Do you want to travel to your dream destination? Are you an experienced traveler and want to organize your trip as best as possible? Do you want to leave for a week-end? Whatever your traveler profile, sooner or later you will encounter these questions: where and when to go?
The world is big and every place and time will have its appeal, but I still advise you to maximize your chances by preparing the ground beforehand. Let’s discover together the criteria to be taken into account and the very useful tools to achieve this.
Choose your strategy
In my opinion, this is the first question to ask. What are your priorities and your constraints? First, define the budget you want to devote to your trip. Be careful, your budget is not limited to transport and accommodation … remember to include your meals, your movements there, your activities, extras, … Is it done? Do you have your budget? Let’s move on to the strategy:
Destination first
Have you always dreamed of visiting Australia, surfing in Hawaii or relaxing in Bali? You know your destination and want to determine your ideal dates. In this case, you will have to check criteria such as the climate and the budget in order to define your ideal time according to your desires.
Period first
You’ve worked all year to be able to travel, and your vacation dates are set. In this case, it may be necessary to be more flexible about the destination and to determine it according to your expectations.
Determine the climate
It’s not always easy to know the weather in every region of the globe, and it would be a shame to cross half the globe to get stuck in your hotel room because of it.
To be more or less sure of your own, you should do some research and depending on the situation (destination or period priority), I use different tools:
Destination first
I am only going to recommend one website to you, which for me is a mine of valuable information if you know your destination: Le Guide du Routard. Yes, this famous publisher of paper guides also offers one of the most extensive websites I know. All you need to do is choose your location to obtain a complete file, including not only the climate and seasonality of the region, but also the formalities for entering the country, the health and economic situation, history, culture, etc.
It’s simple, I don’t leave without consulting my destination page. A must !
Period first
Once again the Routard allows a first research … But I wanted to share with you another site, very specific if you are planning a seaside holiday.
Let me introduce you: Lagons-Plages. Here, you can choose your period to know the weather conditions on all the beaches of the world. This is not enough, you can also refine your search by temperature (minimum, maximum, air, water), bathing conditions, precipitation, …
Try you will see!
Determine the budget
Once again, le Routard allows you to prepare your trip well by discovering the average budgets of the various expenses items depending on the destinations.
Another site, quite similar and that I have not yet tested (I discovered while preparing this article): Où et Quand? (Where and When?). I believe that all is said …
I wanted to tell you about a tool related to the budget, especially when traveling by plane. Do you know Skyscanner? It is a search engine, but it will show you, thanks to a very clear interface, the best dates and periods to go according to your destination.
I do not recommend that you book with them (I will give you my tips in a future article), but it is a very good tool for determining dates and / or budget.
BONUS: when to book?
You have done your research, found your destination and the dates of your trip. It’s perfect, all you have to do is book … What if I told you that you will not necessarily pay the same price depending on when you choose to make your booking.
Indeed, most airlines, travel agencies and search engines use algorithms that vary prices according to demand (real or estimated) and traffic in real time.
My tips:
- Book from a computer other than the one used for your research, or delete cookies before starting
- Log in on Tuesday or Wednesday night (from 2 a.m.), the statistically best time to get the best rates
Does this article bring you more for your research (as I wanted in my first article)? Let me know in the comments if you know any other tools you use in your preparations.
For those of you who want to save even more money while traveling, write me to discover a great opportunity.
