Our new favorite travel trend.
When it comes to travel trends, there are certain buzzwords that tend to elicit a knee-jerk reaction. Last year, we couldn’t seem to escape the grips of hygge. The Danish term for coziness, hygge was endorsed wholeheartedly by lifestyle hotels and trendsetters the world over and everything from cozy socks to those itchy wool sweaters everyone got in Iceland were in high demand. While hygge’s not necessarily going anywhere (who doesn’t love to be cozy when they’re on vacay?), this year, a new Scandinavian word has emerged, and this time it’s from Sweden. Allow us to introduce you to lagom.
As the story goes, lagom (pronounced lah-gom) is believed to derive from Viking times and was used as a measurement for knowing how much mead one should drink from the horn that was being passed around in a circle of friends. It was as much a metaphor for moderation that has been passed on through the generations and today, it’s a belief system that is applied to just about everything in Swedish culture.
Not to be confused as a trend or passing phase, Lagom is a distinctly Swedish ethos that when loosely translated means “not too much, not too little.” In other words, it’s about moderation and balance. But it’s so much more than that. “When it comes to travel it’s about getting back to basics and connecting with who and what’s around you,” said Niki Brantmark, author of the book Lagom: The Swedish Art of Living A Balanced, Happy Life. “It doesn’t have to be lavish or extravagant, it can be as simple as getting in your car and going on a road trip or camping with a few close friends.”
So no matter where you choose to go in the world or how you decide to find your sense of balance, from a road trip through Badlands National Park in South Dakota to an eco-friendly surf camp in Costa Rica, here are 10 places where you can reconnect with yourself, your friends, and your surroundings in the most lagom way possible this year.
Top Picks for You
