Do you return to the same holiday destination every year?

[Papayapaws]

Does anyone else have one holiday destination they keep going back to?

I’m just wondering if this is quite common, or if we’re a bit unusual.

It’s not even that I think it’s the most beautiful or exciting place in the world. It’s more that we know it well, we enjoy it, and there’s something really comforting about going somewhere familiar. You know where everything is, you know which restaurants you like, you don’t spend the first few days getting your bearings, and it just feels easy.

Part of me wonders if we should be seeing more of the world instead of going back to the same place, but then I think holidays are meant to be relaxing and enjoyable, and familiarity is part of that for us.

Does anyone else have a place they return to year after year? Or are you the complete opposite and would never go to the same place twice?

Our place is Grenada.

We are towards the "never the same place twice" end of the spectrum. I wouldn't say I'd never go back to the same place but it's unusual and then it's normally a different part of the same place, to see or do something we didn't get to do on the first visit or maybe for a specific event. It's not like I'd refuse to go somewhere because I have been before but it wouldn't be my first choice. I can see why you love Grenada, it's a beautiful place and I'd be happy to spend time there. But if I was booking a holiday in Andalusia today I'd probably pick Seville, simply on the grounds that I have been to Grenada before but never seen Seville. There's so much of the world I haven't seen so on the whole I prefer to visit new places where possible.
But I don't think there is anything wrong with going to the same place every year if it is what you enjoy. My ILs have a holiday home abroad and most of the extended family have been going there every year for the best part of 30 years. That doesn't appeal to me but they love it. We don't all enjoy the same things and there is nothing wrong with spending your free time and money in a way that makes you happy.

Yes though not exclusively. My family have a home in Spain and we used to go every year, along with another holiday somewhere else (could be within UK, we’ve been to Scotland and Wales). I also have family in the USA so before Covid we tended to alternate years; one year in Spain, one year in USA, and before my kids got older scatter in a 4 day trips to places like Rome, or mini cruise to Amsterdam etc. We’ve also been to Australia and Norway and a road trip in Europe.
It is good to have a known quantity and my children love the Spanish house and seeing their relatives in America but also good to explore new places.

No, not every year. We do have places we have been to a few times, for exactly the same reasons, but I would find it boring to go every year, and not go anywhere else.

No, though I suppose I can see the appeal. We try to go to a new destination/country every time we go away and I’d be insanely bored with ‘knowing the restaurants’. If I want familiar then I’ll just stay at home. I suppose the only change to that for us is that we have been to Slovenia a fair few times now but never the same place! The same for Florida - 4 times but still we do different things each time and the state is massive!

My uncle has been going to the same resort and hotel in Menorca now for 27 years. He even requests the same room. He loves that people recognise him in restaurants and bars and has no intention of going anywhere else!

If however I was made to return to the same place each time then I would pick Northern Norway!

No, other than parents' and PIL's places in the UK, have only been to one place twice.

Would love to go back to Bellagio, Lake Como, which was our first holiday together (and set an extremely high bar). But it's so busy now and about four times as expensive.

We tend to go to Majorca most years plus a few particular Greek islands every few years - have been to lots of places over the years but do tend to gravitate these days back to the same places- because I know they tick the boxes -

No. The world is big, life is brief and funds are limited. I want to see as much as possible as I can!

Having said that I go 'home' to ny country of origin every other year to see family, which is a holiday I've been to before technically I suppose

We've returned to some places a few times, but now we are getting older we are making a concerted effort to go somewhere new every time. Its a big world, and we want to see as much of it as possible while we have the health and the money to do so.

No I would never want to return to the same place twice when there is so much of the world to see.

A bit of both, really.

Barbados is the place we go back to every 2 or 3 years, but we tend to stay in different hotels or rent a villa/AirBnB.

We've been to Kefalonia (Katelios) a couple of times, but only because our first holiday there was disrupted after 4 days by the Medicane! 3 days without power/phone/wifi (and 1 without water) did not make a great holiday.

https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2020/09/20/assos-kefalonia-buried-rocks-medicane-ianos/

But we also go to different places; this year Menorca, last year Canada (family).

Yes, I often go back to the same place. Sometimes because I want to see more of it - holidayed in Iceland 2 years running, but the second time I hired a car and travelled around the west and south coasts.

I have visited Gozo about 4 times now, I think. I go solo walking holidays and I've visited at different times of years, and the landscape changes according to the season. I've also stayed in different parts of the island so that also makes for a varied experience.

Lanzarote - my first visit was in 2022, and since then I've visited at least twice a year. I just love that island, and I've made friends there now.

And also try to visit somewhere new every year.

I do home exchange, so take 3 or 4 holidays a year. I was going to say that if I went once a year I might be less likely to keep going to the same place, but remembered that when I was in my 20s I tended to go back to the same place for my one holiday of the year!

Ha ha lol this reply made me giggle, I assume OP means Grenada Caribbean, rather than Granada Spain lol.

We have just returned from some lovely apartments in Kos where everyone seemed to have been 16 times or more including some 20 year olds who had literally grown up there lol from being babies. We rarely go to same place again but I would go there as the family who ran it were great and we made some new friends with some of the regulars. Our teenagers also loved it as they did too so definitely somewhere to return to.
However, there are so many places to see…. I love somewhere new as does my partner.

Yep - Val Thorens for skiing every year. It's like coming home.

Both. I go to Barbados every year to visit (going since 1996) sometime between November and March and then choose a new destination for another
holiday / trip for later in the year. Love exploring new places but also love Barbados - relaxing, sailing, the weather and the rum !

no not all

there’s a whole world out there waiting to be seen

We have been to the same area of Spain a few times and return to the same CP (mainly because it’s the most accessible for ds who is in a wheelchair - we have tried others).

But we’ve also looked elsewhere.

We tend to do

Majorca - various different resorts
Spain - Torreblanca
CP - Elvedon

we’ve also done Costa Brava - Tossa de Mar.

Other places just aren’t so flat and accessible within our price range!

Oops...that'll teach me to read properly! 🫣
Principle remains the same though. If I liked the Caribbean I'd be more likely to try out different places in the region rather than go back to the same place.

I used to be firmly in the go somewhere new every time camp. Until I went somewhere I spent the rest of the year dreaming about going back. Since then we’ve got 3 places that we return to regularly interspersed with new places . I enjoy arriving somewhere familiar and I can be instantly relaxed

Sometimes. For instance we are heading back to Krakow next month. We were there two years ago. However this year we are basing ourselves there and using the train to visit other towns/cities (doing an overnight in Warsaw for instance). We are staying at the same hotel mainly due to the unbeatable location (and cost). We also stayed in the same area of Croatia once because it’s just somewhere we really love.

We have a few places we’re returned to, usually maximum 3 times interspersed with other destinations. I do know a couple of people who return to the same hotel year in year out but will do city breaks at other times of year. They absolutely love their holidays so works for them.

DH would go to the same place every time, and so we have been back to a handful of hotels more than once - but for me, the best bit is finding your bearings and researching what’s around and going to the restaurant that turns out to be a miss and then finding a hidden gem, so I’d prefer somewhere new

We go to the US a lot though, and do visit a few chains while we are there to give DH the comfort bit of being somewhere he’s been before but actually in a new place.

We do a mix of both. We usually go to the Canaries around March-April every year, tend to go back there because it’s only for a week and I wouldn’t do long haul for less than 10 nights but at that time of year the weather isn’t the best in most parts of Europe.

We try and go somewhere different a few months later for a week, plenty of choices in Europe at that time of year. The last one is normally in the winter and we generally go long haul and try somewhere different every time.

I grew up going to the same place every year. It was ok, but boring (and our beaches are some of the world's best).

It made me realise it wasn't for me I'm a no place twice person. We do go to the beach for short breaks, but our main holiday is always somewhere new. I just love the feeling of my surroundings not being familiar.

We have a home in Spain and I spend 6 weeks there in the summer. Kids are teenagers and the last two years they have came over with their Dad for two to three weeks. I love my home in Spain, I know everywhere and it's a home from home but with the sun and a pool.

We always go to Lake Como for Easter and Liverpool in January. October we tend to try somewhere different.

I like the familiarity of our regular destinations and then enjoy something different once a year for a week.

We’re lucky that we have several holidays a year, but there’s one place we return 1-2 times per year. The past few years I’ve been taking dd15 and her friend or one of my nieces. It’s meant to be an easy holiday as we know the places to eat, the best beaches and other places to go, so there’s little thinking to be done! We must drop our bags and get on with it. We have visited 3 new places this year too.