My hammock was my window on to the valley: a new type of walking trail in the Swiss Alps | Switzerland holidays

It was a summer’s morning in the Lepontine Alps in Ticino, Switzerland’s Italian-speaking canton, and there was the vague threat of a storm on the horizon. I was already out on a trail through larch and hazelnut forest, backpack shouldered, aiming for a mountain pass. Up ahead, a herd of short-haired goats grazed, their bells chiming merrily, … Read more

Sagas and geothermal swimming pools – Reykjavík moves to a different rhythm | Iceland holidays

It is said that when Norse explorer Ingólfur Arnarson and his wife Hallveig Fróðadóttir threw some wooden posts from their ship in AD878 they floated to a bay covered with steaming springs, hence the name Reykjavík, or “stormy bay”, and that’s where Arnarson decided to settle. I am here researching women in Icelandic sagas for … Read more

10 of the best European activity breaks with a spirit of adventure | Adventure travel

‘Slow happiness’ in Italy, Finland, Sweden or Iceland The Scotland-based company Slow Adventure advocates a more mindful approach to activity holidays. Options include climbing and yoga in the Italian Alps, mountain biking in Sweden and horse riding and rambling in Iceland. On the Finnish Happiness trip, guests stay in log cabins by a lake in Lapland … Read more

Brilliant activity breaks by readers – from Portugal to the Lake District | Europe holidays

Springtime for via ferrata, Lake Garda, Italy Spring in northern Lake Garda is an adventure paradise. I’ve been several times and enjoyed the via ferratas: iron cables fixed to scrambling routes, which require fitness and sense of adventure but not technical mountaineering skills (safety equipment required). The views are amazing and varied, from gorges and … Read more

This 31-year-old spent $20,000 to travel after he was laid off

Peter Lancaster in Argentina. Courtesy of Peter Lancaster Forget the “quarter-life crisis.” These days, millennials are turning to the “quarter-life sabbatical.” Amid the waves of mass layoffs, people are choosing to repurpose their unemployment into soul-searching, and many are extending their time away from the cubicle to travel the world. Peter Lancaster, 31, was laid … Read more

10 of the best places in France for paddleboarding, kayaking and canoeing | Canoeing and kayaking holidays

Coast hugging, Bonifacio, Corsica When I first visited Corsica, I hiked down the spine of the Corsican mountains, barely seeing the sea except for glimpses from a bird’s eye perspective. This time, as I hugged the coastline, dipping in and out of sea caves, I felt as though I was winding through the arteries of … Read more

Evangelical Christians are fierce Israel supporters. Now they are visiting as war-time volunteers

TEL AVIV, Israel — When Shawn Landis, an evangelical Christian from Pennsylvania, heard about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, he knew he would come to Israel to volunteer as soon as it was safe. Five months later, he was chopping vegetables in a Tel Aviv kitchen, preparing meals for Israeli soldiers. Evangelicals … Read more