Something is shifting in how African women move through the world. Travel, once considered extravagant, unnecessary, or even inappropriate for many women, has quietly become an expression of autonomy. There was a time when a woman announcing she was travelling alone, or with her friends, would be met with raised eyebrows, a concerned auntie asking “Who is sponsoring?”, or a man suggesting she “has too much freedom.”
Today, airports tell a different story. Groups of women in coordinated linen. Solo travellers with a book tucked under their arm. Sisterhood gathered at boarding gates, not because of work or family duty, but because they chose joy. Girls’ trips and women-led travel groups are not a trend. They are a cultural redefinition in motion. As more women earn their own money, structure their own time, and prioritise emotional well-being, travel has become one of the clearest expressions of self-ownership. It is not escapism, but reclamation.
But as women move more freely, something else has emerged too: a noticeable discomfort in certain corners of society, especially among men who grew up believing women’s lives should orbit around home, service, and their approval. You can see it online in the jokes about “soft life babes,” or men claiming women only travel through sugar daddies. Beneath the mockery is a quiet realisation: women no longer need permission to live widely, and that, to some, is unsettling.
Yet across the continent, tourism boards, airlines, Airbnbs, boutique hotels and curated travel companies are reporting that women, especially young, urban, African women, are driving travel culture forward. We are planning the itineraries, filling the flights, discovering the destinations, and making them glow. Travel, for us, is not a luxury story, it is a freedom story. Here are some favourite destinations.
Lamu, Kenya — Rest as a Birthright
Lamu is where women go to soften. There is no rush here; no performance. The island moves at the pace of breath. The scent of the ocean sits in the air like memory. Days are long, unhurried, unshaped by obligation. You wake slowly. You read on rooftops. You swim in quiet water. You take dhow rides at sunset and feel time loosen its grip.
Women travel here to recover from burnout, heartbreak, overstimulation, overwork, or simply to remember who they are when nobody needs anything from them. Friendship feels tender here. Solitude feels gentle. Lamu reminds you that you are allowed to rest long enough to return to yourself. It also doesn’t hurt that the fresh seafood is phenomenal here!
Accra, Ghana — Joy That Moves With You
Accra is a celebration. A city that laughs loud, loves loudly, moves loudly. Music pours from doorways. Food arrives in abundance. Conversations stretch late. Energy is communal and you are held by strangers as though you’ve known each other for years.
Girls’ trips thrive here because Accra lets women exist in their fullness. No shrinking. No soft apologising. Here, women gather to dance, to eat, to live joy as a public act. And joy, in a world that has demanded our silence, is political. Accra is where you go when you want to remember life can still surprise you.
Cape Town, South Africa — Beauty as Everyday Life
Cape Town is cinematic. It is a city where mountains drop into the sea and wine flows as casually as water. It is stylish without trying, beautiful without announcement. Women come here for softness, for scenery, for the simple pleasure of being somewhere that looks like a postcard.
For group trips, Cape Town is easy: café mornings, winery afternoons, ocean walks, scenic hikes, rooftop sunsets. For solo travellers, it offers anonymity with elegance as you can disappear into your own life for a while, without the world demanding explanation.
Seychelles — The Self-Honeymoon Destination
Seychelles is where you gift yourself your own presence. The water is clear enough to feel like forgiveness. The beaches look unreal even when you’re standing on them. Here, you don’t perform anything. You don’t need to.
More and more women are travelling to Seychelles alone for birthdays, breakups, life shifts, personal milestones. It is the destination that says: You are not waiting for romance to experience beauty. Seychelles is for women who are learning to hold their lives gently. It is quiet luxury, but not the kind that demands to be photographed. It is the kind that lets you breathe.
What This Moment Means
When women travel, together or alone, they expand what is possible, not just for themselves, but for each other. They create new stories of what womanhood can look like: adventurous, soft, curious, joyful, sovereign.
The discomfort some people have with women travelling is simply the echo of an older world where women’s movement was restricted physically, emotionally, and financially. That world is fading, as more women are stepping into their own lives with full hands.
