How to make a Trip Itenary ? | A complete Guide
So, you have officially decided that you are ready to take some vacation time and embark on the trip of a lifetime! But now what? How do you even begin creating an itinerary for a completely new and foreign country that you may know very little information about? Well, keep reading on, and I promise that you will learn some tips that will help you get an idea on how to make a trip itinerary? for your future travel journey
Creating a travel itinerary for a brand new country that you have never traveled to before can be daunting and requires A LOT of work and research. You really have to put in a lot of time, effort, and patience into doing this, but I hope after reading this blog you will feel more confident and excited to start planning your trip. I personally love creating itineraries and always look forward to them because it makes me so excited to visit that country and really gives me something to look forward to.
Some travelers prefer to not create itineraries and just go with the flow in a new country, which is perfectly fine, but if you are of those structured travelers who needs to know what to expect, then I would highly recommend creating one, even if its just a loose and simple version of an itinerary. This is helpful because some destinations and activities that you plan to do may be closed on specific days, times, and holidays, so it’s best to plan a bit in advanced so you know what to expect.
Also, keep in mind, depending on the time of season you are traveling in and whether it is peak season or not, activities may be booked and sold out weeks in advance. The worst thing is getting excited and looking forward to a certain activity, only to find out you can’t go because of your lack of planning and timing. So make sure to plan ahead so you can make the most of your time, as time is even more valuable while on vacation!
Before starting the process of actually developing an Itinerary, I recommend following these steps first:
Step 1: Determine the country or region you want to travel to
Step 2: Pick the dates and season you want to travel in
Step 3: Determine your budget and how much money you are willing to spend
Step 1: Determine the country or region you want to travel to
How can you pick just one country or region to travel to when there is so many to choose from? Check out my “how to decide where to travel” blog post, which will help you determine which continent or country may best fit your budget and interests as well as the season you plan to travel in. Once you take this first step and your general plans are set and stone, you can finally plan the rest of your trip accordingly
How can you pick just one country or region to travel to when there is so many to choose from? Check out my “how to decide where to travel” blog post, which will help you determine which continent or country may best fit your budget and interests as well as the season you plan to travel in. Once you take this first step and your general plans are set and stone, you can finally plan the rest of your trip accordingly
Step 2: Pick the dates and season you want to travel in
The season you travel in will make a big difference in terms of weather, what kind of activities are offered, and how much these activities cost. For example, if you want to have a sunny and relaxing beach resort type of vacation, I would recommend avoiding going to some South East Asia destinations where the monsoon season happens during the summer. These include countries such as The Philippines, Thailand, India, Vietnam, etc.
Step 3: Determine your budget and how much money you are willing to spend
It is good to know the expensive parts of a country and how much you are willing to spend before planning your itinerary. This also can help you determine how many days you want to spend in the more expensive parts. For example, as a budget back packer, I would not spend too many days in expensive cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong, London, etc, .
as you know that things such as accommodation and meals will be more overpriced than in other parts of the country. Not saying that you should skip these cities, as they are most likely where your departure and arrival airports will be, but if you are on a budget it is best to limit your time here and budget accordingly. Be aware of very touristy areas of a city or country, as well as beach resorts who depend fully on tourism. Prices are always elevated in these areas and are charging you based on expensive tourist prices rather than a price offered to locals
Now that you have completed the initial pre planning steps, here are my best tips and advice to planning your trip itinerary:
Step 1: Research the country/countries or city/cities on Google
Step 2: Create a list of the top things you want to see or do
Step 3: Look at a map of the country or city to gauge the distances
Step 4: Look up travel itineraries from other travelers or tour groups
Step 5: BE FLEXIBLE
Step 1: Research the country/ countries or city/cities on google
Do some basic research about the country and city you want to visit on Google. Once you type in the city or country, a list of “top sights” will appear and you can click and browse these options to get an idea of what this city offers that interests you. If you don’t find many attractions from this lists that really interest you or makes you excited, it may be best to have more limited days in this city, as there may not be much going on and you would never want to waste your time in a city being bored!
Step 2: Create a list of top things you want to see or do
You may not have time to be able to do EVERYTHING in that city or country, but if you make a list of the top things you want to do, you can try and at least make some of them happen. Once you make this list, it’s important to research that activity individually and find out things such as costs, opening days and times, as well as if it’s a seasonal activity or not.
Nothing is worst than being so excited for a specific activity, come to find out that the only day you can fit it into your itinerary is on a Sunday, which is the only day of the week that the activity is not operating. Once you have the operational hours and days, it’s easier to structure your plans around this. If you are planning to visit a famous botanical gardens and also a famous museum on the same day, make sure to go to the gardens first while it is daylight outside, as a museum is just as good during the day as it is during the evening (as long as its still open)
Step 3: Look at a map of the country or city to gauge the distances
I really recommend going on Google Maps and routing all your intended points so that you can gauge the distances between each destination and determine if your plan is feasible within the time you have. This is also important to do beforehand, so that you make the most of your time and avoid backtracking if possible.
For example, if you are in a big city like London, make sure to do all the activities that are in the same area of the city together in one day before moving on to another district or part of the city. This can save. a lot of travel time and time wasted in a car or metro. I love to print out a map and plot the points with a marker, which I recommend doing. Having a map makes you more aware of where you are and the geography of that area.
Step 4: Look up travel itineraries from other travelers or tour groups
There are hundreds of travelers and travel companies out there that will post their itineraries on the internet. Just do a quick Google search for itineraries for your country/city that you want to visit and there will be an OVERWHELMING number of options available.
Not to advertise for other bloggers, but most of the itinerary information avaliable is from other travelers who have actually done and experienced these itineraries and are now recommending them to other travelers. I usually like to compare a couple different itineraries from different websites and see how similar they are. If most of them are going to the same destinations or spots, then odds are, that specific destination is very popular and a must see, so do more research and add it to your itinerary if you are interested. You can even type more specific options on Google such as “five day itinerary in Paris” or “10 day trips in Egypt” to get specific responses for your time length. Another option is to look at different tour company’s itineraries.
Please note, that most tour companies usually run tours at a very fast paced rate, as there is a lot to see in a little amount of time. You can always tweak these itineraries to add or take away days from certain locations, but you can almost always guarantee that these tour companies take their travelers to the most well known and best cities and sights, so these resources are very valuable for you if you know very little about the destinations in a specific country. If you go on a tour booking company such as https://www.tourradar.com or https://www.bookmundi.com, you can find hundreds of options and filter your search results based on your intended travel length and month for the best results.
Step 5: Be Flexible
After making countless travel itineraries for my family and our trips, I have realized that there is simply just not enough time in the day to do. We always overbook our schedules and end up running out of time for some of our activities. Sometimes things will happen throughout the day that is out of your control such as traffic, bad weather, or sudden closures of things, so try not to be disappointed if you miss out on certain things that you planned to go to. Traveling is always about the journey and what you learn along the way, so if you miss out on a few things, that is all the more reason to go back! Based on my own experiences, if you want to be realistic, you should aim to do 1-2 activities a day, depending on how long they each last. You may be able to fit in a third, but it is not worth stressing about it and rushing through the other activities just to fit one more in. I always start off with a basic travel itinerary with the intensions that I may not be able to do everything on that itinerary and I tend to only follow these itineraries loosely. Keep in mind that the longer you are on the road, the more exhausted you will become and the less running around you will want to do and the more relaxing. Most of the time, there is WAY too many things to do in a country and not enough time. Although travel itineraries are great to have, make sure to not exhaust yourself too much and really appreciate the culture, language, and local traditions that around you. Remember to be flexible with your itinerary and plan loosely as you never know what obstacles you may face along the way.
Once you finally create a travel itinerary, you are one step closer to the trip of a lifetime! I hope this guide helps you to create a successful itinerary for your next destination! Note to self: always keep an open mind while on the road and realize that everything doesn’t always go as planned… just go with it and consider it apart of the adventure! Happy traveling!!
In the picture Above, you can find a loose sample travel itinerary for the city of Dubai that I made for my family’s recent trip.
