Ten of the world’s greatest immersive travel experiences

Traveller Awards 2024: Immersive

Hands up if your perfect getaway involves getting under the skin of a destination as a local would – with a few indulgences to boot? From canoeing a sacred river to paying a visit to a South African chief, these hand-picked experiences go beyond the typical leisure holiday, and aim to forge a deeper connection with that destination. Read on for our Traveller Awards 2024 winners in the Immersive category.

Sequoia Lodge, SA

Adults-only lodge Sequoia, overlooking the patchwork Piccadilly Valley.

Set slightly apart from its revered older sibling Mount Lofty House, guests to the adults-only luxury lodge Sequoia, overlooking the patchwork Piccadilly Valley, is a taste of South Australia in its Sunday best. Gather on the valley rim each evening for sunset drinks and stories of the surrounding Adelaide Hills, its world-class wineries and pretty towns before dining from a hyperlocal menu in the cosy lodge lounge. A suite with sunken lounge (for starters) is hard to leave but sunrise from the artesian hot pools before a guided walk along the Heysen Trail, where koalas stare down from eucalypts, is worth the early start. See sequoialodge.com.au

Vicus Caprarius, Rome

Ancient aqueduct, Aqua Virgo, supplies water to the Trevi Fountain above.Credit: Vicus Caprarius

Nowadays a visit to the diminutive piazza where the Eternal City’s eternally crowded Fontana di Trevi is set, can truly dampen one’s spirits. But there exists an inspirational means to escape the throng without entirely abandoning the ornate 18th century fountain. Only a few steps away is this small though impressive museum which takes visitors nine metres below street level to view the ancient aqueduct, Aqua Virgo, which supplies water to the Trevi Fountain above. Ancient coins, figurines and pottery, discovered along with the foundations of a 1st century BC apartment complex during excavations for the construction of a curtailed cinema project, are now on display calmingly alongside the Trevi’s trickling water sources. See vicuscaprarius.com/en

Bench Africa

Wildlife graze by the water at Satao Camp.Credit: Bench Africa

Africa is a family affair for the owners of Australia’s oldest travel specialist, Bench Africa, which turned 55 this year. The family-run company was founded by a Kenyan and owns ground operations in Africa. This proximity to the continent’s pulse, and the company’s practice of positioning its journeys within a broader ecological and social context, infuses the tourism experience. Visiting a chief’s homestead in Eswatini, for example, or meeting rangers involved in the restocking of depleted reserves in Malawi. See benchafrica.com

Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, south-west Victoria

Try the signature kooyang (eel) tasting plates at Tae Rak Aquaculture Centre & Cafe.Credit: Visit Victoria

For thousands of years, the Gunditjmara people have shaped south-west Victoria’s waterways and wetlands, creating channels and weirs for farming eel that are now recognised by UNESCO as one of the world’s oldest examples of aquaculture. At Tae Rak Aquaculture Centre & Cafe, part of Budj Bim Cultural Landscape at the end of the Great Ocean Road, a two-hour guided tour shares how Gunditjmara managed their country before European arrival, with a focus on the role of eels. After the tour, guests can try the signature kooyang (eel) tasting plates. Eel crackling is a highlight. See budjbim.com.au

Walkabout Cultural Adventures, Queensland

Learn spear throwing, collect pipis and catch mud crabs.Credit: Tourism and Events Queensland

Juan Walker has a gift. He’s a total natural when it comes to sharing his knowledge, his culture and his country with others, particularly those who have never seen Kuku Yalanji country, around Port Douglas, through the eyes of its traditional owners. Juan hosts tours that feel like a day out with your new best mate, a mate who takes you swimming in rivers, spearing mud crabs in the mangroves, looking for natural medicines in the rainforest, who tells you stories and even stops in at his mum’s place for some damper. If only every tour experience was as enjoyable. See walkaboutadventures.com.au

International African American Museum, South Carolina

Grisly history is balanced with stories of survival and triumph.Credit: International African American Museum

This poignant and important museum in Charleston opened in 2023 at the very spot where almost half of all African slaves entered North America. Their inhumane transport – shackled sardine-like in the bellies of ships – is powerfully depicted in the memorial garden, in a work called Tide Tribute. Inside the museum, the history is balanced with stories of survival and triumph. It takes several hours to explore the latest special exhibition and another nine galleries, which include an insight into the Gullah Geechee culture found in coastal areas of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. See iaamuseum.org

Canoe the Whanganui River, New Zealand

Owhango Adventures leads guests on canoe tours along the sacred river.Credit: Owhango Adventures

In 2017 the Whanganui River was the first river in the world to be recognised as a legal person, a battle that took 175 years. Owhango Adventures leads guests on canoe tours along the sacred river, explaining its importance to the Whanganui iwi (tribes), the history of their fight for recognition and what they are currently doing to protect the waterway even further. To paddle alongside these passionate and determined iwi, who now help other international rivers, including Australia’s Murray River, is to learn the Indigenous way of viewing human-landscape connections. Not just an immersive experience, but a life-changing one. See canoewhanganuiriver.com

Passchendaele Museum, Belgium

Passchendaele Museum … the closest you’ll (hopefully) get to experiencing what it was like to live through WWI.Credit: Getty Images

It’s one thing to see the white-cross-lined landscapes of World War I, it’s another entirely to visit this extraordinary museum, located right on the former frontline, and relive the horrors. With images of the fighting flashed onto walls accompanied by the sounds – the shouts, the screams, and even some of the smells – you’re transported back to those terrible times. And what was it really like to live through this? You hear the poignant letters the soldiers sent home, listen to their conversations and can wander through life-sized trenches yourself. This is the closest – thank God – you’ll ever get to WWI. See passchendaele.be/en/home-en

On Board Expeditions, Tasmania

Luxury catamaran Odalisque III and tender in Bathurst Harbour.

There are many parts to this experience – the luxury catamaran that takes just 12 guests, the talented Tasmanian chef and the sublime food, even the seaplane flight that delivers guests from Hobart to Port Davey in the Tasmanian wilderness. But in the end, it’s the On Board crew that completes the picture – such is their knowledge of this remote region and its unique landscape and seascape, its plants and wildlife, its Indigenous and European histories and the challenges those isolated cultures faced alone and when they clashed. It has guests feeling connected to the area and yearning to return. And don’t the best stories leave you wanting more? See onboardexpeditions.com.au

Abercrombie & Kent’s Okahirongo Elephant Lodge

Sunset at Okahirongo Elephant Lodge, Purros.Credit: Abercrombie & Kent 

The design approach of luxury company Abercrombie & Kent assures that its lodges sensitively embrace the natural surrounds. None reflects this more than Okahirongo Elephant Lodge, an extraordinary retreat in the remote desertscape of north-west Namibia that was refurbished in 2023. Resembling a movie set on a futuristic planet, a series of whitewashed modules (seven suites and a family suite) extend along a ridge, directly overlooking the Hoarusib River Valley. The egg-shaped entrance pays homage to the local Himba people. Gourmet cuisine, wilderness drives and star gazing are also out of this world. See abercrombiekent.com.au

Traveller Awards contributors: Kate Armstrong, John Borthwick, Jim Darby, Anthony Dennis, Ben Groundwater, Julietta Jameson, Trudi Jenkins, Brian Johnston, Ute Junker, Katrina Lobley, Catherine Marshall, Rob McFarland, Justin Meneguzzi, Craig Platt, Jane Reddy, Jane Richards, Tim Richards, Craig Tansley, Lee Tulloch, Kerry van der Jagt, Penny Watson, Sue Williams