The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Join the hippie trail from Bali to Ibiza via full-moon parties and Hindu festivals
While the hippie ideal found its epicentre in San Francisco, its optimism inspired a new generation of travellers to adventures that took them across the planet. Fifty years on, their footprints can still be traced everywhere from Spain to the Himalayas and Indonesia.
Goa
In the early Sixties, the concept of a “Hippie Trail” stretching east from western Europe – a path along which curious souls could make new discoveries – began to take hold. The route was imprecise, but generally ticked off Turkey (notably Istanbul), Iran and Pakistan on its way to India. Its ethos lingers in Goa, where this vast country’s smallest state throws out a mere 63 miles of coastline, and an emphasis on calm and relaxation as it gazes west into the sunset.
Audley Travel (01993 838330; audleytravel.com) sells a 10-day “City & Beach: The Contrasts of Mumbai & Goa” break which combines the giddy cultureshock of India’s most populous city with five days of tranquillity at the five-star Alila Diwa hideaway at Majorda. From £2,385 per person, including international flights.
Marrakesh
If the Beatles refined their art in India, the Rolling Stones chased something grittier in north Africa. Beset by legal issues at home, they decamped to Morocco in March 1967, throwing themselves into the swirl of Marrakesh. The trip would spark a literal Summer of Love for Anita Pallenberg, who ditched (the increasingly abusive) Brian Jones for his bandmate Keith Richards on the way there. The jaunt did little for the Stones as a unit – the album that ensued, Their Satanic Majesties Request, is considered one of their worst (while Jones was dead just over two years later). But the atmosphere that drew them in – the noise of the medina, with its labyrinthine souk and babbling traders – is very y much extant today.
Kirker Holidays (020 7593 1899; 9; kirkerholidays.com) offers three-night -night stays at the boutique Riad Farnatchi,tchi, which provides close access to the maze, ze, but also respite from it. From £866 per person,erson, with flights, transfers and breakfast. ast.
Nepal
Those who wished to get high gh in a literal sense followed the “Hippie Trail” to the Himalayas, where Kathmandu du keeps its cool at 4,600ft (1,400m). The Nepalese capital was badly shaken by an earthquake in April 2015, but retains its good humour – the existencee of Jhochhen Tole (“Old Freak Street”), off the main Durbar Square,Squa is a wry salute to the many wandererswand who have passed through. The DashainD festival, held every OctoberOcto in honour of the Hindu goddessgodd Durga, is a fine moment to be in town.
Cox & Kings (020 3582 7702; coxan coxandkings.co.uk) offers “Splendours of Nepa Nepal” – a 14-day private tour that spends three days in the capital. From £2,335 per perso person, with flights.
RishikeshRish
It was not just independent tr travellers who “found themselves” in India. By February 1968, the Bea Beatles had decamped to Rishikesh to meditate with their new guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – images of the time show an increasingly longhaired and bearded John Lennon working on songs that would become part of the White Album. This small city on the Ganges – in the foothills of the Himalayas, in the northerly state of Uttarakhand – is still noted for its spiritual air. Considered a sacred Hindu place, it has banned alcohol and the consumption of non-vegetarian food, and deals in hotels that focus on yoga and Ayurvedic treatments.
On The Go Tours (020 7371 1113; onthegotours.com) sells four-day breaks at the five-star Ananda Spa, from £2,649 per person. This price does not cover international flights, but does include return train travel from Delhi (as well as breakfast).
Thailand
For those truly keen to put distance between themselves and convention, the “Hippie Trail” extended to Bangkok. However, the island of Koh Phangan, in the Gulf of Thailand, is arguably the custodian of the beatnik flame. Its monthly full-moon parties have become the stuff of legend – all-night blurs of merriment and music under a lunar glow (fullmoonparty-thailand.com).
A chance to enjoy this madness, then flee to a luxury suite, is provided by Kuoni (0800 540 4226; kuoni. co.uk), which offers seven-night breaks to the five-star Anantara Rasananda Koh Phangan Villas. From £1,443 per person in September, including flights and breakfast.
Bali
Continue further into south-east Asia and the hippie dream finds modern expression on Indonesia’s resort island – particularly inland in Ubud, a winsome town framed by forest and rice-fields where hotels are largely devoted to the soothing of the senses. Amandari, for example, offers private yoga lessons as well as 30 villas and suites.
Elegant Resorts (01244 897551; elegantresorts.co.uk) has seven-night stays, from £2,345 per person, including breakfast and transfers (international flights can also be arranged).
Ibiza
Nearer to home, yet wilfully exotic, Ibiza was also a hippie haven in the Sixties – its hot climate, (then) undeveloped contours and slow pace of existence luring baby boomers to the Balearics. This influx helped to spawn the nightclub and tourism boom that makes the island such a 21st-century favourite – but you can still find quiet corners for reflection in its rustic interior.
Atzaro (0034 971 338 838; atzaro.com) is a case in point – an “agroturismo” hotel at the heart of the isle, near Sant Llorenc de Balafia. It offers a sauna, hammam, spa and a yoga programme – plus double rooms from €170 (£145), with breakfast.