Travel trends 2027: the rise of solo-ish travel

There is a small moment that happens every January. You open your phone, find a cheap flight to a place you have always meant to see, and close it again before booking — not because you are afraid to go alone, but because you cannot picture who you would go with. That gap, wanting the freedom of travelling on your own and also not wanting to spend the whole trip by yourself, is exactly what the big travel trend reports have finally given a name for 2027.

If you had to sum up where travel is heading next year in one line, it would be this: fewer rigid plans and fewer labels. Not "solo trip" or "group trip", but something in between that did not have a word until now. According to Hilton's 2027 travel trends report, based on a survey of nearly 15,000 travellers across several countries, the headline theme is "the great rebalance" — travelling in a way that is more flexible, more spread out and less perfect. Under that umbrella sit four or five shifts that will feel very familiar to anyone who travels without a fixed companion.

The rise of 'solo-ish' travel: going alone, but not entirely

The trend that best describes the year is the one the report calls solo-ish, and the idea behind it is simple: set off on your own, but do not spend the whole trip alone. According to the same Hilton report, 30% of travellers say they travel solo but meet up with someone they know once they reach the destination, and one in five join a group excursion with strangers during the trip. It is neither one thing nor the other — it is choosing when to be alone and when not to be.

It makes sense. The part where you please yourself — picking the destination without negotiating, changing plans mid-morning, having breakfast in silence — is precisely what makes solo travel worth it. But the dinner on the third night, the excursion that only runs for groups, the long hike, the sunrise that feels wasted with no one to turn to: those are the moments that change with company. Solo-ish travel is about keeping both rather than picking one. If the idea appeals but the "who with" part stops you every time, I have no one to travel with takes that excuse apart better than any report.

Shorter, more frequent trips: the micro-travel mindset

The second shift is practical: instead of one big holiday a year, several short escapes. The report calls these micro-trips and gives two clear reasons — 25% choose them to fit travel around work, and 29% to be more spontaneous. There is also the "stacker" profile, who packs several cities into a single trip; more than half of those surveyed, 57%, say they enjoy visiting multiple places in one go.

For anyone without a steady travel partner, this is almost good news. It is far easier to find someone free for a long weekend than for a fortnight, and a short trip lowers the bar on trust — sharing three days with someone you have just met is a smaller ask than sharing fifteen. Bank holidays and long weekends become the unit of travel for the year, and the question shifts from "where am I going this summer?" to "who is free this long weekend?". If weekend-sized trips are what you have in mind, solo travel in a group explains how to do exactly that without organising the whole thing yourself.

Looser itineraries: the 'adventure-ish' trip

The third trend is letting go of the script. The report describes the adventure-ish trip: 28% of travellers prefer to figure things out as they go, against 18% who want the itinerary fixed in advance. Not total improvisation and not a spreadsheet of timings — a light structure that leaves room for whatever comes up.

There is a catch worth saying out loud, because almost no one does: travelling without a plan is easy when you are alone and harder when there are several of you. A group that improvises with no base at all ends up arguing at two in the afternoon, hungry, about what to do. The version that works is having the essentials agreed between everyone — the dates, where you are sleeping, a couple of must-dos — and leaving the rest open. For that it helps to keep the group's decisions in one place: when you are going, what each person votes for, how the costs are split. That, underneath it all, is what how to find travel companions is really about: going your own way without going disorganised.

Nature, learning something, and less performing

The report's other two shifts point the same way. First, the outdoors: 79% say fresh air and nature are essential to switching off, and over half spend more time outside on holiday than they do at home. Second, trips built around learning something — a language, cooking, a craft — with 34% looking for experiences that leave them seeing things differently when they get back.

What is interesting is not each trend on its own but the pattern they share. None of them is about going further or spending more. They are about travelling in a way that fits real life: in smaller pieces, with less pressure, outdoors, learning something, and above all without having to choose between the freedom of going alone and the company of going with someone. If the pull of travelling alone is really more about the loneliness than the logistics, travelling alone when you feel lonely is worth a read first.

What this means if you travel without a fixed companion

Put together, the 2027 trends describe a very particular person: someone who wants to go, does not always have someone to go with, and is no longer satisfied with the only two options there used to be — stay home, or sign up to an organised trip with thirty strangers. Next year the default trip is the one in between: head off on your own and have someone for the parts that call for it.

That, as it happens, is the idea TravelMatch is built on. You post the trip you have in mind, with its destination and dates, or join one someone else has posted, and whoever wants to come asks you. Before you accept anyone you see their profile, how you match, and reviews left only by people who have actually travelled with them. The profile shows pace, budget and the age range each person prefers to travel with, and you can say whether you would rather a women-only group, a mixed one, or either — a preference people can see, not an automatic filter. Once the group forms there is a shared chat, an itinerary, polls and split expenses. It is free and books nothing: flights and rooms stay yours. If you are not sure where solo travel even starts, how to meet people travelling solo is the honest beginner's version.

Trends change every year, but 2027's confirms something anyone scrolling flights at midnight already knew: the thing you cannot really improvise about a trip is not the destination, it is the company. And that, luckily, is something you can settle before you book.

On TravelMatch you post your next trip with your dates and choose who comes along before you accept anyone. It is free.

→ Find who to travel with in 2027 · Free, in a minute.

Reviewed in October 2026. The figures from the 2027 travel trends report (survey of nearly 15,000 travellers; "solo-ish" travel — 30% travel solo but meet someone they know at the destination and 20% join a group excursion with strangers; "adventure-ish" travel — 28% figure things out as they go against 18% with a fixed itinerary; micro-trips — 25% to fit travel around work and 29% for spontaneity; the 57% who visit several cities in one trip; the 34% seeking to learn something; and the 79% who consider nature essential to relaxing) come from Hilton's 2027 travel trends report, as reported by Euronews (euronews.com, 1 October 2026), consulted on 28 October 2026. No TravelMatch figures are quoted.