With the time and expense required to travel being prohibitive to many, there are alternative ways of indulging your wanderlust – including via the burgeoning world of Virtual Reality.
(Photo: Cubicle Ninjas)
There are a huge number of VR companies all vying to create ever more unique experiences for consumers – and one of the biggest growth categories has been travel. And what better time to get a taste of exploration and adventure from the comfort of your living room, equipped only with a VR headset, than now, when travel is a luxury that many just can’t stretch to? We’ve picked out 10 of the best virtual reality travel experiences currently on the market.
So which VR headset should you go for? Our favourite is the Meta Quest 3, which launched onto the market in mid-2023 and is the successor to the Meta Quest 2. For immersive games and travel experiences, we believe the Meta Quest 3 is destined to become the leading VR headset over the coming years. It’s pretty affordable, too, and unlike other headsets, doesn’t require cords or a computer. You can purchase the Meta Quest 3 at Amazon.com.
Guided Meditation VR
Developed by Cubicle Ninjas, Guided Meditation VR is designed to bring peace, joy, and calm back into your daily life by teaching you ancient meditation practices in a cutting-edge way. It features over 40 lush environments to escape the everyday, 30-plus hours of guided meditations on anxiety, depression, maternity, resilience, sleep and zen, and hundreds of hours of calming musical audio tracks to help enhance your meditation experience. Users can also customise their sessions to their own specific preferences and needs, including the option to switch into Motion mode and gently float through beautiful vistas like you would on a lazy river, leaving the worries of your life behind before returning calmer and stronger.
PRICE £10.99 HEADSETS Meta Quest 3
Wooorld 2.0
Be anywhere in the world with anyone, instantly, in this captivating game developed by Wooorld Inc. With the arrival of Wooorld 2.0, the experience has been refined with smoother performance, expanded social features, and access to the full Google Earth catalog, letting you explore more than 2,500 3D cities. A new fully immersive mode removes map borders so you’re truly inside the world, while a conversational AI assistant can answer questions, take you anywhere and even play trivia. Visit cities, landmarks, natural wonders, and vacation spots in rich 3D detail, get tips on hidden gems and local food, or test your geography skills after being teleported to five random locations. New tools like the minimap, social hub, tabletop mode, simplified controls and the jetpack for extreme exploration add even more ways to play, whether you’re exploring with friends or going solo.
PRICE Free HEADSETS Meta Quest 3
(Photo: Wooorld Inc.)
TriptoVR
TriptoVR turns your headset into a virtual passport, letting you visit 90+ destinations worldwide through high-quality, documentary-style VR videos, with new locations added weekly. From major cities like New York, Cape Town, and Tokyo to natural wonders such as Sequoia National Park and Murchison Falls, the app places you inside streets, markets, landmarks, and wildlife scenes – sometimes surprisingly close to animals on safari. TriptoVR includes two free tours at install, with others unlocked individually or via a cancel-anytime subscription. Tours last 5–25 minutes and can be streamed or downloaded. The visuals feel vivid and authentic, narration stays calm and informative, and wildlife episodes stand out for realism.
PRICE Free HEADSETS Meta Quest and Pico
BlackGate
Released towards the end of 2025, BlackGate is a tense, zero-gravity multiplayer horror game that blends asymmetrical survival with the disorienting freedom of space. Inspired by games like Dead by Daylight and Echo Arena, it pits a team of one to four Engineers against a single, evolving Alien controlled by another player. As an Engineer, your job is to repair the failing BlackGate station, restore key systems, unlock the armory and survive long enough to escape. Movement is entirely physics-based, using thrusters and the environment to push and pull your way through the station’s claustrophobic corridors. Engineers can play for free, while purchasing the full game unlocks the Alien role, progression systems, and cosmetic customisation. With its role-based teamwork and constant sense of threat, BlackGate delivers a nerve-wracking VR experience where every decision – and every sound – matters.
PRICE £14.99 HEADSETS Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 2
(Photo: Megaverse LLC)
Blueplanet VR Explore
Highlighting sacred and fragile locations of natural beauty and cultural heritage, Blueplanet VR Explore is a collection of remarkable places from around the world. With the release of version 2.5, the experience has expanded as well as improved: former DLC packs have been folded into the base app, adding around 40 new scenes, with existing users gaining access at no extra cost. A redesigned lobby now groups locations by category, making exploration easier and more intuitive. The scenes still look and feel strikingly close to real life, allowing you to move freely through these fragile, priceless environments. By bringing people closer to places they may never visit in person, Blueplanet helps encourage appreciation and protection of the world’s natural and cultural treasures.
PRICE £18.99 HEADSETS Meta Quest 3
BRINK Traveler
Travel to some of the world’s most amazing natural wonders in fully immersive 3D and feel like you’re really there in this awe-inspiring game by Brink XR. Step into a scene akin to a postcard as you visit a total of 28 (with more on their way) of the most breathtaking places on Earth. In-game highlights include room-scale walkable areas in each destination, a virtual guide and assistant to learn about where you’re visiting, and the chance to shoot photos to share with friends. You can either play the game solo or with friends and family in multiplayer mode.
PRICE £11.99 HEADSETS Meta Quest 3
(Photo: BRINK XR)
National Geographic Explore VR
Created in partnership with National Geographic, a world-leading society in the fields of geography, cartography and exploration, this magical VR experience invites you to discover two of the most iconic locations on Planet Earth. Don your explorer hat and head to Antarctica for an exhilarating expedition. Navigate around icebergs in a kayak, climb a vast ice shelf and survive a snowstorm as you hunt for a lost emperor penguin colony. Visit the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru and get immersed in amazing digital reconstructions of the legendary site. Witness mummy worships, raise a cup of sacred chicha and encounter cute and furry alpacas as you match Hiram Bingham’s photographs from when he rediscovered the citadel. Be sure to take a camera as your best snaps may even make it into the prestigious National Geographic magazine.
PRICE £7.99 HEADSETS Meta Quest 3
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
Fans of the hugely popular TV blockbuster The Walking Dead can step into a zombie-filled VR adventure that feels more immersive than ever, especially with the Meta Quest 3 update, which brings noticeably denser streets with up to twice as many walkers, higher-resolution textures, richer materials, improved reflections and more detailed environments overall. New dynamic lighting and shadows add to the atmosphere, alongside upgraded fire, fog and post-processing effects. Travel through the ruins of New Orleans as you fight, scavenge and survive, each day uncovering new mysteries in the city’s historic quarters. Encounter desperate factions and lone survivors who could be friend or foe – every choice still carries weight. Scavenge for weapons, food, tools and clues, craft makeshift gear from scrap and stay alert to the living and the dead, with spatial audio heightening every sound. It’s a tense, moral, hands-on experience that brings the small screen to life in a big way.
PRICE £29.99 HEADSETS Meta Quest 3
(Photo: Skydance Interactive)
Tetris Effect: Connected
Tetris Effect: Connected takes the endlessly familiar puzzle game and transforms it into something far more immersive and emotional. Building on the original Tetris Effect, this latest version adds co-op and competitive multiplayer, including cross-platform play, while keeping the hypnotic single-player experience firmly at its core. Every move you make feeds directly into the music, visuals and effects, with blocks and backgrounds pulsing and shifting in sync with your play. Across 30+ stages and 10+ modes, the game constantly evolves, unlocking new themes and challenges as you progress. It’s instantly recognisable, while feeling completely fresh, making it one of the most compelling modern takes on a true gaming classic.
PRICE $22.99 HEADSETS Meta Quest, Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 2
Alcove
The world is your oyster with this interactive, immersive VR experience that’s designed to be played by the whole family. There’s global travel and adventure in which your friends and family can join city tours, hot air balloon rides, back-country road trips, and plenty more. Or you can simply kick back and relax, practice meditation and get back to nature – all in the company of a guide or going solo, if you prefer. Other features include photo sharing, soundtracks, a range of fun games and media customisation.
PRICE Free HEADSETS Meta Quest 3
(Photo: AARP Innovation Labs)
Rome Reborn: The Pantheon
Created by Flyover Zone, an American company specialising in virtual travel applications that present the world’s most important cultural heritage sites and monuments, Rome Reborn is one of five applications that present different areas of ancient Rome. This particular one transports users over the entire ancient city, focussing on the Pantheon, perhaps the best-preserved building from antiquity. In the company of two virtual guides, you’ll get to explore the exterior forecourt and interior sanctuary of the reconstructed complex as you listen and learn about the Pantheon’s design and decoration, as well as the nature of the religious cult once housed within it.
PRICE £3.99 HEADSETS Currently only available on Oculus Rift
(Photo: Flyover Zone Productions)
Patagonia
Monte Fitzroy is Argentina’s most famous mountain landmark and is even used as the logo for outdoor retailer, Patagonia. It is a place that immediately evokes a sense of adventure. At the foot of the mountain is a beautiful and remote glacial lake known as Laguna Sucia. Most people who visit Monte Fitzroy view it from a location that is much easier to access. Laguna Sucia requires a much tougher hard-to-access trail that culminates in one of the most beautiful and remote glacial lakes in existence. You are rewarded with a sense of almost meditative stillness as you approach this untouched natural amphitheatre. This VR experience utilises Pterovision, a 3D technology that integrates computational photography, 360 Video, and gaming and allows you to take off like a bird, fly around the lake, visit the waterfalls along the edge, and fly over glacial formations beneath the mountain peaks. Numerous narrations will tell you about the challenges we faced when filming in this location, as well as educate you about the geology, culture, and history.
PRICE $2.99 HEADSETS Currently only available on Oculus Rift