Want to have a holiday and get fit at the same time? Then take a break with no lazing around, writes SANDRA O'CONNELL
1. MIDWEEK HORSE RIDING
For horse lovers, Arnolds Hotel on Sheephaven Bay in Donegal has three-night midweek packages which include two hours of horse riding taking in Horn Head and Killahoey beach. One day to go riding, two to recover, €198 per person sharing. Stay two nights and get an hour's ride and dinner thrown in for €177. Tel: 074-913 6208, arnoldshotel.com
2. THE GREAT WESTERN GREENWAY CYCLING TRAIL
The Clew Bay Hotel in Westport – beside both a leisure centre and cinema – is a great base from which to explore the Great Western Greenway cycling trail. Two nights' BB, a three-course evening meal plus a day's bike hire with transfers to your start point between Newport and Mulranny starts at €109. Tel: 098-28088, clewbayhotel.com
3. WATER SKI AND WAKEBOARD
You don’t have to be somewhere sunny to water ski, although it helps. Check out the Castle Hotel in Macroom, which has a two-night package with a ski lesson thrown in. Classes are at the Carrig Water Ski and Wakeboard Centre, and all equipment is provided. The package costs €155 per person sharing.
Tel: 026-41074, castlehotel.ie
4. MOUNTAIN BIKING
Mountain biking is all the rage these days. Take a mountain bike package at Fitzgerald's Woodlands House Hotel in Adare, where a two-night break starts in a classroom and ends at the purpose-built trail at Ballyhoura. The cost is €156. Tel: 061-605 100, woodlands-hotel.ie
5. YOGA
Yoga is the perfect way to de-stress, and Ard Nahoo in Dromahair, Co Leitrim, the perfect place to do it. The food is organic and vegetarian while the eco cabins have a low carbon footprint so you'll come back fitter and more virtuous. Plenty of space for walks, guided or unguided. In June and December, a week's stay costs €795. Tel: 071-913 4939, ardnahoo.com
6. SCUBA DIVING
Scuba Dive West and Renvyle House Hotel make the perfect combination – activity followed by rest. A full day's "try a dive" session costs €140, and you can get a two-night BB break at Renvyle, with dinner, from €139 per person on top. Tel: 095-46100, renvyle.com
7. LEARN TO PAINT
Who needs postcards when you can rustle up your own artwork at Pontoon Bridge in Mayo? Located on the shores of Lough Conn, it has its own school of landscape painting, run by Pat Goff. A two-night BB stay, plus a day at the painting school, costs €150 per person sharing. Non-painting partners pay just €50. Tel: 094-925 6120, pontoonbridge.com
8. STAY AND COOK
Brush up your culinary skills with a Cooks Academy "stay and cook" package,with the nearby Brooks Hotel. Go midweek and for €240 you get BB at the hotel plus a hands-on cookery lesson. Go on a Friday and enjoy the school's Friday-night supper club, including BB, for €260 for two. Tel: 01-611 1666, cooksacademy.com
9. WALK THE ISLANDS
A five-day all-inclusive Connemara Walking Holiday starts at Abbeyglen Castle Hotel in Connemara, Co Galway, followed by nights on Inishbofin and Inishturk islands, with picnic lunches and a guide. It is €700 per person sharing, with a single supplement of €80. Tel: 095-21071, walkingconnemara.com
10. LAKE FISHING
You can fish for your supper at the Park Hotel in Kenmare, where a ghillie will take you to a local lake for a two-hour fishing lesson. A two-night BB package, including a five-course dinner, costs €535 per person sharing.Tel: 064-664 1402, parkkenmare.com