How long are you spending planning your trip to Europe?

For me, yes the planning takes quite a bit of time. It always pays off though.

Honestly, that is one of the most fun parts of travel for me. Sorry it feels like a burden - probably because it's coming right up. If you haven't already, consider buying, or going to the library and checking out, the RS France book. He won't help you with flights but the other stuff is tidily arranged by sections and locations, with cost info included, and is exceedingly helpful to me.

If you want to give some more specifics on where in France you're going, how long you have, etc, you will get great input from this forum.

I love trip planning and while it does take time, I do not find it tiresome. I try not to obsess over the "perfect" anything, though. Once flights and hotels are booked, I don't look back. Not a foodie, so not looking for the restaurants that require reservations. Next trip is to Paris for two weeks in September, started planning in mid-April.

I love trip planning.

I start about 1.5 years in advance: where am I going and when? I start living on Google Maps, looking for places I've never visited, or want to visit again. I love Google Maps; it's probably my best research tool.

Then I start a spreadsheet based on my boilerplate of previous trips. I put in the dates I'll be going to start the countdown on the sheet. I set up the itinerary by days. Start researching costs. Start looking for things to do. Start reading guidebooks and Googling about the places I'm going to visit.

By the time I'm at 1 year, I'm refining my trip: specific hotels, train lines, restaurants. Are there any festivals or events I want to see while I'm there? Any special sites?

At 9 months, I'm searching for airfares, hotel bookings, and any special tickets if they're available.

At 6 months, I'm pretty much done and just watching the countdown on my spreadsheet. There may be little tweaks here and there, but nothing major.

At 1 month, I start completing my pre-trip tasks: holding mail; alerting my credit union that I'll be overseas; checking my plane tickets to make sure my Global Entry information is correct and my seats haven't been changed; letting my neighbors know when I'll be away.

At the day-of, I'm ready to rock: I know to a T my schedule, my flights, hotels, train schedules, restaurants, events; I have maps and records of my reservations and tickets -- I'm relaxed, informed and good to go!

The day after I come home? I miss my spreadsheet. :(

-- Mike Beebe

Nope. It's about quality over quantity. It gets easier with experience. You just need more experience and money than you think it should cost. No kind of automation will guarantee that you will enjoy a trip or that it will workout if it was like fast food. We have to read and think for ourselves.

I think the problem is planning a trip for September, and it's already June. Six- eight months ago, you probably would have had many more lodging options in your price range. Not that this helps now, but maybe for future trips.
I think many of us enjoy the planning because we are retired. If you are working and carrying other responsibilities, trip planning when fatigued is difficult.
See if the itinerary in the RS guide books would meet your needs, so you're not re- inventing the wheel. Many of Rick's suggestions are practical and workable.
Flights- set alerts on Googleflights, where you can research across several airlines.
Booking.com- read their reviews, then book directly with the hotel for a better price.
And- don't plan too much! Just wandering is an adventure unto itself. You will have a great trip.

I depends on what counts as "planning." For example I've got places (mostly restaurants) marked as "want to go" all over Europe and I've got a few itineraries rattling around in my head. I wouldn't really count either of those as actual planning but some people might. In terms of actual nitty gritty planning, I had planned on going to Italy in September 2024 and bought a guidebook in January to figure out which neighborhoods and hotels to actually stay in (the trip got pushed back to March 2025). I wasn't obsessively poring over the book, but I'd read through and check out a couple of hotel recommendations a few nights a week. By the time I finally got my vacation time off approved, I booked pretty much everything except for a few attractions that hadn't opened bookings within a week or so.

But I like planning. It's like microdosing vacation even when the real thing is still months away.

Old timer here. First Europe trip was in 1972. No Rick Steves, no Rough Travel, but had read Arthur Frommers Europe on $5 A Day. So had an idea of sites but other than booking the flight ( which the folks paid for) planned zilch.

Memories of the trip includes reading and finishing Mario Puzo’s novel, the Godfather, climbing the stairs of the Eiffel Tower, being shocked Big Ben tolling, that cheese slices, breads and meats were breakfast offerings in Amsterdam, that Geneva was on a lake and learning to adore train travel. (CA native…all about car travel)

These days I do some research. Broad strokes.

I also have learned flexibility is key. Blank happens.

Ha ha, you're asking travel addicts here how they like to spend their time. Most of us will say "travel planning." For me, half the fun of traveling is planning the trip. I love it and can get somewhat obsessive during the process, so I have to pull myself out from time to time. :-)

But as others have said, it gets easier and there are lots of online tools available for you to use, like Wanderlog, OneNote, Google Docs and Sheets, and so much more. You can find a lot of these ideas in a thread that Pam started last year that gathered up tips from everyone. Here is a link to it: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/how-do-you-organize-your-trip-research

I spend a huge number of hours planning my trips. I can't tell you exacly how many; I've never added them up. I think it's worth spending the time so I can relax while I'm away. I don't want to be doing trip research when I am on the trip. I want to soak kup the ambience of wherever I happen to be. I also want to make sure I get the best deals and don't miss out on places that require you to buy tickets in advance.

Fortunately, I really enjoy most of the planning I love reading about places to go and sites to see. I almost always love picking places to stay. The exception is when I can't find anything that fits my expectations and price range. Sometimes I up my budget a little; sometimes I lower my expectations. I don't spend much, if any, time researching restaurants. The food is a big part of the experience for me, but I'm happy with casual and inexpensive food. I hate making restaurant reservations weeks or months in advance. How do I know where I'll be or when I'll be hungry? I'd rather wing it.

The one part of trip planning I hate is transportation. I get zero enjoyment from looking up train and bus companies and schedules and figuring out when and how to buy tickets. It is total misery for me and can take a long time. However, it's a small price to pay to go on vacation.

I really enjoy trip planning.I have helped family members plan their trips. I am not retired. It just is my idea of fun.

But not everyone is like that. It also is less fun when there aren’t as many options. September in Paris anyway is really busy. So you may be late to the game which may make the whole thing more frustrating than it would be otherwise.

At this point, you may need to bite the bullet and pay more than you like and get on with it.

I had to do that with airfare this year.

Yes, I spend a lot of time planning, but it is truly a labor of love. And since a lot of the inspiration for my travel are my books, my first step of planning is rereading them....:)

Yes, for me, the planning takes more time than the actual trip .... but every minute I spend now makes the trip go that much more smoothly, and therefore highly worth it!

And for some destinations, when I just can't see myself doing all the planning, I book a tour! Let someone else figure out all the details, while I sit back and enjoy. Sure, there is still some planning, but far less than a DIY trip.

Definitely a member of the choir here.

I enjoy the planning. More importantly, the time I invest in planning a trip pays me back many, many times over in a much, much better trip experience. And since I enjoy it, it's easy to justify, and I do a LOT of it.

My first "inklings" of trip plans typically start years before I even have a specific time in mind; I start a specific plan for a trip over a year in advance - need to, to align the right time to be there, the best way to get there and back, and to figure out many things to optimize the trip. A general itinerary starts to take shape, then, since I typically fly in and out of different cities, and often graft on a "bonus" city or region at the end of the trip to facilitate and pre-position my flights home (I use miles/points for all my long-distance flights, so it's necessary to get the globe-spanning flights nailed down early, and that means my general A-to-B plan needs to be in place more than a year in advance of the actual trip). Once that's planned, I book my flights to/from there as soon as flight schedules open up (11-12 months ahead). Then the more granular planning begins, how long to spend in each location, where to stay, etc., but I will already have some ideas and bits saved from previous, more casual investigations. I typically book my accommodations 8-10 months before departure. Finer details get worked out once I know where I'll be based each night. Eventually I have very detailed plans and alternate options worked out for each day, allowing us last-minute flexibility to make game-day decisions based on weather or mood or last minute needs/opportunities/news/preferences. All gets documented in exhaustive detail.

My spouse has given me marching orders to plan 4 trips a year, though not all of them to Europe. In the next 12 months we're doing trips to Scotland, Italy, Chile, the Philippines & Thailand, and Iceland. So right now I am doing active planning for all of these trips (the further out the trip, the higher level of planning, and vice-versa), plus I am in the very early stages of planning for trips the following year to Greece, and a half-dozen other places that are jockeying for position. I've already got small bits and snippets of trip "pre-plan" ideas for dozens of places saved up (hey, I didn't waste that pandemic baking cookies...I spent it stalking hundreds places around the globe). Some of those ideas will develop steadily into a plan for an actual trip in the next couple years, others will sit and germinate until a later time when they will move forward.

You know the old saying, "Getting there is half the fun." I'd say planning is probably about a third of the fun, the rest split between getting there, being there, and looking back at it all. That's just me - I know many people would rather have a root canal, and that's OK. You do what's right for you. All that said, I think trying to plan a trip just a few months ahead comes with some additional challenges, which are mentioned above. But sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do to make things work.

I am going to France in September and I am spending so much time looking for hotels, flights and activities that fit in my budget.

Trying to fit into a budget is the stressful part. The smaller the budget, the tougher the options and increased stress. Costs in Europe, as well as everywhere, have really increased, along with the current exchange rate.

Consider changing your approach to hotels which, outside of airfare, is your biggest expense. Stay further away from the center of the city, but on a public transportation line. Rates will be less expensive and a short 15 minute metro or bus will get you to the center of the city easily.

Airfares are just something you have to bite the bullet on when you see something you consider reasonable. Airfare and hotels are your major expense. Sights to see are generally very reasonable and food can cost whatever you want it to be. Planning is an enjoyable task IMO, but trying to travel outside your means can be stressful.

On your other thread (https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/advice-for-a-trip-to-paris-on-a-budget ) you mentioned:

"I have already spent at least 5 hours looking for hotels and activities but everything is so expensive."

TBH, 5 hours is not much for most of us. Many of us spend months looking for things.

I mentioned on the other thread that I did a quick google on your name and found it on an AI-related site. I'm wondering if that somehow in a subsequent post will relate to the questions you posed.

IF not, there were some suggestions on the other thread about travel on a budget.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/advice-for-a-trip-to-paris-on-a-budget

Reading through the answers you already received about lodging in Paris in your first post linked here.

You’re picking one of the most expensive cities in Europe and trying to stay there for over a week. How about staying there a few days and also going to 1-2 less expensive cities in France for the rest of the time? There’s a lot to see beyond Paris in France. Let us know if you’re open to that suggestion, and we can help.

"I mentioned on the other thread that I did a quick google on your name and found it on an AI-related site. I'm wondering if that somehow in a subsequent post will relate to the questions you posed."

Good catch, Pam. I wonder if we are all earnestly replying to a setup for an ad...

"Good catch, Pam. I wonder if we are all earnestly replying to a setup for an ad..."

@KC....I wondered too, especially since the OP posted again without going back to the thread on the France forum.

I DO understand sometimes it's difficult to figure out where you've posted when a person is new to the forum so perhaps I should give them leeway and just welcome them as new posters.

And little did hasmusmedia realize they'd dropped in to a beehive of folks who generally LOVE planning, lol!!

Indeed, sometimes (not always of course) the planning ends up being more enjoyable than the actual trip!

”Indeed, sometimes (not always of course) the planning ends up being more enjoyable than the actual trip!”

@GregW, LOL! I think the 2020 Covid year proved that one false! We were all very sad that the actual trip didn’t happen after all of the planning. But, I do really enjoy that planning time!

I love planning and similar to a previous poster, plan trips i might never take. Its a hobby. If a destination piques my curiosity, whether because I saw a show or read an article, I'll look into a rough idea of a trip there. See if it's doable, and how.

In terms of real upcoming trips, sometimes I hit a wall. Basically I start to get grumpy, think it's too much work, think I hould have booked a different destination, worry about the cat care... but it passes.

I am only 3 weeks home from my last trip and have another coming up in October. I am still soaking in the post trip afterglow so have done no planning yet for the next one.
I will probably start looking at flights in August. That will be very straightforward, not much thought required. Then book the campervan also pretty straightforward, we know what we need.
Once flights and van are booked then I will start watching YouTube videos of the region and noting places of interest. A few weeks before we go I will map out a loose itinerary. That will mean figuring out probable overnight stops but we never prebook. It's a bit of fun and builds a bit of excitement for the trip. It certainly isn't stressful.

Well, I guess I’ll also confess that I’ve got a trip in less than 2 weeks that I’m still looking at some history and background on. I’m checking weather every day because it’s hot as heck here in North Idaho while Kirkwall, Orkney is having a high temperature of 54F today!

I’m having to hold myself back on planning for an October trip to France to not get ahead of myself although I have flights and hotels booked and just need to purchase 2 train tickets for that one. I want to savor my upcoming trip and not have my head be in France while my body is in Scotland, hahaha.

Then I’ve started giving some thought to my April 2026 trip to England. Will I go to Paris before or after my 2- week tour? Probably need to go to London for a week ahead of the tour so I can spend some time at the British Museum seeing treasures from the area I’ll spend 2 weeks in. Then Paris plus a friend might he there then.

Then there is Spring 2027……..hahahahaha!!!!!

I start planning about 6-8 months in advance of the month-long expeditions in Europe. Because anticipation can be as good as the trip itself, the planning only ends when I’m packing the suitcase!

For about 15 years I found myself making 2 or 3 trips a year to Europe. Each for about 3 weeks. After 3 weeks I began to get home sick.

The planning is more of an life-long ongoing general European collection of notes, websites, posts, articles and details about every place whose existence interested me. Without doing it that way, I wouldn’t have known when and where to go. If we mean how long planning for the flights and hotels and guides and transportation, heck, a few months maybe.

I find that planning a trip is by far the most productive and educational part of the entire thing. Planning flights and apartments or hotels is the trivial part of planning. The important and enjoyable part is becoming your own tour guide.

For example, a few years back we decided to go to Spain. We scheduled a trip to Barcelona which was 6 months out and I spent that time learning all I could about the history of Spain. I watched multiple videos about Antoni Gaudi, and the other Modernists, I learned about how La Sagrada Familia was constructed, I figured out in detail exactly how to get to Park Guell, and Montserrat, how to take the Metro, and of course where to eat, and how to protect ourselves from pickpockets and scams.

Same thing when we went to Seville and Madrid. I spent 6 months learning basic tourist-level Spanish. I learned all about the history and layout of Madrid and Seville, how the Cathedral of Seville was built, the history of Seville, what is Mudejar architecture, what is Gothic architecture, what was the Reconquista, why did the Spanish Civil war occur and what happened in it, what are the great paintings I will see in the Prado, the life of Velasquez, and Goya, how far is it to walk to the Prado, who was Philip V, why is he important, the life of Columbus, and El Cid, and on and on. I even got on Google Street View and "walked around" the neighborhood where I was going to be staying.

Not only is planning fun and educational, it makes a trip so much better because you know what you’re looking at, who built it, why they built it, how they built it, and when you know all that, you can relax and drink it in. Just stand there or sit there and absorb being there.

The trip is fun, but the value in the trip is in the planning.

No planning is half the fun. And pre-planing has paid off time and time again.

Like some of the others, I spend a YEAR and a HALF planning a trip. When the plane tickets become available 355 days before the travel date, I get them and usually at a great price. And I get them refundable, so if the price drops between 355 and 1 day before the flight, I can rebook or get the price difference. I just got Business Class tickets on Virgin Atlantic this way. Otherwise, I couldn't afford BC.

So right now, I'm planning a trip to Iceland for next August, 2026. And booking hotels early has paid off. We will be there for the solar eclipse. Now when you search for hotels, they have jacked up the prices in Reykjavik for those dates.

I research every location I want to visit and decide what I want to see and plan how I would visit it. That determines how many days in Each location.

I never plan anything extra or book an event on a travel day between cities except for a nice dinner.

If you are tired of planning a trip, then take a tour and let someone plan it for you. You willl need to research which tours fit your budget. A tour will take you to the spots you didn't know you wanted to see.

I'm not surprised you aren't finding any cheap hotels for September in France. Those hotels are all booked by those of us who plan and book early. Good luck.

This has so much to do with personality and preferences. I love to plan. At any given moment I am planning multiple trips. A quick look shows I have 9 trips in the works between now and Fall of 2027. The time spent researching is time I enjoy. I usually look to make most of my "money saving" choices in advance through planning. Then when I am on the trip, I just follow the plan and enjoy.

Edited to add for the curious: Canadian Maritimes, Central Europe River Cruise with Romania bus tour, Paris/London trip with son and his wife, Sedona AZ autumn getaway, New Zealand and Australia, RS Best of Sicily with side trip to Naples, Helsinki (independent) combined with a Baltic tour and a Gate 1 Poland Tour, Southeast Asia cruise starting from Singapore, and Transatlantic cruise that includes Iceland.

Booked RT air last week and going on July 9 for 25 days. So planning now. Not too stressed. It will come together. Booked first 3 nights in arrival city. Otherwise may wing the rest. Have done that before. So for me the whole process is about a month to plan, but I am not at it every day.
It is very tiresome if your budget has many constraints or if you are of the ilk to nitpick all the comparisons of multiple hotels.
It is a process and it is peculiar to each individual.
To avoid it, one can go on a RS tour or similar and relax.