By weaving wellness rituals and active movement into your days naturally, you can easily stay on top of your fitness game while travelling.

Let’s be honest: Keeping fit while travelling isn’t always easy. Between indulgent local food, long flights, and jam-packed itineraries, your regular workout routine can quickly fall by the wayside. But keeping active on the go doesn’t have to mean waking up at 6am to hit the hotel gym. With a few clever tweaks and a little bit of motivation, you can enjoy your holiday and stay in shape — without feeling like you’re punishing yourself. Whether you’re off on a city break, a beach holiday, or a work trip, here are smart, realistic tips for staying fit while travelling — no bootcamp required.

Here Are 7 Essential Tips To Stay Fit While Travelling:

1. Walk Everywhere (Seriously, Everywhere)

The simplest way to stay active while travelling? Ditch the taxis and walk. Not only will it help you clock in thousands of steps a day, it’s also one of the best ways to see a destination up close. According to the NHS, adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week — and brisk walking counts. Try skipping the metro and walking between sights, or exploring different neighbourhoods on foot. Apps like Citymapper or Google Maps can help you plan pedestrian-friendly routes, and you’ll often stumble upon great cafes or viewpoints you’d never spot from a car.

2. Build Fitness Into Your Itinerary

This one’s all about mindset. Instead of carving out time for a traditional workout, think about how you can sneak fitness into your actual plans. Going to the beach? Swim laps or take a surfing lesson. Visiting the mountains? Schedule in a hike. Heading to Tokyo or New York? Sign up for a dance class or an active city tour. These types of activities also help you experience a destination in a more local, hands-on way — and they burn a fair number of calories while you’re at it.

3. Use Carry-On-Friendly Fitness Gear

You don’t need a suitcase full of gym equipment to stay in shape on the road. Resistance bands, skipping ropes and collapsible yoga mats all pack light and can transform any hotel room or park into a mini gym. Want something even easier? A pair of good-quality trainers and a set of workout clothes are enough to get started. Download bodyweight workout apps like Nike Training Club or FitOn, which offer short routines that can be done anywhere, anytime — many without needing any equipment at all.

4. Opt For Active Accommodation

Choosing the right place to stay can make staying fit a lot easier. Many hotels now offer free access to gyms, yoga classes, or even on-site bicycles. Airbnb listings often mention nearby parks or walking trails, and hostels frequently organise walking tours or surf meet-ups. If you prefer something more structured, wellness-focussed stays like Six Senses or COMO Hotels come with guided activities such as pilates, paddleboarding, and meditation sessions. Yes, it’s a bit extra — but if fitness is a priority, it’s worth the investment.

5. Use Travel Days For Recovery

Long flights or train rides can be hard on your body — hello, swollen ankles and tight shoulders. Use these days as your rest or active recovery days. Stretch at the airport, do ankle circles during your flight, and once you land, take a gentle walk to get your circulation moving. Pro tip: Compression socks and a reusable water bottle are lifesavers on long-haul flights.

6. Watch What (And When) You Eat

Travel often means indulging in local cuisine — and that’s half the fun. But it’s easy to go overboard with rich meals, snacks on the go, and late-night cocktails. Try sticking to the 80/20 rule: Eat healthily 80% of the time, and enjoy treats guilt-free the other 20%. Eating heavy meals late at night can also affect sleep and energy levels. Where possible, make lunch your main meal and go lighter in the evening. And don’t forget to hydrate — especially on flights or in hot climates. Dehydration can make you feel sluggish and more prone to skipping exercise.

7. Stay Accountable (Without Killing The Vibe)

If you need a bit of motivation, set small, achievable goals for your trip — like doing a 10-minute stretch every morning or walking 10,000 steps a day. Travel with a friend who’s also keen to stay active, or use an app like Strava to track your movement. You can even treat fitness like a souvenir: Take a photo of each new place you work out in, whether it’s a beach in Portugal or a rooftop in Bangkok. It’s a fun way to stay consistent and document your travels at the same time.

Discover 9 of the world’s most spectacular birdwatching destinations—from Peru’s Amazon to Japan’s snow-covered wetlands. Perfect for beginners and pros.

Birdwatching isn’t just a hobby—it’s a front-row seat to the theatre of nature. From snow-kissed Japanese wetlands to steamy Central American jungles, these global hotspots offer unforgettable encounters with some of the world’s rarest and most spectacular birds. Whether you’re a seasoned birder or just starting out, these destinations deserve a place on your travel wishlist.

1. Manu National Park, Peru

Deep in the Peruvian Amazon lies Manu—a living, breathing symphony of biodiversity. With over 1,000 recorded bird species, from rainbow-colored macaws to the elusive cock-of-the-rock, it’s one of Earth’s richest birding grounds.

2. The Gambia, West Africa

Tiny in size, vast in biodiversity—The Gambia is a birdwatching treasure trove. Glide along the River Gambia’s mangroves and woodlands to spot sunbirds, hornbills, and hundreds of migratory species in full plumage.

3. Florida Everglades, USA

The Everglades is more than just swampland—it’s a vibrant haven for herons, roseate spoonbills, and the iconic bald eagle. Paddle through cypress groves and mangroves to catch the birds of North America in action.

4. Papua New Guinea

For the serious birder, Papua New Guinea is the stuff of legend. Hidden within its remote rainforests are flamboyant birds-of-paradise performing mating rituals like nowhere else on Earth.

5. Bale Mountains, Ethiopia

High-altitude birding doesn’t get more dramatic. Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains are home to rare endemic species like the Abyssinian owl and blue-winged goose, set against an epic backdrop of alpine moorlands.

6. Broome Bird Observatory, Australia

At the edge of the Indian Ocean, Broome is a migratory magnet for thousands of waders. Flocks of sandpipers and godwits turn Roebuck Bay into a feathered frenzy during migration seasons.

7. Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, India

Kerala’s best-kept secret, Thattekad is a dense green pocket teeming with endemic wonders like the Malabar trogon and Sri Lanka frogmouth. It’s a dream for tropical bird lovers.

8. Hokkaido, Japan

For a birding experience straight out of a fairytale, head to Hokkaido in winter. Watch red-crowned cranes dance through snowy fields and see mighty Steller’s sea eagles swoop across icy waters.

9. Costa Rica

This Central American jewel is a birdwatcher’s utopia. With over 900 species, including resplendent quetzals and iridescent hummingbirds, every hike or canopy walk feels like a natural treasure hunt.

Birdwatching is more than ticking names off a list—it’s about immersion, patience, and wonder. From icy landscapes to lush rainforests, these destinations offer a rare chance to connect with nature on its most colorful terms. Ready to pack your binoculars?

From a desert monument in Oman with a soaring spike to a colourful waterside pavilion in Japan to a grand museum in Egypt featuring 100,000 pharaonic artefacts, each of these buildings deserves to be on your must-visit list.

Announced annually at UNESCO in Paris and celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, the Prix Versailles honours architectural excellence in a variety of cultural venues. Including World’s Most Beautiful Museums — its recently unveiled list includes seven new, or newly reopened, institutions around the world. All are visually outstanding, and reflect their local heritage in unique, innovative ways. They are competing for three prizes, with the winners to be revealed in November: the Prix Versailles itself, and awards for the best interior and exterior. Here’s a rundown of the contenders – which ones get your vote?

7 of the most Beautiful Museums in the World

A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, China

You might do a double-take when you first see the A4 Art Museum. Chengdu is one of China’s most populated cities, but the museum’s location, the suburban district of Luxetown, was modelled on a hillside town in Tuscany, complete with a church and country club. The museum building, which sits on one side of a Florentine-style piazza, has been remodelled by Tektonn Architects (founded in Paris, but now based in Chengdu) in ingenious fashion: from the outside, it maintains its quasi-medieval proportions, but is subtly updated with a geometric corner façade and tall, thin windows. Inside, it’s even more surprising. Three floors above ground are open, welcoming spaces in keeping with the adjacent piazza, while two below house beautifully minimalist exhibition galleries. The perfect fusion of old and new, easily making it onto the list of the world’s most beautiful museums.

Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza, Egypt

Having the three Great Pyramids of Giza next door to your museum must be intimidating for any architect, so it’s no surprise that it took Dublin studio Heneghan Peng Architects 20 years to complete the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is scheduled to open later this year and will house over 100,000 pharaonic artefacts from Ancient Egypt. The architects’ design riffs on the austere geometry of the pyramids, with its sharply intersecting limestone planes and triangular gardens; inside, the colossal entrance atrium wows visitors, perforations in its walls and ceiling allowing sunlight to illuminate a huge statue of Ramses II (himself one of Ancient Egypt’s most ambitious builders). Ascend the grand staircase and you’ll be treated to peerless views of the Giza Plateau and the pyramids beyond.

Smritivan Earthquake Museum, Bhuj, India

The Smritivan Earthquake Museum serves as a memorial to the 2001 earthquake that killed 12,932 people in Smritivan, Gujarat. Architect Rajeev Kathpalia of Vastu Shilpa Sangath has brought the devastated site back to life with a terraced structure in sand-coloured stone. Its galleries climb up a steep incline and are connected by a winding path, their circular forms echoing the architecture of a ruined fortress overlooking the site. Kathpalia has also planted 12,932 trees, which surround the museum with a lush forest; they are watered by 50 reservoirs on which the names of the victims are engraved. Inside, the museum is divided into seven blocks named Rebirth, Rediscover, Restore, Rebuild, Rethink, Relive and Renew; each represents a different aspect of what the museum symbolises. Artefacts, art and virtual-reality displays explore Gujarat’s topography and its vulnerability to natural disasters, as well as the story of recovery.

Simose Art Museum, Hiroshima, Japan

There’s a poetic beauty to Japan’s Simose Art Museum that’s hard to beat. Designed by celebrated architect Shigeru Ban, the museum takes the form of eight mobile galleries in multicoloured glass. These sit atop a reflective pool and form an arresting contrast to the surrounding landscape, which borders the Seto Inland Sea. At night, the museum is lit to a luminous effect; by day, it presents a vibrant scene with its contemporary garden of seasonal plants and flowers. Many of the latter were favourite motifs for the French Art Nouveau glass artist Emil Gallé, whose work makes up a significant portion of the museum’s collection (it also displays works by Matisse and Chagall, and a collection of Japanese dolls). From the rooftop, there’s a wonderful view of the Setouchi Islands, which partly inspired the arrangement of galleries on water.

Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

The new extension to the Paleis Het Loo, housed in a 17^th-century former royal palace near Apeldoorn and one of The Netherlands’ most popular museums, is the Dutch answer to the Louvre Pyramid. Rotterdam firm KAAN Architecten had the ingenious idea of using the hydraulic systems employed in the palace gardens as a creative springboard for an underground extension. Visible at ground level as a serene oval pool and fountain in the palace courtyard, it incorporates glass skylights that illuminate a series of white marble galleries beneath. Reflecting the symmetry of the baroque palace but at the same time utterly modern, the extension houses a museum for children and a permanent exhibition on the Dutch royal family.

Oman Across Ages Museum, Manah, Oman

Oman’s breathtaking new national museum, designed by Australian firm Cox Architecture, is inspired by the landscape that surrounds it: situated on a flat desert plain with the Al Hajar Mountains in the distance, its gleaming white exterior is dominated by a towering spike, which rises next to an expansive canopied plaza. The Oman Across Ages Museum is, as its name suggests, a celebration of the country’s rich history, and is located in Manah, near to the ancient capital city of Nizwa. This region has many archaeological sites and is known for its numerous historic forts. The museum is intended to inspire young Omanis to connect to their past, and has been many years in the making – it was the vision of Oman’s late ruler, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said.

Polish History Museum, Warsaw, Poland

The Polish History Museum forms part of one of the biggest museum complexes in the world, occupying a site in the Warsaw Citadel next to the Polish Army Museum and the Katyn Museum. Its monolithic marble façade forms a dramatic contrast with the surrounding parkland, as well as referencing the layout of the barracks that formerly stood on the site. Local architecture firm WXCA has clad the new building in grey marble slabs arranged in contrasting horizontal strips, resulting in remarkable tonal and textural variations. As if to underscore this layered effect, relief patterns that represent an “archaeological cross-section” of Polish history are etched into the stone: they borrow from the design of bas-relief doors in Gniezno Cathedral, the decorations of St Sigismund’s Chapel in Krakow, and the Modernist Spodek arena complex in Katowice, among other buildings.

From the rugged backcountry of Canada to the glacier-fed basins of Norway, these lake-studded countries are a dream for swimmers, canoers, cold-dippers and the chronically outdoorsy. Here are the countries with the most natural lakes in the world, and why you might want to seek them out.

How this list was made

This ranking is based on data collected by geographers at McGill University, Canada, as part of a larger study published in the Nature Communications journal. This data counts natural lakes with a surface area of at least 0.1 square kilometres (10 hectares). That means tiny ponds, wetlands, and man-made reservoirs are excluded. Countries like Finland and Estonia, while famous for their high lake density, have many small lakes that don’t meet this size threshold, so they don’t rank as high in total count under this method.

Countries with the most natural lakes

Canada: 879,800 lakes

More than half of the world’s lakes lie within Canada’s borders, and you’re never too far from one, especially in Ontario and British Columbia. From the glacier-fed Moraine Lake in Alberta to the remote waters of the Yukon, this is a wilderness lover’s dream.

Russia: 201,200 lakes

Russia’s sheer landmass means thousands of lakes scattered across taiga, tundra, and mountain. Don’t miss Lake Baikal in Siberia, the world’s deepest and oldest freshwater lake, with its own ecosystem and transparent ice in winter.

United States: 102,500 lakes

From the Great Lakes in the north to the alpine pools of Colorado and Montana, the US has it all. Minnesota alone is nicknamed the “land of 10,000 lakes”, though the actual number is even higher.

China: 23,800 lakes

China’s lakes span everything from the turquoise Namtso Lake in Tibet to the vast Poyang Lake in the southeast. Many are sacred in Tibetan and Buddhist traditions.

Sweden: 22,600 lakes

With its endless forests and friluftsliv (open-air living) lifestyle, Sweden’s lake culture runs deep. Canoe routes, lakeside saunas, and wild swims are practically a summer ritual here, across expansive lakes like Vanern in central Sweden and Malaren near Stockholm.

Brazil: 20,900 lakes

Often overlooked for its rivers, Brazil also boasts thousands of natural lakes, especially in the Amazon basin and Pantanal wetlands. Many are surrounded by wildlife-rich ecosystems.

Norway: 20,000 lakes

Glacial lakes, fjordside pools, and snow-fed mountain tarns dot Norway’s rugged landscape. Locals often hike with swimsuits in tow—wild swimming is a national pastime.

Argentina: 13,600 lakes

From the snow-capped Andes to the steppes of Patagonia, Argentina’s lakes include famous spots like Lake Nahuel Huapi, which is great for kayaking, fishing, or just sipping Malbec by the shore.

Kazakhstan: 12,400 lakes

These lakes are often found in steppes and semi-arid zones, giving them an otherworldly beauty. The iconic Lake Balkhash is especially unique, half of it is freshwater, the other half saline.

Australia: 11,400 lakes

While many Australian lakes are seasonal or saltwater, the country is still dotted with massive inland basins. Don’t miss Lake Eyre (Kati Thanda), which floods only occasionally but transforms into a vivid, otherworldly mirror when it does.

Whether you’re drawn to pristine alpine waters or hidden forest ponds, lake-rich countries offer a slower, scenic kind of adventure. Come summer, they’re perfect for swimming, paddling, and stargazing; in winter, some freeze into natural ice rinks. Just don’t forget your swimsuit and your mosquito repellent.