From Aperol to activewear: how the wellness revolution is rewriting the Australian holiday

Tough Mudder. Group hikes. Park runs. These are the endorphin-pumping, goal-orientated, wellness-inspired holidays gracing the calendars of fitness fanatics around Australia in 2026.

But it's not just gym junkies who are lacing up their sneakers and hitting the trails. Everyday Australians are swapping their Aperol spritz for active wear, turning off their devices and choosing travel that makes them feel good - not hungover.

Max DeLacy, the general manager of Spartan, an organisation that hosts outdoor fitness and adventure events, says these types of holidays are growing in popularity.

He is bringing the Highlander Adventure hiking event, already hosted around Europe and America, to Australia for the first time this year, with events to be held in Mount Hotham in Victoria and the Central Coast, NSW.

Highlander is a non-competitive group hike in national parks, celebrating beauty and challenging terrain.

"The idea is to allow people to experience hiking, sometimes for the first time, sometimes as part of their development from doing day hikes to multi-day hikes or to do longer expeditions," Mr DeLacy told Explore.

"It's an opportunity to get people who are really into nature, who are really interested in learning more about it and learning more about the skills and challenges and adventures that come with putting yourself in a natural environment, not just for a day but for multiple days, and detoxing from the screens."

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Mr DeLacy said people come from "all around the country" to attend the annual Spartan race - which includes an obstacle course, trail and endurance races - in Bright, Victoria, where they "come together as a community" and catch up with people they met at previous races.

"Running is huge right now," he said, adding interest in the pursuit began to grow post-COVID when people "really re-focused and re-prioritised what's important".

Kane Hennessy, personal trainer and fitness coach from the NSW Central Coast, took his family to last year's Spartan event in Bright.

"There's a lot more people that are more interested in their well-being and their health, and they understand that if they are going to go away, they may as well add to their health, as opposed to subtract from it and bury themselves with massive hangovers day after day," he said.

Getting fit through travel is trending - and Australia is just the place to do it.

The Global Wellness Institute's (GWI) 2025 Wellness Survey crowned Australia as the world's top wellness travel hotspot, with surging interest in wild swimming, thermal springs and ice baths.

The research, from late 2025, showed 56 per cent of survey respondents (1000 people, including 700 from Australia) intended to take a holiday that included a wellness component in the next year.

Meanwhile, the "runcation" trend has also emerged, with Strava's Year in Sport: Trend Report recording a 59 per cent increase in running club participation globally in 2024.

Runcations were also one of the top travel trends tipped by Skyscanner in 2025. Research conducted with OnePoll on 2000 Australians found 50 per cent planned to engage in a running trip during the year.