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Five of the world’s most frightening travel journeys

Get a kick out of thrills, spills and life-threatening journeys? We have just the ticket – the world’s most frightening journeys to test the gamest of adrenalin junkies.

Cycling North Yungas Road, Bolivia

Location

Between La Paz and the town of Coroico.

Fear factor

Also known as Death Road, Road of Fate and widely regarded as the World’s Most Dangerous Road, there are few roads that can make daredevils quiver like North Yungas Road.

Connecting the Amazon rainforest to Bolivia’s capital city La Paz, this single-lane road winds some 60-plus kilometres around dubious mountainsides, ascending to 4650 metres above sea level in places, then descending to 1200 metres.

And if a 600-metre drop into rainforest below and zero guardrails doesn’t make you break a sweat, there’s also the possibility of thick fog, muddy conditions and rock falls, resulting in a shocking number of fatalities every year.

Just pray you don’t meet much oncoming traffic.

Flying into Courchevel Airport, France

Location

In the French Alps near the Italian border.

Fear factor

This ski resort altiport has made many a ‘world’s most dangerous airports’ list, positioned in the high heavens, amid a maze of snow-capped peaks.

If the threat of crashing into a nearby peak wasn’t enough, there are also ski runs adjacent to the tarmac, making the runway is so short it had to be constructed with an incline to help slow incoming planes.

As a result, only a handful of specially-trained pilots are qualified to fly into Courchevel Airport.

Oh, and did we mention there’s no approach procedure or lighting aids here? Meaning landing in fog and low clouds is almost impossible.

Hiking Mount Hua Shan, China

Location

Near the city of Huayin in the Shaanxi province, about 120 kilometres east of Xi’an.

Fear factor

For centuries pilgrims have taken on Mount Hua Shan, climbing its five dangerously steep peaks to mountaintop temples. However it’s the South Mountain route that has trekkers shivering in their hiking boots.

Soaring 2160 meters above sea level, South Mountain is both the highest peak of Mount Hua Shan, and the highest among the Five Sacred Mountains of China.

The most nerve-wracking section of the trek is Plank Road, where you have to wobble your way up precarious 30-centimetre-wide wooden planks that have been bolted into the vertical mountainside.

Our advice? Don’t look down! It’s a bottomless gulf below.

Riding the Tren a las Nubes train line, Argentina

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Location

Departing Salta, it connects the Argentine Northwest with the Chilean border in the Andes mountains.

Fear factor

Initially built for economic reasons in the 1930s, Tren a la Nubes (also known as Train to the Clouds) now operates purely for tourists and those looking to conquer a fear of heights.

As one of the world’s highest railways, this 16-hour, 430-kilometre-round trip chugs through farmland, squeezes through tunnels and climbs more than 4200 metres at La Polvorilla.

Driving Skippers Canyon Road, New Zealand

Location

About a half hour drive north of Queenstown

Fear factor

Carved out of a sheer cliff face by hand by miners over 140 years ago, the waterfront views don’t make this bumpy drive any less daunting.

If the narrow road, dubious bends and rocky drop below aren’t cause for concern, the local rock that this road cuts through is so soft that in dry weather it quickly becomes dusty and in wet conditions the road becomes covered in greasy mud.

Needless to say, this is certainly not a drive for sight-seeing.

 

 

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8 grand journeys across Latin America

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    From camping along alpine meadows in Patagonia to cruising the Amazon, these are the best Latin America journeys to tick off your bucket list.

    1. The Q Circuit in Patagonia

    Travelling with: Emma Ventura

    the Torres del Paine mountains in Patagonia, Chile
    A turquoise lake surrounded by snow-capped peaks at Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park. (Image: Getty/ MBPROJEKT_Maciej_Bledowski)

    Tolkienian peaks, pristine lakes and snow-bloated rivers are highlights for most visitors spending a couple of days in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park. But for the more intrepid, the real rewards come from a 10-day solo circumnavigation of the Q Circuit, camping along tracks that become more sparsely trodden the further you head into the park’s astonishingly diverse landscape – think glacial passes and granite spires, alpine meadows and forest paths. Five-star lodges might provide a break from Patagonia’s infamously feisty weather, but there’s nothing like carrying your own kit, a chance encounter with an elusive puma, and a crackling wood stove in a remote refugio for delivering the kind of fulfilment that money just can’t buy.

    2. The jungles of Central America

    Travelling with: Megan Arkinstall

    women traversing the Mistico Hanging Bridges in La Fortuna, Costa Rica
    The Mistico Hanging Bridges in La Fortuna are perched above the forest floor.

    Emerging from the seas millions of years ago, the isthmus that is Central America is a tropical sanctuary of jungle-clad volcanoes, thunderous waterfalls and mist-shrouded rainforests, fringed by coral reefs. At its heart, Costa Rica is the land of pura vida (pure life), a tiny country that is home to six per cent of the world’s biodiversity – think toucans, macaws, anteaters, tapirs, jaguars, sloths – with verdant rainforest carpeting more than half the country. It’s a land to explore on two feet, two wheels and with two paddles. Do all three on Intrepid Travel’s eight-day Costa Rica: Hike, Bike & Raft tour and G Adventures’ 16-day Costa Rica Adventure.

    a toucan in the rainforest of Costa Rica
    A rainbow-billed toucan in the rainforest of Costa Rica. (Image: Getty/Freder)

    3. Dance across Latin America

    Travelling with: Elizabeth Whitehead

    samba dancing in the street, Brazil
    Put on your dancing shoes in Latin America. (Image: Getty/Pollyana Ventura)

    Don your tassels and get flirty cha cha-ing in Havana. Feel the heat dancing Argentine tango at a milonga in Buenos Aires. Hear the pulse of percussion as you samba in Rio. In Latin America, movement is an expression of culture, celebration and passion. You don’t have to be a professional to partake, and there are plenty of dance schools where foreigners can learn the basics. It’s easy as one-step, two-step, cha-cha-cha.

    4. Hike to Colombia’s Lost City

    Travelling with: Sarah Reid

    the terraces of Lost City, Colombia
    The Lost City is Colombia’s best-kept secret. (Image: Getty/Charly Boillot)

    Reaching the ancient ciudad perdida (‘Lost City’) of Teyuna hidden within the steamy jungles of northern Colombia is a surreal moment, amplified by the challenging three-to-five-day return trek to get there. Built by the Indigenous Tairona People around 800 CE, this labyrinthine complex of stone staircases and circular platforms has only been partly excavated since treasure looters stumbled upon it in 1972. Limited tourism infrastructure adds to the Indiana Jones vibe. Intrepid Travel’s new Lost City Trekking in Colombia tour includes a respectful visit to a Wiwa community to learn more about their Tairona Ancestors and traditional way of life.

    5. The Galápagos Islands

    Travelling with: Carla Grossetti

    the Observation Lounge at the top of the Silversea ship
    Visit the remote Galápagos Islands on a Silversea cruise.

    Expect the brackish air around the Galápagos Islands to be mixed with the gritty odour of bird droppings and pungent tang of sea lion BO. Twist your binoculars until the black eye of the giant Galápagos tortoise fills the other end, and you might imagine yourself to be quite the adventurer centuries after the inhabitants of these islands inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Get onboard a cruise with operators like Silversea, HX Expeditions, Celebrity Cruises and Metropolitan Touring to see the remote archipelago of 19 islands loom into view just 900 kilometres off the coast of mainland Ecuador.

    a blue-footed booby on the Galapagos Islands
    A blue-footed booby on the Galapagos Islands. (Image: Getty/Bruce Campos)

    6. Pantanal, Brazil

    Travelling with: Carla Grossetti

    a Jaguar walking on the banks of a river, South Pantanal, Brazil
    Spot a jaguar in the world’s largest tropical wetland. (Image: Getty/ Dgwildlife)

    Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is reportedly one of the best places on Earth to spot jaguars. This vast landscape of flooded plains and savannahs also shelters more than 650 species of birds (such as the toucan and hyacinth macaw) as well as various reptiles including the yellow anaconda and cold-blooded caiman (a type of crocodilian). Add capybaras, giant anteaters, maned wolves, giant river otters and South American tapirs to your wildlife bingo card, too. And find a tour that includes piranha fishing, if you dare.

    7. Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia

    Travelling with: Carla Grossetti

    the salt flats in Bolivia
    Immerse yourself in the world’s largest salt flats. (Image: Getty/ Olga Gavrilova)

    Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni covers more than 10,500 square kilometres, making it the world’s largest salt flats. The salt flats of Uyuni were formed more than 40,000 years ago when several prehistoric lakes dried up and left a bed of rich minerals behind. Stay at Luna Salada, where the walls and furnishings are made from dense bricks of packed salt, so you can immerse yourself in this ethereal landscape. Visit southern Bolivia during the dry season when the salt crystallises into mesmerising shapes and patterns.

    8. The iconic sites of Peru

    Travelling with: Megan Arkinstall

    scarlet macaws at a cliff in the Amazon
    The Amazon is home to diverse birdlife such as wild scarlet macaws.

    Hiking the Andes. Cruising the Amazon. It’s the stuff of legends. From the vast expanses of Lake Titicaca to the archaeological wonder of Machu Picchu to the Amazon Basin, one of the greatest remaining wildernesses on Earth, you can stitch Peru’s epic sites together on tour with andBeyond or Abercrombie & Kent. To sweeten the experience, both luxury operators are launching new state-of-the-art vessels on the Amazon River in September 2025 and July respectively.

    the superior suite onboard andBeyond Amazon Explorer
    Stay in a superior suite onboard andBeyond Amazon Explorer.