From Set-Jetting to Coolcationing: The 5 Global Travel Trends Shaping Your 2026 Bucket List

Elizabeth Sanate
Dec 11, 2025
3 min read

A five-panel collage of various travel destinations. Top Left: A dramatic coastal landscape with mountains and water, possibly the Lofoten Islands in Norway. Center: A large, traditional red Japanese Torii gate marking the entrance to a shrine or temple, surrounded by green trees. Top Right: A dense, lush green canopy of trees forming an arched tunnel over a calm waterway. Bottom Left: An outdoor street scene at night with trees wrapped in bright string lights and various small shops or cafes beneath them. Bottom Right: A steep, narrow, cobblestone street lined with multi-story, classic European apartment buildings, possibly in Paris.

Travel in 2025 was different. It was a bit slower and a bit quieter now, too. People aren’t just picking cities or beaches anymore. They want moments like sitting in a tiny café where there’s no one else, wandering streets you didn’t even know existed, or just watching the sunset when it looks kind of crazy perfect.

The funny thing is, the stuff we ignored before suddenly matters. The small things, the pauses, the corners you stumble into by accident, I guess that’s what makes a trip feel real.

So what’s actually shaping travel this year? Honestly, it’s kind of all over the place, but here are five trends people are starting to follow, some quietly, some not so quietly, that are changing the way trips happen in 2025.

1. Set-Jetting Travel Trends: When Your Next Trip Starts on Screen

A dramatic dusk view of the Pont Alexandre III bridge in Paris. The bridge's ornate stone work, sculptures, and elaborate gold-accented street lamps are brilliantly lit, casting a warm glow onto the water of the Seine river. The sky is a deep purple-pink. — Parisian bridge in Paris, France via Unsplash

We’ve all seen a scene that makes a city glow a little brighter, or maybe a beach looks like it’s calling your name. That’s basically what set-jetting is about. It’s one of those travel trends that keeps growing, or at least, that’s what people seem to think.

After shows like Emily in Paris, Wednesday, and One Day went viral, fans started treating filming locations like real-life bucket-list trips. They want to walk the streets they saw on screen, sit in a café, or sometimes just peek in and imagine it. Feeling like you’re part of the story, even for a little while, hits differently. Nostalgia, curiosity, which is sort of a weird mix, but it sticks.

2. Coolcationing Travel Trends: Chasing Cold Weather Instead of Crowds

A scenic, winding coastal road running alongside a vast, deep blue lake or ocean. Steep, rocky, green-covered hills rise to the right, and distant snow-capped mountains are visible across the water. A silver guardrail follows the curve of the asphalt road. — Queenstown, New Zealand via Unsplash

This 2025 shift feels surprisingly refreshing. Coolcationing isn’t about escaping; it's about breathing. With rising heat and overcrowded summer spots, travelers are choosing cooler places like Norway, Canada, New Zealand, and northern Japan.

It’s one of the travel trends born from wanting peace more than photos. Imagine calm lakes, quiet evenings, sweater weather, and scenery that feels untouched. People want that slower space where you can hear your thoughts again.

3. Noctourism Travel Trends: When the Night Becomes the Adventure

A low-angle, night-time shot of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The central golden chedi (stupa) glows brightly under spotlights, towering over the scene. People are scattered in the foreground and middle ground, with some taking photos or looking up at the chedi. The surrounding temple buildings have illuminated golden roofs, contrasting with the dark night sky. — Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai via Unsplash

Noctourism might seem a bit dramatic at first, but it’s really just traveling at night, or at least, that’s what some people are noticing. Instead of trying to fill every day with sightseeing, some wander quiet streets after dark, peek into night markets, hike under the moon… or stare at stars for a while. Sometimes there’s a silent disco on the beach, which is, well… kind of strange, but you remember it anyway.

Nights have their own rhythm. Cooler, calmer, and strangely still. The crowds are gone, which makes the streets feel… almost private. Moments like that linger long after the trip ends, in ways that daylight rarely manages.

4. Ecotourism Travel Trends: Traveling Without Leaving Scars

A cinematic, wide-angle shot of a small group of four eco-friendly travelers walking slowly on a dirt path through a lush, vibrant green mountain forest at golden hour. Soft, natural sunlight streams through the canopy onto moss-covered trees, highlighting the backpacks and hiking poles. Clear skies are visible above, with a gentle mist settling in the distant mountains, creating an immersive, slow-travel atmosphere. — Ecotourism in action via Google Gemini

Lately, more travelers are kind of tired of going to these stunning places only to see them slowly fall apart, which is sad. That’s why ecotourism’s really starting to pick up in 2025.

People don’t just want to check a spot off a list anymore. They want trips that don’t mess with the planet. Maybe stay in a tiny lodge with a wooden porch, hire a local guide, or even help out with wildlife stuff at places that actually seem to care about the land, not just make money off it.

You come home, and it’s not just about the photos, but that warm feeling of knowing you didn’t mess anything up while you were there, and this is the kind of travel that sticks with you.

5. Wellness-Driven Travel Trends: Healing First, Exploring Second

A stunning mountain landscape at sunset, featuring rolling green hills and a bright orange sky. Modern buildings and homes are visible on the hillside in the middle ground, with a white, tiered pagoda-like structure on a distant peak. Tall ornamental grass in the foreground catches the warm light. — Meditation in the clouds: Wat Phra That Pha Son Kaew, Thailand via Unsplash

Wellness trips aren’t about spa days anymore. In 2025, they’re about emotional reset sound-bath retreats, forest therapy, digital detox getaways, breathwork camps, and quiet mountains that make you forget your notifications even exist.

This travel trends wave grew from something simple: people are tired. Life has been loud. And these trips give them space to breathe, heal, and come back home lighter than they left.

What These 2025 Travel Trends Say About Us

If you look closely, all these shifts tell one story: people don’t want complicated travel anymore. They want meaning, comfort, stillness, and connection, not just a holiday for social media. The world feels overwhelming sometimes, so trips have become softer escapes instead of rushed checklists.

Whether you’re chasing a filming location, running toward cooler skies, exploring after dark, protecting nature, or simply taking care of your inner peace, your 2025 bucket list is all about feeling something real. And always remember that travel isn’t just about where you go, but it's about who you become on the way.

Let The ScreenLight guide your next travel story.