Travel trends 2026

If 2025 was the year travellers fell in love with overland travel, 2026 is shaping up to be the year we fully commit to it. The slow travel movement has moved from fringe to familiar, with families, friends and solo travellers alike choosing journeys by land and sea as their first thought, not their fallback. At Byway, we’ve seen demand for slow travel holidays rise across every category, with particular growth in family and off-season travel. More people are recognising that it’s not just about getting somewhere, but about how you get there: the views, the pauses, and the places in between.

This shift reflects a broader mindset change. After years of travel disruption and growing climate anxiety, holidaymakers are seeking experiences that align with their values and new pace of life. European summers are now too hot for comfort, driving a cool-climate renaissance in the Alps and Scandinavia. Families are trading security queues for sleeper cabins. Travellers are swapping five star resorts for sauna huts by the sea, and bucket-list endurance sports for low-adrenaline hikes and swims. Even the night sky is becoming a destination, as travellers plan trips around eclipses and constellations.

As we look ahead to 2026, new sleeper routes are knitting Europe together even more, technology is helping us travel more personally and purposefully, and destinations themselves are rewarding those who arrive by train. The journey is reclaiming its rightful place at the heart of travel, as we move towards holidays that are more meaningful, sustainable and considered.

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Summer highs

As European summers grow hotter, travellers are heading higher in both latitude and altitude. Alpine escapes in Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland are booming, offering a cooler alternative to the classic beach holiday. These destinations are made for overland travel: trains wind through mountain passes only accessible by rail or on foot, linking remote mountain inns, hiking trails through wildflower meadows, and wild swimming spots in glacial lakes along the way.

New sleeper connections planned between Malmö, Copenhagen and Switzerland, expected to launch in spring 2026, will make these regions more accessible than ever before. Interest is already climbing: in early summer 2025 there were 24% more first-time visitors to Swiss mountain railways than the year before, while passenger numbers on cable cars rose by nine per cent between May and July.

Peak creeping

The traditional shoulder season is shrinking as the edges of summer expand. Due to climate change, spring and autumn are often delivering summer-like warmth, encouraging more people to skip the stronger July and August heat in favour of cooler, quieter months.

More travellers are becoming aware that when they travel is just as important as how. Choosing to explore outside the height of summer helps ease pressure on local infrastructure, accommodation and nature spots that can struggle during peak season. It also supports businesses and communities that rely on visitors beyond the summer rush, helping destinations thrive more sustainably all year round.

Our data shows Byway departures for off-season travel have increased by 1.5 times year on year, with September proving the standout at 1.6 times the previous year and more than 1,200 people setting off. Meanwhile, summer departures grew at a slower pace, with June up just 1.3 times. The new sweet spot is clear: April to May and September to October. These months bring springtime tulips to the Netherlands, Riesling grape harvests in the Rhine Valley, and thinner crowds at Catalonian beaches.

Planning fast and slow

Spontaneity is having a moment, but so is serious planning. We’re seeing a sharp increase in last-minute escapes booked just days before departure, while at the same time more people are securing big overland adventures up to a year in advance to guarantee the best sleeper cabins and boutique hotels. Trips booked within two months of travel have risen by 1.5 times compared to last year, while those booked more than nine months ahead have more than doubled.

Whether it’s bagging a much-coveted Isle of Skye stay a year in advance (best visited in shoulder season), or booking a spur-of-the-moment jaunt to explore the châteaux of Hauts-de-France, travellers are reshaping how they plan: taking control of their time, and embracing both spontaneity and strategy to make the most of their journey.

No-fly families

Parents are ditching security queues and overpriced airport lounges for smoother, saner journeys by land and sea. Travelling by train means space to move, dining cars for proper meals, and even play areas on some routes, offering a calmer and far more comfortable alternative to cramped cabins and seatbelt signs. It’s less hassle than flying and keeps kids happily occupied, whether they’re spotting castles, playing a quick game of Uno, or decorating the windows with sticky-note puzzles.

More families are choosing holidays that mirror the future they want their children to grow up in, favouring lower-impact journeys that feel calmer and more connected. Stacey Solomon showed how fun family rail travel can be when she took her five children to Switzerland by train in 2025. And we’ve seen demand for overland family trips grow by 1.5 times year on year, based on bookings per day for 2025 compared to 2024, for trips including at least one child.

If you’re travelling with children, it helps to build in slower days and plenty of stopovers to make the journey easier and more enjoyable. Whether you’re taking the Hogwarts Express route, discovering real-life fairytale towns in Alsace, or exploring other family trips by train, the key is to keep things simple and flexible.

"Don’t try to fit too much into the itinerary, especially if this is the first time you’re doing family train travel."

Justin Owers

Athleisure tourism

From marathons to Ironmans, extreme challenges abroad are dominating the headlines. Spencer Matthews is currently tackling seven full Ironmans across seven continents, while Harry Styles has gone from completing the Tokyo Marathon to taking on Berlin soon after.

Byway travellers, however, are favouring something gentler. As slow travel gains momentum, we’re seeing more people look for active holidays that aren't too intense, the kind that fit naturally with travelling by train. Moving from place to place at a slower pace invites time to hike, cycle or swim along the way, turning the journey itself into part of the experience.

We’ve seen a marked rise in requests for trips that blend movement with relaxation. Everything from a week in Siena with vineyard cycle routes and pasta-filled evenings, to a morning run through Highland villages, or a swim in Lake Constance without counting the lengths. We’re calling it athleisure tourism: a blend of athletics and leisure that turns being active into part of the holiday rather than the whole purpose of it.

“I love holidays that mix relaxation, great destinations and something active, like cycling. It fits so well with train travel because both let you slow down and take everything in. More people are asking for cycling trips, but bike space on trains can be limited, and Eurostar only takes foldable bikes. That’s why I designed six cycling-by-train holidays with reliable local hire and cyclist-friendly hotels, so you can explore on two wheels without the hassle.”

Astrotourism and noctourism

Nights are no longer reserved for sleep. Travellers are increasingly drawn to the magic of the after-dark world, from guided stargazing in dark-sky reserves to moonlit hikes and astronomy-themed stays. Many of the best night-sky experiences are found far from major cities and flight paths, which makes them perfect for overland travel. Reaching these remote, low-light regions by train or ferry keeps your carbon footprint down and allows you to see more along the way.

Interest is expected to surge in summer 2026, when a total solar eclipse will sweep across northern Spain and Portugal on the 12th of August. Hotels in Spain are already reporting rising prices and early sell-outs ahead of the event. With celestial spectacles like these on the horizon, astrotourism and noctourism are set to shine even brighter in 2026.

Wild wellness

Wellness is continuing to go wild in 2026. Travellers are swapping glossy five-star resorts for elemental experiences: lakeside saunas in Finland, early morning dips at the beaches near Oban, and long hikes in Tyrol and Lake Garda that clear both head and lungs.

The focus has shifted from indulgence to reconnection, with nature as the therapist. As Byway’s concierge team has seen, people are seeking the invigoration that comes from the outdoors rather than from ultra-luxury. These trips are less about being pampered and more about being present.

“We’ve noticed a real shift in how people define wellness. It’s less about five-star resorts and more about space to move, rest and reset, from hikes in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains to Slovenia’s lesser-visited spa towns like Trenčianske Teplic. What’s exciting is that these experiences are now possible entirely by train, making the journey part of the experience.”

Massimiliano Morosinotto

Reward tourism

Cities across Europe are starting to reward travellers who arrive by train. Copenhagen’s CopenPay programme trades low-impact arrivals for free yoga classes, museum entries and bike tours, while Bremen hands out goodie bags to rail travellers. These schemes are proving popular and hint at a new form of reward tourism, where both travellers and destinations benefit from greener choices.

And the rewards aren’t just local. Travelling by train emits around 14 grams of CO₂ per passenger mile, compared with 285 grams by air (Energy Saving Trust, 2018). You could take the train from London to Edinburgh and back five times and still produce less carbon than flying there once.

Over the past year alone, Byway travellers collectively saved 2220 tonnes of carbon (that’s the equivalent of 42 million cups of tea’s worth). We’ve seen bookings grow by 2X times year on year, and the number of new customers coming through word of mouth has doubled. People aren’t just booking more slow travel: they’re sharing the impact and inspiring friends to travel in ways that feel better for them and for the planet.

Frank van Hulst

AI and tech-driven travel

AI is increasingly part of how people plan their trips, with many travellers using ChatGPT as a virtual agent. While it can be convenient, it can also get things wrong, as some travellers have discovered after missing flights due to misleading visa advice.

At Byway, we believe AI works best when guided by real expertise. Our Place Finder tool uses AI to create personalised, low-impact itineraries, refined by human insight to ensure accuracy and avoid the “hallucinations” that generic tools can produce. For us, the strength of AI lies not in speed but in crafting journeys that reflect who you are, how you like to travel and the kind of impact you want to have.

A short return flight from London to Rome emits around 234kg of CO₂ per passenger, which is roughly the same as 78,000 ChatGPT searches (based on reports that each search produces 3g of CO₂). This comparison shows that the digital footprint of planning a holiday with AI tools is minimal compared with the impact of flying. The future of tech in travel is not about instant answers but about intelligent personalisation that helps travellers plan smarter, travel slower and tread more lightly.