Crowd-Free Travel

I just read an article on “crowd-free travel”, which the Adventure Travel Trade Association is highlighting as a trend for 2025. We are all in.

Travel shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic. It rebounded domestically in 2021 but boomed in 2022 and has remained high. This has affected our business. We run fewer tours in the busy summer months, seek out locations that work for off-season travel, and have added new out-of-the travel-norm destinations.

Personally, I love this type of travel. Traveling when fewer travelers are around often leads to more unique experiences and more meaningful interactions with the locals. Picture a restaurant that is packed and working overtime to serve all their customers versus one where only one other table is occupied when you arrive. The restaurant staff will be kinder, more attentive, and more interested in you.

But there are costs to focusing on crowd-free travel. You have to change your travel bucket list. Gone are locations like Hawaii or the Riviera. Instead of going to Tuscany or Bordeaux, you might pick a lesser-known area of Italy or France. Or you might start traveling to locations that have your friends questioning your decision making. But trust us – traveling to lesser-known destinations can be incredibly rewarding. I invite you to join us on one of these 2025 tours that fit the bill for Crowd-Free Travel.

Yellowstone in Winter: February 17 – 21: Yellowstone is the most visited national park in the United States and (in our opinion) the best national park in the world. It is deservedly crowded in the summer. But visit in February, as we do our upcoming Yellowstone Winter Adventure, and we will have acres and acres to ourselves. Yellowstone in winter is a special place – not only less crowded but also beautiful and easier to see animals such as wolves.

Prescott, Arizona for Pickleball: March 24 – 28: Pickleball is huge right now. Arizona is extremely popular in the winter months. But Prescott, Arizona is an out-of-the-way gem most people will never visit. With a cute downtown, dozens of restaurants and bars within walking distance, a wild west history, and fun outdoor activities it is the perfect complement to the huge indoor pickleball facility we use on this tour.

Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania: May 5 – 13: Need I say more than the title? Croatia is hot, has been for 15 years, and we love it. But combining it with Montenegro and Albania makes for an amazing tour that will add three countries to your travel list in one blow. The hidden secret is that Montenegro and Albania have the same coastline and mountains as Croatia but with entirely different cultures that make the mix incredible.

Bolivia Multisport Exploratory Adventure: August 15 – 24: For a relatively large country smack in the middle of South America, Bolivia gets surprisingly few visitors. Add in that Bolivia has more of a pre-Spanish culture than any other country on the continent and the lack of visitors becomes shocking. Yes, flights to La Paz are not numerous, the altitude is high, and surprises like road closures do happen but this is one of the more exciting tours on our 2025 schedule.

Germany’s Fläming Region: September 18 – 24. This region south of Berlin, in old East Germany, is so untouristed that I only spoke English once in the time I was visiting to set up our new inline skating and biking tour. Yet the area is amazing for those two sports, as the local governments have created a huge network of paved paths – nine interconnecting loops – that are designed and maintained just for skaters. Plus, you can start and end your vacation in nearby Berlin!

Iowa Inline Skating & Biking: October 2 – 6: You want to talk about a state that is not high on travel lists? Sorry, Iowa, but that is you. Yet when we went there to research this tour, we were impressed. The network of concrete, connecting, flat paths is amazing. We use two historic hotels, one in the cute town of Perry Iowa and a second in the friendly small city of Des Moines. The people are incredibly welcoming. Iowa on skates or bike is simply not the same state as what people perceive when they drive through on I-80.

There are still so many hidden gems that manage to fly beneath the radar for most travelers, and as the type of travel company that prefers going off-the-beaten path to the less crowded destinations, we are proud to be part of the ‘trend’!