The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Seize the day and set off in your sixties
From solo adventures to group travel, rail trips and cruises, Sally Howard finds holidays to suit every 60-something taste
Whether you are an empty nester; a Fogy (fun older gap-yearer); or a 60-something “queenager” experiencing a fresh lease of life post-60, your seventh decade is the best time to travel on your own terms. Take it from the travel influencer Siobhan Daniels, 63, whose memoir The Retirement Rebel has become a cult hit with a new generation of wanderlusters in their 60s. The book details Daniels’ decision as a “burnt out” 60-year-old empty nester to sell her house and possessions and take to the road full-time in her motorhome “Dora the Explorer”. These days, she tours the UK and Europe inspiring others to do the same.
“We’re a bit of a rebellious generation,” she says of Britons who are now entering their 60s. “Some of us are leaving our husbands at home in front of the telly and travelling solo, others are becoming digital nomads working part-time as we travel: we are rewriting what it means to be in your 60s.”
This demographic now has targeted tours, including Silver’s, which include “playful” group retreats in the UK (think wild swimming and hot tubs) for “likeminded empty nesters, starting againers and the newly free”. Lengthier trips are also being tailored to suit sexagenarians with a newfound freedom, such as Original Travel’s Australasia nature sabbatical trip, which takes in Tasmania, the Australian outback and whale-spotting in New Zealand over 39 days. Long-distance rail is another big hit with a generation that came of age during the interrailing boom, as is a new wave of active cruise itineraries. UnCruise Adventures, for example, incorporates kayaking, whale watching, hiking, paddleboarding, and night snorkelling into its seven-night Hawaiian itineraries.
Walking tours specialist Ramble Worldwide devises trips with 60-somethings in mind. “They are discerning,” says Ramble’s Jim Eite, “and they like immersive experiences, comfortable accommodation and travelling in shoulder seasons to avoid summer heat and crowds”. Small group adventure travel company Intrepid saw a 116 per cent surge in 60-something bookers in 2023. “[They] are seizing the opportunity to explore the world,” says managing director Hazel McGuire.
“Some are recent retirees, others find themselves with an empty nest and have the freedom to travel on their own terms; often they want to travel with different age groups rather than just their own.”
Also popular with this group is a trend McGuire calls “victory-lap travel”: customers who backpacked in destinations such as Vietnam or India in the Eighties and Nineties and want to revisit the travel haunts of their youth in greater comfort.
So whatever your type or tastes, the world is yours as you hit the big 6-0. The only question is, where – and how – will you go? Here is our guide to making the most of the world in your 60s.
Many 60-somethings not only own their homes, but are able to travel flexibly. This allows for houseswapping to come into its own, with many veteran swappers being post-retirement, but physically fit.
“Swaps are a great way to stay in a more neighbourhoody area of a city,” says Caroline Connolly, from the leading homeswapping platform HomeLink. “So they appeal to people who have been there and seen the major tourist sites when they were younger.”
Home trades can be arranged informally, through friends, or via paid-for sites such as HomeLink that offer reciprocal stays: when both parties visit each others’ properties at the same time. Platforms such as Love Home Swap, HomeExchange and Thirdhome allow a mixture of reciprocal stays and “points swaps”, whereby users allow others to stay at their home to accrue points against future stays.
Sixty-something swappers keen to exchange their homes with fellow sexagenarians include Anne-Marie and Mick, whose three-bedroom home overlooks pretty Southampton Water (homelink.org). Meanwhile, in Florida, Donna is a 60-something home trader who can offer a villa in her 55-plus community in Sumter county, a short drive from the Gulf beaches and Disneyland, for the summer of 2024 (homeexchange.com).