a wine and cheese on a barrel
White wine with barrel on famous vineyard in Chianti, Tuscany, Italy

Game of Thrones trip, anyone?

Forget about the destination, the new trend is theme based travel. Whether you love to cook, workout, paint, take fabulous photographs or learn a language; you can do it all and more whilst enjoying a new part of the world, with what are surely like minded people. Thanks to a rise in themed trips, you can take your hobby to the next level and turn vacation time into a fascinating, relaxing, fully geeky or educational week you’ll never forget. If the idea of sitting on a beach for a few days sounds a bit boring, scope out these highly amusing, pretty awesome themed holidays, captivating the world one day at a time.

a woman running in the desertFitness & Sports Holidays

If you love to workout or are trying to get fit, what better way to vacay’ than to turn your holiday into a mixture of boot camps, personal training, stretching and all things fitness. Companies now offer completely tailored fitness experience trips, with top experts coming along to make sure you balance pool time with plank time, and in stunning destinations, too. If your prefer sports to just general fitness, there are plenty of choices, like: tennis, surfing, yoga, horse riding, golf, cycling; the possibilities are endless. Check out some of these excellent options: Health & Fitness Travel, GoLearnTo, SpaDreams, and Wellbeing Escapes.

a person making ravioliCooking Holidays

New skills, unforgettable experiences, and tasty food. What’s not to love? Oh, and they probably do wine too. Food and wine go together pretty well. Whether you’re looking for some authentic pasta and pizza in Italy, Pad Thai in Thailand, Biryani in India, Paella in Spain or pastries in France; you can learn from top chefs, try amazing ingredients and bring home authentic recipes to at least attempt to recreate. It’s a great way to experience different countries and cuisines whilst lapping up all the knowledge and food in a unique, like minded setting! Great options all over the world include BookCulinaryVacations, The International Kitchen and GoLearnTo.

a person doing yoga in front of a sunsetSpa & Wellness

Wellness is unique to each individual. Out of all the themed trips you can explore, Wellness and Spa getaways are the most common, and are a major trend in world travel. You can choose from yoga retreats, detoxes, deep meditation, spiritual learning, advanced healing, stress management and so much more – and some offer a mixture of them all. If you want to get away, and enjoy some seriously hippie time with others in the same boat, some good choices include: wellbeing escapes, Health & Fitness Travel, Healing Holidays. One thing hippies are almost always good for: a love of sunsets. Chances are – any of these trips will be headed somewhere blissful.

palm trees on a beachPhotography Holidays

Photography is such a cool skill to have. I mean, when was the last time your camera phone was able to fully capture the perfect sunset so vivid in your mind? We’ll wait. Photographs last forever and being able to (almost) recreate the feelings, the views and the memories from each trip, and put them together in a way to make everyone on Instagram jealous is a lifelong gift. There’s an endless array of brilliant guides, ready to teach you the ins and outs of capturing the Northern Lights, the perfect sunset, or Formula One car, as it whizzes by. A side benefit of photography trips is that they’re usually in places worth photographing. Learn from experts and get inspired to capture the moment for the rest of your life with great outfits such as: Responsible Travel, GoLearnTo, Photography Holidays.

a body of water with mountains in the backgroundCycling, Running & Hiking

Sure, you could rope these into the fitness category, but they are different in that they’re designed around gorgeous scenery. You can tailor each holiday to your own pace, level and where you want to take your rest stops. The best part of doing these, is that you will discover untouched parts of the world, mountain peaks and glorious sights you’d never usually get to see. Plus, these kind of tours thrive in the world’s most beautiful destinations, such as Cape Town, Queenstown and the mountains of Peru. If his sounds like your kind of thing, check out: Freedom Treks, Go! Running Tours and KE Adventure Travel.

a woman with arms outstretched in front of mountainsFilm & TV

Do you ever watch something and think wow, that place looks amazing? Many of the most beloved films and TV shows are filmed in real life, stunning locations you can actually visit! And even if they’re not, they may have a themed hotel. Pretending it’s all for the kids is fine, even if it’s not. Feel like Harry Potter or James Bond and immerse yourself in all things entertainment at some of these fun hotels, or if the force is strong with you, check out this incredible looking Star Wars Hotel coming soon. As for sets and locations, the travel list is endless. You can take the Salzburg Sound of Music Tour, Sopranos or Sex and the City tours of New York, or for something far more adventurous, you can scout the incredible locations from Game of Thrones.

a field of plants with mountains in the backgroundWine

This may seem like a bit of an obvious one, but planning a themed holiday around some of the world’s most gorgeous wine regions is surely going to be a winner. With absolutely stunning scenery, personalized tours, extraordinary expertise and a deeper understanding of what makes great wine special, these tours offer memories long beyond the perfect grapevine sunsets. And of course, there’s often fabulous farm fresh food to go with it. Aptly named companies such as Grape Escapes, Arblaster & Clarke or SmoothRed can plan some or all of your trip, arranging excellent guides in the region you’re visiting, like this excellent option in Sonoma.

What’s Your Favourite Themed Holiday?

Featured Image Copyright: samot / 123RF Stock Photo

Gilbert Ott

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly...

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1 Comment

  1. I honestly don’t remember the last time that I took a vacation and I do think it would be a good idea to take one here soon. Now as you said here, there is more to a vacation to just picking a place and going. I would want to have some sort of “theme” as I do think that would make things a lot more interesting and fun. Of the ones you listed here, I think that going to a location where some movies have been filmed would be pretty neat as afterward, you can watch said movie and “see” where you were!

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