If variety is the spice of life, then a hint of danger might be the aphrodisiac for travellers who demand heart-pumping experiences
Scale heights in the Dolomites with Scott Dunn
Test your mettle with an adventure in the Dolomites. Not for the faint-hearted, a climb on a via ferrata route will see you navigating steel cables, ladders, and narrow ledges carved into steep rock faces, climbing high above the valley floor to reach panoramic viewpoints across the mountains.From face-blanching heights, you’ll take in sweeping views of the mountains before descending into the valley for an afternoon of white-water rafting through alpine rivers.
With journeys arranged by Scott Dunn, days of high-octane adventure are balanced with evenings spent in luxury alpine hotels, where the weary are rewarded with good food, mountain views and a well-earned rest.
Explore the inside of a volcano in Iceland with Scott Dunn
It’s not every day you find yourself standing in a volcano, let alone one of the only accessible magma chambers in the world. In Iceland, at Þríhnúkagígur volcano just outside Reykjavík, visitors can descend roughly 120m into the vast chamber of a dormant volcano hidden beneath a lava field.
The journey begins with a hike across rugged terrain before visitors are lowered by cable into the chamber. The towering walls are streaked with reds, oranges and deep volcanic hues formed by past eruptions that created this dizzyingly large chamber.
Embark on an Antarctica adventure with Silversea Cruises
One of the world’s most remote continents, an adventure at Antarctica will see you cruising past towering icebergs, experiencing vast glaciers, and spotting wildlife moving through icy landscapes.With Silversea Cruises, the experience balances adventure with comfort, as days spent exploring the Antarctic coastline are interspersed with time on an opulent ship boasting world-class service and spacious suites. Shore excursions will allow you to explore the coastline with expert guides on Zodiacs that weave between icebergs and land on remote shores where penguin colonies gather and seals rest on floating ice.
Whether you’re spotting whales surfacing nearby or watching glaciers calving into the sea, an expedition to Antarctica offers a memorable journey for any thrill-seeking explorer.
Fly a fighter jet with MiGFlug
It may have been a while since Top Gun first became a cultural phenomenon, but the fantasy of zipping through the air in a fighter jet still captures the imagination.With MiGFlug, a Swiss company that specialises in fighter jet flight experiences, you, too, can live the dream by arranging flights in former military aircraft in various locations around the world.
After a safety briefing and basic training on handling G-forces, you’ll suit up in a flight suit and helmet before taking the rear seat of a fighter jet alongside a professional pilot. Once airborne, you’ll experience high-speed passes, steep climbs, rolls, loops, and high-G manoeuvres that offer a glimpse of what military pilots experience during training flights. Depending on the aircraft and flight programme, you may even have the opportunity to take the controls briefly under the supervision of the pilot.
Cross the Sahara with Scott Dunn
With the heat on your back and the desert stretching in every direction, crossing the Sahara is an adventure unlike any other. From the rocky plains of Agafay Desert near Marrakech to the vast dunes of the Sahara further south, the landscape feels vast, remote, and constantly changing.With the expertise of luxury travel operator Scott Dunn, you’ll embark on an immersive desert journey that combines quad biking, buggy rides and off-road 4×4 driving across rugged terrain with stays in opulent desert camps. From driving across dunes and desert trails to speeding across rocky plains on quad bikes, each day will be spent exploring landscapes that feel completely removed from the modern world. While the days are defined by speed, sand and open landscapes, you’ll spend the evenings in luxury desert camps, dining under the stars far from any cities or roads.
Take on the Porsche driving experience at Nürburgring
For petrolheads, few names are as iconic as Porsche and few places are as legendary as Nürburgring. Located in western Germany, this complex is one of the world’s most famous motorsport venues, home to both the challenging Nordschleife—often referred to as The Green Hell—and the modern Grand Prix circuit.
Through the Porsche Track Experience at Nürburgring, participants can drive Porsche sports cars on dedicated training circuits and the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit, with advanced programmes also including training and driving on the Nordschleife. With personalised instruction from professional drivers, participants learn racing lines, braking points, and car control before heading out onto the track for high-speed laps, sweeping corners, and long straights where the exhilarating performance of the cars can really be felt.
Venture into space with Virgin Galactic
Once relegated to the realm of science fiction, commercial space tourism is now a reality. With operators such as Virgin Galactic, civilians can travel to the edge of space and experience weightlessness while looking back at Earth from above.Before the flight, passengers undergo several days of training at Spaceport America in New Mexico, where they are prepared for weightlessness, G-forces, and the flight procedures. On the day of the flight, the spaceplane is carried to high altitude by a mothership aircraft before being released and accelerating into space, reaching speeds of around Mach 3 and altitudes of more than 80km above Earth.
Once in space, passengers unbuckle from their seats and experience several minutes of weightlessness, floating inside the cabin while looking out at the curvature of Earth.
Heli-ski with CMH Heli-Skiing
There’s nothing quite like the thrill of skiing through powder-white snow, carving across untouched slopes, and moving through vast mountain landscapes. Well, except for a private heli-ski experience that will have you landing by helicopter on remote mountain ridges, stepping out into complete silence, and skiing down through wide alpine bowls and forested runs with no other skiers in sight.There are many renowned ski destinations around the world. The untouched powder of British Columbia, though—on mountain ranges accessible only by air—offers a true heart-pumping experience. On a private heli-skiing expedition with operators like CMH Heli-Skiing, your day begins at a remote lodge before you head out by helicopter to ski throughout the morning and afternoon.
Stopping for lunch in the mountains, you return later in the day for dinner, relaxing afterwards in hot tubs against mountain views. With a dedicated guide and helicopter reserved just for you, you’ll have full access to some of the world’s most pristine powder located on remote mountain terrain.
This story first appeared in the May 2026 issue. Purchase it as a print or digital copy, or consider subscribing to us here
