Rebecca Engel
Planning a girls trip usually starts the same way. Somebody drops a photo in the group chat, everyone says they’re in, and then the whole thing stalls out for three months because nobody can agree on where to go. Half the group wants a pool and a spa day and the other half wants to stay out until two in the morning.
The fix is picking a place that actually fits your group instead of whatever city is trending that month. These 17 best girls trip destinations cover the whole range, from bachelorette classics like Nashville to quiet wine weekends in Napa and beach trips that need a passport. Each one comes with what makes it worth the flight and who it’s really for.
1. Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville has earned its reputation as the girls trip capital of the country. Broadway is a solid wall of honky tonks with live music going from noon until last call, and almost none of them charge a cover.
The trip doesn’t have to be all bars, though. The murals in The Gulch and 12South are the most photographed spots in the city, hot chicken at Hattie B’s is worth the wait, and the rooftop scene has gotten good enough to fill an entire afternoon.
One thing to know going in. Nashville is packed with bachelorette parties almost every weekend, so if the idea of six other groups in matching outfits sounds exhausting, aim for a weekday or come in winter when it thins out.
2. Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the pick when the group wants to eat well and walk everywhere. The historic district is compact enough to cover on foot, and the pastel houses along Rainbow Row look as good in person as they do online.
The food is the real reason to come. Chubby Fish and Leon’s Oyster Shop draw lines for a reason, and King Street handles the shopping and the rooftop bars within the same few blocks.
Add a beach day if the schedule allows. Sullivan’s Island and Folly Beach are both about twenty minutes out, which makes it easy to split the trip between city and sand.
3. Savannah, Georgia
Savannah sits an easy two hours down the road from Charleston and runs noticeably cheaper, which makes it a favorite for groups watching a budget. It’s also one of the few US cities with an open container law, so you can carry a drink from bar to bar in the historic district.
The city is built around 22 shaded squares, and wandering between them under the Spanish moss is most of the appeal. Forsyth Park anchors the south end and River Street handles the louder nights.
Ghost tours are the classic group activity here and they’re genuinely fun, even for the skeptics. Tybee Island is 20 minutes east when somebody wants a beach day.
4. Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is built for the group that wants a resort pool and a spa appointment more than a packed itinerary. The resorts here are the whole point, and plenty of them sell day passes if you’re staying somewhere cheaper.
Old Town covers the nights out with a walkable stretch of patios and bars that stays busy without turning into a scene. A sunrise hot air balloon ride over the desert is the splurge worth booking.
Timing matters more here than almost anywhere else on this list. November through April is close to perfect, and July runs 110 degrees, which is either a dealbreaker or the reason you get a resort room for half price.
5. Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a rented house with a pool, and everything else is optional. Vacation rentals here come with private pools as a standard feature, which changes the shape of the whole trip because the group ends up spending real time together instead of scattering.
When you do go out, Palm Canyon Drive covers vintage shopping and mid century design in a few walkable blocks. The Aerial Tramway climbs 8,500 feet in about ten minutes and drops 30 degrees along the way, which is a shock in the best way.
Joshua Tree is an hour north when the group wants one big day out. Same as Scottsdale, summer here is brutally hot and priced accordingly.
6. Napa Valley, California
Napa is the grown up version of a girls weekend, and it works best with a plan. Most wineries need tasting reservations now, and three or four in a day is the honest limit before nobody remembers the fourth one.
Book a driver or a car service for the day. Split five ways it costs less than people expect, and it takes the designated driver argument off the table entirely.
Downtown Napa has gotten good on its own, with Oxbow Public Market for lunch and enough restaurants to skip the drive one night. Sonoma sits right next door, runs cheaper, and feels less polished, which some groups like better.
7. Austin, Texas
Austin gives a group live music without the bachelorette crowds of Nashville. Rainey Street is a row of old bungalows turned into bars, and South Congress handles the shopping and the people watching.
Barton Springs Pool is the part people don’t expect. It’s a spring fed swimming hole in the middle of the city that holds at 68 degrees year round, and an afternoon there is the best hangover cure in Texas.
From March through October, roughly a million and a half bats stream out from under the Congress Avenue Bridge at sunset. It’s free, it takes twenty minutes, and it’s a strange and great thing to watch together.
8. New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is loud, cheap to eat in, and unlike anywhere else in the country, which is why it lands on almost every list of the best girls trip destinations. The city runs on a schedule that suits a group with no plans.
Skip the idea that the trip has to happen on Bourbon Street. Frenchmen Street is where the live jazz is actually good, and the Garden District is a completely different city, quiet and green with the best architecture in town.
Beignets at Cafe du Monde are worth the line at least once, ideally late at night when it’s calmer. The open container rule means the walk between spots counts as part of the night out.
9. Miami, Florida
Miami works when the group wants a beach and a real night out in the same trip and doesn’t want to choose between them. South Beach covers both, though the hotels there run expensive for what you get.
The rest of the city is more interesting than the beach. Wynwood is warehouse walls covered in murals with bars and taco spots wedged between them, and Little Havana earns an afternoon for the food alone.
Miami rewards groups who plan around the day rather than the night. Beach clubs and hotel pools fill up early on weekends, and one reservation saves the whole afternoon.
10. Las Vegas, Nevada
Vegas stays on this list because it bends to any budget. The same weekend can run $400 a person or $4,000, and the group decides which one it is.
Dayclubs and pool parties are the modern version of a Vegas trip and they’re most of the fun from spring through early fall. A show, one nice dinner, and the walk between casinos fill the rest without much planning.
Red Rock Canyon is thirty minutes from the Strip and almost nobody staying on the Strip bothers. A morning drive out there resets the whole trip.
11. Sedona, Arizona
Sedona is the trip for a group that would rather hike and get a massage than close down a bar. The red rock formations here are genuinely stunning in person, and the entire town is built around looking at them.
Cathedral Rock and Devil’s Bridge are the two hikes everyone does, and both are short enough for a mixed ability group. Go at sunrise for the light and, more importantly, for the parking.
The spa scene is a real draw and it’s priced like it. If the budget is tighter, the wineries around Cottonwood and Page Springs are thirty minutes south and cost a fraction of what Napa does.
12. Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a mountain town with more breweries than a place its size has any right to have, and it’s the easiest fall trip on this list. Leaf season peaks in October and the Blue Ridge Parkway starts right outside town.
The Biltmore Estate takes the better part of a day and earns it, especially at Christmas when the whole house is decorated. The River Arts District is the low key alternative, with working studios you can walk straight into.
Nights here are relaxed rather than late. Expect good cocktails, live bluegrass, and everyone in bed by midnight, which plenty of groups will count as a feature.
13. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Cabo is the shortest international flight most West Coast groups can take, and the all inclusive model makes splitting costs simple. One price up front and no math at the end of the trip.
The boat trip out to El Arco at Land’s End is the thing to do here, and from December through April you’ll pass whales on the way. Medano Beach is the one you can actually swim at, since most of this coastline has surf too rough for it.
The two towns are different trips. Cabo San Lucas is the nightlife side, and San Jose del Cabo is quieter with an art walk on Thursday evenings.
14. Tulum, Mexico
Tulum has a look, and the look is real. Jungle hotels, beach clubs strung with lights, and Mayan ruins sitting on a cliff above the Caribbean.
The cenotes are the reason to leave the beach road. Gran Cenote and Dos Ojos are the popular two, and swimming in that clear water inside a limestone cave tends to be the thing everyone remembers from the trip.
Be ready for the prices. Tulum costs more than most people expect for Mexico, and the beach road in particular charges resort money for everything, so groups on a budget usually stay in town and taxi over.
15. Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon is the cheapest good European city for a group, and the flight from the East Coast is shorter than the rest of Europe. That combination is hard to beat when the group is splitting everything.
The city is built on seven hills, so pack real shoes. Tram 28 rattles through the old neighborhoods for the price of a bus ticket, and the miradouros, the terraced viewpoints scattered around the city, are where everyone ends up at sunset.
Sintra is forty minutes away by train and looks like something out of a storybook, with a bright yellow and red palace on top of a hill. Go early, because it’s the busiest day trip in Portugal.
16. Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona hands a group a beach, a food scene, and nightlife that doesn’t get going until midnight, all in the same city. Dinner at ten at night is normal here, so adjust the schedule instead of fighting it.
The Gaudi buildings are why most people come, and both Sagrada Familia and Park Guell need tickets booked well ahead. El Born and Gracia are the neighborhoods for tapas without the tourist markup you’ll hit on Las Ramblas.
One practical note. Barcelona has a real pickpocket problem in crowded spots, so a bag that actually zips shut matters more here than it does at home.
17. Santorini, Greece
Santorini is the splurge on this list, and it looks exactly like the photos, which isn’t true of every famous place. White villages sit along the rim of a volcanic caldera, and the drop to the water below is dramatic from just about anywhere on the island.
The Oia sunset is the famous one and it’s a crowd, so get there two hours early or watch from a hotel terrace with a drink instead. A catamaran day around the caldera is the better group activity anyway.
Timing changes this trip completely. July and August are hot and packed, while May, September, and early October have the same views with room to move and hotel rates that don’t sting as much.
How To Pick The Right Girls Trip Destination
The best girls trip destinations are the ones that match what your specific group wants to do all day. That sounds obvious, and it’s still where most trips go wrong. A group that wants a pool and a spa will be miserable on a packed city itinerary, and the reverse is just as true.
Start with budget, honestly and out loud. Agree on a per person number before anybody starts looking at hotels, because a group where half can spend twice what the other half can ends up with somebody quietly opting out of dinners.
Then look at flight time. A three day weekend gets eaten alive by a long haul flight, so save Europe for trips of five days or more and keep the short weekends domestic.
Book one big rental instead of separate hotel rooms once the group hits four or more people. It’s cheaper per person, everyone actually spends time together, and there’s a kitchen for the morning coffee situation.
Last one. Let everybody name a single thing they really want to do, then build the days around those. It heads off the resentment that builds when one person plans the entire trip around their own list.
Final Thoughts
There’s no single best trip on this list, just the one that fits your group. Nashville and Vegas are for the weekends that get loud, Sedona and Napa are for the groups that want to come home rested, and Lisbon or Santorini is what you book when everyone can take a real week off.
Pick the place, put a deposit down early, and get it on the calendar. Girls trips die in the group chat, not in the planning, so the sooner something is actually booked the better the odds it happens.
