Plan Your Trip

Everything you need to go from “we should take a trip” to a booked, packed, ready-to-go itinerary. The sections below follow the order the decisions actually come in: each one narrows the next, and doing them out of sequence is what makes planning feel harder than it is.

Where to Go

Browse countries and destinations by continent, budget, or travel style, or read our travel guides for inspiration.

Two constraints usually decide this faster than browsing does: how much time you have, and what the weather will be during the only weeks you can travel. A destination that needs ten days is a poor choice for five, and the right place in the wrong season is often a worse trip than the second choice in the right one. If your dates are fixed, work from the season backwards to the destination rather than the other way round.

When to Go

Each country, city and destination guide includes a Best Time to Visit section covering weather patterns and seasonal considerations.

“Best” usually means a trade-off rather than an optimum. Peak season buys the most reliable weather and the fullest opening hours, at the highest prices and the biggest crowds. The shoulder weeks either side are where most experienced travellers aim: noticeably cheaper and quieter, with weather that is usually still workable. Low season can be excellent value, but check what closes: in some places a significant share of accommodation, transport and attractions simply shuts.

How Much It Costs

Use the Trip Budget Calculator to estimate lodging, food, activities, and local transport for your trip.

Budget in two layers. The calculator covers the on-the-ground costs that scale with how long you stay. On top of that sit the fixed costs that do not: international flights, visas or entry authorisations, insurance, vaccinations, equipment. It is the fixed layer that usually decides whether a trip is affordable at all, so it is worth pricing first. The Currency Converter is there for getting a rough sense of local prices, though its rates are indicative rather than live.

How Long to Stay

Check our suggested itineraries for realistic day-by-day pacing.

The most common planning error is packing too many places into too few days. Every move between destinations costs the better part of a day once you count packing, transfers and checking in again, so a route with four stops in a week is really three days of travel and four of actual visiting. Fewer bases with day trips out from them almost always produces a better trip than a new bed every night.

Entry Requirements

This is the only item on the list that can stop a trip outright, and it has the longest lead time, so check it early. Passport validity requirements vary by destination and are widely misremembered: the Schengen Area requires a passport valid for at least three months beyond your planned departure, while other countries commonly ask for six. Visas and electronic entry authorisations have their own processing times.

If your trip involves the Schengen Area, note that visa-free stays are capped at 90 days in any 180-day period, counted on a rolling basis — earlier trips in the preceding six months reduce what you have left. Always confirm requirements on the destination country’s own immigration site or your government’s travel advice, since these change.

Sources: US Department of State, US Travelers in Europe; European Commission, Short-stay calculator.

What to Pack

Use our Packing Checklist, tailored to your trip style. It also covers the two airline rules that most often force a repack at security: the 100 ml limit on liquids in hand baggage, and the requirement that power banks and spare lithium batteries travel in the cabin rather than in checked luggage.

How to Get Around

Most destination and city guides include a dedicated section on local transport, and country guides cover getting between places. Two things are worth settling before you arrive: how you will get from the airport into town on the first day, and whether the distances on your route are as short as they look. The Distance Calculator gives straight-line distances, which is a quick way to spot an itinerary that doubles back on itself.

Counting Down

Once you have dates, Days Until Trip shows how much preparation time is left, alongside the deadlines that tend to fall at six months, three months, one month and the final fortnight. For journeys crossing time zones, the Time Zone Converter and Flight Duration Calculator handle the arithmetic that printed departure and arrival times hide.

All of our tools are listed on the Travel Tools page.