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How to Plan a Travel Itinerary: The Complete Guide

You’ve chosen your destination, booked your transportation, and maybe even your accommodations. Now…you just have to figure out what in the world you’re going to do while you’re there.

In this post, we’re going to take a deep dive into how to plan a travel itinerary , the nitty-gritty of how to put together your schedule of sites, museums, and activities.

Key takeaways

• Prioritize and list your “must-do” sites and activities.
• Do thorough research on your destination
• Organize your wish list into “must-do,” “want-to-do,” and “nice-to-do” categories.
• Compile all the practical details for each activity, such as operating hours, fees, and booking requirements.
• Build your itinerary by scheduling must-do activities first and filling in with want-to-dos and nice-to-dos.

This post includes affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  See disclaimer.  

I’m a very detail-oriented kind of person (you know, the kind of person who makes lists for EVERYTHING), so this method of itinerary planning may not be of interest to the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of traveler.

If you’re not as hyper-organized as I am, you can easily modify this method for how you like to travel. It’s logical itinerary planning at its best.

I won’t be going over in this post how I research and plan for dining options since that’s a more complicated topic for me and my husband (as a celiac and a vegetarian) than the average traveler.

That’s probably a topic for a separate post. So, let’s get planning.

Getting started on your itinerary planning

“I’m heading to Rome/New York City/Paris/Mexico City for X number of days. What should I do and see while I’m there?”

I see similar questions all over Facebook literally every day, and I understand why. It can be overwhelming to plan a travel itinerary.

Let’s say you’re planning to spend five days in New York . How do you decide what to do for those five days? Where do you even start your search for the best ideas for sites to visit?

Side note: for simplicity’s sake, throughout this post, I’m going to use the word “site” to refer to anything (not eating) that you will want to make time for on your trip. These could be monuments, national parks, palaces, museums, activities, guided tours, etc.

There’s no real wrong way to plan your itinerary…just kidding. You have to do it my way.

No, seriously.

Okay…let’s get started.

When I’m planning a travel itinerary, I go through five phases of the process before I arrive at my final draft.

• Preliminary brainstorming
• Destination research
• Fleshing out my wish list
• Site/activity research
• Building my itinerary

I know this seems like a lot, but trust me, you’ll want to know you’ve considered all your options before you go on your trip.

You’ll thank me later.

Read More → Travel Planning Resources

Planning an itinerary starts with brainstorming your wish list

So, you’ve booked your trip, but your itinerary is completely blank. Your destination is your oyster, but where and how do you start?

Your first step is to do some preliminary brainstorming. If you’re heading to a top tourist destination, you probably already have some idea of the specific sites you want to visit (e.g., the Colosseum, Eiffel Tower, Chichen Itza, etc.).

If you’re going someplace completely unfamiliar to you, your brainstorming phase may be quite short but it can also be less specific if that helps (e.g., important historical sites, whatever the most important art museum is, popular beach, etc.).

To help yourself with your brainstorming, you can ask yourself the following questions:

• What are the famous/popular sites my destination is most known for?
• What are the top, must-do sites or activities I already know I want to do on this trip?
• Why are my spouse’s/travel partner’s must-do sites or activities for this trip? If children are traveling with you, why not include them in the brainstorming? They’ll love feeling like they’ve been a part of planning the trip.
• What are the kinds of activities we most enjoy while traveling in general?

Great! Write all of this down. Don’t worry. Nothing’s set in stone yet.

And the sky’s the limit. We’re not yet worrying about the costs involved or how much time we have.

Write it all down. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

[cue Jeopardy! theme music]

Okay, keep this list handy; it’s time to do some basic research on your destination.

TIP: Keep track of all of your important travel details with a digital travel planner like this . Prefer paper planners? Grab your printable travel itinerary planner pages here.

Research your destination

This is where I start to go crazy with research. I’ll take in anything and everything I can about my destination. The more good information I have, the better equipped I am to make good decisions about my itinerary.

And don’t assume you already know enough about where you’re headed.

Before I started researching Paris, I had never heard of Sacré-Coeur (which is one of the great free things to do in Paris , by the way) or Les Invalides.

We ended up visiting both on our trip.

Here are the questions I keep in mind as I do this research:

• What is my destination known for? Is it art, the natural landscape, history, architecture, etc.?
• What season will it be at my destination? Are there any popular seasonal activities I’d like to try while I’m there?
• Are there any special holiday events or festivals taking place there that I’d be interested in attending?
• What is the weather typically like there that time of the year and month? In other words, will I be comfortable spending long periods outdoors, or will I want to spend more time indoors?
• What are the public transportation options at my destination? Is there a good metro/public transportation system or will I have to rely on taxis, ride-sharing, or walking to get around?
• Where are my accommodations in relation to the major site on my list?
• Does my destination offer any kind of city or museum pass?

Side note: If you haven’t yet booked your accommodations, now is a good time to take a look at a map. Do a large number of must-do sites on your wish list cluster in a certain area? If so, you might want to consider booking accommodations nearby to simplify your transportation needs. This isn’t always a good idea but consider it.

Read More → Is it Worth it to Use Booking.com?

Read More → Booking.com or Direct with Hotel: Which is Better?

Where do I find this information? Here are a few suggestions:

• Do some simple Google searches and look around the different results for up-to-date information about your destination.
• Head over to Pinterest to discover what travel bloggers ( ahem ) have to say.
• Buy some good travel guidebooks and start reading.
• Watch YouTube videos about your destination.
• Armed with this pile of new information, you’re going to go back to your list.

Flesh out your wish list

As you researched your destination, you likely noticed certain sightseeing ideas or recommendations coming up over and over again.

• If they’re already on your brainstorm list, great! Leave them there.
• If you’ve never heard of or considered them, but they now sound interesting, add them to your list.
• If there’s something you’ve changed your mind about, go ahead and take it off your list if you really want to, otherwise, leave it on the list. You can always remove it later.

It’s okay at this point if your list has far more ideas on it than you can possibly fit into your trip. We’ll work on narrowing it down later.

After doing my research, I discovered a lot more ideas for things to do in Paris and sites to visit than were on my first brainstorming list. But…what if you’re finding the opposite to be the case?

What if you’ve booked yourself a round-trip plane ticket to your destination, but you’re finding only enough you’re interested in doing to fill a much shorter time than you’re planning to be there?

You have a couple of options:

• If you haven’t booked your accommodations yet, or you can still change/cancel your reservation, consider adding a destination to your trip. For example, if you’re flying into and out of Zurich, Switzerland, but are finding more that interests you perhaps in Lucerne (or beyond), consider spending at least a portion of your trip outside Zurich.
• If you have booked your accommodations and your reservation cannot be changed, consider adding day trips to your itinerary. For example, if you’re staying in Florence, Italy, you could take the train to Pisa or Lucca for the day.

By now you should have a good sense of what your itinerary could look like; it’s starting to take shape.

Specific site or activity research

Okay, so you have this beautiful, and probably fairly lengthy list of things you’d like to see and do on your trip.

Now you get to do research on each of these items individually. Yay! Seriously…I love this part.

To start, you’re going to break down your wish list into four sections. If your list is pretty long, you can re-write it into these four sections, but if it’s on the shorter side, it’s okay to do this mentally.

Must-do sites.

These are the places people traverse the globe to see…the Eiffel Tower, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pyramids of Giza, Great Wall of China. You get it.

These are the non-negotiable ones. They go in the itinerary no matter what.

Want-to-do sites.

These are the second-tier sites for your trip, the things you want to make room for, but won’t necessarily dissolve into tears if you can’t manage it.

Examples from my travels would include the Rodin Museum (Paris), Trevi Fountain (Rome), or walking the entire High Line in New York City.

Nice-to-do sites.

These are the minor sites and activities that will become the filler in your itinerary. On my itineraries, these are things like “sit on the Spanish Steps” or “buy cheese from a fromagerie.”

I don’t care if we do this or not.

These are the sites that are first on the chopping block once we start to build the actual itinerary. Or you may have cut them already once you did your destination research.

Now that you have your sites grouped, the next thing to do is your research. For at least each of your must-do and want-to-do sites you need to know the following:

• What days of the week is it open and what are the operating hours?
• What is the entrance fee (if any)?
• What is the best day of the week to visit?
• Do you need to book tickets or make a reservation ahead of time? If so, how far in advance can you book/should you book?
• Where is it and how do I get there? I especially want to know how far it is from my accommodations and how far it is from other major sites on my list.

Side note: The My Maps feature in Google Maps is an invaluable part of this phase of the itinerary planning process for me. You can pin locations, organize and color code sites to visit, and even add personal notes.

Narrowing it down

Okay, now you have even more information about your destination. Here’s where you start making some changes to your list.

At this stage, I may move sites from one section of my wish list to another. Something might move up on the list, for example, if I discover that it’s very near one of my must-do’s, or if it’s free to visit.

This is how we ended up going to Les Invalides; it wasn’t anywhere near the top of our list, but it’s right across the street from the Rodin Museum (which was something I wanted to do) AND it’s covered by the Paris Museum Pass. It was super easy to just pop in for a bit after the Rodin Museum, but we probably wouldn’t have made a separate trip.

Something might move down the list (or come off the list entirely) if I learn it’s very out of the way or more of a financial investment than my particular budget for this trip can support.

Should I purchase a city or museum pass?

Let’s revisit the city/museum pass question from the destination research phase.

If your destination offers one (or a few), take the time to consider if it’s worth it for you to purchase for your trip. We used the Museum Pass on our trip to Paris (and highly recommend it), but decided against buying the Firenze Card for our trip to Florence, Italy .

Here are some criteria I use to judge whether a city or museum pass is worth it for us to purchase for a particular trip:

• What sites are covered? Will you have to book entrance to many of your must-do/want-to-do sites separately or are most covered by the pass?
• Does the pass offer you unlimited entry to covered sites or can you use it one time only?
• Will you save money if you buy the pass? It’s not necessarily a deal breaker if it doesn’t. The convenience of not having to book entrance reservations to sites ahead of time can outweigh some financial disincentives.
• Does the pass cover any public transportation you’re planning to use or just site entrance fees?
• For how many days is the pass valid versus how many days you will be at your destination? For example, we chose not to buy the Firenze Card on our trip to Florence, because it’s only good for 72 hours, and we were spending 8 nights there. Purchasing two cards each would have cost us far more than paying for our chosen sites individually.

How do I decide what to cut from my itinerary?

This part of the process is highly personal. Only you can really decide if a particular site or activity is “worth it” to you.

The decision to buy or not to buy a city or museum pass may affect how you narrow down your list. If you have to purchase entrance tickets to all of your sites individually, you may end up having to spend more money to see everything (or cut sites to stay within your budget).

Or if you do decide to purchase a pass but a site on your list is not covered, you may find yourself considering leaving it off your list.

On the other hand, if you have a pass you may see more sites overall because you’ve already paid for admission.

…If that makes sense.

At this stage of the itinerary planning process, if there’s anything on my list that makes us say “meh” it goes on the “I don’t care” list.

Build the trip itinerary

Okay. You’ve done your research, you’ve decided whether you’re buying that city pass and you’ve refined your site wish list.

You’re ready to build your itinerary! I’m going to use our recent trip to Paris to demonstrate how I put it all together.

The non-negotiables get top priority.

For each full day on your trip, choose one or two of your must-do’s or want-to-do’s: one first thing in the morning and one for later that day.

Your must-do’s (your non-negotiables) go on the schedule first and as early in your trip as you possibly can.

If you arrived in Paris on April 14, 2019, and decided to put off seeing Notre-Dame until later in the week, you were probably pretty disappointed on April 15 as the world watched the devastating fire that closed it down.

Don’t. Put. It. Off.

For our trip to Paris, we each had one non-negotiable: the Louvre and the Palais Garnier. We did them both on our first full day there.

Then add any other must-dos that require advanced booking or warrant a full day on your itinerary or both. So, I needed to choose days for Versailles and the Eiffel Tower.

My research told me that I should plan a full day at Versailles and that it is quite busy on the weekends and on Tuesdays (when the Louvre is closed).

I also learned that the Eiffel Tower is open every day until late, that I should plan to spend about three hours there, and that I needed to book tickets for the summit as far ahead as possible.

Add in your want-to-do’s.

With the must-dos scheduled, I’m ready to schedule the want-to-do’s. I added Musee d’Orsay and Musee Rodin, then Musee de l’Orangerie, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, etc.

Nice-to-do’s fill in any remaining gaps.

I then fill in the rest of the itinerary with the nice-to-do’s, leaving our last full day intentionally blank.

When staying in one place for four days or more, we try to keep our last full day completely open. This is so we can return to any place we want to see again, or so that we can add more of the items from our “nice to do” list depending on what we’re in the mood for. It helps us create a good balance between sightseeing and relaxation .

If you’re taking a trip that includes multiple stops, you can just repeat this process for each place you’ll be staying.

Keep in mind as you’re planning a trip itinerary that if you’re bouncing from city to city every other day, you’ll be spending a lot of time traveling from one destination to the next.

I do feel like I need to say, that even though you now have a meticulously planned itinerary it doesn’t mean you can’t be spontaneous. We often find that we spend far less time at some sites than we think we need to allow for, giving us time to do even more on our trip than we hoped.

Or sometimes we just don’t feel like doing something on our schedule…and that’s okay too.

Now you have the tools to build the perfect itinerary for your next trip. Enjoy!

More articles to help you plan your travel itinerary

• 5 easy steps to planning a trip
• Travel planning resources you need
• The best travel guides (online resources and books)

Pin this post!

Darcy Vierow is a busy professional and travel planning expert with years of experience maximizing travel with limited time and on a less-than-average salary. Her tips have been published by Forbes, MSN.com, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, Aol, Newsbreak and GOBankingRates. Read more about Darcy Vierow .

10 Comments

Absolutely love this perspective on travel! It beautifully captures the essence of what it means to explore the world. Travel isn’t just about ticking off destinations; it’s about slowing down, immersing yourself in new cultures, savoring moments, and absorbing the rich tapestry of life that the world has to offer. 🌍✈️🌏

My sister wants to travel for her honeymoon, so she’s interested in starting to plan it this month. I liked what you explained about choosing a destination and the places you’d like to visit, so I’ll share this with my sister right away. I appreciate your insight on considering what you want to see and visit and booking accommodation near those places.

You are so much more organized than we are – we usually book places the day of or the day before and figure out what we are doing day by day. We like to leave things pretty wide open to see what happens and what we find. This is such a great guide though for planning a vacation!

Thanks for your comment! Yeah, I actually have a hard time just going with the flow…it’s something I’m working on.

This is so perfect! I enjoy the entire planning process, so this definitely speaks to me. I particularly enjoy researching locally owned restaurants and off the beaten path places. Thanks so sharing such a great way to plan

Thank you for your kind comment!

This post resonates a lot with me as like you, I too plan extensively before I travel. I believe planning well helps us make the most of our time and also gives more peace of mind. Excellent tips!

Thank you! And I definitely agree with you about how helpful good travel planning is for traveling well.

It is so helpful to find a guide on how to organize and plan a trip! For a lot of people (me included) this is the most traumatic experience about traveling as you want everything to go perfect and smoothly. I plan trips all the time and this guide was literally how I do my planning! Thank you so much for sharing and I hope it helps a lot of travelers out there too!

Thanks so much for reading and for your kind comment. I really do hope a lot of travelers find this guide helpful.

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• Planning Travel

How to Make an Itinerary for a Trip

Last Updated: May 15, 2024 Fact Checked

• Planning Your Itinerary
• Formatting Your Itinerary
• Using an Online Template

What is a travel itinerary?

• Travel Itinerary Template

This article was co-authored by Allyson Edwards and by wikiHow staff writer, Sophie Burkholder, BA . Allyson Edwards graduated from Stanford University with a BA in International Relations. Afterwards, she went on to facilitate International partnerships with agencies in over twenty countries, and has consulted for companies in industries across education, fintech, and retail. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 274,057 times.

A travel itinerary outlines all elements of a trip, from hotel stops to destinations. It can be indispensable, whether you’re planning a weekend vacation or an extended road trip. A good itinerary gives a trip structure, and maximizes the amount you’ll be able to see and do. An itinerary is simple to develop and we're here to walk you through each and every step so you can plan an entire trip in an efficient and organized manner!

Making a Travel Itinerary

• Research your destination, including information on weather, local events, and activities.
• Make a list of everything you want to do and see on your trip, from highest to lowest priority.
• Create a calendar that includes travel dates and accommodation check-in times.
• Book activities that require advanced reservations and note them under the appropriate date.
• Moving down your list of activities, fit them into your itinerary schedule.
• Double-check opening times, dates, and other logistical information for each activity.

Planning Out Your Itinerary

• If you’re not sure where you want to go yet, create a trip inspiration board with all the places you’d like to go.
• Create a physical vision board , pin destinations on Pinterest, or save inspiring TikToks from travel influencers.

• Do you want a trip with days spent at four-star restaurants and nights spent in five-star hotels? Or are you more interested in finding local favorites and rustic B&Bs?
• Your vacation can be as expensive (or inexpensive) as you want. It ultimately comes down to what you can afford.

• Look into transportation for traveling to your destination and for getting around while you’re there.
• Find accommodation that fits your budget, like a hostel, AirBnB, or hotel, and make sure it’s near your top attractions.
• Research local events, holidays, and observances in the places you're traveling to. You may be able to witness or experience a cultural event that other travelers don't get to experience.
• If you’re traveling with a group of friends or another person, get feedback and ideas for your destinations from the group.

• Obtain local maps for the areas you will be exploring. It is also helpful to get schedules for bus and train services and numbers for local taxis.
• Make sure that the maps are up-to-date. Cities and other areas change often. A road that existed 10 years ago may no longer exist today.
• Use Google MyMaps to pin each attraction or eatery onto a map. On your trip, you can easily see routes between points of interest and what’s around you at any time.

• Build in an extra day for rest or spontaneous adventures. Plus, if plans go amiss for any reason, having this extra day will give you some wiggle room. [6] X Research source

• Keep a printed copy or type the details of your itinerary into a word processing document.
• If you will be using airport transportation to get to your hotel, also include information about fees and hours of operation.

Formatting Your Itinerary in a Text File

• Using a text document to make your travel itinerary makes it easy to organize your information quickly.
• You can easily arrange information from your confirmation emails or online travel blogs on the page by copying and pasting it.

• General Information : Includes “at-a-glance” information, like transportation, accommodation, contact info, emergency phone numbers, travel websites, physical mailing addresses, etc.
• Dates & Times : Includes the different dates and times related to your trip, such as arrival and departure times, connections, travel routes, reservation information, etc.
• Notes : Includes any additional information related to your trip, like miscellaneous travel arrangements and important tips.

• Monday, July 8th
• Tuesday, July 9th
• Wednesday, July 10th
• Thursday, July 11th

• 4 AM: Leave home and take the Silver Line from Courthouse Station to Logan Airport.
• 6:13 AM: IcelandAir flight #FI680 departs. The confirmation code is LXRMTQ. Flight seat number is 6F.
• 8:45 PM: Arrive at London Heathrow airport and take Bluestreet private car service to the Hoxton, Holborn hotel. Car service reservation is #402FB5.
• Ask for assistant manager (Nancy) for help with excess luggage.

• Print out a copy for each person joining you on the trip.

Creating Your Itinerary with a Digital Template

• Complete each section of the template with the indicated information, such as activities, travel arrangements, or daily schedules.
• Add visuals to personalize your itinerary and make it cute! Upload photos from your device or choose stock photos. Include effects, filters, and stickers as desired.
• Personalize the font, effects, color, and layout of your titles and text boxes.
• When you’re happy with your final itinerary, download it in PDF, JPG, or PNG format. Print copies of the downloaded document and/or share it digitally.

• Save the template or template link for later so that you can make similar itineraries when planning your next trip !

• Basic information : Dates, times, and locations for the trip.
• Travel arrangements : Car services, reservation numbers, flight/bus/train/ferry numbers, rest areas, etc.
• Accommodation arrangements : Reservation/confirmation numbers for hotels, motels, hostels, campsites, resorts, etc.
• Meal arrangements : Vouchers, restaurant reservations, recommended cafés and bars, hotel breakfast hours, etc.
• Excursion/Activity arrangements : Tour companies and operators, reservation numbers, contact information, hours of operation, pick-up and drop/off locations, etc.
• Destination contact information : Landline, toll-free, and mobile phone numbers, email addresses, websites, physical addresses, etc.
• Personal emergency contact information : Your emergency contact’s name, relationship, physical address, phone number and email address. The address and number of your country’s closest embassy or consulate.
• Notes : Any additional notes related to the trip that don’t fit in one of the other categories.

5-Day Travel Itinerary Template

Community Q&A

• Keep a hard copy of your travel itinerary in a multi-pocket folder or 3-ring binder. As convenient as an app can be, batteries can die. It never hurts to keep a physical backup handy. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1
• Even if you will only be gone for a weekend, it’s a good idea to make sure that everything at home is in order and accounted for. If you have pets or plants or will need your mail checked for an extended amount of time, ensure that a friend or family member will be there to do so. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1
• Stay flexible when making your itinerary. Ultimately, your itinerary is a guide to keep you on track while visiting. If you miss a reservation, it isn’t the end of the world, and it may give you a chance to explore some spontaneous options recommended by locals! Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.ciee.org/go-abroad/work/teach-english-abroad/blog/weekend-warrior-how-plan-weekend-trip
• ↑ http://www.seat61.com/spreadsheet.htm
• ↑ https://www.easemytrip.com/blog/tips-to-plan-an-international-trip
• ↑ https://www.fjordsandbeaches.com/plan-a-trip-to-norway/
• ↑ https://www.expedia.com/lp/b/vacations/planning
• ↑ https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/how-to-plan-a-trip
• ↑ https://allaboutplanners.com.au/how-i-use-microsoft-word-to-plan-my-travel-itinerary-my-template-planning-process/
• ↑ https://twoweektraveller.com/how-to-write-a-2-week-travel-itinerary-2/
• ↑ https://youtu.be/5O9ISzhJ9E4?t=76
• ↑ https://malaintransit.com/the-8-essential-things-to-include-in-your-travel-itinerary/

About This Article

If you want to create a travel itinerary, first gather your flight numbers, hotel and car rental details, and any restaurant reservations you’ve made. Once you have the broad outlines of your comings and goings, make a list of everything you want to see and do. You can then figure out how and when to fit everything into your vacation days. Try to map your stops sequentially so you don’t waste time doubling back or driving around in circles. Just remember to build in a couple of free days to explore a little-known local treasure or put your tired feet up! For tips on how to organize your itinerary and why to keep it on paper as well as in the cloud, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Make a Travel Itinerary: Create the Best One for Your Trip

There is something to be said for aimlessly roaming the streets of an energetic city popping into quaint cafes and talking to the locals, not knowing what you will find.

Though when there’s a limited amount of time, I also don’t want to leave seeing something perfect for the bucket list totally by chance. What if I missed the Skyline Trail hike along the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia ? Or the stunning Piaynemo view in Raja Ampat ?

I always create a travel itinerary.

In order to make sure I don’t miss any amazing bucket list experiences while exploring a new destination, I always create a loose itinerary that leaves room for unexpected opportunity, like exploring the alleyways along the backstreets of Tokyo .

When I make my travel itinerary strict, it causes me anxiety, but it also can waste precious time when you don’t have a plan. I never want to be spending hours in my hotel room trying to figure out what to do for the day, when I can actually be out there doing it!

Here’s how I organize an itinerary:

How to Store your Travel Itinerary

In the beginning of my travel career, I spent a couple months creating a London itinerary , not wanting to miss a thing. I purchased an expensive map and spent hours putting little numbered stickies on all the places to be visited. These numbers coordinated with an Excel spreadsheet that listed the attractions by name along with other essential information.

It was foolproof-so I thought.

On day one, while walking to Abbey Road , the map fell out of my purse and was gone. Countless hours of planning were down the drain in a matter of minutes. Since then I have never bought a paper map, (especially since almost every airport and hotel has a free one you can pick up when you arrive).

Instead, I create and store all my itineraries with the Evernote app . The app can keep maps, photos and links to important websites that can be accessed on any of my devices. You can also set up an offline notebook in order to see your notes without Internet access, but keep in mind that you will need Wi-Fi to access any links.

You could also use the Notes app on Apple products (though it does not have as many bells & whistles as Evernote) or Microsoft OneNote , which is Evernote’s main competitor.

Do Your Research

If you want to get the most out of your experience, you need to know what you want to do and what will make the ultimate travel venture for you. Are you fascinated by a town’s history, culture or food? Do you want your trip to just be about crazy adventures and a city’s vibrant nightlife? Answering these questions means that you need to do some research for the area you are visiting.

Prior to traveling anywhere I do an online search of “unique things to do in XYZ”, “traditional foods of XYZ” and “best restaurant in XYZ”. I then scroll through dozens of the result sites quickly, making a list in Evernote of all the things that even slightly interest me. It is important to get past the first few pages of the Google results to find more personal stories and blogs, instead of large generic sites that can give you only a touristy perspective.

If the city or country’s Tourism Board website does not come up within the search results, I always check their site for recommendations. I may also see if Netflix has any documentaries on the destination that can be rented, plus browse a few travel guides at the bookstore.

Another good idea is to search a tour website, like Get Your Guide for what sorts of experiences they offer in your travel destination.

After there is a rough list, more elaborate research is done on each attraction and restaurant to determine what will be kept on the itinerary versus what will be deleted. Keep in mind that you can’t see and do it all, so put an asterisk by the items that are absolute must-dos.

Divide a City into Sections

Many large cities will be split up in districts, like Paris with its arrondissements or the London boroughs. Look at an online map and determine the sections of a city you are traveling to. Create a header in Evernote for each district; if a town doesn’t have sections, it can be zoned into four quadrants (NE, NW, SE, SW). If your travels will be through several small villages, your headers can just be the name of the village.

Start taking the items from your master list and placing them in the sections that they are located in. This will make planning your day easier when you know what area you will be headed to and all the things you can do there.

Tip: You can create a Google Map with pins in all the locations you want to visit for the day, then add it to your Evernote file.

Create a Calendar

Make a calendar for each day of your vacation. You can either do this in a simple list format or create a table. Take a look at your “things to do” list, there are bound to be certain attractions/events that have to be done on specific days due to limited open hours or reservation availability, so put those on the calendar first under the appropriate day and time.

If there are free hours on that specific date, then add anything that is in that same district to it, starting with the important items that have an asterisk next to them. Don’t put specific times on these other entries just squeeze as many as you can in before or after you scheduled event. This way you will have plenty of options on what to in the district that you will be in without having to be strict about the time.

Leave Room for Opportunity & Be Realistic

Even when I am in a location trying to make a tick off the bucket list I create loose itineraries, ones that leave room for unexpected opportunities, because a bucket list is just as much about the journey as it is the checkmark.

There are always times while exploring a city that something incredible sidetracks you, and if you are scheduled with events back to back you may have to miss out. Of course you’re going to want to see and do everything on your trip, but also be realistic.

Don’t expect to land in Europe, after twelve hours of travel and hit the ground running jam-packing your itinerary from sun up to down. Leave room for meals, sleep, jetlag and rest. Plus expect a few hiccups along the way; flights can be delayed, restaurants can lose reservations and an attraction may pale in comparison in person to the photographs on the Internet.

In the Bahamas our tour guide forgot to pick us up at the hotel, it rained for 24 hours straight and the buggy we rented got a flat tire in the first half hour. Yes, it changed our itinerary a bit, but instead of the original plan we met a lovely Bahamian couple that graciously drove us to the local fish fry where we ate cracked conch and drank bottles of Kalik beer.

Sometimes the unexpected is the most memorable part of the journey.

Don’t Forget the Extras

Add your flight numbers, hotel addresses, maps, etc. to your itinerary file for easy access. All my itineraries include this information, plus the currency exchange rate (so I know how much 1 US dollar is worth in the country). It is much easier to look at one file then have to scroll through dozens of emails or check different apps to find what I am looking for.

Note: This should not be a substitute for keeping all that information stored in emails or printed copies of confirmations just in case.

This and a lot more traveling tips can be found in my book Bucket List Adventures .

Happy Traveling!

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through my links, I earn a commission that helps to keep this blog running—at no extra cost to you. For more information read my full disclosure .

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29 thoughts on “How to Make a Travel Itinerary: Create the Best One for Your Trip”

How do you decide how long you will stay somewhere? We are looking to book our first trip to Europ and hope to visit Paris and London. Thinking 5 full days at each but don’t know how to determine that.

Typically, I will research everything I want to do before actually deciding on how long I will stay in a location. After I’ve compiled that list, I seperate the chosen adventures into the cities district and then I will put them all on a mock calendar to determine how much I can see and do on each day. This can determine how many days I need to be in a city, but it also depends on how much time I have to travel too. I think that an amazing overview of almost any city can be seen in 3-4 days. I did both Paris and London in 4. I didn’t get to see it all, but I also didn’t feel like I missed out on any of the monumental things. Five days will get you a lot of exploring in both those cities!

Wow! That kind of itinerary planning takes dedication. I do basic research when I go some place but I wish I can be as organized as you are :) I’ll give Evernote a try. Thanks for mentioning it.

I like my research!

Great article! This is also how I create our travel itineraries with the addition of doing a search for unique souvenirs to bring back home. It takes a lot of time and effort but it also gets you even more excited for the trip knowing what you’ll be seeing! Totally agree on having a loose itinerary – I over planned the first time we went to Europe and even made an itinerary of what paintings to see in museums :0 P.S. Absolutely love Evernote – I feel like my whole life is there :D

I totally over planned my first trip too! I love that you add what souvenirs to look for, that’s something I have never done, but may need to add.

Great article, very useful who love to travel.

Very nice article and photos you I love it thank you for sharing. Good luck

Great tips here–especially on how to use Evernote more effectively for planning! I usually just make a very unorganized list…no more!

I agree that whenever you are on travel always make an allowance to your itinerary. You don’t know along the road you might meet other travelers too that will be going to an interesting place.

I thought I had itinerary planning down, but after reading this, I’m realizing I’m still in the minor leagues! Love the tip about Netflix documentaries and leaving room in the itinerary for opportunity. I used to plan things so rigidly that it at times was very stressful. I’ve since tried to be more flexible and it has made all the difference. Thank you for sharing your trip planning strategies!

I used to be the same and plan very strict itineraries. And you are right—it’s way too stressful!

I wish I had that dedication to planning! Would love to do it step by step though. Gonna try the evernote app first!

Well thank you for those useful tips.

Thank you! It is an honor to be included on this list with this amazing group of customer service and experience experts and organizations. I promise to keep writing! Thank you again

Great blog and thanks for sharing nice facts.

Grateful information. So thank you for sharing.

This is a perfect article to read especially for a first-time traveler. Very informative, thanks a lot for sharing.

Thanks for the practical advice. A well prepared itinerary saves lot of time gets you most out of the journey.

Nice tips on how to store your travel itinerary!

I’m glad you enjoyed your trip to the Bahamas despite the hiccups. I’m from The Bahamas and I love living here

It was a great visit and I hope to return!

Wow. Thanks for the info. A useful article for anyone who wants to travel a lot!

Can you recommend train or bus links for travel in Europe? Specifically Italy, Greece. You have inspired by bucket list!

Thank you for highlighting your valuable words through this article

Thanks for the clearly laid out explanations, makes lots of sense. I do like allowing a bit of down time or for the unexpected too.

I found this review quite informative and helpful, I enjoyed it

Thank you for the information it helps a lot due to i love to travel on my down days, However it would be nice to have some kind of transportation included like a bus or some to make sure we get where we need to be.

This festivals looks an amazing at the first glance, a lot of countries’ respresentative. It should be on the bucket list of the travellers who want to experience cultures and traditions. I will try my best to be a part of this too.

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How to Plan Perfect Travel Itinerary: Easy 10 Step Guide

Are you planning your short holiday or a year-long trip? Everything starts with a travel itinerary as perfect or terrible itinerary can either make or break your adventure. These following ten easy steps will teach you how to create a travel itinerary and how to avoid the most common mistakes.

Creating the perfect travel itinerary is an art in a way. As in every industry, there are a few people among us who can create the best itinerary without any hitches in a short time.

The rest, on the other hand, have to put a lot of time and effort into making an itinerary which makes sense, and is worth to follow.

When creating a travel itinerary, there are so many things to plan , consider and organize that you might start to feel overwhelmed at first, but with our step by step planning guide, planning a travel itinerary will become extremely easy.

We've compiled an essential guide on how to make the perfect travel itinerary.

Follow the list which is stacked with useful tips and tricks on how to make your trip awesome.

Although making the itinerary can be sometimes tiring and time-consuming, when you do it right, when finally on the road, you'll be rewarded instantly.

As from the very beginning to the end of your journey you won't have to take care of anything else but enjoying your time and soaking up the world's beauty around you.

Do You Need Travel Itinerary?

Do you mind staying overnight at the train station sleeping on a bench because there was only one train departing today and you've missed it? Having a travel itinerary will help you to minimize the struggles and allow you to have control over your trip.

And no matter what you think about plans or itineraries, the itinerary gives your holiday a structure, it helps you to save money , maximize the traveling time and you won't miss anything on your bucket list.

First, we must outline there are three types of travelers.

Those who need to plan their day step by step and who stick to their itinerary no matter what, those who only buy a one-way ticket and then go with the flow, and the last group of travelers are those who create an itinerary, but later are able to customize it or adjust it according to the current situation.

Because you've landed on this article, we believe you belong in the group number one or number three.

We've been traveling the world for the past ten years, and we tried many tricks, tips and travel approaches when it comes to planning an itinerary.

From not having one to following the strict itinerary for example when hiking the Annapurna Circuit .

If we can compare those two situations, we for sure prefer to have a travel itinerary, or at least to know how to create one, so we can quickly and efficiently organize our time.

#1 Make a Wish List

Creating a list of all the places you want to visit and activities that you would love to do in the destination is a great way how to start planning your dream vacation.

Write down everything you know about the place you are going to visit in your travel notebook , things you want to do, the activities you want to try and places you want to see.

This list does not need to include only well-accessible places or highlights every traveler visit in the country.

Write down anything you think is interesting for you. Later will come the stage when you need to figure out if your list of must-visit places is doable and how.

Also, creating an inspiration board, which can be anything from an online notes app to old school pen and paper board, with photos and articles is a great idea if you are looking for more information or don't know anything about the place.

If you have a specific activity in your mind that you want to do, or there's an event you would like to visit, plan your trip around it.

Do you want to go hiking in Patagonia , whale watching in Iceland , or would you like to go shopping in New York ?

This will have the highest priority on your itinerary, think of an imaginary anchor, make it a centerpiece of your plans and adjust the rest of the trip according to the date of the event.

#2 Create Budget

Every holiday planning starts with creating a travel budget .

It doesn't matter if you will stay in Cartagena in shabby dormitories or 5-star all-inclusive hotels, hitchhike or fly with a first class in Patagonia , cook at the hostel kitchen or eat out in fancy restaurants in Sydney , deciding on a how much money you want or can spend will help you to stay in control of your budget.

Thinking about the budget will also help you to select places you can afford to visit or the way of transport how you can reach them.

Most importantly, make your budget realistic. Some destinations are more expensive than others, and you will avoid some unpleasant surprises. Iceland is way more expensive than Ecuador .

It is always better to budget a bit more as unforeseen situations might happen.

By having a solid plan you can avoid arguing with your partner about overspending when both of you know the budget limit, or if you travel in a group of friends, you can agree on the certain amount of money you are willing to spend for activities, accommodation or food.

This doesn't mean that you can't spontaneously decide to spend extra and do some crazy activity such as volcano boarding in Nicaragua you've always wanted to try or treat yourself with an fancy dinner in Paraty .

But it's useful to keep your day to day expenses in the bay to prevent inevitable stress and arguing with your travel companions.

#3 Decide on Season

Most of the travel destinations around the world have a high season which is more comfortable for traveling for many reasons but is also more crowded, and a low season when you can expect a more relaxed atmosphere, but also a bit more unstable weather conditions.

Arriving in the Amazon jungle in rainy season will be a completely different experience from traveling during the dry season as almost 80% of the area will be flooded - this is for sure something you cannot overlook and must take into account.

Also, the length of daylight varies during the year. Let's say you would love to visit Prague in the Czech Republic.

The days in winter are much shorter than in the summer, which may temper with your outdoor activities.

From mid-October it's going to be dark from 4 PM, in July there's going to be daylight almost till 10 PM. As you can see, that's a huge time difference, and you need to take it into consideration when creating the travel itinerary.

Despite all this, Prague in Winter is still beautiful, and arriving during this time of the year here is one of the best ways to avoid the crowds .

And then there is the weather. Although the weather can be unpredictable, you roughly know what you can expect in Europe in December or in July.

Always create an alternative plan in case you get stuck with bad weather conditions for several days.

#4 Do Your Homework

There's never been an easier way how to gather all the information about your dream destination than today as you can do almost everything from the comfort of your home.

The internet is your best friend here, and with small help of traditional paper travel guides , you can make wonders.

Doing research about the new destination can be daunting as there's so much information you need to sort out and process, but all the hard work will pay off once you land.

When creating the itinerary, use maps. Trust us. This approach will help you to have a better vacation .

One of the biggest travel mistakes almost every traveler is guilty of is that they overly trust and rely on their geography knowledge, which is most of the time pretty rusty and far away from reality. Some places can be a bit further away than you would have expected.

Starting to collect information after you have checked-in in your hotel will be probably quite stressful experience not to mention that you lose your precious time.

Also, check for national holidays, which may affect opening hours and transportation schedules.

#5 Plan Your Trip Together

If you're going to spend your trip with your partner, family, or friends, get them involved. Share your ideas and dreams with others and let everyone do the same.

If you try to plan it all just by yourself, you will probably include mostly the things you're interested in, and when you arrive at the destination, you might find out, that your companions don't share the same ideas about things to do.

Not everyone wants to spend a week just lazing on a beach somewhere in Bocas del Toro , and not everyone wants to see all ruins in Mexico .

Working on a project in a team is the fastest, most efficient way to get the job done, no one will feel like they were left out, and there is a smaller chance that you overlook or forget something important.

#6 Be Flexible

We didn't want to discourage you from the very beginning, but there's no such thing as a perfect itinerary.

Your flight can be delayed, a rental car breaks down, or the best restaurant in the city will be closed due to technical maintenance. In Westfjords , we got a flat tire, which took some time to change. The next day, we had to visit the car shop to get it fixed. It wasn't the end of the world, but it was definitely a delay.

When planning your next trip, make sure that you have a couple of extra days left to help you with adjusting your plans in case something you cannot expect goes wrong.

You might need to add an extra day or cut activity, or in the worst case scenario to change your plans entirely.

When we visited Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies , the weather was relentless, and we had heavy rain for two days and even snow, which ruined all our hiking plans.

We changed the plans, went to hot springs (pretty cool experience in the snow storm) and enjoyed the day anyway.

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#7 Schedule Free Day

If we go for a shorter trip, for example a one week in Jordan or two weeks in Costa Rica , we usually plan a free day for the last day of our stay.

It allows us to arrive at the place which has an airport a day early and have a completely stress free day while exploring the city. If you plan to stay longer though don't hesitate to add more free days in your itinerary.

You will see how much more relaxed you'll feel.

At times, traveling can be quite challenging, and the first thing people usually do is that they cut the sleep, which is a mistake and will catch up with them in few days and they will have to take a couple days off anyway.

#8 Balance the Itinerary

Do you have more places on your wish list than days? Select what you can't miss and what you think won't be that spectacular. Consider distances between destinations, and make sure everything makes sense.

Prioritize the order of the places you want to visit, find the best way to visit them and keep your itinerary realistic

Even though you could easily spend weeks in Banff National Park or Torres Del Paine , you won't have time for every single hike in these destinations.

The main point is that you can't see everything, even though you desperately want to. People often tend to over plan their itinerary as they think more is better, but later they actually don't have enough time to see it all.

Holidays should be fun, not a sightseeing race who is going to see more.

#9 Travel Times

Every time you will move from one place to another, you remove the time from your sightseeing and holiday.

Is it worth to travel 22 hours by overnight bus, to see the Atacama Desert ?

Is it a sleeping bus where you can get a good sleep or is it an uncomfortable old bus, without reclining seats and you won't have any energy left for exploration once you arrive there?

Wouldn't be a better idea to take a flight instead? How far is the airport from the city center and how much time does it take to get there?

When planning an itinerary, travel times between places are one of the things that people underestimate the most. There can be a difference in what you plan and expect, and reality.

To maximize the time of your travels, the starting point of the trip doesn't have to be the same as the ending point. Find the most convenient place to fly into and out of and start planning from there.

For example, we started our 4-week Australia road trip in Sydney and ended in Darwin.

Also factor in the jet lag, which affects everyone differently, some might feel it a few hours, some several days. Long-haul flights can negatively affect your first couple of days, so don't underestimate it.

#10 Collect All the Information for Your Trip

Your hotel bookings, flight tickets, restaurant reservations, car rentals information, travel insurance details. Make a hard copy of all your documents, and keep them safe in a passport wallet .

A great idea is also to book things in advance. You can save some money, and ease your mind as you will have everything reserved once in the destination.

When we are looking for accommodation, we always use the combination of Booking.com and Hostelworld .

When traveling by rental car, you can make your reservation here Rentalcars.com .

For tours, we use GetYourGuide or Viator .

Extra Tip : Include the contact information for the nearest embassy or consulate in case of emergency. You never know when all this information comes handy.

Remember, travel itinerary is not a binding contract, it only helps your travel to go smoothly, and the best itinerary is often the most flexible one.

Give yourself room and time for exploration, enjoy your trip, and most importantly, have fun!

Travel Insurance

We never leave home without travel insurance that was designed to cover our expenses if something goes wrong during the trip.

Travel insurance protects against theft, flight delays, injury, illness, cancellations, and much more.

World Nomads provides travel insurance for travelers to cover their trip essentials, including sports and adventure activities.

SafetyWing is affordable travel insurance for backpackers, long-term travelers, and digital nomads.

Travel smarter and safer!

Travel Resources

Here you can find links to all the travel resources we use and which you might find helpful when planning your next holiday.

Accommodation : When looking for accommodation, we usually search hotels via Booking.com or Hostelworld .

Tours : Although we love to travel independently, some places are better to visit with a guided tour.

We prefer GetYourGuide for its easy-to-use interface and solid reputation. Another great alternative is Viator .

Rental Cars : When going on a road trip, we always use Rentalcars.com , a reliable site for booking a rental car in advance.

Flight Tickets : When looking for flight tickets, you can search Skyscanner to find the best price.

Travel Insurance : World Nomads and SafetyWing cover against risks of travel.

• Work with us

How to Plan a Trip: A Detailed Travel Planning Guide

Last updated on November 30th, 2023

Looking for the best tips on how to plan a trip? Our step by step travel planning guide goes through our exact process of planning our trips, including our travel itinerary template, so you can plan your next trip easier!

It’s no secret that we love planning trips! We love researching for hours upon hours, digging into everything a city has to offer, learning tons, picking spots we want to check out, and crafting the perfect itinerary. 

We are definitely itinerary-based travelers vs spontaneous travelers (although we’re trying to leave more time for spontaneity during our trips!) and we’ve found that putting in the work to plan a trip beforehand can dramatically change the outcome of a trip. 

There’s no wasting time wondering “where should we eat?” or driving all around town from spot to spot because we didn’t realize how far things were. Instead, we show up with a plan and get to enjoy where we are. Granted, things don’t always go according to plan, but we definitely feel like it sets us up for success!

We originally created this blog to help eliminate some of your headaches when you plan a trip. It can be daunting to figure out how to fit an entire city, state, country, etc into X days. 

Our travel guides in particular are perfect for those who want a solid list of things to do, places to eat, etc. already organized into a well thought out itinerary. Our goal is to do all of the research for you so you can plan your perfect trip without spending hours and days scouring the web.

However, we haven’t been to every city in the world, so we may not always have a travel guide for you. So we wanted to create a travel planning guide, with our step by step list of how to plan a trip, including our travel itinerary template , so you can plan an epic trip and make the most of your time in any destination!

Looking for more travel planning tips? Check out these posts:

• How We Afford to Travel: Our Top Travel Budgeting Tips (+ Budget template!)
• Our Favorite Travel Credit Cards
• Fly for Less: Tips for Finding Cheap Flights

Step 1: Choose your destination

Step 2: make a travel budget, step 3: track and book flights, step 4: book your accommodations, step 5: book your transportation, step 6: research, research, research, step 7: google maps, step 8: make your itinerary (with our travel itinerary template), step 9: book any tours, activities, and reservations, step 10: have a pet find a sitter, step 11: prepare for your trip, step 12: pack for your trip, step 13: have a blast .

The first decision when you plan a trip is often the hardest: where should you go?! If you’re like us, we want to visit as many new places as we possibly can, but we also love visiting places that are special to us. Trying to make the decision of where to spend our precious vacation time and limited travel budget sometimes feels impossible!

While we don’t have all of the answers of how to decide where to go, here are a few things to consider.

Type of trip

What kind of trip are you looking for? Do you want to be in a big city? Hang out at the beach? Go for tons of hikes? Or all of the above? Our first task when figuring out where to go is to think about the activities and vibe we are looking for during our next trip.

If you’re having a hard time deciding, some of our favorite destinations are:

• The Dolomites: The Dolomites are full of adorable small towns, hikes, and epic scenery! It’s absolutely gorgeous and we hear it’s cheaper than the Swiss Alps.
• Matera, Italy: The smaller town, less tourists and crowds, unique cave dwellings, and crazy history made Matera one of favorite spots in Italy!
• Vancouver, BC: We used to visit Vancouver all the time when we lived in Seattle. The city is beautiful and there are so many outdoor activities just minutes from downtown.
• Scotland: We visited Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye and think they are some of the most underrated destinations. Both were jawdroppingly beautiful and have tons to see and do!
• Seattle : Seattle is our favorite city in the US! We lived here for three years and loved it so much. There are so many things to do, including hikes, lakes, beaches, city activities, and delicious food!
• Hawaii: It’s no secret that Hawaii is one of our favorite places in the world! We have been to all four major islands, some more than once, and each one is amazing!
• US National Parks: Want to see some of the best nature in the US? Visit a National Park ! Some of our favorites have been Yosemite , Zion , Grand Teton , Yellowstone , Big Bend , Olympic , and North Cascades .

Is there a certain time of year that is easier for you to travel for work or other reasons? For us, it’s the summer and winter, which can influence where we go. If we don’t want to be cold in the winter, we’ll use that time to go somewhere tropical, and on the flip side, if we want a break from the heat in the summer, we would head to somewhere a bit cooler (or below the Equator).

Peak Season vs. Shoulder Season

Some destinations have very clear peak seasons. If crowds are not your thing, try looking for destinations that will be having their shoulder season (the months between the busy season) during the month you want to travel. The weather may not be as perfect during “shoulder season, but you can save a ton of money (and headaches!) by traveling during the off-peak times.

Flight Deals

We will share some of our tips for finding flight deals in Step 3, but one thing to consider when deciding where to visit is to see where you can get a decent flight deal. We have sometimes made last minute trip decisions and visited somewhere we didn’t plan to visit so soon because we got a good flight deal. 

Specific Attractions or Events

Is there a specific thing you want to see or do in a destination? For example, do you want to attend a music festival in a specific city? See the cherry blossoms in the spring in DC? Want to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park?

Sometimes planning a trip around a specific attraction or event can make the decision a bit easier since you have a limited time to take part in that activity.

After we have an idea of where we want to go, our next step is to make a travel budget. We try to think of every expense we will have on that trip, from flights, lodging, a rental car, dog sitter, food, activities, gas, and more. This helps us get an idea of how much we will spend and to see if we can realistically afford the place we want to visit. It also keeps our wallet in check when actually on that trip!

We have a travel budget template that we use to not only plan out individual trips, but our trips for the entire year. This helps us see how much we want to spend on trips vs. how much we will be saving to travel.

To see how we afford to travel + our tips to save money to travel and while traveling, check out this blog post !

Once we have a good idea of where we want to go and how much we want to spend, we start trying to find cheap flights! We have a few favorite tools we use to find flight deals, which we’re sharing below.

To get a more detailed look into how we find affordable flights, including a tip we used for our Italy trip to save us over $1,000, read our Fly for Less: Tips for Finding Cheap Flights blog post!

Google Flights

We love Google Flights ! This free tool lets you plug in where you will depart from and where you want to go and see lots of flight options from tons of different airlines. You can then track specific flights that work well for your schedule or airline preference. You’ll be notified anytime the flight goes down or up in price, which can help you have a better idea of when it’s time to pull the trigger.

If you’re still stuck in Step 1 and unsure where to go, their explore destinations tool is very helpful to see what destinations are cheapest to fly to from your home airport on specific dates!

If you’re feeling more open on when and where you want to travel and just want a great deal, our favorite paid tool is FareDrop , which allows you to pick the departure airports you want to be alerted about, which destinations you want to travel to, and which months you want to travel.

FareDrop costs $47.88/year (if you use our link you’ll get 2 months free!), which seems a bit pricey, but we get tons of deals weekly! We have yet to pull the trigger on them, but hopefully soon!

Another tool we have used a lot in the past is Hopper . Hopper is a tool that helps predict flight costs and lets you know when the right time to book is. Nothing is worse than when you buy a flight and then the next week it has gotten a lot cheaper!

Scott’s Cheap Flights

Scott’s Cheap Flights is both a free and paid tool ($49/year) that will alert you about deals and mistake fares (when an airline accidentally publishes the wrong fare). Similar to FareDrop, you choose your home airport (and neighboring airports) and get deals from those airports. Or you can see deals worldwide! We only use the free tool of Scott’s Cheap Flights and we get pretty great deals! If you pay for their Premium version you supposedly get even better ones. 🙂

Skyscanner is another very popular tool for finding cheap flights. We have seen flights cheaper on Skyscanner than most other websites. Once you find a cheap flight, you book it through one of their travel partners. The only downside for us is that we typically cannot get that price with our credit card point s , which we would rather use to book travel (since it’s free!).

By far our favorite way to book flights is with our credit card points ! We have saved thousands of dollars by using credit card points and the best part is that we earn these while making our usual transactions, like the grocery store, bills, or coffee. The points add up fast depending on which card you have, so it’s not too hard to get free flights!

We currently have 4 travel credit cards : Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Platinum, Capital One Venture Card, and the Alaska Airlines Card and each one has its pros and cons.

For more details on our favorite travel credit cards, the best benefits, and how to pick the right one for you, check out Our Favorite Travel Credit Cards blog .

After figuring out flights, it’s now time to find a place to stay! Once we have a general idea of the dates we plan to travel, we start looking for Airbnbs and other accommodations, saving any spots that catch our eye, and then as soon as our flights are booked, we book our lodging. Here are a few sites we love for finding accommodations!

We are huge Airbnb fans! We probably stay in Airbnbs 95% of the time when we travel. We love getting to stay in more local areas, having more space, being able to cook, and it’s usually cheaper than a hotel!

Tripadvisor

Tripadvisor is our go-to site for hotel reviews! It has helped us make the decision of where to stay (or where not to stay) many times. 

Booking.com

Booking.com is our favorite website to book hotels. Their prices are usually some of the best out there! Another really cool thing about Booking.com is that they have vacation rentals (like Airbnb) as well. So if you want a one stop shop to browse hotels and rentals, they’ve gotcha covered!

Depending on where you’re visiting, you may need to book additional transportation. 

For rental cars, we typically book through rentalcars.com . They have a price match guarantee, so if you find a better price somewhere else, they’ll match it!

We also have used Costco to book rental cars before. Their prices tend to be the best out there, but you do have to be a member or have access to a member’s account. It’s okay if the name on the car is different than the member’s name, so if you have a family member with a Costco membership, ask them if you can use it! 

Note : our travel credit cards give us rental car insurance around the world, so we do not opt into the additional insurance when renting a car. Make sure to check in advance to see if you’re covered! Also, make sure to book an automatic car in Europe if you don’t know how to drive a manual. 🙂

For public transportation , like trains, subways, and buses, purchasing in advance varies depending on where you’re going. During our Italy trip, we booked most of our trains and buses from city to city in advance to take advantage of a lower price. But in most US cities, like NYC, you just get your tickets at the station before boarding your mode of transportation. 

When looking for trains, subways, and buses , we typically start our search with Google Maps to see the routes and find out which company runs that route. Then we go to that company’s website to see fares, schedules, and to see how to purchase tickets. 

Our next step when we plan a trip is to research like crazy! We spend days and even weeks reading blogs, watching vlogs, and scouring the internet for as much information as we can about a destination, including where to eat, things to do, and any helpful tips! As we research, we create a Google Doc and write down the spots we find by category (food, coffee, landmark, activities, etc).

This part can be a bit overwhelming because there is tons of information out there and it can be hard to figure out what to prioritize for your own trip. We like finding a mix of popular spots with thousands of reviews, as well as more local spots with maybe less reviews overall, but very positive ones. And if we see a recommendation mentioned on multiple blogs and websites, that spot usually goes higher up on our “must-do” list. 

There are a handful of tools that we use every single time we plan a trip, each for slightly different reasons. 

Our first step when finding things to do is almost always to do a quick Google search. We like to search for things like “best things to do in ____,” “unique things to see in ____,” “where to eat in ____,” and “X days in _____” to find blog posts (like the ones we write!) for different destinations, which always give us tons of ideas!

Pinterest is an amazing resource for travel planning. It’s a massive search engine and a great way to quickly find tons of blogs about a destination you’re going to and to see what real people recommend. We typically create new boards for a country or region and then fill it up when we start to dream about a trip we want to take.

Once it comes time to actually plan it, we will head to that board and open all of the blogs we saved, write down common things people recommend and then research some of the lesser known options.

If you’re not already following us on Pinterest, come hang out with us here . We love to share pins from all over the world!

Tripadvisor, Yelp, and Google Reviews

Okay, these are definitely the most obvious, but they are high on our list when researching different cities! We know that some people are leery of review sites, but we personally love hearing from regular people about their experiences at a restaurant, attraction, etc.

We think that if you look at a wide variety of reviews for a place, the good and the bad, you can usually feel pretty confident (or not confident) in making it a stop on your trip. Tripadvisor also has forums where people can ask questions and others can answer and these can be really helpful to read, especially if you have questions that others have already asked.

One thing we have noticed is that Yelp is big in the US for restaurants, but Tripadvisor and Google Reviews are much bigger abroad. For our Mexico City trip, we relied heavily on Google Reviews, as the other two sites hardly had any reviews for restaurants. So make sure to look at all three sites to get a better idea of what a restaurant or attraction is like.

YouTube Vlogs

YouTube is our new favorite way to research for trips. It’s like reading blogs, but actually getting to see the experiences! Some of our favorite travel vloggers to watch are: Kara and Nate , The Endless Adventure , and Mark Wiens for awesome food videos! We watch travel vlogs every night and always mark down good spots to check out whenever we go to those destinations in the future.

If you want to follow along on our adventures, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel here !

AllTrails and Hiking Websites

We love hiking during our trips and one of the best resources we have found for trails is AllTrails . What we love about AllTrails is that it has trail information, such as miles and elevation gain, as well as hiker reviews, for trails all over the world!

We have used AllTrails for hikes all around the US, as well as in Italy and Canada, and it has always helped us gain a better understanding of what to expect on the trail, as well allowed us to follow our progress on the trail map.

There is a free version, but we recommend paying for the AllTrails Pro app ($30/year) to have guaranteed offline map access, off-route notifications, and family and friend notifications.

Beyond AllTrails, we love finding local hiking websites. When we lived in Washington, we used the Washington Trails Association website for every hike. Similar to AllTrails, it has reviews, photos, and hike information, but it is typically more detailed.

Instagram 

Instagram has opened our eyes to sooo many places in this world! The popularity of the app is both a good thing and a bad thing, as some places are becoming Instagram famous and are definitely being visited too much and/or disrespected, but it is also showing us how beautiful some lesser known places are.

Similar to Pinterest, you can bookmark posts on Instagram and even organize them into different collections. We use this feature to save spots that look cool to visit in the future. However, we love Instagram more for the ability to see places in real time. 

When we know we are going to visit a place, we will look up the locations on Instagram (both posts and stories) to see what it currently looks like, crowds, and to try to find cool photo spots. We did this a ton in Washington to plan our hikes and to see if there is still snow, what the hike looks like in different weather conditions, etc. It’s also helpful to find out if a specific spot is under construction *cough* Big Ben *cough*. 

Don’t follow us on Instagram yet? Head on over to our Instagram page to see even more adventures!

Family and Friends

If you have friends or family members that have visited the destination or live in the destination you’re heading to, ask them what their favorite spots are! These recommendations can often be the best, especially if you know and trust that person’s taste.

One of the best food recommendations we ever got was from one of our best friends. She told us we had to go to La Romana for gelato while in Rome, which wasn’t originally on our list, and it ended up being our favorite gelato during our entire two weeks in Italy! We owe her a scoop (or two) of gelato for that recommendation!

After we make a big list of all of the restaurants, landmarks, activities, and tours that catch our eye while researching, our next step when we plan a trip is to look at Google Maps to see where everything is in relation to each other.

We try to structure our days in a way that we don’t have to travel all over town, but instead stick to a general area so we can maximize the time we have to explore. We suggest making a map on Google My Maps so you can pin all of the locations and then start to group together the things that make sense to do together. This will help you big time with Step 8!

So you’ve done your research, written down some spots, and have seen where they all are on a map…now what? Our next step when we plan a trip is to start organizing all of our must-do and must-eat places into an itinerary.

Our friend Callie created the most detailed, helpful travel itinerary template in Google Sheets that has helped us SO much with our last few trips. We told her we were going to have to share it on our blog because it was very useful and would help so many people, so a BIG thank you to Callie for creating this!

We like creating an itinerary because typically our trips are short and we want to maximize the time we have in every destination. We realize not everyone likes to have as structured of a trip, so feel free to modify the template to fit your needs better! We always recommend being a bit flexible in case the weather is bad one day, you are exhausted and need more rest, or things just don’t go according to plan (which happens often when traveling)!

With this travel itinerary template you can list out the activities for your day in order, write down addresses, add notes (such as: arrive before X time to avoid a line, how to get somewhere, note that it’s cash only, etc), add helpful links, keep track of costs, have a rough estimate of timing for each stop, etc.

It’s also great for collaborating with others! We have used it for our couples trip to Arizona to make comments back and forth and decide what we want to do. 

You can download our travel itinerary template here . Note: To use the sheet, please go to “File” and then “Make a Copy” to create your own version! We included an example as well so you can see how we would fill it out.

Once you have a good idea of your itinerary, start locking down any tours, activities, and meal reservations for a time slot that works best for you!

Tours + Activities

When we were in Italy, we booked our tours and entrances to museums in advance to save a little bit of money. While we typically had to commit to a timeframe, it helped us structure our days better and ensure we had a tour to go on. 

For attractions where you can get early admittance (like the Vatican) or they get busy during specific times, booking ahead of time can also help you beat the crowds.

Not sure where to find tours? We’d recommend looking on Tripadvisor and Airbnb Experiences !

Want to save some money on a tour or experience? Book on Tripadvisor and use our code APLUSK10 for 10% off!

Reservations

If during your research you find that a reservation is heavily recommended for a restaurant, set a reminder on your phone for a month or so beforehand to give them a call and secure a table. When you have limited time to explore on a vacation, the last thing you want to do is wait in line for a restaurant, especially if you’re hangry. 🙂

One big thing to consider when traveling are your pets! We travel full time with our pup Kona, but there are some times where she cannot go with us on a hike, to a park, or if we are flying to a destination. For any flying trips, Kona will stay with Kathryn’s parents in Austin, but for road trips, National Parks, and other domestic destinations, here is a detailed guide to how we travel with Kona, and where she is if she is not with us. Note: if traveling during holidays or peak season, try to book a sitter far in advance!

Depending on your trip and where you’re going, there are a few extra things to consider looking into before you travel.

Book luggage storage

The only downside about staying in an Airbnb vs. a hotel is that sometimes you’ll arrive before check in or have time to explore after check out and have nowhere to put your bags. We have used Luggage Hero or Bagbnb to find safe places to leave our bags while we explore before or after checking out.  

Get travel insurance

We highly recommend buying travel insurance for any international trip. We recommend using SafetyWing , which is travel medical insurance that will cover you outside of your home country for however long you need it. We have purchased their Nomad Insurance plan for international trips, which not only gives us travel medical insurance, but also provides coverage for lost baggage and travel delays. We hope to never have to use it, but it gives us great peace of mind to have it!

Look into driving rules

In Italy, we had to get an International Driving Permit. You can get this from AAA for only $20. We aren’t sure how many countries have this rule, so definitely check the road rules beforehand to avoid getting a ticket or having issues getting your rental car.

Find out if you need a Visa

Depending on where you are visiting, you may need to get a Visa to enter. This website shares the Visa requirements for US citizens for both business and personal trips for every country! We suggest checking this right after booking your trip to see what the requirements are and how to obtain one.

Check vaccine requirements

Some countries require that you have certain vaccinations before your arrival. You can search the destination you are visiting and see if it requires you to get a vaccination on the CDC’s website . We suggest checking a couple months in advance, as different vaccines have different timeframe requirements to get them.

Get local currency

If you’re traveling to another country, make sure you look into the local currency. We typically will order some foreign currency from our bank before our trip (try to do this at least a week before you leave, as it takes a few days) just to make sure we have some on us when we land.

After we land, we will try to find somewhere to get additional currency during the trip. Make sure to research where the best place is to get this currency. In Italy, for example, the best place to get Euros was from bank ATMs—the ones in actual banks, NOT the ones just on the street in the big cities, as those will charge you massive fees. 

You may also need coins for restrooms in some countries, so plan to have coins, as well as bills, handy for your trip.

Also, let your bank know you’re traveling abroad to avoid them thinking there is fraud with your card.

Learn the local culture and etiquette

It’s important to understand the culture in a different country or region, especially if something that is considered inoffensive in your home country is considered offensive elsewhere. 

Tipping is another important thing to look into. In the US, tipping 20% is pretty standard, but in Europe, tipping is not common at all. 

Figure out your internet plan

If traveling abroad, we highly recommend getting an an eSIM card with Airalo ! This is a SIM that you can download to your phone. It saves the hassle of having to get a physical SIM in every country you visit! You can get an eSIM for a specific country or for an entire region, making it extra easy to use if you plan to hop between countries. But before you get an eSIM, make sure you truly need one! Our Verizon plans give us 2 GB of data everyday in Mexico and Canada, so we do not need an eSIM for those destinations.

We also suggest downloading offline Google Maps so you can use maps without eating up data.

Download Google Translate

Google Translate has been a lifesaver when traveling internationally! We used the conversation feature to communicate back and forth with our Airbnb host in Italy and it not only was so much fun, but it allowed for us to converse even with a huge language barrier!

Let someone know your plans

Make sure a family member or friend knows your plans just in case something were to happen. We always send our parents our flight info, as well as our itinerary, just so they are aware of what we’ll be up to during our trip.

Do you pack in advance or are you a last minute packer? We used to start packing days in advance, but lately we procrastinate big time! Regardless of when you pack, figuring out what to bring on your trip, while also not forgetting anything important, is hard! 

Check out our top travel items and packing list to see which items we cannot travel without and to download our packing list, which includes common items and some easy to miss items, that you won’t want to forget!

Our most important packing tip: Don’t forget your passport and make sure you have an adapter if traveling abroad! We love this one !

After all of your hard work, it’s time to enjoy the trip! We hope that you found this travel planning guide helpful and that it’ll make it easier to plan a trip in the future! 

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2 thoughts on “ how to plan a trip: a detailed travel planning guide ”.

Love your enthusiasm. Many carefully thought out ideas. When you post a photo on your blog, it covers up what you wrote. For instance I can only read one Credit card, Chase, the other three are covered by the happy photo of you two. Your three how to plan a trip guides cover up what ever your conclusion/close suggestions? Hope you can fix this as you seem to be very thorough…. I don’t have this problem with my other sites I read regularly. Just thought I would mention.

Also, you should always have a photo copy of the your passports and front and back of credit cards with your parents In case of problems… You can ge it all replaced many hours /days quicker than without…

I am so sorry you’re having issues reading our site. Everything looks normal on our end, so that’s very odd and we’d love to figure out what went wrong. What internet browser and type of device are you using? We will look into this to make sure no one else has issues like this.

And thats a great tip about passports and credit cards!

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How to create the perfect travel itinerary

Some travellers are more than happy to arrive at their destination with nothing but a YOLO or carpe diem mindset and a backpack on their backs. For others, just the thought of arriving with nothing pre-planned and no holiday travel itinerary is scary.

There are advantages to both travel styles, but it’s undeniable that putting at least a little work into your itinerary before you travel can enhance your vacation experience. It doesn’t need to be a multi-page spreadsheet or a long list of scribbled notes. Today, you can use travel planner apps to create an itinerary easily.

In this article, we’ll set out a few key tips on how to create an itinerary to help your travel dreams come true.

Make your ideas list

The first step to making an itinerary is to create your ideas list. Have a travel notebook, or an ideas board or use a travel planner app to make a note of your dream destinations or location wish list. Whether you have a few vague ideas – “Australia”, “Europe” or something specific like “seeing the Himalayas whilst paragliding in Nepal”, get it written down in one place that you can refer to later. We love to note down any recommendations that we stumble across whilst browsing the web.

Work out your budget!

Work out how much money you’re going to set aside for your trip, and be realistic with yourself. Arguably, this is one of the first things you should do as a travel planner so that you can focus your ideas list without having to go through the disappointing task of crossing off everything that’s out of budget later. There is no point browsing websites for private islands in the Maldives, only to be disheartened when you realize that you can only afford a room in a shared Airbnb when it comes to making your trip itinerary.

Working out your budget early can also help focus your location choice if this isn’t already determined.

Research your travel itinerary

If you’re like us, half the fun of travelling or vacations is the planning and working to create an itinerary. Learning something about the history and culture of your destination before you go can make a trip even more rewarding once you’re there.

From travel books like Lonely Planet , Rough Guides and Bradt Travel, to customer-feedback-based sites like Tripadvisor to the multitude of online blogs, there’s a vast pool of resources to dive into for creating a trip itinerary.

You can also check out our list of the world’s best cities for more inspiration.

Additionally, online blogs and websites like National Geographic and  www traveloverplanet com , etc can offer further inspiration and information about different destinations. 

Decide when to go

Knowing when to go is an important factor for planning a trip itinerary. Make sure that the weather conditions are favorable for a holiday. Check for public holidays and local festivals at your destination.

Many travellers dream of being in India for ‘Holi’- the festival of colours but is it safe to travel during that time? Sometimes, festivals are best avoided. For instance, travelling to Vietnam during Lunar New Year (or Tet), is generally not recommended. Many facilities are completely shut down for a couple of weeks and the whole country is on the move, making domestic travel challenging! It might be best to create your itinerary to steer clear of these occasions.

Don’t overstretch yourself

As tempting as it is to try to visit all the temples in Angkor in one day, it’s probably going to lead to you falling asleep straight after sunset at Angkor Wat, with no energy to enjoy a delicious Cambodian dinner truly, and that’s if you haven’t succumbed to heat exhaustion by mid-afternoon! A major problem when creating travel itineraries is trying to cram so much in that your vacation resembles a military boot camp more than a leisure trip.

Sometimes less is more. As the travel planner, try to separate your activities and destinations into ‘must-do’ and ‘would be good to do’. Factor in travel time. Though train and bus rides can be a great way to see a new destination, you don’t want to spend your whole vacation staring out of a window.

Plan with your travel companions!

Maybe there’s an activity that the travel planner loves that might not be everyone’s idea of fun. Perhaps adventure caving in Mexico isn’t actually Mom’s ideal vacation activity. Have the conversation early in the planning stages, rather than when you’re on vacation.

If you’re travelling with companions who potentially have a different vacation budget to you it’s really important to discuss this early when forming your travel itinerary to avoid friction later on in your trip. Make sure you are open about this early and can come up with a solution. Perhaps your companion is happy to settle down on a hammock with a book for the day whilst you enjoy a day trip.

Use travel apps

Choose a trip planner app that will help you become the ultimate trip planner. Organizing apps like TripIt.com let you make complicated itineraries to share online and it will automatically generate maps, directions and weather information. Other options are a trip planning app like TripHobo.com which will give helpful activity and direction recommendations and useful information on opening times and visit duration.

Check out our list of the best travel planning apps to discover more useful apps.

Don’t get stuck in your schedule

Finally, the most important thing to remember – you’re not legally obliged to follow your travel itinerary! Allow yourself the freedom to take up recommendations from people you meet along the way, be that a fellow traveler, the staff at your accommodation or someone who lives there.

Use our tips above to plan your perfect travel itinerary, but don’t miss out on the spontaneous opportunities that come your way when you’re on the road.

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Itinerary Template for a Trip: Free Downloadable Examples & More Resources

• Updated: 04/04/2024

If you are looking for a free, easy, and detailed itinerary template for a trip that you can download and conveniently add your own travel details—then you are in the right place. 

Find the sample trip itinerary template I created and tweaked over years of travel to include the most relevant information in one easy-to-scan document and in four different file formats. 

Additionally, I share alternative template ideas  that include my top picks for itinerary-building apps  and other online places where you can find more free or affordable trip itinerary designs  and layouts. So, go to the file format that works best for you, scan my quick tips for editing, and get your trip details organized in a downloadable, easy-to-edit, and very sharable document. 

Table Of Contents

Itinerary template for a trip in 4 file formats.

Find my travel itinerary template in the four different file formats below. Choose the one you like to work in best. Then find more recommendations here .

• Microsoft Word trip itinerary template
• Microsoft Excel trip itinerary template
• Google Sheets trip itinerary template
• Canva trip itinerary template

About This Template: 7 Main Components

There are seven main components to this template. I have included each because it contains the information I reference most while traveling, organized in a way that helps me figure out when my trip schedule is overloaded or lacks the right amount of buffer time between activities or transit.

Sign up for my monthly Discovery Newsletter & get a free Trip Budget Calculator !

The 7 trip itinerary template components include:

• Header. For a destination image and title. Replace this image with your own.
• High-level trip summary: An at-a-glance summary of essential trip information—the number of travelers, dates of travel, flights (or other transit), and location(s) of the trip.
• Travel day column. Know which day of your trip an activity is happening. 
• Day of the week column. Know the day of the week and date to ensure lodging, tour, and transfers are booked correctly.
• Activities column. A place to capture details for all activities and lodging. Hyperlink text to websites for additional information.
• Location(s) column. In this space, recap the destinations for each day, link to lodging websites, and include important notes such as included meals or overnight flights.
• Lodging contact info sheet. A second tab or sheet for additional lodging information is included in all template files except for Microsoft Word 

Since the detail on this template prints small, consider saving it to a PDF file , allowing you to zoom in as needed and easily share it with others.

Additionally, reference your itinerary offline when you save a PDF version of this itinerary to your phone to an app like iBooks (Apple users) or Google Play Books (Android users). Having an offline itinerary comes in handy in travel situations when you have limited or zero cellular or wi-fi connection. 

Microsoft Word Template

Click on the image below to download a free version of this trip itinerary template containing actual details from a visit to Iceland in Microsoft Word. 

6 Editing Tips (Word Template)

As Microsoft Word is the most universally used software program, it is the trip itinerary template file I share first. Here are six essential editing tips when using the Microsoft Word version of this template.

Header area editing (Word template)

• To change out the image at the top of the itinerary, right-click on the image and select Change Picture. Select from a stock photo or upload your own image. I am a Canva user and found this image there, added a text overlay, and saved it using the dimensions 2000x458px.
• However, you can upload any size image file you would like. If your uploaded image is not the correct size, click on it and drag its diagonal corner to resize and fit the page. If you find it too tricky to insert a new image, delete the existing one and type your preferred itinerary title. It might not look as pretty without a picture, but the template will still convey all essential information.

Main itinerary body editing (Word template)

I created this itinerary using a table in Microsoft Word, hiding vertical gridlines to achieve a cleaner look. 

• To edit text , select and delete existing text. Then, type text as you normally would in Word documents.
• To add a table row , select a row by dragging your mouse to highlight it, then right-click and choose Insert to add a row above or below. Repeat the process to delete a row . Find one additional blank row at the bottom of the template.
• To add or change hyperlinks , select the word(s) you would like to link (or unlink) to a website, right-click, select Hyperlink, and from the sub-menu, select Edit or Remove Hyperlink.
• To add back vertical gridlines , select the entire table, right-click, and select Borders and Shading to adjust the design with the gridline configuration you like best.

Microsoft Excel Template

Click on the image below to download a free version of this trip itinerary template containing actual details from a visit to Iceland in Microsoft Excel. 

9 Editing Tips (Excel Template)

As Microsoft Excel is more specialized software, I share nine file-specific tips, knowing that the traveler who prefers to download this file type is likely already familiar and comfortable editing in Excel.

Header area editing (Excel template)

To change out the header image at the top of the itinerary, right-click on the image and select Change Picture. Select from a stock photo or upload your own image. I am a Canva user and found this image there, saving it using the dimensions 2000x458px. Once uploaded, I added the semi-transparency in Excel.

However, you can upload any size image file you would like. If your uploaded image is not the correct size, click on it and drag its diagonal corner to resize and fit the page . If you find it too tricky to insert a new image, delete the existing one. It might not look as pretty without a picture, but the template will still convey all essential information.

• Though—if you upload a new image and want to keep the semi-transparency , double-click on your picture to get to the Picture Format menu. Find the Transparency icon in the header menu and adjust it to your preference. 
• To change the header text , click on the text in the Text Box and edit all elements.

Main itinerary body editing (Excel template)

• To insert bullet points , copy these from an existing cell in the document. I created and copied the bullet points from a Word document and pasted them into Excel. 
• All cells are set to wrap text and are oriented to align left and at the top of the cell. If this changes or the format structure is lost, right-click on any cell and select Format Cells to reset the cell structure to your preference. 
• To start a new line of text in a cell when using a Mac, press the Option+Return buttons on your keyboard. Using a PC, press the Alt+Enter buttons or get more tips from Microsoft Help .
• To insert hyperlinks , select the cell you would like to hyperlink, and from the main menu, select Insert. From that submenu, choose Link. Microsoft Excel—from what I can tell (please correct me in the comments if you know how to bypass this)—does not allow users to link individual text within a cell. Google Sheets does, and it is one of the reasons I prefer using that format type. 

Lodging contact tab editing (Excel template)

Note a second tab in this Excel template for lodging details—set to print landscape (horizontally). Edit all elements in the same way as the main itinerary.

Google Sheets Template

Click on the image below to download a free version of this trip itinerary template containing actual details from a visit to Iceland in Google Sheets. This image links to a read-only document. 

To copy it, click File from the main menu and select Copy . Doing this will create a copy of the document on your Google Drive. You will want to be logged into Google when you do this.

7 Editing Tips (Google Sheets Template)

Google Sheets is my preferred file type to create, edit, and share new trip itineraries. I find its slimmed-down menu is easier to use than Excel. Plus, I appreciate the ability to highlight and hyperlink specific text using Sheets vs. having to link an entire cell (in Excel).

Additionally, I find this file type easier to share as not everyone uses Microsoft documents. And I find it convenient since I already use Google Drive to manage my business documents and keep my travel information organized . Here are seven things to know when editing this template.

Header area editing (Google Sheets template)

To change out the header image at the top of the itinerary, right-click on the image and select Change Picture. Select from a stock photo or upload your own image. I am a Canva user and found this image there, added a text overlay, and saved it using the dime nsions 2000x458px.

However, you can upload any size image file you would like. If your uploaded image is not the correct size, click on it and drag its diagonal corner to resize and fit the page . If you find it too tricky to insert a new image, delete the existing one and type your preferred itinerary title. It might not look as pretty without a picture, but the template will still convey all essential information.

Main itinerary body editing (Google Sheets template)

• All cells are set to wrap text and are oriented to align left and at the top of the cell. If this changes or the format structure is lost, select a cell and choose Format from the main menu.  From the drop-down menu, select Wrapping or Alignment to adjust to your preference. 
• To start a new line of text within Google Sheets when using a Mac, press the Command (or Control or Option)+Return buttons on your keyboard. Using a PC, press the Alt (or Control) +Enter buttons. 
• To insert hyperlinks , select the specific text you would like to hyperlink, and from the iconographic menu, just below the main menu, select the three vertical dots at the far right for more editing items. Select the Link icon to insert and link to your preferred URL. Or choose Insert from the main menu, then select Link. 

Lodging contact tab editing (Google Sheets template)

Note a second tab in this Google Sheets template for lodging details—set to print landscape (horizontally). Edit all elements in the same way as the main itinerary.

Canva Template

Click on the image below to access and edit a free version of this trip itinerary template in Canva. 

Although Canva is an excellent and intuitive design software usable by non-professionals, it requires prior knowledge and experience to use it comfortably. I do not recommend downloading and editing this file type unless you are already comfortable creating and editing in Canva.

If you are, have fun! You have full editing capability to change any element of this two-page trip itinerary template, which includes a second page for lodging contact information. 

Tips for duplicating the template: Click the above image, then click the “Create with Canva” button in the upper right-hand corner. When you do this, it should take you to your Canva account and let you copy, and then edit a duplicate version of the template.

2 Recommended Online Itinerary Builders

If you prefer using an app or an online itinerary builder to create your itineraries, TripIt and Wanderlog are the top two options. I have used TripIt before and found it handy—though short on the functionality I prefer. Despite easy integration with travel booking uploads, the program was less flexible than I would have liked, still requiring some manual uploading and editing. 

I have not used Wanderlog, though I have repeatedly seen it recommended highly by frequent travelers and travel professionals. To see which is right for you, scan through this Reddit thread of users comparing notes on each.

4 More Places to Find Travel Itinerary Templates

In addition to the free templates I share, are four more places to find free or affordable trip itinerary templates.

• Microsoft Excel, Word, and Google Sheets free templates

Find multiple travel itinerary templates on Jotform .  Edit them using its web-based a PDF editor. Then, download your edited form after you create an account. You get five complimentary form downloads with a free membership . 

Find multiple trip itinerary templates on Canva .  There are several free options. To edit and download them, create a free account on Canva if you do not already have one. Some templates are restricted to paid Pro Canva users only.

Microsoft Excel, Word, and Google Sheets

Microsoft Excel, Word, and Google Sheets offer free templates. These software programs offer several free travel itinerary templates. To access these complimentary templates, choose File, then select Create New from Template or New from template gallery from the main menus. Search for templates related to trips or travel to find one that fits your needs.

Several shops on Etsy sell downloadable trip itinerary templates for a low price, often $5 or under. Some designs are beautiful. Several come packaged with multiple detailed pages that could be perfect for your needs or be superfluous. Search digital download options here to see what fits your preferences best.

Related Reading

If you are searching for more travel planning assistance to help you save time and money, stay organized, and achieve better results, check out the related articles below.

• How to Plan a Trip Quickly: 9 Best Places to Find Inspiring Trip Itineraries
• 49 Things You Need to Do to Plan Your Best Trip (Free Travel Research & Planning Checklist)
• Google for Travel: Plan Better with These 8 Tools
• Why You Will Love Google Maps for Trip Planning
• How to Save Time & Money with Google Flights Price Tracker
• 5 Proven Ways to Simplify and Organize Your Travel Research
• Pack Faster & Better with This Universal Printable Packing List
• 25 Expert Packing Tips to Help You Travel Better
• Pre-Trip: A Practical Checklist to Close the House & Pack

Additional Trip Planning Resources

To further help you with travel planning, I share my go-to resources for every trip below. 

Google Flights. My first research stop for affordable flights for every trip. Learn why here . 

Google Hotels . Use its “ Where to stay ” button to discover the best neighborhoods to base your visit.

Booking.com. For hotel and rental bookings, I appreciate its flexible cancellation, candid user reviews, discounts, loyalty program, and easy-to-use interface.

Viator , Get Your Guide , & Airbnb Experiences . Quickly find and book highly-rated tours and activities on these sites.

Google Travel Things to Do & Google Maps . Find more things to do in your destination on Google Travel, then record where you want to visit on a custom Google Maps list. 

AllTrails . Love to hike? Me too. I religiously use AllTrails to discover hiking and biking trails and download its offline maps to manage my hikes.

Guide Along . 5-star self-guided audio tours that are GPS-compatible for US road trips and national parks. We loved the Glacier National Park tour .

Insure My Trip. I never travel internationally without trip insurance. Learn why here . My preferred place to shop and compare policies is InsureMyTrip.com . 

Plus, check out the 15 travel apps I use on trips, my preferred guidebooks , and my free customizable travel itinerary template , downloadable in four file formats.

About the author:  Janice Moskoff is a travel writer and blogger who loves hiking, exploring the world, and reading. She writes to inspire travel-loving families, adult friends, and couples on her blog,  Gather and Go Travel . Check out  her bio , learn how she became  a blogger , and discover how to  work with her . Sign up for her monthly  Discovery Newsletter  to get her latest travel recommendations and  how-to’s .

Love to travel? Sign up for m y monthly Gather & Go Travel Discovery Newsletter and get a free trip budget calculator .

Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links on this page may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I only recommend products and companies I use. And the income goes to keeping the site community-supported and ads minimal.

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2 responses.

Hi Nicole, thanks for messaging about this. Happy to troubleshoot. I am sorry you having issues. Since you would like to use this template I’ll take an educated guess that you are familiar with Canva and already have an account? When you click the “Create with Canva” link in the upper right hand corner it should take you to your account and let you edit a version of this template. I’ll check in with you via email as well to see if this is happening. If not, I’ll email you a direct link and dig in to adjust settings. Or feel free to email me directly at (janice at gatherandgotravel dot com.). Thank you!

Hi! I was hoping to use your Canva template but it linked to a preview that wouldn’t open the template. I also couldn’t find it by searching.. Is it available anywhere?

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Welcome to Gather and Go Travel , a blog inspiring families, adult friends, and couples to explore US and international destinations and to get outdoors. I am Janice, an experienced traveler to over 50 countries and a travel writer, book lover, and blogger. Learn more about me , read our story , and how to work with me .

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34 free travel itinerary templates (word, excel & pdf).

Free travel itinerary templates:  Your itinerary refers to your journey’s more detailed plan. Usually, highlights some places to be visited and the travel plan. By having itinerary templates, you will benefit from having the travel arrangement in one location for easier referencing and retrieval. 

Your travel plan is usually placed in the front of the folder full of your tickets, brochures, and confirmation receipts – this is also a good source to get information on the road. 

Although the information includes the travel plan for yourself or other people might contain different items, the basic structure was usually still retained. You can use your best itinerary templates.

Table of Contents

Benefits of Using an Itinerary Template

Traveling is an adventure! But planning for it can sometimes be stressful. That’s where a  travel itinerary template  can be your best friend.

• All-In-One Location:  Say Goodbye to Chaos!

Do you have flight details in your email, hotel bookings on an app, and excursion times on a sticky note? Stop the madness! An itinerary template puts all these details in one simple place. Just open it up, and you’ll know what’s happening next.

• Easy to Use:  No Tech Skills Needed!

You don’t have to be a computer genius to use an itinerary template. Most of it comes with clear fields for you to fill in. Just type your flight time here your hotel name there, and you’re done! It’s like filling out a fun quiz.

• Be Organized:  Know What Comes After What

The best part about being organized is knowing what’s next. You see your trip like a story when you put your plans in an itinerary template. First, this happens, then that. You can enjoy the trip more when you know what’s coming up.

• Shareable:  Keep Everyone in the Loop

Traveling with family or friends? Send them the itinerary template! That way, everyone knows the plan. If someone asks, “What time is dinner?” tell them to check the itinerary!

• Free:  More Money for Fun Stuff!

The best things in life are free. Well, most travel itinerary templates are free, too! That means you can save cash for fun stuff like snacks, souvenirs, or an extra special adventure!

• Time-Saving:  Quick Changes Made Easy

Plans change. Maybe it rains, and you can’t go to the beach. With an itinerary template, it’s super easy to swap things around. Just a few clicks, and you have a new plan!

• Keeps You On Track:  No More Missing Out

Need to catch a flight or need to remember a dinner reservation? With an itinerary, you’ll get reminders. It’s like having a helpful friend who says, “Hey, time to go!”

• Peace of Mind:  Worry Less, Enjoy More!

When you’re organized, you feel calmer. That means you can enjoy your trip more and less worrying about it.

Are you ready to try an  itinerary template ? Trust us, it will make your next trip so much easier! ????

Essential Elements in a Travel Itinerary

So you’re convinced that a travel itinerary template is a good idea. Great! But what should you include in it? Don’t fret; here’s a list of the  key things to put in your travel plan .

• Title and Dates: What’s the Trip For?

Start with a striking title that sums up your trip. Are you going on a “Summer Adventure in Hawaii” or a “Weekend Getaway in Paris”? Include the dates so you always know the timeframe.

• Names: Who’s Going?

If you’re traveling with other people, write down everyone’s name. It’s an easy way for everyone to know they’re looking at the right plan.

• Departure and Arrival: Take-Off and Landing

Include details about when and where you’re starting and ending your journey. Include times, places, and how you’re getting there. Plane? Train? Automobile?

• Transport Info: All Aboard!

Note any flight numbers, train cars, or other key details. It’s also smart to list any reservations and helpful phone numbers in case of delays.

• Lodging: Home Away From Home

Where are you staying? Include the name, address, and check-in/check-out times for each place you sleep.

• Activities: The Fun Stuff!

What’s a trip without cool stuff to do? List all the tours, visits, or shows you plan to attend. Add times and places so you remember.

• Meetings: Can’t-Miss Appointments

Are you mixing a little business with pleasure? Include any meetings or important appointments you have. Who, what, where, and when—it all goes here.

• Meals: Yummy in My Tummy

Planning to eat at that must-try café? Put it in the itinerary.

• Free Time: Do What You Want

It’s your trip, after all! Include some blocks of free time for spontaneous fun.

• Emergency Contacts: Just in Case

Include some emergency contacts, like local hospitals or a trusted friend back home.

• Checklist: Remember!

Add a small list at the end for any last-minute things you need to do or bring. Passport? Snacks? It goes here.

That’s your  travel itinerary essentials  covered! With everything in your template, you’re ready for an awesome, stress-free trip! ????

Tips for Crafting a Useful Travel Itinerary

It isn’t just about jotting down names and places. Here are some tips.

Be Realistic: Time Matters!

Always consider how much time each activity will take. Keep your day manageable. You want time to enjoy the places you visit!

Group Activities by Location: Smart Mapping

Put things that are close to each other on the same day. This way, you spend less time moving and more time doing.

Always Have a Plan B: Be Flexible

Sometimes, things go differently than planned. Maybe it rains, or a place is closed. Have a backup plan, so you’re never stuck with nothing to do.

Check Opening Hours: No Unwanted Surprises

Imagine showing up at a museum you’re excited to visit, only to find it’s closed on Tuesdays. Check opening times in advance to avoid this.

Share It: Keep Everyone in the Loop

If you’re traveling with others, ensure everyone has a copy of the itinerary. You could even make a shared online version.

Local Customs and Laws: When in Rome.

Check for any local customs, rules, or laws you should know about, like dress codes at religious sites.

Remember Time Zones: Sync Up!

If you’re crossing time zones, adjust all your times so you’re always on local time.

Add Some Breathing Room: Take It Easy

Don’t schedule something every minute of every day. You’ll need some downtime to relax and soak it all in.

Include All Confirmation Numbers: Quick Access

For flights, hotels, and activities that require booking, include all confirmation numbers for quick and easy access.

Double-Check All Details: Be Sure, Be Safe

Before you finalize your itinerary, double-check all times, dates, and reservations.

Print and Digital: Best of Both Worlds

Have both a printed copy and a digital copy available. Technology can fail, and you might only sometimes have Wi-Fi.

Keep it Handy: Easy Access.

Put your itinerary somewhere easy to get to. Save it on your phone or put it in a pocket in your bag.

Free Travel Itinerary Templates

Free Travel Itinerary Templates 01

Free Travel Itinerary Templates 02

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Free Travel Itinerary Templates 14

Free Travel Itinerary Templates 15

Travel Itinerary Template Word

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Free Travel Itinerary Templates 09

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Free Travel Itinerary Templates 11

Free Travel Itinerary Templates 12

Easy to Use

One of the best things about using a Word template is its simplicity. You don’t have to be a computer wizard to figure it out!

Customizable

Word lets you change fonts and colors and even add pictures. Make your template  truly your own .

You can open a Word document on almost any device. It’s super  easy to share  with family or travel buddies, too.

Pre-made Templates

Word offers a variety of  ready-to-use templates . Just plug in your details, and you’re good to go!

Checklist Features

You can add  checkboxes  next to each activity or place. It feels so good to check them off as you go!

Safe and Secure

You can easily  lock the document  to keep your travel plans private.

Great for Printing

Word documents  print beautifully . It is a great option if you like having a paper copy of your plans.

How to Use It

• Open Word and choose a blank document or a pre-made template.
• Fill in your travel details like flights, hotels, and fun stuff to do.
• Add any  extra notes  or  checklists .
• Save it, print it, or share it via email.

Tips for Using Word Templates

• Spell-check : Always run a spell-check to avoid any errors.
• Save Often : Keep up your hard work. Save your doc often!
• Backup : Email a copy to yourself or save it in the cloud.

Using a Word template for your travel itinerary is a smart way to keep all your plans in one place. Give it a try for your next trip!

Free Travel Itinerary Templates Excel

Do you like spreadsheets?  Excel templates  offer even more ways to stay organized. You can sort your plans, filter them, and find what you need fast!

If you’ve been using regular Word documents or even pen and paper for your travel plans, it’s time to  upgrade to Excel ! Here’s why and how:

Easy to Edit: Change On-the-Go

Excel allows you to add or remove items quickly. If your plans change, delete a row or add a new one!

Sort and Filter: Find What You Need

Say you want to see all your flight details at once. Excel lets you sort and filter to find what you’re looking for in a snap.

Color Codes: Make It Pretty and Practical

Blue for sightseeing and red for meals. It makes it easier to understand your day at a glance.

Formulas: Count the Hours

You can use simple Excel formulas to add how much time each day’s activities will take.

Shareable: Easy to Send

Excel files are easily shared by email or cloud services like Google Drive. You can also password-protect it if it has sensitive data.

Collaborative: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Everyone can add their activities or notes in the same Excel sheet if you’re traveling with others. It’s a team itinerary!

Tabs for Days: One File, Many Uses

You can use different tabs for different parts of your trip. One tab for flights, another for hotels, and so on.

Links and Notes: Extra Info

You can add links to websites or notes with additional information in Excel.

Offline Access: Always Available

Once downloaded, Excel files are available even without internet access, making them reliable and handy.

Templates Galore: Start with a Bang

It is lots of pre-made Excel itinerary templates available online. It can give you a head start and create planning even quicker.

Itinerary Templates Excel

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Stable and Consistent

One of the biggest perks of using a PDF is that it looks the  same  on every device. No surprises!

Easy to Share

PDF files are  super easy to send  in an email or message. They can be opened on almost any gadget.

No Accidental Changes

Once you save it, it stays that way. You can’t accidentally mess up your plans!

Universal Acceptance

Almost all businesses can open and read PDFs. Most people can easily check your plans if you need to show them.

Password Protection

PDFs can be  locked  with a password. Your plans stay  safe and private .

Fantastic for Printing

If you like paper copies, PDFs print out  just how they look on screen .

• Make your plans in any software that can be saved as a PDF.
• Double-check all your details and  spelling .
• Save or ‘print’ your plans as a PDF file.
• Share or print your  snazzy  new PDF itinerary!

Tips for Using PDF Templates

• Read-Only : Remember, most PDFs can’t be easily changed. Make sure all your info is correct before you save it.
• Compatibility : Always ensure the people you share the PDF with can open it.
• Document Size : PDFs with lots of pictures can get big. Keep an eye on the file size if you need to email it.

A PDF travel itinerary template is  rock-solid  for keeping your travel plans organized and easily accessible. It’s a popular option, especially if you want a file that stays how you made it.

Common Mistakes in Using Travel Itinerary Templates

Skipping the Details : One of the most common errors is  filling in all the blanks . It can lead to confusion during your trip.

Ignoring Time Zones : Many must remember to account for time zone changes. It can mess up your plans.

Overstuffing the Itinerary : It’s tempting to pack your day full of activities. But this leaves  no room for rest or unexpected events .

Forgetting to Share : If you’re traveling with others,  forgetting to share  the itinerary can make things hard for everyone.

Not Checking Operation Hours : Imagine going to a museum only to find it’s closed. Always  check the working hours  of places you want to visit.

Skipping Backup Plans : Weather changes. Plans fall through. Having  no Plan B  can ruin your day.

Bad Formatting : If your itinerary is hard to read, it’s almost useless. Make sure you use  clear and easy-to-read formats .

Not Updating : Sometimes plans change.  Only updating your template  can make sure you get all the things.

Ignoring Local Customs and Laws : Failing to account for local customs or laws can be embarrassing and sometimes problematic. Always do your  basic homework .

Not Double-Checking : A small mistake in flight numbers or hotel booking IDs can be a big hassle. Always  double-check your details .

Avoiding these common mistakes can make your itinerary a powerful tool for a smooth and enjoyable trip!

Traveling is more fun when you’re organized. Using a  travel itinerary template  can help a lot! So why wait? Download a free template today!

Additional Resources

Want to know more? Click the links below for free templates and helpful travel apps.

• Free Itinerary Templates
• Best Travel Apps

Happy traveling! ????

What Is a Travel Itinerary Template?

A travel itinerary template is like a  map for your trip . It shows where you need to go, what you’ll do, and when you’ll do it.

Where Can I Find Free Travel Itinerary Templates?

You can find free templates online, in apps, Excel, or Word. Some travel websites also offer them for  free .

Should My Template Be Detailed or Broad?

That depends on you! Some folks like a  minute-by-minute plan , while others want just the  big events  listed. Choose what works for you.

Can I Use the Same Template for Different Trips?

Yes, you can! Just  change the details  to fit your new trip.

What Should I Include in My Template?

Include key info like  flights, hotels, and activities . Remember  small but important details  like transport from the airport to the hotel.

Do I Need to Print My Itinerary?

Only sometimes. You could keep it on your phone. But a printed copy is good, just in case your phone  runs out of juice .

How Many Copies Should I Make?

It’s a good idea to have  more than one copy . Leave one with a friend or family member back home, keep one with you, and maybe have a  digital copy .

Can I Add Last-Minute Changes?

Yes, you can. Just  update all your copies  so you’re not working off old info.

What Do I Do If My Plans Change Mid-Trip?

No problem! Just  update your template . You can do it with a printed copy or update the digital one on your device.

Is It OK to Leave Free Time in My Plan?

Absolutely! It’s your trip, after all. Free time lets you  explore  or  rest  as you feel like it.

The content creator team at calipsotree.com is dedicated to making topics accessible to everyone, with over 9 years of experience in writing and breaking down complex concepts into easy-to-understand articles that answer readers’ financial questions.

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11 Free Travel Itinerary Templates for Your Next Trip in Google Docs, Excel, & Word

Content Partnership Specialist

May 8, 2024

There are a lot of things that go into planning a trip.

From scheduling flights, booking hotels and car rentals, planning activities, and ensuring all of them fit within your timeline and budget too!

Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or simply someone looking to create an organized travel schedule for your upcoming trip, then you should consider using an itinerary template. 

Itinerary templates help you organize your activities, manage your time , calculate your expenses, give you a breakdown of all your important travel information before a trip, and help you make the most out of your business trip or vacation. 

Head over to the sections below to find out what makes a good itinerary template, and discover 11 free templates you can use to help you plan your next trip! 🏝️

What is an Itinerary Template?

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An itinerary is a document that outlines all of the details of your trip, from your flight and hotel reservations to your planned activities and budget, to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

That said, trip planners should turn to itinerary templates to give you ready-to-use and organized fill-in-the-blank pages that you can use for every type of trip. 

Itinerary templates can help business and leisure travelers:

• Save time, plan more effectively, and provide an organized format for all the important details of their trip
• Have a digital planner to keep track of all the details they need to consider when planning their travel, such as dates and locations, transportation and accommodations, and activities
• Get quick access to all of the necessary details in one place
• Help manage last-minute changes more effectively

Think of these free itinerary templates as your personal travel agent assistant. They’re there to assist you with planning the most important parts of your trip, so you spend more time enjoying the moment than worrying about what’s next and how you’re getting there.

Moreover, creating a detailed travel itinerary is beneficial if you’re visiting a new city or country you’ve never been to before. 

So what should a travel itinerary look like? Let’s take a look!

There are several types of itinerary templates for different occasions. The most commonly used and sought templates are for business trips, vacations, event planning, and global and domestic travels.

And while there are many types of itinerary templates out there, the best ones offer the following basic elements: 

• Have clear and concise language
• Organized and easy-to-read format
• Customizable and easy to edit
• Easily accessible and sharable 

And if you need to shift your plans around due to unexpected changes, a solid travel itinerary template should offer the flexibility to let you make changes without compromising the flow of your trip. It also shouldn’t require you to start your travel itinerary from scratch.

Ultimately, these templates should help you create a personalized travel itinerary, save time, and stay organized to help you become a better planner.

Speaking of which—here are 11 hand-picked travel itinerary templates that can help you with that! Each one offers a unique format and features. Check them one by one to see which templates suit your needs the best.

11 Travel Itinerary Templates for Your Next Trip

Traveling for work? 

This Business Travel Itinerary Template by ClickUp can help you get all your important travel details and work schedules, all in one place. 

Easily notate your travel dates, hotel information, flight number, and other important information in an organized and easy-to-follow format in ClickUp Docs . If you have multiple travel plans or want to keep your past and future travel itinerary docs in one place, then simply add nested pages under one Doc to keep everything neatly organized and accessible.

And because ClickUp Docs allow you to have full control of sharing permissions and privacy, you can keep your pages private to protect your personal information or securely share them with selected people via a link.

Best of all, ClickUp is available on the mobile app , so you can take your itinerary template wherever you go and access it any time of the day.

Use this free travel itinerary template to streamline your business travel planning process and establish a consistent standard itinerary that you can use again and again.

Planning a road trip or exploring a new city?

Whatever type of vacation you’re planning for, this Vacation Planning Travel Itinerary Template by ClickUp can help you create a visual roadmap of your planned activities.

With this free travel itinerary template, you’ll be able to plan your destinations, use ClickUp Custom Fields to add important details such as hotel addresses, type of activity, hours of operation, travel time, accommodations, reservations, and so on to ensure you’re on the right track to hit all the spots you have planned to visit on your trip!

Additionally, this template allows you to visualize your road trip itinerary in Map view, as shown above, and other views in ClickUp, such as List, Embed Board, and Doc view. Each custom view offers a unique look at your travel itinerary to help you visualize and organize your plans in the best way that works for you. 

Use these vacation planning templates to give you the structure and organization you need to plan your next trip and have a stress-free getaway!

Streamline your travel planning with ClickUp’s Trip Planner Template ! Say goodbye to the chaos of scattered details and hello to a centralized hub for all your trip essentials. From flights to accommodations, activities to budgets, this template has you covered. Save time by organizing everything in one place and ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

With customizable features like custom statuses, fields, and views, you can tailor the template to suit your specific needs. Collaborate effortlessly with friends and family to create the ultimate travel experience. Whether you’re jetting off for a quick getaway or planning a work trip, this template provides the tools you need for a successful trip.

Set your budget, research destinations, create itineraries, and finalize details all within ClickUp’s intuitive platform. Track progress, assign tasks, and monitor productivity with ease. From start to finish, ClickUp’s Trip Planner Template empowers you to plan your dream trip efficiently and effectively.

Whether you’re born with natural event planning skills or perhaps someone who’s looking to get better at it, this Event Planning Itinerary Template by ClickUp can help you plan your next events with ease!

This event planning itinerary template includes three highly visual ClickUp Views that can be customized for any need, from organizing and scheduling event dates on a List and Board to drag-and-drop planning on a Calendar.

Each view provides pre-built Custom Fields, which allow you and your team to add important details, such as progress percentage bars, payment status, due dates, budget status, and more. You can also create Custom Task Statuses to help identify the stage each task is, keeping everyone in the loop on where each task stands at all times. 

You can download the app on your mobile device to access your tasks regardless of your event’s location, and use this itinerary template to help you become a pro at planning events and start managing all of your business operations, teams, and event planning —all in one place. 

Sometimes, it’s best to take things day by day, especially when your workload and to-do lists are getting out of hand. 

Seize the day and stay productive (and motivated) by turning to the 24 Hours Itinerary Template in ClickUp to guide you when creating your daily schedule!

This free itinerary template includes pre-built Custom Fields and Custom Task Statuses to help you easily plan and visualize your daily tasks. And because those features are fully customizable, you can edit and add whatever fields and statuses work best for your workflow.

Use this template to assist you with daily planning , so you easily view all of your to-dos, stay focused on what’s on your plate each day, and make the most of every day!

Meetings are a great way to sync with people in real time.

However, without a proper agenda, you might forget to discuss important matters, lose control of the meeting flow, and veer off track, leaving the attendees with more questions than answers or thinking, “this could’ve been an email.” 😅

Don’t let that happen to you! 

Whether you’re hosting a face-to-face or virtual meeting, having a prepared agenda beforehand keeps your meetings productive and helps make the most of your attendee’s time— the free Agenda Template by ClickUp can help you prep for your next meeting.

This template provides you with sections for your meeting details, participants, and so much more. And because this template is available ClickUp Docs, you can easily format the page to support any type of meeting , embed links to add more details to your agenda, and easily share it with your team before the meeting so they can come prepared with insights or questions. 

Use this itinerary template to help you plan and keep your next meetings productive! 

Planning a conference and need a conference agenda template ?

This Conference Itinerary Template by ClickUp can help you create, visualize, and manage your events all in one centralized place.

This template offers pre-built views, such as Box, Calendar, and List view, and Custom Fields and Custom Task Statuses to allow you to create your ideal itinerary for your event. Moreover, you can add custom tags to your tasks to add another layer of organization to your itinerary and add new Custom Fields to keep your tasks as detailed as possible as you plan your live or virtual conference events .

And if you need help getting started, no problem. It comes with a Getting Started Guide to help you get familiarized with the template and serve as a guide to help you plan your next event !

A meeting agenda is a must, especially for board meetings. 

The Board Meeting Agenda Template in ClickUp offers pre-built Custom Fields to help board members and leadership create a high-level and organized meeting agenda, and run productive meetings. You may also add single or multiple assignees to each task and subtask to clearly note who’s responsible for completing the task or presenting the topics and check them off the list as each task or topic has been discussed to easily track and note what is yet to be completed.

Use this itinerary template to help you create an organized meeting agenda , keep everyone in the loop ahead of the meeting, and promote open discussion among all participants, which can lead to stronger decisions and better outcomes.

If you’re an Excel user, then this template is for you.

Microsoft Excel offers a handy Vacation Itinerary template that you can use to organize all of your trip details. Whether you want to start a road trip itinerary with friends or a personalized itinerary of your full trip, this trip itinerary template includes entries for flight information, lodging, emergency contacts, activities, and so on. 

Once you’ve filled out the template with the details of your trip, simply save it on your computer or print it to take a physical copy of your itinerary with you or leave a copy for your friends and family while you’re away on your vacation.

If you like keeping things simple when planning your trips, then this travel itinerary template will work for what you need.

This template allows you to add and edit your travel details, such as destinations, transportation, lodging, and what you need to pack for your trip, in organized tables in Google Docs (where you can also connect to Google Sheets). 

This is one of the many customizable templates that’s free to download. Save it on your computer or print a copy to take with you!

Keep your business trips as stress-free as possible by creating a detailed flight itinerary, meeting schedule, and more all on one page. Use Microsoft Word’s Business Trip Itinerary template to keep track of important dates, departure and arrival times, destination addresses, phone numbers, travel time, and other notes about each item on your itinerary. 

Start Planning Your Next Trip with Travel Itinerary Templates

When it comes to planning trips, having an itinerary is key.

But we get it. Making a detailed itinerary can be quite time-consuming. That’s why using an itinerary template can be such a great tool! Stay organized and use the templates we provided above as a starting point for creating your own customized itinerary for your upcoming trips and events.

And if you’re a fan of customizations, then you’ll click well with ClickUp. 

It offers a fully customizable platform with hundreds of features and templates to give you the power to create a personalized experience, connect all your notes and work together, and build a workflow and itineraries that work for you.

Get access to ClickUp’s customizable templates for free today, and start getting excited about planning your next event! 

Bon voyage! 👋

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• Trip Planner

Trip Planner | Travel Itinerary Planner | Plan a Trip

Are you looking for an itinerary planner to plan your next trip? We know creating a customized travel itinerary manually is an overwhelming task. You have to put a lot of time into selecting destinations, booking hotels, flights, and comparing prices. On top of that calculating budgets & booking hotels and flights is another challenge that makes itinerary planning tough.

But what if all of this is done within a few minutes for you? Yes with TripHobo trip planner you can do this smartly. We have observed that many travelers end up spending more time in researching information than enjoying the actual trip. Not only first-time travelers but also experienced travelers struggle in creating perfect travel plans.

Even though it is a tedious task to create a customized itinerary, everyone agrees on the importance of itinerary for an enjoyable holiday. So Triphobo came up with this easy to use automatic itinerary planner.

How Trip Planner Works / Steps to Plan a Trip

Do you want to create your travel itinerary quickly & easily? Are you ready to use this tool now? TripHobo's trip planner plays a major role to ease the itinerary creation process and helps you overcome the pain in the trip planning .  Follow these 4 simple steps to plan a trip & let us know your experience.

1) Choose Your Destination & Dates when you want to travel

Visual algorithmic trip planner lets you choose destinations you want to travel to. You have the freedom to choose the real dates from the calendar. After selecting travel dates, planner runs algorithms to optimize a trip. It starts suggesting activities, sightseeing spots, tours and transport options with the details. For every attraction, it suggests open/close timings, time to spend, and nearby restaurants.

You can drag & drop activities and complete your itinerary within a matter of minutes. You can book yourself a nice vacation once you are sure of all the details, making you plan your trip very easily.

2) Refer to User Created Itineraries

If you have a lot of travel ideas but confused about where to start? Don't worry. Thousands of other people have visited the same destination before and created itineraries with us. Choose from a pool of more than 1 million user-generated itineraries around the globe. You can view other travelers’ itineraries for any location and duration to inspire yourself and then customize them to suit your own preferences.

3) Book Hotels and Flights

TripHobo always tries to offer the best from the travel industry to our valued planners. It has formed alliances with Expedia , Skyscanner, Zomato and Booking.com. Its ratings and reviews come courtesy of TripAdvisor whereas Google (as well as other partners) powers its location data.

TripHobo aims to cater to travelers at every stage of the travel planning process. It provides one platform to create personalized itineraries and hassle-free bookings .

4) Get Ready with a Perfect Itinerary

Once you’ve created your customized itinerary, you can print it. Save your plan for future reference or share it with your friends. When you’re ready, you can finalize and have a perfect travel itinerary ready.

Why Is TripHobo a Smart Trip planner?

There are few things included in the Triphobo planner algorithm & app which builds itinerary within minutes.

• A free virtual map-based trip planner with a smart algorithm
• International trip planner with about 1,50,000 popular destinations
• The largest repository of user-generated itineraries
• Hassle-free booking options for hotels, tours & flights
• Provides local transit options like metro, rail, bus, and car
• Calculates an estimated budget
• Provides options to save, print and share itinerary
• Strategic Partnerships with leading travel companies

TripHobo: Around the Web

• Trip of Your Own
• Traveling made easier with TripHobo
• Making The Southeast Asian Travel Connection
• Ex-HCL employee’s led ‘TripHobo’ is on a mission to become a global brand – a goto place for travel planning!
• Interview: Praveen Kumar, Founder & CEO of TripHobo
• TripHobo inks partnership with Zomato
• How a trip planning startup can succeed
• Karthik Ramachandram Co-Founder COO, TripHobo - Phocuswright Conference

Here's what travelers have to say about our travel planner

• Excellent 238

Great and genuinely wonderful website that makes a proper vacation plan simple, like it should. All reviews are 5 stars. The only suggestion I have to enhance this fantastic website is to include a mobile application. Even paying for a version without ads wouldn't bother me.

Every traveller should use this!

So much easier & more helpful than a travel agency, given lots of fantastic ideas, and was extremely helpful for planning the trip. Would strongly advise my family and friends to use this!

Great tool for trip planning. Impportantly it's free and automatically tailors travel plans to your preferences and is completely customisable. The integration with skyscanner and booking.com, and other OTA like priceline and expedia makes it very easy to plan the whole trip along with the bookings in one place.

How to Write a Travel Itinerary (Template and Tips)

Being able to write a good itinerary is a powerful tool in the travel industry. A travel itinerary isn’t just a list of things to do. It’s a stop-by-stop break down of how a traveler should spend their time.

Whether you’re a travel agent, blogger, content writer, or anything in between, itineraries are fundamental.

Creating effective itineraries is also a valuable skill if you’re a traveler. If you can craft a compelling trip plan, you’re in for a holiday that will show you and your loved ones an amazing time.

Why take our advice? We’re highly experienced in the itinerary game. 🙂 The Travel Tractions content team has crafted over 500,000 words worth of travel itineraries in the last 3 months alone.

We know our stuff, and we’re here to share it with you. The following is a detailed guide on how to make a travel itinerary.

Travel Itinerary Template

An itinerary will pretty much always be broken down into days (unless it’s a 24-hour itinerary). Each day is further broken down into individual stops , which are typically the recommended points of interest and attractions.

The days and stops are the meat of the itinerary, but most itineraries will be supplemented with additional information to further help the reader.

Have a look at how we added a practical packing list in this 3 day London itinerary .

We recommend structuring your vacation itinerary in a similar way to the following:

Introduction

Every good blog post needs an introduction. For your itinerary, this will be a brief overview of the destination and why it’s an attractive place to visit. Sell the itinerary here. Give the reader a good reason to stay engaged and continue reading.

Brief Overview

Offer a bullet-pointed breakdown of the itinerary, outlining the stops. This allows the reader to understand if it’s right for them before reading in full.

Day 1, etc.

This is where you lay out the stops for each day. Give some insightful and interesting information about each stop.

The aim here is to get them excited about what you’re suggesting / offering. Don’t overwhelm them with information, just whet their appetite.

Make each stop a heading, and include useful information such as opening hours, cost, and which kind of traveler is best catered for here. You can add must-visit food stops as well, or simply leave that choice up to the reader.

Check out how we helped our readers organize a 7-day trip to Bali .

Looking to generate more income with your content? Click here to view our Content Marketing Strategy packages

Other Useful Information

In this section, offer some extra information that will help the user get the most out of their experience. Some things you can add include:

• Tell the reader a bit about how to get around, transport options, and things to be prepared for.
• Discuss the best places to stay and suggest a few options for accommodation that you know are great.
• Make some restaurant recommendations and mention any other foodie stops that haven’t made it into your itinerary stops.
• Include a packing list if you feel it’s an important aspect (or write a separate packing list post and take advantage of some internal linking).

This section exists to help close the itinerary in a satisfying way. Offer a brief summary and some final thoughts. Reaffirm the reasons why the destination is attractive, and why your itinerary is the best on offer.

Important Considerations for Writing an Itinerary

So, now you’ve got the outline for a successful itinerary. But you’ll need to fill this skeleton with high-quality content in order to produce something valuable. Taking into account the following considerations and tips will help you do so.

Decide the Length of the Itinerary

Before writing anything, you’ll need to decide the length of your itinerary. Are you offering an itinerary for three days? five days? one week?

The best option will largely depend on the size of the destination and how much it offers in terms of things to do. For example, most travelers will probably spend at least a week in Bali but perhaps just two or three days in Amsterdam.

This can generally be determined with some logical thinking or past experience. But a bit of keyword research can really help uncover what your audience is truly looking for.

If you already have an idea of what you’d like the reader to see and do, you can base the length of the trip on the time it’ll take them to see it all.

Decide on the Stops & Attractions

Once you’ve decided on a number of days, you’ll need to figure out how the reader should fill their time.

Ask yourself questions like:

• What are the most popular landmarks, attractions, and points of interest?
• What will offer the most memorable experience?
• Are there any unheard of spots that will enrich the experience and make it unique?

Deciding on the stops can be done through a combination of experience, prior knowledge, and research.

Looking for expertly-written, SEO content? Click here to view our affordable content writing packages

What’s Achievable?

How much can the reader realistically fit in the time allotted? We know it’s easy to get excited about all the amazing things that a travel destination has to offer. But it’s important to keep it realistic.

The last thing you want is to over-promise on what can be achieved during a trip, only to leave the reader rushing from one attraction to the next without time to appreciate each one. They could even end up abandoning the itinerary altogether.

Plan Out Logical Routes

It’s very important that you consider the geography of the destination when structuring an itinerary. You need to plan out logical routes between stops in order to minimize travel and maximize efficiency. If two or more attractions are close to one another geographically, it only makes sense to visit them at the same time.

Use your knowledge of the area in combination with Google Maps to plot out a route for each day’s itinerary.

Offer Insider Tips

Try to offer unique insights and ideas, insider tips, and some off-the-beaten-track gems.

The reader wants to know that they’re in reliable and experienced hands. Unique and valuable guidance will also help your itinerary stand out against those offering more generic advice.

You can provide these at any point throughout the itinerary. Wherever they fit best.

Be Specific and Unambiguous

Itineraries provide insightful guidance to those who want to be guided. To those who want their trip to be planned for them.

Therefore, it is your job to guide them fully . Don’t offer too much in the way of flexibility. Display conviction in your chosen stops. Show confidence that if they follow your itinerary to a T, they’ll have a great time.

Include Captivating Images

High-quality images transport the reader to the destination before they’ve left their seats. They’re one of the strongest mediums for generating excitement and anticipation for an upcoming trip. They also help break up long blocks of text.

Including images frequently is a great way to keep your reader’s attention and enhance their experience.

You can use images from your own trip, or curate some top-notch stock images .

Implement SEO

Data-focused, strategic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) underpins all of our content. And if your itinerary is being written for the web, it should underpin yours too. Good SEO can help ensure that your itinerary is seen by as many people as possible. And if you’re in the travel business, getting your travel material seen should be a top priority.

Final Thoughts

If you were wondering how to write an itinerary, you landed in the right place. We hope this trip itinerary template helps you craft well-rounded, engaging, and realistic itineraries that leave readers delighted.

More to explorer

SEO Vocabulary | 75+ Words You Should Know

The Importance of Authoritative Content for SEO in 2024

ChatGPT vs Jasper AI | The Pros & Cons of Each AI Writing Tool

Book a call with an digital strategist.

Itinerary Template

Free customizable travel itinerary template to help you organize the trip of your dreams with minimum effort. We also offer a free itinerary creator that will generate the perfect trip for you to any place taking into account your budget, number of people, length of your trip and most important of all the activities that you enjoy!

Travel Itinerary Template | Wedding Itinerary

Travel Itinerary Template

The vacation itinerary template is available in many different versions both in color and black and white. All the itineraries are available to download as an image, Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or a typeable PDF file.

• Typeable PDF
• Spreadsheet (Excel)

This travel itinerary template has a list of places to visit but no car rental.

Business Trip

This itinerary template has a section for a car rental.

This version includes a rental car and foods to try.

• Image: Page 1 , Page 2

This version includes: a list of places to visit, with car rental, foods to try, and a shopping list.

This version includes a list of places to visit, with car rental, foods to try, a shopping list, and a daily itinerary.

This version includes a list of places to visit, with NO car rental, and foods to try.

This version includes a list of places to visit, NO car rental, foods to try, a shopping list, and a daily itinerary.

This itinerary template has a list of places to visit, NO car rental, foods to try, and a shopping list.

Travel Budget

Our free travel budget template will help you plan your travel budget. You can download the vacation budget template as an Excel document. You can open this document with Google Sheets as well.

The spreadsheet will automatically calculate your total budget for you and save you a lot of work.

If your budget is too high, you can play around with the different sections until you reach a travel budget you are comfortable with.

The trip budget template is easy to edit, so if you have additional costs such as visa, passport photos, etc then simply add more lines.

See also the vacation budget planner below.

Itinerary Planner

With the free printables available on this site you can create a free printable vacation trip planner that will plan every aspect of your trip for you.

• Include one of the itinerary templates above to list all the places you want to visit and the things you want to do before you decide which ones to actually include in your final travel itinerary planner.
• Add the travel budget template above to calculate all expenses.
• Create a Travel Checklist including a Baby Travel Checklist and an International Travel Checklist .
• Include a Countdown Calendar since the anticipation is part of the fun!
• If you want to keep a journal during your travels then add a journal template .

And did I mention that all these printables are free!

How do you know which trip itinerary template is best for you?

There are many different travel itinerary templates available but each has different sections. Choose the template that has the most sections you would like to include in your vacation planner.

How to plan your travel itinerary

I love traveling. I have been to at least 40 countries pretty much all over the world. I always plan my trips beforehand. When I travel on my own or with my partner, I am more flexible and enjoy a less rigid schedule. However, when I travel with my kids, I like to be prepared. I want to take them to the important sights and I need to know how we are going to get from place to place. I don’t want to be stuck in a foreign country trying to work out how to get from place to place. When I travel for business, I need to know when meetings are scheduled so that I don’t miss anything important. Therefore, over the years, I have prepared many different travel itineraries for every scenario. I am happy to share them with you here. They are tried and tested and I have updated them over the years when I realized that information was missing.

I think that the more organized you are before your trip, the better your trip will be. You won’t find yourself regretting not visiting a specific place or trying food that everyone is suddenly talking about.

A little bit of planning will ensure that you see the places you want to see, know how to get from place to place, and don’t land up spending more than you planned to spend.

Setting a travel budget and sticking to it is also an important part of planning a trip. See the travel budget template above.

You can go into as much detail as you want on your itinerary. For that reason, we offer a number of itinerary templates. Each itinerary template goes into a different level of detail. Some list the must-see sites and others plan each visit from start to finish. Use the itinerary that best reflects the level of detail you want to go into.

If you want more flexibility, then select the Google Docs or Microsoft Word versions as you can edit them to make them suit your needs if you don’t find a template that is perfect for you.

When planning your trip, open any itinerary example above and start filling out the details. It will help you plan the important parts of your trip and remind you of the things you need to organize.

Choose a Destination

If you have a bucket list then use it to select your destination. You might choose your destination based on the flights available if your schedule isn’t flexible, your budget or the weather during the time you want to travel. If you have a specific destination in mind, then it will be easier to choose a place. If not, Google a few options and see which one looks the most fun. Check the price of flights to that place during the time you plan to travel. Flights are usually the biggest part of the budget and the cost might determine your destination.

Choose Dates

The dates will determine how much time you spend at the destination and your travel budget. Typically, the longer your trip, the higher the budget.

The dates will also determine the cost of your trip. When you travel in high season, it will cost more than when you travel off-season.

Establish a Budget

Set a realistic budget for your trip. Use our free budget template (see above) to get an idea of how much your trip will cost and plan your budget. If you use our free vacation planner then you will find a budget template there too.

• Check if there are any requirements for your destination.
• Some countries require a visa, passport photos (see our free  Passport Photo Maker ), Covid tests, vaccinations, etc. Check what you will need and how much it will cost you.
• If you are planning on renting a car, check if you will need an international driving permit or other documentation.
• Make sure your passport is valid.
• Some countries require that your passport is valid for a specific length of time. Research to make sure that you don’t need a new passport or a visa that might take a while to get.

Find flights

Once you know where you are going and for how long, start looking for flights. If your flights are expensive to a specific location you might want to fly to another city in that country and then take a train or drive. This often enables you to see another city which could be more interesting as well. Another option is a flight with a long layover. This lets you see another country without paying extra. When I traveled with my family to South Africa, we stopped in Paris on the way there. We had a full day there which we spent at Euro Disney. On the way back, we had a full day in Amsterdam, where we walked around Amsterdam for hours and even managed to spend time at the Science Museum. My kids got to see two more countries that they hadn’t been to and the flights cost the same, if not less. If you do this, you must make sure that the travel from the airport won’t be too time-consuming. You want to have enough time in the city to enjoy your visit.

Make a list of the places you want to visit

Create a rough outline of the places you want to visit. This will ensure that there will be enough to see and do. If your budget is tight, check your travel budget before you make the bookings.

The list of places you want to visit will probably determine the hotel you stay at. You will want to stay as close as possible to most of the places you want to visit.

Find hotels

Book a hotel or hotels, if you will be moving around.

Transportation

Determine how you will travel from place to place.

Decide if you will rent a car or if you will use public transportation. If you are using public transportation, check what the best means of transportation is. You might combine various methods. You might also get a guide who will take you from place to place. When we visited China, I found a local guide who drove us from place to place. This is helpful when you are visiting a place that is more difficult to travel alone. If you are traveling with kids, you will want to check how many people can travel in a cab. A good way to check the best way to get from place to place is Rome2Rio .

You will also want to check the price of the specific method of transportation. When I visited Japan, I used the bullet train to get to further places which was very convenient but also very expensive. If you are on a tight budget, you will want to check the price of local transportation before you book your flights and hotels.

Create a detailed itinerary

• Choose one of the itinerary templates above and start deciding what you are going to do each day.
• Group places that are close together on the same day. Also, take into account the travel time to each attraction, the time you will need for sightseeing, opening hours, and mealtimes.
• Some attractions might require that you book tickets online ahead of time so ensure that there are tickets available for that day.
• If time is short, you might want to get save-the-line tickets which can be very convenient.

What is an itinerary?

An itinerary planner is a document that includes the details of your trip or journey.

How do you spell “itinerary”?

An interesting fact about the word itinerary is that it is one of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language. Here are some ways, some people incorrectly spell it:

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The Travel Quandary

The Ultimate Trip Planner Template – Easy To Use Excel Format!

You’re about to embark on your next adventure – hooray! 

Travel planning comes naturally to some who thrive on the challenge to find the best deal on a tour, stay at the coolest hotel or dine at the hottest new restaurant. These travellers are always at the airport on time, check opening hours of attractions before leaving home and have packing down to a fine art form. On the other end of the scale, there are travellers who prefer to go with the flow, do things spontaneously and are happy to rock up to a new destination and “wing it”.

According to the World Tourism Organization (UNTWO), 1.4 billion people travelled internationally in 2018. And apparently, there are over 750 million users of Microsoft Excel worldwide. There’s a high chance that you’ll fall into both of these categories (we don’t know the exact number but it would make for a pretty neat Venn diagram). And if you also classify yourself as an “unprepared” and/or “unorganised” traveller, our trip planner template is designed to help YOU.

Microsoft Excel is not only used by accountants and finance people. Microsoft Excel has become the ultimate planning and analysis tool, recognised and used worldwide which is why we’ve chosen it to create our trip planner template. We hope you find it useful and welcome your feedback and recommendations!

FREE TRIP PLANNER TEMPLATE! MICROSOFT EXCEL & GOOGLE DOCS

Why use a spreadsheet to plan your trip.

• Identify gaps in your itinerary (closures, public holidays, mandatory reservations)
• Save money (better budget decisions, better choices on trip)
• To get you excited! You’re going on a holiday! Hooray!

Download your free trip planner template here

Note: For Google Docs template, download the .zip file and upload the spreadsheet to your Google Drive. Once uploaded, open with Google Sheets.

Using this spreadsheet

The Ultimate Trip Planner Template is built into a spreadsheet which is divided into six sections. We’ve built this trip planner to include 16 days of travel but you can adjust the length of the trip by adding or removing columns in the spreadsheet.

Once you’ve confirmed your travel plans, add them here. This is where you can record all your reservations – flight details, accommodation, car rental, equipment rental, tour reservations etc. Listing them on one tab means you can quickly jump in and find those important details when you need them.

2. Planning

Researching airlines, hotels, Airbnbs, car hire, tour operators and travel insurance policies can be exhausting. You’ll probably go through a phase where you’ll have so many tabs open on your browser, it’ll make you want to pull your hair out! If you also need to compare prices and dates with your travel companions, it can become downright overwhelming.

When you find a potential option you like, add it to the “Planning” tab. When your research is condensed into a neat summary, it will be a simple exercise of reviewing all possible suppliers, key dates and prices and then after a process of elimination, you will be left with the most suitable option.

A budget is by no means set in stone. Our budget tab is designed to help with your travel planning decisions. We feel that it is important to understand the costs of a holiday before making any hasty decisions. And we consider it even more important that you don’t spend beyond your means!

We don’t want to sound like party-poopers but the last thing you want is to get ripped off and/or find yourself stuck abroad without any money. By understanding where you plan to spend the bulk of your hard-earned money on your holiday, you can plan where you’ll allow yourself to splurge and other areas where you may need to tighten the purse strings.

For example, we give ourselves extra budget for food and coffee experiences as this is an aspect we love about travelling. We tend to book budget/basic accommodation on the road depending on the destination and available options, as all we need is a bed, access to a (preferably) hot shower in a secure room.

A good chunk of your budget will already be paid or known in advance before you’ve even left home (i.e. flights, some ground transport, accommodation, tours (if applicable) etc), so this should also help when allocating your budget to food, shopping and extras. There will also be times where you need to be strict and say “no” if your gut feeling and bank account tell you that you cannot afford a certain something. Be conservative but also be kind to yourself – you are treating yourself to a holiday after all and you’ll have to spend money to fully enjoy the experience!

4. Itinerary

We spend a lot of time planning our travel itineraries on a day by day basis and even breaking it down to each hour of each day. Some people call us crazy but when we are short on time and have an extensive list of things to see/do/eat/shop etc, we prefer to be organised.

Laying out our trip day by day also helps us to block out periods of time for travel or to take note of when restaurants and attractions are closed. Of course, plans can and will change. Rain may force you indoors (museums, galleries, shopping) or an unknown public holiday may disrupt your planned travel day.

We recommend using this tab to roughly outline your plans and drop in the activities and places you simply cannot miss. You can move activities to different days if your original plan doesn’t work out. If you want, record your daily expenses at the bottom and you can track how your actual spending goes against your budget.

5. Packing List

For those who begrudge packing, it tends to be the case that you will end up wearing 20% of your packed belongings during 80% of your trip. Or if you’ve left packing until the last minute and thrown items higgledy-piggledy into your suitcase, you’ll arrive at your accommodation to realise you’ve forgotten your favourite undies or packed the wrong shoes.

Packing lists work. Once you’ve considered the weather and climate at your destination, your baggage allowance plus the duration of your trip, you can plan what you need and limit unnecessary purchases on the other side.

We’ve compiled a pretty epic packing list covering practically every type of adventure and possibly everything that you may need. Feel free to adjust accordingly to your requirements.

6. Checklist

This is the final step before you walk out your front door to embark on a brand new adventure. Before you go, use this tab to ensure you’ve dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s. And then you’re off!

Bon voyage!

WHERE WILL YOU TRAVEL NEXT?

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Give us your feedback of the Trip Planner Template below!

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CONTINUE PLANNING YOUR TRAVELS

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28 thoughts on “the ultimate trip planner template – easy to use excel format”.

HOLY COW I cannot believe I found EVERYTHING I needed all in one for FREE. I feel like I have ROBBED someone! My partner and I never grew up in households where family vacations were had, so we have no idea what were doing. Thank you kindly to The Travel Quandary. If I can donate, share your page, volunteer, etc. let me know how I can repay <3

SO HELPFUL ! THANK YOU SO MUCH !

How you extend the dates! I am going for a month

This template is so great! Planning a trip to New Zealand and will be traveling around a lot – this is super helpful!

NICE!! MUCHAS GRACIAS VERY COOL!!! Alina

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and your files!

Thanks so much for the template. This is a very good start for a traveller like me. Easy to use!

Amazing template! Exactly what I needed. Thank you!

Thank you for the great tool! I was wondering if theres a way to enter an end date as well to the itenerary?

Hi there! I was wrapped to see that the template is created by some Aussies! and local ones as well. I’m from Melbourne! Template is a charm! Just what I’ve been looking for ages! Planning our Europe trip for 2023 that got cancelled in 2020! (We all know why!!) Will let you know how it goes and will definitely check out your website! Thanks,

Hi Rosanna, we’re so glad to hear that you’ve found this template useful! Very jealous that you’re planning an escapade to Europe. No doubt it will be amazing! Safe travels 🙂

Thankyou for your post on THE ULTIMATE TRIP PLANNER TEMPLATE on excel. It is very usefull. I have been using this template to plan my trips for a while now and it has saved me a lot of time. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a travel planner.

Didn’t work. At least, not on my version of excel.

something about “delimited” something or another.

Hi Piotr, We’re sorry to hear this. What version of excel are you using? Are you on a Mac or PC? If you wish, we can email you an Excel copy of the template.

So so sooo helpful! I’m happy to find this great itinerary template! Thank you so much.

Thanks Tahira! We’re so glad that you found it helpful. Enjoy your travels! 🙂

Hi Tahira, we’re thrilled you found this template helpful. Enjoy your travels!

I needed this so much, easy and simply. Thank you for a great spreadsheet.

Thanks Nga! Happy travel planning!

Hi Nga, we’re so glad you loved this spreadsheet. Hope you had an amazing travel adventure!

Thank you , soooo much ! I appreciate you putting this together and sharing it

Hi Priscilla! So glad that you found this planning template useful! We hope you enjoy your trip!

I am so excited to find this. (Thank you, Pinterest!) I will be leaving in a month on an eight day train trip and this is exactly what I needed to get all my ducks in a row. Thank you so much!

HiTeresa! We’re so glad to hear this and so exciting for you. Enjoy your trip!

This is great! Found this as i was looking for a newer travel planner and this is very helpful and user friendly!

We’re so glad to hear this! Happy travel planning!

great tool. never used a planner before and it has most every item to consider… add a route sheet for those who driving to, during and back from their vacations…

Glad you like it and thanks for the feedback. We’ll look into adding a new tab for routes.

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27 Tips To Plan An Amazing Trip Itinerary For Any Destination

C reating a travel itinerary for an upcoming trip is at once a very fun and very overwhelming experience. If you are going somewhere you have never been before, you may be starting from scratch. If you are going international, there are a host of foreign factors to take into account. It is exciting to prepare for a travel adventure, but also— where on earth do you even start?

How do you organize your time to make everyone happy? Will you be able to check off the bucket list of everything you were hoping to see and do? What did you forget?

After all, I am sure you value your time and money, so taking the preliminary steps to create a realistic and researched trip itinerary will ensure the amazing vacation experience that you were hoping for.

Below are the guidelines and questions that you can apply to any trip and any destination to maximize your vacation time. A great travel itinerary is your key to a great travel experience, so you can begin right here, with us!

How Do I Choose A Destination?

Usually, travelers have a destination in mind before even beginning their travel research, but if you have an open mind and are looking for inspiration on the coolest travel destinations , the best advice is to start looking early, read around, and take a look at travel blogs to get excited about certain places.

Think about what time of year you are thinking of taking your trip, and which destinations are suitable for that season. For example, North America’s summertime is Australia’s winter. For another, if you look at skiing trips during your holiday time off around Christmas and New Year’s Day, be aware that every other skier is doing the same, so prices will be high.

What To Consider When Planning Your Trip Itinerary

• Time of year
• Trip duration
• Size of traveling party (their ideas, abilities, and budgets)
• Safety factors

How To Research Your Destination To Find The Best Attractions And Activities

• The best way to start researching your destination is cross-checking multiple websites that list the area’s top attractions and activities. Don’t rely or subscribe to just one website’s recommendations; aka don’t stop after scanning Tripadvisor .
• Read a few travel blogs and sample itineraries of previous travelers’ experiences in that destination, and get a feel for how they broke down their trip. It is worthwhile finding out what they did not find worthy of their time and money, seeing their unprofessional photos (not the marketed photos of a commercial attraction), and getting more of any everyman’s viewpoint of the area. 
• Always read reviews—but with a grain of salt—not just taking for granted the one-star review that totally rips into every single negative.
• You could try Wanderlog to help build out an organized trip itinerary in one place. You can link dinner and hotel reservations; it provides information and inspiration. You may enjoy this assisted creative process in creating your trip itinerary. Hi, Type A travelers.
• If you want to dive into some hearty information resources, I whole-heartedly recommend Rick Steves , Frommer’s , and the like. I used these kinds of guides when road tripping southern France . 
• I usually start making my own itinerary by copying others! I open a new Google Doc and start copying and pasting links and relevant information, so that it is all organized in one place for me (and potentially for my traveling companions to view and edit). I almost always use Google Maps to “star” attractions, pit stops, and sites I know I won’t want to miss, and I reference this map often on my trip. That way I have sites listed on a physical map, and I can see the distance from A to B without hassle.

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How To Create A Custom Travel Itinerary That Fits Your Schedule And Interests

Raise your hand if:

• You find travel stressful
• If a trip has turned into a fiasco
• If you have found yourself wishing you had made more time to just freaking relax
• If you get back from “vacation” more tired than you were before

A great trip is about walking the fine line between adhering to a well-rounded and informed itinerary, while also keeping close to mind the intention behind this trip. It is always harder than you think to maintain a mental awareness and flexibility that you are taking this trip for fun. 

FIRST OF ALL…. WHAT ARE YOU TRAVELING FOR? 

Comfort, relaxation, some pampering? Excitement? A crazy adventure to fire up your blood? Quality time with loved ones? First things first, know why you are traveling . This will impact everything (honestly!): how long you want to travel, where you stay, where you eat, how you spend your time. Your trip is entirely in your hands, and that looks different for every traveler.

We all travel for different reasons; we are all looking for different kinds of experiences. Do you care about cuisine, the outdoors , the local arts, the scenery, the architecture, the history, the museums, the sports? Some travelers are happy to pick up dinner from a street vendor after a long day of adventure and call it a night. Some travelers want their day’s activities to wrap up around 4 so that they can recharge and get ready for a nice dinner reservation at a popular restaurant they’ve heard a lot about. 

DECIDE WHEN AND HOW LONG YOUR TRIP WILL TAKE PLACE

How much time are you taking off of work? How long is too long with your travel companions? What duration is within your budget? Look into how much time other people spent at this destination and how well-satisfied they were with their trip length.

What time of year are you going? Research weather so that you can pack accordingly and plan your itinerary accordingly. If you wanted to hike on your trip during your destination’s rainy season, adjust your expectations and pack clothes/shoes you are fine with dirtying.

These are the guidelines and questions that you can apply to any trip to maximize your vacation time. An itinerary is your key to a great travel experience!

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QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY

Decide what activities and attractions are important to you, prioritize those, and plan your day around them. 

Travel destinations normally hold more opportunities and options than you can realistically—or comfortably—fit into one trip itinerary, so you will have to pick and choose. Try delegating one or two major attractions or activities per day; then, have back-up options for amusement if you find that you have time and energy to spare!

Look at the length of the trip as a whole, and try to realistically envision yourself going about all these hoped-for activities in real-time. Take into account time, distance, transportation, weather; you are better off over-estimating than under-estimating all of these factors. Most travelers overfill their trip itinerary, imagining bouncing from here to there to there. In reality, travel is tiring and can often be over-stimulating. 

TAKE IT ALL IN

Try to experience some of the area’s top attractions and spots, but do not limit yourself to solely those popular sites, and do not waste away in anxiety if you are unable to see each one, whether due to full bookings or high cost.

Most likely, your destination holds hidden gems and offers plenty of lesser-known, but equally-fascinating, opportunities to experience, rather than just checking off major attractions from Yelp and Tripadvisor . 

TRY SOMETHING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

This, my friends, is maybe the most important and rewarding part of travel: experiencing something you cannot—or would not—at home in “real life.” Traveling to a new destination has already placed you in unknown territory, and it is strange and exhilarating to let yourself do something you (under normal circumstances) choose not to do. That’s why people come back from trips with “crazy” travel stories! They found themselves suddenly doing something they truly had not anticipated or experienced before, and it leaves a lasting impact on them. They remember it fondly; they feel stronger and bolder because of it. Trying new things keeps us human beings alive. Take that and run with it when you travel!

EMBRACE LOCAL

Look for local experiences and phenomenons, not “home-y” experiences, like The Cheesecake Factory. 

Search for what activities and sites make this destination unique and different from anywhere else. Challenge yourself to find the well-kept secrets and small spots , not just the huge, widely-marketed, and money-making attractions.

Many travelers spend high amounts of money on really nice lodging accommodations , only to either (a) not leave the hotel and miss out on the amazing destination all around them, or (b) don’t set aside time to enjoy the lavish accommodations that they spent a good deal of their budget on. 

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COMMUNICATE

Make sure your travel companions are on the same page.

Everyone should have complementary expectations on budget and itinerary. This always proves to be difficult, doesn’t it? The best way to prevent tense and conflicting situations during the trip is to manage expectations and have any uncomfortable, but necessary, conversations beforehand. Take everyone’s opinion into account, respect each other’s wishes, and make allowances for mistakes. There is hardly a better opportunity than travel to test your patience and understanding with others.

DO THE RESEARCH

Research what factors could impact your safety —physically, financially, and more. 

Do some research on what to avoid and common scams that may be lurking in your specific destination. If it is a popular travel locale, the economy and environment is most likely very established as such—for better and for worse. For example, in Rome, street peddlers will often be calling out to you from every street corner…and not all of them are honest.

Book and make reservations for popular restaurants and attractions ahead of time. 

In busy travel seasons at popular destinations, some reservations can fill up months in advance. If a specific experience is important to you, then get tickets far in advance, in order to avoid disappointment when on the trip.

MAKE A PACKING LIST

Necessary items first, then extraneous and comforting items last. On the night before or day of travel, run through the list and make sure you check off each necessity.

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MAKE A TO-DO LIST IN THE DAYS BEFORE THE TRIP

Have a physical checklist of things that need to be done before go-time. Having things in writing will always work to your advantage; a mental checklist is about as useful as a mental plane ticket.

Important Questions To Ask

These are a few important questions to ask yourself (and your travel companions) when creating a travel itinerary.

• What do I want out of this experience? What kind of trip am I hoping to have?
• Do I know the local language?
• What local customs should I be aware of?
• In case of emergency, who would be available to step up to help, and who do I know is physically closest to me?
• What is the budget?
• Do I want to pay in money to stay closer to the heart of things, or pay in time and convenience to stay farther away from the center of your destination?
• How much down-time do I want to have?
• How busy do I want this trip to be?
• Have I accounted for the time for transportation between sites of attraction?
• Do I want an Airbnb or hotel for lodging? 
• Am I being flexible for my travel buddies’ ideas and wants?

Tips For Navigating Airports And Public Transportation Systems In Other Countries

Planning out transportation is one of the most crucial steps to preparing for a trip.

If you plan to use public transportation, be generous with your timetable. There are an immense amount of unanticipated and unknown factors working into the equation here: not being able to find an Uber , long lines at the train station, not being able to find the bus station in the city, road traffic on the way to the airport… The list goes on.

Do not wait last-minute to know how you are getting to and from the airport when traveling internationally; make careful calculations. When I think of stressful situations that cause me to literally break a sweat, this is mine, hands down.

Tips On Setting A Travel Budget

Here’s how you can save money on travel expenses while still enjoying every moment of your vacation.

Travel is not off-limits to you if you are on a budget , and your travel experience does not have to be tainted in any way. Your expectations need to be realistic and aligned to your budget, but there are a variety of ways to make travel more feasible for you, while still keeping an eye on the wallet.

Sometimes lower expenses is a trade-off for your time and energy, so decide which is more important to you. Oftentimes to save, you will be opting for the more time-consuming, inconvenient, and less-than-luxurious option. But for some travelers, that doesn’t really matter! 

PLAN TRANSPORATION

Transportation nearly always ends up being one of the most expensive parts of travel. If you can, base your trip around affordable flight prices. Sign up for alerts from airlines, as they will email deals, or from sites like Kayak and Scott’s Cheap Flights .

If possible, walk. Skip the Uber , Lyft , or taxi. Save money, get your steps in, and see your travel destination slowly and in real-time on your own two feet. Or, rent a bike or scooter.

Book things ahead of time. You can find deals online that get you crazy discounts; some attractions even incentivize travelers to book ahead time by offering lower prices. You can often get hotels to price-match; you can shop around for the best rental car option, instead of taking the most convenient (and expensive!) option of those at the airport. Online research will also display more options and allow you to compare more prices, as opposed to just choosing whatever option presents itself to you in the moment of travel. Not planning in advance can really cost you money if you don’t pay attention to and plan out details.

KEEP IT TO A MINIMUM

Travel light. The more stuff you have to carry, the more inconvenient and costly it ends up being (bigger car, paying for to check a bag on an airline). Travel for the experience, not the stuff.

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What To Do If Something Goes Wrong While You're Away From Home

In order to prevent disaster—or even just inconvenience—when traveling, do everything in your power before the trip to eliminate these possibilities. While you are still in the pilot seat, fact-check, research, dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Knowledge is power when traveling.

I tend to repeatedly come back to this point when talking about travel, but if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail . Going on a road trip and don’t have AAA or how to change a tire yourself? Well…hope for the best.

An itinerary is fun, but the primary purpose of an itinerary is also to ensure the smoothest vacation. Yes, you want some unexpected adventure, but you also want to say no thanks when it comes to a medical emergency or to being the victim of crime or scam.

Ways To Prevent Travel Disaster

• Someone should always know your location , especially when traveling internationally. Update your loved ones at home or share a copy of your itinerary with someone you trust so that your journey could be roughly tracked if you need to be found. 
• Carry extra cash , in the currency of value, of the country you are in. Also carry a back-up credit or debit card, in case one is lost, stolen, or denied.
• Have a physical map (but do not openly display that for everyone and their grandmother to see in public spaces).
• Bring a lock for your valuables and carry your wallet in a secure spot, so that you don’t position yourself to be a victim of petty crime.
• Know how to get back to your lodging at all times.

Trip Planner AI

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Your Next Journey, Optimized

Build, personalize, and optimize your itineraries with our free AI trip planner. Designed for vacations, workations, and everyday adventures.

Your AI-Powered Trip

The most optimal.

Craft your perfect itinerary with Trip Planner AI. Our advanced algorithms take into account your selected explore-sights, dining, and lodging preferences to create the optimal travel plan tailored just for you.

Get Inspired

Extract valuable travel insights from Instagram reels and TikToks, explore the mentioned explore-sights, and effortlessly include them in your own adventure with Trip Planner AI.

TRIP PLANNER AI

The only tool youll ever need.

Say goodbye to the stress of planning and hello to personalized recommendations, efficient itineraries, and seamless dining experiences.

Optimal Route Planning

Our AI algorithms analyze your preferences to craft the most efficient route, saving you time and effort.

Personalize Your Adventure

Shape your journey by freely adding, editing, or deleting activities from your itinerary.

Local Cuisine Recommendations

Discover local cuisines and hidden gems recommended by our AI, tailored to your taste buds.

Dont take our word for it

See what our users have to say about revolutionizing their travel experiences with Trip Planner AI.

Trip Planner AI saves time and stress by aiding travel planning, relieving indecision or uncertainty.

Trip Planner AI offers diverse planning options in a user-friendly interface. Simplifies travel planning for enthusiasts.

I love traveling but hate planning. This app quickly organizes trip agendas, reducing decision fatigue.

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How to Make a Google Travel Itinerary: A Step-by-Step Guide

Planning a trip can be a bit overwhelming, but with a Google travel itinerary, you can have all your plans laid out in an organized manner. This handy tool allows you to map out your entire trip, from flights and hotels to attractions and dining. With just a few clicks, you can have a clear, easy-to-follow plan that will make your travel experience a breeze.

Step by Step Tutorial: Creating a Google Travel Itinerary

Before we dive into the steps, let’s talk about what we’re aiming to achieve. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a personalized travel itinerary that’s stored in your Google account, accessible from anywhere, and easy to share with fellow travelers. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Open Google Maps

To create your itinerary, you’ll need to start with Google Maps.

Once you open Google Maps, ensure you’re signed in with the Google account you want to use for your itinerary. This will allow you to save places and access your itinerary across devices.

Step 2: Search for your destination

Type in the location of your trip to begin plotting your itinerary.

You can be as broad as a city or as specific as an address or landmark. This will be your starting point for building your itinerary.

Step 3: Use the ‘Save’ feature

When you find a place you want to visit, click on it and hit the ‘Save’ button.

You’ll have options to save to various lists like “Want to go” or “Starred places”. You can also create a new list specifically for your trip.

Step 4: Create a new list for your trip

Make a new list for your travel itinerary to keep everything organized.

Name your list something clear and memorable, like “Paris Trip 2021”. This will help you easily find it later.

Step 5: Add all your spots to the list

Keep searching and saving all the places you want to visit to your trip list.

Don’t forget to add restaurants, museums, parks, and even your hotel or rental. You can also add notes to each place if you have specific things you want to remember.

Step 6: Share your itinerary

If you’re traveling with others, share your list with them through Google Maps.

Click on your list, then select ‘Share’ to send it to friends or family. They can then view and even collaborate by adding their own spots.

After completing these steps, you’ll have a comprehensive Google travel itinerary tailored to your trip. You can pull it up on your phone while you’re out and about, or print it as a backup. It’s a convenient way to keep all your travel details in one place.

Tips for a Google Travel Itinerary

• Tip: Utilize the ‘Notes’ feature on each place to add reservation details or other important information.
• Tip: Check the opening hours and days for attractions and add them to your notes to avoid surprises.
• Tip: Use the ‘Label’ feature to categorize places, like “Must-see” or “Food spots”.
• Tip: Regularly review and update your itinerary as plans change or you discover new places.
• Tip: If you have specific dates for places, set calendar reminders linked to your itinerary list for an extra layer of organization.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i access my google travel itinerary on my phone.

You can easily access your itinerary on your phone by opening the Google Maps app and going to ‘Saved’ > ‘Your lists’ and selecting your trip list.

Can I add flights and hotels to my Google travel itinerary?

While Google Maps doesn’t directly let you add flights and hotels, you can save the location of your hotel and use notes to add flight details.

Is there a way to get directions for the entire day’s itinerary?

You can select the places on your list in order and use the ‘Directions’ feature to map out your day. However, you’ll need to do this daily as it doesn’t save.

Can I make changes to my itinerary after sharing it?

Absolutely! You can make changes to your itinerary at any time, and anyone with access can see the updates in real-time.

What happens if I lose internet access while traveling?

It’s a good idea to download your itinerary area in Google Maps for offline use, or print out a copy as a backup.

• Open Google Maps and make sure you’re logged in.
• Search and save your destination spots.
• Create a new list for your trip.
• Add all places to this list.
• Share the list with fellow travelers for collaboration.

Creating a Google travel itinerary is a fantastic way to stay organized and make the most out of your travels. It’s a flexible tool that not only helps you plan but also keeps track of all the exciting places you want to explore. Whether you’re a meticulous planner or prefer a more spontaneous approach, a Google travel itinerary can accommodate your style. Plus, with the ability to share and collaborate, it’s perfect for group trips where everyone wants a say. So, next time you’re planning a trip, remember to give Google Maps a try for your itinerary needs. Safe travels and happy planning!

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.

Read his full bio here.

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Itinerary Templates

Plane Ticket Template

Use our free Plane Ticket Template to create customized domestic or international plane tickets fast. Download, print, or send as PDFs in a single click.

Vacation Itinerary Template

Try this sample Vacation Itinerary Template from Jotform. This sample is designed to suit any kind of vacations but feels free to modify it. It has basic information such as the destination and date and time of arrival.

Flight Itinerary Template

Build your flight itinerary anywhere and easily! Use this Flight Itinerary PDF template built under the Jotform PDF editor and you bring your flight itinerary in your computer of mobile device!

Business Travel Itinerary Template

Planning a business trip? Help employees and executives keep track of travel arrangements and appointments with Jotform’s Business Itinerary PDF Template. Using Jotform’s PDF Editor, you can edit this sample.

Daily Itinerary Template

A Daily Itinerary Template is a document that will help you organize your daily tasks by planning it ahead of time. This will definitely help you establish a habit and a plan to achieve your goal. This document can be used by students to prioritize the things that they need to do for a school like study habits and reviewing for upcoming exams. For adults, a daily itinerary is useful to prevent procrastination. It can also be used in travel activities in order to maximize vacation time.This Daily Itinerary Template shows the activities that you will follow for 7 days. Each day shows the time, activity description, and status. This template is utilizing the Configurable List widget where they can add activity information dynamically as needed. This PDF template can be edited easily via the PDF Editor where you can insert images, change font format, or change the theme color.

Itinerary Planner Template

Create personalized schedules for your next trip with this free Itinerary Planner PDF Template. Download, share, and print custom itineraries in seconds!

Travel Itinerary Template

A travel itinerary document composed of two pages providing the travel location, dates and contact details with the travel, accommodation and activities schedule with all necessary details included.

Bachelorette Itinerary Template

Instantly create PDFs itineraries for a bachelorette party. Easy to customize for any theme. Download, print, and share in just one click. No coding required!

Birthday Itinerary

If you are organizing a huge birthday party, this Birthday Itinerary would help you inform your guests about the party schedule with all location, date and time information included. All submission data will be automatically generated as a pdf document with this design, that would allow you to send personalized itinerary for all your guests. You can fully change the template and create your own birthday itinerary, change the document alignment, background, fonts, colors and add more fields by simply dragging and dropping elements.

Event Itinerary Template

Create a downloadable, printable PDF event itinerary with our free Event Itinerary Template. Easy drag-and-drop customization. Send out itineraries via autoresponder!

Trip Itinerary Template

This sample itinerary template contains the duration of the trip, destination, time and activities for each day. The PDF template only shows 3 days but you can use the PDF Editor to duplicate these elements and add more days.

Road Trip Itinerary

Conference Itinerary Template

Organize a professional corporate or educational conference by using this Conference Itinerary Template. This simple PDF template is easy to use and can be customized based on your event.

Meeting Itinerary Template

Impress your colleagues by showing your organizational skills with the help of this Meeting Itinerary Template. This template is easy to use and can be edited conveniently via the PDF Editor.

Wedding Itinerary Template

You’ll have the option to change any graphic element, list additional activities, include venue information, and even add photos of the happy couple.

Cruise Itinerary Template

Inform your passengers of the arrival and destination of the cruise by using this Cruise Itinerary Template. This document displays the destination, departure time, and arrival time.

Travel Itirenary

Camping Trip Itinerary Template

Create your Camping Itinerary straight out from Jotform with the use of this Camping Trip Itinerary Template! Stop figuring out how to start your camping itinerary document. Use this Camping Trip Itinerary PDF Template instead!

Formal Itinerary Template

Save time, money, and effort by using this Formal Itinerary Template in order to manage your event. This is one of the key elements in order to have a successful formal event.

Music Tour Itinerary Template

Produce your Music Tour Itinerary documents using this Music Tour Itinerary PDF template by Jotform! Create your music tour schedule easily and publish a document by providing the information for your itinerary to your delegates.

School Itinerary

Organizing a school event can be a daunting task. Use this School Itinerary template in order to plan a fruitful and memorable school event. This is a simple PDF but can be very engaging.

Employee Handbook Template

Create an employee handbook for your company. Get a head start with this ready-made template. Free and easy to customize. Share to sign in seconds.

About Itinerary Templates

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step — or one carefully thought-out itinerary. Whether you’re a travel agent, event coordinator, wedding planner, or someone organizing an annual family road trip , you can instantly create schedules for any upcoming occasion with Jotform’s Itinerary PDF Templates.

Using our drag-and-drop PDF Editor , you can reorganize the itinerary template layout and include additional activity fields to help you plan every moment. When users fill out your customized itinerary form, their information will automatically be saved as PDFs that can easily be printed or sent electronically to everyone on the guest list. Once downloaded, these mobile-friendly PDF itineraries can quickly be accessed on phones, so even when internet isn’t available, everything can still go according to plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

1) what are the subtypes of itinerary templates.

There are itinerary templates for events, vacations, conferences — you name it! You can use travel itineraries — which include information about flights, hotels, tickets, vacation packages, and more — as well as business itineraries for conference schedules or meetings. Plus, you can fully personalize your itinerary for any trip you’re planning, whether that’s a road trip, a bachelor party, or an all-inclusive cruise.

2) What is the purpose of using an itinerary template?

The purpose of an itinerary template is to provide a structured plan for a trip or event. It outlines all the details of the event, including activities, schedules, budgets, to-do lists, and more. An itinerary template can help you organize and streamline the planning process both more productive and enjoyable, whether you’re putting on a conference or a small event for friends.

3) What are the benefits of using an itinerary template?

An itinerary template helps with time management and organization. It helps you lay out the details of an engagement in advance, saving you time and hassle once the event actually happens. Itinerary templates are also great for communicating details with others, as you can send them out to everyone involved to communicate logistics. Lastly, itinerary templates are useful when budgeting for expenses because you can estimate and track costs in one place.

4) How do I create an itinerary template?

You can create an itinerary by heading over to Jotform’s PDF templates library. We have you covered with multiple itinerary templates to choose from — no matter your needs. Simply pick the template that works best for you, click Use Template, and customize it in our PDF Editor. When you’re finished, you can share it via email or link or embed it in your website in seconds.

5) What information should be included in an itinerary template?

Generally, an itinerary template should include the major elements of the event or trip. For example, if you’re making a flight itinerary, make sure to include flight numbers, boarding times, terminals, and confirmation numbers.

If you’re making a conference itinerary, list the conference name, date, start time, location, sessions, and other details. Include a day-by-day or hour-by-hour breakdown of the schedule, depending on the length of your event.

The best way to construct an itinerary is to step back and think about all the information you would need to know as a traveler or attendee. This could include everything from budget and accommodation to meals and contact information, so take time to flesh out all the details.

6) Can I customize an itinerary template to suit my specific needs?

The beauty of the itinerary template is that you can adjust it to meet your requirements seamlessly. With Jotform’s intuitive drag-and-drop PDF Editor, you can rearrange sections, add new form fields, adjust fonts and colors, drop in your own logo, and much more. When you’re done, you can share it through email or a link with anyone who needs it. Plus, our mobile-friendly PDF itineraries work great on any phone, tablet, or computer, so your users can access them even if they’re traveling without a great internet connection.

7) Where can I find free itinerary templates online?

You can find free itinerary templates with a quick Google search. But, while there are many options to choose from, not all free itinerary templates are created equal. If you have to download a template as a Word document or PDF, editing them can get tricky, depending on which operating system or tools you use.

Jotform’s itinerary templates are completely free to use and easy to edit. Just choose the one you want to use, customize it in our PDF Editor, and you’re ready to go. You can create and share a robust itinerary in minutes.

8) How do I add accommodations and transportation details to an itinerary template?

You can add accommodation and transportation details to your itinerary template by replacing the text from the sections in one of our templates or by adding new sections to your itinerary.

You can include handy charts, color-block your sections, or create a snappy form design to make sure your users can absorb the information at a glance. To make your accommodation and transportation details even more organized, consider using standard formatting, bullet points, charts, and clear headings to enhance readability.

9) Can I share my itinerary template with others?

Yes! An itinerary wouldn’t be very useful if no one could see it except you — which is why Jotform has made this part as easy as possible. When you’re finished customizing your template, navigate to the Share button in the upper right corner of the PDF Editor. From there, you can create a link to share your document or invite users by email. You also have the option to grant private or company access, adjust permissions, and more.

10) Is it possible to create an itinerary template for multiple destinations?

Yes, you can create an itinerary template that covers multiple destinations for an event or trip! For example, if you’re organizing a company retreat with multiple destinations (think Chicago to New York or Paris to Berlin), you can create schedules for each location in the same itinerary. Put your stops on different pages or create separate charts with their activities. This way, you won’t have to send multiple documents to attendees.

11) Can I integrate a map or GPS coordinates into an itinerary template?

You can add a map as an image in your itinerary template to help guide attendees. You can also include information like the name and GPS coordinates of the destination in the template to make sure your attendees know where they’re headed.

12) How can an itinerary template help me stay organized during my trip?

An itinerary template can help you stay organized during your trip by eliminating unknown factors that may cost you time and money. For instance, if you book a bus to your day trip destination in advance, you won’t have to run around trying to find a way there the day of. An itinerary also helps you keep all the details about your day in one place so you won’t have to dig through your email searching for tickets or schedules.

One of the biggest perks of an itinerary is that it helps you manage your budget. Planning your budget in advance helps you estimate how much you’re going to spend and when, which also helps you add contingency funds should any surprises pop up.

And speaking of surprises — believe it or not, an itinerary can actually help with flexibility as well! Any trip will throw unexpected changes at you, but having your plans in one place will make it easier to rearrange specific activities or incorporate more time into your schedule with ease.

13) Are there any best practices for using an itinerary template?

There are several best practices that will help you get the most out of your itinerary template. The first one is to customize the template to your needs — adding all the details specific to your event will help you cover all your bases. Keep the information concise, so attendees don’t feel overwhelmed by too much text on the page.

It’s best to use a digital format such as a PDF for your itinerary, since paper itineraries are easy to lose or destroy. Be sure to share your document with all your attendees, so no one’s in the dark — and be sure to update it if any last-minute changes pop up!

14) How can I optimize my itinerary template to maximize my time during the trip?

Every itinerary will be different, depending on what each person enjoys. If you’re someone who likes to account for every minute of a trip, you can make a really robust itinerary. On the other hand, if you prefer to have some wiggle room, you can schedule one or two activities and leave the rest of your time to mosey around town.

In general, you can optimize your itinerary by prioritizing a couple must-see destinations and grouping activities together based on location. For example, if you’re headed to Barcelona and you’re most excited to see the Sagrada Familia, then you should plan a day in that part of town — and if a restaurant you wanted to try happens to be nearby, you can group those activities together.

It’s also wise to research transportation options in advance, because getting from one place to another often takes up the most time on trips. Be mindful of how long it’s going to take you to get somewhere — you might find it’s better to snag a cab than brave the train.

Lastly, plan in some buffer time and go with the flow! Nothing will ever go perfectly on a trip, but remember that it’s just as much about the journey as it is about the destination.

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History Buff? Add These Places in Germany to Your Must-See List

The roman empire made great inroads into southern germany, establishing villages, forts, and trading routes. follow the remnants of the empire from frankfurt to munich and take in ancient history along the unesco-recognized upper germanic-rhaetian limes..

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©GNTB/Francesco Carovillano

At the crossroads of several European empires, Germany has a storied history. Though each empire left its unique mark, the Romans may have held the greatest cultural influence in the south as they expanded their empire along what’s now referred to as the Limes Street. The UNESCO-recognized Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes follows a trail of fortresses and ruins of what was once the wealthy and powerful Roman Empire.

Learn about life over the last two millennia by visiting the five museums along the route. Stop to take in the remains of small forts and encampments dotting the countryside and you’ll be surprised not only by what you learn but also by how well-preserved some of these millennia-old structures are.

Begin in Frankfurt

Hilton Frankfurt City Centre

Courtesy of Hilton

Start your tour in Frankfurt with a stay at the Hilton Frankfurt City Centre , a remarkable hotel with a pool and spa located beside the Alte Oper, the magnificent opera house. Once an important royal palatinate of the Eastern Franconians and the Roman kings’ permanent city of choice, Frankfurt is home to the Imperial Cathedral ( Kaiserdom ), where several emperors were crowned after 1562.

The city has remained an important center for finance and trade, which you can witness up close with a stay in the Hampton by Hilton Frankfurt City Centre East in the heart of the financial district. Learn more about the connection between the Romans and trade at the Historisches Museum Frankfurt, which is within walking distance of the Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt City Centre .

Enjoy a stay at one of three Hiltons near the airport after taking in the city’s historic district and pedestrianized shopping streets, like Hilton Frankfurt Airport , Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport , or Hampton by Hilton Frankfurt Airport . You could also find a pleasant place to stay off the beaten path, such as at the DoubleTree by Hilton Frankfurt Niederrad or near the convention center at the Hampton by Hilton Frankfurt City Centre Messe . Consider as well the nearby Hilton Garden Inn Mannheim before journeying onwards along the Roman Trail.

Würzburg’s Residence Palace and Court Gardens

The Imperial Hall of the Residence Palace in Würzburg

©Romantische Straße Touristik-Arbeitsgemeinschaft GbR/Eugenio Bersani/Latitudes Travel Magazine

Head into Würzburg to catch a glimpse of the 18th-century baroque masterpiece, Residence Palace in Würzburg with its quiet Court Gardens. Though much of the original structure was damaged during World War II, the palace’s restoration has proven remarkable, and the interiors contain reconstructed frescoes alluding to Roman history, including nods to Emperor Barbarossa.

Carry on a bit north of the Limes trail to the medieval village of Bamberg , which retains its original centuries-old buildings, including architectural styles from the Age of Enlightenment. Constructed as something of a “second Rome,” Bamberg links its agricultural surroundings to urbanity today without losing its historical atmosphere.

Complimentary breakfast at Hampton by Hilton Nuremberg City Centre

After a stroll through the city, go to Nuremberg to spend the night at the Hampton by Hilton Nuremberg City Centre . Offering complimentary breakfast for all guests, the hotel is also ideally located a short walk from its central station and just a few miles from the pedestrianized shopping square in the historic Old Town. Famed for its Christmas market in winter and car-free inner city that allows for gatherings in the town square during warmer months, Nuremberg combines the old with the new in unique ways. Enjoy a gingerbread or tiny sausage in the city center before touring the Imperial Castle, a 900-year-old fortress designed during the reign of Emperor Konrad III. Then travel to the outskirts of the city to learn about more recent history with a visit to the Documentation Center at the former Nazi party rally grounds, and the Memorial to the Nuremberg Trials of 1946.

Old Town Regensburg

Moving along the Limes trail, stop off briefly at the resort town of Bad Gögging on the Danube River, and immerse yourself in its thermal baths which are said to have healing waters. Carry on to Regensburg, where artifacts from millennia past are around every corner in the UNESCO-recognized Old Town . The quaint village holds architectural treasures from the 11th to 13th centuries and retains its Old World charm.

A guest room at Hampton by Hilton Regensburg

Stroll through the picturesque city streets and across the 12th-century Stone Bridge over the Danube to the Stadtamhof district, from where you can see the towers of St. Peter’s Cathedral, or Dom. Learn about regional history at the House of Bavarian History before turning in for the night at the Hampton by Hilton Regensburg , just a short drive from the insightful Walhalla Museum and a series of restored castles. Enjoy free WiFi and a complimentary hot breakfast in the morning before you head out.

Passau’s Roman Fort

©Lookphotos/Brigitte Merz

Trace the Romans down the Danube to Passau, with its UNESCO-recognized Roman Fort at the confluence of the Danube, Inn, and Ilz rivers. After a devastating fire destroyed much of the city (famous for its sword-making during the Renaissance), the historic core was rebuilt in a stunning baroque style. If you’re longing for more cultural immersion, consider a longer trip with additional stops to take in Augsburg and Bayreuth, home to the intricately decorated Margravial Opera House , with its illusionistic painting and Italian-inspired theater.

How to Confirm if Your Japan Travel Itinerary Would Work or Not

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

FREE Resource:

👉 ⁠ Hidden Japan: 10 Authentic Cultural Experiences⁠

👉 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠T⁠⁠⁠⁠he Complete Japan Travel Guide: the 7 steps to creating your unique immersive experience⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Fast and fun ways to create your Japan Experience:

👉 1:1 90-min Japan Travel Optimiser session where I'll help you with essential steps in creating your travel itinerary

👉 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Uniquely Japan Tours⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ through which I'll personally show you around the best of central Japan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Any questions?

👉 Join our Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JAPAN EXPERTS COMMUNITY⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ where you can ask Japan travel related questions!

👉 Connect with me on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for Japan travel inspiration

TRANSCRIPT 🔗

Search past episodes, other episodes in this podcast.

How to Prioritise Your Long List of Choices for Your Japan Trip

5 things to know before going to Japan with The Japan Station Podcast

What Michael from the USA has learned from a month-long trip in Japan

When is the best time to visit Japan?

8 Essential Steps to Successfully Completing Your Japan Travel Planning Journey

RECOMMENDATIONS

Traveltipster Unveils a Detailed 7-Day Southern Thailand Itinerary for Adventurous Travelers

In a recent article, Traveltipster ( https://gotraveltipster.com/southern-thailand-itinerary/ ) has introduced an exciting new travel guide dedicated to exploring the less-trodden paths of Southern Thailand. The guide, titled "7 Days in Southern Thailand Itinerary," is designed to offer travelers a unique blend of adventure, culture, and natural beauty, diverging from the usual tourist hotspots.

Traveltipster crafted this itinerary to enhance the travel experience for those seeking something beyond the conventional destinations like Bangkok and Phuket. This meticulously planned seven-day journey describes the pristine wilderness of Kao Sok and Mo Ku Surin National Parks, ensuring an immersive experience in some of Thailand's most spectacular landscapes.

According to Traveltipster's release, the itinerary begins with an arrival in Phuket, from where travelers can either choose to spend a night exploring the city or head directly to the serenity of Kao Sok National Park. “Our goal was to create an itinerary that not only showcases the beauty of Thailand's lesser-known regions but also makes traveling there straightforward and enjoyable for families and solo adventurers alike,” said Traveltipster.

The detailed guide covers all logistical aspects of the trip, including accommodations, transportation, and activities, facilitating a hassle-free experience. In Kao Sok, travelers can expect to engage with the local wildlife at an elephant rescue sanctuary and explore ancient jungles that predate even the Amazon rainforest. The following days promise an unforgettable adventure in the Cheow Lan Lake area of the park, which includes overnight lake bungalow stays, cave explorations, and wildlife safaris.

Traveltipster's itinerary also highlights the journey to Mo Ku Surin National Park, known for its vibrant marine life and protected coral reefs. The guide suggests staying in beach bungalows or tents to fully appreciate the natural surroundings, with in-depth advice on responsible travel practices to help preserve the area's ecological integrity.

“One of the highlights of this itinerary is the emphasis on sustainable tourism practices. We believe in responsible travel that respects local cultures and environments,” added Traveltipster. This approach is evident in the itinerary's suggestions for interacting with local communities and wildlife, as well as tips on using eco-friendly products throughout the trip.

For those looking to explore Southern Thailand in a novel and enriching way, Traveltipster's new guide promises an unforgettable blend of adventure, relaxation, and cultural immersion. The full itinerary is available on Traveltipster's website, where travelers can also find additional resources to tailor their journey.

All travel enthusiasts are encouraged to consider this unique seven-day itinerary as a way to experience the beauty and diversity of Southern Thailand. With Traveltipster's thorough planning and insightful recommendations, the next adventure should be as seamless as it is exhilarating.

About Traveltipster:

Traveltipster is dedicated to providing innovative and comprehensive travel guides and itineraries. With a focus on uncovering hidden gems and offering authentic experiences, Traveltipster empowers travelers to explore the world in new and exciting ways. Whether it's a remote village or a bustling city, Traveltipster delivers all the information needed for travelers to have a memorable journey.

Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzeQu2IpNmk

Email and website

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://gotraveltipster.com/