Yelp has just released its 2025 Trend Forecast, and it’s brimming with unexpected, nostalgic and joy-sparking trends. Based on a deep dive into over 33 million users’ searches this year, Yelp’s experts predict 2025 is shaping up to be all about experiences that forge connections and bring people together.
To zone in on trends and solidify predictions, Yelp's data scientists, community managers and trend experts scoured millions of searches for words, phrases and businesses across categories that were trending between 2023 and 2024. While the full report covers a wide range of food & drink trends as well as home and lifestyle trends, wellness trends are likely to be tops in the coming year. Based on their research, Yelp predicts that immersive, nostalgic experiences will dominate travel trends and activities that build community will be popular activities outside the home.
Yelpers are increasingly into IRL meet-ups, using the platform to find and join local group activities. Social clubs are trending as interest in everything from chess clubs (up 47%) to run clubs (up 82%) surges. Friendly competition is also making a comeback, with people flocking to game nights, trivia nights (up 58%) and modern lawn clubs (up 682%) to connect over bocce, beersbee and cocktails.
The DIY craze is still going strong, with searches for hands-on hobbies like sewing (up 76%), jewelry making (up 69%), songwriting (up 540%) and even blacksmithing (up 516%) on the rise. On the culinary front, pasta-making classes (up 515%) and latte art sessions (up 439%) are fueling people’s appetite for mastering niche skills.
It’s not just about hobbies—Yelpers are all about creative, mash-up businesses. Searches for laundromat bars (up 347%), book bars (up 85%) and bookstore-plant shop combos (up 235%) are taking off, proving that the thirst for multi-functional spots is real.
As for vacations, adults are leaving behind crowded tourist traps in favor of wellness-focused getaways. Yelp reports a 347% increase in searches for adult camps, where nostalgic camp vibes meet adult luxuries. Other popular searches include fitness retreats (up 83%), wellness retreats (up 58%) and even postpartum retreats (up 475%), showing that people want their travel to be about rest, recovery and connection.
In short, 2025’s trend forecast is full of everything people crave: community, creativity and a side of nostalgia, and Yelp’s got the pulse on what’s bringing people together.