Remember those two-week holidays when you wished you could’ve stayed longer? When you dreamt of spending days on end getting lost in the streets of a new city, returning to a favourite café until you’re counted as one of the locals, or having more time for day trips further afield? It seems retired travellers are now grabbing that chance with both hands. A recent survey from the insurance company Staysure revealed that nearly three in four people going on holiday for longer than 10 weeks are aged over 70. 

Why? Because “retirement is no longer seen as a time to slow down and put your feet up,” says Stuart Lewis, chief executive of Rest Less (restless.co.uk), a digital community for over-50s. “The pandemic has turbocharged many people’s sense of wanderlust, whether that’s planning extended trips to see family living abroad, stretching out a postponed holiday with perhaps an extra week at the end, or taking the plunge booking that holiday of a lifetime.”

The majority choose to escape the bone-chilling winter months, but this doesn’t always have to mean long-haul flights – there are sunnier European options, too. The key difference is that picking a single place and staying for months, not days, transforms you from tourist to explorer. Renting a long-term apartment or Airbnb property breaks the holiday hotel bubble and provides the chance to immerse oneself in a new culture. To make friends with locals, possibly learn a new language and uncover the secret side of a destination that only comes from devoting time to it.