News and Insights
Off-the-Beaten-Path Travel: Adventure Found at the Edge of the World
November 6, 2025
Whether due to overtourism, climate change, nerve-rattling alterations to entry rules, a yearning for slow travel, or just partiality for authenticity, travelers are heading off beaten paths for less-traveled destinations.
Hawai’i
In Hawai’i, where well-trodden tourist tracks lead to can’t-miss spectacles, the hospitality community is encouraging visitors to approach “wonder travel” from fresh perspectives. “It can be very satisfying to check spectacles off a bucket list, but there are a lot of things travelers will miss if they just rush to their next entry,” says Shere’e Quitevis of FINN Travel in Honolulu.
The challenge for Shere’e’s clients is to convince visitors to stick around and experience something else, such as, say, topping off a visit to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park with time in nearby Volcano Village lively with attractions, a popular winery, and charming lodges and B&Bs.
Africa
With off-the-beaten-path travel in luxury, affluent travelers are looking for experiences “to shock them,” says Caroline Keane of FINN Travel in New York, who notes this desire is part socially motivated, as in the present moment so many travelers have seen so much – and so much of the same thing – the most discerning among them are looking to be true “pioneers in their cliques who have not only seen the dramatic, but have been transformed by it.”
Among spots rising to the occasion is Wilderness Mokete, the new luxury safari camp from Wilderness, with just nine canvas tented suites, each with its own plunge pool, in the untamed and ecologically significant Mababe Depression on the eastern edge of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The Mababe is a region where no other operator has gone before and, as such, travelers to Wilderness Mokete are treated to a truly raw and untamed safari experience with multiple kills and dramatic sightings per game drive. “It’s not for the faint of heart, but that’s the drama people travel on safari to see,” says Keane.
Mongolia
Some 11,000 miles to the northeast as raptors fly, Nomadic Expeditions offers cultural journeys through remote regions of landlocked Mongolia and other countries throughout Asia. Authenticity and connection are key elements to this off-the-beaten-path travel trend, as travelers explore wonders from Lake Holvsgol near Mongolia’s northern border, to the Gobi Desert across the southeast, to vast UNESCO-protected Steppes in the heartland, and the rugged Altai Mountains in the west.
The last is the setting of the Golden Eagle Festival, an annual celebration of the tradition of Kazakh nomads of hunting game with golden eagles by horseback. Sure, Nomadic Expeditions’ relevant journeys, such as Golden Eagle Festival & Gobi Desert, aren’t scheduled until early October this year. But given the festival was created by Nomadic Expeditions Founder Jalsa Urubshurow in 1999 to preserve the tradition and build pride among local nomadic communities, and the cover of Time’s recent issue on the World’s Greatest Places of 2025 featured an image of hunters from the festival at full gallop, we figured it fits our summer roundup.
China
At FINN Travel in Hong Kong, Vivian Pau says domestic travelers in China are seeking out “hidden gems” for summer travel in newly established Cultural Zones. They include Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture at the southern end of Yunnan Province, lively with lush tropical rainforests, gorgeous bamboo buildings, and ancient temples; and Dali City, also in Yunnan Province, with Erhai Lake on one side, Cangshan Mountain on another, history from the kingdom of Nanzhao in the 8th century, and striking landmarks including the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng.
Meanwhile, more prominent travel destinations such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Tianjin, and lovely Guilin scented by osmanthus trees and surrounded by fantastical, green-glowing karst limestone formations, remain favorites of incoming travelers, in keeping with respective entry regulations for their home countries.
Lithuania
With a number of European destinations experiencing overtourism, Lithuania is trending for all the right reasons. Lonely Planet has acknowledged Lithuania as the second-best place to visit in 2025, highlighting its commitment to conservation and sustainability.
Vilnius has been named the European Green Capital in 2025, which recognizes green spaces covering 61% of the capital, an increased network of bike paths and walking trails for locals and visitors alike, and a strong focus on shifting towards renewable energy sources.
All in all, as travelers contemplate where to go next, it is evident that the off-the-beaten path and less-traveled destinations will remain paramount in the months (and years!) to come.