6 Reasons Women Love to Travel Together (One Is About Food)

When women travel in the company of a few other women, something magical happens in the way they experience a place. Whether it’s navigating an adventure involving camels in Morocco, or absorbing mysteries of the Inca Empire in the mountains of Peru, or relaxing in tea houses of Kyoto, Japan, or tasting exotic street fare in bustling Vietnam and Thailand—when women travel together, the experience of a trip is different.

The most notable thing, according to women’s adventure travel experts, is the relaxed camaraderie that happens when female travelers can be utterly themselves. They understand how to share different perspectives and bring empathy to discussions about discoveries in their own personal journeys. In an atmosphere of honest friendship and generosity, they stretch their comfort zones and support each other. This allows connections to each other and connections to the people they meet and the places they get to know to go deep.

That’s right, a small group of traveling women is empowering. And that’s why Culinary Access Trips has become passionate about “women-only” travel, recently adding three women’s culinary trips: Peru, Morocco, and Tuscany, Italy.

After the New York Times published an article in March 2019 about how dangerous solo travel is for women, letters to the editor poured in to complicate that narrative: “But the most beautiful parts of the world are also ours alone to experience,” wrote Sarah Peck of Gloucester, Mass.

“I have been invited into homes by three generations of women and have shared meals with their families in Turkey. I have traveled in crowded Indian trains with a family of all women, from the Ganges to the mountains of Darjeeling. I was led to one of the world’s remaining hanging temples by a group of women in central China.

“Women have kinship that crosses borders and cultural differences. Women protect one another. And if you are open, women will crack open their beautiful worlds and cultures in a way I imagine that a solo man could never experience.”

It’s a growing trend, and the travel industry is catching on. According to author and women’s travel expert Marybeth Bond of “The Gutsy Traveler” blog, women—younger, older, single, married, widowed, extroverts and introverts—are fueling an explosive growth in travel industry. She says data show 80% of all travel decisions are made by women, regardless of whom they travel with, who pays for the trip, or where they go.

And the vast majority—75%—of those who take cultural, adventure, or nature trips are women. The average adventure traveler is not a 28-year old male, but a 47-year-old female, she says, and an increasing portion of solo female travelers are Baby Boomers and single mothers.

The travel industry is just waking up to the economic power of women. The AdventureWomen “Ciao Bella” blog offers five reasons women should travel together: 

1 | Camaraderie and Lasting Friendships

“There’s a different sense of freedom and unity that comes from traveling on a “women-only” adventure trip. Women naturally and spontaneously form friendships and forge bonds, which last a lifetime. Come alone. Leave together. Experience shows us that women who travel together often keep in touch, and end up traveling together – again and again, in the future.”

2 | No Pressure – Just Be Yourself

“There’s no gender pressure when you’re traveling “women-only”. You can wear what you want, do what you want, and discover at your own pace. No approvals necessary! Traveling with women enables you to be your best, your most adventurous, your most silly, your most relaxed, your most daring, your most unkempt. Time to simply, just be yourself.”

3 | Deeper Discovery and Learning

“Women love to do things together. From book clubs to hiking clubs, networking groups to volunteering, women tap into each other’s’ energy when they’re together. Travel, it turns out, is no different. Exploring and discovering a new destination is more meaningful and rich when in the company of other active, inquisitive, and interesting women.”

4 | Challenge Yourself

“Adventurous women love to try new things. Whether it is mastering a new skill or activity or soaking in the fascinating trivia about a new culture, they just love challenging themselves. Women say it gives them confidence, pride of accomplishment, and a true sense of triumph. But facing challenges while surrounded by supportive women is just so much easier and a lot more fun.”

5 | Female-Focused Fun

“When you are traveling with only women, you can do more of the things women like and care about. Want to take a cooking class? … We all know traveling with family and in mixed company is great, but maybe not all the time.”

But there’s an important reason missing, a sixth reason women love to travel together, offered by Access Culinary Trips.

6 | Women Understand Food

Cuisine is a gateway to culture, and food from a female perspective is unique. It’s true that women do the majority of food preparation in communities throughout the world. The responsibility for nurturing families and communities traditionally falls to women. So understanding a culture means understanding its food—and its women.

That is why Access Culinary Trips itineraries — immersive and food focused as a way to explore culture through cuisine—resonate deeply with women. Trips include small cooking classes and hyper-local food discoveries that put guests in contact with the authentic food world of the places they visit. Whether learning to cook on a cocoa farm in Costa Rica or in traditional pachamanca pits high in the Andes or in a local restaurant, chefs and revered local cooks welcome Access Culinary Trips’ small groups of travelers into their food world.

And what better way to learn about local and traditional specialties, from the sourcing of ingredients to helping prepare and present the perfect meal (and of course tasting and sipping and savoring every moment) than with a few new women friends.

Learn more about Access Culinary Trips small-group culinary adventures for women.