A new year ushers in a blank slate of hopes and aspirations—and for those of us with wanderlust, a healthy dose of globe-trotting dreams. If travel is among your new year’s resolutions, you’re in good company.
According to a survey by global analytics firm YouGov, 31 percent of Americans plan to make a new year’s resolution or set a goal for 2026. Common categories include being happy, improving physical health, spending time with family, learning something new, and traveling more. Luckily, there are several places around the world that make it easy to work on specific goals while also achieving your desire for a vacation.
We asked travel experts to weigh in on which destination you should visit this year based on your new year’s resolution.
Resolution: Exercise more
According to Classic Vacations CEO Melissa Krueger, Italy’s Dolomites fit the bill for an all-around healthier you thanks to high-altitude fitness opportunities and tranquil landscapes. “Guests can hike in the summer or ski in the winter at their own pace,” she says, “then return to an award-winning spa with indoor and outdoor pools and treatments that feel deeply connected to the surrounding nature.” Krueger points to the COMO Alpina Dolomites hotel in Alpe di Siusi for ski-in/ski-out access in winter and mountain biking and horseback riding in summer.
Travel advisor Beau Black of Beau Black Travel suggests Slovenia’s Soča Valley for kayaking, rafting, and a full range of adventure activities that can keep your heart rate up in the great outdoors. A big advantage of the destination is that it’s near Lake Bled (an ideal base), Ljubljana, and Trieste in Italy, as well as the Adriatic coastline. “There are weeks’ worth of exploring within a couple hours of the valley,” he says.
According to booking data from adventure travel company Much Better Adventures, more solo travelers are also joining small group adventure tours right now. Consider an outdoor adventure group trip in 2026 on itineraries that range from eBiking adventures in places like Vietnam and Portugal to hiking volcanoes in Ecuador.
Hotels often offer exercise-focused packages, too, like the new Train Like a Champion experience from JW Marriott Tampa Water Street in Florida. The program creates a one-on-one workout and nutrition plan based on the workout rituals of the city’s hometown hockey team.
Resolution: Spend more quality time with family
If you’ve resolved to have more family time, try a multi-generational trip. Many travel companies and tour operators are experts at crafting itineraries with activities fit for both elementary-aged kids and grandparents.
The experts at ultra-luxury travel and lifestyle agency Fischer Travel say demand continues to surge for experience-based trips for multi-generational groups that might include gorilla trekking and safaris.
Or consider taking it to the high seas in style with a family yacht charter with EYOS Expeditions. Options include Lamima, a luxury phinisi boat with 14 passengers and 20 crew members that sails to places like the Raja Ampat and Komodo islands in Indonesia, where you can snorkel with manta rays or go rainforest hiking. The all-inclusive plan includes unlimited massages aboard and water toys that range from mild (kayaks and SUPs) to wild (hoverboards and JetSkis).
Theresa Chu-Bermmudez of Get Out Custom Travels also suggests New Zealand as a popular destination for traveling as a multi-generational entourage, because “there is something for everyone, from family-friendly wildlife experiences to wine tasting to visits to iconic movie sets.”
Resolution: Learn something new
Travel can be brain boosting, according to the Pacific Neuroscience Institute. New experiences stimulate your spatial navigation skills and your temporal lobes, responsible for memory and language. Many tours turn vacations into learning opportunities.
Smithsonian Journeys, Aurora Expeditions, and National Geographic–Lindblad Expeditions Cruises are among the companies offering “nerd cruises,” where you might find yourself taking part in citizen science surveys to assist researchers aboard with things like recording snow algae in Antarctica or exploring an Icelandic fjord with a geologist.
Historians, authors, archaeologists, and literary scholars are among the experts you’ll encounter on trips with the Great Courses Journeys. That might mean learning about how trains have transformed the world during an epic rail adventure through the Swiss Alps and Italy’s Lake District or accompanying a local astronomer and astrobiologist in Chile’s Atacama Desert during stargazing journeys, with active geysers and volcanic peaks as the backdrop.
Resolution: Improve mental health
Krueger says her travel company is seeing growing interest in destinations where calm, space, and digital detachment are intrinsic to the experience.
“Rather than structured wellness itineraries, travelers are gravitating toward places where restoration happens organically, shaped by landscape, pace, and a sense of quiet that’s increasingly hard to find,” she says. She points to the “hushpitality” trend leading to continued interest in destinations like Hawai‘i. At properties like the the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua, you can try a body treatment at the spa that incorporates Hawaiian herbs and detoxifying sea salt or take a solo walk along the Kapalua Trail, a mellow coastal route near the hotel.
The experts at Fischer Travel also point to rising interest from clients in “cognitive wellness” retreats. They suggest a trip to private lakefront retreat Chenot Palace Weggis in Switzerland, or German medical spa Lanserhof Tegernsee; both offer neuro-fitness training and brain-boosting activities as part of a stay.
Resolution: Volunteer more
If you’re feeling the pull to lend a helping hand, both at home and in your travels, you’re not alone. Voluntourism continues as a top travel trend in 2026, with destinations like the Faroe Islands and Norway’s spectacular Helgeland region offering accommodations and more in exchange for travelers’ help with infrastructure projects in local communities.
Conservation Africa runs wildlife conservation voluntourism programs throughout the continent. You could try elephant conservation in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, where you’ll learn self-reliance and bushcraft skills from local guides while monitoring populations. Or work alongside zoologists in South Africa with orphaned and injured rhinos.
Tourism Cares’ Meaningful Travel Map is a good resource for planning trips that support community-led groups along the way.
