As Popular Destinations Get Crowded, Airbnb Says Gen Z Is Seeking Something Weirder

In a fall travel report released this week, Airbnb data found that destinations growing in popularity are smaller, lesser-known towns that embrace their local legends, oddities, or offbeat history. According to the company, the trend is especially prevalent among Gen Z travelers.

The report frames the trend as part of a broader move toward shorter, cheaper trips. The report says 60 percent of the travelers it surveyed are planning a weekend getaway this fall — more than in spring, summer, or winter of this year. The top reasons for this? Affordability and local draws. Airbnb also says this is a new twist on the fall road trip concept, kind of like a spinoff of your standard leaf-peeping weekend. Ninety percent of Gen Z respondents said small towns and lesser-known destinations appeal to them this fall, with many stating that they’re attracted to towns that have a unique or weird thing you can only find in that one place.

What’s driving the trend

The trend could be influenced just as much by where travelers don’t want to go. Some of the most famous destinations are more crowded than ever, and a lot of them have stopped rolling out the welcome mat. Summer 2025 set visitor records across much of Europe, and a wave of destinations have since moved to thin the crowds. Rome added a fee just to reach the lower level of the Trevi Fountain. Capri capped tour groups after peak days brought some 50,000 visitors to an island of 13,000 to 15,000 residents. And Fujiyoshida, near Mount Fuji, scrapped a decade-old cherry-blossom festival after too many visitors trampled private yards and left trash behind as they posed for photos.

Research from consulting firm Simon-Kucher found a seven-percentage-point increase since 2024 in travelers who say they would avoid a destination they felt was too crowded. “Lore-tripping” fits into that as it steers travelers toward places with fewer crowds and to places and experiences that can’t be replicated elsewhere. The US also has many destinations along those lines, allowing travelers to merge their “lore-tripping” dreams with the desire to do less expensive weekend trips.

The data, and its limits

According to the report, Gen Z interest is up more than 50 percent for Twentynine Palms, California; up 30 percent for Hot Springs, Arkansas; and up about 15 percent for Helen, Georgia. However, the Gen Z sample size is small (183 respondents), and much of the data analysis relies on Airbnb data, rather than from the travel industry as a whole. It’s also likely not a coincidence that some of those small towns are in an Airbnb marketing campaign announced in the same release. None of that means the trend isn’t real, but it’s something the brand also benefits from hyping up.

The towns driving the trend

Helen, Georgia. Photo: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

Point Pleasant, West Virginia: Point Pleasant is home of the Mothman”– the red-eyed, winged creature first reported in a sighting in 1966. The Mothman was later linked to the 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge. The town now has a Mothman museum and statue, and its annual Mothman Festival runs September 19–20, 2026, with free admission and plenty of quirky things to see.

Helen, Georgia: This small, former logging town was rebuilt in the 1960s as a Bavarian-style village in the mountains of northern Georgia. Its annual Oktoberfest is the longest-running in the US and is usually timed with peak fall foliage. In 2026, it runs Thursday through Saturday from September 10 to November 1. Weekends draw in tour groups, so visit midweek if you can.

Leavenworth, Washington: A Bavarian village for West Coasters, this cute tpaown is in the Cascade Mountains and goes all-out for Oktoberfest. It’s an excellent weekend trip if you want to spend the mornings hiking and afternoons making friends at a beer garden or Saturday festival.

Hot Springs, Arkansas: A historic spa town with bathhouse row and a Prohibition-era gangster past. Several Bathhouse Row buildings still operate as working spas, and the entire area is part of Hot Springs National Park, allowing visitors to check a new national park site off their list while also exploring one of the most unique small towns in the South.

Twentynine Palms, California: This artist community known for desert murals sits at the quieter northern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. It had the largest increase among the Gen Z destinations Airbnb highlighted, with searches up more than 50 percent. It also has fewer crowds than the busier west entrance and a bit of a hippie, artist commune vibe.

Rapid City, South Dakota: Nicknamed the “City of Presidents” for the life-size bronze statues of every US president lining its downtown corners. It’s a walkable basecamp for outdoor adventures in nearby Badlands National Park and the surrounding Black Hills.

Williams, Arizona: In 1984, Williams became the final Route 66 town anywhere to be bypassed by the interstate, meaning people driving cross-country drove through Williams until that year. It’s why so many of its neon signs and vintage diners, plus the 1908 train depot, survived. The Grand Canyon Railway still runs from the depot to the South Rim — and yes, there are “Wild West” reenactments.

Wildwood, New Jersey: A Jersey Shore beach town known for surviving mid-century “Doo Wop,” or Googie, motel architecture, with vintage neon and space-age signage. It’s quiet outside of summer. While there, take a self-guided walk of the motel district, or catch a narrated trolley tour and the Doo Wop museum from the local preservation league.

Gibsonton, Florida: “Gibtown” was once the winter home of America’s traveling carnival and sideshow performers like Al “The Giant” Tomaini and his wife Jeanie, “The Half Woman,” among well more than 100 acts. Their world lives on at the International Independent Showmen’s Museum with vintage rides, sideshow banners, and a working 1903 Ferris wheel indoors. It’s about 20 miles south of Tampa.