Jet Setting With Me | Luxury Travel Tips, Set-Jetting & Travel Hacks for Trips That Hold Up

161. Skip Europe for Luxury Travel This Summer — Where to Go Instead

• Michele Schwartz

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I love Europe. Truly. But, I don't think Europe is the best luxury travel choice this summer. In this episode, I break down why soaring airfare, overtourism, extreme heat, and growing travel frustrations are making Europe a less compelling value than it has been in years. You'll also learn about four destinations that I believe offer a better experience for your time, money, and travel energy right now.

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This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com. 

161. Skip Europe This Summer — Where to Go Instead

Opening

Welcome back to another episode of Jet Setting with Me. It’s me, Michele, your friendly wanderlust instigator.

Before we get into today’s episode, a quick ask. If you’re enjoying Jet Setting with Me, the most powerful thing you can do to help this show grow is to share it — send it to a friend who loves to travel, hit the follow button wherever you’re listening to automatically download the episode, and if you have two minutes, leaving a review means more than you know. None of that costs a thing, and all of it makes a real difference. 

Now — let’s talk about Europe.

Let me start by saying something clearly: I love Europe. I have watched the sun set over Santorini, visited Buckingham Palace, and seen the Amalfi Coast. I get why people organize their entire lives around trips like that.

But is this summer the right time to go? And my honest answer, after looking at the full picture, is sadly, a hard NO. This episode is about why — and more importantly for you, what to do instead.

My favorite European trip in recent memory was just last summer, and it started exactly where it should: London — my favorite city in Europe, full stop. There is nowhere quite like it. From there we made our way to Bath, where Shonda Rhimes turned the Georgian terraces into Regency-era London — and Bath is one of the most concentrated set-jetting destinations in the world. Walking those streets while my brain placed every scene was genuinely joyful. Jane Austen also lived there, which was a delightful bonus. Bath rewards you at every level. If you want the full story on how set-jetting works and why it transforms a trip into something entirely different, Episode 154 is in the show notes.

From there, we went to two places on my “Travel Bucket List” — Amsterdam and Bruges — and Amsterdam became a very close second to London as my favorite city. I fell in love with Jewish History and the French Fries. If you’ve ever read The Diary of a Young Girl and wondered what Amsterdam actually feels like, I can tell you: it earns every word she wrote about it.

So, when I tell you to skip Europe this summer, I am telling you this as someone who was just there, who loves it completely, and who is looking at the specific conditions of summer 2026 and saying: the timing isn’t right. Europe will wait.

The Honest Case

Here’s what’s stacking up against Europe this particular summer.

Airfares. Transatlantic flights in summer 2026 are among the most expensive in recent memory. That’s not a rumor — it’s the booking data.

Overtourism — and the response to it. Venice now charges a daily entrance fee. Santorini has capped visitor numbers. Barcelona’s residents have been protesting the volume of tourists in the streets. Amsterdam is actively discouraging mass tourism. Which, to be fair, is a sentence I never expected to type. These are not signs of destinations thriving under attention. They are signs of destinations at their limit.

Heat. Southern Europe broke temperature records again in 2025. Italy, Spain, and Greece in July and August are increasingly uncomfortable in ways the travel brochures don’t mention. The languid, sun-drenched fantasy is real — it’s just harder to access when it’s in the nineties and every terrace is full.

And geopolitical uncertainty. Uncertainty affects how people feel on a trip, and right now, there is more of it in Europe than there has been in a long time.

Put all four of those together, and Europe this summer is asking you to pay a premium — in money, in energy, in patience — to arrive somewhere crowded, overheated, and uncertain. That is not a good value equation.

The four destinations in this episode fall into two categories. The first two are genuinely less expensive to get to and deliver outstanding value on the ground. The second two cost roughly the same to fly to as Europe. But once you land, the experience is dramatically better.

Better Value at Every Level

The United States — The Trip That’s Already Waiting

No international airfare. Which, in summer 2026, is not nothing.

This is also — as I covered in depth in Episode 159 — the summer America is celebrating its 250th birthday, and the programming across the country is extraordinary. The United States delivers world-class travel experiences that most Americans overlook.

I’ve been to all 50 states, and one of the most memorable group trips I’ve ever taken was a Globus tour of Utah’s Big 5 National Parks — Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonlands. I went in expecting beautiful scenery. What I didn’t expect was the tour guide.

This man knew Utah — not just the facts, but the stories beneath the facts. He had a theory about what actually happened to the real-life Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid — not the Robert Redford and Paul Newman version, as magnificent as that film is, but the actual outlaws who rode through those canyons. The kind of insight that doesn’t come from a guidebook.

The hospitality on that tour was outstanding. The landscapes were humbling in the way that only truly ancient, vast places can be. And I came home having experienced something I would match against any European itinerary without hesitation. I would travel with Globus again in a heartbeat — domestically or anywhere in the world. If escorted touring is something you’ve been curious about but weren’t sure it was right for you, Episode 113 — Escorted Touring is a Luxury Travel Experience — covers exactly why it elevates a trip rather than constraining it.

The luxury angle for domestic travel is stronger than ever right now. World-class properties, culinary experiences, and national park adventures that rival anything abroad. And no passport required.

Mexico — The One That Actually Makes Financial Sense

From many US cities, Mexico is one non-stop flight away. The flights are short, the fares are a fraction of a transatlantic ticket, and what you find on the other side is extraordinary.

Mexico’s culinary scene has become one of the great dining stories in the world. Mexico City is now a destination that serious food travelers plan entire trips around. Oaxaca has a food culture so deeply rooted and distinct that it belongs in the same conversation as Lyon or Bologna. The Riviera Maya delivers luxury at a price point that comparable European beach destinations simply cannot match.

I have a personal memory from the Riviera Maya that I return to whenever I need a reminder of why I love traveling to Mexico over and over again. This one was a catamaran tour out of Maroma Beach Club — a Lomas Resort property, which longtime listeners will recognize from our conversation in the last episode. There were two snorkeling stops, a scuba diving option, a DJ who had absolutely no intention of letting anyone stand still, a sunset that had no business being that beautiful, and a very generous pour of tequila throughout. Tequila has a remarkable way of turning strangers into friends. The catamaran can be privatized for groups who want their own experience, but part of what made that day extraordinary was the completely unplanned human element of it. You just can’t manufacture that.

Mexico City, Oaxaca, the Riviera Maya — and my direct relationships with Lomas Hospitality properties — make this one of the destinations I can curate most personally. It’s not a generic recommendation. It’s a place I know and can deliver for you specifically. And if Mexico has your full attention right now — which it should — Episode 155, Five Luxury Travel Destinations for Taco and Tequila Lovers, is exactly where to go next.

Category Two: Comparable Flights, Dramatically Better Experience

These next two destinations are not necessarily less expensive to fly to than Europe. What I’m offering here is a different argument: Europe right now asks you to pay a premium to arrive somewhere overcrowded, overheated, and uncertain. These destinations ask you to spend comparably — and deliver significantly more for it.

Japan — The World’s Most Rewarding Trade

The flight to Japan costs roughly as much as a summer transatlantic ticket. That’s where the similarity ends.

The Japanese yen is currently weak against the US dollar, which means once you land, your money goes roughly 30 to 40 percent further than it would in France or Italy. World-class dining, extraordinary ryokan stays, private experiences, and cultural access at a fraction of what comparable luxury costs in Western Europe right now.

Japan has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any country on earth. The shinkansen — the bullet train — makes the country effortlessly navigable even for first-time visitors. The contrast between Tokyo and Kyoto alone could be its own trip: one city is relentlessly modern and astonishing, and the other feels like stepping into a world that has been carefully, intentionally preserved.

If you’ve seen Lost in Translation — Sofia Coppola’s quiet, gorgeous film about two people finding each other in the particular disorientation of Tokyo — you already have a sense of the emotional texture of this country. The feeling of arriving somewhere so fully itself that it reorients you. That’s real. Japan does that.

Unlike Santorini in August, you are not fighting for space. Japan does not have the shoulder-to-shoulder chaos of Europe’s most visited summer destinations. You can stand in front of something beautiful and actually experience it.

As I record this, I am days away from boarding my own flight to Japan. Everything I’ve researched and planned confirms that this is exactly where summer travel energy belongs.

Morocco — Europe’s Most Glamorous Neighbor

Morocco is 14 kilometers from Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar. It is as close to Europe as you can get without being in it — and right now, that proximity is an enormous advantage.

Flights to Morocco are often less expensive than flying to Southern Europe, particularly via connections through London or Paris, or direct from major US cities.

Marrakech is one of those cities that defies easy description. The Medina, the souks, the riads — boutique luxury properties that are among the most design-forward hotels in the world, at a fraction of what a comparable European property charges in peak summer. The food culture is one of the world’s great culinary traditions, and it is extraordinary on the ground.

I took a cooking class in Marrakech that I still think about. It was held at a small cooking school run by a woman who had started the business after her divorce to support herself and her children. She taught us to make chicken tagine — the spices, the technique, the patience that goes into it. It was one of the most personal travel experiences I’ve ever had, not because of where we were, but because of who was leading us. Her story, her warmth, her complete mastery of a cuisine she had grown up in. You cannot find that on a recipe website. You can only find it by showing up.

Beyond Marrakech: Fez for history, the Atlas Mountains for dramatic landscape, the Sahara for the kind of experience that simply doesn’t exist anywhere in Europe. No overtourism crisis. No extreme heat emergency. No geopolitical uncertainty. Morocco is having a quiet moment of extraordinary travel quality, and most people haven’t caught up to it yet. If you want to go deeper before you book, Episode 87 — How to Make the Most of Your Visit to Morocco — is in the show notes and covers everything you need to know.

The Bottom Line

Four destinations. Two that will cost you less from the moment you book the flight. Two that will cost you a comparable fare and give you dramatically more once you land. None of them requires you to navigate a crowd-controlled entrance fee or share a caldera path with ten thousand strangers.

Europe will always be there. It will be better to visit when the crowds have thinned, prices have normalized, and conditions are right. This summer, the conditions are right somewhere else. And I can help you find your version of that.

DM me at @jetsettingwithmichele and let’s talk about which one of these is the right fit for you and your summer.

Until next time, make every journey a memory worth savoring.


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Michele Schwartz

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