Departure Lounge: Experience outdoor adventures in Tampere, Finland
Tampere Pyhajarvi In Finland Lake
Aiming for an active break that’s off the radar? Tampere, in Finland offers exceptional outdoor adventures for camping and exploring.
Spend the night at Camp Go Park suspended between trees on Kekkä Island at Tentsile Experience and enjoy sheer silence.
A 30-minute kayak trip from Go Park Beach, you’ll find a serene lakeside setting with a wooden toilet, campfire spot and the use of canoe, kayak, or SUP board.
From lively jazz clubs to French colonial architecture, delicious gumbo and grits to Bourbon Street and the bayou, it’s a city that will dazzle.
- 5 nights for 4 people from €999 per person sharing, September 24-29, touramerica.ie
Enjoy the backdrop of Donegal’s Bluestack Mountains at five-star Lough Eske Castle. The Thermal Escape package includes an overnight stay, three-course dinner in the 2 AA Rosette restaurant, and 50-minute relaxation (with prosecco) in the new outdoor hot tubs in the walled garden.
Followed by an hour in the thermal suite, there’s also complimentary use of bicycles on the castle grounds. A perfect detour along the Wild Atlantic Way this summer, €469pps.
Head for the Highlands aboard the Caledonian Sleeper train, departing from London. A romantic way to experience the glorious Scottish scenery, you’ll disembark at Rannoch, one of Britain’s most remote train stations.
From here it’s a short and cheap taxi ride to Loch Rannoch Hotel Estate & Spa where the lakeside hideaway offers everything from hiking and kayaking to spa treatments and wild swimming.
€210 per room including full Scottish breakfast.
The elegant city of Budapest’s is celebrated for its empire-era architecture, but the city’s vibrant urban art is worth exploring too.
The sunny weather combined with huge murals and eclectic pop-up sculptures has created a cool open-air gallery, most noticeably in District VII, Budapest’s Jewish Quarter.
Once a tragic ghetto, this is now a vibrant neighbourhood where you’ll find impressive street art while exploring the Hungarian capital.
- 3-nights at the 4* Buda Castle Hotel, with return flights from Dublin 9-12 August 2024, €469 pps. Expedia.com