Banish The 'January Blues' With Once-in-a-Lifetime Experiences

As optimistic as we intend to be about the New Year and the idea of a clean slate, January is all too often spent fighting off the blues. Festivities are replaced with sobriety, the pub by the gym, and on top of it all the pressure of sticking to those New Year’s resolutions.

One way to break free of the New-Year gloom is to prepare for the year ahead by booking a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Here, Culture Trip has identified five that will get you excited – and through the first month of the year.

1. Watch the Northern Lights from a Finnish lake

Natural Feature

The Northern Lights are notoriously hard to come by and seeing them requires patience and dedication. You could be waiting a long time, and rather than standing around freezing, why not pop on a drysuit and float on a lake? You’ll be surrounded by icebergs and, hopefully, you’ll catch sight of the aurora borealis. Pickup and drop-offs are included at selected Rovaniemi hotels, which are close to the lake.

2. Hike in Monteverde, Costa Rica

Hiking Trail, Natural Feature

Hanging bridge in Monteverde, Costa Rica

The area of Monteverde in the volcanic Cordillera de Tilarán mountain range is best known for its rare cloud-forest ecosystem, which means the region is consistently covered in clouds, and biodiversity thrives as a byproduct. See this first-hand on a hike with a private guide, who will help you spot its residents, which include birds, sloths and monkeys. Choose from trails which snake along the Santa Elena Reserve, Monteverde Reserve, Aguti Reserve, Curi Cancha Reserve or SkyWalk bridges. There are options for those who use wheelchairs, too.

4. Cross-country ski in Sapporo, Japan

Natural Feature, Ski Resort

Winter holidays skiing at Sapporo Kokusai, Hokkaido, Japan.

With snow coming down for around 125 days a year, Japan’s fifth-largest city of Sapporo is the place to go if cold climes and snow-based activities pique your interest. Chitose North Snow Land, just fifteen minutes from New Chitose Airport, is your port of call for a day of fun on the slopes. Among your options are cross-country skiing, tube sledding, snow rafting, horseback riding and taking to the snow on a quad bike. Cram as much as you can into a day, but make sure you round it off with shabu-shabu, a warming Japanese hotpot of vegetables and meat – essential after a day out in the cold.

5. See the ‘big five’ in Kruger National Park, South Africa

Natural Feature, Park

South Africa’s Kruger National Park is one of the few reserves where you can get up close and personal with the ‘big five’ – lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalos. You’ll see most (if not all) of them during your three day safari, along with plenty of other wildlife. All this will be done under the expert guidance of an experienced game ranger in an open safari vehicle. Hotel pickup and drop-offs are included, and so are all your meals.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.