Classic Journeys' Top Winter Travel Destinations

Whatever destination you chose, you'll be sure to enjoy yourself with Classic Journeys, a luxury adventure travel company offering tours in over 70 regions around the world, in 33 countries and 5 continents. Classic Journeys is different than other tour companies. They believe that how you travel is just as important as where you go. Their tour guides are local experts, rather than guides that fly in with travelers. What this means is exclusive access and inside tips that only a local would know about or have access to. Guests stay in unique, high-end properties, eat at locally-renowned restaurants and see the destination through the eyes of someone who has lived there all their lives.

Following are a few of Classic Journeys’ top winter destinations:

New Zealand

Why not take a break from the winter cold and spend a summer in New Zealand? Rather than shoveling the snow, you will find yourself picnicking royally in a tropical rainforest, at the foot of a glacier. It’s the gorgeous, startling South Island that you may remember from the real-world setting for The Lord of the Rings movies – it’s quite spectacular. But Classic Journeys will also introduce you to a land you wouldn’t find on your own. You’ll spend a day with a family as they work their vast sheep station. You'll sip the best pressings at some of the region's fast-emerging vineyards, and stargaze by ship-deck on a fiordland cruise. Our local guide has also arranged for naturalists, historians and other experts to share their knowledge about their utterly unique home. As you sample the native green lip mussels…learn about the Maori culture…and go on an evening stroll lit by glowworms, you'll remember this as one of the most unique journeys of your life.

The founder of Classic Journeys recently visited the Galapagos and took this photo of the Blue-Footed Boobies, whose mating dance you can watch on the trip!

Galapagos

The Galápagos Islands can really push a family’s “happy buttons.” The close-up looks at penguins, iguanas and sea lions are almost too cool to believe. The landscapes are like nothing you’ve ever seen, and the climate is great. It’s too bad for most visitors that they tour the islands by cruise ship. Everybody can get stir-crazy in the limited space. And the fun of ship-to-shore Zodiac rides wears off after 4 or 5 trips. That’s why we prefer an island-based Galápagos family vacation. There’s plenty of elbow room to walk, swim in our boutique hotels’ pools, and watch for blue-footed boobies out the back door. You can go sea-kayaking right from the dock outside your door. We have easy access to clear lagoons for snorkeling, great trails for mountain-biking, and white beaches for lounging. Even if you weren’t bumping into a titanic tortoise or a strutting flamingo at every turn, this would still be a fantastic active family vacation. And unlike those tourists marooned on their boats, we get to hang out with the locals and get a feel for what human life is like among the wildlife!



Bhutan

Picture yourself exploring dramatic Himalayan monasteries, meeting rice-farmers and yak-herders at work, and witnessing a butter-lamp blessing. If you like what you hear, Bhutan is the place for you this winter. In all of Bhutan, there is not a single stoplight. In Bhutan, travel is on a higher plane in so many ways! Of course, there’s the Himalayan factor, tucked as it is into a niche in the soaring chain. Bhutan is also one of the world’s most Buddhist countries, and its historic dzongs (monasteries) perch serenely over sweeping expanses of terrain. Lush valleys are carpeted with rice and mustard fields and criss-crossed by footpaths. Classic Journeys’ local guide will be sure you meet the Bhutanese farmers, wood carvers, yak-herders and mask dancers and you’ll feel like you’re one with this heavenly land.

More information: www.ClassicJourneys.com