The ‘Coolcation’ Travel Trend Is Here To Stay

October may have just begun, but the travel industry is looking ahead to 2025 as tourists across the globe plot their next adventures. In recent years, however, classic summer holidays to the likes of Greece and Italy have started to look a little different. As temperatures soar and wildfires rage across the continent (and across the globe with North America and Australia particularly affected), travelers are turning their attention to cooler holiday destinations. Cue the coolcation: a holiday trend that emerged in 2023, has been in full swing in 2024 and seems to be sticking around for 2025, too. Here’s exactly what that means.

C&TH Responsible Tourism Guide

MyArbor is a popular wellness destination in the Dolomites.

What Is A Coolcation?

A coolcation is a holiday (or vacation) either in a cool country or in a hot country’s cooler season. For example, visiting Norway in the summer is a coolcation, as is visiting Croatia in autumn.

Some tourism destinations have been actively promoting off-season travel in recent years, adding to this trend. For example, skiing destinations like Italy’s Dolomites and Switzerland’s St Moritz have become popular spots for hikers, bikers and wellness lovers come spring and summer.

According to the newly released 2025 Travel Trends report from Lemongrass – a B Corp certified PR and content agency for travel brands – search data shows a 300 percent increase in searches for ‘cooler holidays’ compared to this time last year, and it’s set to rise even further as we look ahead to 2025. This summer, luxury travel tour operator Scott Dunn noticed a 26 percent increase in booking for Finland and Norway thanks to ‘the allure of temperatures in the mid-20s’ as opposed to scorching 30s and even 40s further south. Spotted your friends in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Oslo? ‘Scandinavian summer is not just a passing trend, but now a perennial favourite,’ says Delphine Combes, Scott Dunn’s destination manager for northern Europe.

This trend was first spotted last year as travellers reached for traditional hot and beach holidays in ‘shoulder seasons’: the time period between a region’s peak and off-peak seasons. For example, if a country’s peak season is summer and winter is classed as ‘off-season’, then spring and autumn are the shoulder seasons. This is due to a variety of factors, the main ones being increased costs and the cost of living (it’s cheaper to visit in shoulder seasons) and the scorching temperatures now found during the peak season, meaning shoulder seasons often offer the same temperatures once found only during the peak.

But these changing temperature patterns have ‘completely scrambled the concept’ of seasonality, Lemongrass finds. ‘Thailand, for example, has seen no dip in its tourism numbers across its “low” season,’ the report shares. ‘With the climate crisis impacting tourist destinations – from fires and flooding to increasingly hotter temperatures – it’s worth asking if there is such a thing as off-season travel anymore?’

Coolcations To Book In 2025

Photo by Aningaaq R Carlsen/Visit Greenland

Greenland

Just as the Vikings intended, Greenland is the new Iceland – and it’s all thanks to another trend. ‘Eclipse chasing has grown in popularity, with travellers venturing across the globe to experience these rare celestial events,’ Scott Dunn shares in its 2025 trend report. The same is true for the Northern Lights, which captured British travellers’ attention when they made an unexpected trip to the UK this summer. ‘Looking ahead, Scott Dunn predicts Greenland’s High Arctic will be the new coolcation hot-spot, with the 2026 Total Solar Eclipse visible from the region’s remote, light-pollution-free shores.

‘Greenland is quite simply the most incredible travel experience I have ever had, surpassing even Antarctica and Svalbard,’ shares Grant Greenham, Scott Dunn’s polar travel specialist. ‘I could never have prepared myself for the scale of awesome scenery as well as the variety of experience from one location to the next.’

Small group B Corp adventure travel company Intrepid Travel has also noticed the burgeoning potential of Greenland, adding Disko Island to its 2025 Not Hot List, which highlights 10 up and coming destinations ripe for exploring. ‘Surrounded by icebergs and whales, the island embodies Greenland’s pristine beauty, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in local culture,’ says Kristijan Svajnzger, Intrepid’s regional manager of the Nordics. ‘Imagine lounging on the Black Sand Beach, the sound of children playing football nearby while whales breach in the distance – a frequent summer spectacle.’

Lindøya, Oslo. (VisitOSLO/Nordur Film)

Oslo, Norway

Copenhagen and Stockholm get most of the tourism attention when it comes to travellers seeking a Scandi adventure – but Oslo is set to outgrow its Nordic siblings. Undergoing a huge revamp yet maintaining its quirky culture, Norway’s capital is brimming with unique character: think floating saunas, diverse architecture, international cuisine, wild swimming spots and more. Just a 30 minute journey can introduce city breakers to hiking, biking, skiing and sailing, too.

It’s one of the destinations on Intrepid’s Not Hot List, with Oslo local and tour leader Liepa Adomaityte saying: ‘Go to Oslo with zero expectations – and I promise you’ll leave with stories to tell. Every day (and night), you’ll find something interesting, from incredible cuisine to culture and clubbing. Want to start your day at a museum and end it at a stranger’s house party? That’s a regular Tuesday in Oslo. It’s our own mini Berlin.’

Further afield, Oslo is also the gateway to Norway’s world-famous fjords, perfect for extending your trip into a multi-destination adventure. Interested? Find our guide to the city here, and a review of Oslo’s coolest hotel, Sommerro, here.

The old fishing village of Käsmu, Estonia

The Baltics

As temperatures in the Mediterranean soar, it’s time to turn your attention to the continent’s flipside: the Baltics. Comprising Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Christmas market tourism is on the up here thanks to the pretty, terracotta-tinted town of Riga, Latvia’s capital, and the historic sights of Tallinn, Estonia’s capital. Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, is a Berlin-style bastion of cool, while all three nations have a wealth of untouched nature to offer, from silent beaches to rolling countryside. Click here to see what it’s all about.

French Riviera

‘A spruced-up post-Olympics Paris is at the top of our guests’ wishlists in 2025, combined with an extended sojourn in the French Riviera where unseasonably warm weather is seeing hotels stay open right through the winter months,’ says Delphine Combes at Scott Dunn. ‘The newly opened Arev St Tropez is a hidden gem and combines nicely with a stay at this year’s biggest opening, Hotel du Couvent in Nice.’