Narrowing it down

Morning - Schedule (usually 1 major) things and

Afternoon - fit in the others based on proximity to the things you've scheduled

Evenings - Wander aimlessly and let serendipity be your guide

Construct meticulous and detailed hour by hour schedules based upon hundreds of hours of research. Publish the plan and make hard copies and load electronic copies on all of the phones and lap tops. Keep a copy in the cloud for access from any location with any device.

Arrive at the first stop, throw out plan and have fun.

The real purpose of the plan was the educational exercise to learn the destination and have a rough framework if all the winging it wasn’t paying off then the plan becomes a workable plan B

I'd say our way of organizing is similar to CWSocial, with some added help from Google that show where we might stop for a meal!

We're not interested in seeing 'everything' or wearing ourselves out, so having some downtime over a meal or back at the hotel is planned into the itinerary. As is an evening meal every few nights that's so casual it's embarrassing, maybe takeaway from local grocery store so we can chill out.

Definitely morning people, so that's when we first hit the most important museum on the list. By Day 3, we need a break from museums so will do a walking food tour, or long walk to another area.

Always hoping we will come back!!

Schedule most important sights in morning and see others in the afternoon if I still have energy. I don't schedule two museums or two churches in the same day.

Similar to CWSocial.

Pick an area/neighborhood for the day. One main or large site in the morning, stroll towards the afternoon site finding a place to eat lunch at in-between the two sites. Stroll around the area/neighborhood in the evening & enjoy the city & atmosphere before heading back to my lodging for the night.

If taking a train out of the city for a day trip, see that location as much as I can prior to returning back. Sometimes I stay later & enjoy dinner at that location or head back to my main location for dinner. Train and or bus schedules usually dictate on how much time I stay out for a day trip.

I don't want to feel rushed, I'm on vacation & not running a marathon. I try to have the mind set that I will return or I'll Be Back.

We have 1 major thing each day and usually a loose plan for any time remaining in the day. Evenings are usually aimless wandering. Even though we're both planners and have no problem booking tickets in advance with a specified entry time, we rarely will schedule to fit a specific block of time after the first site.

With timed entry and getting tickets well ahead of time becoming more and more essential, my basic planning structure is to have ONE major museum/site per day (preferably in the AM), and a nice meal option (preferably dinner) planned out especially if a reservation is required. Fill in the rest with small stuff, lots of wandering, and plenty of food breaks.

Research ahead of time will help us know what the "small stuff" options might be, but wandering also provides a ton of chance encounters. What I do know is my wife steadily decreases in flexibility and decisiveness for dinner options the later in the day it gets, so it is always best to have that sorted out well ahead of time. Other than that, we're both really happy just mixing and mingling in strange/new/different places.

Hi Lane,

I will give my answer based on what we did during our first time in Paris together for five nights.

After we had a list of everything that looked interesting to us, I checked city passes. We bought the 3-day museum pass, so that determined (checking museum open hours) which days we would visit museums. We headed to a museum right after breakfast on those days.

We looked at the proximity of our desired sites overall and marked it in map sections. So when we had our evening reservations for the Eiffel Tower, we also went to something else beforehand in that area.

We did buy the week metro pass, so we weren’t weighing whether it was worth going to some other area wherever we were at during our days.

We did have some high priority items, but otherwise, we allowed ourselves to just decide the night before or even as we were out during the day. For instance, in London last year, I wanted to go see some of the modern skyscrapers spur-of-the-moment while we were nearby & enjoyed it. But during the planning stage, I would have placed that low on the list.

I'm a planner. It kind of depends on where I'm going as to how much I plan but basically I have every day planned. I enjoy it and never feel restricted by this method. Spontaneity is NOT my middle name, hahaha!!!!

Even though I have been to Paris multiple times with the need for timed entries to some places I enjoy visiting I am more exact about dividing up my sights. I will do 2 museums a day if the afternoon one is small. Sometimes how I structure things is based on what Metro ticket I will have for which days (week pass vs single tickets). For the next trip I want to visit the American Cemetery at Suresnes and I think I need to do that on a day when I have the Navigo Decouverte so I will do some more research and slot that in on a particular day. Since it uses the suburban train system I suspect that will be easier during the week than on the weekends but I'm not sure yet.

I am not one who enjoys wandering. A few years ago I worked out my own walking tour of Roman sites in Paris. That was fun for me. I had a goal and a route and had a great time. I've also followed some of the walks from a French Frye in Paris with my own crib sheets and mapping as I went.

I'm happy with sightseeing goals and plans but I can change at the last minute if I'm not feeling something or the weather is too yucky for an outdoorish kind of day.

So, Lane...what kind of sightseer are you? What makes you happy?

Lane, good question!

As you know, I use Wanderlog and with each trip, it becomes more and more intuitive and helpful. Right now, I have all of my ideas for next year's trip to London and Paris (with 2 grandkids) saved in the various sections on Wanderlog. For example, I have created 3 sections for each city, so six altogether. Each city has lists of Shopping, Restaurants/Cafes, and Sights/Activities. I stack everything in there until I get closer to my trip. Then I use the map function of Wanderlog to see which areas are in proximity to one another, and plan accordingly.

I usually put too many places in each day, but the night before I will look at the next day's schedule and move or delete or sometimes add as needed or wanted. :-)

I will say this trip will be a bit different as I have to consider other people besides myself, so that might change the process a little, but overall, from your list I would choose the Organize your time by neighborhood or area and use each day to hit as many sights as you can in that area? in combination with Schedule some things and fit in the others based on proximity to the things you've scheduled? with a little of the Don't sweat it because you know you'll come back again?. Hey, whatever works. :-)

ETA: My style has definitely changed over the years! I used to wing it a lot when I was traveling decades ago, but no more. As I mentioned below, I like spontaneity occasionally but I also like my schedule.

I am 76 years old and started traveling overseas in 1981 when I took a job with the Army Corps of Engineers in Saudi Arabia. Prior to that time, I had been to Mexico and Canada.

I always planned touring back then, but in the 1980s way fewer tourists visited Europe, much less the rest of the World, you didn't have to reserve anything, you just when were you wanted and saw it.

I later took a job with the Army (civilian) in Augsburg, Germany for four years and did a lot of site seeing on our own, only rarely taking tours of a few days or a week. While living in Germany, we just hopped in the car for a weekend or perhaps took a few days off and had 8-10 days in a row to tour. We stayed in inexpensive BNBs or small hotels. We had less money to spend, but still did quite a lot.

After I retired in 2010, we started taking 2 or 3 overseas trips a year, visiting Europe, Asia, South America, Australia/NZ. Then our travel usually included a cruise with a planned self guided land trip (not a group tour). Since we have gotten older, we have gravitated toward group tours where a tour company takes care of lodging, guides, transportation, admissions, etc. I have visited 83 countries outside the USA. Life is good.

More directly answering the bullets you cited above, when we did trips largely on our own, this is what we did.

1) I would research places to see in specific countries or areas (like central Europe, or Iberia, British Isles or eastern Mediterranean. Largely using guidebooks prior to the internet, but by the 21st Century, largely with the internet. I used sites like TripAdvisor.com "things to do" in a specific city.

2) I would plan a schedule to visit specific places, including lodging, transportation, admissions, etc. For example, in doing a four week drive tour of South Wales and England in 2017, I planned landing at Heathrow, renting a car, driving to Bath, staying there for 3 nights, I made decisions on what we are to see and we generally stuck to those plans. I even planned using internet travel tools how long it would take to drive from say Bath to Cardiff.

3) We would not wander aimlessly and hope we found something nice. I learned in 1988 planning a trip to Luxembourg for a long weekend that not making plans for lodging was not wise, when the small town we planned to stay had not lodgings due to an annual festival.

4) We have gone back and visited some places again, but much of our travels that has not been the case. I have been to Venice 6 times, Florence twice and Rome twice. Athens 3 times, but Istanbul once. I visited Egypt three times, the last time with my wife, because she had not been there and I was there over 40 years ago.

I'm happy with sightseeing goals and plans but I can change at the last minute if I'm not feeling something or the weather is too yucky for an outdoorish kind of day.

Pam, I agree and I've done that, too. Like on my birthday in London this March when I didn't feel like going out to dinner by myself, so wound up buying a last minute ticket to see "Harry Clarke" with Billy Crudup at the Ambassador Theatre. I love days like that! It is fun to be spontaneous sometimes.

Thank you all for the interesting and varied ideas and approaches.

I asked this question because I'm leaving in a month for ten full days in Rome. It's my first time there, and I have an overwhelmingly long list of things I'd like to see (in addition to the obvious top-level sights).

I'd kind of like to do a little of what you all suggest! Especially Mr. E: make a meticulous plan and then throw it all out and just improvise.

But I probably won't throw it out completely. Even though I'm sure I won't cover more than a fraction of the sights on my list, I'd hate to miss a sight simply because I didn't realize I was passing right by it, or it was just around the corner.

So I'll plan and hope to stick to the plan. I have typically one scheduled tour or activity per day, and I'll see other things in the vicinity on those days.

I'll be back after the trip to let you know how it turned out.

It depends on the destination, the amount of time we have, how much the weather might affect our plans, etc. For a major city (London, Paris, Rome) we plan for 7-9 nights. Anything that needs to be reserved or is a must-do is figured out first, then priorities are arranged to fit around the reservations and other highest priority sights, usually by neighborhood/convenience. We typically plan out the first 4-5 days, and they are usually intense in terms of seeing sights. We leave the rest of the days more open to plan as we go, always consulting our list of options, and relaxing a bit more. Every evening we review and tweak our plan for the next few days. This gives us flexibility to move things to later in the trip if the weather doesn't cooperate or we just feel like doing something different. We try not to do more than one major museum/indoor activity in a day, but two smaller museums can work for us. We've learned that we'd rather visit a great museum like the Orsay in Paris twice, rather than seeing everything in one long visit. We try to plan each day with a variety of indoor and outdoor activities. On our last two trips we realized that we need to start planning more rest breaks and that we need to plan a fairly easy first full day in Europe.

For a region like Alsace, Provence, or Tuscany, we have a general plan for each day, with our highest priorities and secondary priorities for that day if there is time.

We don't assume we will be back. So far, Paris is the only place we have been able to visit twice.

I asked this question because I'm leaving in a month for ten full days in Rome.

Rome is a great place to have a few plans ahead of time & the neighborhoods, especially if you want to stop in to see some churches. I google places & save them in google, including ideas on where to eat, from middle of the road to simple, so as we're walking around, we can easily stop for a meal. Sounds like you're getting well organized, so it will be easier to cut back or add things along the way!

Wander aimlessly and let serendipity be your guide?

Don't sweat it because you know you'll come back again?

This

I plan check-in/-out, transition from one city to another, and transportation details. That's the focus of my planning, so it goes smoothly and prepare for anything that might go wrong. This is where I want to head off hiccups.

A large part of my travel enjoyment is just being in a place and not just on the tourist path and i do like to wander. The first time I visited Covent Garden I happened into a string of outdoor outfitters and it was the end of season sales. I'm not cramming my day full, planning every minute, and I do enjoy where the day takes me. Nothing goes wrong here, it's all serendipity.

I'll have a list of sites or museums I want to visit and I'll cross them off as I get to them, and save the ones I miss for the next visit.

Lane, the plan is just my way of researching. It answers a lot of the "what if" questions. Hey look that museum look interesting .... I happen to know it opens a 9pm and i get a discount because I am an old fart. Naaaaa, just walk on and see what else there is.

Almost all destinations you read about on the forums have more than a few things to do. To that end, you can wait until the night before or the day of to decide what to do. If you go to a place without any features (and why are you there?) it is even easier. Hike, go to the beach, or do the proverbial people watching.

We definitely make a plan for each day, but adjust as time, energy dictate. Made the mistake of trying to see the British Museum at night, and after a full day of sightseeing, our energy was lagging. So, we decided to just do the highlights (they have a map showing you these), which we did in 1 hour. Definitely need to go back!

I don't wing it , wastes too much time that way. If the weather is fine, then almost every day has a general plan, depending on other factors, ie, the reliability of the train system thwarting your plans and depending if I stick to it. That type of adherence is relative as I do improvise...all depends. This time the weather in France and late may and early June was the opposite with the threat of rain or rainy. Plans for those days were marred by the weather. In Paris it was not sizzling as I had expected and was used to in June. I wish it had been instead of the cold and rain I experienced.

I stick to a general schedule for the morning and a more specific for the afternoon. For day trips outside the city, eg, going out of Paris to Soissons , Troyes, or Lille or from Metz to Nancy and Luneville , the days are planned for that . That also depends on how desperate I am to see certain site, ie the town, museum, etc, or the landscape, such as seeing that landscape going from Berlin to Prenzlau, that Uckermark area, all new territory for me.

I don't wander aimlessly per se. One might call it that when one just gets on the tram or bus in Paris or Vienna regardless of the line and go regardless of getting off at a specific stop. You see a lot of the city , the residential quarters (Wohnviertel) in Vienna, basically totally away from tourist frequented areas in Paris and Vienna, super revealing sociologically and culturally in these areas where you're the only visitor, and "they" can spot you out a mile away if "they" care to. I haven't done this in Berlin going out to eastern districts , these "boonie" areas, by bus to the extent as in Vienna and Paris.

Re: organising by neighborhood. Specifically, to the extent I've done this, it has been only in Berlin, ie Spandau, Charlottenburg, Karlshorst, Koepenick, Mitte, this time the Jannowitz bridge neighborhood , and immediate area around Berlin Ostbahnhof.

All in all, simply put, each day has at least general plan or a detailed plan, depending on various factors, the weather, energy level, inertia, desperation on my part, time left in the trip, distance, etc.

I find that I need to plan much more carefully and in detail for places I'm staying only for a couple of days. If I'll be somewhere for a week, I'm able to sketch out a general plan and adjust it daily based on weather, how well I've slept, etc.