Two travel companies are redefining the adventure holiday by squeezing it into a two- or three-day short break.

Now 'cash rich, time poor' travellers need take just one day off work to enjoy an off-road Jeep tour of Icelandic volcanoes, two days for a safari in Kenya and they can now fit a Moroccan walking holiday into a long weekend.

Activity specialist Headwater Holidays has brought out a new programme of walking tours to the cities of Europe and North Africa. Selected hotels and specially written guidebooks allow you to choose from walks that take you to historical landmarks, off the beaten track, or help you to shop in 24 cities spread across nine countries. Now instead of meandering through Salzburg, Strasbourg, Siena and Seville you can walk with a purpose. 'In just two nights you will feel like one of the locals,' said a spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, adventure tour operator Explore Worldwide has launched a short- break programme covering destinations as diverse as Moscow and Djibouti on holidays ranging from three to nine nights. Explore Worldwide's managing director, Simon Tobin, explained: 'We have tried to pack as much activity as possible into each trip, to ensure that our customers go home having fully experienced the essence of adventure travel.'

So you can return to work boasting of snow-shoeing, dogsledding, hiking or wolf tracking in any of 32 countries without your colleagues realising you've been away.

More information

Headwater Holidays (01606 720033)

Explore Worldwide (01252 760000)