A mountain view, a favourite city or a place you have only seen in photographs: every journey starts somewhere. This is a small collection of ideas to explore, with room to choose your own pace. Pick the places that interest you; they do not need to become one long itinerary.
Europe: art, old streets and time outdoors
Start with Paris for art and riverside walks, Rome for ancient landmarks, or Switzerland for Alpine scenery. One city and its surroundings can be enough; you do not have to cross a continent to enjoy it.
Explore destinations in Europe
Asia: culture, food and island days
Kyoto’s temples, Bali’s coast and India’s Taj Mahal offer very different starting points. Choose the experiences that interest you, then leave time between them for a meal, a neighbourhood walk or an unexpected discovery.
Explore destinations in Asia or read our Bali story.
The Americas: cities and big landscapes
New York’s neighbourhoods, the mountain setting of Banff and Peru’s Machu Picchu suggest three quite different journeys. Begin with one region and decide how much travelling between stops you want to do.
Explore destinations in the Americas
Australia: a city, a coastline, a new perspective
Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Ocean Road, best approached from Melbourne, each make a different starting point. Distances matter, so give the places you choose enough time.
Explore Australia & the Pacific
Match the trip to the nights you have
The number of nights is often the first real decision. These starting points come from our destination guides; your dates and pace decide the final plan.
- Four or five nights: one city, explored properly, such as Dubai or Singapore.
- Five to eight nights: one island base, such as Bali (five to seven nights), or one region of Vietnam (six to eight nights).
- Seven to ten nights: two bases, such as Lucerne and the Bernese Oberland (seven to nine nights) or Tokyo and Kyoto (eight to ten nights).
- Nine to twelve nights: a three-city route, such as Rome, Florence and Venice.
If the list of places grows faster than the nights, drop a stop rather than shortening every stay.
Match the place to your month
Some places change a lot through the year. A few broad patterns from our guides:
- Bali and Java are broadly drier from April to October.
- Thailand is broadly cooler from November to February; much of the country has a rainy season around May to October.
- Sri Lanka’s southwest coast is usually favoured from November to March.
- The Serengeti’s dry-season window is June to October.
- Japan’s blossom and autumn colour are real reasons to go, but their timing shifts each year.
Tell us your month and we will compare places that suit it.
Make the shortlist your own
Write down three things you would enjoy doing. Keep them simple: trying unfamiliar food, spending time together, visiting museums or taking a break from a busy routine. If you are travelling with family or friends, let each person choose one experience that matters to them.
Then count the days you can spend exploring, with arrival and departure time set aside. Decide whether you would enjoy settling into one base or moving between a few places. Bring those preferences, your departure city and your travel month to the conversation with Trip Stories.
Three things to settle early
Passports and visas. Entry rules depend on your passport and route, and our visa assistance can help with the application steps.
Who is travelling. Long walking days, early starts and frequent hotel changes suit some groups better than others. Note any ages, mobility needs or must-have rest days.
One base or several. Every move costs part of a day. Decide how many hotel changes you are comfortable with before adding places.
