Holiday Sex: Where, what and how we ‘do it’ on nights away?

Travel is an opportunity to not only see the world but to detach ourselves from our typical day-to-day routines and experiences. This also translates into what we do in the bedroom and pushing our boundaries out of our comfort zones.

As our ‘holiday sex’ survey discovered, over 63% of us consider ourselves to be more experimental when staying away from home, and there are big differences in what, where and how we do it.

Key Takeaways

• 84% of people pack their bags with sex in mind, with lingerie or role-play clothing being the most frequently packed (46%)
• 63% are more experimental on holiday with role-play (17%) the most common thing we do
• 4 in 5 of us ‘groom’ before a holiday (87% women and 77% men)
• More than half of us prefer a different sex position away from home, with doggy-style being our holiday ‘go-to’
• Whilst less of us masturbate on a trip (77%) compared to at home (91%), there’s a 29% increase in the people who do it more than once a day

We’re already thinking about sex before we leave

63% of us are more experimental when on holiday

Holidays and nights away are exciting for loads of reasons, but when it comes to our sex lives, the majority of us see it as an opportunity to try something a little different. 

The majority of people see a holiday or a night away as a chance to be kinkier in the hotel room (or elsewhere) when away. However, men (69%) were more keen on the idea of trying something different whilst women (56%) were still in the majority, just to a slightly lesser extent.

84% Pack Sex Toys & Items In Advance

Holiday sex doesn’t appear to be a spur of the moment choice, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Sex is a big part of a holiday, with many thinking ahead and planning for kinkier experiences when they are away.

The most common item people take for a night away (either themselves or a partner) is lingerie or role-play clothing (46%). Whilst nearly half of us pack an item of clothing specifically for the occasion, condoms (44.7%), lube (38.9%) and sex toys (34.7%) are also common items we take away.

4 in 5 of us ‘groom’ before a trip

Packing for the occasion is only part of the holiday sex preparation. The vast majority of people (81.4%) also groom before going away.

The stats for grooming lean more heavily towards women (87%) than men (77%) when it comes to their aesthetics, with also different approaches in their preferred method of pre-holiday grooming.

59% of women shave before a holiday, whereas 59% of men prefer to trim

Sex on the Beach – Only for 8% of us actually

Whilst many see a holiday as an opportunity to try something a bit different sexually, having sex on the beach isn’t among the top places people are hoping to do so. In fact, it’s the hotel room itself that seems to have the largest appeal.

When it comes to where we want to have sex once our holidays start, the most common place is in the hotel room (40.9%) with the shower being a distant second (16.5%).

Exploring outside of the hotel room, the most common choice for one in ten of us is on a balcony. Having sex on the beach (8%) just manages to pip the jacuzzi (7.6%) whilst having sex on the plane or train whilst en-route to our holidays comes in last with just 1.6% of us citing it at the place they favour the most.

Once we’re there

After people have finally arrived on their holidays, we wanted to find out just how people would explore their experimental sides whilst away, and what exactly they most wanted to do with their partners.

Of the 84% of people who do consider themselves more experimental on holiday, the results are in and the number one activity people want to do when on holiday is role-play (17.3%). Also among our biggest sexual holiday desires is having sex somewhere we shouldn’t (15.9%) whilst having rough sex (14.7%) and bondage (12.3%) say more about the type of sex we’re hoping to have.

This also rings true in just how much variation there is in our sexual positions compared to when at home.

More doggy-style and cowgirl, less missionary

Not only do 70% of us report having more sex when away compared to at home and a majority of us wanting to try new things, we also take the opportunity to vary our sexual positions, favouring doggy-style instead of the ‘at home favourite’ missionary position.

53% of us have a different favoured sex position when we’re away compared to at home

Doggy-style is the run-away winning sex position people favour the most when away from home, with 28% of us using it as the go-to. Standing up is in fact the position that sees the biggest spike when comparing sex positions on holiday to at home, gaining 62% overall (6% at home compared to 9% away). Likewise, cowgirl sees another big jump with only 13% of people choosing it at home compared to 16% away – a 28% increase overall.

Riding solo – we masturbate less on holiday

Although our sex drives ramp up on holiday, it seems our ‘alone time’ starts to take a back-seat in contrast, with nearly 39% of people stating they wouldn’t masturbate on a trip.

Whilst the majority of us do masturbate when at home, only 61% of people would choose to masturbate once or more when spending time away. However, for those that do choose to masturbate when they are away from home, the frequency starts to ramp up.

Holidays lead to a 27% increase in the number of people who masturbate more than once a day, whilst those masturbating once a day whilst travelling is on a par with at home. The frequency then starts to tail off, with people choosing to either avoid masturbating whilst away or with less regularity whilst away.

Methodology

This survey was conducted through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform and includes answers from 1,296 people. The respondents were surveyed between July 1st to July 6th, 2021.

The breakdown of the audience is as follows:

Gender:

• Female: 44.2%
• Male: 55.6%
• Non-binary: 0.2%
• Other: 0%

Age:

• 18 – 24 years old: 10.1%
• 25 – 34 years old: 41.1%
• 35 – 44 years old: 27.9%
• 45 – 54 years old: 13.3%
• 55 – 64 years old: 5.3%
• 65+ years old: 2.2%

Have children:

• Don’t have children: 35.5%
• Children who always come on holiday: 40.9%
• Children who sometimes come on holiday: 16.7%
• Children but they wouldn’t come on holiday: 6.8%