How To Plan Your Vacation In 9 Simple Steps

You’re going on vacation! Now it’s time to start to plan your vacation! But where do you start?

You want to start planning for a trip as soon as you can. This way, you’ll be less stressed when you’re away, AND you won’t regret or miss out on anything.

This is how to plan a vacation to make the most out of my time away. I have a travel planner template you can follow as general guidelines that I use every time, so you can apply them for wherever you’re headed.

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Why Plan Your Vacation In Advance?

Planning your next vacation is the best part of going away. It’s when you can start getting excited about all the things you’re going to see, and all the new adventures you’ll have.

Planning vacation really extends the trip from being a week or two to being months long!

You don’t have to plan everything last detail, but I always like to have a loose travel itinerary to follow. This way, I don’t miss anything, and I’m able to take advantage of all the time away I have. 

Preliminary Research: Deciding Where to Go?

In case you haven’t decided where to go on vacation yet, here are some basic tips when choosing a destination. 

There are 3 key factors to consider: how much time off you have, your budget, and the type of vacation that you want. 

1. How Much Time Do You Have?

This will determine how far you can go. For example, do you have enough time for long haul overnight flights? Or is this going to be a weekend road trip?

2. What’s Your Travel Budget?

Next, you have to decide how much you’re willing to spend. You might have enough time to fly somewhere, but don’t want to spend the money on overseas flights. 

Flying will definitely cost you more than if you drive somewhere for the week.

3. What Kind of Vacation do You Want?

And finally, you have to decide what type of vacation you’re looking for. Do you want a jam-packed vacation where you see something new everyday sightseeing, or do you want a relaxing beach vacation? Or maybe you want a little bit of both?

How To Plan A Vacation

Now that you’ve picked your destination, let’s see into how to plan your vacation!

Step 1: Set Up A Documents With Your Travel Information

The first step to plan a vacation is to set up a document where you’re going to keep all your travel information. It can be a printed but I always like to have a digital copy as well (either follow a digital travel planner template or create your own document on the cloud). This might seem like a useless step, but trust me, it’s worth it.

This will help you in several ways. First, it keeps all your travel information in one location so you stay more organized. 

If it’s a digital file, you’ll also be able to open this document no matter where you are. So it’s easy to add information while you’re at home in the planning stages. But it also comes in handy while you’re actually on vacation, in case you need to double check any information on the go.

I also share this document with my family back home. This way they know where I’m supposed to be everyday and have extra contact information if they need it. 

Step 2: Set A Travel Budget

Whenever you go on vacation it’s important to have a budget for yourself. This way, you know how much you’ll be able to spend on flights and accommodations before you leave. 

It will also give you an idea on how much you can spend everyday on meals, attractions, and if there’s anything extra you want to buy.

While you’re on vacation, keep track of your spending to know if you’re over, under, or on budget!

Step 3: Research Transportation & Accommodation!

Now that your travel planner is set up and you have a budget, it’s time to start researching how you’re going to get there and where you’re going to be staying. 

You typically want to book your flight about 6 weeks before leaving. Before that, research flight times and compare prices. You can even track the flight on Google or the Hopper App to know when to buy tickets. 

You also need to start looking at where you’ll want to stay. Compare prices, location, and look at availability. I book hotels using Booking.com, but you can also check Expedia for hotel deals. If you’re booking a longer stay, my go to is Airbnb, but there are a few things to watch out for before booking.   

Step 4: Research Your Destination

It’s also important to know what you’re going to do once you arrive at your destination. Simply Google “what to do in [city]” and see what pops up as the main attractions. These are what your destination is known for, so jot them down in your travel planner.  

I also like to research any day trip ideas, places to eat, and any hidden gems! You can also narrow down your search even more by looking at what to do in specific neighbourhoods in your city. 

You’ll want to take note of 5 things for each attraction: (1) where it is, (2) how long you think you’ll need there, (3) opening hours, (4) cost of the attraction, (5) and especially if you need to buy tickets in advance.

Remember, write all this information down in your travel planner so you can go back and reference everything.

Step 5: Delve a Little Deeper: Read Reviews!

You’re going to go into a bit more depth into your research now. Don’t simply read about what to do, but read reviews on wether or not specific attractions, museums, or even neighbourhoods are worth visiting. You might also find advice on the best time to visit. 

For example, I found out that it was better to go to the Academia in the morning and the Uffizi in the afternoon in Florence.

They’ll also tell you whether it’s worth booking online or not. We saved so much time by booking the Vatican online. But sometimes you’d rather avoid booking in advance to if you aren’t sure which day you want to visit. 

For this step, you can read blogs (like this one!) or TripAdvisor reviews. You can also just go to Google and look at the rating (this is how I choose restaurants to eat at!). 

Step 6: It’s Time To Book Your Vacation!

Now that you’ve researched your destination, you have a good idea of where you want to stay, and how long you need in each location it’s time to book everything. 

This makes a good time to book flights, accommodations, and any other modes of transportation you may need (rental car, bus, train…etc.). If you’re interested in going on any organized tours you’ll want to book those as well to reserve your spot!

Don’t forget to write down all the confirmation numbers and dates in your travel planner for future reference!

Step 7: Save On Google Maps

This is quite possibly the most important step for how to plan a vacation. 

Setting a budget, researching flights and accommodations, booking everything… these are quite obvious steps to plan a vacation! But, my secret to planning every vacation is using Google maps.

First, do a quick Google maps search to see what pops up around where you’ll be. You can find some really neat hidden gems, cafes, and restaurants this way. You can even try to search for something specific in the area (try things to do, museums, cafes…etc.)

The next step is to create a new list on Google Maps (your places – lists – new list – name it your destination). You’re going to save anywhere you want to go on this vacation to this list. This makes it really easy to visualize where you want to go. 

Once everything is added, download the map so it’s available offline (your profile – offline maps – select your own map). This comes in handy when you’re away and don’t have data or wifi.

Step 8: Set Up A Possible Itinerary By Location

Now that you’ve mapped everything out, it’s finally time to plan your vacation itinerary. Reference Google Maps to organize each day based on what activities are closest to each other. The key here is to maximize your time, so you won’t spend it travelling back and forth from the same area.

For example, when you visit the Vatican City in Rome, it’s a good idea to visit St. Peter’s Basilica the same day you visit the Vatican Museum. If you look at a map, you’ll see they’re around the corner from each other.

Some day/location pairings may be interchangeable while others might be more set in stone (depending on your travel schedule, if anything was booked in advance, or limited opening hours…).

Step 9: Leave Room For Surprises! Don’t Over Plan Your Vacation

Remember that these travel itineraries should not be set in stone! Some days will be more tightly planned, but you always want to leave room for some last minute plans and changes. 

You still want to be able to stumble upon something new or get local recommendations. 

And sometimes plans just don’t work out and you have to be prepared for that. Like what if the weather doesn’t cooperate? You might have to switch two days around to do your indoor activity day if it rains. There’s no way of knowing the forecast for 3 months in advance.

The idea is to have a general outline for each day. This is a vacation, after all, you don’t want to stress too much about sticking to your plans.

Quick Links – My Amazon Travel Favourites

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Last update on 2024-04-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API