Welcome to our latest collection of Epic Trips! This series has always been one of my favorites here at AFAR, because the stories capture the way that travel thrills us. That experience is something we thought a lot about when putting together this new batch of adventure tales—and we thought about it a bit differently this time.

In the following stories, Erik Trinidad leaps into the unknown from 140 feet off Utah’s rocky cliffs, Lynn Brown faces the past and present at a few of the 130 history-changing sites along the Civil Rights Trail, Kathleen Rellihan puts her trust in a glacier trekking expert as she hikes across 10 billion tons of ice in Switzerland; and Jed Heuer travels back in time 11,000 years to decipher mysteries at one of the world’s greatest archaeological sites in Türkiye. We’ve also rounded up 10 additional ideas for trips that are big on adventure and easy on the Earth.

The thread that ties all of these trips together—what earns them the accolade “epic”—is that while they challenge each traveler’s physical limits, they also challenge their minds and hearts.

The stories we’re sharing this year are meant for adventurers of all stripes, from the ones looking for extreme physical challenges to those who travel to deepen their relationships with the world, as well as with themselves and the people they meet along the way. I hope they inspire you to find your own definition of epic.

Read on for this year’s collection of Epic Trips!

—Billie Cohen