under the shadow of the Arc de TriompheÌębefore departing for Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Russia—through rolling vineyards, deep forests, medieval villages, and historic cities. As you enter Moscow on the last day, know that you’re guaranteed a much warmer welcome than the diminutive Corsican received when he triumphantly ended his marchÌęin Red Square. Note: If 45 days are more than you can commit to, the tour is composed of six one-week stages, so you can do as many (or as few) as you like.

Details: $14,745 for entire tour, $2,605 for each stage;Ìęprices based on double occupancy. Fully supported/guided. Includes breakfasts, some lunches, and most dinners.

l’Etape du Tour

France:ÌęTrek Travel

Each year since 1993, more than 10,000 cyclists have registered for l’Etape du Tour, a one-day event that allows amateurs to ride one of the mountain stages of that year’s Tour de France while the pros have a rest day. On this five- or seven-day guided tour from , each day features routes that were stages in previous Tours, culminating in a guaranteed spot in l’Etape du Tour, which in 2015 will be a 87-mile dayÌęclimbing Col de Chaussy, Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Mollard, and a summit finish at La Toussuire. This year, Trek team rider and 2010 Tour de France winner Andy Schleck will ride along with guests for the entire week.

Details: $4,699 for sevenÌędays, $4,199 for five days per person; pricesÌębased on double occupancy. Fully supported/guided. Includes breakfasts, some lunches, and most dinners.

Land’s End to John O’GroatsÌę

United Kingdom:ÌęPeak Tours

Starting from the very southwest tip of England and ending almost 1,000 miles away in the northeast reaches of Scotland, this 14-day ride fromÌęÌęrolls through patchwork-quilt farmlands in the south, craggy mountains and pristine lakes of the Lake District, and the barren moors of northern Scotland. Whenever possible, the route avoids main roads in favor of lovely flowered country lanes and quiet back roads that lead to out-of-the-wayÌęvillages and centuries-old inns.

Details:Ìę$2,400 to $3,486, depending on choice ofÌęaccommodations. Fully supported. Includes all breakfasts and lunches; dinners are on your own.

The DanubeÌę

Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary:ÌęExperience Plus

There’s a good reason the Danube RiverÌęis one ofÌęthe most popular ridesÌęin Europe: Almost anyone can do it. There are no hills to speak of, and most of the riding is on a network of paved paths that followÌęthe river as it passes through the Eastern European countryside and two of Europe’s most storied capitals, Vienna and Budapest (there’s a rest day in Vienna). This 13-day, 526-mile ride (named by National Geographic Traveler as one of the “50 Tours of a Lifetime”) from Ìębegins in Germany and winds past impressive Bavarian monasteries, verdant Austrian vineyards, and pristine Hungarian villages before ending in the imperial gem that is Budapest.

Details:Ìę$5,500. Fully supported/guided. Includes use of a 27- to 30-gear titanium bike or anÌęaluminum tandem with e-bike option, all breakfasts, and half of your dinners.

Sacred Sites of GreeceÌę

Peloponnese:ÌęCycle Greece

’s eight-day tour (one of Bicycling magazine’s “best tours” in 2009) travels through arguably the most beautiful part of mainland GreeceÌęand offersÌęboth long (358 miles) and short (237 miles) options. Stretches in the saddle are broken up by stops at some of the Greek’s most famous sites, including the Olympic grounds where the first games commenced in 796 B.C. Also included are tours of Epidavros, the most famous healing center in the classical world, and the ancient city of Mycenae.

Details: $2,340, based on double occupancy. Fully supported/guided. Includes use of a Specialized 27-gear road bike,Ìęentrance fees and private tours of several sites, andÌęall dinners (with house wine).

Dalmation CoastÌę

Croatia:ÌęBackroads

“The Mediterranean as It Once Was” has been Croatia’s tagline for years. The countryÌętouts its beautiful beaches, lavender and olive groves, and mashup of Roman, Byzantine, French, Ottoman, and Slavic architecture. ’ six-day tour islandÌęhops from Brac to Hvar (the Cannes of Croatia) to Korcula.ÌęThe leisurely length (106- or 192-mile options) means there’s plenty of time at the end of the day for a dip in the gorgeous blue-green sea. The final day is spent in historic Dubrovnik, the “Pearl of the Adriatic.”

Details: $3,998 to $4,598, depending on dates;Ìębased on double occupancy. Fully supported/guided. Includes all meals except two lunches and one dinner.

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The does pretty well on TripAdvisor, all things considered. The Internet never—and I mean never—works. The towels are “thin,” the sheet thread count low, and the milk powdered. Watch out for the “giant mutant cockroach snake hybrid“ in the shower. Guests even have to pay for the pool.

Still, the Koryo, a pair of dull beige towers connected near the top by a sky bridge, is the number-one-rated hotel on TripAdvisor for Pyongyang, North Korea. Despite its many faults, it garners three and a half out of five “bubbles,” in TripAdvisor parlance (so as not to be confused with the star systems that signify quality in hotels and restaurants), across nearly 90 reviews.

Perhaps this is no surprise. People come expecting the worst, and with expectations so dismally calibrated, something like hot water starts to sound pretty amazing. Reviewers carefully note that many of the hotel’s quirks—you can’t walk out the front door unaccompanied, for instance—are out of the manager’s hands. (You’ll have to take that up with the Supreme Leader.) It may not be the Ritz-Carlton, the sentiment goes, but considering the fact that you are staying in the marquee property in the showcase capital of the world’s most repressive regime, it may be best to, as one reviewer counseled, “just chill out, have some beers, some expired Oreos from the gift shop and make friends with the other tourists.”

The fact that so many people are so earnestly reviewing a hotel that they have not themselves chosen (accommodations are selected by government-sanctioned tour operators), in a situation in which management is hardly likely to care, in a country where the Internet-driven wisdom of crowds is a remote fiction, speaks to the curious power of TripAdvisor, which, in its decade and a half of existence, has changed travel as we know it. The reviews demonstrate the abiding urge to share and the faith that sharing—even for that one-more-grain-of-sand 13,786th reviewer of the —will make someone else’s experience, or quite possibly ±đ±č±đ°ùČâŽÇČÔ±đ’s experience, that much better.

No matter your destination, you will, at some point in your research, visit TripAdvisor. The company, with the humble mantra “real hotel reviews you can trust,” has become—on a rising tide of 200 million user reviews and counting—a travel-industry Goliath, able to turn obscure hotels into sold-out hot spots, carry new flocks of visitors on digital word of mouth to quiet destinations, even rewrite the hospitality standards of entire nations. For travelers the impact has been equally profound. What begins as a simple search-engine query becomes an epic fact-finding mission that leaves no moldy shower curtain unturned, a labyrinthine choose-your-own-adventure—do you read the one-bubble rant?—in which the perfect hotel always seems just one more click away. For all the power of the service, it raises deep questions about travel itself, including, most pressingly, who do we want—who do we trust—to tell us where to go? “The future,” Don DeLillo once wrote, “belongs to crowds.” Are we there yet?

Many years ago, when the Internet was still just hobbyist bulletin boards in a handful of homes, I went backpacking with a friend across Mexico. Like everyone did back then, we carried a Bible-worn copy of Let’s Go: Mexico, which represented pretty much our entire universe. Its recommendations were usually decent but were based largely on one college student’s legwork. Who knows if he actually looked at the room or just hurriedly scanned the lobby? What was her standard for “clean”? The first night in Mexico City, our hotel had small creatures in the walls, unmentioned by the guide. Asking around, we eventually landed in a cheap and obscure place. That’s how it worked: We were in an information-poor environment. We gleaned recommendations from the gringo grapevine. You never quite knew what to expect, but wasn’t that why you were traveling?

Barbara Messing, TripAdvisor’s chief marketing officer, remembers those days, too. “There was that community of travelers in East Africa or South America who were circling the hotels in Lonely Planet that were really good or telling you what was closed or had good breakfast,” she recalls to me by phone from the company’s headquarters, near Boston. “That entire offline community got imported onto TripAdvisor.”

And how. The site now has reviews of hotels, restaurants, and attractions in more than 45 countries, with contributors (all unpaid) adding their comments at a rate of 115 per minute. Some 890,000 hotels are listed on the site, and TripAdvisor boasts one of the largest collections of user-contributed travel photographs in the world. (The collection of shower-drain photos alone could fill a museum.) On its myriad forums, even the most banal query (e.g., “Does this resort have 110v plugs in its rooms?”) seems to excite a flurry of replies, often within 24 hours. Though the site sometimes seems like a place people go to air complaints, as Messing tells me, “In general, our reviewers are a happy bunch.” For hotels the average rating is above four bubbles. Because people use the site to plan their trips, she says, the ratings can be as much about “thanking the community for pointing them in the right direction.” In other words, reviews of TripAdvisor itself.

These days, you can hardly visit a restaurant in a beach town without seeing the TripAdvisor owl in the window or finish a bike tour without being implored, via follow-up e-mail, to leave your feedback on the site. “It hasn’t changed travel like jets changed travel,” says Henry Harteveldt, an industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group. But “it has changed the satisfaction we can get from a trip and the ability to better understand the destinations.” Where travel is concerned, Harteveldt says, “information becomes instantly static and stale. With TripAdvisor, you know if a hotel that a few years ago was fresh and wonderful is still fresh and wonderful—or has become tired.” More important, he says, it “has empowered the consumer by making hotels and other related businesses far more transparent.” Sure, guests always had the ability to complain to the front desk or on one of the comment cards left on the nightstand, but that information went no further than the management. (As author and former hotel employee Jacob Tomsky notes, “We used to confidently toss comment cards in the trash”—or, as they also referred to it, the “t-file.”) Now one’s smallest observation—the ecstasies of the rainfall showerhead, the disappointments of the room-service toast—has a global audience.

Mount McKinley, Alaska

(5 bubbles) “An excellent mountain. Beautiful and majestic.”
“Loved the pure beauty, the surrounding glaciers, mountain ranges and heaps of snow. Nothing to dislike unless you do not like snow or beauty.”

(3 bubbles) “Denali Park big disappointment.”
“I was expecting animals running around everywhere…. Not going to happen. When you do see them you will usually need binoculars…. You can sit in your home and see much more on a TV screen [than] you will ever see there.”

Those reviews carry demonstrable weight. A found that for every percentage point a hotel improves its online reputation, its “RevPAR” (revenue per available room) goes up by 1.4 percent; for every point its reputation improves on a five-point scale, a hotel can raise prices by 11 percent without seeing bookings fall off. This has been a boon for smaller, midpriced, independently owned hotels. “Twenty years ago, the brands owned the sense of quality,” says Bjorn Hanson, a professor at New York University’s Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism. “If I stayed at a big-name hotel, I knew what I was getting.” That sense of confidence in quality, argues Hanson, has been supplanted by TripAdvisor. Not only can there be variation within a brand, but suddenly that quirky hotel that was once the obscure favorite of a single guidebook gets lifted to market prominence. Thanks to TripAdvisor, a formerly sleepy spot like the in Los Angeles—ranked number one in the city—is, says Hanson, “able to generate rates and occupancy levels that from a hotel-analyst point of view are quite extraordinary.”

Social media officially took over travel in 2010—or so the scientists say. That is the year, according to the Cornell study, that “guest experience mentioned in customer reviews” became the factor most frequently cited by consumers in surveys about the process of choosing a hotel.

For hotel owners, this meant that a luxury brand or pictures of nice-looking rooms on a website were no longer enough. Instead, believes TripAdvisor’s Messing, service became paramount. “That is why the number-one hotel in a major market is often not the hotel you would expect.” TripAdvisor’s ranking system, she says, operates like a value index: “For what I paid, how delighted was I?” The company closely guards its algorithm, but it’s engineered to emphasize the quality, frequency, and freshness of reviews.

If rankings were based only on the number of reviews, says Messing, “It would be purely a popularity contest or a size contest—the big hotels would always win.”

The impact of the so-called TripAdvisor effect can be enormous. When a group of researchers at Ireland’s University College Dublin in the Las Vegas market between 2007 and 2009, and compared the data with reviews in the Irish market (where, they noted, TripAdvisor was a more “recent phenomenon”), they found that while ratings in Las Vegas remained more or less constant during that period, in Ireland they rose from 3.6 to 3.8 bubbles. Their takeaway: as Irish managers scrambled to respond to the novelty that was TripAdvisor, hotels actually got better. Additionally, responses to customer reviews more than tripled over the two years of the study.

Adam Medros, who heads TripAdvisor’s global product division, told me that hotel owners have started thinking of the site as a marketing platform and are “embracing the feedback, even if it’s negative.” A recent internal TripAdvisor study found that owners who respond more frequently to comments are over 20 percent more likely to get booking inquiries. “Saying sorry is important,” says Medros, “but it’s not enough to say sorry you didn’t like the carpet.” Instead, the reply should be: “Here’s our plan for fixing that.”

Indeed, NYU’s Hanson says that TripAdvisor reviews now factor into the “capex,” or capital-expenditure, decisions companies make. “A general manager can go to the owner and say, ‘Look at the comments we’re getting about furnishings or parking lots compared with our competitors,’ ” Hanson says. “Instead of ‘I think we should do something,’ it’s ‘The reviews are costing us occupancy and average daily rate.’ ” TripAdvisor now goes “way beyond the individual traveler making decisions,” he says. “It’s influencing owners and brands. Even lenders will ask, ‘Are we putting our capital into a hotel that’s at risk because it’s getting poor reviews?’ ”

All this is a remarkable turn of events for a site that, back when it was founded in 2000, considered consumer reviews an afterthought. TripAdvisor was conceived as a meta-aggregator of travel information. Cofounder Stephen Kaufer, a Harvard-trained computer scientist who has served as the CEO and president from the beginning, directed employees to link to travel articles around the Web. But the site also let users post their own comments. Very quickly, TripAdvisor realized that the user reviews were getting all the traffic. As the Harvard Business Review in 2012, “They adjusted to focus on user reviews, such that fresh, authentic content was always available and didn’t cost the company any money to produce.”

In 2004, TripAdvisor was purchased by Barry Diller’s media conglomerate IAC for $212 million and was soon put into a group of travel brands under the Expedia umbrella. Over the next few years, it grew from a startup with $23 million in annual revenue into a multibillion-dollar global brand. In 2011, TripAdvisor was spun off as its own company again. In recent years, Kaufer has orchestrated a series of aggressive if rather quiet acquisitions, from booking company to restaurant-reservations app to airline seating guide to . Last year saw the introduction of a battery of new TripAdvisor products, including city travel guides you can use offline on your smartphone and a feature that lets you book an Uber ride to the restaurant whose TripAdvisor reviews you were just reading. The trajectory points toward the brand becoming a kind of always-there digital concierge.

While the big booking companies like Expedia and Booking.com also let users post reviews, no one matches the volume or weight of TripAdvisor, Hanson says. “If it were retail, we’d be calling it the category killer.” Those reviews have become part of a self-perpetuating, incredibly profitable cycle. Visitors go to the site to read reviews written by travelers, book a hotel based on those reviews (with a small percentage going to TripAdvisor), then write reviews of their own, and so on. As Inc. columnist Jeff Bussgang put it, describing TripAdvisor’s 98 percent gross margins, “For every dollar of revenue, the company is able to drop nearly half to the bottom line. I’m not sure the mafia could do better.” Perhaps not surprisingly, TripAdvisor is greatly expanding its headquarters outside Boston, and last year Kaufer took a 510 percent raise, to $39 million, making him the country’s fourth-highest-paid CEO. (Somewhat ironic for a site based on the promise of democratization and transparency, my requests to speak to Kaufer, and to visit the company headquarters, were turned down.)

Of course, when you are becoming a kind of middleman in the affairs of virtually every hotel in the world, there are bound to be complications. TripAdvisor has been the subject of numerous lawsuits that question the veracity of its reviews. When a hotel in Tennessee made a 2011 TripAdvisor list of the , the owner . Christopher Bavitz, the managing director of Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, which filed a brief in support of TripAdvisor, notes that federal law “essentially says that a website is not to be treated as the publisher or speaker.” It is a case, he says, of what is called “Internet exceptionalism,” and it dates back to the early days of the online world. As he explained it, “If CompuServe were held liable for every crackpot thing that someone said in a message board, the entire thing might grind to a halt.” The court ultimately ruled that calling the place the dirtiest hotel in the country wasn’t defamatory because people understood that it was hyperbolic.

This is not to say that an individual can’t be sued for defamation for a review he or she writes on TripAdvisor. But early precedent seems to go against such lawsuits succeeding: In December, the , a hotel in Lincoln City, Oregon, dropped a suit it had filed against an anonymous reviewer (“12Kelly”) who’d said the hotel’s “rooms are nasty.” The reviewer, the judge ruled, was protected by media shield laws.

Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon

(5 bubbles) “A Thousand Kinds of Beauty!”
“I have lived and traveled around the world—but few things I have seen can even come close to the infinte variety and beauty of the Columbia Gorge.”

(2 bubbles) “Not sure I understand the attraction.”
“Another thing I don’t get. It’s a river. It’s not the Mississippi which is a huge awe inspiring river, it’s not the Chicago River which flows backwards and flows between gorgeous, towering [skyscrapers].”

European officials have had a different take. In 2012, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority decreed that TripAdvisor could not use phrases like “reviews you can trust,” because it couldn’t prove that its reviews were truthful—or had even been written by actual guests. Last December, Italian regulators fined the company more than $600,000 for, , “not doing enough to prevent false reviews.”

Indeed, bogus comments are a central challenge for TripAdvisor. The company has cautioned resorts that have tried to game the system by offering incentives to write positive reviews and notes that every single review goes through a tracking system, which maps where, when, and how (desktop, mobile, tablet) each was written. Automated tools designed to sense “algorithmic signals” of suspicious activity are backed up by a 250-person content-integrity team helmed by Medros and made up of staffers with fraud-detection backgrounds in police and intelligence agencies. (TripAdvisor declined my requests to speak to any of them.) If the team determines that manipulation is going on, a hotel could end up with the ultimate mark of TripAdvisor scorn: a red badge that warns users not to trust what they read.

But a more prevalent defense is crowdsourcing. The sheer scale of TripAdvisor creates, Medros argues, a kind of self-enforcing equilibrium: you would have to write a lot of fawning posts to sway the bubbles of the 13,000-review Bellagio. Even then, he says, you will only draw more people expecting that enhanced experience. “Even if you could beat the system, it’s like Sisyphus—the rock is going to roll down the hill.” Users, Medros insists, can “suss out” the outlier in a sea of positive or negative reviews. This speaks to what may be an even greater problem than fake comments: too many.

It begins with a simple message—“Plan and Book Your Perfect Trip”—and a search box. In the background beckons, at least on this day, a perfect coastal village in Greece. I was a few keystrokes away from paradise.

A number of months ago, I was looking for an easy winter getaway for my family. My wife and I wanted something to satisfy us (i.e., not Disney World) and our daughter (i.e., anywhere with a pool or ocean). I decided to plan the whole thing on TripAdvisor.

We eventually settled on Tulum, Mexico, the once ultra-bohemian outpost down-coast from CancĂșn that has become a kind of gentrified Brooklyn South, both for its East Coast proximity and its shared cultural vibe (read: beards, bike paths, yoga, organic everything). But with copious archaeological sites, spectrally lit underground freshwater pools, known as cenotes, and the sprawling Sian Ka’an biosphere reserve just to the south, it still seemed a worthy adventure.

As I came to understand while planning the trip, the more you hand yourself over to TripAdvisor, the more you get wrapped up in its worldview. I began to see Tulum less as a place unto itself than as a vast Gringolandia construct of projected desires and flummoxed expectations, worried last-minute inquiries about federales and narcos, a galaxy of unsmiling concierges and complimentary upgrades. I wondered how such a colossal gulf could exist between two humans having, at least on paper, the same experience. How can one place be “almost the perfect dream” and also a “horrible experience that no one should go through”? The language of the reviews started to affect me. I closed my eyes and saw phrases like “exceeded my expectations!!!!” silhouetted on my eyelids. In a vision quest of user-generated feedback, I reworked reviews into haiku:

The ruins of Tulum
They are so boring and hot
Where is the damn beach?

And just when I thought I’d found a hotel, after I’d digested dozens of raves, I would come across that one review—the cockroach in the salad bar. Behavioral economists call this the Volvo problem, after a thought experiment in which a prospective car buyer, having read in bona fide sources like Consumer Reports how great a car is, hears from a neighbor that his is always in the shop. Suddenly, that aggregate of rational, emotionally distant information is overwhelmed by a much more narratively powerful, personally relevant source.

And TripAdvisor reviews are nothing if not narratives, often bursting with details that stray far beyond thread counts and shower sizes—a roster of travelers’ previous trips, the fact that a couple was celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary, or the reflection, offered by one reviewer, that “sometimes I stay up late playing my guitar.” They also, as TripAdvisor’s Messing noted, tend to present things on the sunny side. Camilla Vásquez, an applied linguist at the University of South Florida and author of , has thoroughly analyzed a corpus of TripAdvisor comments. She notes that, within a “categorically negative review,” there will usually be “an effort to work toward some feature of the hotel that’s positive.” Even in the most withering one-bubble critique, 30 percent of her sample included “some kind of positive statement.” As Vásquez explains, “We all know those people who will complain no matter what, and reviewers work hard to present themselves as not that person.”

Slickrock Bike Trail, Moab, Utah

(3 bubbles) “Only for the hardcore on bikes.”
“It is stunning scenery and could almost be described as fun, but it is very difficult, particularly in 98 degree heat.”

(3 bubbles) “Seems to be designed for the masses of beginners.”
“We were so frustrated by it’s lack of flow and low reward for the work. It seems it’s designed to purposely slow you down and keep the hoards of tourists/beginners from ending up in the hospital.”

As I read up on Tulum, it became more a game of parsing reviewers themselves (are they like me?) and trying to decode the more cryptic comments (“Found the owners to be quite French”). This is why, according to Philippe Brown, of the luxury tour operator , TripAdvisor has not necessarily proved the lethal threat to travel agents that it was first assumed to be. “There’s too much info, and so many hidden agendas, like national or regional biases,” says Brown. Visit TripAdvisor, he says, and “you’ve probably learned that a hotel is filthy, according to Italian people, but people from England think it’s great.” There is, he says, “loads of info, but no insight.”

TripAdvisor claims that it’s trying to solve the information-glut problem: instead of giving you 12,000 reviews of the Bellagio, how can it provide, in the first page or two, the half-dozen that are most relevant to you? When I spoke to Medros, he explained that the company was busily beta-testing a number of personalization algorithms. “Some are based largely on past behavior. We had one case of a user who had written tons of reviews of Best Westerns,” says Medros. “When that person looks at a new city, and the first hotel we show them isn’t a Best Western, that’s just wrong.” Medros envisions a kind of Pandora-style travel genome—if you like hotel X, you will love hotel Y. Of course, this works only if the reasoning makes sense: early on in my research, before I had selected a destination, when I looked at one property—“#33 of 48 hotels in Managua”—I was told that I had been sent there because I “researched similar hotels in Captiva Island.” Really? How similar are hotels in an upscale Gulf Coast enclave and a gritty Central American city?

TripAdvisor has also rolled out Facebook integration. Suddenly, those reviews from Facebook friends, and friends of Facebook friends, pop up first (if you’ve given permission). I found that this helped, but only to a point: my family’s TripAdvisor account was linked to my wife’s Facebook page, and often the reviews would note that some “friend” had stayed at a particular hotel—the only problem being that we had no idea who the person was and if we should trust them any more than Bob from Saskatoon. But Medros calls it a “starting point.” “Even if my friends are idiots,” he says, “I still want to know what they thought of it.”

Driving down the dusty, mangrove-lined track to , in Soliman Bay, Mexico, I passed a man on foot who, as I’d learn a few moments later at the reception desk, was the property’s co-owner. While we talked, a fragment of one of the hotel’s TripAdvisor reviews floated into my consciousness. “Lots of smiles,” it said, “but he came across as 
 stand-offish.” I actually wasn’t getting that vibe, but it raised the question: How much can one person’s experience match my own?

Quite a lot, in fact, at least on more cut-and-dried matters. On our second night, my five-year-old daughter, settling in for bed, spied a lizard on the ceiling. As this proved altogether too novel, I was implored to dispatch the hapless creature. Deciding to outsource, I made a motion to call the front desk. Then I remembered, from a TripAdvisor review, that there were no phones in the rooms! I suddenly realized that I was reliving someone else’s inferior service experience. Then it occurred to me that I actually like the absence of phones (not to mention televisions) in rooms. And that lizard? It evaded the best efforts of the night man. My daughter, naming it “Lizzie,” made her peace. The subjectivity of travel, like life itself, balances on a knife’s edge: I could just as easily have disparaged the creature-infested, amenity-lacking room as rhapsodized about its Zen-like simplicity and proximity to nature.

In fact, TripAdvisor looms so large in the hotel’s success that when Jashita, which formerly had occupied the number-one spot for Tulum, was grouped into a new category for Soliman Bay, which is about five miles north of Tulum, its business plummeted. They started working with agencies like iEscape to publicize the hotel. While their bookings and ratings have recovered—Jashita showed up as TripAdvisor’s number two in the whole Riviera Maya region when I was there—a representative pointed out that “Nothing would bring us the business that used to be brought from TripAdvisor when we were number one in Tulum.”

After a few days, we traded our private plunge pool for a more affordable hotel, , in Tulum proper, which, like Jashita, was a TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice. Charles Galligani, who moved to Tulum ten years ago from Paris, opened Don Diego just as TripAdvisor was gaining steam. “We followed the revolution,” he told me. For Galligani, the reviews are a testament to the vagaries of taste and a way to fine-tune amenities. “The beds are a bit too firm for the Americans and, on the contrary, for the Europeans they are not firm enough,” he says. (He has added a few softer beds.) “South Americans prefer the upper floor,” he said. “They say, ‘I don’t want to stay in this jungle, it’s too dangerous!’ ”

How did TripAdvisor perform outside of hotel reviews? We had a delightful dinner at , an Argentinean-style steak place in Tulum that was ranked number four of all restaurants. Restaurare (number nine), a vegetarian spot on the beach, was tasty if a little rustic—the generator-supplied power blinked out briefly, although bonus points went to the hostess, who gave us homemade mosquito repellent. The taqueria came highly recommended, but that may have had more to do with price and location than anything else—frankly, I’ve had better tacos in Queens. Some of the best food we had—the grilled boquinete at the beach shack in Soliman, the zesty enchiladas verdes at the —were recommended by people we’d met but were many pages down on TripAdvisor, so who knows whether we’d have ever found them.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

(5 bubbles) “Wow!!”
“Could not believe how intricate and magnificent the ancient builders [were]. Must see to believe your eyes and take in the glory!”

(1 bubble) “BORING!!!”
“It’s just a bunch of fancy rocks on top of other fancy rocks, inside a hot Jungle.”

Wherever I go, one of my highest priorities is getting on a bike, and a TripAdvisor forum pointed me to , located just off the cycling path on the way to the beach. The owner, Arturo Ramirez, not only hooked me up with a Specialized mountain bike, but also turned me onto a feisty Sunday-morning group ride (replete with stranded tourist rescue and crocodile sighting) into Sian Ka’an. The next day, we visited the lagoons of Sian Ka’an on a kayaking adventure, which was ranked number five of Tulum activities—and, it should be said, deserves its five-bubble rating. In between showing us boat-billed herons and offering my daughter tasty bananitos, owner Antonio Arsuaga told me that TripAdvisor is essential to his business. “It helps us to be more stable,” he said. Hotel employees who might normally recommend his outfit come and go, Arsuaga said, “but in the virtual world it stays.”

Leaving the cave tour at the cenote-and-zip-line complex , where the guide’s joke-filled patter was as smooth and gently worn by time as the stalactites, we saw a huge sign, decorated in TripAdvisor green, with the brand’s signature owl, imploring visitors to post reviews. Spotting the owl became a game for my daughter: at the palateria in town, on the gate at Don Diego. By the time we were at the CancĂșn airport, passing by a small room that a TripAdvisor sign claimed was the best “fish spa” in Mexico (the fish nibble at your feet, offering a unique sort of pedicure), I began to feel a rash desire to partake in some activity that was not on TripAdvisor, an experience that had not already been mediated by the leveling winds of mass opinion—a rathole restaurant or fleabag hotel where I didn’t already know the front-desk clerk’s name. I wanted to have no expectations, either exceeded or unmet.

But all this was my young backpacker self speaking; as a harried dad, I needed some assurance that things would work out. I’d been wise to give in to the crowd.

Contributing editor Tom Vanderbilt () wrote about wearable fitness technology last April.

The post Inside the Mad, Mad World of TripAdvisor appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

Warning: unless you’re an annoyingly carefree bon vivant with a hefty trust fund, reading our annual Best of Travel awards may trigger a deep sense of dissatisfaction with the pathetic state of your mundane life. There are so many cool places to go, you’ll think as you scroll through our 30 epic selections. And not enough time! Why am I stuck at this desk! Do not panic—this is a totally natural reaction. And that’s the beauty of our annual awards.

șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű has been covering the adventure-travel beat for nearly four decades, and our two veteran Best of Travel writers, Tim Neville and Stephanie Pearson, have spent months poring over the latest trip offerings and scouring the globe to uncover surprising new ideas. We know this beat, and now we’ve narrowed your choices of hotels, destinations, and outfitters from approximately 10.6 million to 30. The final choice is still on you, but the task is at least manageable. Or maybe you’ll get that trust fund. —Chris Keyes

1. Best Island: Bermuda

A subtropical archipelago of 181 volcanic islands, Bermuda won the bid to host the 2017 America’s Cup, thanks to near perfect North Atlantic sailing conditions. Beyond wind, the British Overseas Territory, just a two-hour flight from New York City, has 75 miles of pink-sand beaches interspersed with jagged limestone cliffs, many of which are perfect for deep-water soloing and hucking into the Atlantic from the top. Stay at , a 50-acre hideaway with a private stretch of sand on the southern shore (from $455).

2. Best Dive: Cuba

Already sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department as an educational tour, this 11-day live-aboard yacht excursion helps fund research ‹and conservation work by trip leader David Guggenheim, a marine scientist, underwater explorer, and founder of the Washington, D.C., nonprofit . The location: , an archipelago of 250 coral and mangrove islands, located 60 miles off Cuba’s southern coast, that Fidel Castro established as a marine protected area and a no-take fishing zone. Only 1,000 divers are allowed each year, so you’ll be one of the few to see whale sharks, sperm whales, sea turtles, goliath groupers, and some of the most pristine coral reefs anywhere on the planet. The package includes a chartered flight from Miami and a night at the five-star in Havana. From $7,474.

3. Best Street Food: Austin, Texas

The scene here is so fast-paced that today’s sweet chile chicken lollipops at or kimchi fries at the Korean-Mexican fusion truck may be gone tomorrow. (Though we sure hope not.) Hit eight trucks in one location at the Barton Springs Picnic Park, and find more worth seeking out at and .

4. Best River Trip: Fiji

Lined with vertical cliffs and cascading waterfalls, the 18-mile-long Upper Navua River Gorge on Viti Levu is like a tropical Grand Canyon, which is why formed and worked with local landowners, villagers, a timber company, and the Native Land Trust Board to establish the 10.5-mile Upper Navua Conservation Area in 2000. Bask in the fruits of their labor by paddling this pristine Class II–III warm-water river lined with swaying palms. As long as you’re here, add a couple of days kayaking the Middle Navua, sea-kayaking and snorkeling among the coral gardens of Beqa Lagoon, and sprawling out on white-sand beaches. $2,899 for eight days.

5. Best of the Wild West: Montana

Since 2001, the nonprofit has been working to restore the northern great plains to the pristine condition Lewis and Clark found them in more than 200 years ago. The resulting reserve, in northeast Montana, is now 305,000 acres. The aim is to reach 3.5 million by 2030, creating a U.S. Serengeti and the largest wildlife park in the lower 48, where herds of elk, mule deer, and bison thrive. But don’t wait to go. You can sleep under the stars now at the 11-site ($10), four miles north of the , and take a DIY mountain-biking safari on old ranch roads, passing grazing bison and scanning the skies for American kestrels, Sprague’s pipits, and Swainson’s hawks. Or paddle the Missouri River past pioneer homesteads and historic tepees to , a set of five luxurious yurts, each with AC, a hot shower, and a veranda for sundowners (from $4,800 for six days).

6. Best Place to Tie One On: Portland, Maine

The other Portland may have the microbrewery rep, but it distributes its beers to half the country. Many of the best brews in Portland, Maine, can only be quaffed here. , a classic American farmhouse brewery, just opened a tasting room downtown where you can try local favorite Space Cowboy, a low-alcohol ale, and full-flavor European-style beers like the Continental. Then head to , one of the country’s best beer bars, with 33 rotating taps, including roughly ten Maine brews. Or join , which offers two-and-a-half-hour tours along the Old Port area, with stops at distilleries and breweries like and (from $59).

7. Best Splurge: Greenland

’ brand-new eco base camp, with high-thread-count linens, hot showers, and a gourmet chef, is as close to a luxurious safari-style camp as you can get in these parts. Set on Sermilik Fjord at the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet, one of the least explored regions of the Arctic, the camp is within view of 5,000-foot peaks that plunge into the sea. Why pay top dollar to sleep in polar bear country in temperatures that barely hit the fifties in August? Because as Olaf Malver, the Danish camp founder who has spent 26 years exploring this coastline, says, “You will be dazzled by its dizzying beauty, strength, and simmering silence.” Guests can take guided ten-mile hikes through tundras, kayak among humpback whales, and visit Inuit villagers who live by centuries-old traditions. From $8,995 for nine days.

8. Best Way to Get Strong Quads: San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Elevation, elevation, elevation. That’s what I recall about the through the San Juans, from Durango, Colorado, to Moab, Utah. Much as I want to write about the towering vistas and cascading ribbons of singletrack, you have to reach them first, and my memory of the 200-plus-mile ride is the 25,000 feet of elevation gain. The pain is worth it, with climbs ending at huts with glorious views. Note that these aren’t your gorgeous, timber-pegged cabins—they’re two-by-four-and-particle-board huts, hauled up on trailer frames. But you’re not here for raclette and a hot-stone massage; you’re just happy that you don’t have to carry your own food, water, and shelter. The cabins are well stocked, including cold beer and a warm sleeping bag on a soft pad. A couple of suggestions: carry the hut system’s maps; where it says singletrack option, take it; and read the log books (some of the comments are hysterical). When you get to Geyser Pass Hut at the end of day six, start smiling, because you’re at the top of the La Sal Mountains, and a 7,400-foot descent, aptly named the Whole Enchilada, awaits. As do the Colorado River, Moab, and a Milt’s malted and cheeseburger.
—Dave Cox

9. Best New Jaw-Dropping Hotel: Alila Jabal Akhdar, Oman

Oman is one of the most peaceful and stunning nations in the Middle East. Start your exploration of the vast Arabian Peninsula at amid date, peach, and pomegranate trees, perched at 6,500 feet on the edge of a deep gorge in the Hajar Mountains. Ffrom $325.

10. Best International șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Hub: Chile

Running 2,610 miles north to south, Chile is the longest country in the world, and 80 percent of it is covered by mountains. With vast wild spaces like 650,000-acre (which opened to the public this year), pristine rivers with big trout, classic old-school ski areas, and pisco sours and damn good wine, it’s hard to go wrong. Consider these dream itineraries: (1) Fly into the capital city of Santiago, then work your way south to 370,000-acre in Tierra del Fuego. The former cattle ranch opened in 2013, but very few people have been lucky enough to explore this swath of untouched glaciers and peaks. Be one of the first to take it all in on a 16-day boat-assisted hiking and sailing epic with ($8,000). (2) Mid-country, two hours south of Santiago in the Millahue Valley, stay at the brand-new , a 22-room retreat and wine spa in the middle of an 11,000-acre vineyard with stunning views of the Andes (from $1,200). Mountain-bike the 65 miles of vineyard roads, then laze by the infinity pool. (3) Eleven hundred miles north in the Atacama Desert, explore the lunar landscape on horseback, relax poolside at the luxurious (from $1,350 for two nights, all-inclusive), then set out after dark to to view the universe through the clearest sky on earth.

11. Best SUP Odyssey: Belize

With the 180-mile-long Belize Barrier Reef, this laid-back country has long been a heaven for divers and snorkelers. It just got better with the world’s first lodge-to-lodge paddleboarding trip. On this through Belize’s 118,000-acre , you’ll paddle four to eight miles per day through calm turquoise waters, jumping off to snorkel where spotted eagle rays and barracuda glide in reef areas too shallow for motorboats. You’ll visit with researchers at Smithsonian’s to learn about reef biology, stop for a beachside fresh-catch lunch at a Garifuna fishing camp, night-snorkel at Southwater Cut (a deep channel where the coral blooms after dark), and sleep in rustic overwater bungalows on tiny Tobacco Caye and in the seclusion of private Southwater Caye, 12 acres ringed by white sand in the Belize Barrier Reef. $1,829 for six days.

12. Best Place to Get in the Car and Go: India

Mention driving in India to veteran travelers and they’ll recount white-knuckle cab rides and six-hour traffic jams. But on a ten-day driving trip with , you and a caravan of like-minded adventurers gain access to crowd-free luxury lodging and villages far from the tourist hordes. You’ll pilot a Mahindra Scorpio (an Indian four-wheel-drive SUV) up to 90 miles a day, charging through the dirt roads of the Himalayan foothills or over the sand dunes of Rajasthan. A mechanic will be right behind you for on-the-fly repairs. From $1,500 for ten days.

13. Best Beaches: South Carolina

The Palmetto State has over 200 miles of coastline and an ample supply of gorgeous beaches, with comfortable water temperatures from May through October. Start in Charleston and head 20 miles north to uninhabited Bulls Island, part of the stunning 66,000-acre Cape Romaine ‹National Wildlife Refuge, for a hiking or kayaking tour with (from $40). Farther north lies Pawleys Island and its laid-back beaches, and three miles north of there is our favorite stretch of the state: Litchfield Beach. The northern end is the protected . You won’t find any putt-putt here, just wide-open white sand for miles.

14. Best Small Cruise: Doubtful Sound, New Zealand

As my wife and I planned our South Island road trip, the big debate was: should we do an overnight cruise into Doubtful Sound on a 70-person, three-masted sailboat? We didn’t really think of ourselves as cruising types. Then we looked at pictures of Doubtful Sound, which seemed too stunning to be real: ridiculously lush forest clinging to sheer cliff walls, pods of dolphins, towering waterfalls. So we booked the trip with . While we did some unbelievably cool stuff while we were in New Zealand, including helicoptering into a swanky lodge in the Southern Alps, the defining moment came during a rainy afternoon on that boat. Temperatures were in the mid-forties, and we had just returned from a short sea-kayaking excursion, wet and cold. But when I saw a few of my fellow cruisers (who, it should be said, were mostly young and adventuresome) lining up to jump off the rear deck, I stripped down to my skivvies, climbed onto a platform, and launched into the scrotum-searingly cold water. And then I did it again. My wife looked at me like I’d lost my mind. And maybe I had, at least temporarily. From $310.—SAM MOULTON
—Sam Moulton

15. Best Comeback Country: Sri Lanka

The first decade of the new millennium was rough on Sri Lanka, with a devastating cyclone, the tsunami, and a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009. Today, this largely Buddhist island in the northern Indian Ocean, with 8,000-foot peaks and 830 miles of coastline, has bounced back big time—foreign travel grew 19 percent in 2014. There’s no shortage of fun to be had at these base camps: Book a deluxe safari-style tent at and Spa in the center of the country and hike to sacred rock Sigiriya (from $221). , a brand-new clifftop hotel on 12 lush acres, 30 minutes east of the port city of Galle, hovers 100 feet over the Indian Ocean, with mountain biking, diving, and paddleboarding nearby (from $767). On the east coast, the village of Arugam Bay, sandwiched between miles of beaches and an inland tropical jungle, has consistent right breaks. Rent a beach cabana at the (from $38). Twenty miles south is Yala National Park, with herds of elephants and solitary leopards.

16. Best Outfitted Trips: Anywhere with Wilderness Travel

This 37-year-old team in Berkeley, California, dreams up more than 30 unique trips across 75 countries every year and is known for pioneering adventures that other outfitters copy later—kayaking tours through remote stretches of Tierra del Fuego, the world’s highest trek (at 23,000 feet) across Tibet—and doing it all with an eye toward supporting locals and minimizing environmental impact. But what makes truly exceptional are the company’s trip developers and guides. Take Barbara Banks, a polyglot who’s spent 23 years with the company traveling hundreds of thousands of miles setting up local connections. (Norwegian ferry captains know her so well, they’ll make unscheduled stops to allow Wilderness Travel groups to disembark directly at their waterside hotel after a day of hiking fjords.) Some recent new trips: sea-kayaking and camping on isolated beaches in Palau, visiting little-seen pyramids in Sudan, and tracking desert lions in Namibia with Flip Stander, a Ph.D. who has spent decades living among the big cats.

17. Best Domestic șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Hub: North Carolina

Take California, make the mountains greener and the beaches and restaurants less crowded, and replace all the digital millionaires with hospitable southerners, and you get North Carolina. On the coast, you’ll find some of the East’s best breaks on the Outer Banks, and stand-up paddleboarders cruise through the 160,000-acre , filled with salt estuaries and flooded pines. In the west, there’s world-class singletrack and road riding in the Blue Ridge mountains (pros like local Matthew Busche of Trek Factory Racing train for the Tour de France here), 96 miles of Appalachian Trail, and some of the country’s best whitewater at the . That’s to say nothing of cities like Asheville, Wilmington, and Chapel Hill, which are full of farm-to-table restaurants, local breweries, and great music venues. Where to start your trip? Get a room at the two-year-old in Asheville (from $159) and mountain-bike the Big Avery Loop, a challenging 13-mile romp through rhododendron tunnels and way-off-the-back rock steps. Or rent a house on the Outer Banks in the spring or fall and learn to surf with the folks at (from $100).

18. Best Base Camp: Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, Namibia

Yes, getting to Namibia involves at least a full day of travel, but the payoff is worth it: no other landscape is like the surreal Skeleton Coast, which was carved out of lava rock 130 million years ago. One excellent way to see it is via , a fly-in oasis that opened last August on the banks of the Hoanib River in one of Africa’s most extraordinary wildlife-viewing regions. Desert-adapted rhinos, elephants, and other charismatic megafauna like springbok (a gazelle) linger near the camp’s spacious, fire-warmed common area and eight luxury safari tents (think pitched canvas roofs, big decks, and twin-bed interiors). A small plane can drop you off near the shipwrecks and seal colonies at Mowe Bay. From $500.

19. Best Road Biking: California

The Golden State has 800 miles of coastline and half a dozen mountain ranges—and you can ride practically all of it year-round. From coastal tours like the supported eight-day, 525-mile from San Francisco to Los Angeles, to foodie-friendly tours along the back roads of Sonoma (visit for routes, rentals, and outfitters), to epic climbs like the five passes and 15,000 feet of elevation gain through the Sierra Nevada during the annual ($135), California has greater variety than just about anywhere. Get route maps online at the , or sign up with an outfitter like . Its supported, self-directed six-day tours from Yosemite to San Francisco or through Death Valley National Park let you decide where to ride, sleep, and eat, but a leader in a van sets up snack stops and water refills and hauls your gear. It’s like an egoless, six-cylinder domestique ($1,495 for six days).

20. Best Place for a Meal in Ski Boots: Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico

After a morning spent charging Taos’s famously steep West Basin chutes, there’s no better place to refuel than the ’s festive outdoor deck. With its waitstaff in dirndls and lederhosen, German fare, and view of Kachina Peak, this ski-in, ski-out chalet is about as close to the Alps as you can get in the southern Rockies. I start with the soft-doughed pretzels and house-made sweet grain mustard. They’re the perfect warm-up for the goulash, bratwurst, or spaetzle (a German version of mac and cheese) and an Asam Bock, a beer on tap from Germany’s . On powder days, I often don’t end up at the Bavarian until dinner, which is served inside the log-built lodge, where you can still dunk bread in cheese on fondue Tuesdays during the winter. If I’m sleeping in one of the Bavarian’s four luxe suites, waking up to easy access to Taos’s new Kachina lift, which expands the mountain’s lift-served advanced terrain by 50 percent, is heaven. During summer, trails to Williams Lake and New Mexico’s highest peak—13,159-foot Wheeler—are right out your door.—Mary Turner

21. Best Urban Upgrade: Philadelphia

It may be better known for its cheesesteak, hoagies, and underdog sports teams, but lately the City of Brotherly Love has been gaining ground as an outdoor town. This year it’s launching a bike-share program and adding three miles of multi-use trails to its 220-mile citywide system. In 2014, it transformed 20,571 square feet of cemented wasteland into . You can even do paddleboard yoga along the Delaware River with (from $45).

22. Best Outfitted Trips for Families: Anywhere with Bicycle șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs

Roughly 10 percent of ’ trips are now geared specifically toward families with preteens in tow. This year the Washington-based company launched three multi-day rides in Oregon, Idaho, and South Dakota that follow car-free bike paths and pass through kid-captivating areas like Mount Rushmore and Idaho’s Trail of the Hiawatha, with stops for ice cream, rafting, and swimming holes. Have younger kids? They’ll pedal tag-alongs hitched to adult bikes, and toddlers and infants can ride in provided trailers. From $2,295.

23. Best Place to Eat and Drink Yourself Silly: Scotland

A decade ago, when restaurants like Noma ushered in a Scandinavian culinary renaissance, a bunch of Scots headed north and took jobs in those kitchens. Now they’ve returned to make use of their homeland’s nearly 6,800 miles of coastline, abundant mushroom and strawberry harvests, and massive beef industry. Which is part of the reason the country named 2015 the . Just about every town has at least one restaurant with a creative menu. To experience the best of it, go to the , on the edge of Loch Dunvegan. Chef Michael Smith serves Sconser king scallops, Skye blackface lamb, and lobster from practically right out the door. And don’t forget to take in a Scotch distillery tour.

24. Best Places to Stretch Your Budget: Japan, Europe, and Brazil

With the economy bouncing back, the dollar is getting stronger—especially in these three destinations, where the exchange rate has steadily improved over the past 12 months.

Japan

Three nights at the ski-centric

• February 2014: $260
• February 2015: $220

Europe

One-week tour with

• February 2014: $4,000
• February 2015: $3,395

Brazil

Three nights in the Amazon at

• February 2014: $850
• February 2015: $750

25. Best Deal: Kolarbyn Hostel

These , located about 80 miles west of Stockholm, are made from wood and earth (you can pick blueberries off the roof) and set you up in the middle of a spruce forest straight out of Endor. Spend your days napping, hiking, or paddling nearby waterways, and end them with a visit to the floating sauna on SkÀrsjön lake. $120.

26. Best Effort to Mitigate That Carbon Footprint: Indianapolis International Airport

Air travel is tough on the environment. So it’s nice when there are initiatives like the . Last year, workers more than doubled the number of solar panels at Indianapolis International Airport to 76,000—enough to power 3,210 homes for an entire year.

27. Best Safari: Kenya

șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű GO’s 11-day was put together by owners Sandy and Chip Cunningham, who lived in Kenya for five years, in response to a simple truth: Africa’s most worthwhile destinations are often some of its most vulnerable. You’ll visit three remarkable locations on the cutting edge of both conservation and accommodation in the wildest sections of East Africa. Take Campi Ya Kanzi, nestled in the shadow of Kilimanjaro, which has exclusive access to 300,000 acres of wilderness with lions, elephants, zebras, and giraffes, and not a single tourist in sight. You’ll be hosted by local Masai and sleep in a lavish tent without the humming generators that mar other properties—the camp gets 24-hour power from solar. The trip culminates in a visit to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s elephant orphanage, where young pachyderms that have lost their parents to poaching are fostered. You’ll get a once-in-a-lifetime, up-close look. From $9,585.

28. Best Viral-Video Opportunity: Bay of Fundy

Go with on a sea kayak with pods of humpback whales in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick. From $85.Ìę

29. Best Airbnb Property: Mary May’s

A morning spent at outside Bozeman, Montana, presents a dilemma. Do you fire up the professional range, swing open the French doors, and have a leisurely breakfast? Do you head out and explore the property’s 100 acres of trails and trout waters? Or do you hop in the car for a quick trip to Yellowstone? There’s no easy answer, but few places let you experience as much for so little. $125.

30. Best Surf Trip: Baja, Mexico

There are lots of ways to enjoy Mexico. But I’ve found that the very best is to cross the border in a 4×4 truck with surfboards, a few extra tanks of gasoline, and a couple of bottles of mezcal. If you don’t count the border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali—and, frankly, you shouldn’t—the Baja peninsula has a population of just over two million spread across 55,000 square miles. That’s fewer people than Houston. The region’s 2,000 miles of wild and desolate Pacific coastline are littered with fantastic, almost always empty surf. Many of the most famous breaks—Quatros Casas, Scorpion Bay—now have hostels and other amenities on the bluffs, but the rule of thumb is that the farther you get from San Diego, the more challenging and rewarding it becomes. You get to work for your dinner: spear-caught fish for ceviche and a lobster as big as a small dog. Lodging options that far south are limited—we slept in tents or our truck bed—so if you go, remember that when the wind starts whipping and the night gets cold, dead yuccas burn hotter than tumbleweeds.
—Matt Skenazy

More of șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű's 2015 Best of Travel

• Gear: The 5 Best Pieces of Gear for the Road
• Guides: 5 Travel Guides You Need to Know
• Coming Soon: The Best of Travel Runner-Ups

The post The 30 Best Trips of 2015 appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

A good guide is a jack-of-all trades—so personable they could be your best friend, an expert on the terrain’s gear and safety, and able to elevate an adventure destination beyond the usual tourist fare. Whether you’re looking go on a safari, river rafting, cycling, skiing, or backcountry trekking—these pros in our 2015 Best of Travel package have it nailed down.

Best Cycling Guide: Arien Torsius

DuVine Cycling and adventure co.
Turf: Holland, Spain, Italy
Cred: Torsius, 27, grew up in “middle of nowhere” South Africa but still managed to develop a passion for cycling. At 18, she turned pro, competing in France’s (the women’s Tour de France), Italy’s Giro Donne, and “every race that’s horrid and tough,” she says. She retired from racing five years ago and has been guiding ever since. These days, Torsius understands that not every ride has to be a hammerfest. She’s trained as a masseuse and counts her wine opener as one of her most important tools. “In the Piedmont region, my co-guide is a winemaker,” she says.
Best known for: Trips that follow iconic cycling routes like the Giro d’Italia.
Never leaves home without: “A South African herbal gel called . It’s a product for horses, but it’s really good for muscle aches.”
Book her:

Best River Guide: Lars Haarr

OARS
Turf: Colorado, Utah, South America
Cred: A legend among Colorado River legends, Haarr, who also guides on the Yampa, the Green, the San Juan, and rivers in South America, can be found steering a wooden dory through Cataract Canyon’s Class IV Big Drops rapid at water levels as high as 83,000 cubic feet per second—while keeping his guests calm. “You don’t want to overemphasize the rapids and make people so nervous they can’t sleep,” says 40-year-old Haarr, “but you have to explain that this is a wild roller-coaster ride that may come off the tracks.” His favorite trip? “It’s difficult to compare,” he says, “but when you take a 16-to-18-day trip down the Colorado, it changes you.”
Best known for: His knowledge of the night sky, which is so extensive that OARS launched a series of departures, on which he brings along a high-powered telescope and laser pointer to highlight constellations.
Never leaves home without: “Nail polish. I’ve painted football players’ and kids’ toes. It’s unadulterated fun.”
Book him:

Best Skiing Guide: Deb Lovci

Ski Utah ‹Interconnect Tour
Turf: Utah
Cred: Fellow guides joke that Lovci’s pack is bigger than she is. (She’s five foot five and 115 pounds.) But the 53-year-old competitive Nordic skier, ski-mountaineering racer, mountain biker, and angler is no pushover when it comes to the 26-mile daylong backcountry Wasatch tour linking Deer Valley to Snowbird via four to six other resorts. “If someone will be a safety risk, I have no problem telling them this isn’t the tour for them,” she says. “As much as I want to make every day a holiday, safety is my number-one concern. But I have the greatest job on earth. I love standing on top of a peak and saying, ‘Welcome to my office.’ ”
Best known for: Twenty-five years of skiing the Wasatch backcountry and finding powder stashes; unstoppable energy.
Never leaves home without: Snickers, an Ortovox shovel and probe, a multitool, and duct tape.
Book her:Ìę

Best Wilderness Guide: Carl Dixon

Within the Wild șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Company
Turf: Alaska Range
Cred: Safety first is not a platitude when dogsledding in subzero temperatures or rafting an unexplored river in the Alaskan wilderness. You’ll have no reason to worry with company co-owner Dixon who started guiding in 1976. He has extensive knowledge of the backcountry, advanced training in crevasse and whitewater rescue, a fixed-wing pilot license, and a Coast Guard 6-PK license. He can fly a helicopter in a pinch and gets by in German, Russian, and Spanish. The 64-year-old doesn’t mind pushing guests’ boundaries. “It’s surprising to me that people are a little freaked out by our remoteness,” he says, referring to his lodges on Tutka Bay and the Iditarod Trail, “but they have a strong need to feel a connection to the natural world, because they’re farther away from it than ever.”
Best known for: River trips.
Never leaves home without: An .
Book him:

Best Safari Guide: Philip Rono

Micato Safaris
Turf: East Africa
Cred: Rono’s clients have included President George W. Bush. That’s because the 49-year-old’s rĂ©sumĂ© includes the ’s Gold Level accreditation, the equivalent of earning a Ph.D. in wildlife. After 26 years leading trips, Rono has the uncanny ability to track every predator or bird. He was born in the Kenyan village of Eldoret, home to the fastest runners in the world, and gives guests access to marathoning superstars and sacred tribal ceremonies. But being a standout guide requires a lot more than finding the Big Five on demand: “I need to be a storyteller, a jester, a musician, a first-aid expert, a negotiator, ‹a cross-cultural connector, and, above all, the best companion.”
Best known for: Bird-watching safaris.
Never leaves home without: His , a , and a pile of his favorite field guides.
Book him:

More of șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű’s 2015 Best of Travel:

Destinations: 30 Incredible Trips to Take in 2015
Gear: The 5 Best Pieces of Gear for the Road
Coming Soon: The Best of Travel Runner-Ups

The post The 5 Best Travel Guides appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

So what if Europeans get the entire month of August off—spring break is an American birthright. Whether you’re toting the kids or fleeing civilization, we’ve got the trip for you.

Try an Island That’s Better Than Bali

Raja Ampat, Indonesia
It’s hard not to love Bali, with its abundance of surf breaks and colorful culture. But there are 17,507 other islands in Indonesia with fiery volcanoes, vast underwater landscapes, and a lot fewer visitors. For diving, head to Raja Ampat, a 15,000-square-mile wilderness of islets and reefs with some of the richest marine biodiversity on the planet. has eight stilted, grass-roofed cottages and seven beach villas, and it provides diving gear and guides (from $2,778 for seven nights). Within an hour’s boat ride, there are dozens of dive sites alive with coral gardens, huge sea fans, and wildlife, from pygmy seahorses to the newly discovered walking epaulette shark. For legendary surfing, , a tiny resort on the small island of Sumba, has a consistent break right off the mile-and-a-half-long private beach (doubles, $900). After surfing, guests can mountain-bike to an ancient local village, practice yoga with the resident instructor, or head to a bamboo pavilion for a massage among rice paddies, then feast on whole fish cooked in banana leaves at a sunset beach barbecue.

See a Crowd-Free Machu Picchu

Lares Valley, Peru
With as many as 80,000 visitors taking on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu each year, even the Andean wilderness can get a little claustrophobic. That’s why Mountain Lodges of Peru is working with villagers to establish three new properties along the . This high-altitude trail network sees roughly 20,000 trekkers annually and encompasses the Sacred Valley and the beautifully untracked Lares region, about 35 miles east of Machu Picchu and 40 miles north of Cusco. Two of the eight-room lodges opened last fall, in the villages of Lamay and Huacahuasi, and are luxurious base camps for five- or seven-day adventures that include hiking over 14,500-foot passes, visits to lesser known Inca archaeological sites (like the fortress of Pisac), and time to check out villagers’ intricate weaving skills. Each day ends with a soak in a deckside hot tub overlooking the valley, crackling fires, and healthy meals like pumpkin soup and quinoa salad. The Lares Circuit doesn’t lead directly to Machu Picchu, but guests travel there by bus on the last day and still have to work for the money shot—a sweeping view of the ruins—with a two-hour climb up the Inca staircase of Huayna Picchu. From $1,990 for five days.

Take Advantage of the Mediterranean’s Off-Season

Provence, France
In summer, visitors descend on this picturesque region of southern France, clogging its beaches and lavender-riddled countryside. But in the spring, despite blossoming fruit trees, irises, and wildflowers, the country roads are empty—and perfect for cycling. All you need to do is sign up for a bike trip arranged by , a custom-travel company whose itineraries include guides, shuttle service, hotels, meals, and even a mechanic. With no need to look at a map or worry about dinner reservations, it’s surprisingly easy to fall into a daily rhythm. Pedal through vineyards, orchards, and limestone gorges each morning, stopping to explore the crumbling ruins of a medieval castle or the narrow lanes of a hilltop village. After a leisurely lunch of Provençal specialties like bouillabaisse and ratatouille, you’ll retire to properties like the new Domaine de Manville, a former farming estate in Les Baux de Provence. Afternoons are a blank slate for a glass of rosĂ© by the pool or an amble through fields with views of the Mediterranean. From $1,500.

Embrace No-Easy-Way-Down Skiing

Silverton, Colorado
You won’t be distracted by nightclubs or fancy dining at Silverton Mountain, a one-lift, mom-and-pop operation deep in southwest Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, two hours from Montrose and the nearest airport. That’s because Silverton is all about one thing: big-mountain shredding. The highest, steepest ski area in North America, it tops out at 13,487 feet with a long menu of hike-to chutes, cliffs, and bowls that collectively land more than 400 inches of snow annually. There are no groomers or beginner runs in sight, and avy gear is mandatory. Between January and March, guides lead skiers in small groups to the ($139), which means you’re on the hill with a maximum of about 80 people. In January and April, the area allows unguided skiing, but no more than 475 people have ever shown up on a single day. After the lifts close, drink a pint from the keg in the Quonset hut, then head to the Victorian mining town of Silverton. Get a rum cocktail at before walking a block to the , a new four-room hotel with Jacuzzi tubs in a renovated 1901 building (from $100).

See What Vegas Would Be Like If It Had Powder Days

Heavenly, California
In the American family of ski areas, Heavenly is the party-hearty cousin—kind of crazy but really fun. Straddling the border between Nevada and California, the place has more skiable terrain than any other (4,800 acres) and a rowdy collection of casinos and nightclubs at the base. By day, head to Mott and Killebrew Canyons for 2,000-foot chutes, tackle Gunbarrel for 1,600 vertical feet of thigh-hobbling moguls, or explore the perfectly spaced glades between Heavenly’s 97 runs. Aprùs, skiers and riders gather for , a party at the midmountain lodge complete with go–go dancers, half-price drinks, DJs, and excellent BBQ nachos. By 5:30 the festivities move to the base village, where live bands play alfresco most weekends and casinos deal 24 hours a day. Stay at the newly renovated (from $109), which has rooms with balconies overlooking Lake Tahoe. Not into the party scene? Lucky you—few people get up early enough for fresh tracks, and the powder can stay pristine for as much as four days after each giant Sierra dump.

Bring the Kids to a Mountain Retreat

Steamboat, Colorado
Steamboat understands an essential truth about traveling with families: it has to be easy. At this northern Colorado ski resort, about 150 miles northwest of Denver, all 165 runs funnel down to one base area, so no one can get too terribly lost. The kids’ center stays open until 10 p.m. on Saturdays, so parents can night ski or have dinner minus the noise. And kids under 12 ski free when you buy an adult ticket for five days or more. Check into a condo at , which boasts a sauna, heated pool, game room, and movie library (from $415), then drop the kids at ski school. The mountain, with its famous glades of tightly packed conifer forests and loose aspen groves, is a damn good time for grown-ups, too. Off the hill, test out the resort’s bungee-jump trampoline; take a horseback ride through snowy meadows at , a fifth-generation ranch 30 minutes outside town (from $80); or head to Howelsen Hill, a small ski area that rises right out of downtown, for ($25 per adult, less for kids). Most important, don’t miss , a collection of stone-rimmed, 104-degree mineral pools 20 minutes from town up an AWD-mandatory dirt road.

Surf the 51st State

RincĂłn, Puerto Rico
While easterners bemoan the storms that barrage the Atlantic coast in winter, Puerto Ricans rejoice—at least those in Rincón, a small town on the island’s exposed northwest tip inhabited by a mix of locals and weathered mainlanders. Between November and April, swells slam into reef, limestone, and sandy breaks to create perfect conditions for surfers, who have flocked here since the sixties. Despite its popularity, Rincón and its collection of surf shops, guesthouses, and bars have managed to keep its low-key vibe and prevent the unsightly coastal development that mars other parts of the island. Learn to surf with the , whose instructors run private and group lessons on mellow breaks like Sandy Beach (from $90). If you’ve already graduated, rent a board and grab a map of the local spots from ($15). Thanks to its west-facing shore, Rincón has some of the best sunsets in Puerto Rico, and the , one of the town’s oldest surfer guesthouses, has a beach bar with uninterrupted views (from $105). After dark, hit the for sushi and beers in front of surf flicks on a big screen.

Hit the Sweet Spot of Resort Charm

Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Along Mexico’s coasts, there are plenty of overdeveloped megaresorts and countless tiny ramshackle villages, but few places gracefully bridge that gap. Puerto Escondido, on Oaxaca’s mellow Pacific coast, is one of them. A tasteful number of guesthouses, shops, and good restaurants dot this active fishing town, which still retains its laid-back flavor. Check into a bright, simple room in (from $71), a two-minute walk to the Pacific, then choose your water-sport. Divers can set out with to explore underwater volcanic rock formations and swim with whale sharks and manta rays ($68 for two dives). Snorkelers: wade offshore at Puerto Angelito to see clouds of colorful reef fish. Or simply head to Carrizalillo beach for a dip and to chill in the sun on this smooth crescent of sand, then grab fish tacos from one of the thatch-roofed beachfront palapas.

Embark on a Homegrown șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű

San Diego, California
San Diego is a pretty boring place to be a meteorologist—70 degrees and sunny, again—but it’s the perfect place to bring the family when you’re fed up with winter and don’t want to break out the passport. Stay in centrally located Mission Beach, which has easy access to the water and kid-friendly attractions like the . Nearby rents homes by the week, which includes two days of kids’ surf lessons, two adult lessons, and free use of cruiser bikes and surfboards (from $3,000). A few of the things you could do with the rest of your time: Rent full-suspension mountain bikes from (from $60) and head to Los Peñasquitos for wide, flat beginner trails or to Noble Canyon for technical singletrack through chaparral, alpine meadows, and oak groves. Hike at for more than four miles of trails along undeveloped beaches—and keep an eye on the water for gray whales and pods of bottlenose dolphins. Or go to for an introductory tandem flight in a hang glider and views of the entire coastline from above ($225).

Find Your Way Into the Remote Rainforest

Sacha Lodge, Ecuador
From Quito, the capital of Ecuador, it takes a vertiginous flight over the Andes, a 50-mile motorboat ride up the Napo River, a jaunt on a boardwalk across a flooded palm forest, and a paddle in a dugout canoe across a lake to get to , a collection of 26 thatch-roofed rooms deep in the Amazon. But the schlep is worth it. More than 500 species of birds (from scarlet macaws to cobalt-winged parakeets) flutter about the canopy, eight species of monkeys swing between the trees, and pumas and ocelots stalk the understory. With a local Quechuan guide, paddle a canoe through blackwater channels packed with orchids, palms, and bromeliads, or hike past 150-foot-tall buttressed kapok trees while looking for three-toed sloths and tiny pygmy marmosets. After dark another cast of creatures emerges—watch the glowing eyes of caimans in a nearby swamp before falling asleep to a chorus of insects in the safety of your screened-in room. From $950 for four days.

Take in Africa Overland

Kenya
On the African savanna, you can cover a lot of ground in a Land Rover, but you’ll gain a much more intimate view on foot, horseback, camel, or mountain bike. On a , try all four with a Samburu guide in the scrub desert and gorges of Kenya’s stunning Laikipia Plateau and the vast plains of the Maasai Mara. You’ll meet local nomads and get close to lions, elephants, buffalo, giraffes, and zebras, which are all less skittish—sometimes alarmingly so—when humans are on a bike or an animal. Accommodations include , which has four rock and wood cottages; , a collection of airy, solar-powered canvas tents; and rustic camps where you’ll sleep on a rocky outcropping or in a tent with the topsheet pulled back to reveal the Southern Hemisphere’s constellations. There’s little or nothing between you and the darkness, so remember that the night’s loudest noises often come from the smallest creatures. From $6,500 for ten days.

Don’t Forget About the Other Big Island

Andros, Bahamas
Andros couldn’t be further from the resort scene on Nassau, and despite being the largest island in the Bahamas, it’s one of the least visited. The few who go are after one thing: bonefish. The “island” is actually a maze of brackish creeks and mangroves. On the east side, you’ll find a handful of locals, , and the bar that locals call Josie’s (order the Barbancourt 15-year rum). On the west side, there’s a national park, some wandering tarpon, and approximately seven million bazooka-size bonefish. Or at least it feels that way when your guide is pointing out dozens of them feeding, blissfully unaware of your giddy laughter that so many fish—and so few anglers—can be in one place. Not that there aren’t slow days here. There are. But that’s why you should ask the South Lodge to send you out with Freddie Dames, an 18-year guide on Andros. He not only has some of the best eyes for fish, but he has the best stories, too. From $1,845 for three nights.

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Your traditional cooler does a great job keeping beer cold. But the newÌęÌętakes the role of an icebox one step further thanks to a built-in air conditioner designed to cool you off in the heat of summer.

The 38-quart chest keeps 49 cans of beer ice cold, while the exterior fan system blows out air that’s 35 degrees cooler than the air temperature. This three-speed fan is powered by a rechargeable battery that lasts for up to six hours on one charge. The air conditionerÌęrequires two quarts of water that circulate through a radiator. If you’re not using the cooling system, the ice in your cooler will last for seven days at 90 degree temps.ÌęÌę

The IcyBreeze may look like it belongs on the back pages of a SkyMall catalog, but the next time you’re planning a trip to Death Valley, think about what you’d pay for those gusts of refreshing goodness.

$349,

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