Travel trends in 2026 include immersive and experiential travel as well as mindfulness, wellness, exotic travel and a focus on authenticity, nature and cultural interaction.
Add one more to the mix – skill set.
Skillcation is a combination of skill + vacation. While traditional vacations tend to focus on relaxing or sightseeing, the skill sets add formal education or practice to the equation. The “why” of this type of vacation is related to travelers who are looking for personal growth and leisure combined, a meaningful travel experience, to connect with like-minded students and to return home with a new visible ability or to improve their current skills.
Here are some places to go to give visitors a taste of what they want.
Learn to be a Cowboy or Cowgirl
Ride up! A package stay at Tombstone Monument Ranch in Tucson, Arizona includes lodging, meals (such as a chuckwagon breakfast), horseback riding, and ranch activities such as rounding and driving cattle, branding, earing and branding calves, fencing, and checking wells, cattle ponds, and more.
Forest Bathing & Immersion in the Mind of Nature
Nestled in the heart of California’s wine country, Alila Napa Valley offers a tranquil, luxurious modern retreat where wellness practices and natural immersion are designed to connect guests to the Napa region. Home to the largest collection of coastal redwoods in Napa Valley, this hotel offers a new connection to the rhythms of the natural world by bathing in the woods near Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.
Fly Fishing
The Meadows on Rock Creek, a ten-home, all-inclusive resort in Western Montana offers a great place to learn fly fishing. With direct access to a well-stocked creek, featuring some of the best fishing conditions in the Big Sky area, guests can embark on wade-and-wade fishing trips led by professional guides that include all necessary equipment.
Kitesurfing in Baja
About 45 minutes south of La Paz, the small coastal town of La Ventana has become one of the best places in North America to learn to play kitesurfing. Located near the Sea of Cortez, this former fishing village is known for its constant winds of El Norte, especially in winter, when the wind always blows creates good conditions for building real skills in the water. For guests looking for a more adventurous experience, Chilochill Glamping Resort runs kitesurf lessons with simple, comfortable accommodation just steps from the beach.
Learn to Play the Ukulele
At the Sheraton Kauai Coconut Beach Resort, guests have the opportunity to take a little “aloha” back home to share with family and friends by taking an on-site ukulele class with a traditional Hawaiian teacher.
Learning to Filter
There is nothing better than learning to surf small waves. At the historic del Coronado Surf School in Southern California, the best instructors are hand-picked by world-renowned surfer Jamie O’Brien, known for his mastery of Pipeline on Oahu’s North Shore, who guides surfers in the calm Pacific waters of the bay with a lesson at this first and only O’Brien surf school in the United States.
Knowing the Trades of the Old West
At the Rocky Mountain Folk School in Grand County, Colorado, visitors go beyond simple crafts to technical activities that include carpentry, shoemaking, leather tanning and indigenous side carving, learning to carve stone tools and arrowheads using ancient techniques.
Handle sites like a Pro
From whaling in Alaska to chasing the Northern Lights, travelers are turning their vacations into high-profile photo shoots as searches for “photography” increase by 5,000 percent according to Google Trends. Natural Habitat Adventures offers over 30 new ultra-photogenic tours. National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions offers a cruise with National Geographic Photographers and professional equipment, giving guests hands-on training in some of the world’s most powerful oceans.
Bee Keeping
Guests can enter the fascinating world of the honey bee with a beekeeping experience at The Inn at Stonecliffe on Mackinaw Island. Led by Michigan beekeeper Dave Zimmerman, the experience includes visitors wearing bee costumes to learn the raw process of making honey from nectar to jar.
Learn to Sail in Paradise
With its steady trade winds, calm turquoise waters, and deep-rooted maritime culture, Bermuda stands out as one of the best places in the world to learn to sail.
Early humans built trust in sheltered ocean waters before moving on to open ocean systems. The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club runs year-round programs for youth and adults, while the Bermuda Sailing Association offers multi-day and weekly courses across the island, including youth camps and adult programs at local yacht clubs. For advanced sailors, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Sailing Academy is the first Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Training Center on the island, offering internationally recognized qualifications.
Making Banana Wine
Traditional urwagwa, or banana wine, is a common dish in Rwanda at social gatherings. From weddings to traditional celebrations, this practice has a long history in this part of Africa made from fermented bananas. At Hemingways Retreat in Kigali, guests can choose to participate in their banana wine making workshop to learn about the process and create their own urwagwa. The conference provides cultural insights into the quintessentially Rwandan experience, providing cultural insights and unique knowledge to bring home.
Regenerative Agriculture
Spier Wine Farm and Hotel in Stellenbosch, South Africa offers participants the opportunity to explore the farm’s Food Garden and learn how permaculture and regenerative agriculture principles can restore soil health and improve food quality.
Guided by garden team members, visitors are introduced to organic practices such as partner planting, crop rotation, and cover cropping, as well as the use of vermicomposting and foliar sprays that fertilize the soil. Informal workshops focus on practical skills such as composting kitchen waste, improving home soil, and growing herbs and vegetables using these methods.
Making pasta
Nestled in an expansive and stunning setting in California’s Sonoma County, Bricoleur Vineyards allows guests to enjoy experiences that include a planting class, and the popular Pasta Making, led by Bricoleur’s Culinary Kitchen chef, River Robinson. Attendees will learn how to incorporate natural ingredients into colored pasta and turn their dough into shapes and ribbons in this hands-on offering.
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