ORIGINAL NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE
For fitness enthusiasts who also love traveling to far-flung locales, a new breed of travel company wants to take you anywhere you want to go — and give you a great workout when you arrive.
By Amy Tara Koch | Feb. 5, 2019
First came workout boot camps. Then off-the-grid yoga retreats. Next, hotel chains touting celebrity-orchestrated fitness programs. Now, there is another way to travel without leaving your workout behind. Fitness pop-ups in vacation destinations like Capri, Sri Lanka, Goa and Vietnam all offer relaxing getaways combined with exercise options, sightseeing and meals prepared by a professional chef. Often, these groups stay in private, rented villas. These four companies have created custom itineraries with workouts and wellness in mind.
Surf Yoga Beer
As the company’s mantra “no goals, all vibes” indicates, four-year-old Surf Yoga Beer represents a version of this trend that’s focused a little more on fun than fitness. Billed as “sleepaway camp for adults” (participants share rooms, often with bunk beds, in a large house or small hotels), the company’s fitness adventures to Ibiza, Havana, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Miami are about bonding over intense exercise and partying (unlimited beer is included in the price of the trip).
Mantas Zvinas, the company’s founder, a happy-go-lucky surf coach and Soul Cycle instructor, leads the itineraries personally along with a number of marquee trainers including Jaws Nelson and Julian Devine of NYC’s Rumble Boxing, and Hunter McIntyre, the professional obstacle course racer. The trips are packed with beach boot-camp workouts, surf sessions, yoga, hiking, stand-up paddle boarding and, in some locations, sightseeing. The traveling chef-in-residence, Eddie Larios, extends the communal ambience with an open-for-visits kitchen, impromptu cooking classes and visits to local markets.
Rates range from $999 to $3,600 per person, depending on location, room type and length of trip. Airfare and alcohol, outside of beer and the group happy hour, are excluded.