How to choose Where to go FOR your vacation and figure out the best Vacation Destination for you

There are so many beautiful places out there and with so little vacation time most people have (only 2 weeks in the US is a norm!), it might become overwhelming to decide where to go on vacation. Use the following steps to make this task simple and enjoyable!

Where to go on vacation; how to decide on the next vacation destination

But maybe you would you rather go to a bustling city, rather then a sleepy, remote town? In this case, don't miss Lisbon, Portugal (pic below). You will most likely enjoy it as much as I did, and you can find there both busy urban life and quiet side streets. Check out what else to do in Lisbon in my other post.

Once you have a clearer idea of your needs and wants, you can narrow down your list of the best destinations for your next vacation.

Set a budget for your vacation

Before you consider your options, it helps to figure out your budget (If you don’t have to do that – congrats!:)

Think about what kind of vacation experience you’re looking for, what time of year you want to travel, and how much money you can realistically spend.

There is a great spot for a vacation for everyone with any budget. You just need to find it. It’s not very enjoyable to stress out about overspending while on vacation if you can’t or shouldn’t afford it.

So, it’s important to be realistic at this stage.

Analyze Benefits and Costs for Each Destination Option.

Once you’ve narrowed down your options to a few destinations, it’s important to assess the cost factor. Consider things like airline tickets, hotel stays, train or bus tickets, food cost and other fees that may be associated with the vacation. Do a quick estimate of the costs and choose the one that gives you maximum benefits while meeting your budget criteria.

Safety considerations of your vacation destination.

Additionally, look at safety considerations and other nuances of the destination before making a final decision. This step becomes even more important if you are a solo female traveler. Check with your country’s embassy website for recommendations.

Consider Weather for the Time of Year You are Traveling.

Weather can drastically affect how enjoyable and comfortable your stay is, so take this factor into account.

For example, it might be not the best time to visit Rome in August, when it’s 106 F (or 41 C) every day. Also, it might matter to you that there are monsoons or hurricane seasons at your destination.

Do some research about the weather you expect and plan accordingly.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO VISIT

The best time to visit depends on the purpose of your trip; leisure, skiing, swimming, etc.

Obviously, you better go skiing in winter, and swimming in summer. Don’t be like people on my picture, who didn’t check the climate for their destination and went swimming to some snowy place!:)

If you are most interested in architecture—you can go year-round. Here is another advantage of being interested in architecture!:)

Use weather planning tools

Use weather planning tools to help you with figuring out where to go on vacation. This web site is not technically a trip planning tool, but you can get monthly reports of the average weather: daily highs and lows, amount of sunshine and rainfall at weatherspark.

If you realize that the travel dates you can go are not great for the destination you’re considering, save it for another time and go somewhere else.

Destinations That Match Your Criteria.

Do your research and read up on the destination before you make your final choice. Read travel blogs, search through photos, ask friends and family that have been there for recommendations, or use a combination of all three to find out more about the destination. Knowing all aspects of the destination prior to booking is essential if you want a stress-free vacation.

CHECK YOUTUBE AND PINTEREST FOR IDEAS about where to go on vacation.

If you are still not sure about where to go on vacation, you can check YouTube or Pinterest to check out different vacation destinations.

WATCH YOUTUBE VIDEOS TO GET FAMILIAR WITH DIFFERENT DESTINATIONS

Peoples’ recommendations, while useful, are subjective. Go to YouTube to get your own impression of different destinations in the world. Watch videos; it is much better to see the visual images of different destinations, which you can do by watching videos on YouTube.

For example, here is my video of one of my past destinations - Split, Croatia. I highly recommend going there!

Watch YouTube shorts

Watch YouTube shorts if you are interested in some particular places, let’s say you want to know how Sintra National Palace looks. You can check out my blog post about it or you can type this name in YouTube search field to see a short video of it, to get a visual impression.

USE PINTEREST FOR DESTINATION IDEAS

Create a new Pinterest board, name it My Next Vacation and pin some ideas you find on Pinterest on it. Check out my account there.

Make a list of potential destinations

Make a list of attractive potential vacation destinations. Now, let’s go to the next step of choosing the best vacation destination for you.

"Walk" on Google maps

Do you know that Google Maps is not only great for getting the directions, but it has even a better use? You can "walk" on Google Maps virtually and get almost the same impression from the surroundings as if you were walking in real time!

Let me show you how.

How to walk on Google Maps

Go to Google maps.

Check out every city and every attraction from your new YouTube list on Google Maps.

Type the destination city in. Grub the yellow dude called Packman in the lower right corner by left clicking on him and drop him on the city or a street you want to check out. You can only drop him on a street or place marked blue.  Once you’re on the street, start  “walking” by clicking on the arrows.

Don't forget to look around!

Don’t forget to look around and up.  You will feel as if you are walking on the street for real! :) You can zoom in on different details.

BTW, If you landed in a blue circle, it’s a 360 degree picture. You can’t walk there, but turn around to get a better look at the area.

Walking on Google map is the best for choosing a vacations destination.

This step is the most informative for me. I can ALWAYS predict if I will like the place or the city, by “walking it” on google maps. How did we live before Google maps?! ;)

Save every spot from your future travel list on Google map.

BTW, while you are finding all those great places to visit on Google map, why don't you bookmark every spot you like? Use the "save" button!

This way, you will have all the cool places already on the map for you! And once you are on the location, you can find the direction to it; it's already on your map!

And the more you "walk" the map, the more you look around and admire, the more bookmarks you have. This is how I keep track of places to visit. You can create differently colored bookmarks for places, favorites, food, whatever else, you can add to any list you want!

Create a custom walking route

You can even create a custom route, connecting all your bookmarked locations! This is the easiest way for you to plan your entire itinerary for the city!

Get travel guidebooks from a library. 

You should buy the right guidebook eventually, but first, why don't you get 5 or maybe 10?;) guidebooks from your local library to try them out?  Then, if you have really narrowed down on the  desired country/city you can just buy one for adding your own marks. 

DK Eyewitness guides

I used to LOVE DK Eyewitness travel guides.  I had so many of them! They had so many pretty pictures that were keeping me warm during the cold winter months in my hometown. They had tons of useful information, though, with all honesty I never really used that information for anything other than getting a general idea of where I would love to go next.  However, new editions DK books are very shallow, and it's not only my opinion.  You can still buy used DK Eyewitness series from the Internet. 

Rick Steve's guidebooks

Some people built their entire trip preparation around travel guidebooks. They go through every word in the guidebook religiously, make lists, write all the names.  Especially it seems to be true for the Rick Steve's guidebooks fans. 

I completely understand where they are coming from, and admire you, if you're one of his fans!:). Just planning the trip can be a very exciting part of the trip!  I just could never bring myself to write all the names.  I get bored fast if I do. But I had more than enough patience to pin all the precise locations on the map!:)

People just operate differently and there is no right or wrong way, just whatever works for you and makes you happy!   And if you don't know what it is, why not try it all and chose for yourself?;)

But let's go to another step. Once you’ve narrowed down on the city, there is something else to think about. 

I hope you are all energized to plan a trip now! :) For more information, read other sections of my blog, subscribe to my periodic emails and let's connect on social media; the links are in the footer below

NEXT UP...