1. Dolphin hunting in the Med - Jo Eede helped Earthwatch monitor dophins and whales off the coast of Spain on a break that can last between three and 18 days

2. Volunteering in mountainous Nepal - On a gap year between a science and a medicine degree Julia Fordham, 23, volunteered at a clinic in Trisuli, a small town just over 3 hours west of Kathmandu

3. Inside South Africa's townships - Martin Wroe's family joined three other families for a two-week break in Durban, organised by the childrens' charity Umthombo. They went surfing, went on beach walks, did activities with street kids and visited shantytowns

4. The toughest holiday in the world? - During one January, Christopher Hart lived and worked with an impoverished Lenca Indian family in the highlands of western Honduras. He helped them build a house. It was the best month of his life

5 classic Gap Year features

One of our trio of Family Travel experts plucks her favourite gap travel advice features from the collection

Top Tips for Gap Year Health

A mother of two teens, one of our family experts, urges parents and gap year students to plan early for a gap break

• 5 classic Gap Year features

Top 10 Asia alternative gap travel destinations

Some unique gems for backpackers in a continent packed with natural wonders and ancient culture

• Captivating Cambodia

• Teaching English in Sri Lanka

• Japan on a (fairly long) shoestring

Related Internet Links

• The complete guide to gap year travel

5. Tuscany for free on a working holiday - Peter Munro toured Tuscany, Sorrento and Emilia-Romagna via Help Exchange, which offers food and board for five hours’ work on a farm, five days a week

6. Post-yoga volunteering in Sri Lanka - A yoga retreat in Turkey made Catherine Leech want to do something more fulfilling. She volunteered for 18 months with the charity Sarvodaya, to develop a Community Tourism Initiative in Sri Lanka. Another Sri Lanka volunteer was Jon Nurse, who taught English at a remote primary school in Polonnaruwa

7. How we bonded on a volunteer's holiday - Rod Gilchrist joined a chain gang rebuilding mountain paths in the wilds of Scotland. It wasn't easy but he found kinship and invigoration

8. Voluntourism: a guilt trip? - Vincent Crump spends three days at the Baan Dada orphanage seven hours northwest of Bangkok, and finds he got more out of his stay than the orphans; plus six more volunteer breaks around the world

9. Ask our expert: volunteer holidays - Times Online gap travel expert, Richard Oliver offers advice to a woman who's keen to do volunteer work but isn't sure which company to opt for

10. A life-changing gap experience - Jeremy Lazell finds ten volunteering adventures from teaching in Tanzania to marine conservation in Thailand; plus, Andrew Eames asks, are volunteer tourists are heading for a disaster?

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