The Rise Of The “Soft Reset Trip”

When Micah Harris, 33, was planning her bachelorette party, she didn’t want to drag her friends on a blowout weekend trip.

“I had been in four weddings the year that we got engaged,” says Harris, who lives in Irvine, California. “You’re happy to be included and invited to all these things, but it is a lot of money, a lot of travel, a lot of PTO that you’re using, not necessarily for a restorative vacation but for travel days and things.”

Instead, she invited about a dozen friends to an Airbnb in nearby Laguna Beach for a low-key overnight hang a couple of days before her wedding this past June. The celebration, which she and her maid of honor dubbed “Girls Gone Mild,” included brunch, manicures, and getting-to-know-you games. The experience was exactly what Harris needed.

“I was a mess the two weeks leading up to the bachelorette,” she says. As an introvert, she was stressed about being the center of attention at her wedding. “But after we finished a yoga session and were just sitting on the beach smiling at each other, I was like, ‘Well, I could totally walk down the aisle right now.”

After years of booze-heavy destination bachelorettes, birthday, and group getaways to party spots like Nashville and Las Vegas, many people are turning to “soft reset” trips focused on unwinding. Instead of bar crawls and packed itineraries, travelers are crafting, hiking, and bonding by campfires.

According to Vrbo travel expert Melanie Fish, the vacation rental site is seeing more demand for cabins in the woods, beach cottages, and lake houses. Its Unpack ’25 report found that 54% of travelers are opting for more secluded and serene spots, with 75% reporting that these types of trips help reduce anxiety.

Similarly, Hilton’s 2025 Trends Report found that more than 1 in 5 travelers are leaning into simpler getaways that encourage spontaneity. As Amanda Al‑Masri, the hotel group’s vice president of wellness, says, it’s about how you feel — not what you do. “Instead of packing the itinerary, we encourage guests to embrace guilt‑free sleep-ins, the art of hurkle-durkling (lounging in bed all day), spa rituals, or simply savoring moments of stillness,” she says.

Courtney Berthelsen, an adviser for travel agency Fora, has noticed a recent shift toward leisure. “Instead of checking off tourist sites, clients are requesting local guides, nature walks, cooking classes, and community-led cultural activities that offer a more grounded and enriching way to engage with the destination.”

Slowing Down For A Deeper Connection

Unlike vacations with go-go-go schedules and loud music, peaceful getaways create plenty of opportunities to connect. For her bachelorette last year, Katy Ford, 34, opted for a soft reset trip with around 10 in a big house in Rhinebeck, New York. She was already planning a destination wedding in Portugal — a process she found overwhelming and stressful — and knew that a quiet long weekend would provide true quality time with her crew.

“I had so much going on. I wasn’t looking to have a trip that I came back from exhausted,” says Ford, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. “I wanted to have a weekend where I felt like we all came together and bonded more, where I had memories I actually remembered and got closer with my friends.”

The group spent three days hanging out by the pool, shopping in town, and playing bachelorette games. There was even a group activity inspired by the bride’s favorite British game show, Taskmaster, in which attendees had to do Ford-themed missions, such as recreating the “So Long, Farewell” scene from her favorite movie, The Sound of Music.

“It was a great way to be together,” Ford says, adding that the trip made her feel rejuvenated and loved, and also helped friends from different parts of her life connect with one another. “It was so surprising and so sweet.”

And if plans go awry? Well, maybe that’s a good thing. On a recent hike in the Shawangunk Mountains in New York State, Grace Bialecki, a writer, editor, and meditation coach in Detroit, got lost in the rain with two friends. They had to ford a rushing river stream, an experience she says brought the trio even closer together. “It was hilarious,” she says. “We were helping each other because we love each other and didn’t want somebody to fall over and get washed away.”

Relax & Recharge — No, For Real

Soft travel aligns with the idea of living a soft life, a term coined on TikTok by influencer Brittany James to encourage Black women to prioritize simple pleasures and self care. The concept spread; in a hectic world, slowing down be soothing and restorative.

“Everybody’s overdone with the work of traveling. The travel itself is so painful these days,” says psychotherapist Diane Barth. “Just getting to wherever you’re going to go, it’s like you need a vacation from the trip.”

Stressors like increased plane delays, congested tourist sites, and the pressure to have a picture-perfect time can be anxiety-inducing. That’s why Breda Lund, now 40, took a different approach on a 2022 trip to Paris. “It’s a world-class city, there are all these key tourist sites and bucket-list items. But we all separately were dreading that,” says Lund, who lives in Los Angeles. So instead of trying to cram in all the hot spots, they did, in her words, “nothing.”

“Most of the days, we just sat at different cafes, like multiple cafes in one day,” she says. “It was honestly a perfect trip.” Now, Lund focuses on what she calls “vibecations,” trips to easily reachable places where she doesn’t have to make any plans. The goal? No goals.

That kind of spontaneity helps Bialecki, the writer in Detroit, make the distinction between going on a “vacation” and “traveling.” When she’s looking for fun, she seeks out restorative activities like hiking, swimming, and cooking with friends, without the pressure of an itinerary and the distractions of a city.

She finds that these trips create opportunities for new, unique experiences. While visiting the west lakeshore of Michigan, for instance, she and a friend took an impromptu outdoor cold plunge. “We stripped down naked and ran into the lake screaming,” she says. “It was so much fun.”

Bialecki comes home feeling refreshed, creative, and ready to re-engage with her work.

“It doesn’t feel like I’m in sleep debt or need a couple days to reacclimate to my life,” she says. “It feels like ‘OK, I’m ready to pick back up where I left off.’”

Sources:

Melanie Fish, Vrbo travel expert

Amanda Al‑Masri, Hilton’s Vice President of Wellness

Courtney Berthelsen, travel advisor

Diane Barth, psychotherapist