How To Plan A Surprise Trip: 6 Easy Steps To Plan A Surprise Vacation

How To Plan A surprise Trip: photo of the famous gorgeous blue lake of Plitvice National park.
Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia

A great gift to surprise someone who loves to travel is to plan a surprise trip. Or if you know, there is a particular destination that they want to visit! And it works for every kind of occasion and every age, be it for kids, teens, adults, husbands, or elders! I

A few years ago, I planned with my mum a surprise trip in the form of a 48-hour surprise getaway to London for both of my little brothers’ birthdays, and it was one of the best gifts! However, planning everything in detail might be tricky or tedious without forgetting some critical information.

But don’t worry, here are all the steps and things you should do if you’re wondering about “How to plan a surprise trip”, so take some notes and plan the perfect surprise trip for your friend and loved one.

How To Plan A Surprise Trip: Easy Steps To Plan A Surprise Vacation

Let’s get into this so you can know how to surprise someone with a trip and get them the best gift ever!

If you’re organizing a special surprise trip for your partner and want to enhance the experience, consider exploring unique gifts designed for couples who love to travel together!


STEP 1: Total Surprise Trip Or Only A Surprise Destination?

This is the first thing you need to decide: if you want this trip to be a total surprise or wish the destination to be a surprise. Both are fine, although only having the destination as a surprise is more straightforward to plan regarding availability.

Otherwise, if you only make the destination a surprise but let them know when you will be taking them on a surprise trip, it’s a little easier as you don’t need to come up with an excuse that would require them to be able to be available at x date until x date.

So, choose what would be more fitting for them and their lifestyle to decide on a total surprise or half surprise since it varies a lot from adults to teens/kids.
This can be tricky if the person can’t get days off of work or anything. However, if it was a kid or a teen, you could tell them they would visit a relative on the due date and voila, easy surprise.

A surprise might be your best bet for a working adult to make only the destination, depending on their situation!

Everything is more complicated when you’re an adult.

STEP 2: Make Sure They Are Available And Able To Travel

Of course, this sounds pretty obvious to make sure that they are available on the date you wish to organise a surprise trip, but you also have to make sure if you have to fly out or cross any border that their ID or Passport is all good or any papers you might need. You wouldn’t want to get stranded at the airport or anywhere else because you forgot something.

If you don’t live with the person and don’t have access easily to their documents, you can always ask someone close to them, a relative or another friend, to do that for you!

If the trip is a surprise, the best option is to take a leisurely trip where no visa or such paper is needed, or you have to be sure you can get all the paper you need to be sure you can get them a visa.

STEP 3: Make Sure They Like The Destination You Pick

It might sound a little obvious, but when planning and researching a surprise trip to someone else, it’s easy to lose sight of their interests and consider what you’d like to do more—less what this particular person would like to do.

If you plan a whole camping trip with someone who hates camping, that probably won’t work. You get the drill.

Of course, unless the person has always dreamed of visiting a specific location, it’s pretty easy. However, if you’re looking for a destination they would like, note what they want: City? Country? Beach? Mountain?…and the list goes on!


STEP 4: Plan ahead: Budget and Bucket List/To-Do List

Do you have your destination sorted out?

Great! Now, all you need to do is to book flights or trains! Unless you’re travelling by car, all you have to worry about is the itinerary.


Skyscanner is a great website to compare flights and find the cheapest!
Once you’re done with the transportation, you have to look into your accommodation: hotel? Airbnb? The choice is yours, but make sure to book everything in advance!

Once you get all the above sorted out and all the papers you might need, you need to focus on something else. It’s time to plan what you will do during those holidays and how much you will spend.

Since you surprise someone, they won’t know what to do (even though you know they want to visit these specific places, that doesn’t mean that once you arrive, they will know what to do) or how much money you need to bring.

It is your job to do all that research and make up a list of things to do that could interest them and you. Of course, you could buy a guide and let them read it during the journey once they know the destination so they can also pick stuff!

STEP 5: Be Careful When Planning

plan a surprise trip
Heart-Shaped Cave In Benagil, Algarve, Portugal4 Reasons To Visit The Algarve

Planning is tedious for some people, so you must ensure everything is well prepared. You can ask some friends or family for help, and this is perfectly fine. Keeping the number of people who know about this to a minimum is the best thing to do.

Or ask for the help of people you are sure won’t be in touch with the person you are planning a surprise trip for. A small mistake or someone talking too much could ruin the surprise, so be careful!


If you have a joint account or credit card, be extra careful, as this could spoil your surprise vacation. If possible, try using another card or ask friends or family to help you with this.

STEP 6: Drop Hints To Make The Surprise!

A fun thing to do until your departure day to wherever you decide to take them on a surprise trip is to drop hints about the destination to keep the excitement going.

Of course, you don’t want anything too obvious. For example, you don’t want to tell them about baguettes, cheese, and wine if you’re visiting France.

You have to be more creative! There are so many fun ways to drop hints. It can be via any medium: a letter, a small object, or a puzzle.

Dropping hints is also an excellent way to have them pack properly regarding their needs. You can tell them to pack for a cold or hot country.

Have fun, pack up, and go!

Ultimately don’t put too much pressure on yourself to organise your surprise trip and don’t forget to enjoy yourself (If you go and travel with them, that is)! You can also have even more fun by looking at all the creative ways to reveal a surprise to someone.

It might seem tedious to plan a surprise trip, but although everything is sorted out well in advance, everything will be fine. If you’re having fun while doing it and plan well ahead, you’ll be able to lift the pressure and be prepared for any minor hiccups that might come your way (as long as you don’t go to the wrong airport, you’ll be fine)

If you’d like to know more about travelling by plane, check my posts about how to survive a long-haul flight and what to pack with you in your carry-on for a long-haul flight.

My Experience Planning A Surprise Trip

When I did plan a surprise trip for my brother, I told them we would go to Disneyland Paris (they’re not hardcore Disney lovers, so no disappointment for them) and stay overnight when, in fact, we were heading to London -but they only realised that when we reach Gare Du Nord to board the Eurostar (slowpoke).


It was only a two-day trip, so it was easy for me to make something to have them pack up stuff. And I used EurostarSnap to get cheaper tickets (if you’re flexible, it’s your best option!)

Also, follow me on Instagram to check out my travel adventures around Europe and more lifestyle content @cpt_lyne!

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How To Plan A Surprise Trip: 6 Easy Steps To Plan A Surprise Trip

surprisetrip

✈ Best Travel Ressources To Plan Your Next Trip

✈ How To Find Flights?

Skyscanner; it is a good comparator for finding the cheapest flights.
– Google Flight is also a good help when it comes to comparing flights.

✈ Where To Book Accommodations?

Booking.com: plenty of options and ways to get discount the more you book.

✈ Best Sites To Book Activities

GetYourGuide when I can’t get a ticket directly on the website or if it’s easier to go through them.
– Klook if you need to book more than just activities and would like to get everything from the same website or different day trips—(i.e. transport cards, car rental, hotel…).

✈ Other helpful travel resources

Radical Storage: If you need a place to keep your luggage for an extended period when you travel, I recommend using them.
TheTrainline: If you love to travel by train like me, then TheTrainline needs to be your go-to website for train travel in Europe.

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Disclaimer: This resources box contains affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you book anything through my links at no additional cost. These links help me support the blog and generate more content. Happy travels!

Hey there! This post may contain affiliate links. It means I earn a bit of money if you purchase products through me, there is no extra cost to you and it helps me maintain this blog. Read more in my Privacy Policy

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18 Comments

  1. This is such a fun idea! I am such a big fan of gifting experiences instead of things and surprising someone with a trip is the ultimate. It’s so wonderfully perosnal and thoughtful. Great post! Thanks for sharing!

  2. Bright Lights of America says:

    How can I surreptitiously get my other half to see and read this post? 😉
    I love it, you’ve thought of everything!

  3. Lots of great advice here for planning a surprise trip! I can’t decide if I would like a surprise trip planned for me or not. I tend to enjoy trip planning and reading about everything the destination has to offer. I agree that for adults its best to tell them you have a trip planned and just the destination is a surprise.

  4. Dropping hints is definitely the fun part of planning a surprise trip! But yes, tons of details to work out especially with the dates for travel. It’s a lot of work but, if it was all done right, completely worth it in the end.

  5. I would love to get a surprise trip, but probably only from my husband because he knows me well. I like the idea of dropping hints so the person knows how to appropriately pack.

  6. Katherine says:

    This would be the best gift ever! Especially if you got to drop hints before you left so they’d be thinking about where you could possibly be taking them for a while beforehand!

  7. venturingventuras says:

    This is such a fun idea – especially around Valentine’s Day! My husband has “surprised me” with trips before but always spills the beans. Keeping it a secret is actually the hardest part!

  8. MyBackpackerLife says:

    Great post! I’d love to surprise my boyfriend in the future (at the moment we’re full time backpackers so I’m not sure how it would work right now haha!) but yeah, there are definitely a lot of things to be sure of to succeed!

  9. These are such great tips! It actually got me thinking that maybe I should do a surprise trip for my mom’s birthday. I am planner so this would be so easy for me!

  10. I love your tips and think they are great for those who don’t enjoy performing any research and trip planning when going to a new place. I personally love spending time on a research when it comes to travel and think it would be rather challenging for me to accept a gift, knowing everything has been planned for me. But I should use it more often with other people. Surprising someone with a trip is invaluable!

  11. Such a fun idea! I would love to surprise my mom on a trip to Italy!

  12. I love all of your tips! What a fun idea 🙂 I am thinking about doing this with my sister before her wedding!

  13. limitlesssecrets says:

    This is such a fun gift idea! I did that once too! Your tips are very useful!

  14. I love this idea! I tried to do this a decade ago with my husband and I failed miserably because I was way too excited. I think I could do better now 🙂

  15. What great info thanks for helping me plan a future surprise trip!

  16. Fun idea. I have never done this, nor have I ever received a surprise trip. I’m kind of a planner so I’m not sure I would want a total surprise, because I like to prepare for my trips. But I know people that would so love a surprise trip!

  17. Zarina Rimbaud-Kadirbaks says:

    Oh that’s so sweet you planned this special surprise trip! I love planning and travelling so have planned several surprise trips for family members, it’s so much fun! Hope you enjoy more of such lovely trips together 🙂

  18. Hello!! Love it and did exactly that!
    But i am asking myself now what is acceptable to border police when crossing borders with a partner to a surprise multi destination trip without ruining it? Does anybody have tips and tricks on that

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