Make the Most of Your Summer Vacation: 7 Essential Travel Tips for 2025

Summer is a great time to travel. The weather is warm, the days are long, and there are so many things to see and do. But Summer travel can also be expensive, crowded and stressful.

We’ve had the opportunity to travel over non-peak times (due to our kids year-round school track schedules) and also during busy Summer and Holiday times and the tips below come from our first hand experience from all of those trips.

Summer Travel Tips

Here are my seven essential tips to help you travel better, travel smarter and optimize for value this Summer season:

• Plan ahead (when possible)

  • The earlier you start planning your trip, the more likely you are to find good deals on flights and accommodations. And if you're traveling during peak season, it's important to book your travel plans as early as possible.

• Be flexible with your travel dates

  • If you can, try to be flexible with your travel dates. Traveling during the week instead of on weekends can often save you money on flights and accommodations. And if you're willing to travel during the shoulder seasons (the months that fall between peak and off-peak seasons), you can often find even better deals.

• Leave a day or two early.

  • If you have anything scheduled at your destination you can’t afford to miss or are embarking on a cruise, build in at least a day of buffer time in case flights are canceled or delayed.

• Make use of essential travel technology

  • Use Apple AirTags (or similar devices) to track your luggage

    • It seems like there are stories every Summer of lost luggage in the news every day. If the airlines lose your luggage you can at least track it and no where it is with an AirTag. I place on in every piece of checked luggage and in our backpacks (in case someone tries to take it)

  • Download offline maps to save on data

    • You can save an area from Google Maps to your phone and use it to navigate, even when you're offline and don’t have a data connection.

  • Pack a portable charger for your devices.

    • You don't want to be stuck with a dead phone when you're out exploring a new destination.

• Pre-schedule and book your tours and transfers

  • Avoid the crowds and long lines by booking a tour for popular museums and destinations. Some of my favorite tour partners for Europe include Context Travel, Family Twist, Tours by Locals and Meet the Locals for Families.

  • Book airport transfers with Blacklane: There is nothing more I hate than arriving to an airport or destination I’ve never been to and having to search around for the Uber pickup option (usually not in a convenient place) or get in an extremely long taxi line. For our recent Europe trip, I pre-booked all of our airport transfers with Blacklane, which offered easy and seamless chauffeur service and transfers in/out of the airports in Amsterdam, Rome and Madrid, that helped us save so much time.

• Always pay in the local currency

  • If you’re traveling internationally, I recommend always paying in the local currency when using your credit card. Let your credit card get you the best exchange rate and avoid being duped into paying markup fees.

  • If you need to access an ATM while traveling internationally, do not select the option where they offer to do the currency conversion (often with a huge 15%-20% markup) and always use a bank that refunds any ATM fees

• Keep electronic copies of all important documents

  • Have electronic copies (stored securely) of passports, travel itineraries and other important documents you may need

    • A picture of your passport comes in handy for VAT tax refunds when shopping in Europe.

If you haven’t booked any of your Summer 2025 trips yet, you may be too late in terms of finding the best pricing and availability, as the the best time to book Summer travel is as early as possible (or when first available), but the next best time is NOW!

Depending on your destination, you may be able to find flight deals (discounts or miles savings), hotel savings or at a minimum, optimize for the best value you can get using points and miles.

Note: A previous version of this blog post first appeared on The Family Travel Bulletin