Ones to Watch: 6 Adventure Travel Trends for 2026
Travel trends for 2026 hint at a quiet rebellion. Far more than simply viewing the sights, it’s a year for going deeper. Travelers want to feel something, whether that’s the stillness of a Japanese temple at dawn or the simple pleasure of watching a rail journey upstage the destination.
These are the moments you can’t pick up at duty free, and the travel trends that will define the year.
Read more: Browse the 26 top adventure trips to book for 2026, chosen by the experts
1. Step into the story: immersive travel takes centre stage
Travelers are leaning towards ultra-personalized journeys, chosen around hobbies, passions and niche interests, according to Booking.com’s Travel Predictions 2026 report. It’s a trend toward more emotionally meaningful travel; a shift from merely noticing a place to feeling part of it.
Our newly launched Signature Collection journeys are designed with that very idea in mind. These journeys open doors that usually stay closed, shaped by remarkable stays, rare experiences and the people who bring their home to life. Every Signature Collection itinerary includes a Signature Day, where you can choose from a curated menu of locally led experiences. In Japan, that might mean a tea ceremony with an apprentice geisha, kintsugi workshop, or an exclusive artisanal sake brewery tour.
In Greece, sleep easy in your Signature Stay, Kapsaliana Village Hotel, a gorgeously restored 18th-century village where hospitality seems to come as naturally as the sea breeze.
Across every destination, your Signature Guide ties it all together. They are the storytellers who know the hidden paths and the warm hellos, ready to immerse you in the heart of the destination, not just show you around.
2. Pause with purpose: the wellness travel trend continues
Rest continues to be an integral part of the journey rather than something saved for later. Forbes highlighted Statista’s projection that global wellness tourism is on track to reach around 1.35 trillion dollars by 2028, underlining just how strongly travelers are weaving wellbeing into their journeys.
That’s why our wellness extensions have become such a welcome addition, giving you permission to exhale before heading home.
After days spent spotting sloths and scarlet macaws in Costa Rica, how about a few nights at Sí Como No Resort & Wildlife Refuge to settle into a slower coastal rhythm? Hammocks sway, yoga mats appear at sunrise, and the soundtrack is somewhere between birdsong and nothing at all.
In Mauritius, Heritage Le Telfair Golf & Wellness Resort brings a gentler cadence after the excitement of spotting your favourite safari icons in South Africa.
And along Vietnam’s coast, TIA Wellness Retreat or Naman Retreat offer a very soft landing after active days exploring the country. Private villas, twice-daily therapies and nourishing cuisine replace fast pedaling and temple hopping—proof that slowing down can be every bit as rewarding as speeding up.
Vietnam Highlights
The best of Vietnam, cherry-picked to showcase the heart and soul of the nation in just over a week
Read more: Discover the secret to a perfect Vietnam itinerary
3. Full steam ahead: rail journeys steal the spotlight
Train travel continues to trend, thanks to travelers keen to tread a little lighter on the planet, and to the sheer joy of watching the world drift past a window seat.
Europe by rail might be the obvious starting point, but the world has plenty of tracks worth following a little further afield too.
If you love big views and classic European rail magic, Switzerland delivers. The landscapes reveal themselves one window frame at a time: the glint of Lake Lucerne, the sweep of Alpine valleys as the train winds past glaciers and high passes.
If you’re after something far more epic (and a world apart), Tibet calls. It’s a different kind of theatre altogether. The world’s highest railway, commonly known as the Sky Train, carries you across the vast plateau and over the 16,400ft (5,000m) Tanggula Pass, where snow-brushed peaks rise in slow, deliberate motion. When the train finally glides into Lhasa, the golden roofs and bright prayer flags feel like a greeting you have been travelling towards for days.
And if you want drama served with fjords and waterfalls, Norway never disappoints. The Flåm line lifts you from sea-level fjords into the mountains in mere minutes. You hop off at the top and descend on foot through waterfalls, meadows and wooden farmhouses.
These are train journeys that remind you that the bit between A and B can be the best part.
4. Think like a naturalist: single-species safaris
If you have ever wished you had more time with one remarkable animal rather than racing between sightings, single-species safaris is a travel trend worth considering. These trips slow the pace and sharpen the focus, giving you the space to understand an animal’s world in full.
In India, it is all about tigers. Dawn breaks over Pench or Kanha with little more than the cough of a langur or the warning call of deer to disturb the stillness, each sound hinting at a tiger moving through the sal trees. With 15 game drives across India’s premier tiger parks, you learn to recognize pug marks, understand territorial behaviour and feel the tension in the forest when a tiger is near.
In Brazil’s Pantanal, the focus is the jaguar. Boats drift through water hyacinth as you scan the riverbanks for the unmistakable rosette pattern moving in and out of the shadows. Giant otters and hyacinth macaws add color to the scene, but it is the jaguar’s presence that holds you in suspense.
India Tiger Safari
A comprehensive wildlife tour of India's best tiger parks
These are journeys for travelers who want expertise, not just sightings.
Read more: Browse the top 10 destinations for African safaris
5. Chase winter: go beyond the slopes
With the current solar maximum set to keep aurora activity high into 2026, scientists predict some of the brightest Northern Lights displays in more than a decade. At the same time, winter travelers are stepping away from just the ski resorts in search of a different snow ‘high.’
In the wilds of northern Finland, your days could be filled with snowshoe hikes through a silent national park, cross-country skiing along forest trails and learning to steer your own husky team as they bound across the snow. Evenings take you out on nighttime walks in search of the Northern Lights, and you could even try building a quinzee, a traditional snow shelter carved from packed snow.
And in fairytale Transylvania, winter takes on a different rhythm entirely. One morning might see you snowshoeing or winter walking along quiet valley trails, the next visiting a bear sanctuary tucked deep in the forest.
Finnish Wilderness Week
Mixed activity week in a remote part of Finland
6. Join the celebration: festival-led travel trends
The frenzy of fans flying across borders for Taylor Swift concerts and the renewed excitement around Olympic host cities make one thing clear: travelers love a trip with a headline event at its heart. And if you enjoy stepping into the heart of a tradition rather than skimming its surface, the festival-led travel trend should be on your 2026 wishlist.
Peru’s Inti Raymi delivers just that in full color. Each June, Cuzco honours the Inca Festival of the Sun with dancers in embroidered costumes, music echoing through the streets and a dramatic re-enactment of ancient rituals at Sacsayhuaman.
For those who prefer ceremony with a spiritual pulse, Bhutan’s tshechu festivals offer a gentler kind of spectacle. At Trongsa, masked dancers move in slow, precise patterns to the sound of long horns and the entire monastery becomes a living expression of Buddhist tradition.
If you are intrigued by celebration and remembrance intertwined, Mexico’s Day of the Dead is unforgettable. In highland villages, marigold petals carpet paths to candlelit graves, families gather to share favorite stories of loved ones and altars glow late into the night.
And if your heart pulls you towards epic landscapes and ancient skills, Mongolia’s Eagle Festival offers both in abundance. On the vast Altai steppe, Kazakh hunters showcase the remarkable bond with their golden eagles, with thundering hooves, soaring birds and embroidered coats creating a scene that feels almost mythical.
Festival-led travel roots your journey in the kind of experience that lingers long after the drums, songs or candlelight fade.
Traveling into 2026
Curiosity piqued? Let’s turn these trends into a plan. Book your extraordinary adventure for 2026.
