You want to go somewhere nobody in your group chat has already been. Not because it is hard to find or hidden on a map, but because it is genuinely yours. No recommendation, no photo dump waiting for you before you even land.
That feeling is not really about avoiding crowds. It is about wanting a trip that feels discovered, not scripted, one you can tell as your own story instead of retracing someone else’s itinerary from Instagram. That craving has been building for years, but this summer it is showing up everywhere, in how people search for flights and pick destinations that never make it into anyone else’s feed.
A recent summer travel report found 73% of Americans say a destination none of their friends or family have visited sounds appealing, a number that climbs to 77% among Gen Z. That is not a small preference. That is most of the country quietly rewriting what makes a trip worth taking.
5 places nobody you know has been
- Aberdeen, Scotland: granite buildings on the North Sea coast, with Speyside whisky country a short trip away. Show up without a plan and it still works.
- Redmond, Oregon: a high desert town near the Cascades and the Oregon Badlands, made for hikers who want real trails without the crowds that found Bend first.
- Asuncion, Paraguay: South America’s least visited capital, and it deserves way more credit. Walkable historic streets, a riverside promenade and a food scene built by generations of immigrants.
- Trieste, Italy: where Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Slovenian culture overlap. The coffee culture runs on its own rules, and the waterfront feels bigger than the crowds it draws.
- Bastia, Corsica: most travelers just pass through on the way to the island’s beach towns. Stay instead. The old harbor and Genoese citadel carry real weight, and the food holds up too.
Overtourism worry turns into action
This is not just a feeling. A 2026 travel report found 43% of travelers worldwide now plan to avoid overcrowded destinations this year, up 11% from last year, and 44% of those choosing quieter places said avoiding overtourism was the reason. Flights are not cheap right now, and the traveler who already checked off the obvious spots wants a place nobody else has claimed yet.
So the next time you are picking a trip, skip the spot everyone already posted. Pick the one nobody in your group chat has ever mentioned. That is the story worth telling.
Jennifer Allen is a retired chef turned traveler, cookbook author and nationally syndicated journalist; she’s also a co-founder of Food Drink Life, where she shares expert travel tips, cruise insights and luxury destination guides. A recognized cruise expert with a deep passion for high-end experiences and off-the-beaten-path destinations, Jennifer explores the world with curiosity, depth and a storyteller’s perspective. Her articles are regularly featured on the Associated Press Wire, The Washington Post, Seattle Times, MSN and more.