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Original poster

Do you make an itinerary for holidays?

65 replies

winterpastasalad · 26/01/2023 04:56

We are budget travellers but try to travel as much as we can so every day counts. I bring a book with me with the itinerary in it and we tend to stick with it. I'd feel we were wasting time (and money) if we just went with the flow. I appreciate this isn't everyone's idea of a good time but just wondered how many other people do it?

OP posts:
emmathedilemma · 26/01/2023 08:02

It depends on the holiday……
uk, no because plans often depend on the weather.
city break, would probably have a read of the guide book before we went and have a rough idea of a schedule but still go with the flow a bit if we found anything when we got there
resort / pool holiday - never
road trip - more preplanned because of moving base more often so the bases would tend to be planned around what we wanted to see and do along the way

JamSandle · 26/01/2023 08:07

I do a bit of both. Plan half and leave half flexible. In general I'm better with plans.

FrozenGhost · 26/01/2023 08:09

I do, I usually make a very detailed itinerary. Of course once I'm there, I may or may not follow it. It just gives me the options I guess and means I've done the research in advance, if an attraction is closed on a certain day, or you have to get there early, etc.

Also, and I'm not saying this is everyone, but I've travelled with people before (not sure if this is male thing but often a boyfriend) who haven't wanted to plan in advance and said things like pps wrote up thread "I don't want to be scheduled on holiday".

OK that's fine, but when we are there they are turning to me ten times a day "where should we go?" "where we should we eat?". That's just avoiding taking responsibility.

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Holidays
troppibambini6 · 26/01/2023 08:14

No. I go on holiday to relax and personally would not find that relaxing.
When we get there if there was somewhere we wanted to go we would probably decided roughly which day we would
like to go there.
When we arrive we also book and restaurants we want to eat at during the first week.
We spend august in spain most years and know the area restaurants well and which ones we need to book.

Theraffarian · 26/01/2023 08:15

Mainly yes , but depends on the holiday type . So sunshine holiday abroad , I would research places to visit , times they open etc , because as much as I enjoy lazing by the pool with a book I want to see the country I’ve gone to as well , and I’m not going to waste time googling stuff while I am there . The. We use that as an open plan on days we fancy doing something.

City breaks abroad , tend to work out daily schedule based on how busy places will be etc but try to make the days interchangeable depending on the weather .

UK breaks , sad as I am today I will be putting together a complete list today for the break we are about to go on . Mainly because not everywhere opens every day , I want to work out the best places to park etc and I find doing that on holiday a waste of my time away . I don’t want to aimlessly walk around places with no idea what I’m missing out on only to come home and find I was 10 minutes away from something we would have really enjoyed .

Christmasbaubleswithtinselon · 26/01/2023 08:22

Definitely, yes! If it’s just a AL holiday which we don’t usually do then no, but we usually travel around and we’ll book key activities and restaurants we want to try. We tend to book an activity/place to visit on one day, and leave the next day for relaxing or doing something spontaneous. I hate the idea of wasting time trying to figure things out while we’re actually on holiday.

MajorCarolDanvers · 26/01/2023 08:25

Itinerary for city breaks yes. Often have bookings / tickets etc.

Beach holidays no.

shinynewapple22 · 26/01/2023 08:25

We would plan in as much as over a week's holiday we would decide to go visiting other places 3 days and pottering locally for the other 3. We would probably check the weather to see the best days for visiting the places we wanted to go to - eg if there was rain we would choose somewhere with things to see indoors for that day. We only have very vague plans for our days out though - mainly a drive to another resort/town/village, a wander around and lunch .

AuntieMarys · 26/01/2023 08:26

Yes! But we don't do beach holidays.. always city breaks or a road trip. I am a master planner 😀

Twoscotcheggsandajarofmarmite · 26/01/2023 08:27

I usually research the place we’re going to and decide what I’d like to see but don’t schedule it apart from noting when things are closed etc.
However last summer the weather was ridiculously hot and we did absolutely nothing. Stayed by the (fabulous) pool all day and strolled downtown in the evening for food.
At the time I kept thinking we were wasting our holiday but my god I’ve never felt so refreshed. Came home recharged and ready to face the rest of the year. Normally I come home a bit knackered after all the doing stuff. I might have to rethink my approach to holidays from now on.

RampantIvy · 26/01/2023 08:27

olympicsrock · 26/01/2023 05:12

God no !
for me the point of a holiday is to be flexible and to do as the mood takes me.
If there was something special I wanted to do I would check opening hours abs schedule that in but otherwise - no!

I agree with @olympicsrock. Even when we went to Orlando we just used social media and apps to see which theme park was the least busy for the day and went there.

I hate the idea of wasting time trying to figure things out while we’re actually on holiday.

I look up places to visit before we go, but sometimes it isn't obvious what local attractions are there until you get there. When we went to Kos there were several local agents advertising trips that I hadn't been able to read about online. We did a brilliant boat trip to a volcanic island with them.

I usually have a list of things I want to see and do when on holiday, but I don't plan it to the nth degree.

L1ttledrummergirl · 26/01/2023 08:31

It depends on the holiday. A relaxing break by the sea then no, but in city then definitely yes. I've had days planned to the minute as it's the only way to see everything on the list.

Magenta65 · 26/01/2023 08:38

We like to have an idea of a few things we might like to do but tend to go out on our first day, grab some leaflets from the booking agents, plan where and when we’ll go and the book it. We tend to do whatever we want then on days with no trips/meals booked etc

ihateexcel · 26/01/2023 08:40

Depends on holiday. AI in Europe or even Mexico with the kids and just a couple of places we want to go. Currently planning Disney Orlando for end of May though and have excel and a powerpoint ! For Disney I see it as planning now will save time in the parks and mean we get to see everything we want to do. It is a one in a lifetime trip though and will be our most expensive holiday to date, so I don't want to spend thousands to stand in lines for hours, not see all the shows, ride the rides, eat some good food and have time to relax there as well

CMOTDibbler · 26/01/2023 08:46

No, absolutely not. We like to have looked up local attractions/ walks/ beaches and good places to eat but our every day lives are so crazy and full on that we deliberatly choose not to feel pressured to be doing stuff on holiday, and if we just want to sit on a bench somewhere for a couple of hours and stare at the sea, thats great.

Girlintheframe · 26/01/2023 08:55

We have a rough idea of where we want to go, what we want to do but no fixed daily itinerary. We don't like beach/pool type holidays with lots of sunbathing but equally we don't want to feel under pressure otherwise it's not relaxing for us.

Oopswediditagain2023 · 26/01/2023 09:21

Ish. For short Uk breaks I'll do a quick look at things to do in the area and have a list so if it's rainy we can do x, if it's a nice day we could do y etc, and for holidays I write a list of things I'd like to do and go and see but it's not "full" and doesn't take up each day. Say we were away for 2 weeks, I'd maybe have 5 places I'd like to go to and see but they wouldn't be on planned days as such. It's also got to be quite flexible (kids!) - I wouldn't do what my friends do which is get up at 6am, go to this activity for 8am, then leave sharp at 10.30am for the next thing etc like it's a school trip. Always ends in disaster ime 🤣

Siezethefish · 26/01/2023 10:13

I make a spreadsheet. But this suits the type of holidays we go on as we don’t stay in one place.

LoraPiano · 26/01/2023 10:19

Oh no I hate that. I once travelled for a week with a friend who made a spreadsheet with a number of things to do each day as well as which cafes and restaurants to eat at. It was very stressful. Never again.

Lcb123 · 26/01/2023 10:20

Depends on the holiday. If it’s a 1-week sun break, zero plans. If it’s 2 weeks travelling round a country we’d book the transport and accommodation in advance, but not plan the days

VitaminX · 26/01/2023 11:24

Yes, but with a degree of flexibility, like moving things around to suit the weather and including 'free periods'. I can't bear the faffing where you waste time saying hmm how about x? No, let's do y. Oh I don't fancy y, z looks OK.

We tend to do short city breaks, though, where you don't want to miss the best bits. The itinerary is never a rushed frantic one, it leaves plenty of time for wandering and spontaneous ice creams or playground breaks. But I do like to have a rough idea of the main thing we're doing on any day.

PP who said about planning restaurants, that is an excellent idea! Definitely going to do that now. I also hate the wandering around where people don't want to commit to a restaurant.

At some point I'd like to try a lazy, relaxed no schedule holiday but I'm not sure I've got it in me.

Yarrawonga · 26/01/2023 11:29

It depends. If it is somewhere I have never been before I do make a list of things I would like to see and plan a rough timetable. All very loose though.

If it is somewhere I have been before, then no.

NeedWineNow · 26/01/2023 11:32

Oh yes; breakfast, sunbed, swim, lunch, sunbed, swim, sundowner, dinner, nightcap

And repeat for 14 days!

Sorry, OP couldn't resist, but speaking seriously no, we don't unless we are cruising and have booked a specific trip or we are taking a holiday and there is something we particularly want to see. Otherwise we just go and take each day as it comes.

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 26/01/2023 11:32

Depends on the holiday - a city break, yes; a 2-week sunny holiday I will have a few things I'd like to do but decide when we get there. Usually a beach day followed by an active day!

TheBirdintheCave · 26/01/2023 11:49

Oh yes :) I have an itinerary spreadsheet to record times of prebooked trips or taxis and to keep notes of suggested activities for each day. I also keep a restaurant spreadsheet which has a list of about twenty pre-approved restaurants in the area of each place we're staying with links to their menus and is searchable by food type. We normally choose the night before so that we can book a table for the following day. It saves a lot of time just wandering round or endlessly searching Trip Advisor, especially when you have a hungry toddler.

Planning the itinerary is one of the best parts of going on holiday. It gets me so excited for everything we're going to see and do :D

I guess it depends on what kind of holiday floats your boat though. Beach/pool holidays would bore me to tears. I cannot stand being idle, especially if I've spent a lot of money to visit somewhere. I want to explore and see and do as much as I can. We normally do city breaks and factor in a one nights stay at a beach place just for a change of pace for a day.