In Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation , the Tuscany trip is the couples’ holiday where Poppy and Alex realize their feelings for each other are deeper than “just friends,” and that trip quietly becomes the beginning of the end for Alex’s relationship with Sarah and Poppy’s with Trey.

Setting the scene: the Tuscany trip

On this vacation, Poppy and Alex go to Tuscany with their then-partners: Poppy’s boyfriend Trey and Alex’s girlfriend Sarah. On paper, Trey and Sarah seem like good matches, but the trip keeps highlighting how out of sync those relationships are compared with the deep, easy bond between Poppy and Alex.

  • Sarah and Trey sometimes mock things Poppy loves (like her reality TV tastes), which makes her feel judged rather than understood.
  • Sarah casually mentions that she and Alex might get married, which hits Poppy hard and forces her to confront how much Alex truly matters to her.

What actually happens between Poppy and Alex

During the Tuscany trip, nothing “official” happens like a confession or full- blown affair, but there is a charged emotional crossing of lines.

  • Poppy and Alex are intensely tuned in to each other, even in a group setting, saving emotional energy and attention for one another in a way they do not for their partners.
  • There is an almost-intimate moment (an almost-kiss / emotional near-miss) where they come close to acting on their attraction, and both feel the weight of what that would mean.

Later reflection makes Poppy realize that even if they never officially cheated, they were “keeping whole parts of [their] hearts for each other only,” which is an emotional betrayal of their partners.

How Tuscany changes Alex’s relationship with Sarah

For Alex, Tuscany is the moment he understands that his feelings for Poppy are not just friendly and not temporary.

  • After returning from Tuscany, he considers buying a ring to propose to Sarah, but when he sees an art deco pearl ring, he realizes he is picturing it on Poppy, not Sarah.
  • That realization convinces him it would be unfair to Sarah to keep going; he ultimately ends the relationship because he can’t imagine a future where Poppy is not central in his life.

Poppy later feels guilty and believes she “cost” Alex the woman he wanted to marry, even though Alex tells her that Sarah “never stood a chance” because his love for Poppy was already too strong.

Why Tuscany matters so much to the story

The Tuscany trip becomes a turning point that reshapes everything that follows between them.

  • It deepens their unresolved romantic tension and sets up the later, more dramatic fallout on the Croatia trip, after which they stop talking for two years.
  • It proves that other partners will always feel like second-best as long as Poppy and Alex stay in each other’s lives without being honest about their feelings.

In both the book and the film adaptation, Tuscany is remembered as the tense couples’ trip where their friendship “takes a hit” and the emotional line between best friends and something more becomes impossible to ignore.

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