What is An Aesthetic Traveler? A Look at This Growing Travel Trend

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Wondering what the term “aesthetic traveler” means? If you’ve been scouring the Internet or social media, you may have come across this term recently and had some questions. Hearing someone describe themselves as an aesthetic traveler isn’t something you hear incredibly often…yet…but mark my words, it’s coming. Of course, that begs the question…what exactly is an aesthetic traveler, anyway?

The Oxford dictionary defines “aesthetic” as someone who is concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty. In terms of travel, this could come across as somewhat shallow. Do aesthetic travelers only care about the way places and things look? Surely, there has to be more to it than that. As a blogger who considers herself an aesthetic traveler (and her niche as aesthetic travel), I have made it my personal mission to teach people that aesthetic travel is way more than what meets the eye…literally AND figuratively.

This post is meant to not only define aesthetic travel, but to help you see the world through the eyes of an aesthetic traveler/blogger. Who knows…embracing this growing travel trend just might change your life! 😉

What Does It Mean to Be an “Aesthetic Traveler?” A Look Inside This Growing Travel Trend

To put it simply, an aesthetic traveler is someone who seeks and creates beauty in their travels. But of course, it’s the “deeper definition” that’s more appealing, and gives substance to something that some people may deem to be shallow.

Being an aesthetic traveler means romanticizing your life, being the main character of your own story, and manifesting what you want that story to be. As an aesthetic traveler, I view everything in my life as part of a story – a travel romance novel, if you will.

But don’t think that romance only comes in the form of being driven around the Amalfi Coast by cute boys on Vespas. In fact, romanticizing simple things in your travels – enjoying an espresso and croissant at a Parisian cafe or taking time to notice the graffiti in the alleyways of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter – is one of the best ways to make the most out of your trips.

A lot of aesthetic travelers are influencers or bloggers, because they love the creativity around showing you the places they’ve been. But you can totally be a regular, everyday person and still embody traits of an aesthetic traveler by taking the photos you capture and using them for whatever you want: a scrapbook, a photo collage on your wall…anything!

Dressing for the Vibes

Since the aesthetic traveler views her life as a story, she knows there is power in “dressing the part” she wants to play. She knows her personal style, and she weaves it into her destinations. The beauty of fashion is the aesthetic traveler knows she can be a different person in each of her destinations, while somehow still being herself.

Was that confusing? Let me break it down:

When I go to New York City, I usually pack as much black as humanly possible. But when I go to places like Sedona, Arizona, my style is a little more boho…or, athletic chic if I’m hiking throughout the day. Regardless, both of these styles are me. I love wearing an all-black “power outfit” just as much as I love being whimsical and feminine. It just depends on the visual story I’m trying to tell.

The aesthetic traveler is multifaceted, because she takes so many experiences and memories with her from the places she goes. This allows her to be multifaceted in her style and have a wide range of “characters” to embody.

Photography in Aesthetic Travel

Photography is arguably one of the most vital aspects of aesthetic travel because it is how aesthetic travelers tell their story to a wide range of people. Having good photos on my website is incredibly important to me. I combine photos of places along with photos of me in certain moments because it allows my readers to more clearly imagine themselves in my shoes…and thus, inspires them to create something similar for themselves.

Of course, it’s not enough for me to just show you beautiful places. I have to tell you about them, too! But my favorite part is combining the “show” and the “tell.”

Before I really started traveling, I was always inspired by seeing photos of well-put together women in beautiful locations. I was inspired by the way they styled their photos…but also by how they styled themselves in their photos. I loved the photos of people I could relate to: people who were twirling on a cobblestone street, people who were laying in park, people who were sitting in a cafe looking out the window.

But even the photos of people I couldn’t really relate to (the ones in fur hats with Chanel bags and Gucci sunglasses in the middle of the Swiss Alps on a ski trip, for example) were still inspiring. They made me wonder what my life could become if I took a chance on myself. Plus, studying their photos really inspired my creativity.

Even though I’m not sure if these women would classify themselves as “aesthetic travelers,” I began following a lot of them regardless. They clearly had money to travel, and they were always showcasing themselves in beautiful outfits and equally beautiful places. The more I studied and observed them, the more my photos and personal style became better.

The key takeaway: it all started with seeing a photo. 😉

Summarizing What It Means To Be An Aesthetic Traveler

To summarize, aesthetic travelers live to inspire others to travel through their creativity and the image they project. They spend their time traveling places that make them feel alive, creating romance out of simple moments, and using photography to tell stories.

Aesthetic travel goes way beyond the visual elements, and instead focuses on how those visual elements make people feel. If this sounds like something you’d love, subscribe to my email list and/or follow my Instagram to get more aesthetic travel inspo ♥️.