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There's A New Luxury Travel Trend Emerging—It's Not What You Expect
Hiking from hut to hut on a multi-day adventure is one way to get out of your comfort zone while traveling. Wendy Altschuler
Luxury travel has long been defined as the delicate art of indulgence and exclusivity. Sipping cocktails by a posh pool, sinking into an hour-long massage, tasting flavors from highly trained award-winning chefs over lingering dinners with an all-encompassing view of a push pop-colored sunset—these are the images typically summoned when one thinks of luxe glittery Babylonian vacations.
But there's a surprising new trend on the rise for savvy wanderers with money to spend and it's one that is grounded in bold transformative outdoor experiences.
Welcome to the hottest frontier of 'challenge travel', where Type 2 Fun—a character building experience that is demanding and taxing in the moment but enriching in retrospection—is king. Here, premium travel doesn't rely solely on comfort, leisure, and traditional high-end amenities, but rather, it gives the discerning wanderer the chance to test their fortitude, malleability, and sense of adventure.
Experience wild landscapes on a private guided tour—the ultimate luxury. Wendy Altschuler
This shift, where a new generation of travelers are seeking out more meaningful happenings and opportunities for personal growth through intrepid exploits, is reflected in the tourism business—in spades.
According to a report by Grand View Research, the global adventure tourism market size is expected to blossom from more than $406 billion in 2024 to $1 trillion in 2030. This includes a wide range of multi-sport outdoor activities, including rafting, trekking, cycling, swimming, and more. This is good—and profitable—news for adventure travel companies looking to make their mark on the industry.
Yes, it's true: the global adventure tourism market is positioned to become one of the fastest expanding tourist sectors, especially as a result of travelers prioritizing not only health and wellness, but also, somatic and cerebral prowess.
Wildflowers abound on this hut-to-hut adventure in the French and Italian Alps. Wendy Altschuler A Leader in the Adventure Travel Space
One adventure company that is leading the charge and meeting the moment is Eleven, curators of hyper-personalized guided outdoor adventures that utilize off-the-grid luxury lodgings in sought-after destinations including Iceland, France, Canada, New Zealand, Chile, Bahamas, Colorado, and Alaska.
For those seeking out big adventures, zesty romps in nature that will test your mettle, look no further than Eleven's hut-to-hut multi-day hiking journey.
You'll arrive in the lovely hilltop farming hamlet of Le Miror in the Tarentaise Valley of the French Alps, home to the most cozy chalets with windows flanked by wooden shutters and lined with flower boxes.
Delights are found around every corner, through every window, at Eleven Chalet Hibou. Wendy Altschuler The New Definition of Luxury
Eleven Chalet Hibou will be your adventure base camp. This high-alpine haven in the alps is where you'll learn about the local Savoie culture, enjoy lavish and delectable meals and French wine, and relax in the Finnish sauna or patio hot tub. What really makes this chalet so indelible, however, is the amenable and caring staff, who assist with your every need and wish and build genuine connections that are almost unheard of at other luxe properties.
But it's not all vin and fromage.
On this custom tour, you'll cycle through the bucolic countryside on pedal-assist mountain bikes; sample fragrant cheeses while cowbells echo in the distance; magnify your grin whitewater rafting on the Isère River; rock climb or clip in to the via Cordata; and subpoena your grit while canyoneering in the Chalami Canyon in the Aosta Valley of Italy.
Swimming in the high alpine Lac Noir is a worthy adventure. Wendy Altschuler Hiking from Hut to Hut in The Alps
For the trekking portion of the trip, you'll hike for several miles, up and over two mountain passes—Col De Montseti and the historic Col du Mont pass on the France and Italy border where you'll see sobering wartime relics.
With 4,800 feet of ascent and over 5,000 feet of descent, you'll make your way from Refuge les Mollettes in the Ruitor Valley on the French side to Rifugio Valgrisenche in the Valgrisenche Valley on the Italian side.
Expect to marvel at saddles blanketed in blueberries and multi-hued wildflowers, marmots trilling their warnings, ibex perched on rocky spines, and neon critters that wiggle and hop underfoot. And, if you get the chance to jump in the brisk Lac Noir mid-way through your trek, don't pass it up—it's an opportunity to feel truly alive.
Rifugio Valgrisenche in the Valgrisenche Valley is a welcome sight after a long day of trekking in the alps. Wendy Altschuler An Elevated Stay
Once you finish for the day, and you've arrived at your beautifully renovated sheep herders' hut, stone structures that date back to the early 1900s, you'll be rewarded for your efforts with a chef-prepared al fresco meal complete with locally-foraged Génépi, a traditional herbal apéritif . (Twelve Interiors, led by Blake Pike, co-owner of Eleven, are the masterminds behind the interior design for all of the properties in the Eleven lineup.)
It's an adren-zen multi-sport adventure where Eleven is the vanguard in the imaginative new era of challenge travel.
