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 20/20Sports & Fitness
Visiting a city shouldn’t consign you to boardrooms and, well, boredom. Opportunity for activity abounds, and in some surprising places. Whether you are doing business in a big city or on a leisurely vacation in need of a sporty outing, here are 20 great options for fitness in 20 spots around the globe. BY KEN MCALPINE
1 LIHUE, KAUAI Start by hiking the lush trails in Waimea Canyon State Park; many are quite easy, and virtually all offer sweeping views of canyon or sea. More difficult is Kauai’s trophy hike: the 11-mile Kalalau Trail on the Na Pali coast. It begins at Kee Beach; make sure you take the two-mile side trek off the main trail to swim under 300-foot Hanakapiai Falls. Head to the north shore and Hanalei for a surfing lesson (pictured left) from Hawaiian Surfing Adventures. (808) 482- 0749, www.hawaiiansurfingadventures.com
2 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA One of Australia’s best coastal hikes, the Manly Scenic Walkway, plows right through the city’s heart and Sydney Harbour National Park. Prefer the water? Kayak Sydney Harbour. Care for a jog or a surf at the beach? Bondi, Manly, and nearly 70 other sandy strips are within a ferry/car hop of downtown. For something different, hike to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (pictured above) along steel catwalks and ladders to a city panoramic like no other. 011-61-2-8274-7777, www.bridgeclimb.com
3 SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (pictured above) is just 20 minutes from downtown; here, amid a rainforest jumble, you can hike and, just outside the reserve, mountain bike and climb. Singapore may have more rock climbing gyms and indoor walls than any city, plus some nice real-life granite quarries, too. Set aside an extra two days and make the four-hour drive into Malaysia to spectacular Endau- Rompin National Park. Riddled with hiking trails, the rainforest is thought to be older than the Amazon. 011- 65-6468-5736, www.nparks.gov.sg/nature_bukit.asp
4 SAPPORO, JAPAN Northernmost Hokkaido is Japan’s second largest island, yet only five percent of Japan’s population lives here. In warm times, Hokkaido is rife with hiking opportunity — from the mountainous terrain of Daisetsuzan National Park to the rugged seascapes of Rishiri-to and Rebun-to islands. The Shiretoko-hanto (peninsula) is one of Japan’s most pristine wilderness areas. Soak in an onsen (hot spring) in any season. In winter, the ski resorts of Niseko offer some of the world’s best powder skiing. www.niseko.ne.jp/en
 5 SANTIAGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC No shortage of excitement here. You can mule-trek through lush jungle; surf elegant waves at Cabarete; white-water raft on the Rio Yaque de Norte; hike to the top of Pico Duarte (10,164 feet), the Caribbean’s highest mountain; or try canyoneering, a mix of hiking, swimming, and rock clambering. Start with a mountain-bike ride through shaded corridors of mango trees and rampaging hibiscus in El Choco National Park. One operator, Iguana Mama, can get you on an adventure of your choice. (809) 571-0908, www.iguanamama.com
6 WASHINGTON, D.C. Everybody runs, bikes, and hikes on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Enjoy the quieter, wooded Glover-Archibald Trail, smack-dab in the middle of the city. Within sight of the Washington Monument, and on up the Potomac River and its tributary creeks (the Nanjemoy, Mattawoman, and Chopawamsic), lies some of the country’s best bass fishing; also upriver, world-class white-water kayaking at Great Falls. An hour west of town, Harpers Ferry National Historic Park has fun tubing, canoeing, and hiking. (304) 535-6029, www.nps.gov/hafe
7 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Run beside the shimmering Charles River (the entire river loop encompassing the Boston and Cambridge sides is just over 17 miles), and through The Fens, a serene wetlands preserve. Fast-step 294 stairs to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. Cycle the Minuteman Bikeway, paralleling much of Paul Revere’s ride, or ride the Claire Saltonstall Bikeway all the way to Cape Cod. Tour the city via Paddle Boston, kayaking through Boston Harbor and along the Charles. (617) 965-5110, www.paddleboston.com
8 LAS VEGAS, NEVADA Within Sin City there’s the just-completed 180-acre Springs Preserve with a botanical garden and trails, but it’s the stuff just outside town that really shines. Forty-five miles from the Strip, and plenty of degrees cooler, hike to the 11,918-foot summit of Mount Charleston and peer all the way to Death Valley. Just 20 miles west of town, Red Rock Canyon has superb hiking, climbing, and mountain biking on glissade rock. Rent a bike from McGhie’s. (702) 252-8077, www.mcghies.com
 9 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Chicago (pictured above) has more than 500 parks and, courtesy of Lake Michigan, plenty of watersports and beaches. Kayakers can weave right through downtown, with a view of the Sears Tower, along the Chicago River. Just north of the city, Deer Grove in Palatine has wintertime trails for cross-country skiers and warm-weather trails for runners and mountain bikers. ninety miles north of Chicago you’ll find Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine State Forest a haven for hikers and mountain bikers. (608) 266-2181, www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks
10 VICTORIA, VANCOUVER ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA Small wonder Victoria is home to surfers, climbers, scuba divers, white-water kayakers, fishermen, hikers, sailors, and cyclists. The city itself shines — bicycle the Seaside Bicycle Route or kayak the Gorge, Victoria’s serpentine inland tidal waterway — but it’s the West Coast that defines adventure with vast forests, beaches, trails (including the famed Wild Pacific Trail), and some of the best sea kayaking in the world. stay an extra few days and explore the wild West with Island Adventure Tours via almost any activity you choose. (250) 812- 7103, www.islandadventuretours.com
11 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA The world’s largest urban national park, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (pictured below), pushes right against L.A., and is a wild playground perfect for hiking, climbing, mountain biking, and even trout fishing. Novice mountain bikers will enjoy a ride along the rolling dirt road running through Sycamore Canyon. For hikers, the view from the 3,111-foot summit of Sandstone Peak is breathtaking by day and even more spectacular at night, when city lights twinkle like the Milky Way. (805) 370-2301, www.nps.gov/samo
12 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND Just over an hour’s drive from Geneva’s airport, skiers and mountaineers have long flocked to Chamonix, France, at the base of 15,771- foot Mont Blanc. Experienced climbers ascend the famed Dru, but in summer you can just hike up to Le Lac Blanc, an alpine lake at 7,000 feet. in winter there’s glacier skiing, some 9,200 feet of vertical drop, and Western Europe’s longest ski run, 12 gliding miles. Hire a guide for this last one. 011-33-4-50-53-00-88, www.chamonix-guides.com
13 BARCELONA, SPAIN Travel 60 miles northeast of Barcelona to Girona, a base for professional cyclists who train along the forest roads of the Pyrenees foothills and sun-spackled roads edging the Mediterranean coast. Ride the Vias Verdes (“green paths”) that radiate in all directions from Girona (a local favorite: the 50-mile out and back to coastal Sant Feliu de Guixols). Less than an hour’s drive east of Girona is the Catalonia Costa Brava, where deep coves offer some of the world’s most breathtaking sea kayaking. 011-34-972- 77-38-06, www.kayakingcostabrava.com
14 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA At 75,000 acres-plus, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (encompassing the Presidio, Lands End, etc.), is flush with hiking, biking, and running trails; try the Bay Area Ridge Trail. SF also puts the gym stair climber to shame: The city has some 300 stairways (pictured left), offering both invigoration and a look at artsy neighborhoods and lovingly tended gardens. start by traipsing up the Filbert steps to Telegraph Hill. (415) 391-2000, www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com
15 GLASGOW, SCOTLAND Just a three-hour drive from Glasgow resides some of the best golf you’ve never heard of, Scottish isles-style: breathtaking coast-edged links and some of the loveliest fairways in Scotland. play the Old Course at the Moray Golf Club, the Championship Course at Nairn Golf Club, and a round, or three, at Boat of Garten Golf & Tennis Club. Happy coincidence, the resident Spey is one of Scotland’s best salmon rivers. Also within easy reach, several dozen distilleries of fine malt scotch. 011-44- 1479-831-282, www.boatgolf.com
16 ATLANTA, GEORGIA Atlanta has great climbing and bouldering in town at Boat Rock, sailing and windsurfing on Lake Lanier (30 minutes from downtown), and the chance to ride a bike 18 miles along the Stone Mountain Trail from the King Center to Stone Mountain Park, where a mile hike to Stone Mountain’s summit offers a stunning view. Fisherfolk delight in the Chattahoochee River, one of the few trout streams in the world that run through a city. (770) 650-8630, www.riverthroughatlanta.com
 17 MIAMI, FLORIDA Calm, shallow waters and predictable winds (best between November and June) make Key Biscayne a wind- and kite-surfing mecca. Windriders gather on the beaches along the Rickenbacker Causeway leading to Key Biscayne, zipping across the water before the Miami skyline. For extra instruction, take a lesson with Miami Kiteboarding. Just down the road, Key Largo offers some of the world’s best snorkeling at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, plus world-class flats fishing for bonefish, permit, and tarpon. (305) 345-9974, www.miamikiteboarding.com
18 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA Here you want to be near, or in, the water. At Mission Bay Park, rent a kayak, bike, or in-line skates, or run on the paths ringing the Bay. in adjacent Mission Bay Beach, surf the FlowRider, an artificial surfing wave, or try the real thing; surf shops are everywhere. Up the road in La Jolla, notch an unforgettable view of the Pacific by signing up for introductory tandem paragliding flights at Torrey Pines Gliderport. (858) 452-9858, www.flytorrey.com
19 NADI, VITI LEVU, FIJI Viti Levu is an island of rainforests, rivers, mountains, and teeming seas. Koroyanitu National Heritage Park offers Fiji’s signature trek, the hike to the more than 3,500-foot summit of Mount Batilamu. Mountain bike through cane fields and lush valleys, and swim at the foot of waterfalls in the Sleeping Giant Mountain Range. On the isle’s south side, white-water raft the Upper Navua River and, offshore from unsung Pacific Harbor, you’ll find the reefs of tiny Beqa Island, as well as superb shark diving. (800) 932-3454, www.bulafiji.com
20 CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA Ninety minutes west of Calgary are four of the most glorious national parks you’ll ever see: Banff, Yoho, Kootenay, and Jasper. in warm weather, there are hundreds of miles of hiking and biking trails (pictured below), climbing, fishing, and canoeing; in cold, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and heli-skiing. In Calgary you can play like an Olympian (the city hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics), speed skating at the Olympic Oval (its ice is billed as the world’s fastest) or taking a 70-mph bobsled ride (they drive). (403) 247-5452, www.canadaolympicpark.ca
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