The people who make location-independent life work over the long run tend to have a few fixed points in the year to plan around. A conference they always go to. A month somewhere with the same group of people. A retreat where the money and business conversations are particularly honest.
We are social animals, after all. And the same curiosity and thirst for knowledge that drives the nomadic mindset for many often comes with a thirst for lifelong learning, as well.
Our needs and preferences change as we age, too. Your business shifts and your body is changing. What you wanted out of the room three years ago isn't necessarily what you want from one now.
The question is: what's actually out there?
This is that list. Conferences, retreats, programmed cruises and meetups from around the world, up to a year out, each with who runs it and where it’s happening. FIRE camps in Colorado. A nomad week across Cape Town. A free gathering of vehicle-dwellers in the Arizona desert every January. A summit with sessions ranging from longevity to taxes and career transitions.
Where The Shortlist offers you vetted recommendations on where to stay, these are the community events to plan around.
What you won’t find: crypto summits, growth-hacking weekends, or another room full of twenty-four-year-olds selling courses on how to sell courses.
A few of these will skew younger than you, and that’s okay. I’ve flagged them and said what you’d get out of them anyway. Being the oldest person in the room is a manageable problem… missing the one conference that might have changed your year isn’t.
Every date and link here comes from the organizer’s own page. With that said, the info here is accurate at time of publication. Click through where you’re interested to verify current pricing and details, as those can change.
This resource for full subscribers is updated monthly.
Running something we should list, or know of a gathering that belongs here? Send it to hello@midlifenomads.com and we'll take a look.
September 2026
Sept 2 to 12
Chateau Coliving ‘One Last Hurrah Retreat’ with the Digital Nomad Girls in Normandy, France — space limited (age range 30-60+ at the last event I attended here)
Sept 5 to 13
Unsettled: Peru in Cusco, a nine-day coworking and reset retreat
Sept 10 to 13
The Nomad World Fest in Porto, Portugal, organized by DNA Portugal (A 55-year-old who went to the 2024 edition wrote that she was the oldest person there by ten to fifteen years — and also that the welcome was real and she learned something from every speaker.)
Sept 17 to 20
Camp Mustache Toronto, Mr. Money Mustache’s FIREscape - CMTO four-day FIRE camp in Canada, ticketed by lottery
Sept 18 to 25
Athens Nomad Fest in Athens, Greece, organized by Nomad365 (Around 200 people, €197, four programmed days plus an optional trip to Kalamata. Programming leans heavily on personal branding and AI, but it’s the cheaper and tighter of the two Nomad365 festivals if you want to test the format before committing to Vietnam.)
Sept 19 to 26
Nomad Cruise 17, The AI Cruise Southampton to New York aboard the Queen Mary 2 — sold out but see if there’s a wait list (Use coupon code midlifenomads for €100 off)
Sept 24 to 27
CampFI Texas at Camp Copass in Denton, Texas - SOLD OUT
Sept 30 to Oct 10
Colive Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan, a ten-day workation programme
October 2026
Oct 1 to 4
Slow FI Retreat organized by The Fioneers at Geneva Point Center on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire (sold out, cancellation list open)
Oct 11 to Nov 1
Hiroshima Setouchi Nomad Fest across Hiroshima, Matsuyama and the Setouchi islands, Japan
Oct 21 to 25
Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Ubud, Bali, organized by Yayasan Mudra Swari Saraswati, on its 23rd edition
