In the early European summer, on the glittering peninsula of Cap d’Antibes, I found myself reclining on a sun lounger next to two 40-year-old women from Melbourne.
asserted
myself → glitter → Melbourne
One was in a long-term relationship, the other was newly single and, together, they were taking a two-week jaunt along the French Riviera before a final stop in Paris for shopping, pain au chocolat and dinner at Hotel Costes.
asserted
they → take → Costes
“I’d rather travel with a girlfriend than my partner; we’re so much more aligned,” said the former, her eyes glimmering behind huge Dior sunglasses.
asserted
eyes → travel → sunglasses
“Would I spend my day doing this with a man?” asked the other, gesturing towards her goblet of spritz, Sally Hepworth novel and the sweep of lapis-blue sea.
asserted
other → spend → sea
Unknowingly, the pair were embarking on a Hot Divorcee Summer, the rising cultural trend centred on women’s radical freedom and the pleasures of putting oneself first.
asserted
pair → embark → oneself
After a stay at Hotel Belles Rives, the legendary art deco haunt in Juan-les-Pins, they were headed for the beach clubs of St Tropez, the perfumeries of Grasse and “nowhere with a golf course”.
asserted
they → head → course
It’s Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya in The White Lotus, wafting through Sicily in a silk headscarf and caftan, trailing oversized luggage, romantic delusions and a sweet whiff of chaos.
asserted
It → ’ → chaos
It’s Kristin Scott Thomas as Fiona in Four Weddings and a Funeral
asserted
It → ’ → Weddings
, if she’d given up waiting for Charles, booked herself a suite at La Mamounia, Marrakesh, and developed a taste for textile weaving.
asserted
she → give → weaving
And it’s Nicole Kidman as herself, lounging poolside at Portofino’s Splendido this July, then island-hopping with Zoe Saldana in Greece, dressed almost exclusively in white linen and crochet.
asserted
it → ’ → linen
Comedian Tatty Macleod was credited with putting a name to the feeling when she shared her vision for a season of glamorous, carefree fun on social media in April.
asserted
she → credit → April
“I’m so over Brat summer …
asserted
I → ’m → summer
[I’d describe myself as] more of a Divorcee Summer.
asserted
I → describe → Summer
I want it to look like I belong on a yacht.
asserted
I → want → yacht
I’ve got a couple of houses, various dead husbands, I’ve got a toy boy in the bathroom.
asserted
I → get → bathroom
I just travel and spend,” she purred like a 1930s starlet beneath a floppy, pink sunhat.
asserted
she → travel → sunhat
An obnoxiously large hat might be the visual calling card for the Hot Divorcee Summer, but it’s where the aesthetic parameters end.
uncertain
parameters → ’ → Summer
The Divorcee’s proverbial hotness, as she decamps to somewhere with better weather and fewer obligations, is an attitude and a state of mind.
asserted
she → decamp → mind
She might go a week without washing her hair, letting the greys do as they please, as she drifts around the Balearic island of Formentera and orders lobster before noon.
uncertain
she → go → noon
She’s equally at liberty, though, to slip to the hotel spa for a skin-tightening treatment.
asserted
She → ’ → treatment
Self-indulgence is a prerequisite for the Hot Divorcee, but the pleasures are entirely self-prescribed: the best hotel suite, a faintly ridiculous wellness ritual, a pottery class that would have been vetoed by every previous travel companion.
“This is about women seizing the moment and not waiting for someone else to be available to experience the places they want to go,” says Jules Perowne, founder and chief executive of global luxury travel communications consultancy Perowne International.
asserted
Perowne → prescribe → International
Those places span continents, cultures and price points, but all offer a taste of the good life in one form or another.
asserted
all → span → form
Take the island of Sardinia, which has something of a split personality.
asserted
which → take → personality
Costa Smeralda in the north-east has been an exclusive summer playground since the 1960s, one where megayachts jostle for space in the marinas and old money meets Hollywood meets Silicon Valley over long lunches and DJ sets.
asserted
Hollywood → jostle → lunches
Yet beyond that enclave it’s rugged and rural, a succession of sugar-white beaches where Italian families practise the art of dolce far niente.
asserted
families → ’ → niente
For the Hot Divorcee, this makes for an appealing combination: a boat trip through secluded coves on waters so vivid they render filters redundant; languid hours under a beach umbrella; bowls of homemade pasta and scoops of dripping gelato; an evening dressed up for dinner in Porto Cervo; a stay somewhere special, like Cala di Volpe, the rustically lavish icon that once starred in a Bond film (The Spy Who Loved Me), or the less flashy Le Dune Piscinas eco resort.
asserted
Who → make → Me
In 2027, Rocco Forte Costa Smeralda and Mandarin Oriental will both open on the north-east coast, too.
asserted
Smeralda → open → coast
Or she might venture inland, where Sardinia’s famously long-lived nonnas offer ageing advice to rival any wellness or longevity retreat.
uncertain
nonnas → venture → retreat
Eating, praying and loving are all welcome, but they have to happen organically, and there’s no obligation to return home transformed.
asserted
they → pray → ?
Nor is it a traditional girls’ trip with shared itineraries, group decisions and expectations of collective revelry.
asserted
it → share → revelry
If partying is on the agenda, it leans much more sophisticated than a rhinestone-crusted hen’s do or big, boisterous birthday.
asserted
it → lean → do
To that end, L’Aventure and Le Bus Palladium, two recently opened five-star boutique hotels in Paris, boast louche underground nightclubs and live music venues – so you can make a night of it or not, without having to organise a ride home.
asserted
you → open → ride
The new Nomade Temple in Madrid was built around experiences, too, with a speakeasy and club inspired by the city’s 1980s cultural awakening, along with a daily roster of workshops and events designed to bring people together: psychedelic breathwork sessions, social saunas, run clubs, sketch classes, vermouth and flamenco afternoons.
asserted
Temple → build → people
For Perowne, the Hot Divorcee Summer calls for destinations where being alone feels unremarkable.
asserted
being → call → destinations
“The hotels getting it right understand that a woman travelling solo does not want to be tucked into a corner table with a book,” she explains.
asserted
she → get → book
“At Storfjord Hotel in Norway, the new Boathouse restaurant has no tables for one.
asserted
restaurant → have → one
Everyone sits at a single long table while the chef cooks over open flames, and dinner becomes a supper party.
asserted
dinner → sit → flames
Guests eat together, whatever the cook has made from the estate that day.
asserted
cook → eat → estate
You arrive a stranger and leave having had the best conversation of your year.”
Shifts in the cultural landscape make this particular brand of women’s travel especially appealing.
asserted
brand → arrive → travel
In Australia, 49,158 divorces were granted in 2025, a 4 per cent increase from 2024, and the average female divorcee is 44, with decades of adventures still ahead of her.
asserted
decades → grant → her
…and 50 more, not listed.
The Aporia
