Why ‘Challenge Travel’ Is Trending Among Adventure Lovers

“People want bold and challenging travel experiences,” says Tom Marchant, cofounder of the outfitter Black Tomato. The company debuted its Get Lost itineraries in 2017, giving a select few clients the chance to role-play survival situations in the Peruvian Andes or Mongolian steppes. Travelers on these journeys get dropped in the wilderness and then navigate their way back to civilization. Marchant says interest in the trips has spiked, with 2024 bookings up 40 percent from the previous year.

Black Tomato is far from the only operator dreaming up next-level challenges, as travel advisors, tour companies, and even cruise lines are tailoring their offerings to what some call Type 2 fun: experiences that are difficult in the moment, but enriching in hindsight.

“Adventurers are seeking true challenge and isolation,” says Pelorus Travel cofounder Jimmy Carroll. “These are trips where endurance, strength, and adaptability are essential.” 

Here are six experiences guaranteed to test your mettle.

HELI-SKIING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Founded in 1965, CMH Heli-Skiing & Summer Adventures has grown alongside interest in backcountry skiing, and the company now has more than 150 certified mountain guides who can safely lead fresh-track, deep-powder runs across some 3 million acres of the Canadian Cascades. CMH also has a network of comfortable backcountry lodges for multiday adventures among the iconic granite spires of the Bugaboos.

OPEN-AIR CAMPING IN BOTSWANA

Many safari camps offer indoor-outdoor suites that let in the sounds of nature. Then there’s Jack’s Camp, the storied Botswana lodge on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. From Jack’s, guests can embark on a two-night foray into the vast Makgadikgadi Pans in a convoy of ATVs before making camp on Kubu Island, an outcropping of granite that rises from the arid plain. “They call it a ‘five-gazillion-star bedroom,’” says Mark Lakin, a T+L Travel Advisory Board member who recommends the trip to his clients.

HUT-TO-HUT TREKKING IN UTAH

The Western Uinta Hut System is a collection of strategically placed yurts that open the door to more than 100,000 acres of high-altitude terrain. The first of their kind in the state, these rustic lodgings afford adventurers comfortable (if not luxurious) places to overnight during mountain-biking, hiking, and fishing forays deep into the wilderness, says Shaun Deutschlander. She’s the founder of Inspired Summit Adventures, which pioneered the growing network and offers guided trips into the mountains.

IMPOSSIBLE MISSIONS IN MOROCCO

Scaling the exterior of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa may be out of reach, but doing your own stunts is possible. Working with crew members from the Mission: Impossible franchise, Pelorus Travel has put together an adventure that involves trekking in the Atlas Mountains, racing across sand dunes in Predator X-18 buggies, and rappelling from a rooftop in the Marrakesh medina. “It will be a super immersive and high-octane experience,” says Carroll, the Pelorus cofounder.

SCUBA DIVING IN ANTARCTICA

If simply visiting the seventh continent isn’t enough, Aurora Expeditions has trips that also go under it. The expedition cruise line was the first mainstream operator to offer scuba diving in the frigid waters off Antarctica, where the sea life includes spider crabs, soft corals, and walls of giant kelp. It’s also possible to spot penguins and seals, says Edwin Sargeant, an ice diver and guide with Aurora Expeditions whose favorite thing to see is the undersides of icebergs.

GOING OFF THE GRID IN PERU

Black Tomato can coordinate wilderness-survival adventures that push participants’ limits. After a safety briefing led by a former officer in the Royal Marines, guests are dropped in the Peruvian mountains with little more than a map and a compass—and orders to get back to an extraction point several days’ hike away. For safety, participants are shadowed by a team of pros. “You won’t see them, but they’ll always be there to help at a moment’s notice,” says Rob Murray-John, head of special projects for Black Tomato.

A version of this story first appeared in the July 2025 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline “Pushing the Limits.”