May 26, 2026, 5:35 am | Read time: 6 minutes

I am happiest when I travel. Are you too? Being on the road and discovering the world in all its facets, colors, and cultures is, alongside my family and writing, what makes me happiest. When all three come together, ideally garnished with sun and sea, my happiness is complete. But why does traveling make me so happy?

In search of an answer to this profound question for me (whose honest answer would exceed the TRAVELBOOK framework), I came across an article in the “Welt” (also part of Axel Springer) that caught my attention: The author there claims not only that the recipe for vacation happiness is “surprisingly simple.” It also requires “only a few good ingredients, a good recipe, and the next vacation trip will succeed like a good Christmas stollen.” Money plays only a minor role. She has compiled various studies and surveys to determine a recipe for vacation happiness.

A Recipe for Perfect Vacation Happiness

For guaranteed vacation happiness, you need:

• A not-too-crowded destination—either one that is less visited or a mass travel destination in its off-season.
• At least 125 kilometers distance between the destination and home.
• Eleven days of vacation including relaxation, good company, and new experiences.
• 4.8 hours of sunshine per vacation day
• 6.1 hours of sleep per vacation day
• 2.2 hours of physical activity per vacation day
• Seventy percent of the time in company and 30 percent of the time for oneself.
• Additionally, if needed, a pool with a front-row lounger.

This recipe is supported by various survey results and studies, including those from travel providers G Adventures, easyJet Holidays, and Urlaubsguru, as well as Washington State University.

The recipe sounds good and probably works for many. Not so much for me. While reading, several questions arose, including this one: Does it really need 70 percent company, do they all need that? Some of my most beautiful, intense, and yes, happiest trips were solo trips. I would also rephrase, expand, or omit a few other ingredients in the vacation happiness recipe. For example, I would gladly trade the pool and lounger for an almost deserted beach. Also, the time can gladly be extended by several days, preferably weeks. And I also like to sleep a little longer. That’s my own taste, and of course, it doesn’t work for everyone.

However, softening this vacation recipe brings this question to the forefront for me once again: Why does traveling make us happy—what exactly about it? Not just me, but all of us. Because traveling makes us happy, it seems not just to be a truism. Numerous scientific studies have proven over the past decades that traveling makes us happier. The results are multifaceted.

Also interesting: Why EVERYONE should travel alone at least once

Why Does Traveling Make Us Happy? An Attempt at Explanation

The article, among other things, drew a connection between travel happiness and hormone balance: According to neuroscientist Paul Zak of California’s Claremont Graduate University, traveling increases oxytocin production. Many know the so-called “cuddle hormone” in connection with birth and early babyhood. As a hormone that strengthens the maternal bond with her child and simultaneously makes her gentler. Apparently, oxytocin also plays a role in traveling. And that not only makes you happy, but it also relaxes you.

In addition to oxytocin, a whole surge of happiness-inducing hormones is apparently released when traveling. The Spanish travel agency Artchitectours explains: “Neuroscientists have found that traveling makes you happy because it activates several reward systems in the brain simultaneously.” Accordingly, dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins are released on the road, which together provide “immediate and lasting well-being.” At the same time, the stress hormone cortisol is reduced.

Vacations Relieve Stress

Speaking of stress: Numerous studies over the past decades have examined the impact of travel on well-being and often directly investigated the connection between vacation and stress, known as a trigger for various health conditions. Accordingly, vacations can demonstrably lower stress levels. They take us far away from everyday life, away from work and other stress-inducing and worrisome topics. Accordingly, vacations create mental regeneration—the relaxation released also strengthens the feeling of happiness. Psychologists and psychiatrists from the State University of New York and the University of Pittsburgh also concluded in a study on a specific health condition: “Vacations can be good for your health.”

The distance from everyday stress likely plays a significant role here. However, there are also several other factors. For example, a study by Finland’s Tampere University about ten years ago found that employees sleep better, are more physically and socially active, and conserve their resources better while traveling. They worry less, ruminate less, and the focus is more on joy and enjoyment. According to the study authors, the results suggested that “traveling can provide a sense of seclusion in places with novel and fascinating characteristics, free from annoying obligations.” And that, in turn, apparently makes people happier.

Also interesting: How traveling can help with everyday problems

Enhanced Well-Being

And then there are many other factors that contribute to happiness while traveling. According to a study by Japan’s Saitama Gakuen University and Rikkyō University, which draws on numerous research findings from other works regarding the factors, these two characteristics are catalysts for well-being on vacation: family closeness and personal growth. “People can spend valuable time with family and friends,” it says. A perceived luxury in lives filled with work and tasks, where many spend more time with colleagues than with family members. But not only is one’s own social orbit crucial, but the opportunity to create new social contacts also contributes to improved well-being. This, by the way, is also supposed to help reduce stress.

Moreover, according to the researchers, vacations “contribute to personal growth and fulfillment.” This, in turn, goes hand in hand with another work cited here, which states that leisure activities like traveling trigger five psychological core mechanisms that “promote subjective well-being: detachment and relaxation, autonomy, self-efficacy, meaning-making, and belonging.”

Also interesting: Scientifically proven! Traveling makes you happier—and smarter

In addition to the hormone balance geared towards happiness and the many other happiness factors mentioned here when traveling, it also strengthens the “episodic memory,” according to the agency Artchitectours. Accordingly, traveling creates “more vivid and sustainable memories than other experiences.” Traveling is also supposed to make you happy because creativity is increased on the road, as you inevitably have to deal with a new environment.

There are certainly a whole host of other reasons why traveling makes us so happy. The ones mentioned here are just a starting point. As a first attempt to explain why even the thought of an upcoming vacation trip brings a smile to your face and makes small things that seem huge at home suddenly no problem at all on vacation. In this sense: Happy traveling.