77% of Gen Z drinks less than the previous generation at the same age. The data is from Gallup and it arrived alongside a silent shift in hospitality: serious NA programs at Auberge, Six Senses, Rosewood, 1 Hotels and Aman. More zero-proof bars in Tokyo, Lisbon, New York and London. Specialized sober travel packages. This is the practical map for how to travel without alcohol in 2026 without losing the food, the city or the table.
13 min read
Let me start with the number that quietly changed hospitality.
77%. That's the share of Gen Z who, according to Gallup, drinks less than the previous generation did at the same age. It's not abstinence. It's calibration. The same study shows that 49% of travelers between 18 and 34 have, in the past year, searched for destinations or hotels with structured non-alcoholic options. Not hidden behind the counter. Structured. With a menu, with a story, with technique.
That's why, in 2026, you can show up at an Auberge resort in Napa Valley, order a zero-proof pairing tasting, and have the sommelier explain the fermentation of a cider shrub like it's Burgundy. Five years ago this was a joke. Today it's a revenue line.
This article is a practical map for anyone who wants to travel without alcohol and without becoming the odd one at the table. I'm not going to moralize. You drink or you don't for whatever reason, and the reason is always yours. What matters is that the travel world has, finally, stopped treating it like a problem.
Why so many people are traveling without drinking in 2026
TL;DRIt isn't one wave. It's five overlapping at once. The first is Gen Z, who grew up seeing hangovers as inefficiency and alcohol as an industrial product. Raw data: 28% of Americans aged 18-29 identify as "sober curious" (Gallup, 2025).
It isn't one wave. It's five overlapping at once.
The first is Gen Z, who grew up seeing hangovers as inefficiency and alcohol as an industrial product. Raw data: 28% of Americans aged 18-29 identify as "sober curious" (Gallup, 2025). In 2018, that number was 12%.
The second is the longevity industry. From the moment Andrew Huberman, Peter Attia and Bryan Johnson started treating alcohol as a measurable neurotoxin (and not a social ritual), millions of men aged 35-55 — exactly the demographic that sustains luxury hospitality — started recalibrating.
The third is the recovery community. People who stopped drinking and want to travel without the trigger of an open bar, mandatory toasts and wine-soaked dinners.
The fourth is religion. Muslim, Mormon and Adventist travelers have always existed, but the market never served them properly. Now it does.
The fifth is the most obvious and most overlooked: pregnant women, parents with kids, athletes in training, people on medical treatment, people on antidepressants. It's the largest audience of all. Always has been.
The result is that hospitality stopped treating NA as a kids' menu item and started treating it as an adult category.
The five hotel groups that got it first
TL;DRI'll list by depth of program, not by name. Six Senses — zero-proof as standard Six Senses has the oldest and most consolidated program. Every property in the group (Bhutan, Douro, Ibiza, Maldives, Vietnam, Bali, Portugal) has a full zero-proof menu running parallel to the drinks list.
I'll list by depth of program, not by name.
Six Senses — zero-proof as standard
Six Senses has the oldest and most consolidated program. Every property in the group (Bhutan, Douro, Ibiza, Maldives, Vietnam, Bali, Portugal) has a full zero-proof menu running parallel to the drinks list. Not a minor section. A parallel menu. At Six Senses Douro Valley, the sommelier pairs NA drinks with tasting courses using artisanal kombuchas, verjus, seasonal fruit shrubs and fermented tea infusions. The house philosophy is wellness, so it comes naturally. Rates from $700.
Auberge Resorts — Mindful Indulgence
Auberge (Solage, Calistoga Ranch, Hacienda AltaGracia, Etéreo) launched the "Mindful Indulgence" program in 2024. The core: zero-proof pairings on tasting dinners, signature mocktails with local fermented product, and mandatory NA technique training for every bartender in the group. Solage and Etéreo (Quintana Roo) are the most developed. Rates from US$ 750.
Rosewood — sleep + wellness
Rosewood doesn't call its program sober. It calls it Asaya, the group's wellness brand. But the effect is the same: NA pairing on dinners, zero social pressure to drink, and at some properties (Rosewood São Paulo, Rosewood Hong Kong, Castiglion del Bosco) tasting menus that omit alcohol entirely on the wellness path. Rates from US$ 900 in São Paulo.
1 Hotels — mocktail-first
1 Hotels (Brooklyn Bridge, West Hollywood, South Beach, Toronto, Hanalei Bay) flipped the menu logic. The first page of the drinks list is always mocktail. Alcohol comes after. Small gesture, big impact. Rates from US$ 500.
Aman — NA omakase in Japan
Aman did something nobody expected: at its Japan properties (Aman Tokyo, Amanemu, Aman Kyoto), the omakase has a complete option without sake, without beer, without anything — replaced by rare teas, cold dashis served as cocktails, and yuzu infusions. The price doesn't change. That matters. Rates from US$ 2,000.
About the author
Curadoria Voyspark
2 years in the Voyspark editorial team
Time editorial da Voyspark — escritores, repórteres, fotógrafos e fixers em Lisboa, Tóquio, Nova York, Cidade do México e Marrakech. Coletivo. Sem voz corporativa. Cada peça com checagem cruzada por um editor regional e um chef ou curador local.
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