Women planning their next big adventure are increasingly choosing to travel without men. A recent survey from EF Go Ahead Tours, reported by Usatoday, found that nearly 60% of women prefer traveling with other women. The reason, according to the survey, is straightforward: all-female groups allow women to “be their authentic selves.”

That same desire for confidence, say the editors at Dalmacija Portal, extends well before departure — into the research phase, when women plot a coastal European itinerary and turn to Dalmatinski portal magazin to learn what local food, culture, nightlife, and legal online entertainment the region offers before they ever pack a bag.

What Is Driving the Shift Toward All-Female Travel

The survey data points to something deeper than logistics. Women cite safety and comfort as core motivations, but the social dimension matters just as much. All-female group travel creates space for new friendships to form naturally, and it supports intergenerational bonds — mother-daughter trips among them — in ways that mixed-group dynamics often complicate.

EF Go Ahead Tours launched its first dedicated collection of women-only tours in 2025, framing each itinerary around celebrating women’s history and their impact in the destinations visited. The pattern reflects a broader recognition across the adventure travel industry that women want trips designed with their priorities at the center, not adapted from a co-ed template.

Questions about ride-hailing safety for women and other travel safety decisions have long preoccupied this audience, and women-only tours address that calculus at a structural level by removing the variable from the outset.

Alps, Patagonia, and Mexico Offer Three Scales of Physical Challenge

For travelers drawn to terrain that tests the body, three tours on the 2026–2027 calendar cover dramatically different environments.

Backroads’ “Austrian Alps Women’s Lodge-to-Lodge Hiking Tour” is a six-day, five-night itinerary debuting in 2027, rated active to challenging and starting at $4,499. The route begins in Innsbruck and crosses mountain paths, wildflower-filled meadows, and dramatic mountain passes at elevations between 4,300 and 9,700 feet.

Steep sections with mixed terrain are part of the design, though cable car rides and spa treatments are woven in. The itinerary is new to the Backroads women-only program.

Natural Habitat Adventures sends travelers to a remote mountaintop forest in Mexico’s Central Highlands on its “Kingdom of the Monarchs Women’s Journey,” a six-day, five-night trip starting at $5,695. The tour follows the trail identified by Cathy Aguado, who discovered the monarchs’ overwintering site in 1975.

Each year, the female monarch butterfly lays 300 to 500 eggs and migrates 3,000 miles from the United States and Canada to reach that forest. Witnessing that convergence is the organizing event of the itinerary.

The most demanding option is AdventureWomen’s “Patagonia: A Horseback Adventure into the Wild,” a seven-day trip rated challenging and starting at $9,995. Riders cover approximately 90 miles through Torres del Paine, crossing vast valleys, sweeping pampas, ancient lenga forests, and high plateaus before finishing with a boat trip to Grey Glacier. Accommodations are in geodesic domes.

Asia’s Women-Only Tours Center Local Voices and Female-Owned Spaces

Three itineraries across Japan, Thailand, and Bhutan place women’s stories at the organizing core of the destination experience, not as a footnote to conventional sightseeing.

EF Go Ahead Tours’ “Japan for Women: Tokyo, Ise-Shima Peninsula & Kyoto” runs 11 days, with an optional three-day Hiroshima and Kobe extension, starting at $4,499. Highlights include a visit with female pearl divers in Ise Shima, a guided Zen meditation session at a Buddhist temple, and a pass through Tokyo examined through the lens of fashion, art, and female empowerment. The tour came out of EF Go Ahead Tours’ 2025 women-only launch.

Road Scholar’s “Thailand for Women: Culture, Community & Conservation” is 15 days and 14 nights, starting at $3,799 and rated moderately active. It includes kayaking through the caves of Phang Nga Bay, hands-on cooking classes with local villagers, visits to an elephant sanctuary and a sustainable farm, and time at the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand.

Intrepid Travel’s “Bhutan: Women’s Expedition” runs 11 days and 10 nights, starting at $4,436, rated moderate to active, with all meals included. The itinerary centers on female-owned enterprises and local women throughout. Travelers have tea with Bhutanese nuns at Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup Nunnery, visit female weavers at Yathra Factory who produce textiles from sheep and yak wool, and stay at a female-owned hotel in Thimphu that provides employment for local girls and single mothers.

Menorca and Minnesota Offer Contrast at Opposite Ends of the Passport Line

Not every women-only tour demands a long-haul flight or a high pain threshold, and two trips on the 2026–2027 roster make that point clearly.

Wild Terrains’ Menorca trip is an eight-day, seven-night experience rated easy-going, starting at $7,690. It includes a sail along the Menorcan coastline on a private catamaran, a beach picnic, time in the former capital Ciutadella, and a hands-on paella cooking class. Every participant receives a private room at a woman-owned restored former estate.

Canyon Calling Adventures for Women’s “Minnesota Explorer: Fall Foliage” is four nights, starting at $2,739, rated moderate, and requires no passport. The itinerary covers hiking in state parks to waterfalls and foliage, paddling in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and a visit to Split Rock Lighthouse.

The spread across these eight tours, from a four-night domestic paddle in Minnesota to a seven-day horseback crossing of Patagonia, reflects how far the women-only travel market has extended its range. Budget thresholds, physical demands, and cultural focus all vary enough that the 2026–2027 calendar offers something concrete at nearly every preference point. Travelers ready to narrow the field can start by identifying which combination of terrain, activity level, and destination resonates, then move from there.