Keeping Active with Healthy Start Holidays

As much as I love sitting on a beach in the sunshine reading a good book, I don’t think that I could do it for a whole week- I would go a little stir-crazy! It's definitely important to relax, but for me a holiday has to include some activity and exploration. I love seeing a new country by hiking, running, cycling through its landscapes or admiring the views during a yoga class.

My “race-cation” to Geneva was one of the best holidays I’ve been on, racing in a new city with a bunch of awesome ladies, and I used to love field trips at University for the chance to stomp through the mountains and hills of foreign lands. Even when I was studying in Australia, I explored the country through adventure pursuits such as white-water rafting, kayaking, snorkelling and hiking.

In the UK, I love camping and being part of the great outdoors. My ex and I used to hire bikes (or take our own), and have cycled round the Isle of Wight, the Lake District and the wilds of Sussex, Surrey and Kent. Apart from anything, you can justify an awesome pub lunch or coffee and cake if you know you’ve just travelled 20 miles under your own steam to get there!

Walking copy

I’m excited to join the team at Healthy Start Holidays in Barcelona on 8th March, as their getaways sound like the ideal solution.

Offering a timetable of guided bike rides, walks, Pilates classes, cookery sessions, swimming lessons and so much more, you can pick and choose how active to be and when to take a break and soak up the views. They’ve even suggested to us that there’s a 4km race on the Saturday, which follows the first section of the Barcelona Marathon that we might like to take part in - um, yes please!

Here’s a little more about the team (the fabulous Rik and Laura) behind this fantastic company…

Who we are and what we do

Healthy Starts is an initiative designed around bringing common sense and fun into the health scene, with a commitment to helping people stay healthier in their day-to-day lives. We have three pillars that support what we do: Nutrition, Movement, and Lifestyle - or Food, Fitness, and Fun (yay, that's Miss Wheezy's tagline too!). We run activity days, corporate health initiatives, and holidays all designed to inspire healthier living for the long-term.

Our holidays are fun breaks near our hometown of Barcelona that support guests to stay healthier when they return home. We provide a jam-packed schedule of varied fun activities fuelled by healthy meals prepared by our nutritionist and chef, as well as one-to-one sessions to support long-term lifestyle changes.

Why it's important to enjoy an active break

I think people are looking for more from their holidays these days... We like to think we have struck a balance between a retreat and a bootcamp - we're not in the business of "beasting" anyone, potentially causing injury and more likely putting someone off exercise for good! We believe in doing small and simple things to stay healthy every day, whether that's a 20 minute walk after dinner, or swapping the mid-afternoon snack for something healthier. The idea of a retreat sounds nice, but we're hoping to be part of our guests' everyday lives... not an escape from reality, but integrated in to the challenges of busy lives and shrinking budgets!

We also see that people want to discover their surroundings whilst they're on holiday. We show our guests the local culture through trips to working farms and vineyards, and a bicycle tour of Barcelona. The area around us is also ideal for individual exploration, if our guests don't want to join in our scheduled activities, as we are near the Costa Brava and the Montseny National Park.

You can read more about how Healthy Start Holidays came about on their website, and follow their active adventures on Instagram.

I will be sharing my experience on social media and here on the blog, so stay tuned!

Beki x

NB: I am lucky enough to have been invited by Healthy Start Holidays on a week's break in exchange for writing about my experience. As always, all opinions are my own.