Where do I actually want to travel in retirement?

[Delawaredave5]

Use AI to get a route. Was in Casablanca recently - told AI I wanted 5-6 mile walk of city highlights.

AI said "from where you are, walk this route, and take this train first to this stop to get there and eliminate uninteresting walking".....

 

[HI Bill]

We are finishing up a stressful, difficult and very rewarding dive trip in the Galapagos. At 60, I wanted to do this while we still (barely) have the endurance and stamina. 19 dives in 7 days. The water was exceptionally warm due to El Niño, which made it easier. Still trying to get in 4 months a year of diving for the next few years, and then may migrate to leisure travel, or at least easy tropical boat diving.

 

[Rambler]

I travelled around the world every 6 weeks in my last 14 years before retiring. I always stopped at home to check our house (I was an expat in Japan at the time, responsible for Japan and AsiaPacific), then on to somewhere in Europe. Sometimes it was the head office, but we also had our executive meetings in the head offices of other subsidiaries that were doing well, and sometimes in places that weren’t doing so well, to help support them. For many years I also went to AU/NZ once a month, and one or two of my countries in Asia once or twice a month. Long story short, I’ve been to more countries around the world than I have been to US states. I still have some places I want to see in the US, but honestly? I’m all travelled out. I’m tired. Since retiring 13.5 years ago, I have had cancer three times. I’m constantly going for scans and blood work to make sure it hasn’t come back. These days, I prefer going up to the cabin, and sitting on the back porch with the dogs. Most important thing for me to say is that I’m glad I was able to retire at 51. I got a few good years in the RV before the big C started becoming an overwhelming presence.

 

[tboinferno]

I am starting to think that my ideal retirement travel is not really about checking off famous destinations or doing difficult “bucket list” trips.
Maybe what I really want is much simpler:
Comfortable walking weather, ideally around 60–70°F.
Safe places where I do not feel stressed.
Beautiful historic cities.
Good local food.
Enough time to walk slowly, sit in cafés, and not rush.
By that standard, Europe looks very attractive.
For example:
Seville in January sounds quite nice to me. Mild weather, history, tapas, plazas, and long walks without summer heat.
Madeira in May also sounds very appealing. Ocean, flowers, levada walks, good seafood, and comfortable temperatures.
Norway in July might be a good way to escape summer heat while enjoying scenery, safety, fjords, and long daylight.
And maybe sometimes I just want to walk to the Mezquita in Córdoba in March, enjoy the city, have lunch, and not feel like I need to “maximize” the trip.
I am realizing that retirement travel may be less about adventure and more about matching the season, climate, safety, food, and pace to what I actually enjoy.
For those of you already retired or planning retirement travel:
did your travel preferences change?
Do you still want big trips, or do you find yourself preferring slower, safer, more comfortable places with good walking weather?

We’ve been using Rick Steves tours the last few years for the structure, organization and information you receive from top notch guides. We did the 21 day European flagship tour to start which took us many places and an overall orientation of Europe.

Last year was the Adriatic Sea area touring Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. We leave in a couple of weeks for Sweden, Denmark and Norway for about 18 days. Each tour is unique and very well organized. Highly recommend for newbies since they help you navigate on your own.

 

[Imackenzie]

I am starting to think that my ideal retirement travel is not really about checking off famous destinations or doing difficult “bucket list” trips.
Maybe what I really want is much simpler:
Comfortable walking weather, ideally around 60–70°F.
Safe places where I do not feel stressed.
Beautiful historic cities.
Good local food.
Enough time to walk slowly, sit in cafés, and not rush.
By that standard, Europe looks very attractive.
For example:
Seville in January sounds quite nice to me. Mild weather, history, tapas, plazas, and long walks without summer heat.
Madeira in May also sounds very appealing. Ocean, flowers, levada walks, good seafood, and comfortable temperatures.
Norway in July might be a good way to escape summer heat while enjoying scenery, safety, fjords, and long daylight.
And maybe sometimes I just want to walk to the Mezquita in Córdoba in March, enjoy the city, have lunch, and not feel like I need to “maximize” the trip.
I am realizing that retirement travel may be less about adventure and more about matching the season, climate, safety, food, and pace to what I actually enjoy.
For those of you already retired or planning retirement travel:
did your travel preferences change?
Do you still want big trips, or do you find yourself preferring slower, safer, more comfortable places with good walking weather?

Still doing big trips and small. Don't give up on hard trips too soon and regret it.Turned 70 this year and I don't know how many "stretch" trips we have left in us but in the last five years we did Uganda for the gorillas, Tanzania for the migration, Costa Rica for a easy one, and Southeast Asia--Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand. We're doing a short easy Utah/Colorado driving trip this fall to Arches, Zion, Moab, and then the Five Stans in the Spring. The killer is the flying not the touring--so we go Business Class even though that's really a little beyond our means. Still, 16-22 hours in an airplane is a ton at any age. The key is do any really big trips NOW. Don't put them off because your body may not be up to it in a year or five or whatever. Save the easy going Euro trips for your slow-go years IMHO. We'll be doing Patagonia next summer but keeping it to one country--probably Argentina.

 

[Flyfish1]

Still doing big trips and small. Don't give up on hard trips too soon and regret it.Turned 70 this year and I don't know how many "stretch" trips we have left in us but in the last five years we did Uganda for the gorillas, Tanzania for the migration, Costa Rica for a easy one, and Southeast Asia--Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand. We're doing a short easy Utah/Colorado driving trip this fall to Arches, Zion, Moab, and then the Five Stans in the Spring. The killer is the flying not the touring--so we go Business Class even though that's really a little beyond our means. Still, 16-22 hours in an airplane is a ton at any age. The key is do any really big trips NOW. Don't put them off because your body may not be up to it in a year or five or whatever. Save the easy going Euro trips for your slow-go years IMHO. We'll be doing Patagonia next summer but keeping it to one country--probably Argentina.

I 100% agree with this logic! Do the big trips now. We did Japan this spring and we came back exhausted ...OK but we recovered and in a couple of weeks I was ready to travel again. We fully plan to visit all continents while we are young and then chill to Europe and River cruising , etc.. as we slow down. Ain't there yet...
BTW: Hitting Africa in '27 and that will fill our Big 7! Crazy.

Lots of expenditures and trips coming in the next 12 months. Looking forward to it. Weirdly and yet in a comfortable way the world is feeling smaller to me.

 

[cminor7th]

Safe, beautiful, historic, walking: Japan and Switzerland (spring or fall).

 

[wrigley]

Lots of places in the good ole' US of A I'd like to see!

 

[simple girl]

We are focusing on the US National Parks because of wanting to be able to do stuff while we can still hike things that are somewhat aggressive. Aggressive for us is definitely not very aggressive due to physical limitations we already have, ugh! These limitations are very clearly showing us we have to do the more physical trips now. It's not going to get any better with age, that's for sure!

Like recent posters, we are saving the Europe trips for a bit later, and hoping we'll be more in the BTD stage and be able to fly business class. Also hoping we will still be able to tolerate all of the walking required for those trips!

 

[rodi]

I'm 64, DH Is 74. So time Is ticking fur active travel.

We're doing a combo of domestic trips (mostly national parks) and foreign trips.

We *are* doing bucket list trips because since are harder to put together. DH had a cancer scare 2 years ago which upped our travel schedule.

This year we have been to:

Sedona (camping and hiking)

Fiji, New Zealand (mostly South Island, with a little north island) and then used a repositioning cruise to get home which allowed us to see Tahiti, Moorea, and Oahu on the way home (6 weeks)

Alaska: land portion up to Denali, cruise portion let us visit Glacier Bay. Visited my BFF in Bellingham WA at the end.

In August we're heading to Olympic National Park.

Sept starts with a trip to Mesa Verde national Park.

We have a 1 week turn around from that trip before we leave for Paris, Rome. A Greek isle cruise. Athens, Jordan (Petra is a bucket list item), and Egypt including a Nile River boat trip (another bucket list). (5 weeks,).

I enjoy slow travel... We spent fall 2025 in Tuscany. Lots of walking, living like locals... We'll definitely be doing longer trips like that. My preference is to spend a week in a place and do exploration out from a home base.

Next year we're doing a Panama canal cruise followed by a week in San Juan PR. Then I'm the fall we'll be heading to New England to visit younger son who just moved there and visit Acadia NP (another bucket list)