June’s long days and balmy climes mark the sweet spot in European summer. Tables are spread with farm-to-table feasts, mountain trails emerge from the snowpack, and jovial locals welcome visitors after a quieter spring. Plus, there are extended daylight hours for more exploring or lingering at leisurely dinners.

At Backroads, we track industry trends, but we prefer to set them. We like to do our own thing, sparked by ideas from our global team of Trip Leaders and guest feedback. Inevitably those ideas turn into trips, and those trips turn into trends in a trickle-down effect. We love how our itineraries and offerings reflect the changing times. And with that, here’s our forecast for adventure-travel trends in 2026.

Prayer flags. Mountains. A small country tucked between two of the world’s most populated countries.

We all love to get away, whether it’s a weekend getaway, a longer trip further afield or a once-in-a-lifetime journey to a bucket-list location. We also love coming home with lots of pretty pictures to share with friends and family and of course to post online. As the Backroads photo editor, I’m here to offer you a few tips to help you come home from your next trip with even better, prettier pictures.

As Fourth of July fireworks sparkled over the waters of Bar Harbor, Maine, I looked around at the faces of three generations of my family. With wide eyes and huge grins, their faces were as bright as the lights in the sky. Tomorrow, we’d scatter again to our homes thousands of miles apart, but tonight felt timeless, a magic moment of togetherness that multigenerational travel creates.

Our guests talk about these hotels long after the trip ends—and we understand why. These hotels accentuate local traditions, exude old-world charm and simply cannot be matched anywhere else. From a retreat on stilts in the Cambodian countryside to a clifftop Aman sanctuary in Bali, each is a traveler favorite for a reason—serene, beautiful and ready to welcome you back from a day of adventure with that unmistakable "I never want to leave" feeling.

Backroads adventures inspire treasured memories, but not every highlight happens on the trail. Our Italy trips feature hotels that feel like welcoming and elegant homes away from home, spots that tell the stories of Puglia, Tuscany and the Dolomites through delicious details. Here are a few of our favorite places to rest and reset after a day of adventure.

The Backroads Give Back Field Project (GBFP) program gives Field Staff the chance to strengthen our connection to the places we travel by volunteering their time for local conservation efforts.

Part company meeting, part bike tour, part rave, Staff Ride is Backroads’ annual company gathering. Each fall, hundreds of Backroads staff (600+ this year) descend on some corner of the world—India, Croatia, Italy and this year, Valencia, Spain, for a week of cycling, reconnecting and unapologetic joy.

If there’s a better month for travel than May, we don’t know what it is. The weather is mild; the crowds are small. And the sense of possibility that comes with fully-sprung spring leavens every adventure.