12 Trips Worth Planning in 2026: Sensory Journeys and Slow Adventures
Travel in 2026 is leaning more toward depth than speed. Fewer trips will feel rushed, and more will feel settled, shaped by time, rather than by ticking boxes. The journeys that will last the longest will grow quietly through the ordinary moments that slowly begin to matter.
These are the trips that leave room for wandering, noticing, and letting a place set its own pace.
Wander Through Bookshops in Edinburgh
Edinburgh opens itself gradually, street by street, so a bookshop crawl will fit naturally into the day.
In Old Town, Armchair Books will draw you in with narrow aisles and stacked shelves where first editions sit beside dog-eared paperbacks.
Nearby, Topping & Company fills tall rooms with rolling ladders and handwritten staff notes tucked beside favorite titles. Meanwhile, Golden Hare Books in Stockbridge highlights local voices and thoughtful new releases, while Lighthouse Bookshop focuses on cultural and political writing that gives you context for the city around you.
You might carry your finds into a café, then into a quiet pub courtyard as the evening settles in, with a book resting against your chair like it belongs there.
Follow Trad Music Sessions in Galway
Music in Galway tends to find you, rather than the other way around. Tig Cóilí is an easy first stop, with musicians gathered closeby and tunes flowing easily across the room. The Crane Bar tends to lean toward longer, steadier sets, while Taaffes and O’Connell’s grow livelier as the night air thickens.
Later, Monroe’s can stretch the evening even further, especially when the dancing starts to mix with the music. One tune fades, another begins somewhere else, and your night will piece itself together through short walks, familiar choruses, and rooms that welcome you in without asking for anything in return.
Forest Bathe in Ireland’s Ancient Woodlands
Some landscapes encourage a slower kind of attention. In Killarney National Park near Muckross, oak and yew soften the light, and the air remains cool, even on bright days. In Glendalough’s Upper Valley, stone and water will quiet your day and make time feel less urgent.
Avondale Forest Park near Dublin is also filled with long paths and tall trees that feel far from the traffic.
Forest bathing in Ireland isn’t about the distance. It’s about the quiet, listening to the leaves hush your footsteps as you notice your breathing begin to soften.
Soak Through a Spa Weekend in Austin
Lake Austin Spa Resort offers its guests days that are shaped around water and stillness. Their thermal pools, steam rooms, and shaded lakeside spaces guide the pace.
Treatments, long soaks, and unhurried meals will slowly quiet your mind as the lake shifts color throughout the day, and rest begins to feel like something natural, rather than earned.