Adrenaline-pumping activities and stars who love 'em

SEND TO A FRIEND

12 FEBRUARY 2004
Vietnam Adventure
If you're an Asia aficionado, like Tomb Raider star Angelina Jolie, a solid choice is Audley Travel's Vietnam Adventure. This includes a tour of the capital, Hanoi, a visit Ho Chi Minh's extraordinary memorial, and an opportunity to take in the ancient capital of Hué, admire the pagodas of Saigon and explore the floating markets, islands and villages of the picture-postcard Mekong Delta.

You'll also experience off-the-beaten-track Vietnam. Head off into the Tonkinese Alps, where rice paddies carpet the slopes and the majestic Fansipan Mountain disappears into the clouds. Trek through terraced fields around the lakes of Sapa, visit minority villages whose people still wear traditional dress, and bargain for handicrafts at Bac Ha Sunday market. The scenery is dramatic and the people very friendly – discover it now before the tourist hordes do.

Explore the Spanish Picos
Keen hikers, such as supermodel Cindy Crawford and X-Men's Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, should forget the southern costas and head north instead to "green Spain", a different world of rugged mountains, high pastures, limestone gorges, virgin forests, verdant valleys and a wild, romantic coastline.

Northern Spain's Picos de Europa mountains, the largest limestone massif in Europe, are still largely undiscovered by British holidaymakers and offer an insight into forgotten villages and a rural scene long since lost in much of the rest of the continent. About the size of the Lake District and three times as high, much of the area is dedicated as a National Park – a strict green lobby keeps an eye on threatened mass development.

The park, Spain's second largest,was created in 1995 and abounds with chamois, deer and wild boar. Wolves and even the occasional brown bear have also been spotted. On Pura Aventura's eight-day adventure, you'll explore the coast from old lobster port Llanes to the village of Naves. You'll trek the spectacular Cares gorge and meander among the lush greenery of Covadonga, famous in Spanish history as the site where a small band of Christians repelled the might of the Muslim army in 718AD.

You might even tackle some of the rocky moonscapes of the high Picos. You'll enjoy an "espicha" – a harvest feast – with the villagers, learn about their lifestyle and take a cable car at Fuente Dé up 2,460ft to see the vultures circling below. Beat that, Benidorm!

Action in Iceland
There's much more to Iceland than wild weekends in Reykjavik. Take a ride in a super-jeep around the country and experience one of the world's greatest natural wonderlands. At Myvatn, in the north-east of the country, are volcanic craters, boiling mud pools and twisted lava sculptures. At Thingvellir you'll see the site of the ancient Viking parliament, which first met in 930AD.

On the way, take an iceberg cruise on a glacial lagoon, snowmobile over the world's biggest ice-rink, the Vatnajökull glacier, visit Geysir and the Gullfoss waterfall and trek among the lava fields. Or go river-rafting and sea-kayaking – an activity enjoyed by Oscar-winner and outdoorswoman Hilary Swank – then finish with a dip in the mineral-rich waters of the Blue Lagoon. You won 't find anywhere like it on earth.

Report: Jill Crawshaw