Adventure podcasts are where you can experience all the adrenaline-pumping excitement of scaling mountains, crossing deserts, and surviving in the wilderness without the inconvenience of frostbite, dehydration, or having to eat questionable berries to stay alive. These audio journeys are perfect for those of us who love the idea of adventure but recognize that our idea of “roughing it” involves a hotel room without room service, and our closest brush with danger is running out of coffee on a Monday morning.
Whether you’re looking to live vicariously through people who voluntarily sleep on rocks and consider hypothermia a character-building experience, or you’re seeking inspiration for your own future adventures, these podcasts deliver tales of human endurance, questionable decision-making, and the kind of spectacular views that make you temporarily forget why you chose a career that involves sitting at a desk all day.
Here are some of the top adventure podcasts to inspire and entertain your inner thrill-seeker:
Out There
“Out There” is a podcast that delves into profound inquiries by way of personal narratives set in natural wilderness settings.
Women Who Dare
Kerry Gross determined that the most effective approach to discover tales of motivational women would be to personally encounter them. Therefore, she loaded her bicycle bags and embarked on a quest to meet and conduct interviews with women whose experiences have influenced others. This marked the beginning of a five-month predominantly cycling-driven expedition from California to Maine.
The Explorers Podcast
The Explorers Podcast focuses on the most renowned adventurers and expeditions throughout history.
Diaries Of The Wild Ones
Diaries of the Wild Ones represents a compilation of adventure narratives presented by Aaron Shanks and the individuals he encounters across the globe. Driven by a hunger for the extraordinary and testing personal boundaries, these accounts from their travels, captured during their journeys, will keep listeners captivated. Emphasizing the bizarre, remarkable, and occasionally frightening aspects of adventure travel both domestically and internationally, the focus lies equally on the expedition itself and returning home safely.
Against The Odds
Humans endure and overcome impossible challenges. In this compelling series from Wondery, host-adventurers Mike Corey and Cassie De Pecol present gripping survival stories that captivated global audiences. AGAINST THE ODDS immerses listeners in these extraordinary experiences alongside the heroes who defied overwhelming circumstances.
Travel Tales by Afar
Travel, at its finest, transforms one’s perspective of the world. Each week, listeners can explore narratives from individuals who embarked on journeys and returned fundamentally changed. Travel Tales by Afar serves as a gateway to global experiences, requiring no official documentation.
What Was That Like – True Stories. Real People.
A narrative podcast featuring extraordinary first-person accounts presented by Scott Johnson and Meredith Hackwith Edwards. Each narrator shares their own authentic personal experience, providing comprehensive details of the events. From wildlife encounters to aviation disasters, mass violence incidents, and beyond.
Adventure Sports Podcast
The podcast features comprehensive conversations twice weekly with adventure sports enthusiasts from across the world. Listeners encounter athletes, adventurers, explorers, guides, authors, business owners and numerous others who dedicate their lives to seeking satisfaction through adventure and outdoor pursuits.
Adventure One
Tales for outdoor enthusiasts, covering hunting, camping, hiking, fishing, and travel, along with equipment recommendations, advice, and humor throughout. Powered by the Adventure One Youtube channel and adventureone.tv. The content encourages safety, freedom, and continuous pursuit of adventure.
Living Adventurously
Living Adventurously, with Alastair Humphreys, showcases ordinary individuals pursuing extraordinary lives. Alastair speaks with diverse guests to explore what adventurous living means to different people and how they overcame obstacles to begin their remarkable journeys.
Far From Home
An immersive travel and culture documentary podcast where Peabody award-winning journalist Scott Gurian delivers captivating stories from distant locations, creating an authentic sense of presence for listeners through his diverse global adventures.
The Sharp End Podcast
A podcast produced and hosted by Ashley Saupe, sponsored by Rocky Talkie and supported by the American Alpine Institute. This show seeks to reduce future outdoor incidents through narrative storytelling. Authentic individuals share genuine experiences.
The Dirtbag Diaries
This captures the essence of adventure’s sound. Climbing, skiing, hiking, biking, paddling, running, traveling – regardless of one’s passion, everyone shares the dirtbag spirit. Fitz Cahall and the Duct Tape Then Beer team deliver narratives about dreamers, athletes and wanderers.
Outside Podcast
Outside’s established literary narrative tradition transforms into audio format through features designed to both engage and educate audiences. The podcast debuted in March 2016 with the inaugural series, Science of Survival, and has since grown to encompass various storytelling approaches, including field reports from correspondents and conversations with prominent figures in sports, adventure, and outdoor pursuits.
Wild Ideas Worth Living
Dynamic conversations for adventure and outdoor enthusiasts. Host and journalist Shelby Stanger conducts interviews with elite explorers, athletes, authors, scientists, health experts and entrepreneurs about transforming their bold concepts into reality, inspiring others to do the same. The most unconventional ideas often produce the most fulfilling adventures.
Armchair Explorer: Travel and Adventure Inspiration
Acclaimed podcast presenting conversations with the world’s premier adventurers, immersive travel documentaries captured on-site, comprehensive explorations of global cultures, and motivation for living life completely. Praised as “inspiring storytelling” by the New York Times and “Ear candy for listeners” by the Washington Post, previous guests include Conrad Anker, Ed Stafford, Kristine Tompkins and numerous other travel and adventure legends.
She Explores
Discover motivation through women’s outdoor experiences. Interviews, field recordings, and listener contributions create a diverse collection of episodes exploring themes like solo hiking and camping, entrepreneurship, outdoor equity, aging, conservation, motherhood, chronic illness, and more as they connect with outdoor adventures.
Naturally Adventurous
Charley Hesse and Ken Behrens, lifelong birding and natural history enthusiasts and professional guides, have traveled globally in pursuit of wild places and creatures, accumulating countless adventure stories. Charley, born in the UK, has lived in Japan, Ecuador, South Africa, and Thailand, while Ken, born in the US, has spent over a decade in South Africa and Madagascar.
Art of Adventuring: Inside the minds of inspiring explorers
The podcast tracks inspiring adventurers and explorers during their remarkable global expeditions. These individuals reveal not only their challenges and triumphs but also their inner thoughts, explaining how these journeys have transformed them and their daily existence.
Rewild Yourself
Daniel Vitalis serves as the guide through the realm of human zoology and lifestyle design. The show examines the approaches that ancient primates require to flourish in a contemporary world, awakening instincts and liberating bodies and minds from the deteriorating impacts of human domestication.
Do you know of another Adventure podcast that you think should be on this list? Let me know.
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