Instead of a raucous weekend of late-night dancing and drinking at clubs or bars, Margaret Wilson chose a healthier setting for her bachelorette party last year.
Ms. Wilson, her sister and four close friends spent four days in February 2023 at a wellness spa in Sedona, Ariz., where they hiked through Boynton Canyon, meditated, enjoyed a healing sound bath and lounged around the pool.
“I had been through a lot of life changes the year leading up to my wedding, and I was looking for a low-stress, meaningful experience with my dearest friends,” said Ms. Wilson, 32, a dermatology physician assistant in Milwaukee. “This trip was meant to enrich my relationship with my loved ones and myself, and it did exactly that.”
Ms. Wilson decided on Sedona, she said, because it was “an interesting part of the country that offered nature and a unique experience that wasn’t solely dependent on partying.”
Wellness travel is now one of the biggest travel trends of 2024, and more and more brides-to-be are choosing locations that they say might help them better prepare both mind and body for their wedding day. . . .
In a January survey, Greenback Expat Tax Services, which provides tax services for U.S. citizens living abroad, asked 1,000 men and women attending bachelor and bachelorette parties (including brides and grooms) about their location preferences for those parties. Three out of five respondents chose “a tranquil wellness retreat.”
Teeona Breon, 28, picked Rush Creek Lodge & Spa in Groveland, Calif., to celebrate her bachelorette party in July 2022 with her five bridesmaids. She was drawn to both the look of the lodge and the access to nearby Yosemite National Park.
“I’m not one to gravitate toward the bachelorette drinking and party scene because I like to prioritize my mental and physical well-being, so it was the perfect setting to allow me to indulge in that,” said Ms. Breon, a landscaping and design plant technician based in State College, Pa.
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