Neurosurfing and no posting — the surprising travel trends for 2026

Interest in body-positive activities is particularly high in countries with strong wellness traditions, from Japan’s onsens and Turkey’s hammams
to Norway’s friluftsliv (open-air living or ‘life in the outdoors’).

Our writers have been hard at work this year reviewing these experiences, so take a look — see which one is for you.

Mel Evans on onsens: I stripped off to bathe naked with strangers in Japan

Gergana Krasteva on friluftsliv: I flew to Norway and discovered the ideal way to live

Alice Murphy on the Latvian pirts: Naked, freezing and slathered in honey, my 72 hours in Riga

Value for money

The value-conscious traveller of 2026 won’t be told how or where to spend their points.

Older travellers may still enjoy the comforts of business class, but younger ones are redefining jet-setting in a way that would bring a tear to Martin Lewis’ eye.

With the cost of living still climbing, deals and loyalty points have become
a crucial tool for consumers unwilling to skip on summer holidays.

Despite tightening budgets, 29% of UK consumers continued to put money towards trips in the autumn of 2025, making them the most popular
‘big-ticket’ expense.

Some 47% of British Airways Holidays customers said the current state of the economy makes them more likely to take part in promotions.

We’ve been hard at work this year to bring you the cheapest deals and destinations. Check out some of our readers’ favourites:

Georgia: Europe’s last hidden gem with extraordinary prices

Warsaw: The ‘underrated’ European gem with £34 flights

Cilento: The undiscovered gem right next to the Amalfi Coast

Why the Algarve’s off-season is now the ‘best time to visit’

Trapani: The ‘City of Salt’ that’s 22C in November with £37 return flights

‘Chronocations’

Routine, be damned — next year, it seems that people just want to relax.

Borrowing its name from chronotype (or biological disposition for being a morning person or a night owl), this trend is all about travelling in alignment with our natural rhythm.

Amid the vortex of social media, sedentary habits and gruelling work schedules, going with the flow has never been harder.

But, according to BA’s report, British travellers are giving more thought to how they use their most precious resource: time.

And more are expected to break free from the shackles of routine in 2026.

‘Holidays can act as a reset,’ Professor Russell Foster of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences explains, but recalibrating a misaligned chronotype involves more than catching up on sleep – it also requires lowering stress and anxiety.

Professor Foster says: ‘All the tissues and the organs of the body
have their own clocks, and to work effectively, they need to be perfectly aligned. If you don’t have that alignment, then instead of a symphony, you have a cacophony.’

Brands are taking note. Holiday Inn Express is waking guests with a scent-powered ‘Breakfast Alarm Clock’, while caffeine-fuelled morning raves like Sydney’s Maple Social Club (now also in New York) are becoming mainstream.

Even luxury hotels are getting in on the action. At Kandima Maldives, there is late-night karting and escape rooms.

At Fairmont Scottsdale, twilight treatments for guests who want a massage or facial after dark.

This might be one bandwagon we’re willing to jump on.

Vintage and retro

Amid a sea of AI slop, travellers are searching for relics of the pre-algorithmic age, chasing retro experiences and pre-loved treasures.

Often, it’s not nostalgia but anemoia, a longing for eras they
never lived.

We are, all of us, craving the weird, wonderful, and different. A material manifestation of this is the rise in holidays centred on vintage shopping.

‘Vintage Junkets are part of a pushback against how generic travel has become,” says Americana expert Zoey Goto.

In most major cities, visitors are funnelled to the same map pins and TikTok pop-ups. So it’s no surprise that 43% of UK travellers say authentic souvenirs with a direct connection to the destination are harder to
find, and 33% cite authenticity as being important to them when souvenir shopping.

Even local markets are often filled with imported goods.

‘So where do you find something truly unique?’ asks Goto. ‘You have to roll back to a time before mass production and globalisation.’

Travellers are responding, treating vintage hunting as a cultural deep
dive, using flea markets and retro districts to discover a place through its past.

Our Travel Editor Alice Murphy found a treasure trove of secondhand and consignment stores in Marseille earlier this year. Check out what she bought here.

Stream parks

Next year, the theme park world is going off-script. And it’s no coincidence that Orlando, widely regarded as the theme park capital of the world, is the 2nd most searched for destination for 2026 trips.

Glittering portals to major franchises will keep their pull – Disney catapulting Star Wars fans to a galaxy far, far away; explorers traipsing through Jurassic Park at Universal Orlando Resort.

But streaming platforms are also pressing play on Stream Parks: destinations using new technologies to bring digital worlds into vivid
hyper-reality, tapping the 28% of UK adults eager to step inside their favourite film.

‘Theme park innovation used to be about building the tallest, longest ride,’ says reviewer Dan Richards of @DigitalDan.

‘Now, people want to be part of the story – to interact with it.’

A good example is Netflix House, which opened in late 2025 in
Philadelphia and Texas. This park transforms hits like Bridgerton,
Stranger Things and WWE into immersive retail, dining and VR spaces, with a Las Vegas site planned for 2027.

Chinese streaming platform iQIYI is expanding too, building on its Yangzhou Park with a second mixedreality venue in Kaifeng.

Meanwhile, Minecraft, – whose gameplay has amassed over 1.3 trillion YouTube views – will debut new attractions in the UK and US from 2026.

Neurosurfing

In 2026, rising interest in cognitive health will push travellers toward Neurosurfing – holidays designed to deliver high-impact
relaxation through stimulation rather than stillness.

We’re talking a combination of yoga, meditation, music, breathwork, drawing, and arts and crafts.

Hotels such as Palazzo Fiuggi in Lazio are leading the charge, inviting guests to ‘Neurosurf’ through calming frequencies and higher-intensity activities like hikes and conscious-cooking workshops guided by Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck.

The St Raphael Resort in Limassol, Cyprus, offers a similar approach, pairing surfing with low-frequency soundscape sessions.

According to the British Airways Holidays/YouGov survey, 26% of UK adults say sleep deprivation affects their mental balance, more so than
social media and digital content (16%), poor physical health
or lack of exercise (14%), environmental stress (11%), emails
or communication (3%) or generative AI platforms (3%).

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