KE Adventure travel

On this website you will discover the amazing variety and range of holidays that KE has to offer: from 1-week European walking classics to month-long Himalayan treks and from Discovery holidays to climbing 6000 and 7000 metre peaks. Whatever your interests or aspirations, we are sure to have the perfect holiday to suit - the hardest part will be deciding which one to choose!

To make searching easier, our holidays are divided into different activity groups. Click on each of the Activity tabs at the top of every website page to find out more information about each one and view the holidays available in each category. Alternatively you can view our Holiday Types page or click on each of the Activity titles below.

To further help you choose the very best adventure, we use a comprehensive grading system, which identifies an individual trip's level of difficulty and enables you to easily compare the difficulty of two or more holidays. The grade symbol can be found on the Holiday description pages.   To fully understand our grades we recommend you read our grades explained section.

KE Adventure Holiday Dossiers

Once you’ve identified the holiday that interests you most, you can download one of our detailed 'Holiday Dossiers' from the trip information pages. KE dossiers contain all the detailed information that you need including a comprehensive itinerary, information on the nature and difficulty of the terrain, spending money requirements, climatic conditions, a full equipment list and items available for hire, as well as a reading list and details of available maps. 

In addition, don’t forget that our experienced office staffs are on hand to offer advice or answer any questions you may have.  Contact us

Trip Icons

Each of our trips has an activity icon, which appears next to each trip on the search pages.  Some trips fall into more than one catagory and you may see up to 3 icons.

Trek & Walk

By far the greatest number of our adventure holidays fall into the category of Trek & Walk. Our trekking and walking holidays range from short, possibly hotel-based holidays involving a series of day-hikes to extended trekking days into wilderness areas with a full trek crew and porter or pack-animal support. The grade given for each of these holidays should be considered in conjunction with each individual holiday description.

Climb

Our Climbing holidays will take you to the world's most spectacular mountain ranges. The majority of these holidays include an element of climbing, usually on snow, where ropes and other items of mountaineering equipment will normally be used. Each trip has each been given a grade that reflects the overall difficulty. For an indication of the technical difficulty of the actual climbing you should read the appropriate dossier.

Discovery

Our Discovery collection brings together the world's finest cultural, touring and cruise holidays that take you right to the heart of your chosen destination. Never too physically demanding, these are predominantly touring holidays but some do include short walks. Their grade reflects, in part, the conditions likely to be encountered.

Biking

Our biking holidays are separated into 3 types, based on terrain and the type of bike and tyres needed...

Mountain Biking - Fat Tyre

Our Fat Tyre biking holidays are mainly on dirt roads, jeep tracks and single track, sometimes without vehicle support. A mountain bike (full suspension or a hard tail with suspension forks) fitted with off-road knobbly tyres is required for these holidays.

Mountain Biking - Semi Slick

Our Semi Slick adventures are often journeys over long distances on a mixture of dirt tracks and roads, with no real technical off-road sections. Holidays range from easy to epic and are usually fully vehicle supported. A mountain bike fitted with semi-slick tyres is ideal for these routes. Cyclocross bikes can be used on some of our semi-slick routes - see the trip dossier for confirmation of where this works.

Road Cycling

A road or a standard touring bike, fitted with either a compact or a triple chain set, is perfect for our Road Cycling journeys. A KE biking guide will lead these trips and your baggage will be transported in a support vehicle, which generally leapfrogs the group to provide en-route support as required.

Family

Our Family holidays have been specifically designed to meet the needs of the adventurous family. These holidays may include a variety of summer or winter activities, wildlife safari's and cultural tours. Each of our family adventures has a minimum child age, giving an indication of the difficulty of the trip.

Winter

Our winter holidays are separated into 3 types, Winter Activity, Snowshoeing and Ski Touring...

Winter Activity

Our Winter Multi Activity holidays offer a variety of thrilling winter experiences in the unspoilt Arctic regions of Scandinavia and Iceland to the Julian Alps of Slovenia. Activities range from dog sledding, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, ice-climbing and cross-country skiing. In addition you may find yourself ice fishing beneath the midnight sun, sleeping in an Ice-hotel or Igloo and witnessing the magic of the spectacular Northern Lights.

Snowshoeing

Our winter Snowshoe holidays are a wonderful way to escape the crowds and enjoy the winter landscapes. Following snow-clad trails that are otherwise completely inaccessibly, snowshoes allow us to explore forested ridges and climb to high mountain viewpoints. Whilst no experience is necessary a good level of fitness is required.

Ski Touring / Cross Country Skiing

Our ski-based holidays range from the tough ski mountaineering Haute Route to easier centre-based winter exploration of the Fjallabak in Iceland. Each of our ski holidays is led by a qualified ski guide, includes all accommodation and transport and usually all meals. Ski equipment hire is available locally for most of the trips. Whilst some of these holidays are suitable for competent piste skiers with little free-heel or backcountry experience, you should carefully read the trip description and holiday dossier to see what the actual requirements are.

Multi Activity

Many of our Multi Activity holidays have an element of walking, however they also include a combination of activities varying from white water-rafting, horse riding, climbing, via ferrata, canyoning, surfing, kayaking and sightseeing tours. All the appropriate equipment, safety procedures and training are provided for each activity. Whilst no experience is necessary for the majority of our multi activity holidays an adventurous spirit is required.

Wildlife & Safari

Our Wildlife and Safari holidays may be solely focused on wildlife viewing or contain an element of wildlife viewing as part of another activity based holiday. We will take you up close and personal to the world's most incredible animals from the elusive silverback gorillas of Uganda, tigers in India, orang-utans in Borneo, lemurs in Madagascar and the big 5 in Africa to the fabulous sight of whales, penguins and polar bears of the Polar regions.

Photo Special

All of our holidays provide the ingredients for you to take home some incredible photographic memories of your journey. However, our dedicated Photography holidays have the special added feature of being led by an experienced professional photographer, offering you an excellent opportunity to capture the magic of the country you are visiting.

Polar

On our holidays to the Polar regions you can sail to the Antarctic Peninsula and walk among the penguins, follow in Shackleton's footsteps on South Georgia, cruise among the Svalbard archipelago, home of the Polar bear or trek to the remotest parts of Greenland. North or South, a once-in-a-lifetime trip now fits within a 2-week holiday!

Explore More

These holidays represent our pioneering spirit and include the finest adventure holidays on the planet. Together with our friends at Allibert Trekking and Hauser Exkursionen (France and Germany's leading adventure travel operators) we have devised a special collection of outstanding adventure holidays. Only our most extraordinary journeys are part of the Explore More collection. These holidays will have English-speaking leaders and will operate in the style of international expeditions.

School Expeditions

Our School Expeditions programme presents a worldwide collection of adventurous and educational itineraries, each of which has been devised with school groups in mind. Each of our established itineraries can be amended to suit the particular needs of your group, to ensure that your students are enriched with a range of contrasting activities. Whether your priority is cultural, historical or geographical interest, or whether it's the sheer challenge that appeals, we are sure you will find what you are looking for.