Reading Retreats Are Growing More Popular With Women

I’m sitting in the middle of Utah’s stunning Colorado Plateau desert, there’s a campfire crackling, and blissfully, I don’t have cell service. Instead, I’m listening to author Beck Dorey-Stein talk about her book “Spectacular Things” with a moderator from Reese Witherspoon’s Reese’s Book Club. My belly is full, I’m surrounded by fellow readers, and there’s an elaborate tray of s’mores ingredients nearby. It is resplendent.

This is Camp Unwritten, a three-day book retreat held at Ulum Moab. It was one of three reading retreats hosted by the World of Hyatt and Reese’s Book Club that took place this summer across the U.S. From the programming to the table decor, everything was centered around a deep love of books.

While they’re still a pretty unique phenomenon, book retreats are growing in popularity and trendiness, largely sprouting from the “Booktok.” As a result, reading, perhaps more than ever in recent history, has truly become a social and community-based activity—and this is especially true among women.

Overall, women are more likely to read books than men and they dominate the fiction market. The level of engagement is also changing—people don’t just read books now. They track them on Goodreads, they talk about them in book clubs, and they share recommendations on social media.

But, really, one could argue that a lot of this modern attitude around books could be traced back to the celebrity book club. The original, Oprah’s Book Club, was founded in 1996. But there are notable newer entries as well, including Dua Lipa’s Service95, which hosts in-person events as well, including a recent talk at the New York Public Library. Love Island‘s Jeremiah Brown has a book club—and he just hosted a conversation with acclaimed romance author Ana Huang.

In-person events are no longer limited to evening fireside chats. Just as I experienced at Camp Unwritten, many celebrity book clubs are taking it to the next level—like Reese’s Book Club. Witherspoon’s media company, Hello Sunshine, was named one of the most influential companies of 2021, in part because of the book club. Of the first 54 books that Reese’s Book Club recommended, 30 landed on the New York Times bestseller list. One of Hello Sunshine’s primary focuses is to elevate women authors.

“We foster a community that celebrates women and amplifies their voices,” Maureen Polo, CEO of Hello Sunshine, told Travel + Leisure. “The stories we share in Reese’s Book Club aren’t just books—they’re sources of connection, inspiration, and joy for our readers.”

At the Camp Unwritten book club retreat, the guests—who all used their Hyatt loyalty points to attend—were predominantly women. There were a few husbands in attendance, but by and large, it was women traveling alone or with sisters, friends, or mothers who made the decision to spend their PTO, money, and thousands of Hyatt points on a glamping experience in Utah.

For many of the attendees I chatted with, the main draw of the event was to simply have a chance to disconnect and read. Many of them were long-time members of Reese’s Book Club, but all were avid readers. On the final night, there was a book swap. Each attendee brought a beloved book to trade, and the desert’s crisp air was filled with laughter and conversations as each person shared what they loved the most about their favorite titles.

The Rise of the Reading Retreat

You don’t have to be a Hyatt loyalist to go on a reading vacation, though. All over the internet, reading-centric vacation offerings are cropping up, and the majority of them are specifically targeted at women readers. The U.K.-based Ladies Who Lit Book Club, which has nearly 35,000 followers on TikTok, arranges women-only experiences all over the world. From an English countryside retreat in the Cotswolds to a yacht escape in the British Virgin Islands, the book club is as much a travel agency as it is a place to find good book recommendations.

There’s also the Book Lovers experience at Retreat in the Pines in Mineola, Texas; the weekend reading retreat Page Break in New York City, the Her Traveling Book Club retreat in Palm Springs, California. For fantasy fanatics, there’s Forest and Fawn, which hosts whimsical retreats all over the country. As the trend continues to take off, more and more entrepreneurs are jumping in to meet the demand of people who want to get lost in a good book while exploring a new place.

Even traditional travel companies are seeing a spike in interest for literary-themed trips. Private tour company ToursByLocals reports it has seen a nearly 100 percent year-over-year increase in the number of literary-themed tour itineraries, and the company has added dozens of other options in the past 12 months just to keep up with interest. From a Twilight tour of the Pacific Northwest to a “My Brilliant Friend” tour in Naples, Italy, book lovers are marrying their love of reading with their wanderlust.

However, the increase in book-related travel doesn’t actually coincide with a higher amount of Americans reading. According to a poll from the National Endowment of the Arts, 48 percent of Americans said they read at least one book in 2022. Just 10 years ago in 2012, though, 55 of Americans said they had read one book. And when it comes to fiction, there’s a clear divide: only 28 percent of men reported that they’d read a work of fiction, compared to 47 percent of women—and the women who are reading it seem to be highly dedicated to the genre. It’s something that Hello Sunshine is hoping to foster and grow.

“We’re committed to bringing storytelling beyond the page, creating experiences that live in the real world,” Polo said. “This summer, in partnership with World of Hyatt, we transformed that vision into a reality with an unforgettable luxury glamping experience—where community, creativity, and meaningful connection came together in extraordinary ways.”

Women Are the Story

As I sat and watched one of the few husbands at the reading retreat bring his wife a mug of tea, I was reminded of a viral video I’d seen a few days before packing my bags for the desert. It involved a clown at an amusement park who would stop families passing by. But, instead of blowing up balloon animals, his “trick” was a bit more subtle. He would stop the husband, whose hands were always empty, and direct him to be a more active participant in his family’s vacation. The clown would take the backpack, toddler, or stroller, weighing down the wife (sometimes, it would be all of those things at once), and put them in the hands of the husband. Everyone in the video would laugh, but in the comment section of the video, a commenter pointed out how this was often the case for women: when on vacation with family, many don’t get a break from their role as a caretaker.

This is not the case at reading retreats, which are specifically curated around rest and leisure time. At Camp Unwritten’s Moab edition, there was a tour of Canyonlands National Park, fresh food for every meal, and morning yoga classes set overlooking picturesque landscapes. Many reading retreats have similar itineraries—there’s almost always yoga, time for discussion, hikes, and most importantly, plenty of quiet time to actually read a book. Even for author Beck Dorey-Stein, the Moab book retreat felt … novel.

“As a full-time writer and mother, I love the concept of time to myself but treat it as just that—a concept, not a reality,” Dorey-Stein told T+L. “Like so many women, I’ve learned that nurturing others often comes with its own quiet sacrifices. This is a theme I explore in my book, “Spectacular Things,” and why I find such joy in book clubs and reading retreats. They offer a rare pause from the daily grind, a chance to exhale, recharge, and step into community.”

In the past few years, women have carved out more ways to escape, however briefly. According to a 2024 study from Virtuoso, 71 percent of solo travelers were women. Back in 2019, there was a 131 percent increase in searches for the term “female solo travel,” according to Google Trends. Women are clearly hungry for more time for themselves—and the publishing and travel industries are responding in turn.

“I saw the magic firsthand this summer,” Dorey-Stein said. “There is nothing better than exploring fictional worlds in a beautiful environment with like-minded travelers. The luxury outdoor setting is a very nice bonus to the ultimate luxury of time.”