When I first heard that “detour destinations” were a top travel trend for 2025, I kinda felt like I’d scored a bid to the Super Bowl. As a fifteen-year regional travel specialist and Country Living’s resident small town enthusiast, it’s precisely those out-of-the-way places—you know, the ones where you have to get in a car, after you get off the plane—that excite me most.

Becky Luigart-Stayner for Country Living

That’s me, just arrived in Madison, Georgia!

You probably won’t be surprised to find I’m not alone in this line of thinking. Per a recent study put out by the University of Virginia, small towns are drawing in 25-to-44-year-olds looking to relocate at the highest rates in nearly a century.