Dear fellow swimmers
Where will you escape to in 2026?
Outdoor swimming is often framed as bold or bracing, something to be endured or conquered. Yet one of its most generous gifts is how unexpectedly relaxing it can be. Once you
slip beneath the surface, the world narrows in the best possible way. There is space in the water, room to stretch out your stroke and your thoughts, and a rare permission to be unreachable. Phones stay on land, notifications dissolve and for a while there is nothing to respond to but breath, movement and the feel of water.
Swimming somewhere new heightens this sense of escape. Unfamiliar horizons, different light, a changed texture to the water. All of it draws you fully into the
present moment. On a swim holiday, days are shaped by tides, weather and shared anticipation rather than inboxes and schedules. Time slows. Conversations deepen. Even swimming alongside others, there is a solitude to being in your own head, carried forward by rhythm and repetition.
Swim travel offers something rare: genuine rest. Not just physical, but mental. You return not only having discovered new waters, but with your mind a little quieter, your confidence buoyed and your
relationship with swimming gently renewed. Which is why, as we head into 2026, we decide to share some of our favourite swimming trips from the magazine this past year.
