These gap year programs combine community service projects with travel and adventure, for students ages 17–22.
Not sure which fits? Browse all gap year programs.
Gap Year Volunteer Programs Abroad
- Country
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- Fiji Islands
- Program name
- South Pacific Service and Ocean Skills
Explore the South Pacific
- Duration
- 77 days
- Ages
- 17-22
- Price
- $20,990 + airfare
Flights to and from the program aren't included.
Flight options include: Chaperoned Group Flight, Independent Flight with Support, or Self-Managed Airfare. You'll choose with your advisor after enrolling.
- Departures
- Dates coming soon
- Countries
-
- Costa Rica
- Peru
- Dominican Republic
- Program name
- Spanish Immersion and Service
Hone your Spanish in three Latin American countries.
- Duration
- 78 days
- Ages
- 17-22
- Price
- $17,645 + airfare
Flights to and from the program aren't included.
Flight options include: Chaperoned Group Flight, Independent Flight with Support, or Self-Managed Airfare. You'll choose with your advisor after enrolling.
- Departures
- Dates coming soon
- Country
-
- Thailand
- Program name
- The Land of Smiles: Gap in Thailand
Thailand's beaches, forests, and elephants
- Duration
- 40 days
- Ages
- 17-22
- Price
- $13,000 + airfare
- Focus
- 64 service hours
Flights to and from the program aren't included.
Flight options include: Chaperoned Group Flight, Independent Flight with Support, or Self-Managed Airfare. You'll choose with your advisor after enrolling.
Gap Year Volunteer Programs
Gap year volunteer programs combine community service with travel, so part of your time goes to a local project and the rest to exploring the region. Every Rustic Pathways gap year program includes community service alongside adventure and cultural immersion.
- The Land of Smiles: Gap in Thailand: 40 days and 64 hours of community service, including mangrove restoration with the fishing families of Mod Tanoi.
- Spanish Immersion and Service: 78 days in Costa Rica, Peru and the Dominican Republic, with Spanish classes, homestays and service projects, including water access and sanitation work in rural Dominican communities.
- South Pacific Service and Ocean Skills: 77 days in Fiji, where service may include agricultural, educational and public health projects.
Gap Year Volunteering Abroad: How to Choose an Opportunity
The best gap year volunteer opportunities are projects the local community asked for, with work you can do well in the time you have.
Before you commit, ask:
- Who chose the project, and who runs it after you leave?
- What will you do each day, and what training will you get?
- How many hours of service are planned?
- Where will you stay, and who supports you there?
Read more on how to volunteer abroad during a gap year.
Gap Year Service Programs
A gap year service program puts community work at the center of the year, with travel and reflection built around it.
Rustic Pathways has integrated service learning into its travel curriculum since 1996. Rustic Pathways launched structured gap-year programs in 2007. On a Rustic Pathways gap semester, service sits beside language study, homestays and adventure, so the work stays tied to the people and places you get to know.
Conservation and Wildlife Gap Year Programs
Conservation gap year programs focus on protecting habitats, wildlife or marine life, usually through field projects with local partners.
On The Land of Smiles: Gap in Thailand, students restore mangrove forest alongside the fishing families of Mod Tanoi on the Andaman coast. Rustic Pathways gap year programs mix environmental service with other projects. Students who want a full-time wildlife conservation placement should look for a program built around that work.