Shelly Smee recalls some vacations with friends in Mexico and Italy that didn’t go as planned. I’ve been on trips where people drink wine and before they know it, their hangovers are keeping them from going on excursions the next day,” says the Vancouver, Canada, real estate agent.
Smee, who says he drinks occasionally, took his first small-group sightseeing tour in 2024 as part of an alcohol-free trip to Iceland organized by the company Hooked — Alcohol-Free Travel Adventure. The company has organized trips to Italy, Mexico , and Nashville, Tennessee. Its 2024 offerings include a visit to Canada, a cruise from Panama, and a safari in Tanzania.
“I’m 56 years old and I have a hard time getting out of bed under normal conditions,” Smee says. “I wanted to do a trip where the focus was on seeing the sights with a small tour group, with people with similar interests and willing to try all the different experiences.”
Over a week, Smee says, the group stopped at a hot spring for an unforgettable dip in the clear waters, and sampled mocktails at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Reykjavik.
What the group did not do in Iceland was drink alcohol.
“We all got along. To be honest, I didn’t even think about drinking,” Smee says. “It just wasn’t a priority.”
Hotel companies are betting on sober travel.
The alcohol-free travel trend is growing beyond Dry January and Sober October, which are voluntary opportunities to stop drinking during those months, either to raise money for charitable causes or for one’s health.
Hotels.com reported that more than 40% of travelers planned to book a detox trip in the next year, and even more expressed interest in staying at hotels where non-alcoholic beverage options were easily accessible.
To confirm that there is an opportunity for alcohol-free experiences, one need only look at some of the major travel companies.
MSC Cruises and Celebrity Cruises are among the major cruise lines that offer non-alcoholic beverage packages to their guests. On Norwegian Viva, non-alcoholic cocktails available at the Vibe Beach Club include the Espresso Notini, made with a non-alcoholic amaretto liqueur, and the Smoky Water, which is made with a non-alcoholic red vermouth.
Hotels, from large chains to boutique hotels, have also joined the alcohol-free trend.
“Hilton has seen demand for non-alcoholic cocktails grow,” says Adam Crocini, senior vice president and global head of Food and Beverage Brands at Hilton. In the company’s 2024 trends report, Crocini says the company explored emerging preferences of travelers across all generations, from Gen Z to baby boomers.
“Across all age groups, we continue to see an increased focus on personal wellness and conscious food and beverage choices,” she says.
To meet demand, the chain launched the Tempo by Hilton cocktail program, which includes “Spirited” selections, which contain alcohol, and “Free-Spirited” versions, which have a presentation, texture, flavor, and sophistication similar to classic cocktails, but do not contain alcohol.
But the experience doesn’t stop at cocktails. In the Maldives, the Jumeirah Maldives Olhahali Island hotel’s new “zero alcohol” cocktail masterclass uses non-alcoholic gins, rums, and whiskeys.
The 57-guest room Deer Path Inn is an English-inspired boutique hotel in Lake Forest, Illinois. It recently debuted a year-round zero-proof experience geared toward sobriety-conscious travelers. The package includes cocktail kits to create mocktails in the guestrooms, and a private lesson with the hotel’s director of spirits, Jorge Centeno, where guests can learn how to make seasonally inspired mocktails.
“Our team loves seeing teetotalers’ delight at the whimsy that can be infused into non-alcoholic drinks, like the Christmas Cup, which is served in a snow globe,” says Centeno.
At respected avant-garde dining hotspots like Restaurant R’evolution at the Royal Sonesta hotel (on Bourbon Street, no less) in New Orleans and Per Se in New York City, mocktail offerings—including the Piña Col-Nada (coconut milk, coconut water, and pineapple juice) and the Berry Me Above Ground (a blend of fresh berries, ginger, and lemon) at the former restaurant—take pride of place on the menu.
Sober hikes aren’t just for people in recovery.
Sober travel, of course, goes beyond mocktails (which can be triggering for some people in recovery) and appeals to a variety of travelers, says Darci Murray, 50, founder of Hooked — Alcohol-Free Travel Adventure.
“I find that a lot of my clients are simply teetotalers, not as part of a recovery program, but because they are interested in living a healthy life with healthy habits,” says Murray, who quit drinking six years ago and launched the company in 2021 after working as a travel agent for 18 years.
“I didn’t find it fun to travel with people who drink,” she says. “I decided I couldn’t be the only person in the world who wanted to travel with people who drink like that.”
On his trips — which have a maximum capacity of 14 people and tend to feature equal numbers of individuals in recovery and travelers who prefer an alcohol-free lifestyle — Murray says activities like chocolate sculpture carving and cold-water plunges in Iceland or line dancing and monster truck rides in Nashville fill the hours people might otherwise spend drinking.
You might not have known that you were a photographer who likes sunsets or that you liked line dancing,” he says. “We expose people to activities that they might not have participated in.”
Murray says when he started the company he thought it would appeal only to teetotal travelers, but he has been surprised by the number of customers who want to live a healthier lifestyle overall.
Other companies offering alcohol-free group tours include We Love Lucid and Sober Vacations International, which offer tours and cruises geared toward people in recovery.
“We create trips as fast as we can, and they sell out,” said Max Abrams, director of business development for Sober Vacations International, which operates about eight trips a year to destinations around the world. Abrams said Sober Village’s 2024 trip to Turks and Caicos — an annual tradition in which the company rents out an entire all-inclusive Caribbean resort for about 500 people — sold out faster than ever (in 42 hours, compared with the previous record of one week).
Kimberly Rossi, director of business development at the Art of Living Retreat Center in Boone, North Carolina, says the 380-acre facility that hosts vegetarian and alcohol-free wellness retreats has seen an increase in people seeking sober vacations post-pandemic.
“It seems that during the pandemic many people have increased their alcohol consumption significantly,” she says. Since then, she has seen many people trying to return to or adopt healthy habits, including reducing alcohol consumption and increasing fitness and meditation.
It is unusual for someone in recovery to attend.
“People seek out our retreats to abstain from alcohol and take a break, to activate the adoption of new habits with other people, and to learn tools that allow them to bring this new way of being into their lives,” she says.
The pleasure is in the journey.
When it comes to the best destinations for an alcohol-free trip, there’s no reason to limit yourself, says Murray.
“Any destination is fine,” he adds. “We go to places where anyone would go, but we do it with a group of like-minded people.”
Brooke Morton, founder of Sober Outside, says a group itinerary can be helpful for people in recovery or anyone interested in an alcohol-free trip.
“We have something in common right away, and it’s not difficult to start a conversation,” he explains.
