The “Type A” in me truly comes alive when it comes time to plan a trip. For me, something is thrilling about crafting the perfect master plan for the best possible trip and planning out every detail, right down to the restaurants I’ll dine at. In general, planning travel to one city or country can be overwhelming in itself — so it’s pretty fair to admit that planning the logistics split destination trip for the first time overwhelmed me. Would it just too much to visit two countries in one trip?
After trying it just once, I realized that with some careful planning and a well-crafted Excel sheet, visiting two destinations in the same trip can make for some of the best memories and well-rounded trips. Visiting two destinations in one trip can give you a taste of two cultures, different activities, and unique sights. Even places that geographically aren’t too far apart (Malta and Italy, for example) offer a completely different travel experience. Here’s how (and why) I love the concept of visiting two destinations in the same trip.
How to destination hop
When planning to “country hop”, I recommend starting with the most obvious consideration: Time and geographical location.
Consider the time needed in each destination
Unless you’re retired and have weeks at a time to travel, time constraints are a clear limitation to country hopping. With limited time in each spot, you may feel that your trip feels rushed. For this reason, I recommend pairing cities that you feel you can comfortably “cover” all you want to do within a few days.
For example, 3 to 5 days in Rome or Cairo may be enough to see all of the top sights, but you may find 3 to 5 days in other locations, like Crete, to feel rushed. In my experience, country hopping works best with a time frame of 3 to 6 days for each destination, allowing you enough time for a total of a 7-12 day trip.
Geographic considerations
From a geographical standpoint, you’ll also want to consider how far apart the destinations you want to visit are. For example, a trip to Valletta, Malta, and Rome, Italy may make sense — but pairing Singapore with a trip to Malta and Italy just wouldn’t make sense. I recommend pairing destinations that are under four hours apart (either by plane, train, or ferry). Some examples include:
- Naples, Italy, and Valletta, Malta
- Barcelona, Spain, and Marrakesh, Morocco
- Crete, Greece, and Athens, Greece
- Cairo, Egypt, and Marrakesh, Morocco
- Paris, France, and Rome, Italy
As you consider where to go, consider the types of activities to do in each spot. Consider mixing in areas that are a mix of rural and urban or that offer different natural features to craft a well-rounded vacation.
Logistics
The worst part of destination hopping is figuring out the logistics of your travel. With this scenario, most likely you will be booking multiple one-way flights, departing home from a different airport than you arrived at. You also need to factor in all the time in transport to do the whole airport process (driving to the airport, checking bags, security, customs, etc) in your scenario. Most importantly, you’ll want to select two destinations that have non-stop options between them. This is especially easy for various countries in Europe that are geographically close to one another.
