Camp tips

The dawn chorus is loud in the woods as I unzip my tent to peer out at the new day and a sea of bluebells. I make tea and drink it slowly, enjoying the peace. It’s a perfect start to the morning after my first solo wild camp.

Camping trips with a young family can be thoroughly challenging, especially in the UK, when the weather often skips from sunshine to deluge in the blink of an eye. My extra challenge is that my wife, Helen, can’t join us for our Easter break (she’s away training for her fourth Olympic Games – reasonable excuse). My three kids (twins of four, and an older brother not quite six) are a tornado handful at the best of times. I definitely don’t want to be flying abroad with them, but I want to give them a memorable wild outdoors experience. So what to do?

Wild Canvas, one of the recent wave of pop-up campsites with a festival vibe, has a host of new additions for its fifth outing this summer. The campsite makes the most of its riverside setting on the Turvey House Estate near Bedford. It has a new wellness area, the Nest, with direct river access (BYO paddleboard!) plus a yoga yurt, a mobile sauna, a treatment tent for massages and free early-morning activities from meditation to boot camp.

Preparing for a festival this year? Don’t panic – from festival practicalities to planet-friendly tips, we’ve got you covered.

California’s famous Highway 1 will reopen on Friday, a month after a partial collapse and road slip out near Big Sur forced it to close.

Immersive and unique travel experiences are big business. Especially when they take place in the desert: Two years ago the global desert tourism market was already valued at $178 billion. And it is predicted to reach $248.83 billion by 2031—a growth rate of 3.78% from 2023 to 2031.

The less-visited North Rim of the Grand Canyon will reopen for the summer season next week, allowing travelers to explore even more of the breathtaking park.

Whether one’s mother is just starting to take lessons or is the Singles Champ of her club, anyone can benefit from some serious tennis coaching. Since many tennis programs are also located in destinations that are tempting vacation spots as well, holiday time goes along with the training.

With the weather slowly starting to improve, it’s time to start planning camping trips in the UK. We’d love to hear about your favourite places to camp. Maybe it’s somewhere wild near the sea, or a campsite with the best facilities for a memorable family holiday. Tell us about your adventures under canvas and in glamping pods and yurts for the chance to win a holiday voucher.

With vast wilderness making up most of the state, Alaska’s parks and outdoor spaces take center stage for most visitors. Alaska is home to about 60% of the total national park land in the US, covering 56 million acres. 

Devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands more in East Africa are now inundating parts of the Masai Mara, one of Africa’s greatest wildlife national reserves.

My most shameful moment as a traveler occurred in Thailand.

Forget high-rise hotels and all-inclusive beachfront resorts — the world's most popular hotel companies see a future in luxury tents.

As social media continues to draw more visitors to US national parks, the pressure on these pristine environments is intensifying, setting all-time records and crowded conditions that push people deeper into wilderness areas.

Hilton wants to know: Why stay in a conventional hotel room when you can pay more than $600 a night to sleep in a trailer?

It’s a relief to lay my rucksack down, plunge hot feet into the cool stream and pause to revel in the fairytale surrounds. Foxgloves stand tall against a cornflower-blue sky, ferns look almost luminous, the water glints in the early summer sunshine. A patch of moss-covered ancient forest provides shade, a cuckoo calls in the distance, mountains layer on the horizon.

Hitting the road in a camper van is one of the most intimate – and exciting – ways to experience the USA.

In his semi-autobiographical novel, Roughing It, Mark Twain called Lake Tahoe “the fairest picture the whole earth affords.”

For adventurous moms who love the outdoors, get them something they really want this year. Rather than the traditional flowers, perfume, or home goods route, why not show the intrepid mothers in your life how much you really see them and care about their interests and passions?

When I tell people I grew up in Oregon, I can almost see the stereotypes going through their heads. Depending on how familiar with the state they are, people seem to think I grew up camping and hiking (I didn’t), that I love beer (I don’t) or that I drive way too slowly (my parents would tell you quite the opposite).

Astro-tourism is one of 2024's biggest travel trends, but with so many of the best stargazing places in the U.S. in the nation's west, a road trip is the easiest way to visit them.