There are places all over the world that are considered “adventure capitals”. Interlaken in Switzerland is one, where every minute brings a new thrill. The vie ferrate can be particularly hairraising. You can also go canyoning, skydiving, heliskiing and do a long, crazy list of things that get the blood pumping. The only limit, the locals say, is your bravery.
Baños in Ecuador is the Adventure Capital of South America. The name of this lush riverside town directly translates to “toilet”, which is where your head might be if you can't handle the whitewater rafting or “Swing at the End of the World”. Africa's Adventure Capital? That would be Vic Falls, with its whitewater rafting, microlight flights and swims in Devil's Pool.
The undisputed Adventure Capital of the World, though, is New Zealand's Queenstown.
Carved out of the land by glaciers, this South Island icon has also been shaped by innovative adventurers and pioneers. It's the birthplace of jet boating and bungee jumping, so you know the locals aren't quite right in the head.
As a travel journalist based in Cape Town for the past eight years, I've long thought the Mother City is worthy of a place on this list. Like a talon jutting out of a great beast, the Cape Peninsula extends south of the continent, where the Antarctic winds meet mountains rising out of the stormy seas. A more dramatic stage for adventure you're unlikely
