How to Travel Well in 2026
A slower, more connected way to see the world
Mireia Juvé, co-owner of Pere Ventura, hosts us for dinner on their family estate
Here’s what we believe it means to travel well in 2026
There’s a quiet shift happening in the way people want to travel.
Less ticking off. Less rushing between places. Less trying to see everything.
And more of something else entirely. More connection. More meaning. More time to feel where you are.
At Amble, we’ve always believed the most memorable journeys are the ones that feel lived, not scheduled. And as we look ahead to 2026, we’re seeing more travellers choosing depth over distance, quality over quantity, and intimacy over spectacle.
Private Cooking Experience on Amble’s Taste of Umbria Tour. The experience is held in a local home, hosted by Nonna’s, overlooking Orvieto, Umbria
Travel slower, stay longer
The best journeys don’t move quickly. They unfold.
You wake up in the same place for a few mornings in a row. The café owner recognises you. You learn the rhythm of the street outside your window. You start to notice the small details, the way the light hits the vineyards at golden hour, or how the market changes from one day to the next.
In Umbria, that might mean spending your morning wandering a hilltop village, and your afternoon learning to make pasta in a local kitchen. In Priorat, it might mean an unhurried day between vineyards, with a long lunch that turns into sunset.
When you stay longer, a destination stops being something you visit, and starts becoming somewhere you experience.
Winemaker Carles Pastrana personally hosted a Private wine tasting for a group on our Taste of Catalonia Tour
Choose access over aesthetics
Beautiful hotels and restaurants will always have their place. But the moments people remember most rarely come from what they saw on Instagram.
They come from access.
A private cellar opened just for you. A chef cooking off-menu, because you’re at their table, not their restaurant. A winemaker pouring something they don’t export.
An afternoon spent with a farmer, an artisan, a local guide who introduces you not just to a place, but to the people who shape it.
These are the moments that can’t be booked online or found on a list. They exist because of relationships, trust, and time.
And they change the way a place feels.
Local Chef Cintet cooks for us in Catalonia at a long table meal hosted on the Oriol Rossell estate
Let food and wine lead the journey
If you want to understand a place, start at the table.
Food and wine are the most honest expressions of a region, its history, its landscape, its culture, its people. When you taste olive oil pressed from trees you walked past that morning, or a wine grown on the hillside you’re looking at, something shifts. The experience becomes grounded and real.
In Burgundy, that might be tasting wines from a plot of land tended by the same family for generations. In Oaxaca, it might be sitting in a chef’s kitchen as she prepares dishes rooted in her heritage. In Japan, it might be learning the rituals behind a simple bowl of ramen or a carefully crafted piece of sushi.
This is travel that feeds more than just your appetite.
Meet Gemma Muray, one of our local Legends. A Sommelier, who hosts our guests, in Catalonia
Travel with people who know the place deeply
A great guide doesn’t just show you where to go. They show you how a place works.
They introduce you to the winemaker who prefers to stay out of the spotlight. They take you to the bakery that doesn’t have a sign. They explain why lunch lasts three hours, and why that matters.
At Amble, we call them our local legends, the wine sommeliers, chefs, cheese sommeliers, and hosts who open doors and share their world with you. They’re the difference between seeing a place and truly understanding it.
Travelling to Umbria in July means enjoying the beauty of Sunflower season
Leave space for the unplanned
Not every moment needs to be scheduled.
Some of the best memories come from the in-between moments: a walk after dinner, an unexpected conversation, a detour that leads somewhere better than you imagined.
Travelling well in 2026 means allowing room for spontaneity. For curiosity. For slowing down enough to follow what feels interesting in the moment.
Because the magic rarely happens on a timetable.
What better way to experience Mezcal than with the Maestro Mezcalero
Choose experiences that feel like they were made for you
The most meaningful trips don’t feel generic. They feel personal.
They reflect your pace, your interests, the way you like to travel, who you’re travelling with, and what you want to feel when you return home.
Whether that’s a milestone birthday in the Italian countryside, a wine-focused journey through Burgundy, a mezcal-led exploration of Oaxaca, or a deeply immersive cultural experience in Japan, the journey should feel considered, intentional, and entirely your own.
Enjoying a private dinner on a winemakers estate in Penedes Catalonia
A different way to see the world
Travelling well in 2026 isn’t about doing more. It’s about experiencing more of what matters.
It’s about sitting at a table longer. Talking to the people who live there. Understanding where what you’re eating and drinking comes from.
Feeling a sense of connection, to a place, and to the people you share it with.
That’s the kind of travel we believe in. And it’s the kind of travel we design every day.
If this way of travelling resonates with you, we’d love to start a conversation about where your next journey might take you. Because the most memorable trips aren’t the ones where you see the most. They’re the ones where you feel the most.
