5 ways to explore Italy’s great outdoors

Rome: Although its citizens are famously proponents of la dolce vita, a good life needn’t mean an idle one — Italy offers ample opportunities for adrenaline-seekers, whether it’s the entire reason for your trip, or the interval to a more leisurely itinerary. Inspiring natural backdrops and knowledgeable local operators abound, and there are options for every season and level of skill.

1. Kayak the Conero Riviera

Its vivid blue waters and ivory beaches backdropped by lush green scrubland, this is the little-known Le Marche region’s answer to the Caribbean. Some of the more remote stretches of this Adriatic fringe can be challenging to access by land, but relatively calm waters make kayaks the ideal way to get around. Local operator Conerostyle runs daytime, sunrise and sunset guided excursions to wild strands like Mezzavalle, taking in hidden coves and soaring rock sculptures along the way.

Book it: 90-minute kayaking tour, from Portonovo €30 (£26) per person.

2. Swim Sardinia’s Emerald Coast

Most people experience the jewel-like waters off Sardinia’s north east from the icing sugar sands of its shore, but you’ll get a different perspective — and a much quieter one — if you book onto SwimTrek’s new tour. Days are spent front-crawling between islands like Budelli, Santa Maria and Razzoli, recovering with a leisurely lunch on the deck of your group’s private boat. Among the hidden coves and otherworldly beaches you’ll visit is Cala Brandinchi, known as ‘Little Tahiti’ for reasons that are immediately obvious.

(Beyond Costa Smeralda: why you should visit Gallura, Sardinia’s hidden corner.)

3. Cycle around Lake Garda

Surrounded by broad, smooth and undulating roads, Lake Garda is prime territory for a pedal-powered trip. Circumnavigating Italy’s largest body of water will become more straightforward when the Ciclovia del Garda, a dedicated cycle track, opens in 2026, but the existing routes will wind you past pretty towns, freshwater beaches and Roman ruins. Headwater offer e-bikes to help with the more robust stretches of their six-night, self-guided cycling break, whether you’re powering through vineyards on the way to a Valpolicella wine-tasting or gliding past Mantua’s 15th-century Basilica Sant’Andrea.

Book it: Six nights from €1,192 (£1,029) per person, including B&B accommodation and e-bike hire.

4. Dive off Elba

Vivid corals and spine-tingling shipwrecks, magical grottos and a Second World War plane wreck — the waters around this Tuscan island offer a cascade of adventures that seem lifted from a children’s storybook. Some of the finest sites are clumped offshore near Campo nell’Elba, in the south west, where kaleidoscopic schools of fish swirl around a submerged Madonna sculpture, and barracuda teem by boulder formations. There are many PADI-approved centres on the island offering excursions and accreditation courses. With Sottolonda, you can even learn how to dive at night.

5. Ski cross-country in the Dolomites

Often referred to as the ‘Queen of the Dolomites’, the ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo will be thrust centre-stage when it co-hosts the Winter Olympics in February 2026 — but there’s still time to experience it before the crowds descend. A cluster of wooden chalets encircled by the craggy ‘pale mountains’, the town has more than 200 cross-country trails within striking distance — as well as an appealing apres-ski scene. Highlights of the Dolomites Mountains guided tour include the snow-dusted pines and frozen lakes along the old Cortina-Dobbiaco railway line, now a converted ski trail.