In Kyoto, we planned too much. There were so many things we wanted to see, especially the temples, and we didn’t want to miss any of them, so we fitted them all into our three days. We did cover everything, but there was a lot to do in each of those days, and by the end we were both a little bit “templed out”. We even dropped a planned trip to Nara so we could see everything in Kyoto. Looking back, we could have used another day.
In Seoul, we had 10 days over Christmas and New Year, and some of those days literally had nothing planned. That meant we could say, “We haven’t actually looked here yet, let’s go and do that now.” And that was really nice.
So how much should you plan? For us, it’s the things that can’t move, and not much more. The rest is how we work that out, from what we book before we leave to how full we let a day get.
First, do you want to do the planning at all?
Before you work out how much to plan, it’s worth deciding whether you want to do the planning yourself. On a group tour, someone else builds the itinerary for you. Transport, accommodation and most of the sights are organised, and you usually get a bit of your own time in some places. Plan it yourself and you decide everything, including how much to leave open.
We’ve done both. Our whole trip to Peru was a small group tour with only five people on it. We toured Canada with APT, which was well organised and we had an amazing guide, but big group tours aren’t really for me: there’s a set time at each stop, and there’s always someone who is late.
In Sri Lanka we found a middle ground with a private guide and driver. We had an itinerary, but we could stay longer somewhere or stop along the road. That’s how our guide was able to take us into a local school concert he spotted on the way.
If you’re not sure which suits you, our guide to finding your travel style is a good place to start. This article is about planning a self-guided trip, where the itinerary is yours to build.
Plan the fixed points, keep everything else loose
Every trip has a few things that can’t move. For us, those are:
- flights and accommodation
- internal trains or flights between places
- some day trips
- anything that books out
- places that are only open on certain days
Those get booked, or locked into a particular day. If you’re working out what to book first, we’ve covered the order we book the big things in Nervous About Your First Trip? How to Plan So You Feel Ready.
Everything else is a list of options rather than a schedule. I don’t set our trips up as a list of things we must do. And Darren will always try to take structure out rather than put more in, because he likes free-flowing days and being able to change things if we need to.
What to book before you go, and what can wait
How much you need to book ahead depends a lot on when you’re going. In peak season, hotels, popular tours and attractions book out, and if you leave them until you get there you may not get in at all. In the off-peak season, you can often leave more until you arrive.
We found that out in Salzburg. We spent New Year’s Eve there and had a few days in the city. Once we arrived, we looked into doing a Sound of Music tour, but because we hadn’t booked early, the tours were booked out.
Other things can wait. We’ll often get somewhere and decide we’d like to do a day trip or see a particular place, and book it then. In Amsterdam, we wanted to see Anne Frank House. A quick look showed that tickets had to be booked online, so we booked them the morning we went.
Good to Know
Anne Frank House doesn’t sell tickets at the door. They’re sold only online, for a set time slot, and new tickets are released every Tuesday for visits six weeks later. In busy periods, check the Anne Frank House tickets page well before you go.
Opening days matter too. My one-page plan for each place notes its opening hours and the days it’s open (there’s more on how I put those together in How to Get Your Bearings in a New City). In Seoul, Changdeokgung Palace is normally closed on Mondays, and the only way to see its Secret Garden is on a guided tour. Half the places on each tour can be reserved online up to six days ahead and the rest are sold on the day, so it went on the plan, and we had the 11.30 English tour booked.
How much to put in one day
There’s no set number. It depends on how close things are and how big they are.
In Gyeongju, South Korea, one day’s plan had several sights fairly close together, and we walked between all of them. That’s a reasonable day for us. Another day had two big things a long way apart. We caught an Uber up to Seokguram Grotto and hiked back down to Bulguksa Temple in the morning, then caught an Uber out to Yangdong Folk Village, at the opposite end of town, in the afternoon. Two big things were enough for that day.
A map makes this easier to judge. I drop one onto each one-page plan with a pin on every place, so we can see at a glance what’s close together and what isn’t.
Gyeongju, South Korea: a frozen fountain outside Seokguram Grotto (you can’t photograph the Buddha inside) and the Dabotap pagoda at Bulguksa Temple.
Arrival days and travel days
We don’t plan jet-lag days. Coming from Australia, we try to arrive late in the afternoon or early in the evening, so we can get to our accommodation, have something to eat, have a shower and go to bed. We get up at our normal local time the next morning and treat it like any other day. For the first few nights we might go to bed a bit earlier than usual, but we want to get out and explore, so we plan around jet lag rather than giving it whole days.
Travel days don’t get a plan either. When we caught the train from Tokyo to Kyoto, it left around the middle of the day, so we did a few things around Tokyo first, then had a chance to explore around our hotel in Kyoto when we arrived. It’s not that we don’t do anything on travel days. We just explore at our own pace.
Leave some days empty and make the rest swappable
Our 10 days in Seoul show how I like to set up a longer stay:
- Christmas Day and New Year’s Day: nothing planned
- Two days: day tours booked, one to the DMZ and one to Seorak Mountain and Nami Island
- Six days: planned, from two things in a day to quite a few more
Each of those six days was interchangeable. If we didn’t feel like a big day, we could swap in one of the days with less planned. The only exception was anywhere that was only open on certain days, because we wanted to be sure we got there.
Having room in the plan also lets you see more of everyday life. In Seoul, we spent a day going around shopping centres looking at the beauty products South Korea is so well known for, just because it’s fun. We went into ordinary shops and caught local trains, and saw how people in Seoul actually live. It isn’t people-watching. It’s seeing what locals are doing and being part of it in some small way. I like to think of it as immersing ourselves in modern culture.
Shopping in Myeongdong, Seoul, and on an unplanned day in Dotonbori, Osaka, where Darren found me in a shop selling dog clothes.
Lisa’s Tip
Make your planned days interchangeable, so you can swap a big day for a quieter one when you need to. Only lock in the days that have to be fixed: booked tours, and places that are only open on certain days.
Signs you’ve planned too much (and why too little is fine)
Kyoto taught us what overplanning looks like. Every day was full, there was a lot to fit in, and we dropped something we’d planned (Nara) to make room for more of the same. We did see everything, but another day would have made it easier. If temples are on your list too, here are our 10 temples to visit in Kyoto.
Planning “too little” is far less of a risk than it feels. We always find things to do. Even when a day isn’t planned, we go exploring, and that can be just as much fun as having things planned.
The one real risk of planning too little is missing something that needed booking, which is exactly what happened to us with the Sound of Music tours in Salzburg. So if you’re going to under-plan anything, make it the days, not the bookings. Book what books out, check what’s only open on certain days, and leave the rest open.
Some things only happen when there’s room in the day. On our free days in Seoul, we’d look at what we hadn’t got to yet and go and do it. And when we went back to Canada on our own, driving rather than on a tour, we had time to hike the trails around Mount Robson, which had only been a photo stop on the tour.
Before you lock in your itinerary
- Flights, accommodation and transport between places booked
- Checked whether you’re travelling in peak season
- Booked anything that books out, such as popular tours and timed tickets
- Checked the opening days for each place
- Nothing planned on travel days
- A day or two with nothing planned on a longer stay
You don’t need every hour planned to feel confident on a trip. Plan the things that can’t move, book what will book out, and keep the rest as a list of options with room to explore. For the rest of the planning, from flights to insurance, head to the Plan stage of First Journey.
Until next time… keep wandering.
Last updated: 25 October 2026. Anne Frank House and Changdeokgung booking details checked October 2026.
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