Older cancer patients are more often than younger diagnosed via an unplanned hospital admission which may negatively influence the prognosis. An increasing number of cancers is expected due to ageing of populations, and these phenomena are likely to result in an increase in older cancer patients with multiple complications, extended hospital stays, and reduced quality of life and survival. In this review, we present recent data about routes to cancer diagnosis for older vs younger patients to emphasize that diagnostic pathways need improvements to avoid an increase in unplanned hospital admissions due to cancer.