Getting the best from your holiday often means picking a kind of break that’s suited to your particular tastes, interests, and budget. If you’re an adventurous person, you might be looking for a high-octane activity holiday; if you’re exhausted, then you might want to spend time relaxing beside a pool, or even taking guided meditation classes in a specialised retreat.
Understanding Your Holiday Preferences
It might be that you don’t fully understand your own preferences, and that you’re just clinging to the same holiday-booking pattern that you always have done. It’s worth taking a step back and asking what you really want from your holiday. Do you have a family to entertain? Do you want to explore strange new cultures and environments, or do you crave the familiar? The answers to these questions might help to shape your holiday plans.
Budget and Timing Considerations
The time at which you travel might have a big influence on the amount you spend. For example, travelling during term time tends to be more expensive. In some cases, the difference can be significant. Try to identify the peak times for your chosen destination, and work out whether you can get a good experience by travelling outside of these times. If you’re able to save money, you’ll have more of it to spread around the rest of your holiday.
For many families, the certainty that comes with an all-inclusive break can be a major advantage. All-inclusive holidays tend to remove the need to worry about unforeseen costs – though, of course, you should still invest in travel insurance.
Popular Types of Holidays to Consider
Holiday destinations take many forms. For the most part, however, they can be lumped into a handful of categories. City breaks, beach holidays, and adventure travel can often overlap – but most holidaymakers will look to prioritise one of these over the others.
Pre-planned holidays will often cater to the needs of specific kinds of holidaymakers. What might be appreciated by a group of retirees might be a little too sedate for an adventurous bunch of twentysomething backpackers. The same goes for family-friendly resorts. If the experience hasn’t been designed with the needs of children and parents in mind, then the chances are it won’t be suitable.
Specialised and Niche Holidays
As well as the major, obvious holiday categories, it’s worth looking into the more niche options. Wellness retreats, for example, might provide instruction in yoga, or take you through an intense, military-style fitness boot camp. Cruises, on the other hand, might provide a means of touring many different coastal destinations over the course of a single week. Then, of course, there’s the skiing holiday.
When choosing your holiday, it’s worth being a little bit adventurous, and willing to try new things. It might be that your dream holiday, and the one you’ll really enjoy, are very different.
