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New York Post
11-05-2025
- New York Post
Digital detox retreats rise in popularity
In a time when people can't even go to the bathroom without bringing their phones — surprisingly, the interest around digital detox retreats is rising, and people are willing to pay thousands to go on them. While on vacation, 27% of adults want to be present and spend less time doom-scrolling, according to a 2025 Hilton Trends Report, which was originally reported on by the BBC. And 17% of vacationers are taking things a step further by searching for trips that will force them to unplug and possibly ditch their technology altogether, according to global luxury home-rental platform Plum Guide. Advertisement 'We used to have a tag to show which properties had wi-fi. Now we're adding a 'no wi-fi' tag,' Martin Dunford, the founder and CEO of Cool Places, a UK travel accommodation booking site, told the BBC. Guests at the Grand Velas Resorts in Mexico can book a stay here and sign up for their Digital Detox program. Once travelers arrive at their designated hotel room — they'll notice that the room is free of any tech. TVs are replaced with board games, and guests' devices are kept in a safe by the concierge, according to the resort's site. On a digital detox trip — guests are forced to lock up their devices for the duration of their stay. Aaron Weiss – Advertisement This forces guests to partake in complimentary activities such as biking and snorkeling tours. The average rate for a room is a couple of thousand dollars a night. And if people aren't looking to spend so much money to travel outside the country for this kind of retreat — stressed-out travelers can stay at the Urban Cowboy Lodge in the Catskills, which is only a few hours north of NYC. At this Catskills cabin-style boutique hotel, guests lock their devices in a box for the duration of their stay. Something that might sound terrifying but is ultimately rewarding. Dunford worked with the University of Greenwich and the University of East Anglia to study people's patterns and behaviors when they completely disconnect on a trip. Advertisement As expected, they found that at first, it's quite the adjustment for people to not have access to technology while away. Disconnecting from the outside world allows travelers to partake in outdoor activities. EFStock – 'Guests go stir crazy in the first 24 hours,' Dunford said. 'But after 48 hours, they are well adjusted and start getting into other activities. At the end of a three-day stay – or longer – we find guests may be happy to have their phones back or can be a bit take it or leave it about it.' Advertisement 'By the end of the three days, I was far from excited to open the lockbox and turn my phone back on – in fact, I was dreading it,' said a writer for The Week in a story about their experience taking part in a digital detox trip. 'I prolonged my vacation from society for as long as I could, but was eventually forced to bite the bullet when I got into the car and remembered I was reliant on Google Maps if I had any hope of getting home,' the writer pointed out.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- BBC News
The unstoppable rise of digital detox retreats
It's not just a White Lotus thing: A growing number of resorts and retreats are asking their guests to put their digital devices away during their stay. When Ophelia Wu went to Eremito in Italy she was hoping for a stress-free experience. "I was living a hectic life in London, and I found it overwhelming," she said. "I needed a break. I heard about this former monastery in Umbria, and I was curious about it." She booked a three-night stay at the hotel, which has no wi-fi or phone signal, no tech and no TVs; just brick walls, basic bedrooms and candlelight. The buzz of bumblebees replaced the buzz of her notifications. "When I left, I was reluctant to turn my phone back on," she said. "I got used to the peace of being unbothered and the lack of urgency." She's not alone: offline travel is one of the trends of the year so far. According to the 2025 Hilton Trends Report, 27% of adults planning to travel say that they intend to reduce social media use during their holidays. Echoing this interest, global luxury home-rental platform Plum Guide has seen a 17% rise in searches for unplugged, tech-lite properties. In Mexico, the luxury Grand Velas Resorts has launched a Digital Detox Program that would not be out of place on The White Lotus, complete with a "Detox Concierge" to whisk away all electronic devices on arrival. What's striking about this trend is that it's available to everyone, it costs nothing and it's about giving less. It seems that people have become so dissatisfied with digital life that they are willing to pay more to escape it. While it has become the norm to use tech to facilitate travel logistics – bookings, check ins and itineraries – when it starts to play a starring role in the holiday experience, it can feel like the opposite of getting away from it all. According to It's Time To Log Off, the average person spends a day each week online, and 34% of people have checked Facebook in the last 10 minutes. Sixty-two percent of polled adults, they say, "hate" how much time they spend on their phones. Martin Dunford is the founder and CEO of Cool Places, a website that has curated hotels, B&Bs, pubs and self-catering accommodation across the UK since 2012. "We used to have a tag to show which properties had wi-fi," he said. "Now we're adding a 'no wi-fi' tag." His site lists 34 places to enjoy a digital detox stay, from a Cornish eco-yurt to a boathouse on Ullswater in the Lake District, and the list is growing. Intrigued by the interest in stays where guests can disconnect, Dunford has been working with the University of Greenwich and the University of East Anglia to analyse what happens to people when they go offline on holiday. They found a distinct pattern: "Guests go stir crazy in the first 24 hours," he said. "But after 48 hours they are well adjusted and start getting into other activities. At the end of a three-day stay – or longer – we find guests may be happy to have their phones back or can be a bit take it or leave it about it." You might wonder why anyone needs to book a special holiday to get off their phones: can't they just unplug themselves? But, as that difficult first 24 hours experience shows, it's not so simple: habits are hard to break, and digital addiction is particularly tough. When university researchers investigated digital-free tourism in 2019, they discovered that many travellers experienced anxiety and frustration initially, but these emotions led to acceptance, enjoyment and liberation over time. Without having a boundary put in place by an external figure or taking away the option to use screens, those positive feelings might not have been reached at all. An hour from Dublin in idyllic rural Ireland, Rosanna Irwin knows all about tech overload. She's the owner and founder of Samsú, a series of off-grid cabins in the Irish countryside, a growing business that she set up in 2024 as a reaction to her experiences leading a chronically online life. "I started my career at Facebook," she said, "and I was working all hours with global teams, replying to all messages, in systems where we had 'unlimited holidays' – which really meant it was harder to justify taking a day off. Ultimately being online all the time like this really broke me." It took a trip to the quiet island of Samsø in Denmark for Irwin to see what happens when you must switch off. "I spent three days with no internet there and came home feeling cured," she said, "I quit my job, moved back to Ireland and spent the next eight months working on this idea. I felt this strong gut instinct to do it – and I hadn't listened to my gut for a long time." Irwin now operates two cabins, each within a 90-minute drive of an Irish city, with three more due to open this summer. In each simple space there is no wi-fi or technology, so the only tweets guests will hear are from the birds. Board games, books and a radio are provided, and the cabins come with simple cooking facilities. In case of emergency, every cabin has a phone, but it's a special, stripped back version, preloaded with podcasts and music but very little else. "We're not only getting people offline," Irwin said, "we're also encouraging them to discover their creativity and mindfulness. We will be launching a cookbook this summer with one-pot recipes and foraged ingredients to give people an extra purpose as well." Hector Hughes is a co-founder of Unplugged, a group of 40 tech-detox cabins in the UK and Spain. His business is also seeing growth: they expect to have 60 cabins by the end of the year. His journey, with his co-founder Ben Elliott, mirrors Irwin's: burnout and dissatisfaction in a start-up career, leading to an epiphany while on a break from tech. "I was at breaking point in 2019," he said, "and I went on a retreat to a Buddhist temple in the Himalayas. I was without my phone for 10 days. I had never had a break like it before." He returned home, quit his job and decided to create a tech-free option like a retreat, but decoupled from religion and philosophy. "So much of it is really about getting offline and getting into nature," he said. "Just being offline for three days can have a profound effect on you. You feel a deep sense of calm at the end – it's quite surreal." More like this:• Ireland's time-warped island of Owey is the perfect place to disconnect• A better way to 'raw-dog' travel• Norway's creative, isolated Arctic hideaway The Unplugged experience offers modern solar-powered Scandinavian-style cabins in rural locations such as the green fields of rural Cheshire, a dark sky reserve in Exmoor and in the forested mountains of the pre-Pyrenees in rugged Catalonia. Inside, there are blankets, board games and a lockbox for devices – so guests must stay strong and lock their devices away themselves. Unplugged's mission is to make it aspirational to have time away from your phone, and to feel good about doing it. He's seen some interesting results so far: "People come away looking 10 years younger," he said, "and couples in particular are more connected. If you've been together for a decade, you've probably never had a day together without a phone. The experience offers you an intense connection you might not have experienced before." While Hughes and his team are on a mission to make being offline an aspirational experience, Dunford thinks it could be a regular one. "The detox holiday is an inevitable backlash against our hyperconnected world," he said. "But in time, it might not be that unusual. Maybe being away without wi-fi on holiday will become the norm?" -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Times
25-04-2025
- Times
9 of the best Airbnbs in Barcelona
The way you look for the perfect Airbnb in a city like Barcelona is a little different to other places. It will probably not have passed you by that 'Barna' has a complicated history with overtourism, with protesters targeting visitors and a plan to eliminate tourist rentals by 2028. Whether this will happen, remains to be seen — but with this in mind, you might consider lesser-known neighbourhoods and visiting outside of the peak months of July and August. Our list doesn't include any places to stay in the ever-popular Gothic Quarter, Sant Pere or El Born for this reason, choosing instead to highlight special spots in buzzy Eixample, up-and-coming El Raval, quiet Horta-Guinardo and more. You'll find options from Plum Guide, Vrbo and more, as well as Airbnb, ranging from lavish private villas to apartments with envy-inducing views. This article contains affiliate links, which may earn us revenue £ | Sleeps 6 Step back in time during a stay at this fabulous historic three-bed apartment just off the bustling La Rambla. Dating back to the 1800s, it expertly combines modern and old with original frescoes, wood-beamed ceilings and antique wooden doors complementing an open-plan kitchen, modern appliances and three lustrous bathrooms. Step outside your front door and you'll find yourself in El Raval, the grungy neighbourhood to the west of Rambla, known for its urban street art, vintage clothing stores and multicultural vibe. The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) and La Boqueria, Barcelona's historic covered market are just a couple of minutes away. • Discover our full guide to Barcelona £££ | POOL | Sleeps 4 This gorgeous two-bed apartment offers guests the chance to stay in the historic Casa Ramos, an elegant modernista building, on the edge of the trendy neighbourhood of Gracia and dating back to 1906. Having featured in Pedro Almodóvar's famous film All About My Mother, it has character in spades, from ornate ceiling mouldings and cornices to gilt-edged mirrors, elegant archways and colourful modernista tiles. There's also a shaded flower-filled garden with a relaxing swimming pool to escape to in the heat of the day. Gracia's independent shops and excellent array of bars and restaurants are just a few minutes' walk away, and it's just a 15-minute walk from Gaudí's fairytale-like Park Guell. • Great hotels in Barcelona £ | Sleeps 4 Even entrance to Gaudí's prized masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia won't give you the close-up view of its façade quite like those from the covered balcony of this two-bedroom apartment. The balcony looks directly onto the basilica, which fills the entire view from the lounge area. Enjoy your morning coffee while being able to study Gaudí's fascinating designs from carvings of lizards and snails to coloured balls that resemble baskets of fruit or ice cream scoops. The rest of the apartment carries on the Gaudí theme in the mosaic-pictures on the walls and the mirrored montage headboards. • Best boutique hotels in Barcelona £££ | POOL | Sleeps 8 Surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides, this sleek four-bedroom duplex offers sprawling views across the city and up to the mountains from one end and out across the Mediterranean Sea on the other. It's just minutes from the beach, but also an easy 20-minute metro ride into the historic centre and a short walk into hip Poblenou with many bars and restaurants. The apartment has three private terraces from which to enjoy those spectacular views, plus an indulgent hot tub. And if that's not enough, you also have use of a shared private pool in the building and a concierge service. Decor is relatively simple and modern. • Best family hotels in Barcelona ££ | Sleeps 10 Situated on the elegant Passeig de Gracia boulevard, surrounded by modernista masterpieces and designer boutiques, this large deluxe apartment sits directly opposite some of the most celebrated buildings in the city: Gaudí's Casa Batllo with its shimmering dragon-like scales. But it's not just the location and the views that make this place stand out, the apartment has five bedrooms and retains traditional Catalan detailing such as bare-brick arched ceilings and metal beams. Peacock and flamingo motifs add a bit of flair and glamour to the charcoal grey colour scheme. • What to do in Barcelona £ | Sleeps 16 Villa holidays are more associated with beach resorts and island getaways than city breaks and there aren't many options if you want to rent one in Barcelona itself, so this place is quite a find. The lemon-yellow neoclassical mansion sleeps up to 16 people and boasts a games room featuring ping-pong and foosball tables, an outdoor pool and a hot tub. The inside is decorated in a mix of antique and avant-garde pieces, from huge oriental vases to golden statues and even a replica of Salvador Dalí's lips sofa. If you can tear yourself away long enough from all the facilities this place offers, then it's just under a 30-minute metro ride right into the centre of the city. • Our pick of affordable hotels in Barcelona ££ | POOL | Sleeps 7 Another rare villa-style find within Barcelona city is this Catalan modernista property, located in the northern district of Horta-Guinardo, just before the green hills of the Collserola Natural Park. The exterior of the property is just as spectacular as the inside, covered in delicate detailing and lined with colourful tiles. Inside, the four-bedrooms and common spaces are decorated with grand chandeliers, sophisticated stained-glass doors and original hydraulic-tiled floors. But the highlight has to be the shady garden, where lemon trees and lily-pad-filled fountains surround a swimming pool and alfresco dining spots. • Best restaurants in Barcelona for 2025 £ | Sleeps 14 Ideal for large groups of friends with something special to celebrate, this six-bedroom apartment feels more like a mansion from the inside. Think mirrored walls, wine-glass chandeliers, gilt-edged mirrors, heavy gold curtains. Built in the 19th century, it features traditional elements such as high ceilings and lovely patterned floor tiles. Sleeping a total of 14 people, the apartment has oodles of space and all the latest mod cons. • Best luxury hotels in Barcelona ££ | Sleep 2 Close to the slopes of the leafy Montjuic hill, this one-bedroom duplex penthouse is ideal for anyone who wants their own little secluded haven in the city. Filled with mismatched furniture, exotic prints and lots of colour, it's a cute bohemian hideaway. But it's the outdoor spaces that really set this place apart. From one side are views of the Sagrada Familia from the balcony, while the other is a large, leafy plant-filled terrace. Enjoy alfresco breakfasts looking out towards the mountains and cosy candlelit drinks in the evenings. • Best holiday villas in Spain• Best villas with pools in Spain
