Are you looking for some variety in your swimming, but not sure where to try next? Feel like you’re always looking at the same black line or shoreline? You should think about trying some new waters on a swimming holiday!

Swimming holidays are growing in popularity across the globe. The idea is a simple one – travel to a beautiful location, meet up with a small group of fellow swimmers, and spend up to a week swimming gorgeous waters under the watchful eye of expert swimming guides.

It’s the best way to explore new waters without worrying about safety or the quality of the swimming. You focus on enjoying the water and let someone else take care of all the arrangements and safety cover.

To find out more about swimming holidays, we’ve chatted to our friends at SwimTrek and Ocean Swim Safaris about what to expect, and to answer some of the most common questions you might have.

How does a swimming holiday work?

Swimming holidays come in different formats. The basic structure is to travel to a starting point (usually a hotel in your destination of choice) where you’ll meet your swimming guides and a small group of fellow swimmers. You’ll then spend the next few days swimming during the day and enjoying your destination and the company of your new swimming buddies in the evenings.

The standard trip includes around 3-5 kilometres of swimming per day, split over a morning and afternoon session. For others, there is only one swimming session, and then the afternoon is spent exploring the location at your leisure.

There are also different formats available, from weekend breaks to week-long trips, combos with yoga and hiking, or even liveaboard experiences to explore those out-of-the-way swim spots.

How fit do I need to be?

You don’t need to be part fish to take part in a swimming holiday. You’ll need to be a confident swimmer (of course) and be comfortable swimming the daily distances, but you don’t need to be a champion swimmer! For most SwimTrek trips, for example, they recommend being able to comfortably swim at least 500 metres in a pool to participate.

But these are, first and foremost, holidays, so you can swim as much or as little as you want. You’ll have swim guides with you on boats and kayaks at all times, and you can take a rest or climb out of the water at any point. You can even skip a swim or a day of swimming if you’re just not feeling it.

You’ll usually be grouped with swimmers of a similar speed, so you can relax and enjoy the swims at a pace you’re comfortable with.

SwimTrek also ‘grades’ each trip according to the difficulty of the swimming distances and swimming conditions, from ‘beginner’ for those new to open water swimming, all the way to ‘challenging’ for the most difficult distances and conditions. You can filter the different trips according to the level that suits you best.

Where can I go on a swimming holiday?

The growth in the popularity of swimming holidays means that there is now a wide range of destinations and experiences to choose from across the globe – and some probably closer than you think! The largest selection of swimming holiday options is currently in the Mediterranean, as it offers plenty of islands and reliable conditions, with Greece and Turkey in particular serving up several great options. The Caribbean and Central America are also gaining popularity, with destinations like Costa Rica, Belize and St Kitts and Nevis offering a variety of swimming experiences.

In recent years, there has also been a surge in options across Asia. The Philippines and Indonesia both offer excellent warm water swimming, with extraordinary marine life and coral experiences to boot. Both SwimTrek and Ocean Swim Safaris offer several trips to these destinations, and between them they also take you places like Thailand, Vietnam, Fiji, Tonga and French Polynesia.

Is it safe?

Swimming in the open water, like many outdoor pursuits, will always have some element of risk. But that is part of the adventure. One of the great things about going on a swimming holiday with a reputable company is that you can be confident that destinations and swimming routes were selected and vetted by experienced swim guides. This will ultimately reduce any risk from marine life and water conditions.
You will have expert safety cover with you at all times, and your swim guides will make sure that if conditions change during your trip, the swimming routes will be changed to alternative options, or the swims will be halted until conditions improve.

All this means you can focus on the swimming, confident that the experts are keeping an eye out for your safety the whole time.

Ready to find out more?

A great place to start finding out more about swimming holidays is on the SwimTrek and Ocean Swim Safaris websites. These are full of inspiration for where to swim and what to expect. They are all open water swimmers and will happily share their recommendations with you and talk about their own experiences swimming all over the world. So why not give them a call or send them a message to help find your new favourite swim?

Photo credit: Thomas Oliver