Travel Trends For 2026

Prices are climbing, timelines are tight, and yet the urge to wander hasn’t gone anywhere. We’re leaning into a smarter kind of escape—one built around intention, calm, and real connection. In this conversation, we map the standout travel shifts taking shape for 2026 and show how to turn them into rewarding, realistic plans you can actually look forward to.

We start with wellness redefined: digital detox retreats, silent stays, and remote escapes that restore attention instead of draining it. From there, we dig into why-cations—the practice of choosing destinations and days around a personal purpose. Mountain getaways enter the spotlight, offering quiet trails, fresh air, and cozy cabins in every season. If crowds drain you, we explain how off-peak adventuring unlocks value and authenticity in places like winter Denmark, autumn Japan, and summertime safaris without the chaos.

For travelers craving depth, slow travel is the move: longer stays of three to four weeks that swap checklists for rhythm. Soon-to-be retirees use this model to test-drive future homes, while curious travelers use it to sink into daily life. We also spotlight the revival of rail, from South Africa’s Blue Train to the Orient Express and India’s Deccan Odyssey—rolling hotels that remove friction and add romance. Solo travel keeps rising, especially among women who “bookend” group or work trips with a few independent days to build confidence and savor me-time. And for families, generational travel is having a moment, bringing grandparents, adult children, and kids together to make new memories in nostalgic places.

You’ll leave with practical ways to align your budget with your why, choose the right season for the experience you want, and experiment with solo days or luxury rail without overcomplicating logistics. If these ideas spark your next plan, follow along, share this with a friend who needs a travel nudge, and leave a quick review so others can find the show. Your next great trip starts with a clear purpose—where will yours take you?

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Well, can you believe it's already November?
The year is almost over.
And I've just been reflecting onall my travels this year and
what's to come for next yearalready.
And a lot of people have alreadystarted planning their trips,
but maybe you haven't.
And so I wanted to share today alittle bit of what they're
seeing through some research,through whether it's a travel

(00:24):
blog or travel organization oreven hotels and travel industry
are predicting certain trends.
And I was looking at what lastyears were, and they have
changed this year.
They're predicting a coupledifferent things for 2026.
As we look at, you know, onething for sure is although 28%

(00:50):
they say of leisure travelerswill take fewer trips in 2026
due to rising cost, or many mayjust be trimming back on how
much they spend on travel, orjust being more selective.
And even though the overallbudgets are shrinking for
travel, people are still wantingto travel.

(01:11):
So don't be discouraged.
You listen to that stat, and Iknow I'm not worried.
I will definitely be travelingactually more in 2026 than I did
in 2025.
Are you one of those people thatplans to travel more or less
this coming year?
Well, let me share with you someof these travel trends that are

(01:33):
happening, that there is seeingmore people uh gravitating
toward this type or style oftravel.
So not necessarily specificdestinations, and I may share
some of that a little later inthe year, but I wanted to share
what's pulling people to travela certain way.
So I think the one thing that isstill sort of carrying over from

(01:56):
this year, and I'm gonna kind ofgive it a broader uh title, is
that um wellness and purpose,but I'm saying wellness beyond
the spa type wellness, not thatkind of wellness, but maybe just
well-being type of travel umexperiences like a digital
detox.

(02:17):
We're hearing a lot of peoplewanting, uh even Hilton said
they people are gravitatingtowards this silence, and that
was actually one of the trendsthis past year, these silent
travel or silent retreats.
Um, again, places where theycould break from distractions,
maybe even a multi-day naturehike or somewhere very remote

(02:41):
that they could just unplug.
And so I like to just say that'skind of more the unplugging type
of travel that is beneficial toyour well-being.
And along with that, um,Hilton's 2026 trends report
notices a shift to the focusalong with that wellness, that

(03:01):
it is being more intentional inyour travel.
So having a why to your travels,they call them why cations.
So I like that.
I, of course, I encourage thatbecause as a travel coach, I do
want your travels to beintentional.
I want you to have a why behindthem.
And so if you're feeling alittle burned out, you're so

(03:26):
much distraction is happeningand your mind just won't settle.
Maybe you can consider sort ofthis uh wellness purposeful type
of travel where you do maybe adigital detox, maybe you're in a
remote location.
Number two, uh speaking ofremote locations, they have

(03:46):
found that 80% of travelers areconsidering doing a mountain
getaway in 2026.
So, again, this is driven bysort of that quiet and
peacefulness that people arelooking for.
There's a remoteness to it,there is this clean air, there's

(04:06):
no noise, likely the, you know,so noise pollution is gone.
And just the whole idea of amountain getaway, it's kind of
cozy feeling for me, like a logcabin feel.
Maybe you build a fire, and Ijust picture, you know, snow.
It doesn't have to be snow, youcould go in the summertime.
But I don't know about you, butthat just kind of feels good.

(04:30):
It's just comforting, and italso kind of reminds me of a
Hallmark movie, maybe.
And I love Hallmark movies.
So mountain getaways are on therise, and I think that's
fulfilling a little more of thatagain, that wanting to be um
unplugged kind of feel, or justthat coziness.
I love that idea.

(04:51):
Um, number three, we're seeingslower travels.
So, what does that mean?
Slow travels, not necessarilynomads, that is a whole other
category, but slower travelsmeaning uh they are staying for
three to four weeks, longerstays in one place.

(05:11):
Now they're finding that this iscommon among these soon-to-be
retirees, and they're takinglittle micro doses of these sort
of retirement trips, but alsosome of them are doing this as
well to kind of investigatewhere they may want to actually
retire.
So they're spending a littleextra time, weeks at a time, at

(05:36):
these places, and it's slowertravel, so they can get a feel
for that place, really uh stepinto the culture.
So, in general, they're seeingmore of that.
The other thing they're seeingis uh is off-peak adventuring.
So I'm a big advocate of um, Iusually try to travel during the

(06:00):
shoulder season.
So let me explain.
We have high season, of course,and in most cases that's gonna
be summertime, uh, where it's orhigh season is when it's popular
to go to that place.
Then you have what's calledshoulder season, which is right
before or right after the highseason.

(06:22):
There's a little bit lesscrowds, the weather maybe is
still you know, temperateweather, and it's a little less
expensive than high season.
But what they're saying isthey're seeing a lot more people
traveling in what they calloff-peak.
So this would be like, forexample, maybe going to Denmark

(06:43):
or Finland in the wintertime orautumn in Japan.
A lot of people like to go toJapan in the spring for the
cherry blossoms and or in thesummer, right?
Or off-peak for a safari wouldactually be in the summertime.

(07:04):
So people are doing that.
A, it's less crowded, as youknow, and it's less expensive.
So off-peak adventuring, thatsounds exciting.
Um, so number five is actuallyrail travel has is being
revived.

(07:24):
And I'm talking, uh, I just Ihave to say this, although
Amtrak has sort of um up theante, so to speak, in you know,
updating some of their trainsand the services that they
provide during some of theirservices.
It's honestly, I've done anAmtrak, you know, several day

(07:44):
trip.
Love the idea of train travel, Ireally do.
But unfortunately, Americantrain travel really um cannot
even put a finger and just evencome close to what you might
find in other countries, forparticularly Europe, right?
But we're looking also at moreluxury uh rail travel, is what

(08:08):
I'm seeing a lot.
So, you know, the blue train ispretty popular.
These are all luxury type oftrips, they would be several
days and beautifulaccommodations inside the train
and food.
So the blue train goes, um, it'sin South Africa and it goes from
Pretoria to Cape Town.

(08:28):
Um, there's also, of course, theOrient Express, um, also very
decadent type of train.
Um, there's the Deccan Odysseyin India.
So these are all very umexpensive, but truly worth it.
You don't have to really lift afinger except book your train

(08:51):
ride, and maybe if you need tobook your flight to get there.
So, rail train, I like itbecause it's uh no nonsense kind
of uh planning in that aspect.
And then um we're seeing, ofcourse, this is not new, this
has been going on for a while,and it's maintained popularity

(09:13):
is more solo travel.
And of course, it's mostly uswomen that are doing these solo
travels, but they're seeing uhwomen who maybe aren't uh
necessarily, you know, do solotravel a lot, um, expanding
trips they already have planned,maybe with other people.
So they're bookending theirtrips with some solo days, so

(09:36):
whether it's before or after, orthey're bookending, maybe they
have a work trip, so they'regoing a few days before or
after, and it you know,exploring with as a solo
traveler, or maybe they'remeeting family, so they're going
a little bit before and meetingup with them later, or a group
tour, same idea.
So getting a little touch ofthat solo travel, but not for

(09:59):
the whole time.
So that's that's a great idea ifyou are maybe on the fence about
solo travel yourself and youknow, experimenting with that.
And then finally, uh they aresaying this is this is new, and
I'm very excited about this ideaof they're calling it
generational travel.

(10:20):
And so this is where, of course,families would be traveling
together, and they are, youknow, I'm not just talking like
immediate family, but it mightbe more extended family.
Um, the grandparents, uh, maybein-laws are joining in the fun,
and they're all coming togetherin one place to enjoy a vacation

(10:45):
some time together.
And, you know, maybe justrenting a big house, getting an
Airbnb so they all could betogether.
And noticing too that sometimesthese um generational travel
where the families cometogether, they could be like
adult children joining theirparents again with maybe their

(11:05):
kids, right?
So more of that sort of extendedfamily, and maybe returning to a
place that they all went maybeas kids, kind of being a little
nostalgic about maybe where theygo, and you know, returning to
those memories and creating newones with now maybe their family
or their extended family.

(11:26):
So these are just what sometrends they're seeing here that
are going to be coming about in2026.
I love some of these ideas, andI'm wondering what motivates you
to travel and what gets you outthere to adventure.
Well, sisters, again, I justlove doing these episodes where

(11:49):
we kind of talk about thosetrends, giving you ideas or
inspiration to do your thing.
It doesn't have to fit into anyof this.
But what what motivates you totravel?
Last week's episode, we I talkedabout the why, why do you
travel, asking those questions?
You're sitting down and askingand investigating.

(12:11):
So I gave you a couple exercisesthat you could do if you want to
go back and listen to lastweek's episode to help you
determine, you know, why do youwant to go to a certain place or
why do you want to travel, whichmay help you determine where to
go.
Well, this weekend there is avirtual travel summit.

(12:32):
You can still get signed up.
And I will leave the informationin the show notes of this
podcast.
Please get signed up.
I am one of the speakers, and Iwould love to have you listen,
not just to me, but to uh the 19other uh wonderful travel coach
experts that will be on thesummit, and that is happening
November 15th.

(12:53):
Get signed up, and I hope to seeyou there.
Also, speaking of one of thosetrends, that wellness idea, this
is the last opportunity pitchwhere you can get a discount on
that wellness river cruise inEurope next year, and that is
happening the end of August, andit is flying out of going out of

(13:15):
um Budapest and pretty muchending up uh going up the Danube
River.
So if you need more informationon that, uh you can reach out to
me at hello at Cherylbeckesh.comand I will get you the
information on how you can signup.
So right now, till the end ofNovember, you can still get a

(13:37):
$400 deposit will hold yourspot, and then you don't need to
pay for the rest of it until Ibelieve it's 90 days before you
actually sail.
So get on that trend of thatwhole wellness idea of traveling
to better your physical, mental,and maybe emotional self, and
join this lovely European rivercruise.

(13:59):
And we hope to see you there.