There are those who had long dreamed of stepping onto the Great Wall, those who wanted to glimpse the vertiginous mountains from the film Avatar, and those who were simply seeking a new destination to add to their travel notebook. In September 2026, ten women aged between 25 and 64 gathered in China for a sixteen‑day circuit organized by Copines de Voyage, having not known each other beforehand.
On the agenda were Shanghai’s skyscrapers, the imperial palaces of Beijing, Zhangjiajie’s towering rock pillars that seem to float in the mist and are often associated with Avatar landscapes, the terraced rice fields, and the lanes of ancient villages, before finishing in Hong Kong. Yet this trip bringing ten women together also answered another wish: to be able to travel far, even when nobody in their circle is available to accompany them. A format that appeals to travelers with very different profiles, balancing a need for freedom, a taste for encounters, and a desire to go with the flow.
China, the trip they no longer wanted to postpone
For several participants, two images were enough to decide: the Great Wall and the Zhangjiajie mountains, those immense columns of rock that seem to float in the mist and are often linked to the landscapes of Avatar. Bringing these two sites together in a single circuit made all the difference.
Virginie, in her forties, had never imagined China as a destination with landscapes. “To me it was just concrete, tall buildings, pollution, factories,” she recalls. But everything changed when, in May 2026, a friend set off solo for three weeks across the country and sent back photos.
Virginie thus discovers a China very different from the one she had pictured. After a stay in Vietnam, she weighs a trek in Nepal against a circuit in the Middle Kingdom. She compares the possibilities, considers the material constraints of a trek, and then decides on China. The Zhangjiajie scenery, the Longji rice terraces, and the Li River landscapes make her want to explore this diversity firsthand.
Even for those who had already visited part of the country, the program sparked a fresh urge to pack their bags. This was the case for Inès, 31. Based in South Korea for four years, this seasoned traveler has already taken part in eleven trips offered by the agency. Shanghai and Beijing? She’s familiar with them. But when she discovers an itinerary that combines the Great Wall with the Zhangjiajie’s spectacular mountains, she’s tempted. China still holds enough discoveries to justify another departure.
Tania, 25, has long been drawn to Asia. The videos, photos, and reports about China eventually convinced her. The trip confirms her enthusiasm: “The landscapes change so completely; if I could do it again, I would do it again and again.”
When travel desires don’t align with those of loved ones
Yet behind these cravings for China lies a recurring challenge: finding someone to go with. Friends don’t always share the same vacation days or priorities, couples have their plans, parents their children, and budgets don’t always move at the same pace. As a result, some journeys remain dreams. For some women, group travel becomes an alternative to solo trips, allowing them to keep exploring without waiting for others.
Inès has been living in South Korea when this ribbon of reality became clear. She enjoys holidays every three months and can allocate a substantial budget to getaways. But friends back in France don’t share her schedule or the means to keep up. Traveling with colleagues isn’t always a viable option either. By joining a group, she no longer needs to wait for calendars to align, and she can continue exploring Asia and discovering the world at her own pace.
Marion, 33, took the leap into women-only travel for another reason. As the New Year approached, she didn’t know what to plan. Her circle struggled to commit, and she dreaded ending up with an itinerary that wouldn’t suit her at the last minute. She finally tried a first, shorter trip, to Lapland.
Virginie also found in this format an answer to the mismatch. In 2016, she wanted to celebrate Holi in India and discover the Taj Mahal, but her friends were either coupled, had children, or lacked the necessary budget. “Or I don’t like traveling alone because it’s dull, there’s no sharing,” she explains. Since that first trip, she has participated in four journeys with the platform.
For Tania, the obstacle is the fear of traveling solo. “I love traveling, but for now I’m too afraid to do it all by myself! For me Copines de voyage was the chance to travel alone but with company.” She also appreciates not having to handle everything. “I didn’t have to worry about arranging visits, activities, hotels, guides, etc.” The presence of a group and a prearranged program allows her to discover a distant country without bearing all the responsibility for each step.
Strangers, apprehensions, and sometimes new friends
The question remains that neither the program nor the landscape photos can fully anticipate: will we get along with the women we will share two weeks with? Affinities aren’t controllable, and the idea of spending days with nine strangers can be intimidating. That’s why many participants prefer to test the concept on a shorter stay before committing to a longer journey.
That was the case for Shazia, a Swiss woman in her thirties. She was eager to discover China, but she chose to test 100% women-led stays with a one-week circuit in Jordan before committing to sixteen days.
As for Virginie, her experience reassured her on one point: even when personalities differ, you often end up finding someone you click with. Affinities form on site, the participants don’t need to share the same lives or habits to enjoy the experience. “You meet nine new girls and often you form a fondness for a few of them”, she says. Some encounters even endure after the trip, with friendships that persist and trips planned for two outside the agency’s framework.
In China, the ten travelers departed with their own dreams and their own reasons. Some sought landscapes glimpsed in photographs, others an adventure they wouldn’t have dared to organize alone. They shared a common thread: they didn’t want to wait for someone to join them. And perhaps that is where the appeal of these women-only journeys lies: turning the absence of a travel companion from an obstacle into the starting point of a new adventure.
