How do you plan your sightseeing trips?

[Alps79]

Lots of very experienced travelers on this board and I'm curious about your methods for planning a sightseeing trip. I used to make a calendar/grid on a piece of paper and handwrite our plans for the week. But I don't think that's possibly the most effective way. For example I'm planning a 7 day trip to Paris. I can write down our plans for each day, but then in doing my research I come across recs for different restaurants, parks, shops etc etc... that we may or may not get to. How do you keep it all organized? There will be links, also C&P from blogs & forums. So much information out there! Half the time I read something, think, "Oh, that's a great suggestion" and promptly forget about it. I don't travel with a computer, just a smart phone. Share your ways!

[sunnysally]

I use Excel. One spreadsheet has all the the things I'm interested in doing, another tab is organized by day. I use a map to group things together and prioritize and organize. I will print the spreadsheet with the loose daily itinerary for quick reference and then reference links in the other spreadsheet for addresses and more info.

[joenali]

We don’t! We just explore! I can’t stand having a daily itinerary. However, I do have things in mind that we want to see and have a general day that we want to see that thing. But we are pretty spontaneous travelers.

When we went to Paris we would walk around all day long exploring cafes, museums, etc. Of course we wanted to hit the big things like the Eiffel Tower, etc, but we were not bound to a daily schedule. I like it that way so much better.

[spindle92]

I am going to Europe for 2 weeks in September and I have everything in a google doc that I can access from any device.
I am constantly adding stuff to it.
It is also nice because I can share it with the others that I am traveling with.

[rupertpenny]

I save locations in google maps for everything I might want to do including museums, shops, restaurants. I like having the visualization so I can say I want to go to Jardin du Luxembourg in the morning, then I look at the map and I can see Musee Cluny is on the way back to the hotel, and see if I’ve marked any restaurants in the general area that I can go to for lunch. I also find it helpful to be able to see where the metro stations are and get directions without opening another app.

I don’t plan anything too much though. Just try to get a general idea of what I want to do for the day.

[mrsukyankee]

Aug 18, 2019 12:24:25 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

I save locations in google maps for everything I might want to do including museums, shops, restaurants. I like having the visualization so I can say I want to go to Jardin du Luxembourg in the morning, then I look at the map and I can see Musee Cluny is on the way back to the hotel, and see if I’ve marked any restaurants in the general area that I can go to for lunch. I also find it helpful to be able to see where the metro stations are and get directions without opening another app.

I don’t plan anything too much though. Just try to get a general idea of what I want to do for the day.

I do the same.

[dearprudence]

I go a little overboard, but I collect information via "notes" on my phone (like restaurant recs, or sightseeing recs). When I have amassed a good amount, I write out a schedule by hand, with day to day activities. I group together attractions in similar areas, and make a list of restaurants in those areas, so i don't have to hit them all, but if we're hungry in a certain location, I know where we can go.


After that, I transfer the information to a Google doc so I can access it, and insert hyperlinks to the attractions and restaurants. I could probably skip the handwritten step but it helps me to visualize.

[ESF]

H and I do a Google spreadsheet for each trip, so we can use tabs for different things and it's accessible from all devices and easy for two people to work on. Plus it has different sheets, so one can be for logistics like the hotel and flight info, one can be for brainstorming, one can be for itinerary.  

We dump links and notes into the brainstorming section as we see them, and then tinker with the itinerary as we plan.  In doing the itinerary, typically, we decide on the "anchor" activities for each day. Then we'll have a column for other ideas for additional activities that might make sense for that day, based on where the anchor activities are located, etc. If we are there long enough, we'll also leave some free blocks for doing whatever.

I'll sometimes also make a google map, but more often, it's for when I'm doing a specific place-hopping kind of activity, like brainstorming a wine tasting day. For Paris, I did one for the chocolate shops in the St Germain district that looked interesting to me.

This system works well for us, and it's easy to refer back to on a second visit or to refer friends. It also makes it easy to change plans and do something else since the notes are all in one place.

[mrsukyankee]

I also pre-book a few things in a spread out manner - for example, when we went to Barcelona, I pre-booked La Sagrada Familia and a food tour. The other days (there for 5), we had a few things in mind but wanted to see how the weather and our moods were like - so I have a bunch of ideas save in my google folder. I like having time to just wander, eat, drink, etc.

[mbcdefg]

We went to Paris in 2016 and I made a huge list of sites, restaurants and other attractions. I found them using Pinterest, travel blogs, travel shows and personal recommendations. I used a Word doc and also had a Pinterest board. I usually take a photo of the Word doc with my phone so I can refer back to it as we go.

I tried to group the sites according to neighborhood so that we weren’t running back and forth and could maximize our sightseeing time. I also noted when certain attractions would be closed (such as the Louvre) - we were only there for three days and I didn’t want to miss anything major so we planned around that.

We saw most of the Paris sites we wanted to see, but I don’t think we visited any of the restaurants I’d noted. We had a bit of a rough time finding our way around Paris (in US cities we can just pull up Google Maps or Yelp when we get turned around ... we didn’t get a data package or anything for Europe; we also don’t speak French, although everyone we talked to spoke English) and wound up just ducking into whatever cafes we stumbled upon.

But we didn’t have one bad meal in Paris. That hasn’t really happened for us in other cities, which is why I usually compile a list of our ideal restaurants and then a few backup options nearby in case we can’t get a table at our preferred place. I don’t like wasting money/calories on a bad meal, and MH doesn’t deal so well when we have to change plans on the fly, so it works best for us to have options in our pocket.

But we *do* wander and change plans as we travel, even though it may not seem that way. I’ve had people tell me that our vacations sound really rigid and not fun, but it’s not like we’re on a strict schedule down to the minute. It really just works best for us to have an overall plan and then a Plan B in mind so that we don’t ruin our vacation by wasting time or arguing with each other.

[Vespasia]

Aug 18, 2019 12:24:25 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

I save locations in google maps for everything I might want to do including museums, shops, restaurants. I like having the visualization so I can say I want to go to Jardin du Luxembourg in the morning, then I look at the map and I can see Musee Cluny is on the way back to the hotel, and see if I’ve marked any restaurants in the general area that I can go to for lunch. I also find it helpful to be able to see where the metro stations are and get directions without opening another app.

I don’t plan anything too much though. Just try to get a general idea of what I want to do for the day.

This exactly.

I also usually have a Google spreadsheet for budgeting/logistics and I may have a tab there with any special notes, like if a museum is closed on Mondays. I missed something I really wanted to do on our first trip to Guadeloupe and learned my lesson!

[ESF]

Aug 19, 2019 10:53:01 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

We went to Paris in 2016 and I made a huge list of sites, restaurants and other attractions. I found them using Pinterest, travel blogs, travel shows and personal recommendations. I used a Word doc and also had a Pinterest board. I usually take a photo of the Word doc with my phone so I can refer back to it as we go.

I tried to group the sites according to neighborhood so that we weren’t running back and forth and could maximize our sightseeing time. I also noted when certain attractions would be closed (such as the Louvre) - we were only there for three days and I didn’t want to miss anything major so we planned around that.

We saw most of the Paris sites we wanted to see, but I don’t think we visited any of the restaurants I’d noted. We had a bit of a rough time finding our way around Paris (in US cities we can just pull up Google Maps or Yelp when we get turned around ... we didn’t get a data package or anything for Europe; we also don’t speak French, although everyone we talked to spoke English) and wound up just ducking into whatever cafes we stumbled upon.

But we didn’t have one bad meal in Paris. That hasn’t really happened for us in other cities, which is why I usually compile a list of our ideal restaurants and then a few backup options nearby in case we can’t get a table at our preferred place. I don’t like wasting money/calories on a bad meal, and MH doesn’t deal so well when we have to change plans on the fly, so it works best for us to have options in our pocket.

But we *do* wander and change plans as we travel, even though it may not seem that way. I’ve had people tell me that our vacations sound really rigid and not fun, but it’s not like we’re on a strict schedule down to the minute. It really just works best for us to have an overall plan and then a Plan B in mind so that we don’t ruin our vacation by wasting time or arguing with each other.

Yes, to both the bolded. I didn't bother with restaurants in Paris, save for a couple famous pastry/chocolate places. Unless you want to hit some special Michelin starred place for which you need reservations or you have special dietary restrictions, I don't think it's worth the effort to research restaurants in Paris. There are just so many restaurants everywhere and all the food there is good. 

And yes, the beauty of advance planning is that you don't actually have to do what you plan. You can always do something else if you are tired of museums! But I find it really takes the stress out. Like you, if I don't have a plan, I spend the whole time anxious that I'm missing out or annoyed that I'm wasting time on vacation by backtracking to hit something or doing research about what to do next. 

[wildrice]

I slowly research things via the internet and usually save them to Pinterest and/or bookmark them. For Europe I also use Rick Steves books to figure out what we want to do (mostly for sightseeing - I have yet to take any of his restaurant or hotel recs). When it gets closer to the trip, I write stuff down by hand in a little travel notebook. I generally plan out the day (Monday - Eiffel tower and the Louvre) and jot down some other notes if I am in a big city and want to be sure to hit other places nearby. If it's a smaller city (like our recent trip to Portland, ME) I just made a general list of restaurants, bars, and breweries I wanted to hit but did not plan which day we were going to do which, and we also didn't go to all of them (too many to fit into one trip!) but then I had ideas we could pick from depending on mood.

If there are specific places I want to eat or that I know will be hard to get into without a reservation, I will decide on those in advance. Same with tickets for attractions and stuff (there are a few things in Paris where you may be able to skip the line if you buy tickets in advance - also some museums will be closed on certain days so you'll want to check that to avoid missing out). But beyond that I prefer not to have a timed itinerary.

[Deleted]

Aug 19, 2019 11:54:18 GMT -5 ESF said:

Aug 19, 2019 10:53:01 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

We went to Paris in 2016 and I made a huge list of sites, restaurants and other attractions. I found them using Pinterest, travel blogs, travel shows and personal recommendations. I used a Word doc and also had a Pinterest board. I usually take a photo of the Word doc with my phone so I can refer back to it as we go.

I tried to group the sites according to neighborhood so that we weren’t running back and forth and could maximize our sightseeing time. I also noted when certain attractions would be closed (such as the Louvre) - we were only there for three days and I didn’t want to miss anything major so we planned around that.

We saw most of the Paris sites we wanted to see, but I don’t think we visited any of the restaurants I’d noted. We had a bit of a rough time finding our way around Paris (in US cities we can just pull up Google Maps or Yelp when we get turned around ... we didn’t get a data package or anything for Europe; we also don’t speak French, although everyone we talked to spoke English) and wound up just ducking into whatever cafes we stumbled upon.

But we didn’t have one bad meal in Paris. That hasn’t really happened for us in other cities, which is why I usually compile a list of our ideal restaurants and then a few backup options nearby in case we can’t get a table at our preferred place. I don’t like wasting money/calories on a bad meal, and MH doesn’t deal so well when we have to change plans on the fly, so it works best for us to have options in our pocket.

But we *do* wander and change plans as we travel, even though it may not seem that way. I’ve had people tell me that our vacations sound really rigid and not fun, but it’s not like we’re on a strict schedule down to the minute. It really just works best for us to have an overall plan and then a Plan B in mind so that we don’t ruin our vacation by wasting time or arguing with each other.

Yes, to both the bolded. I didn't bother with restaurants in Paris, save for a couple famous pastry/chocolate places. Unless you want to hit some special Michelin starred place for which you need reservations or you have special dietary restrictions, I don't think it's worth the effort to research restaurants in Paris. There are just so many restaurants everywhere and all the food there is good. 

And yes, the beauty of advance planning is that you don't actually have to do what you plan. You can always do something else if you are tired of museums! But I find it really takes the stress out. Like you, if I don't have a plan, I spend the whole time anxious that I'm missing out or annoyed that I'm wasting time on vacation by backtracking to hit something or doing research about what to do next. 

I will triple this.  I love having a spreadsheet with days planned out.  I mean, we're adults - if there is something we absolutely don't want to do, we won't do it.  However, it makes packing easier and takes out the "what do you want to do today" conversations.  I also usually have 1 or 2 days (depending on the length of the vacation) where it's a pool day or a do nothing day.  That way if something pops up while we are there, we have a free day to accommodate this new thing.

[mrsukyankee]

And I would suggest finding a hotel/airbnb that has wifi so you can download google maps offline!

[RockNVoll]

Like a few others above, I'm a planner but also build in flexibility. I create a pretty detailed itinerary in Excel that helps me lay out what we want to try to hit each day, the approximate amount of time needed at each site, any related links, operating hours if necessary, and restaurants nearby. If I don't have a plan, I end up anxious about wasting time and whether we're hitting sites in an efficient order. Plus, I like to make note of things like the fact that the Louvre is open late on Friday nights and also tends to be low-attendance then so we had zero wait and nearly no crowds when we visited, even in front of the Mona Lisa. However, I also usually leave open days with no plans and/or don't pack every day so we can be flexible if we want to spend more time than anticipated somewhere or just wander.

I plan using a combo of TripAdvisor (for both sites and hotel/restaurant recs), VisitACity, blogs, and traditional travel books. I start by making a list of the things we definitely want to see or experience and then try to organize them into some logical order. I've tried to keep links in Pinterest, but it doesn't really work for me. I find that simply creating a folder in my browser for each trip and saving links there is easiest. I do restaurant research last and look for things around where we'll be on particular days, or try to fit in restaurants of interest on days we'll be in the area.

[jamaicam]

I tend to plan a major item for each day and have a list of other things around that area that are interesting. So last trip (which wasn't a typical sightseeing trip but which did have several activities we wanted to do), I planned on Wednesday we would go to X and then had a list of possible food places nearby.

[mich1]

We don't have big plans. When we get to a new city, we do a hop on/hop off bus tour which gives us the lay of the land. At the end of the tour, we stop at the site we want to see and visit it. The rest of the time we just play it by ear. If it's a lousy day weatherwise, than wandering around a museum is on. If it's a gorgeous day, we try to find something to do outside. One of the best days I ever had in Paris, I sat outside listening to a HS band competition. I didn't plan it, just stumbled upon it in Jardin de Luxembourg and had a glorious day. I stepped away briefly to grab a sandwich from a local boulangerie for a picnic lunch and had a memorable day. I do make note of when all the places we want to see are closed, so I can take that into consideration.

I don't ever remember planning on visiting a restaurant in Paris. We just went into whatever cafe or restaurant happened to look good and we were never disappointed. In fact, when DH was horribly sick one night I didn't want to go too far so went to the Chinese restaurant that was almost next door to our hotel. I had an excellent meal, and brought him back some soup. He said that the soup was some of the best he has ever had. We hit that place a second night it was so good.

[marytini]

Basically what everyone else said. I create a spreadsheet on Goodle Drive that breaks down each day into morning, afteroon, and evening. I "pencil" in ideas for each day. Things that are pre-booked (not flexible) are red. Anything else is just an idea. I note things such as days museums/sites (the ones we are interested in) are closed, open late, free, etc on the appropriate days. I also plot things on google maps so I can group sites/restaurants etc by location.

I guess my one piece of advice to is leave the last day in each location(if you are going multiple places) free. I never book anything for our last day. This is our day to "catch up" on things we've missed or learned about along the way. And truthfully....these often turn out to be our favorite days!

[steamboat185]

We use excel too. I typically have 1 or two key activities per day with AM/PM marked and estimated time. I also have any relevant travel information in the cell such as lodging, drive distances, and ferry/train/plane times so I don’t plan too much on a day we a reservation. If we find ourselves with extra time (never) we just wing it and walk around or do a free walking tour most cities have. We also stay at Airbnb’s and if the host is around we try to leave sometime for their recommendations as they have been very good. As for food we travel with kids and typically choose what we want that day. If there is something that really stands out I make a note otherwise we pull up TripAdvisor and google and see what looks good.

[spindle92]

I just want to say all you spreadsheet planners are my spirit animals.
My friends make so much fun of me for doing this yet they rely on my information.

[Alps79]

Thanks all for the great suggestions! I think I've realized I'm not as computer savvy as I thought. I am a planner by nature and find that, for me, planning the trip is half the fun! For example, I often travel with my mom, yet I do 100% of all the planning. I feel like I get a little bit more out of the places and experiences bc I have a little bit of background info if that makes sense.
Anyway, the google map is an awesome idea and one I'd never thought of. I now have a Paris 2019 map on my phone
I still need to decide how I want to organize; maybe excel but I think I want to give google docs a try! Keep the ideas coming!

[GilliC]

It depends on the trip. If it’s city sightseeing and I’m staying in one place the whole time, I just keep a Google Document with all of my ideas. I tend to group them by area, and then on a particular day we’ll choose an area to visit and pick things off the list.

If there are things I need to prebook, then I mark them in my Google Calendar so I can see which days are free. Or if I'm juggling things that are closed on certain days, I’ll drop must-sees into days on the calendar to form a rough itinerary.

If it’s a trip with tons of logistics (multiple hotels, long drives, lots of booked tours) then I’ll go full-on spreadsheet. But usually i just do a combination of calendar and documents with supporting details.

Back in the days before I had international cellular data access, I’d copy and paste any info I wanted from the web into a Word document and then print it in booklet format to make my own mini guidebooks. We’d do this a lot for obscure cruise ports, since it wasn’t worth buying a whole country guidebook for a single small place like Kuantan, Malaysia or Toamasina, Madagascar.

[dearprudence]

Aug 20, 2019 14:40:14 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Back in the days before I had international cellular data access, I’d copy and paste any info I wanted from the web into a Word document and then print it in booklet format to make my own mini guidebooks. We’d do this a lot for obscure cruise ports, since it wasn’t worth buying a whole country guidebook for a single small place like Kuantan, Malaysia or Toamasina, Madagascar.

I used to do this with a binder back in the day.

[goldengirlz]

Aug 18, 2019 12:24:25 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

I save locations in google maps for everything I might want to do including museums, shops, restaurants. I like having the visualization so I can say I want to go to Jardin du Luxembourg in the morning, then I look at the map and I can see Musee Cluny is on the way back to the hotel, and see if I’ve marked any restaurants in the general area that I can go to for lunch. I also find it helpful to be able to see where the metro stations are and get directions without opening another app.

I don’t plan anything too much though. Just try to get a general idea of what I want to do for the day.

This is what H does, only I think there’s an app where you can save your work offline (in case you’re somewhere where you can’t get wifi and don’t want to drain data.)

[ESF]

Aug 20, 2019 10:11:03 GMT -5 spindle92 said:

I just want to say all you spreadsheet planners are my spirit animals.
My friends make so much fun of me for doing this yet they rely on my information.

Yeah I think advance planning is misunderstood. I think there’s a perception that advance that planners are uptight, cheesy tourists who favor tourism over authentic experiences. And the reality is that for most of us, advance planning just means taking a bit of time to thoughtfully organize ideas.

My goal isn’t to maximize the time I spend seeing every tourist attraction, but to see the interesting ones while also maximizing my time just enjoying the place I are in.

For the record, I do not begrudge anyone their chill, spontaneous, go with the flow vacations at all! Whatever works for you, do it!!

[marytini]

Aug 20, 2019 13:01:47 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Thanks all for the great suggestions! I think I've realized I'm not as computer savvy as I thought. I am a planner by nature and find that, for me, planning the trip is half the fun! For example, I often travel with my mom, yet I do 100% of all the planning. I feel like I get a little bit more out of the places and experiences bc I have a little bit of background info if that makes sense.
Anyway, the google map is an awesome idea and one I'd never thought of. I now have a Paris 2019 map on my phone
I still need to decide how I want to organize; maybe excel but I think I want to give google docs a try! Keep the ideas coming!

My "spreadsheets" usually start with me taking a ruler to paper and dividing it up into however many days worth of columns. So it doesn't have to be Excel if that's not in your wheelhouse. Do whatever works for you.