by Janice Lynn Mather Thinking of trying adventure travel? Save your energy for hiking in the Rockies, biking through Grand Canyon, or surfing Mexico’s coasts. These five adventure travel company profiles will point you in the direction of tried-and-true tour options that can get you on a journey you’ll love.

Trusted Adventures Whether you’re organizing a high school trip through the desert canyons of the US or want to experience Mexico’s ancient temples on a romantic holiday. Trusted Adventures makes it easy to find what you want. The company is an alliance of five long-established adventure travel companies, Wildland Adventures, Austin-Lehman Adventures, Euro-Bike & Walking Tours, Western River Expeditions, and AAVE Teen Adventures. The result? Five times the options, and a website that lets you search for your ideal adventure trek in a variety of different ways. Start your search based on preferred destination, and choose from adventures in North America or around the world. Or trip-hunt based on what sort of adventure you crave; specific categories include walking and hiking, biking, water exploration, wildlife/photography centered trips, sports-oriented jaunts, and eco-friendly or culturally focused journeys. You can even search based on whether you want a great trip for one or an excursion for your entire extended family. Adventure Travel Company Adventure Travel Company is useful if you want a wide variety of company and tour choices; it partners with 60-plus companies and offers over 12,000 tour options. The site provides links to various partner companies, and their recommendations and best picks from each. This Canadian company is particularly good if you know you’re up for a trip, but need pointers and suggestions. Check out their Destination of the Month feature, which selects a region and provides several tour options that cover various places of interests, for a variety of prices and lengths of time. Butterfield and Robinson This company is popular for its adventure-meets-mellow approach to travel. Butterfield and Robinson has been around since 1966, and focuses on enjoying the world’s adventures and splendid sights in active but leisurely luxury. If a more spontaneous approach to adventure travel appeals to you, this adventure travel company is a great choice. Butterfield and Robinson also offers personalized tour options, so you won’t feel pressured by a pressing schedule, and will, on any given journey, be free to enjoy the adventures that appeal to you the most. Backroads Backroads, which was reader-selected as top world tour operator by Travel + Leisure magazine, also offers do-it-yourself, pace-it-yourself adventure journeys. Interesting features this adventure travel company offers includes their Premiere Inns options. Since they partner with highly recommended, high quality, and culturally authentic accommodation options around the world, you can combine rugged (or relaxed) biking and hiking tours with top-rated restaurants and resorts. Other interesting options you’ll find on their website include their combinations of outdoorsy explorations with activities less common to adventure travel, like the Tuscany Cooking & Walking tour, which includes adventures on foot as well as in the kitchen. Big World Trips With Big World Trips, you can choose your vacation by preferred sport — or by natural phenomena. In their activities section, you can see the best spots for scuba diving or surfing, hiking or kayaking, check out international skiing destinations, or choose from North American mountain biking options. Under their adventures link, you can explore aspects of adventure travel you might not have considered before. Want several short adventures and a luxurious holiday? Check out their adventure cruises. The Natural Wonders selection gives you touring options for taking in global splendors from the North Pole’s Northern Lights to Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls. If you’re feeling particularly brave, investigate the best touring options for seeing the world’s volcanoes. Adventure Collection For adventurous travelers with an ethical bent, Adventure Collection provides vacations that’ll leave you feeling great in more ways than one. Member companies of this adventure travel company alliance focus on transparency, maintain positive relationships with the communities they tour, and opt for sustainable and ecological practices. You can travel responsibly in a variety of different activities. Of course, there are adventure standards like hiking, biking, and kayaking, but many excursions include less common activities, like wilderness medicine. You also can search for trips with a cultural bent, like a Bali biking tour where you’ll become immersed in local cuisine, or a walking tour of China that focuses on architecture and art.