Strava teams up with Airbnb to turn weekends away into easy 'run-cations'

If you’ve been slogging around the same city loop for months, constantly stopping at traffic lights and weaving through annoying crowds, you'll get why more runners are starting to look further afield to get their outdoor kicks.

This is especially the case now, since Autumn is a time when people reset a bit, sign up for future races, and try to get consistent again. It's the time of year when runners are looking to head somewhere quieter, get in a few scenic miles and actually spend time with their mates without all the usual faff.

That’s the space Strava is leaning into right now, anyway - and the brand has teamed up with the puppeteer of holiday rentals Airbnb with the goal to make the whole thing easier to plan.

Less guesswork

Strava says the problem it's attempting to solve here is that younger runners are piling onto its platform, but plenty of them are bored of busy urban routes and want something greener. Then, the issue is when users go somewhere new, they often don’t know where to run, so end up guessing.

Strava’s fix for this is to point them at real, community-made routes in the app’s Maps tab, built from activities people have already logged, so they can land in a whole new area, pick a distance and terrain that suits, and get going without loads of planning.

So, from 16 October to 16 December 2025, Strava and Airbnb are spotlighting five UK areas that Gen Z travellers are gravitating towards on the platform: the Forest of Dean, the South Downs near Chichester, Fife, Hope Valley and rural Cambridgeshire.

How does it work?

The idea is simple enough, but how exactly does it work?

Strava explains in its latest blog that users can find routes in its app near a base they like, book an Airbnb that actually suits a running weekend, and they'll sort you a low-stress plan for early starts and a quiet evening in afterwards.

There’s even a small nudge to get out the door in the first place, because the collab has got partner bakeries onboard in each area, and they'll be handing out a free sweet treat if you either log a run in Strava or you’re staying in an Airbnb nearby. All you do is show the app at the counter and they'll hand over the goods.

Terms and dates apply, obviously, but the point is to make a countryside run feel like a proper trip rather than an admin exercise.

Why this might land

Not every weekend has to be about chasing a time - Strava’s own numbers show a lot of runs happen with other people, which tells you the social bit matters as much as the stats. A change of scene, a softer surface, and some cleaner air can make training stick again, and if you’re just getting going, it could be an easy way to make running feel fun rather than another chore.

While I'm on the subject of Strava, it’s also worth noting there’s a bit of noise elsewhere when it comes to the run tracking app. The company has filed a lawsuit against Garmin in the US over patents and a long-standing cooperation agreement, which sounds dramatic, but Strava says it isn’t planning to cut off Garmin syncing and nothing changes for your uploads today.

If the case rumbles on it could affect how routing and segments appear on Garmin devices in future, so it’s one to keep an eye on, but for now your long run will still land in Strava as usual while the lawyers argue in the background.