Depending on how you and your partner travel, you could visit a Buddhist temple in Bhutan, a ski slope in France, or an archaeological site in Egypt.
Courtesy of Amankora (L); photo by Aurélien Droux/OT Val Thorens (M); photo by Tom Griffiths (R)
Celebratory moments like graduations, milestone birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings create the road map of life and provide opportunities for travel. People from different generations may look for different things from these trips, though.
Gen Xers, for example, are what Georgia Fowkes, a travel advisor at Tanzania-based Altezza Travel, calls “practical planners” because they value getting their logistics sorted and having their trips go smoothly. As a Gen Xer myself, I can attest to this. I recently took my husband and two children on a seven-night Disney Cruise from Vancouver, B.C., to Alaska. The planning was simple, and the Disney Wonder provided entertainment for the youngsters (an onboard kids club) and once-in-lifetime experiences (a seaplane ride over crevasses and glaciers outside Juneau) we all could enjoy together.
Baby boomers, according to Fowkes, also like to include the kids (and grandkids) on their big trips. Gen Z and millennials may be somewhat less family-oriented, but surveys indicate that traveling for big celebrations and landmark moments appeals to them, too.
We tapped travel experts to learn more about how each generation travels around the moments that matter to them most—and the places that best fit the milestones in their lives.
Gen Z: active trips to locations with a real sense of place
Brazil’s Lençóis Maranhenses National Park is defined by its picturesque sand dunes and lagoons.
Photo by gabriel xu/Unsplash
Recommendations: Brazil and European ski destinations
Born between 1995 and 2009, Gen Zers are hitting some of the earlier major milestones in life: high school and college graduations, say, or weddings and honeymoons. Jozef Verbruggen, founder of the Netherlands-based travel specialist group Untamed Travelling, says this is a generation that enjoys a bit of luxury (when they can afford it), but that being active and adventurous is their top requirement for a vacation.
Charles Kronsten, senior Latin America travel designer at Jacada, seconds that notion, and he points to Brazil as a travel destination that matches Gen Z’s spirit. “Brazil is a great destination for Gen Z travelers,” he says. “[It’s] bursting with energy, especially if you time your trip with Rio Carnival or New Year’s Eve, for those that thrive on that electric combination of dynamic cities, late-night music, and incredible local food, balanced with outdoor adventures in nature.”
Whether you’re visiting the beachy cities of Rio and Salvador de Bahia or the wild, windswept coastlines around the UNESCO-designated Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, he says, “It’s high-energy and pure fun from start to finish.”
Skiing is another high-adrenaline vacation activity, and the ski industry is actively courting Gen Z: Vail Resorts lowered its Epic Pass pricing for 13 to 30 year olds earlier this year in an attempt to make the sport more accessible to younger travelers.
Carolita Urrestarazu, head of business at the Spanish luxury travel planner NUBA and an expert on emerging destination interests, notes that Gen Z skiers aren’t in it just for the powder; they tend to seek out mountains in Japan and Europe to give their group trips a bit of après-ski fun and a cultural twist.
For example, Urrestarazu says, “St. Anton [in Austria] and Val Thorens [in France] are famous for lively après-ski scenes that are perfect for a group of friends.”
Travelers to St. Anton am Alberg can stay at the design hotel Ullrhaus, which has an indoor pool, Finnish sauna, and steam rooms and is a short stroll to the cable car and the town’s bar- and restaurant-filled pedestrian zone. In Val Thorens, the splurgy Le Fitz Roy is ski-in/ski-out, and the hotel’s 1971 Bar is a hot spot for Aperol spritzes and DJ sets.
Millennials: first trips with kids and destinations that combine culture and adventure
Sri Lanka is an all-encompassing destination where travelers can sample unique cuisine and surf in the Indian Ocean.
Courtesy of Relais & Châteaux
Recommendations: Costa Rica and Sri Lanka
Born between 1980 and 1994, millennials in general tend to opt for authenticity and experiences over material gifts. According to the American Express 2026 Global Travel Trends Report, 79 percent of this generation’s members seek out “hands-on activities that help them connect more deeply with a place and its culture.”
Honeymoons and 40th birthdays are among the big occasions this generation is gearing up for. They may also be taking their first big trips with their kids.
For those initial family trips, Urrestarazu recommends Costa Rica. “It’s the perfect mix of adventure and ease, with zip-lining, volcanoes, wildlife, and beaches, all on a short flight from the U.S.,” she says. “Papagayo and Arenal are favorites for families.”
In Arenal, families can glamp in style at Nayara Tented Camp, where they can also soak in hot springs beneath the volcano, visit an Indigenous Maleku village, and go for night walks with the resort’s in-house naturalists to spot colorful frogs.
On the country’s Pacific coast, meanwhile, Nekajui Peninsula Papagayo, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve offers zipline adventures, family surf lessons, mountain biking, and other experiential activities.
Farther afield, Jacada travel designer Charlie Morris points to Sri Lanka as a place that has captured the attention of his millennial clients for celebratory trips. “It’s a fantastic destination for this generation because it packs so much incredible diversity into one compact island, giving you all the adventure, culture, and room to explore without feeling overrun,” he says. From surfing and whale-watching (blue whales appear year-round here) to riding the rails through tea plantations in the scenic highlands, the island nation in the Indian Ocean has no shortage of unique sights and activities.
Consider staying at one of Relais & Châteaux’s Resplendent Ceylon resorts: Ceylon Tea Trails, which sprawls across a historic tea estate in the country’s central hills, or Cape Weligama, which looks down on the ocean from a clifftop on the southern coast.
Gen X: journeys to once-in-a-lifetime, far-flung destinations that are also family-friendly
The Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Choeten is one of the many Buddhist temples in the almost impossibly Himalayan nation of Bhutan.
Courtesy of Amankora
Recommendations: Rwanda (paired with a classic safari) and Bhutan
Born between 1965 and 1979, Gen X is currently in its prime travel years. “They celebrate 50th birthdays and 25th anniversaries with trips that are both glamorous and adventurous,” Urrestarazu explains, “and many bring their teen or college-age kids on once-in-a-lifetime experiences.”
For example, gorilla-trekking in Rwanda during a tailor-made tour in Volcanoes National Park with Abercrombie & Kent is the kind of special adventure that families with older kids will remember forever. Urrestarazu says families often pair visiting Rwanda with a classic safari in Kenya or Tanzania.
Related: Unpacked podcast: For a Crowd-Free African Safari, Head for Tanzania’s Southern Circuit
Urrestarazu also notes that some well-traveled Gen Xers are hitting a point where they face the “been everywhere” problem. For these people, she suggests Bhutan. “It’s remote, spiritual, and transformative, a destination for travelers who have ‘been everywhere’ and want something meaningful for a milestone birthday,” she says.
Consider a multi-lodge journey with Amankora; these itineraries feature visits to the Folk Heritage Museum and Textile Museum in Thimpu, hikes through the Himalayas, farmhouse meals, and stops at palaces and Buddhist monasteries, including the iconic mountainside Paro Taktsang (“Tiger’s Nest”).
Baby boomers: relaxing, multi-generational stays at full-service villas, ranches, and yachts
On Abercrombie & Kent’s Nile Seray, guests stay in all-suite accommodations while exploring Luxior, Aswan, and other historic sites in Egypt.
Courtesy of Abercrombie & Kent
Recommendations: European villas, cruises, and U.S. ranches
According to George Morgan-Grenville, founder and CEO of Red Savannah, baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are the generation most likely to book celebratory and multi-generational trips. They often gravitate toward full-service places, like European private villas, where they can gather their children and grandchildren. Typical bucket-list destinations like Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast are popular, but boomers are also branching out.
“We’re seeing an increase in rental appetite for more off-the-beaten-track locations, such as Puglia in southern Italy, which enjoys a long summer season, and lesser-known Greek islands, such as Paros, as people avoid more crowded areas,” Morgan-Grenville says.
Urrestarazu adds that boomers, who are often celebrating major milestones like 70th and 80th birthdays and 50th anniversaries, want the trips to feel effortless: “They’re happy to splurge, but they want comfort, great service, and no logistics stress.”
Larger cruises like the ones I’ve done with my own family are great for the whole clan, while small luxury lines like the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and Explora Journeys in the Mediterranean and Caribbean are popular among boomer couples traveling to celebrate as a pair. Farther-flung options include Abercrombie & Kent’s new 32-suite Nile Seray in Egypt or the yacht Lamima, which sails through the remote islands of Indonesia and can be privately chartered for up to 14 guests.
Closer to home, Urrestarazu suggests all-inclusive ranch vacations at places like Paws Up Montana. “Grandparents get gourmet food and spa time, while kids ride horses, fish, and roast s’mores,” she says. “Everyone does their own thing during the day and comes together for dinner. The dream is to be with their kids and grandchildren in one beautiful place, where everyone has something to do.”
Related: These Are the 15 Best Hotels and Resorts for Families in the U.S.
