To ask how you plan a holiday

[Squiffy01]

I know it isn't really an unreasonable topic but I need help. I have never been good at planning holidays so could I ask how you go about it.
Do you look for deals. Decide on Destination first then look for a deal?
How do you choose where to go when there are so many options?!

Currently trying to plan our honeymoon, we only have a week - last week of July. Could get a flight out 21st in the evening as I finish work early that day and back the Sunday. All the places we can think of are just too far to do in a week. We were look at safari but think we need more time to do it properly.

So anyone want to plan us a trip we are not the type to just sit on the beach and relax all day. There needs to be stuff to do. Somewhere exciting.
Please help.
Is theee anyone that used to be rubbish at planning and is now good? If so what should I be looking at doing to improve my holiday planning skills?

Call trailfinders.
We did a week safari last year followed by a beach/diving week but another couple on our tour did the 4 night safari and didn't miss out. It depends where you go.

Tip 1: don't overthink it.

What do you like to do? Museums and galleries? Hiking and staying active outdoors?

Do you want a 'tour' or DIY trip?

What sort of accommodation?

You need to answer these sorts of questions yourself. There is no wrong answer! :-)

I narrow it down to a destination and work from there.

For a week, I wouldn't fly more than 3 or 4 hours. A safari will involve a flight time of around 11 hours (plus all the other travelling).

I'd be looking at UK or Europe. You can always go on safari later when you have more time. I book a lot of travel for work and you always get the best deals/choice when you book early. Booking a July holiday in May is a bit late but you probably realise this!!!

I always device on destination first. Which country and where in that country we wish to go.
Then work out how we want to get there, drive, train, fly etc.
Once we are there do we want to stay in one place, have day trips, split the holiday between different places. What are the travel logistics of doing this. Do I now need to change my mind about how we are getting there?
What does everyone want to do while there? How can I balance the wants of the children vs the wants of DH vs what I want.

BTW I assume you have children as you have picked the first week of the summer holidays!

I am a pro holiday planner. I usually have half a dozen possible holiday itineraries mapped at any one time (we don't go on them - I'm just a fantasist)

Choosing the destination is the easy bit!

I usually read travel blogs & I love Mrandmrssmith.com & I escape.com for getting ideas about areas/flash accom

We usually get an Airbnb though as easier with a young child & I prefer a bit more space for a week holiday.

For close to the UK you can't go wrong with Italy, further afield Sri Lanka, Vietnam or Bali? Tulum in Mexico is meant to be fab as well.

I'd never book a package deal - much easier to book it all separately, accom is always shit in deals.

First what is your budget?
then what do you like to do?

Friends honeymoons around me have been: driving holiday staying at luxury hotels along the way, camping in some reserve parks in Africa, all inclusive resort in the Maldives, diving holiday in Thailand, someone went to Vegas, someone else in the Falklands... Everybody has different ideas.

How do you picture your dream honeymoon? A bit of beach? a luxury apartment in Barcelona (or somewhere else)? Beach/ shopping/ sand excursions in Dubai?

The choices are unlimited, but it's about you, and what you can afford. I'd go from there, look at a map and pick a country.

Think of the places you most want to visit in your lifetime. Then work out which of those are near enough for you to have a great time there in just a week. You odn't want to spend half the honeymoon recovering from jet lag.

And then narrow it down again by thinking of what sort of honeymoon you want - city break or walks along a beach etc. Then you'll maybe have a choice of just a couple of places. Look up flights on skyscanner and make sure you save ones that fly in an out from easy airports at convenient times. Then look for the kind of accommodation you want - luxury airbnb or hotel - and check location.

If I only had a week, I think I'd go for somewhere really romantic in Europe, like Venice or Rome or Granada. Or pick a gorgeous island to explore - Sicily or Corsica or Crete. But depends what you love.

Thanks for the responses!

ITgirl no children - employer told me this is a week I need to take in holiday.

I know we have left it late, I have been trying to plan it for about two months but can't decide on anywhere so I know there is no real chance of a good deal.

I think I want a bit of everything nice beaches but also a bit of city. Would defiantly like one maybe two nights in a nice romantic fancy hotel, as we always look for cheap and don't care normally it would be nice as it's honeymoon to do a night somewhere fabulous then cheap the rest (or as cheap as you can get in the summer holidays)
We don't mind a gallery but certainly not high on our list.
I think as we have left everything so late and only a week it will be Europe.

Don't have a set budget but don't want it to be ridiculous.

I'm just overthinking it and can't get anywhere.

Don't have a set budget but don't want it to be ridiculous

So what is that? £1k pp per week? £2k per person? More?

How are you with the heat OP? That will make a big difference about which bit of Europe to look at in July.

Maybe 1k per person which is still crazy high but don't mind spending it on honeymoon.

Has anyone been to Greece? Would you recommend?

jenny I'm fine with heat. DH tends to melt but will put up with heat if he has a pool or beach to cook down in eventually.

We have just booked our honeymoon to madeira for this year.
Beaches, things to do etc. Staying in funchal

You are going to pay a massive premium for that week.

I don't think you can go long haul for £1k pp.

Greece would be a good idea - you can do some sailing around the islands, a little bit of walking (it will be hot) and explore some nice beeches and restaurants.

Barcellona is lovely and really reasonable, Naples and the Amalfi coast ?
Cadiz on Spainish /Portugesue border ? I have stayed in georgus hotels in all 3.

If you travel well, i wouldn't narrow it down too much.

With the right flight times, I wouldn't object to a seven day holiday having a day each end, traveling.

My perspective is different because I was Widowed (relatively) young.

I'm planning a family holiday for 2018 and first I had a quick look at the accommodation available. Then destination, based and what we all wanted and flight times.

There's Hotels designed for Adults only, with Jacuzzi baths,big enough for two etc. So decideon room facilities, also.

Ok so if you want hotel / beach / town or city with things to do, and don't mind heat, I'd recommend the coast of Spain, France or Italy. How about Barcelona ? Beach and hotel and museums/galleries and other attractions to visit, and also you can get the train out and about along the coast for day trips.

Or the Cinque Terre in northern Italy - a string of beautiful little historic towns connected by a little train - will probably be packed with Italian families that week though ? The train line connects to Rome, Genoa, the Italian Lakes which are beautiful and good for walking etc.

Or Naples and the Amalfi coast ?

French coast around Marseille or inland to the Provencale countryside? Rose wine and beautiful lavender fields to walk through ?

Croatian coast is meant to be a fantastic place for pottering around doing a bit of beach stuff and a bit of sightseeing.

It might sound odd. But how about Edinburgh.
It's a city, it has lovely beaches.
Masses of things to do.
Edinburgh castle.
Royal yacht Britannia - they do a lovely champagne afternoon tea.
Whisky tour
Camera obscura - better fun than it sounds
Edinburgh museum - see the penguins do their walk outside.
Arthur's seat
The trams and buses make it really easy it get around.

Also means you can spend your budget on the hotel rather than the travel.
Well before the festival so should be able to find accommodation.

Of course if you live 'up north' it's a shit idea.

And if you pick somewhere large like Barcelona you should be able to pick up a little studio or one bed on AirBnB for a few days and partially self-cater which might free up some more cash for a couple of really posh hotel nights ....

Iceland if you don't want southern European summer heat.

I use on the beach's deal finder as a starting point, you put in your dates and then you can filter by price, trip advisor rating, destination, star rating etc. Once I've got some inspiration I'll usually have a look on travel Republic and cross reference with trip advisor. Their forums are also good for advice.

We've just got back (at 3am!) from our 4th trip to Rhodes -we love it! The weather, food, people, scenery and you can do as much or as little as you want. Day trips, windsurfing, beaches, islands, boat trips, cheese, horse riding, jeep safaris etc.

I also agree that Barcelona would fit the beaches/city bill. It isn’t too far away and you could probably use a good chunk of your money to find a really nice hotel as the flights probably wouldn’t cost too much.

What about santorini? It's beautiful- quite popular with honeymooners.
Or Rhodes? Lindos in particular. I love Lindos and the hotel lindos memories is beautiful.
Or you could look for an adults only hotel somewhere as it will be school holidays? There are a few in the Canary Islands?

Also Malta, there is quite a lot to do there. Some beautiful hotels and a lot of history. Also the Maltese are lovely friendly people.

They are all no more than 4 hour flights if you want to go abroad.

Go onto sky scanner. Pick "any destination". Put in our dates. Pick the cheapest destination that we'd be happy to go to. Look on air bnb for accommodation.
Sometimes we go with James villas/villa plus/eurocamp and we just put in our dates, what features we want (i.e. Heated pool) and just pick the cheapest. We're a large family with a small budget and that usually determines our holidays