That's the name the Welsh Tourist Board has coined to emphasise the country's pedigree as an adventure destination. Zip-wires, kite-surfing caving and mountain bike trails are being joined this year by Surf Snowdonia which will have the world's longest man-made surfable waves - it's in North Wales on the edge of the national park.

Surf Snowdonia

Reykjavik is already well served by flights but Easyjet now flies to Keflavik and there are twice weekly flights to Egilsstadir from Gatwick, operated by Discover the World. This opens up the eastern side of this starkly beautiful country with its lakes, waterfalls and fishing villages nestling in the fjords and inlets. There's a lot of off-reoad motoring experiences throughout Iceland as well.

Discover the World's tours

Galicia is in the far north-western corner, to the north of Portugal. Once you go further west than the tourist area around Santiago de Compostela it becomes quieter and cheaper. Fresh seafood from the Atlantic is easy to find among the unspoilt villages along the rocky coastline with secluded beaches which have now recovered from the Prestige oil tanker disaster of 2002. Self-catering accommodation is a particularly good value outside the summer holidays.

Guide to Galicia in English

Easily accessible from the UK by air or car, this year Bordeaux opens a new multi-million Euro investment - La Cité du Vin. This incredible modern building will be visible for miles and house an interactive museum and entertainment dedicated to fermented grape juice. The intention is to firmly establish Bordeaux as the European, if not global, centre of wine production.

La Cité du Vin website

Brazil is hoping that hosting the Olympics and Paralympics this year will boost tourism more than the World Cup did and has announced it will waive visas for "certain nationalities" (we don't know which ones yet) to make it easier to visit this beautiful country. There are concerns that the facilities won't be ready but that was true for the World Cup too, and it all went well (as long as you don't mention the Brazil-Germany game).

Official Rio 2016 website

This small group of islands in the southern Atlantic was in danger of being spoilt by frenzied building but the global property crash put a stop to that. Now the island of Sal is slowly developing as a tourist destination, with clean beaches and cobbled streets. Package holidays are available from operators flying directly to Sal from airports in the UK so it will become cheaper to visit this year, but still retain an exotic air.

Cape Verde holidays from Thomson

This diverse Central American country boasts coast on both the Pacific and the Caribbean and makes this list because in May BA will fly from Gatwick to San Jose and Thomson have already started direct flights to Liberia on the north-west Atlantic coast. The Caribbean coast is quieter and a real draw for those who love nature and wildlife. There's even a sloth sanctuary at Cahuita and apparently there is nothing cuter than a baby sloth.

Costa Rica Tourism Board

Despite the capital's reputation as a destination for stag and hen parties Estonia has a lot more to offer. In the summer the warm waters of the Baltic coast and islands attract Europeans looking for a gentle playground, with five main resort towns and many spa facilities. Inland the forests of the national parks are criss-crossed with walking and cycling tracks and in winter Tallin boasts an excellent Christmas market.

Estonian Tourist Board

The fourth largest city in Poland, Wroclaw is one of the two European Capitals of Culture for 2016 (San Sebastian in Spain is the other). It is also the World Book Capital and will host the Theatre Olympics, World Bridge Games and European Film Awards in the same year. Heavily bombed in WWII the city's classically mid-European townhouses, palaces, parks and gardens have been rebuilt. Direct flights are available with Ryanair and Whizz Air from a number of UK airports but Wroclaw hasn't yet attracted many stag and hen parties.

Wroclaw Capital of Culture website

We finish on a destination that we hope will be a surprise. There has been an active campaign to attract tourists to Japan by targeting specific markets like adventure tourism, skiing and honeymoons and it's becoming easier for non-Japanese-speakers to get around. With rail passes it's easy to access the rest of this fascinating and varied country and there's a wide range of accommodation, from B&B to western-style hotels.

Official Toyko website