We have been worldschooling our kid for the last 9 years – here’s what it looks like for our family, how we handle school and how we make it work financially.

Our daughter Kaleya is 11 and has traveled to 60+ countries. She’s walked on glaciers in Patagonia, snorkeled with sea lions in the Galapagos, watched elephants on safari in South Africa and eaten her way through Japan. But she enjoys a childhood just like any other kid – she has good friends at school, spends time with her dog Brownie, and loves to go to the playground down the street.

When I tell people we’re a worldschooling family, they usually picture us on the road nonstop, with a kid doing math worksheets on a beach. Our daily life is much more ordinary, and I think that’s exactly why it works for us. Since Kaleya was born, we’ve been living a slow nomadic lifestyle, setting up homebases in different countries and traveling from there, then changing homebases every few years. Since then, we’ve lived in the Netherlands, Mexico, South Africa and Spain, and we currently live in Tbilisi, Georgia.

In this guide, I’ll explain what worldschooling actually is, the different ways to do it, the education options we’ve tried (and what worked for us), and how we make a living while moving countries every few years.

Our Family’s Worldschooling Guide

What is Worldschooling?

Worldschooling is an approach to education that uses travel and the world around us as a learning tool. Instead of only learning about volcanoes, ancient civilizations or ocean ecosystems from a textbook, worldschooled kids get to see them, touch them and ask questions about them in real life.

The term is often linked to homeschooling and unschooling, but it’s much broader than that. There’s no single “right” way to worldschool. Some families travel full-time and homeschool on the road. Others send their kids to regular school and travel during holidays. And many, like us, fall somewhere in between.

At its heart, worldschooling is a mindset, not a schedule. It’s the belief that the world is the best classroom, and that curiosity, empathy and adaptability are just as important as grades.

There are a lot of misconceptions about worldschooling, so let me clear up a few:

• It doesn’t mean quitting your job. You don’t need to sell your house and become full-time nomads. Plenty of worldschooling families have regular jobs.
• It doesn’t mean skipping education. Kids still need to learn to read, write and do math. Travel adds to their education; it doesn’t replace it.
• It doesn’t mean constant travel. Living out of a suitcase is exhausting, for kids and parents alike.
• It’s not just for rich families. Some of our best learning experiences were cheap or free: a local market, a hike, a museum on a free entry day.

Why Routine Matters

This is the part I wish more people talked about. Kids need routine. They need friends, a regular bedtime, a place that feels like home and time to just be bored.

We learned this early. When Kaleya was little, we noticed she was happiest when we had a base, close friends and a daily rhythm. Both Alberto and I also need a routine to make sure we do our jobs well – he’s a software engineer and I’m a travel writer, and we love our professions.

That’s why we don’t travel nonstop. We build a stable life in each country, with school, friends and activities, travel from there, and change homebases every few years. It gives her the best of both worlds: the security of a routine and the adventure of exploring new places.

What Kids Learn from Worldschooling

The lessons go far beyond geography:

• Languages: Kaleya has grown up hearing English, Spanish, Mandarin, Dutch and now Georgian (we just started classes).
• History and culture: Walking through ancient temples in Kyoto or old churches in Tbilisi makes history real.
• Science and nature: Marine life in the Galapagos, glaciers in Patagonia, wildlife on safari in South Africa.
• Adaptability: Starting a new school, making new friends and figuring out a new supermarket every few years teaches resilience.
• Empathy: Seeing how other people live, and that “normal” looks different everywhere, is the most valuable lesson of all.
• Practical skills: Reading maps, handling different currencies, navigating airports and ordering food in another language.

Our Worldschooling Model: Moving Homebases Every Few Years

There are three common ways families worldschool:

1. Full-time travel: Moving every few days or weeks, usually homeschooling on the road. Exciting, but tiring, and hard for kids who crave stability.
2. Slow travel / homebase hopping: Living in one country for a year or more, settling in properly, then moving on. This is us.
3. Holiday worldschooling: Keeping a permanent home and job, and using school holidays, long weekends and the odd term-time trip to explore.

All three are valid. The best one is the one that fits your family, your work and your kid’s personality.

How It Works for Us

We tend to move countries every few years (sometimes every year), and we choose each new homebase carefully. We look at schools, cost of living, visas, safety, nature, flight connections and, honestly, the food! Once we arrive, we set up a real life: a rented apartment, a school, activities and friends. Then we use that base to explore the region on weekends and school holidays.

We also fly to Singapore every year to see family, a yearly tradition Kaleya always looks forward to.

Worldschooling and Education: The Options

This is the question I get asked most: “But what about school?” The good news is there are more options than ever. Here’s an overview of the main ones, and what we’ve learned from trying several of them.

What Has Worked for Us

We’ve tried a few of these over the years, and each one taught us something.

• A local green school in Mexico: When we lived in Mexico, Kaleya went to a green school, focused on nature, sustainability and hands-on learning. She made great friends, spent loads of time outdoors and absolutely thrived. The teachers were nurturing and loving. It showed us how much she loves learning when it’s practical and connected to the real world.
• Accredited online school: In Cape Town, Kaleya did a term of accredited online school. It gave us a lot of flexibility to travel, and it kept her on track academically. But we also realized she missed having classmates and a daily routine outside the home. 
• An international school in Tbilisi: Now Kaleya is at a British international school in Tbilisi, and we’re really happy with it. Her classmates come from all over the world, the school is well organized and the facilities are great. For a kid who moves every few years, it’s comforting to be surrounded by other kids who understand what that feels like.

Our tips for choosing an education option

• Think about your child, not just your travel plans. Is your kid social? Independent? Do they need structure?
• Plan for continuity. If you move often, a consistent curriculum (like IB or British) makes transitions much easier.
• Check the legal side. Homeschooling rules vary a lot between countries, and some require registration.
• Keep records. Save report cards, certificates and work samples. You’ll need them when switching schools.
• Stay flexible. What works at age 6 may not work at 11. We’ve changed our approach several times, and that’s okay.
• Visit before you commit. We always try to visit schools in person (or at least have a video call) before enrolling.

How We Make Money While Worldschooling

The second question I always get: “How do you afford it?” The short answer: we work. Worldschooling isn’t a permanent vacation. It’s a lifestyle built around location-independent work.

Our Income Streams

I’ve been working remotely since long before the term “digital nomad” was a buzzword. I started travel writing in 2008, that’s a long time ago! Our income has changed a lot over the years, and it’s never come from just one source:

• Remote work: Alberto works as a software engineer for a company in the Netherlands that allows him to work fully remote as long as he keeps his hours.
• Travel writing: I’ve written for publications like Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and BBC Travel, and freelance writing is still part of the mix.
• Book writing: Currently I write guidebooks for Lonely Planet and go on research trips often to do on-the-ground research.
• Blogging: Wild Junket has been running since 2008. Traffic isn’t what it used to be, but it still earns from sponsored articles and partnerships.
• Content creation: These days, I’m focusing more on Instagram, sharing our life as a worldschooling family and working with brands, tourism boards and hotels.

We use a VPN every time we’re on a network we don’t control. If you run a business or work with a team, a business-grade VPN like Proton VPN for Business is worth looking into. It encrypts your connection, has servers in over 140 countries, and offers dedicated IP addresses, which is handy when your bank or client systems flag logins from a new country. Since Proton is based in Switzerland and known for its focus on privacy, it gives me peace of mind when we’re logging into accounts from a new country every few years.

Remote Jobs that Work for Worldschooling Families

If you’re wondering how you could do this, here are some of the most common ways families we’ve met fund their lifestyle:

• Keep your current job. Many companies now allow full remote work. Ask! It’s often the easiest route.
• Freelancing: Writing, design, web development, marketing, translation, virtual assistance.
• Online teaching and tutoring: Languages, music, academic subjects.
• Consulting or coaching in your area of expertise.
• Running an online business: E-commerce, digital products, courses.
• Content creation: Blogging, YouTube, Instagram (but be patient; it takes years to build).
• Renting out your home back in your home country to cover costs.

Choosing a Homebase that Makes Financial Sense

Where you live makes a huge difference to how far your income goes. One of the reasons we chose to live in Tbilisi is the lower cost of living compared to Western Europe. Georgia also has a generous visa policy for many nationalities and an Individual Entrepreneur tax status with a 1% rate on turnover for eligible small businesses (always check your own situation with a tax advisor, as rules depend on your nationality and residency).

Other things we look at: the cost of rent and schools, how easy it is to open a bank account, internet speed and whether there’s an international community.

The Pros and Challenges of Worldschooling

I’d be lying if I said it was all sunsets and safaris. Here’s the honest picture.

The best parts

• Kaleya is curious, confident and adaptable. She doesn’t struggle with new environments and usually has no problems making friends in each new school.
• She sees the world as a friendly place. She has friends from dozens of countries and isn’t afraid of what’s different.
• We spend a lot of quality time together as a family, exploring, learning and laughing.
• Learning is real. History, science and geography make so much more sense when you’ve seen them up close.

The challenges

• Goodbyes are hard. Leaving friends behind every few years is the toughest part, for Kaleya and for us.
• Admin never ends. Visas, school applications, bank accounts, rental contracts, pet paperwork.
• It can be lonely. It takes time to build a community in each new place.
• Gaps in education. Switching curricula can leave gaps, so we keep an eye on core subjects.
• Financial uncertainty. Freelance and creator income goes up and down, so you need savings and a backup plan.

How to Start Worldschooling: Tips for Beginners

1. Start small. Try a month abroad during the summer holidays, or a long trip from home, before committing to a big move.
2. Figure out your income first. Make sure you have reliable remote work before you leave.
3. Decide on education early. Research schools or online programs before choosing your destination.
4. Choose family-friendly homebases. Safety, healthcare, schools, parks and nature matter more with kids.
5. Involve your kids. Let them help choose destinations, plan trips and research what to see. They’ll be more excited and engaged.
6. Keep a routine. Regular bedtimes, school hours and downtime keep everyone sane.
7. Turn everyday life into learning. Grocery shopping in a foreign language, budgeting with a new currency, cooking local recipes together.
8. Connect with other families. Look for worldschooling Facebook groups, local expat communities and international school parent groups.
9. Don’t compare. Every family’s worldschooling looks different. Do what works for yours.

Final Thoughts

When people ask me what worldschooling is, I tell them it’s simply using the world as a classroom. It doesn’t have to mean quitting your job, selling everything or traveling nonstop. For us, it means building a stable, happy life for Kaleya in a new corner of the world every few years, and exploring as much as we can from there.

It’s not always easy, and we’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. But when I watch Kaleya chatting with her classmates from around the world, ordering food in Spanish or asking a hundred questions about a place we’ve just visited, I know it’s worth it.

Now we’re starting a brand new chapter in Georgia, and I can’t wait to see what this one teaches us.

Are you a worldschooling family, or thinking about becoming one? I’d love to hear about your experiences or answer any questions in the comments below!

If you’re thinking about worldschooling or settling abroad with your own family, these are my guides to the places we’ve lived, along with the travel essentials, tools and family logistics that make life abroad easier.

• How We Keep Our Child Safe While Traveling
• Living in Tbilisi
• Moving to Mexico
• Moving to Amsterdam
• Living in Spain
• Living in Cape Town
• How We Find the Right eSIM for Travel
• 20 Best Travel Apps
• Best Travel Insurance
• My Ultimate List of Resources for Digital Nomad Families
• How We Navigate the World as a Digital Nomad Family
• 30 Countries with Digital Nomad Visas

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links i.e. if you book a stay through one of my links, I get a small commission at NO EXTRA COST to you. Thank you for your support!

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Travel writing and blogging got me started, but I’ve also branched out to content creation in recent years. Here’s everything I’ve learned about content creation, from growing an audience to pitching brands.

When I started WildJunket in 2008, a travel blog was the best way to share my adventures. I wrote long posts about crossing Central America on chicken buses and sent pitches to any magazine editor whose email I could find. And it worked. Over the years, I’ve written for Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and BBC Travel, worked as a G Adventures ambassador and was sent on assignment to places I’d only dreamed of, like Antarctica, Svalbard and Mongolia.

But I’ll be honest with you: the world of travel media has changed completely. Google updates and AI have cut blog traffic across the board, mine included. Magazines pay less than they did ten years ago. Meanwhile, brands and tourism boards are putting more and more of their budgets into creators who can tell a story in a 30-second Reel or a 10-slide carousel.

So I’ve had to reinvent myself. In the past year, I’ve built a brand on Instagram and started sharing our experiences traveling the world as a worldschooling family. It’s been humbling to start again on a new platform after 18 years in this industry, but it’s also taught me a lot about what works today and what doesn’t. If you’ve been dreaming of getting paid to travel and create, I’ll share the exact steps I’d take if I were starting from scratch, how to pitch brands, how much to charge and the tools that save me hours every week.

What Does a Travel Content Creator Actually Do?

A travel content creator makes content in the form of photos, videos, scripts and captions, and gets paid for it by brands, tourism boards, hotels, tour operators and sometimes by their audience directly. Unlike a travel blogger, whose work lives mainly on a website and relies on Google, a creator’s work lives mostly on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

In practice, the job is a lot less glamorous than it looks. On a typical press trip, I’m up before sunrise for the best light, filming the same shot five times, then editing on my phone in the back of a van. At home, I spend more time answering emails, writing captions and chasing invoices than I do actually traveling.

The honest reality

• It takes time. It took me two years of blogging before I got my first press trip. On social media today, most creators I know took one to three years of consistent posting before brands started approaching them.
• Free trips don’t pay rent. A hosted stay is nice, but it’s not income. Your goal should be paid work, not just freebies.
• You’re running a business. You’re the photographer, editor, writer, marketer, accountant and salesperson.
• The algorithm changes constantly. What works this month may not work next month, so you need to own your audience where you can (more on that below).

If that doesn’t scare you off, good. You have what it takes. The creators who succeed aren’t the ones with the best cameras; they’re the ones who don’t quit.

How to Become a Travel Content Creator: Step by Step

1. Know your purpose

Before you post anything, ask yourself: why do you want to do this? Is it to travel more, to make a full-time living, or to build a side income? There’s no wrong answer, but it will shape every decision you make. If you want this to be a business, treat it like one from day one.

2. Find your niche

Travel is not a niche. Your niche sits where three things overlap: what you know, what you love, and what an audience is looking for. A few examples:

• Budget backpacking
• Luxury travel for couples over 50
• Solo female hiking
• Van life 
• Family travel or worldschooling (that’s me!)

When I pivoted to Instagram, I realized my audience didn’t want another “top 10 things to do in Tbilisi” post. They wanted to see what it’s like to actually move a family to a new country: finding a school, figuring out the supermarket, the stressful bits. That’s what makes my content different, and it’s something no one else can copy.

3. Choose one main platform to start

Don’t try to be everywhere at once. You’ll burn out. Pick one platform, get good at it, then expand.

Whatever you choose, start an email list early. Platforms come and go. I learned this the hard way when my blog traffic dropped. Your email list is the one audience no algorithm can take away from you.

4. Learn photography and video

You don’t need expensive gear to start. The latest iPhone or a good Android phone will do the job for most social content. What matters more is learning the basics:

• Light: Shoot during golden hour (just after sunrise and before sunset).
• Composition: Use the rule of thirds, leading lines and a person in the frame for scale.
• Stable footage: Get a small gimbal or at least a phone tripod.
• Audio: A clip-on wireless mic makes a huge difference for talking-to-camera videos.
• Editing: Apps like CapCut, VN and Lightroom Mobile are free or cheap and more than enough.

Once you’re earning, upgrade to a mirrorless camera and a drone (check the local drone laws first; they vary a lot by country).

5. Create content that serves your audience

The best-performing content does one of three things: it inspires, it informs or it entertains. Ideally, all three.

Some formats that work well for travel creators right now:

• Carousels with practical info people save (“What $50 a day gets you in Georgia”)
• Honest, relatable stories 
• Short Reels with a strong hook in the first 2 seconds
• Mini guides and itineraries
• “Things I wish I knew” posts

Write captions like you’d talk to a friend. Share the mistakes, not just the highlight reel. People connect with real people.

6. Post consistently and build community

Consistency beats perfection. Aim for a schedule you can realistically keep, for example three to four feed posts a week plus daily Stories.

But posting isn’t enough. Engage with your audience. Reply to every comment and DM in the early days. Comment on other creators’ posts in your niche. Collaborate with creators of a similar size. The algorithm rewards conversations, not just content.

7. Track what’s working

Check your analytics every week. Look at saves, shares and reach, not just likes. Figure out which posts brought in new followers and make more of those. This data is also exactly what brands will ask for later.

How to Work With Brands

You don’t need 100,000 followers to work with brands. Plenty of small hotels, local tour operators and outdoor brands love working with micro-creators (roughly 5,000 to 50,000 followers) because their audiences tend to be more engaged. What you do need is a clear niche, good content and a professional way to present yourself.

1. Create a media kit

A media kit is your creator CV. It’s the first thing a brand or PR agency will ask for, and it should include:

• A short bio and photo, plus what makes your content unique
• Your platforms, follower counts and links
• Key stats: average reach, engagement rate, Story views
• Audience demographics: top countries, age range, gender split
• Past brand partnerships, with results if you have them
• Your services and rates (or “rates on request”)
• Contact details

Back in my blogging days, I had to hire designers to help me create a media kit as a PDF and had to update it by hand every few months. By the time I sent it, the numbers were already out of date. These days, you can easily use online tools to create media kit pages that pull in your stats automatically. Creators Jet connects to your Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and other accounts, keeps your numbers synced, and gives you one link to share that’s always up to date. You can also add your rate card and an inquiry form so brands can contact you directly. Here are some media kit examples.

2. Find the right brands to pitch

Start with brands you already use and love. Your pitch will be much more genuine. Good places to look:

• Tourism boards for destinations you’re already visiting
• Hotels and boutique stays, especially new openings that need content
• Tour operators and adventure travel companies
• Travel gear brands: luggage, outdoor clothing, cameras, eSIMs, travel insurance
• Brands your peers work with: check who’s sponsoring creators in your niche

Follow them, engage with their posts and tag them in your content before you pitch. A warm pitch always does better than a cold one.

3. Pitching to brands: step by step

• Find the right person. Look for a marketing, PR, partnerships or influencer manager on LinkedIn or the brand’s press page. Avoid generic info@ emails if you can.
• Research the brand. What campaigns are they running? Which markets are they targeting? Do they already work with creators?
• Lead with an idea, not a request. Brands don’t care that you want a free stay. They care about what you can do for them.
• Keep it short. Five to eight sentences is plenty. Editors and marketers are busy.
• Show proof. Link to your media kit and two or three of your best-performing posts.
• Suggest specific deliverables. For example: one Reel, one carousel and a set of Stories, plus usage rights for 30 days.
• Follow up once. If you don’t hear back in a week, send a short, polite follow-up. Then move on.

4. A pitch template you can copy

Subject: Content collaboration idea: [Your niche] x [Brand name]

Hi [Name],

I’m [Your name], a travel creator sharing [your niche] with [number] followers, mostly from [top countries]. I’ve been a fan of [brand] since [genuine detail].

I’ll be in [destination] from [dates] and would love to create a [Reel/carousel/series] showing [specific idea that fits their campaign or audience]. My audience is especially interested in [relevant topic], which aligns with [their product or goal].

My recent posts on [similar topic] reached [number] people and got [number] saves. You can see my media kit and past work here: [link].

Would you be open to a quick chat about working together?

Thanks, [Your name]

Common pitching mistakes to avoid

• Copying and pasting the same email to 50 brands
• Asking for “collaboration” without saying what you’ll deliver
• Sending huge attachments instead of a link
• Getting the brand’s name wrong (it happens more often than you’d think!)
• Pitching a destination brand with content that has nothing to do with it

How Much Should You Charge?

This is the question I get asked most, and there’s no single answer. Rates depend on your niche, engagement, audience location, the deliverables and usage rights. A rough rule of thumb many creators start with is about $10 per 1,000 followers for a single Instagram post, then adjust up for strong engagement, video, and extra usage rights.

Currently I have just under 35k followers on Instagram, and I charge around US$400 for a single Instagram post and $500 for a bundle of post and IG stories.

A few things I’ve learned about pricing:

• Charge for your time, not just your followers. A three-day trip with a Reel, carousel and Stories involves days of shooting and editing.
• Usage rights cost extra. If a brand wants to run your content as ads or use it on their website, that’s worth more.
• Bundle your services. Packages (e.g. 1 Reel + 1 carousel + 5 Stories) are easier for brands to say yes to.
• Hosted trips are not payment. Accommodation and flights cover your costs. Your content is a separate fee.
• Don’t be afraid to negotiate. If a brand’s budget is too low, suggest fewer deliverables rather than dropping your rate.

Always get it in writing

Before you start, make sure you have a simple contract or at least a clear email agreement covering deliverables, deadlines, payment amount and terms, usage rights, exclusivity and approval rounds. Ask for 50% upfront for new clients. And always label sponsored content clearly with #ad or the platform’s paid partnership tag. It’s the law in many countries, and your audience will trust you more for it.

Some of the Ways Travel Content Creators Make Money

Brand deals are just one income stream. Relying on one source is risky, so I always recommend diversifying:

• Sponsored content on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube
• Paid campaigns with tourism boards
• Affiliate marketing: booking sites, tours, gear, travel insurance, eSIMs
• UGC (user-generated content): creating content for brands to post on their own channels, no big following needed
• Selling photos and video to brands and stock sites
• Freelance writing for magazines and websites
• Blog income: ads, sponsored posts and links
• Digital products: presets, itineraries, e-books, guides
• Group trips or retreats with your community
• Consulting or coaching for new creators

Tools That Make My Life Easier

• Canva for carousels, Story templates and thumbnails
• CapCut for editing on the go
• Later or Meta Business Suite for scheduling posts
• Notion to plan content and track deals
• Creators Jet for my media kit, rate card and tracking brand inquiries in one place
• Google Drive for sending high-res files to clients

Set Goals and Work Towards Them

Becoming a travel content creator is a marathon, not a sprint. Set goals every quarter, for example reaching 10,000 followers, landing your first paid campaign or building an email list of 1,000 subscribers, and break them down into weekly actions.

When I look back to 2008, backpacking overland through Latin America and writing my first blog posts in hostel common rooms, I had no idea where this would take me. The platforms have changed, and they’ll keep changing. But at the end of the day, the key to becoming a travel content creator is the same as it always was: tell honest stories, create beautiful content and show up consistently. The rest will follow.

Any questions for me on how to become a travel content creator? Feel free to leave a comment below!

While you’re building your creator business, these are the guides I’ve written on the travel essentials, tools and family logistics that make life on the road easier.

• How We Find the Right eSIM for Travel
• 20 Best Travel Apps
• Best Travel Insurance
• How We Keep Our Child Safe While Traveling
• My Ultimate List of Resources for Digital Nomad Families
• How We Navigate the World as a Digital Nomad Family
• 30 Countries with Digital Nomad Visas
• What is Worldschooling

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links i.e. if you book a stay through one of my links, I get a small commission at NO EXTRA COST to you. Thank you for your support!

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Living just across the border in Spain for 7 years, we’ve driven in Portugal many times. Here’s everything we know about renting a car in Portugal. 

Portugal is a country that opens up completely when you have a set of wheels. It’s small enough to cross in a day, yet packed with the kind of places no train will ever drop you at — surf beaches down dirt tracks, terraced vineyards above the Douro, medieval villages perched on hilltops with barely a bus a day. So much of what makes Portugal worth visiting sits between the cities.

We’ve done many road trips in Portugal, usually crossing over from Spain, where my husband is from. That westward drive has taken us from the Alentejo’s endless cork oaks down to the Algarve’s coastline, and up north for the switchbacks along the Douro Valley. It’s not always effortless: the electronic toll system is quite pricey, Lisbon’s cobbled hills demand a lot from a clutch, and squeezing a rental down a village lane built for donkey carts can be nerve-wrecking. 

I’ve compiled this guide to share everything we’ve learned about renting a car in Portugal and driving here — tolls, insurance, road rules, and the mistakes worth skipping. Whether you’re planning a few days in Lisbon or a slow loop around the whole country, you’ll head off knowing exactly what you’re in for.

Renting a Car in Portugal

1. Should You Rent a Car in Portugal?

Yes, renting a car in Portugal is worth considering, and if you plan to get out of the cities,  it becomes less of a choice and more of a practical necessity. A car is the easiest way to add real value to time in Portugal, and the cost rarely justifies talking yourself out of it. Basic rentals often run under €50 a week outside peak summer, cheap enough that budget isn’t really the deciding factor.

What matters more is what you want to see. Trains and buses cover the big cities well, but that coverage thins out fast the moment you head into the Alentejo, the Douro Valley, or the coastal towns west of Lagos. Beyond that point, a car is simply what gets you there.We stayed at Craveiral Farmhouse in the Alentejo on one trip, tucked away with no bus route anywhere near it, and that’s exactly the point. 

Road quality makes the decision easier too. Motorways connecting Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve are smooth and clearly signed, and even smaller roads through the Alentejo or near Peneda-Gerês are manageable without much stress. We’ve never found ourselves white-knuckling it the way you sometimes do on mountain roads elsewhere.

If you’re planning a trip around Portugal, check out my Portugal road trip itinerary for ideas and inspiration.

When You Don’t Need to Rent a Car in Portugal

If your trip is mostly Lisbon, Porto, and Faro, skip the rental. The Alfa Pendular train connects all three quickly, and none of these cities benefit from driving, old town centers predate cars, so parking is tight and often more stress than it’s worth. Buses like Rede Expressos and Vamus Algarve fill in the remaining gaps affordably.

A single city trip is another easy case. If Porto is your only stop, foot, metro, and tram are plenty for a typical 3-day visit. The historic center is compact enough to walk between major sights, and even a day trip to Vila Nova de Gaia for port wine tasting is just a walk across the bridge. Save the rental for when you’re actually leaving the city behind.

Following an itinerary like the one in my Portugal with kids guide (Faro, Olhão, Lagos, Lisbon, Porto)? Rent a car for the Algarve and Alentejo legs, but hop the Alfa Pendular between Lisbon and Porto instead, freedom where you need it, no parking headaches where you don’t.

2. Renting a Car in Portugal: Step-by-Step

• Sort your licence out first. EU licences will suffice. Coming from the US or another non-EU country? You’re fine too, as long as your visit stays under 185 days, though if your licence isn’t printed in Latin script, pack an International Driving Permit alongside it. Nobody may ask to see it, but the law says you need one regardless.
• Compare before you commit. We always run our dates through DiscoverCars first. Seeing fuel policy, deposit size, and insurance tiers laid out side by side makes a bad deal obvious long before you’ve handed over a single euro.
• Bring the right documents to the counter. a physical driver’s licence, your passport, and a credit card in the main driver’s name, that’s the bare minimum most counters expect. Some places will take a debit card, but expect a bigger hold and stricter terms.
• Ask about the Via Verde transponder the moment you arrive. Nearly every car in Portugal comes fitted with one now for electronic tolls, so find out how those charges get billed back to you.
• Circle the car before you go anywhere. Photograph every existing scratch, dent, or scuff, and note where the fuel gauge sits.
• Read the fine print on mileage and fuel before you sign. Check the mileage and fuel terms before you sign — you want unlimited mileage and full-to-full fuel.

Search for car rentals in Portugal here!

Car Rental Companies in Portugal

All the big international names show up here, Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Sixt, Enterprise, and their rates run higher than local alternatives, especially once summer hits. Guerin is worth knowing too, Portugal’s own homegrown brand, sitting comfortably between the majors and the budget operators.

Then there’s the budget tier: Goldcar, Record Go, Drivalia, OK Mobility, all offering lower base rates that sound great until you’re at the counter getting upsold on everything they can think of. Running your options through DiscoverCars first lets you line up fuel policy, deposits, and insurance side by side, making those upsell traps easier to spot before you’ve committed any money.

How Much Does It Cost to Rent a Car in Portugal?

The cost of renting a car in Portugal swings more by season than most people expect. Book early and travel off-season, and an economy car can run as low as €10–25 a day. Wait until July or August, and that same car can climb past €50, depending heavily on the airport and how far out you booked. If there’s one lesson here, it’s book early.

Deposits shift by company and car class too. Europcar, for example, holds around €300 for a standard car, jumping to as much as €3,000 for premium or luxury categories unless you add extra protection. Faro tends to be the cheapest of the three main airports, thanks to competition among Algarve suppliers, so if your dates are flexible, book through there.

Hidden Costs and Extra Charges

Young driver fees catch anyone under 25 off guard, usually €6–20 a day depending on the company. One-way rentals are another one to watch, pick up in Faro and drop off in Lisbon, and you could see €50–150 extra tacked on. Check this before you book, not after.

Insurance upsells are where the “cheap advertised rate” falls apart. That friendly €5-a-day headline has a way of creeping toward €40–60 once everything’s added on, and it’s easy to feel pressured into saying yes at the counter with a line behind you. Even your Via Verde toll device isn’t free, it carries its own small daily fee, and unpaid tolls billed after the fact tend to come with a handling charge too.

Best Time to Book a Rental Car in Portugal

Demand hits hardest in July and August, plus around Easter, when rates can run double what you’d pay heading into winter. A few weeks’ notice is plenty outside those windows, but push it out to a month or two if you’re traveling peak summer or need an automatic.

Waiting until the last minute during high season is the costliest mistake you can make. Automatics and larger vehicles go first, and prices only climb the closer you get to your travel dates. If your trip mixes city stays and rural driving, here’s what we do: rent only for the road trip stretch and skip the car on city days. Parking in Lisbon or Porto adds up fast enough that it’s rarely worth paying for a car you’re not using.

Wherever your travels take you, find affordable rental cars in Portugal. Compare the latest prices, reserve your ideal vehicle, and begin planning your perfect getaway today:

• Car rental in Lisbon
• Car rental in Porto
• Car rental in Madeira
• Car rental in Faro
• Car rental in Funchal
• Car rental in Albufeira
• Car rental in Portimao
• Car rental in Coimbra
• Car rental in Cascais
• Car rental in Aveiro
• Car rental in Braga

3. Car Rental Requirements and Documentation in Portugal

More visitors trip up over paperwork than anything else about renting here, and most of it is avoidable once you know what to expect. Here’s what actually matters before you’re standing at the counter.

Required Documents

If you’re coming from the EU, your licence works as is, no extra steps. Visitors from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia are covered too, driving on their home licence for up to 185 days under Portugal’s rules for tourists.

Most companies want a credit card in the main driver’s name to cover the deposit. Debit cards work with some providers, but expect a bigger hold and stricter terms than with a credit card.

One thing that’s easy to miss: if your licence isn’t printed in Latin script, Portuguese law requires an International Driving Permit alongside it. That’s not a preference, it’s the law, no matter who you book with.

Legal Driving Requirements

Seatbelts are non-negotiable here, everyone buckled in, front or back, no exceptions the police will accept. Kids under 12 and shorter than 135 cm need an approved restraint too, and skipping it isn’t a small risk, fines run €120–600 per child.

Blood alcohol limits sit at 0.05%, lower than a lot of visitors expect, worth remembering if a Douro Valley wine stop is on your itinerary. Newer drivers (licence held less than three years) or professional drivers face a stricter limit: 0.02%.

The law also requires a reflective vest and warning triangle in the car at all times, for breakdowns. Rental companies almost always include both as standard, but we still check the trunk at pickup just to be sure.

Do Americans Need an International Driving Permit in Portugal?

Americans can legally drive in Portugal with just a valid U.S. driver’s license for stays up to 185 days. Portuguese law recognizes U.S. licenses outright, so an International Driving Permit isn’t a strict legal requirement on paper.

In practice, though, I wouldn’t show up without one. Most rental counters ask to see it anyway, and if you get pulled over, having your license details already translated into Portuguese makes the interaction go smoother. Planning to cross into Spain? Then the IDP stops being optional, Spain won’t accept a U.S. license on its own.

Getting one takes almost no effort. AAA or AATA will issue it for about €18, good for a year, one of the cheapest ways to avoid a headache at the rental counter, or worse, at a border you weren’t expecting to need paperwork for. Overall, renting a car in Portugal as an American is straightforward as long as you carry both documents together.

Minimum Age & Payment Requirements

Portugal’s legal driving age is 18, but rental companies set their own bar higher, usually 21, sometimes 25 for pricier vehicle categories. Drivers under 25 should expect a young driver surcharge, typically €6–20 per day.

Deposits scale with the car. Standard vehicles sit around €300, held on a credit card in the main driver’s name. Premium or luxury categories can run as high as €3,000, though extra damage protection often brings that closer to €1,000.

A few companies also require your licence to have been held for a minimum of one year, occasionally two. Without a credit card meeting these terms, most Portuguese rental desks won’t complete the booking.

4. Car Rental Tips for Driving in Portugal 

Picking up car hire in Portugal a handful of times now, across different airports and companies, has taught us a few habits that stuck. None of them are complicated, but they’re the difference between a smooth pickup and a frustrating one.

Choosing the Best Pick-Up and Drop-Off Locations in Portugal 

Airports cost more than city center offices, but there’s a reason we almost always still choose them: more companies competing for your business means more cars to pick from, and once you compare rates side by side, that surcharge tends to shrink fast.

If your trip spans more than one region, say Faro to Lisbon, chase down the one-way fee before you book, not after. We’ve seen these fees vary wildly between providers, enough to double what looked like a bargain rental at first glance.

Driving Across the Spain-Portugal Border

Crossing into Spain feels almost anticlimactic: no checkpoint, no border stop, just a line on the map you’d miss if you blinked. But your rental contract needs to say you’re allowed to make that crossing, spelled out clearly, before you leave the lot. Skip that step and your insurance can become worthless the moment something goes wrong on the other side.

Call ahead. Get the cross-border permission written into the contract itself, not just a nod from the counter. Some companies charge a small fee for it, some don’t, and a few will ask for a separate insurance certificate. Confirm this from home, not from a gas station near the border.

Do a Car Walk-Around Before You Drive Off

Walk the whole car before you leave the lot, every time, no matter how long the line is. Photograph every scratch, dent, or scuff, along with the fuel gauge, and get the agent to acknowledge it with you before you drive off.

It takes five minutes, and it’s the easiest way to protect yourself later. Anything not noted on the paperwork at pickup has a way of becoming your responsibility at return.

Returning Your Rental Car With a Full Tank in Portugal 

Full to full is the standard fuel arrangement, pick the car up with a full tank, hand it back the same way. Skip this and the company fills it for you, at a price per liter that’s rarely in your favor.

Time your last drive so a gas station sits on the way to drop-off, not after. Most airport return points have one within a couple of minutes, so there’s little excuse for arriving short and paying the difference.

Avoiding Extra Charges and Mileage Limits

Most surprise fees trace back to the contract, not the car. Young driver surcharges, one-way costs, and insurance add-ons all show up in writing beforehand if you read the terms before signing.

Late returns are another common trap. Many companies bill a full extra day for being even an hour late, so build in a buffer, especially with a flight waiting on the other end. Unlimited mileage comes standard with most rentals here, but it’s not universal, particularly among smaller local operators working tighter margins than the big chains.

A short city trip rarely needs to worry about mileage caps. But a loop through the Alentejo and up toward the Douro Valley can rack up real distance fast, and that’s when a limit starts costing money. If you’d rather skip the Douro driving altogether, a Six Bridges Cruise from Porto covers the same scenery without touching your mileage.

5. Car Options and Rental Insurance in Portugal

Choosing the car and sorting the insurance always feels like paperwork until you’re behind the wheel. The car decides how easily you handle Lisbon’s steep, narrow streets or a long stretch through the Alentejo, while the insurance decides how relaxed you feel when something unexpected happens.

Manual vs. Automatic Cars in Portugal 

Manual is still the default here, and automatics come at a real premium while selling out fast, especially through summer. If a stick shift doesn’t bother you, sticking with manual gets you more choice and a better price overall.

If you need an automatic, book well ahead rather than assuming one will be waiting. Smaller local operators often carry only a handful, and once summer demand kicks in, those go first, leaving manual as the only option left.

Best Type of Car to Rent in Portugal

Lisbon and Porto both have old quarters built centuries before cars existed, Alfama and Ribeira especially, where a small car is the only sensible option. Anything larger and you’ll spend your first day white-knuckling through alleys built for horse carts.

Sintra is a funny exception, close enough to Lisbon that you’d assume you don’t need a car, but you do. Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira both sit outside the town center, and parking near either fills up fast if you’re not there early.

Head into the Algarve, the Alentejo, or up through the Douro Valley, though, and priorities flip. More size and engine power make the longer distances and hillier terrain far more comfortable, and the extra trunk space is a relief once you’re hauling luggage for a full road trip.

An electric rental is worth a look too. On our last Portugal road trip, we rented a Tesla mostly out of curiosity, quiet, comfortable, and easier to drive than we expected. With no fixed route to stick to, we ended up circling back through the Douro more than once and landing in towns we’d never planned to see.

Charging is still thinner on the ground in rural areas, though the network is catching up fast. In practice, that means an EV works well for a route between Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve, while remote Alentejo is easier to cover with petrol or diesel.

Car Rental Insurance Coverage in Portugal

Basic liability comes included by law on every rental, but don’t let that give you a false sense of security. The CDW that comes standard still leaves a real gap, the excess you’re on the hook for can run into the thousands of euros, shifting a lot from one company to the next.

Standard coverage almost never touches glass, tires, or undercarriage damage, easy to forget until you’ve hit a pothole in the Alentejo. Buying an excess waiver ahead of time is almost always cheaper than whatever gets pushed on you at the counter, though check your own credit card first, coverage varies card to card, and some exclude Portugal entirely. 

Separate from that, we never travel without SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance, it covers the trip itself, medical emergencies, delays, things a rental policy was never designed to touch. It won’t replace your excess waiver, but it’s the layer we always want underneath everything else. Check out my guide to the best travel insurance to find the coverage that best suits your needs.

Winter Driving and Snow Tires in Portugal 

Snow is rare here, limited almost entirely to Serra da Estrela, the country’s highest mountain range. When conditions do call for it, signage makes snow chains legally mandatory on certain routes, and police actually enforce it, real fines included if you’re caught without them.

Standard rental cars won’t come with chains as default equipment, so don’t assume they’re in the trunk. If Serra da Estrela is part of your winter plans, ask your rental company about chains well in advance, or plan to pick up a set locally in a town like Covilhã before heading up into the mountains.

6. Driving in Portugal

Once you’re actually behind the wheel, a handful of practical details make the difference between a relaxed drive and a frustrating one. Here’s what’s worth knowing about speed limits, tolls, emissions zones, fuel, parking, and what to do if something goes wrong.

Speed Limits

Speed limits in Portugal follow a simple pattern: 50 km/h in towns, 90 km/h on rural roads, 100 km/h on major undivided highways, and 120 km/h on motorways. City centers increasingly layer 30 km/h zones on top of the standard 50, so watch for those signs specifically.

Speed cameras are everywhere, fixed and mobile both, and the fines scale sharply with how far over you’re going, anywhere from around €60 for a small excess to €2,500 for serious violations. The signed limit always overrides the general default, so it really does pay to watch the actual signage rather than assume.

Toll Roads in Portugal – How They Work and How to Pay

Most motorways here charge tolls, and Portugal splits into two systems. Traditional booths on roads like the A1 and A2 take cash or card the old-fashioned way, while other stretches run fully electronic, cameras and gantries only, no barrier, no stopping, easy to drive straight through without realizing you owe anything.

Worth knowing: several former SCUT motorways, including the A22 across the Algarve, A23, A24, and A28’s Esposende to Antas section, are now permanently free by law. The A25 followed not long after and is fully free too.

Those roads still run the same gantry system, just charging zero instead of a toll. The A1 and A2, though, are still fully tolled, Lisbon to Porto runs around €20–25, Lisbon to the Algarve around €21–23. We’ve paid €20–23 on that stretch ourselves, depending on the exact route, so budget toward the higher end to be safe.

For anything still tolled, a Via Verde transponder is by far the easiest way through, and most rental cars now come fitted with one. Without it, EASYToll registration at airports or border crossings has you covered, or you can settle up at a post office within five days, just don’t let it slip past that window.

Low Emission Zones (ZER) in Portugal

Lisbon runs the country’s only reduced emission zone, called a ZER, covering Avenida da Liberdade, Baixa, and the historic center. It’s split into two areas with different rules, both enforced weekdays from 7am to 9pm, easy to miss if you’re not watching the signage.

The inner zone wants Euro 3 petrol (post-2000) or Euro 4 diesel (post-2006). The outer zone is a bit more forgiving, accepting Euro 2 petrol (post-1996) and Euro 3 diesel (post-2000). Rental cars almost always clear both without issue, one less thing to worry about. I’d still recommend reading up on Portugal’s low emission zones before you set off, just so you know exactly what to expect.

This is simpler than what you’ll run into across the border. Spain requires every city over 50,000 people to run its own zone, with a windscreen sticker system that doesn’t always extend cleanly to foreign or rental cars. If Spain’s part of your trip too, our guide to renting a car in Spain covers how those zones work.

Fuel Types and Gas Prices in Portugal

Petrol is sold as gasolina, usually 95 octane, and diesel as gasóleo. Most rental cars run on one or the other, so check your paperwork rather than guessing from pump colors, they’re not standardized here the way you might expect, and getting it wrong is an expensive mistake.

Prices tend to hover around €1.95–2.05 per liter for petrol 95 and €1.90–2.10 for diesel, shifting week to week along with the wider fuel market. Portugal runs a bit higher than the EU average, and noticeably higher than Spain just across the border.

If your route takes you anywhere near Spain, fill up there first, it saves real money. The gap often runs €0.20–0.40 cheaper per liter on the Spanish side, and that adds up fast over a full tank. Before you fill up, check the latest prices on the official fuel price websites for Portugal and Spain.

Parking Tips for Portugal

Lisbon runs its street parking through EMEL, split into color-coded zones, green, yellow, red, and a pricier brown tier for the most congested spots. Green runs cheapest at around €0.80 an hour, climbing to roughly €1.60 in red zones near the big attractions.

Meters work fine, but apps like ePark and Telpark are easier, letting you start or extend a session without walking back to the car. Porto and other cities run their own version of this system, so don’t assume Lisbon’s rules travel with you.

Underground garages are our go-to in busy centers. They cost more, but not thinking about a ticking clock is worth the extra euro during peak season in Lisbon or Porto.

What to Do After a Car Accident in Portugal

Accidents happen, and staying level-headed matters more than anything else you do next. Turn on your hazards, set the warning triangle out behind the car, and call 112 if anyone’s hurt or the other driver starts making things difficult. Portuguese law requires you to stay at the scene until police arrive whenever there’s an injury involved.

If nobody’s hurt and things are calm, exchange details with the other driver and fill out the Declaração Amigável together, it’s the standard accident form used across Europe. Take photos of everything first, the damage, where the cars ended up, the wider scene, before anything gets moved or cleared away. Then call your rental company sooner rather than later, ideally the same day, not once you’re back at the hotel unwinding.

7. Road Safety in Portugal

Staying safe on Portugal’s roads is about more than driving carefully. It’s also about the small habits, where you park, what you leave visible, how you handle mountain roads, that make the difference between an easy trip and an unlucky one.

Protecting Your Rental Car From Theft in Portugal

Rental cars tend to stick out more than they should, company stickers or branding give them away instantly, and thieves know exactly what they’re looking for. We’re most careful around beaches, viewpoints, and busy attraction parking in places like the Algarve, Sintra, and Cascais, and by now we never leave anything visible on the seats or in the trunk, not even for a second.

Honestly, it’s just become second nature at this point. We look for well-lit, busier spots whenever we can, and we lock up every single time, even for a two-minute stop.

Driving on Portugal’s Highways and Mountain Roads

Motorways here are modern and about as easy as driving gets, wide lanes, clear signage, no real surprises to worry about. Rural roads tell a different story though, especially through the Douro Valley or Peneda-Gerês, where the pavement narrows fast and the curves arrive without much warning. Peneda-Gerês especially, don’t be shocked if you round a bend and find cattle just wandering across the road like they own it, because out there, they kind of do.

Winter brings its own layer to think about, mainly around Serra da Estrela, Portugal’s one real high-altitude stretch. Fog rolls in fast up there, and roads can ice over even when it doesn’t look that way from inside the car, so we always check conditions before heading up rather than just assuming it’ll be fine.

Child Car Seat Laws in Portugal

Kids under 12 and shorter than 135 cm need an approved restraint in the back seat, full stop, no exceptions worth risking. And here’s the part that catches people off guard: it’s the driver held responsible if a child isn’t properly seated, not the parent. Fines run from €120 to €600 per child.

If you’re visiting Portugal with kids, sort the seat out before you land, it makes pickup so much smoother than dealing with it at the counter. Most rental companies rent them for around €6 to €10 a day, though quality and availability can be hit or miss once peak season kicks in. Bringing your own from home is an option too, just double-check it meets EU standards first, plenty of North American seats aren’t approved here.

Family travel always goes easier when you feel a step ahead of it. For more on how we approach this with our own daughter, I’ve written a full guide on how we keep our child safe while traveling.

Planning to Rent a Car in Portugal?

Renting a car in Portugal has led to some of our favorite travel memories, the kind you stumble into rather than plan for. We found Costa Nova’s stripe houses purely by chance on a drive up to Porto, wandering between the candy striped facades with our daughter before we even knew the town had a name. 

Walking the old city walls in Óbidos turned into one of the most memorable stretches of an entire trip too, though we kept a tight grip on her hand the whole way since one side has no railing at all.

Before you book, compare a few options through DiscoverCars so you know exactly what you’re getting on price, insurance, and conditions. It only takes a few minutes, and it means you get to spend the rest of your trip doing what matters most, following the road wherever it leads.

Search for car rental in Portugal here!

Further Reading on Portugal 

Thank you for reading this far! I hope Portugal treats you to an unforgettable road trip.

Where’s your route taking you, and what made you decide to rent a car in Portugal for this one? Drop it in the comments below, I genuinely enjoy hearing about people’s plans and I’m always happy to help if questions come up along the way.

I’ve done a full Portugal road trip myself, and after seven years living just across the border in Spain, I’ve put together plenty of other guides on both countries. So if your plans stretch beyond this trip, check them out to help you plan:

• My 7-Day Portugal Road Trip
• Weekend in Porto
• My Portugal Family Travel Guide
• Renting a Car in Spain
• Living in Spain
• 2-Week Spain Road Trip
• Spain with Kids
• 20 Things to Do in Málaga
• Weekend in Madrid
• Las Alpujarras Travel Guide
• My Packing List for the Camino de Santiago
• Things to Do in Mallorca
• 10 Best Things to Do in Granada
• Best Wine & Tapas in Barcelona
• Weekend in Malaga
• How to Walk the Camino de Santiago
• Highlights of the Spanish Pyrenees
• Caminito del Rey
• Is Granada the Best Place to Live in Spain

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links i.e. if you book a stay through one of my links, I get a small commission at NO EXTRA COST to you. Thank you for your support!

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From swimming with sea turtles to mingling with wild lemurs, here’s my ultimate Nosy Be travel guide: the best things to do, island day trips, where to stay and practical tips.

After a week of dusty roads, dramatic sunsets backdropped by baobab trees and climbling stone forests in Western Madagascar, we landed in Nosy Be and it felt like we’d arrived in a different country. The inviting waters of the Indian Ocean, ylang-ylang fields perfuming the air, and tuktuks buzzing along palm-lined roads all reminded me more of Southeast Asia than Africa.

Nosy Be (pronounced noo-see bay, meaning “Big Island” in Malagasy) is Madagascar’s most popular beach destination, but make no mistake, it’s not the crowded tourist magnet you’d imagine. It has retained an authentic feel and is the gateway to an archipelago of wild, pristine islands – you can swim with giant sea turtles off Nosy Sakatia, spot black lemurs on Nosy Komba, and walk across the sandbar of Nosy Iranja, my absolute favorite island in all of Madagascar.

We spent a week exploring Nosy Be and its neighbors as a family and had a blast! The island itself is wonderful to explore, but there are so many tiny castaway islands surrounding it that you can easily spend a week or more here and not run out of things to do. We didn’t hire a guide or driver – it’s one of the easiest places to travel independently in Madagascar, and I’ve put everything we learned into this guide.

My Nosy Be Travel Guide

Why Visit Nosy Be

If Western Madagascar is the raw, rugged adventure, Nosy Be is where Madagascar shows its softer, tropical side. But it’s not a polished resort island. Leave your hotel and you’ll still find zebu carts on the road, villages without electricity and a pace of life that runs on mora mora (slowly, slowly). Wild lemurs still live in the jungles dotted around the island, and villagers live off their rice paddies and banana plantations.

For travelers, there’s plenty to do on and near Nosy Be. In a single week, you can snorkel with sea turtles, meet black lemurs in the forest, wander through ylang-ylang plantations, visit local markets and watch the sunset over crater lakes. It’s also a great finale to a Madagascar trip. After the long drives on the mainland, it’s the perfect place to slow down.

Where is Nosy Be?

Nosy Be is an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar, in the Mozambique Channel. It’s about 8km off the mainland and roughly 22km across. The island’s main town is Hell-Ville (officially Andoany), named after a French admiral, Admiral de Hell, not the weather!

Nosy Be is surrounded by smaller islands collectively known as the Nosy Be archipelago: Nosy Komba, Nosy Tanikely, Nosy Sakatia, Nosy Iranja, the Mitsio archipelago and more.

Quick facts about Nosy Be:

• Nickname: The Scented Isle (l’Île aux Parfums), thanks to its ylang-ylang, vanilla and pepper plantations
• Main town: Hell-Ville (Andoany)
• Main beach areas: Ambatoloaka, Madirokely, Ambondrona and Andilana
• Currency: Malagasy Ariary (MGA)
• Languages: Malagasy and French. English is spoken at most tourist hotels
• Airport: Fascene International Airport (NOS)

How to Get to Nosy Be

By Air

Most visitors fly into Fascene International Airport (NOS), around 20 minutes’ drive from Hell-Ville. It’s one of the few airports in Madagascar with direct international flights, so you don’t have to go through Antananarivo.

International flights to Nosy Be:

• Airlink: Johannesburg, the easiest option from Southern Africa (we lived in Cape Town at the time) 
• Ethiopian Airlines: Addis Ababa, with connections across Europe, Asia and the Middle East
• Neos: Seasonal flights from Milan, Rome and Verona. This is why you’ll hear so much Italian on the island!
• Air Austral: Réunion
• EWA Air: Mayotte

Domestic flights: Madagascar Airlines (formerly Air Madagascar) flies to Nosy Be from Antananarivo, as well as Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) and Mahajanga. We flew in from Morondava via Antananarivo. Be warned that domestic flights are expensive and notorious for delays and schedule changes, so build in buffer days.

Search for flights to Nosy Be here

By Land and Sea

If you’re traveling overland from Diego Suarez or Ambanja, you can take a ferry or speedboat from Ankify on the mainland to Hell-Ville. The crossing is short, but I’d only go for this if you’re already road-tripping through Northern Madagascar and have plenty of time.

Visa for Madagascar

Most nationalities need a visa for Madagascar, which you can get as an e-visa online before you go. Since February 2026, fees are €30 for up to 15 days, €35 for up to 30 days, €40 for up to 60 days and €50 for up to 90 days. Always check the official e-visa portal before you travel, as the rules change often.

Best Time to Visit Nosy Be

The best time to visit Nosy Be is from April to November, during the dry season. Expect sunny days, calm seas and temperatures around 25–30°C. We visited in October and the weather was perfect: clear skies and warm seas.

If you’re a scuba diver, April to December is also the best time to go diving as the seas are calmer and visibility is high. January to March brings warm water but higher rainfall and cyclone risk. From June to July, the water can be slightly chilly so make sure to book with dive operators that provide wetsuits.

NOTE: Be sure to check the latest travel advice and updates though. We traveled Madagascar in October 2025 during the military coup that ousted President Andry Rajoelina, as protests and curfews spread nationwide, but Nosy Be felt a world away from it all and we weren’t affected.

• April–June: Lush and green after the rains, fewer crowds
• July–August: Peak season with European summer holidaymakers, so book ahead. Humpback whales pass through from around July.
• September–December: Whale shark season, peaking around September to November. Sea conditions are usually excellent.
• January–March: Rainy and cyclone season. Some lodges close and boat trips can be cancelled.

How Long to Spend in Nosy Be

I recommend at least 5–7 days in Nosy Be. That gives you enough time for two or three island day trips, a day exploring Nosy Be itself and some well-deserved beach time. Boat trips are weather-dependent, so having extra days means you won’t miss Nosy Iranja if the sea is choppy.

If you want to split your stay between two islands (which I highly recommend), spend 4 nights on Nosy Be and 3 nights on Nosy Komba like we did. Nosy Komba was maybe too quiet for us, but we did day trips from there too.

How to Get Around Nosy Be

By Tuktuk

Tuktuks (called bajaj locally) are by far the best way to get around Nosy Be. They’re everywhere: waiting outside hotels, buzzing along the main road and lined up in Hell-Ville. We didn’t hire a driver or guide for our week on Nosy Be. We just hired tuktuks outside our hotel to take us wherever we wanted to go.

A few tips for hiring tuktuks:

• Agree on the price before you get in. There are no meters.
• Short hops within Hell-Ville or between beaches cost no more than 10euros.
• Hire a tuktuk for half a day or a full day to do a loop of the island’s sights. Our driver charged us around 30euros for a half-day tour around Nosy Be, including waiting time at each stop. This is the cheapest and most fun way to see the island!
• Carry small notes, as drivers rarely have change.
• Many drivers speak basic French and a little English. Having your destinations written down helps.

By Taxi or Private Driver

Taxis (often old Renault 4s or small sedans) are available for airport transfers and longer trips. Your hotel can arrange an airport transfer, usually for around 40euros..

By Scooter or Quad

You can rent scooters and quads in Ambatoloaka. Roads on the main loop are paved but full of potholes, zebu and kids walking to school, so I’d only recommend this for confident riders.

By Boat

To reach the neighboring islands, you’ll need to go by boat, either on an organized day trip or a private boat transfer. Most boats leave from the beaches at Ambatoloaka, Madirokely or Andilana, or from the port in Hell-Ville. Note that most boats don’t have a roof, so expect sun and spray! Search for boat tours here.

Best Things to Do on Nosy Be

1. Explore the Island by Tuktuk

One of our favorite days on Nosy Be was simply hiring a tuktuk and doing a loop of the island. You pass through ylang-ylang and sugarcane plantations, fishing villages, and roadside stalls selling pineapples and grilled corn. You’ll see kids waving at you as you drive past.

Our tuktuk loop: Hell-Ville market → Lemuria Land and ylang-ylang distillery → Mont Passot for sunset. We hired a tuktuk for half a day and paid 30 euros for him to bring us to various spots and wait there.

2. Visit the Central Market in Hell-Ville

The central market in Hell-Ville (Bazary Be) is the beating heart of the island’s capital, and one of the best places to see everyday Malagasy life. It’s loud, busy and full of color.

Inside you’ll find mountains of tropical fruit, piles of dried fish, bundles of fresh herbs, and stalls selling vanilla pods, wild pepper, cinnamon and cloves. Nosy Be is famous for its spices, and the prices here are a fraction of what you’d pay back home. Look out for bottles of rhum arrangé, local rum infused with vanilla, ginger, lychee or coconut.

This was where Kaleya tried her first jackfruit and she was immediately hooked! We bought an entire jackfruit back and ate it all up in a day. After the market, we also wandered along Hell-Ville’s main street, lined with crumbling French colonial buildings, cafés and little boutiques. It’s also a good place to use the ATM and pick up supplies.

Tip: Go in the morning, when the market is at its busiest and the fish and produce are freshest. Keep an eye on your belongings in the crowds.

3. Learn How Ylang-Ylang Oil is Made at the Distillery

You can’t visit Nosy Be without understanding why it’s called “The Scented Isle,” and the best place to do this is at the sprawling ylang-ylang plantations right next to Lemuria Land.

Ylang-ylang is a tropical tree with droopy, star-shaped yellow flowers, and its essential oil is a key ingredient in some of the world’s most famous perfumes (yes, including Chanel No. 5). The flowers are picked by hand early in the morning, when their scent is strongest, then steam-distilled in huge copper stills.

On a tour of the ylang-ylang distillery, you’ll walk through a century-old ylang-ylang grove, watch the distillation process up close and learn how many kilos of flowers it takes to make just one liter of oil. There’s also a small rum distillery with tastings for the grown-ups.

4. Meet Lemurs, Tortoises and Chameleons at Lemuria Land

Right next to the distillery is Lemuria Land, which was a huge hit with Kaleya. The animals are thriving in a protected, semi-wild environment, and many aren’t afraid to get up close.

Here you can see several lemur species, including black lemurs (the males are jet-black and the females are russet-brown) and ring-tailed lemurs. The local guide at Lemuria brought some bananas and got the Black Lemur so excited it stood perched on Kaleya’s shoulders to eat the bananas. 

You’ll also find giant tortoises (one of them is said to be around 200 years old!), baby crocodiles, and plenty of colorful chameleons and geckos.

5. Watch the Sunset from Mont Passot

At 329m, Mont Passot is the highest point on Nosy Be, and the viewpoint at the top is one of the best places on the island to watch the sunset. From the top, you get 360-degree views over the island’s volcanic crater lakes (which are sacred to locals and said to be home to crocodiles) and out to the surrounding islands.

The road to the top is bumpy but doable by tuktuk. There are usually a few stalls selling drinks and souvenirs at the summit. Bring a flashlight or headlamp for the ride back down, since it gets dark very quickly after sunset.

6. Hike Through Lokobe National Park

On the southeast tip of Nosy Be, Lokobe National Park protects the island’s last remaining patch of primary rainforest. It’s home to black lemurs, the nocturnal sportive lemur, Malagasy tree boas and loads of chameleons.

Getting there is half the adventure: you take a traditional wooden pirogue from the village of Ambatozavavy, paddling for about an hour along the coast and through the mangroves to Ampasipohy village, the park’s main entry point. From there, a local guide leads you on a 2–3 hour walk through the forest, often followed by lunch in the village.

• Entrance fee: 55,000 Ar for adults, 25,000 Ar for children, plus a guide fee
• Best for: Families with kids who are happy to walk in the heat

7. Visit the Sacred Tree of Mahatsinjo

This giant banyan tree near the village of Mahatsinjo is said to have been planted in 1836 by a queen of the Sakalava people. Its sprawling aerial roots now cover an enormous area. It’s still a sacred site where locals come to make offerings, so you’ll need to cover your shoulders and knees (sarongs are provided at the entrance) and take off your shoes. A small entrance fee goes to the community. It’s an easy stop on a tuktuk loop of the island.

8. Relax on Andilana Beach

Nosy Be’s beaches aren’t all postcard-perfect, but Andilana Beach on the northwest coast is the island’s best. Its long stretch of white sand and calm, clear water are ideal for swimming, especially for kids. It’s also a great sunset spot. On weekends, local families come to picnic here, which makes for a lovely atmosphere.

Other beach areas:

• Ambatoloaka: The island’s liveliest beach village, with bars, restaurants, dive shops and boat operators. A bit built-up but convenient.
• Madirokely: Right next to Ambatoloaka but quieter, with lots of mid-range hotels.
• Ambondrona: A quieter, more laid-back stretch with palm trees and a few small hotels.

Best Day Trips from Nosy Be

The real magic of Nosy Be lies in its surrounding islands. Here are the ones we visited, and why each one is worth your time.

Nosy Iranja: The Most Beautiful Island in Madagascar

If you only do one day trip from Nosy Be, make it Nosy Iranja. Often voted one of the most beautiful islands in the world, Nosy Iranja is actually two islands connected by a dazzling 1.5km strip of white sand. This was the absolute highlight of our trip.

At low tide, the sandbar emerges from the sea and you can walk from one island to the other, with turquoise water lapping on both sides. It was, hands down, the most stunning place we visited in all of Madagascar: pristine, remote and completely unspoiled.

The larger island, Nosy Iranja Be, has a small fishing village and a hilltop lighthouse with awe-inspiring views of the coast. The smaller island, Nosy Iranja Kely, is a protected nesting site for hawksbill and green sea turtles, which lay their eggs on the beach between roughly May and October.

Nosy Iranja practical info:

• Boat time: About 1.5 hours each way from Nosy Be (longer if the sea is rough)
• Price: Group day trips start from around €65 per adult (about €40 for children), usually including the boat, lunch, snorkeling gear and a guide
• Tip: Check the tide times. The sandbar disappears at high tide, so good operators time the trip for low tide.
• Tip: Bring plenty of sunscreen and a hat. There’s very little shade on the sandbar.
• Want more time? You can stay overnight at the lodge on the island, or camp.

Nosy Sakatia: Swim with Giant Sea Turtles

Just off the west coast of Nosy Be, the small island of Nosy Sakatia is where we had one of the most unforgettable wildlife encounters of our trip. The seagrass beds here attract giant green sea turtles. We aren’t talking about one or two turtles. We are talking about massive, ancient creatures grazing in water that is only waist-deep.

Because the water is so shallow and calm, this is the perfect snorkeling trip for kids and nervous swimmers. Kaleya wasn’t afraid at all and had the best time snorkeling with turtles here. Beyond the turtles, Nosy Sakatia has a small village (Antanambe), ylang-ylang plantations and a few groups of black lemurs in the forest.

Nosy Sakatia practical info:

• Boat time: About 15 minutes from Andilana or the west coast of Nosy Be
• Tip: Keep a respectful distance from the turtles. Don’t touch or chase them.
• Where to stay: Sakatia Lodge, if you want to stay on the island

Nosy Komba: The Island of Lemurs

A short boat ride from Nosy Be, Nosy Komba (meaning “Lemur Island”) is a steep, forested volcanic island famous for its habituated black lemurs. In the village of Ampangorina, a small community-run lemur park lets you see them up close.  You’ll also find chameleons, boas and tortoises.

We didn’t just visit Nosy Komba on a day trip; we stayed here for 3 nights. Manja Kely Lodge, with beautiful, spacious wooden bungalows perched on the hills of Nosy Komba, was a huge contrast to our resort on Nosy Be. There are no roads on this island, you need a boat to get from one end to the other, but the star-lit skies and calm silence truly made us feel like we were in paradise.

Nosy Komba practical info:

• Boat time: About 20–30 minutes from Nosy Be
• How to get there: Arrange a boat transfer with your hotel
• Combine with: Nosy Tanikely. Most day trips visit both islands.

Nosy Tanikely: Snorkeling in a Marine National Park

Tiny Nosy Tanikely is a protected marine national park, and it has some of the best and easiest snorkeling in the archipelago. You can walk straight in from the beach and within minutes you’ll be swimming among clownfish, parrotfish, sea turtles and colorful coral in water no deeper than about 6m.

The calmer southern side is best for beginners. Watch out for long-spined sea urchins on some parts of the reef. You can also walk around the whole island in about 30 minutes and climb up to the lighthouse for views.

Nosy Tanikely practical info:

• Park fee: 20,000 Ar per person
• Boat time: About 30 minutes from Nosy Be or Nosy Komba
• Tip: Go early, before the day-trip boats arrive.

Swim with Whale Sharks

From around September to December, gentle whale sharks gather in the waters around Nosy Be, making it one of the best places in the world to swim with them. Boats head out in the morning to look for them, and when one is spotted, you slip into the water to snorkel alongside the world’s biggest fish. Alberto actually saw a whale shark while scuba diving, so if you’re planning to dive, you might just get a chance to see them without spending on a whale shark snorkel tour.

Tip: Choose an operator that follows responsible guidelines: no touching, a limited number of swimmers in the water and keeping a distance. Sightings are never guaranteed.

Other Islands to Consider

• Nosy Mitsio: A remote archipelago north of Nosy Be with basalt columns, excellent diving and the ultra-luxurious Constance Tsarabanjina.
• Russian Bay (Baie des Russes): A secluded bay on the mainland, popular for liveaboard boat trips and diving.

How to Book Day Trips in Nosy Be

You’ll be approached by boat operators on every beach, and there are dozens of tour companies on the island. Prices and quality vary hugely, so don’t just go with the cheapest option. Ask about life jackets, what’s included (lunch, snorkel gear, park fees) and the size of the boat.

We booked our day trips to the neighboring islands through MadaAssist. I simply sent them a WhatsApp message with what I’m interested in and they were very responsive, and immediately sent me a few options. Prices were competitive and I paid through an online system which made it very easy and convenient. Highly recommend them!

Tip: Book Nosy Iranja early in your stay, so you have spare days to reschedule if the weather turns.

Where to Stay in Nosy Be

Nosy Be

• Luxury: Ravintsara Wellness Hotel. Tucked into five hectares of tropical gardens on the west coast facing Nosy Sakatia, this is Nosy Be’s loveliest splurge. Think individual bungalows scattered among ponds and palms, several pools, a proper spa and some of the best sunsets on the island. Check rates here.
• Midrange: Loharano Lodge. After spending a week in Western Madagascar, we had a bit of a culture shock checking into this place, where Italian and French were spoken and most people seemed to be on summer vacation. We loved their tiered pools, proximity to the beach and excellent food. Check rates here.
• Budget: Le Moya Beach. A simple, friendly beachfront spot with bungalows, a pool and a good little restaurant, on a quiet stretch of sand away from the crowds of Ambatoloaka. It’s the kind of place where you can eat fresh fish with your toes in the sand without paying resort prices. Check rates here.

Nosy Komba

• Midrange: Manja Kely Lodge. With beautiful, spacious wooden bungalows perched on the hills of Nosy Komba, this lodge is so quiet, peaceful and private. We loved waking up to views of the ocean right from our bed. Check rates here.
• Luxury: Tsara Komba Lodge. Elegant eco-lodge with bungalows overlooking a private beach. Check rates here.

Tip: Where you stay on Nosy Be makes a big difference. Ambatoloaka and Madirokely are convenient and lively; Andilana and Ambondrona are quieter and better for families.

What to Eat in Nosy Be

Nosy Be is a seafood lover’s dream. Thanks to its French and Italian influence, you’ll also find excellent pizza, pasta and crêpes alongside Malagasy food.

• Fresh seafood: Grilled fish, prawns, calamari and lobster, often cooked in coconut sauce or with local green peppercorns
• Zebu: Beef, often served as steak or cooked with vanilla or coconut
• Romazava: Madagascar’s national dish, a meat and leafy green stew
• Mine sao: Mild stir-fried noodles similar to chow mein, a winner with kids
• Mofo: Fried dough and doughnuts from street vendors
• Tropical fruit: Mangoes, lychees, pineapples and the sweetest little bananas
• Rhum arrangé: Local rum infused with fruit and spices (for the grown-ups!)

Tip: Service is mora mora. Waiting 90 minutes for a meal is not unusual, so bring card games for the kids.

Nosy Be with Kids

Nosy Be is the most family-friendly part of Madagascar. While the long drives of Western Madagascar are best for kids aged 8 and up, the Nosy Be archipelago works even for toddlers, thanks to its warm, calm waters and short boat rides.

Kaleya’s highlights were meeting the lemurs at Lemuria Land, snorkeling with turtles at Nosy Sakatia and walking the sandbar at Nosy Iranja. Read more details in my guide to traveling Madagascar with kids.

Tips for visiting Nosy Be with kids:

• Choose shallow snorkeling spots like Nosy Sakatia and the southern side of Nosy Tanikely for young kids.
• Bring kids’ life jackets or ask for child-sized ones, as many boats only carry adult sizes.
• Protect them from the sun: boats rarely have shade, so pack UV rash guards and hats.
• Pick a hotel with a pool, as some beaches have seagrass and shallow tides.
• Prepare them for the poverty they’ll see in villages, and don’t give sweets or money to children. Bring school supplies to donate through schools or your lodge instead.

Safety and Health in Nosy Be

Nosy Be is generally safe for tourists, and we felt comfortable exploring by tuktuk. Petty theft does happen, especially in Hell-Ville and on busy beaches, so keep valuables out of sight and avoid walking alone on empty beaches at night.

We traveled during the October 2025 political unrest in Madagascar but weren’t affected, though we have friends who were stuck due to the nationwide curfew. Nosy Be felt a world away from the capital. Always check your government’s travel advice before you go.

Health tips:

• Malaria is present on Nosy Be. Talk to a travel clinic about prophylaxis, and use repellent and mosquito nets, especially at dawn and dusk.
• Drink bottled or filtered water only.
• Avoid swimming in freshwater lakes and rivers because of bilharzia (and crocodiles!).
• Medical facilities are basic. Serious cases need evacuation, so get good travel insurance.

Travel insurance: We use SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance, which includes one child under 10 free per adult. 

Money and Cost of Travel in Nosy Be

The local currency is the Malagasy Ariary (Ar or MGA). The current rate is roughly 5,000 Ar to €1.

• ATMs are available in Hell-Ville and some beach areas, but they’re not always reliable. Bring some euros or US dollars in cash as backup.
• Cards are accepted at most mid-range and upmarket hotels, but you’ll need cash for tuktuks, markets, park fees and small restaurants.
• Nosy Be is more expensive than mainland Madagascar, especially for hotels and boat trips.

Typical costs in Nosy Be:

• Lemuria Land entrance: around 45,000 Ar
• Nosy Tanikely park fee: 20,000 Ar
• Lokobe National Park: 55,000 Ar (adults), 25,000 Ar (kids)
• Nosy Iranja day trip: from €65 per adult
• Lunch at a local restaurant: $4–6
• Family dinner at a tourist restaurant: $30–40
• Midrange hotel: $100–150 per night

Language and Internet

Malagasy and French are the official languages. Nosy Be is the easiest place in Madagascar for English speakers, since most hotel and tour staff speak some English, but a few words of French or Malagasy go a long way. Salama (hello) and misaotra (thank you) always earn a smile.

Wi-Fi is available at most hotels but can be slow. We used an Airalo eSIM for mobile data, which worked well on Nosy Be itself but patchily on the smaller islands. 

Check out Airalo’s eSIMs for Madagascar

What to Pack for Nosy Be

• Reef-safe sunscreen (expensive and hard to find locally)
• UV rash guards and wide-brimmed hats for boat trips
• Your own snorkel mask, since rental gear is often worn out
• Water shoes for rocky entries and sea urchins
• Dry bag for boat trips
• Mosquito repellent with DEET or picaridin
• Headlamp: power cuts are common
• Power bank
• Light long sleeves for evenings and visiting sacred sites
• Motion sickness tablets for longer boat rides like Nosy Iranja
• Cash in small notes

7-Day Nosy Be Itinerary

• Day 1: Arrive at Fascene Airport, check in and relax on the beach
• Day 2: Tuktuk loop: Hell-Ville market, Lemuria Land and ylang-ylang distillery, sunset at Mont Passot
• Day 3: Day trip to Nosy Iranja
• Day 4: Snorkel with turtles at Nosy Sakatia, afternoon on Andilana Beach
• Day 5: Transfer to Nosy Komba, visit the lemurs at Ampangorina
• Day 6: Snorkeling at Nosy Tanikely (or whale shark trip, in season)
• Day 7: Morning in Lokobe National Park or a lazy beach day, then depart

Practical Tips for Visiting Nosy Be

• Embrace mora mora. Boats leave late, meals take ages and plans change. Relax, you’re on island time.
• Always negotiate tuktuk prices before getting in.
• Build buffer days for weather and domestic flight delays.
• Check tide times for Nosy Iranja and snorkeling trips.
• Bring small notes. Change is hard to come by.
• Respect sacred sites and fady (local taboos). Ask your guide what’s allowed.
• Don’t buy products made from turtle shell, coral or endangered wood.
• Book accommodation early for July, August and whale shark season.

Nosy Be FAQ

Enjoy Your Trip to Nosy Be!

Nosy Be was the perfect ending to our Madagascar adventure: a place to slow down and swim with turtles, after the wild roads of the west. And Nosy Iranja? I’m still dreaming about that sandbar. Mora mora, and enjoy every moment!

Further reading on Madagascar:

• Madagascar with Kids: Our Tips for an Epic Adventure
• Climbing Madagascar’s Stone Forest: Tsingy de Bemaraha
• 12 Interesting Facts about Madagascar
• The Best Wildlife Destinations in the World
• How We Find the Right eSIM for Travel
• 20 Best Travel Apps
• Best Travel Insurance

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to companies I use and trust. I get a small commission when you click on my links, at NO EXTRA COST TO YOU.

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Heading to the Ionian island of Corfu? From historic fortresses to hidden beaches and mountain villages, here are the best things to do in Corfu.

Corfu had been on my list for years, and we finally made it there recently. Before our Greece sailing trip, Alberto and I spent a week exploring Corfu, and for the first time in a very long time, we traveled without Kaleya! She stayed with family, which meant a rare week of long lunches, lazy afternoons by the pool, and spontaneous detours without anyone asking “are we there yet?”

We rented a car and drove all over the island: beach hopping, visiting the main sights, getting lost in charming hilltop villages and squeezing in a short hike. What surprised me most was how green Corfu is. Unlike the dry, rocky Cyclades, the Ionian island is covered in olive groves, cypress trees and wildflowers, with a coastline of turquoise coves and dramatic cliffs. But the real highlight for me was Corfu Old Town: with its Venetian fortresses, pastel buildings and maze of narrow lanes.

If you’re planning a trip, here are the best things to do in Corfu, an itinerary and all the practical tips you need.

Where is Corfu?

Corfu (Kerkyra in Greek) is the second-largest of the Ionian Islands, located off the northwest coast of Greece. You can easily combine a trip here with Paxos or Lefkada, and book your villa holidays in Greece through Ionian & Aegean Island Holidays with accommodation and transfers all taken care of.

Because of its location, Corfu has a history unlike anywhere else in Greece. The Venetians ruled the island for around 400 years, followed by the French and then the British, and it was one of the few parts of Greece never conquered by the Ottomans. You’ll see those influences everywhere, from the Italianate architecture to the cricket matches on the main square and the ginger beer served in cafés.

Corfu has its own international airport just outside Corfu Town, with direct flights from all over Europe in summer, and it’s a short flight from Athens.

Search for flights to Corfu here

Best Things to Do in Corfu

1. Get Lost in Corfu Old Town

If you only do one thing in Corfu, make it this. Corfu Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most beautiful old towns in Greece.

Wander through the kantounia, the narrow alleyways lined with tall Venetian townhouses in shades of ochre, pink and peach, with laundry strung between the balconies. Pop into the Church of Saint Spyridon, dedicated to the island’s patron saint, whose red-domed bell tower is the tallest in town. Then keep walking and see where the lanes take you, stopping for a freddo espresso in a hidden square.

As soon as we stepped into the old town, I was reminded of Valletta in Malta: the same honey-colored stone, the fortifications looming over the sea and the layers of history on every corner. 

Tip: Visit in the early morning or evening, when day-trippers from the cruise ships have left and the town takes on a magical glow.

2. Have a Drink at the Liston & Spianada Square

On the edge of the old town, the Liston is an elegant arcade built by the French in the early 1800s and modeled on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris. Today it’s lined with cafés and bars, and it’s the place to people-watch over an aperitif.

In front of it is Spianada Square, one of the largest squares in Greece. Its lawn is also a cricket pitch, a quirky leftover from British rule. If you’re lucky, you might catch a match on a summer weekend.

Order a tsitsibira (the local ginger beer, another British legacy) and watch the world go by.

3. Climb the Old Fortress

Built by the Venetians on a rocky headland separated from town by a moat, the Old Fortress is Corfu Town’s most iconic landmark. Walk across the bridge and climb up to the lighthouse at the top for panoramic views over the old town’s rooftops, the sea and the mountains of mainland Greece and Albania.

Inside, you’ll also find the Church of St George, which looks strikingly like a Greek temple.

• Opening hours: 8am–8pm in summer
• Price: Small entry fee (check the latest price on the official Hellenic Heritage website, hhticket.gr)

4. Explore the New Fortress

Don’t let the name fool you. The New Fortress was built by the Venetians in the late 16th century. It’s less visited than the Old Fortress, but it has its own maze of tunnels, ramparts and great views over the port and the old town’s rooftops. Come in the late afternoon for the golden light.

5. See Mouse Island & Vlacherna Monastery

Just south of Corfu Town, on the Kanoni peninsula, is one of the most photographed views in Greece. The tiny Vlacherna Monastery sits on an islet connected to the shore by a narrow causeway, with the cypress-covered Pontikonisi (Mouse Island) floating just behind it.

Walk along the causeway to the monastery, or take a little boat across to Mouse Island. Aviation fans will love this spot too: the runway of Corfu Airport is right next to it, so planes fly in low over the lagoon.

Tip: For the classic view, head to the café terraces up at Kanoni.

6. Visit the Achilleion Palace

About 10km south of Corfu Town, in the village of Gastouri, the Achilleion Palace was built in the 1890s for Empress Elisabeth of Austria (better known as Sisi), who fell in love with Corfu and wanted a summer retreat dedicated to her hero, Achilles. It was later bought by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The neoclassical palace is filled with artworks, but the real highlights are the gardens, with sweeping views over the coast and the giant statue of Achilles Triumphant.

• Opening hours: 8am–8pm daily (April–October)
• Price: €7 for adults, €5 reduced

7. Swim in the Coves of Paleokastritsa

On the west coast, Paleokastritsa is one of the most beautiful spots in Corfu, a series of small bays with water in every shade of blue and green, framed by forested cliffs. Legend has it that this is where Odysseus washed up on the shores of the Phaeacians in Homer’s Odyssey.

Take a boat trip from the harbor to explore the sea caves along the coast, then walk up to the Monastery of Paleokastritsa, a whitewashed 13th-century monastery perched on the headland with a peaceful courtyard and incredible views.

Tip: Paleokastritsa gets very busy in July and August, so arrive before 10am to find parking.

8. Hike Up to Angelokastro

A few kilometers north of Paleokastritsa, the ruins of Angelokastro cling to a rocky pinnacle more than 300 meters above the sea. This Byzantine castle was built in the 13th century and used as a lookout against pirate attacks. It’s a short but steep climb from the parking area, rewarded with jaw-dropping views down the coast.

9. Hike to Porto Timoni

This was our favorite spot in Corfu. Porto Timoni is Corfu’s famous “double beach,” two crescent-shaped coves back to back on a narrow strip of land, with water on both sides. You can only reach it on foot (or by boat).

The trail starts in the hilltop village of Afionas and takes about 20–30 minutes each way. It’s rocky and steep in places, so wear proper shoes, bring plenty of water and go early. There are no facilities on the beach, and the climb back up is tough in the midday heat.

10. Swim Through the Canal d’Amour in Sidari

On Corfu’s north coast, the village of Sidari is famous for the Canal d’Amour, a series of sandstone rock formations carved by wind and waves into coves, arches and narrow channels. According to local legend, if you swim through the canal, you’ll find your true love (or stay with the one you’ve got!).

Sidari itself is quite built up, but the rock formations are beautiful, especially at sunset. Nearby, the Cape Drastis cliffs are even more dramatic and far less crowded.

11. Go Beach Hopping on the West Coast

Having a car in Corfu means you can go beach hopping, and that was one of our favorite things to do. The west coast has the best sandy beaches, and they’re perfect for watching the sunset.

Some of the best beaches in Corfu include:

• Glyfada Beach: A long stretch of golden sand with beach bars and great sunsets
• Myrtiotissa Beach: Lawrence Durrell called it perhaps the loveliest beach in the world. It’s small, wild and reached by a steep path.
• Rovinia Beach: A secluded pebble cove near Liapades with crystal-clear water, best reached by boat or a short walk
• Agios Gordios: A wide bay backed by olive-covered hills and dramatic rock formations
• Arillas & Agios Georgios Pagon: Laid-back bays in the northwest, close to Afionas and Porto Timoni

12. Wander Through Old Perithia

Tucked in the foothills of Mount Pantokrator, Old Perithia is one of the oldest villages in Corfu. It was built in the Byzantine era, when islanders moved to the mountains to escape pirates, and was gradually abandoned in the 20th century as people moved to the coast.

Today, its stone houses and churches are slowly being restored, and a handful of excellent tavernas serve traditional food in the village square. Wandering its quiet lanes feels like stepping back in time.

13. Drive Up Mount Pantokrator

At 906 meters, Mount Pantokrator is the highest point in Corfu. A winding road climbs almost all the way to the summit, where there’s a small monastery and a café. On a clear day, you can see across the island to the mainland and Albania. It’s the best view in Corfu, and a great detour if you’re staying in the north.

Tip: The last stretch of road is narrow and steep, so take it slow, and bring a jacket as it’s much cooler at the top.

14. Explore the Villages of the Northeast Coast

Corfu’s northeast coast is lined with picturesque fishing villages facing Albania across the strait. The water here is calm and clear, and it’s a great area for a lazy day of swimming and seafood lunches.

• Kassiopi: A lively harbor village with the ruins of a Byzantine castle, pretty coves and lots of restaurants
• Kalami: Home of the White House, where writer Lawrence Durrell lived in the 1930s (his brother Gerald’s My Family and Other Animals inspired the TV series The Durrells). The house is now a taverna right on the water.
• Agni: A tiny cove with three famous seafood tavernas
• Agios Stefanos Sinion: A peaceful horseshoe bay with fishing boats and yachts

15. Taste Corfu’s Food & Kumquat Liqueur

Thanks to its Venetian heritage, Corfu’s cuisine is a little different from the rest of Greece. Make sure to try:

• Sofrito: Veal slow-cooked in white wine, garlic and parsley
• Pastitsada: A spiced beef or rooster stew served with pasta
• Bourdeto: A spicy fish stew with red pepper
• Kumquat liqueur: Kumquats were brought to Corfu by the British in the 19th century and are now the island’s signature product. You’ll find the bright orange liqueur, sweets and preserves in shops all over the old town, often with free tastings.

16. Take a Day Trip to Paxos & Antipaxos

Some of the most beautiful water in the Ionian Sea is found just south of Corfu, around the tiny islands of Paxos and Antipaxos. Fast ferries and day cruises leave from Corfu Town and Lefkimmi, and most visit the blue sea caves of Paxos, the turquoise lagoons of Antipaxos and the pretty harbor town of Gaios.

After our week in Corfu, we spent several days sailing around Paxos and Antipaxos, and it was the highlight of our entire trip. If you have time, stay for a night or two! They promise spearmint waters, pristine coves and surprisingly empty beaches.

17. Hop Over to Albania for the Day

Here’s one for the adventurous. Corfu is so close to Albania that you can take a day trip across the strait. Ferries run from Corfu Port to Saranda on the Albanian Riviera. The crossing takes only around 30 minutes. From Saranda, you can visit the ancient ruins of Butrint or continue exploring the rest of the country. 

Alberto and I took the ferry over from Corfu and ended up traveling all over Albania. It was such an easy yet adventurous experience! Albania itself is a beautiful country packed full of medieval mountain villages, historical sites and sprawling beaches. I would recommend spending at least a week to explore Albania if you’re short on time, otherwise 2 or 3 weeks would be better.

Remember to bring your passport, and check the entry requirements for your nationality.

Our Recommended Corfu Itinerary

Not sure how to fit it all in? Here’s how I would plan a trip, based on our week on the island.

3 Days in Corfu

Day 1: Corfu Town Spend the morning exploring Corfu Old Town, the Church of Saint Spyridon and the Old Fortress. Have lunch in the old town, then visit Mouse Island and Vlacherna Monastery in the afternoon. End the day with drinks at the Liston.

Day 2: West Coast Drive to Paleokastritsa for a boat trip to the sea caves and a visit to the monastery. After lunch, climb up to Angelokastro, then head south for a sunset swim at Glyfada Beach.

Day 3: North Coast Go early to Afionas and hike to Porto Timoni. In the afternoon, visit the Canal d’Amour in Sidari and watch the sunset at Cape Drastis.

5 Days in Corfu

Follow the 3-day itinerary above, then add:

Day 4: Northeast Coast & Mountains Drive up Mount Pantokrator in the morning, then have lunch at a taverna in Old Perithia. Spend the afternoon swimming and village hopping between Kassiopi, Agios Stefanos and Kalami.

Day 5: Achilleion Palace & Day Trip, or Beach Day Visit the Achilleion Palace in the morning, then spend the afternoon on one of the west coast beaches. Alternatively, take a full-day boat trip to Paxos and Antipaxos.

One week or more? Use the extra days to slow down, as we did. Stay a few nights in the north and a few in Corfu Town, add a day trip to Albania, or take the ferry to Paxos and stay a couple of nights.

How to Get Around Corfu

Rent a car. Corfu is much bigger than most people expect (it takes around 1.5 hours to drive from the far north to the far south), and the best beaches, villages and viewpoints are spread out across the island. We rented a car for the week, and it gave us the freedom to explore at our own pace. Search for car rentals in Corfu here!

A few driving tips:

• Roads in the mountains and villages are narrow and winding, so rent a small car.
• Parking in Corfu Town is limited. Use the paid parking lots near the New Fortress or the port and walk into the old town.
• Arrive early at popular beaches like Paleokastritsa and Porto Timoni, when parking spaces run out.

Buses: The green KTEL buses connect Corfu Town with the main resorts, and the blue city buses cover Corfu Town and nearby areas like Kanoni and the Achilleion. They’re cheap, but not very frequent.

Boat trips & water taxis: Many of the best coves are easier to reach by boat. You can rent a small motorboat without a license in places like Agios Stefanos and Kassiopi.

Best Time to Visit Corfu

The best time to visit Corfu is the shoulder season – May, June and September – when the weather is warm and sunny, the sea is perfect for swimming, and the island is less crowded than in peak summer.

July and August are the hottest and busiest months. Beaches and parking lots fill up quickly, it can get really crowded, and prices for accommodation and car rental go up. If you’re traveling in the summer holidays, book well in advance.

October is still lovely, with warm seas and quiet beaches, although some businesses start to close at the end of the month. Corfu is so green because it rains a lot in winter, so November to March isn’t ideal for a beach holiday. But it’s a great time to explore Corfu Town without the crowds.

Easter in Corfu is also very special, with processions and the famous tradition of throwing clay pots from the balconies of the old town on Holy Saturday.

Where to Stay in Corfu

Where you stay will shape your trip, so it’s worth thinking about what kind of holiday you want.

Corfu Town

Stay in or near Corfu Old Town if you want to be able to walk to restaurants, bars and sights, and use it as a base for day trips. It’s also close to the airport and the port. You won’t need a car then and there’s plenty to see within walking distance.

• Cavalieri Hotel (mid-range): A historic hotel with a rooftop bar and restaurant overlooking the Old Fortress and the sea. Check rates here.
• Siora Vittoria Boutique Hotel (boutique): A restored 19th-century mansion with elegant rooms and a peaceful garden courtyard. Check rates here. 
• Bella Venezia (mid-range): A neoclassical mansion with breakfast served in its garden, a few minutes’ walk from the Liston. Check rates here.

North Corfu

The north and northeast are perfect for a quieter holiday, with calm, clear water, waterfront tavernas and easy access to Mount Pantokrator, Old Perithia and the fishing villages.

We stayed at Mr and Mrs White Corfu Couples Retreat, an adults-only hotel in Acharavi on the north coast, and loved it. The rooms are decorated in minimalist white and set around lush Mediterranean gardens, with a pool, pool bar and outdoor jacuzzi, and the long sandy beach of Acharavi is just a short walk away. 

• Mr and Mrs White Corfu Couples Retreat (adults-only): Our pick for couples. Minimalist, relaxing and close to the beach. Check rates here. 
• San Antonio Corfu Resort (adults-only): A hillside resort with an infinity pool overlooking the bay. Check rates here.
• The Durrell White House (villa): Rent a villa in Lawrence Durrell’s former home, right above the famous waterfront taverna. Check rates here.

East Coast 

Just north of Corfu Town, the east coast around Dassia and the Kommeno peninsula is home to some of the island’s best big resorts. It’s a great choice for families who want pools, kids’ clubs and an easy drive into town.

• Grecotel Corfu Imperial (luxury): A classic luxury resort spread across its own peninsula, with private beaches and villas. Check rates here. 
• Ikos Dassia (all-inclusive): Upscale all-inclusive with excellent restaurants and family facilities. Check rates here. 
• Grecotel LUXME Daphnila Bay (luxury all-inclusive): A beachfront family resort surrounded by pine forest, with a kids’ club. Check rates here. 

West Coast

Base yourself on the west coast if you want to be near the best sandy beaches and sunsets, as well as Paleokastritsa, Angelokastro and Porto Timoni.

• Domes of Corfu (luxury): A stylish beachfront resort right on Glyfada Beach, with gorgeous sunset views. Check rates here. 
• Akrotiri Beach Hotel (mid-range to upscale): Sea views from every room, with direct access to the water and diving nearby. Check rates here. 
• Ella Alkyna Adults Only (adults-only): A seafront hotel with a pool and spa on one of the island’s prettiest bays. Check rates here.

Corfu Travel Tips

• Rent a car (seriously!). It’s the best way to explore the island. Search for car rentals in Corfu here!
• Book the popular spots early in the day. Paleokastritsa, Porto Timoni and the Canal d’Amour get busy by mid-morning in summer.
• Check the cruise ship schedule. Corfu Town can get crowded when several ships are in port. Plan your old town visit for early morning or evening.
• Carry some cash for beach loungers, parking and small tavernas, although cards are widely accepted.
• Pack water shoes. Many beaches in Corfu are pebbly.
• Cover up in monasteries and churches. Bring a scarf or sarong to cover your shoulders and knees.
• Get an eSIM for navigating around the island. We used Airalo on our trip. Check out Airalo’s eSIMs for Corfu here.
• Get travel insurance that covers car rental and water activities. Not sure where to start? Check out my detailed guide to choosing the best travel insurance for your trip.

FAQs About Visiting Corfu

Further Reading on Greece

Thank you so much for reading all the way through! I hope this list of the best things to do in Corfu has given you a real feel for the island, from getting lost in the old town’s narrow lanes to hiking down to those hidden double beaches up north.

If you’re planning your own trip and have questions about where to stay, how to fit it all into your itinerary, or anything else, just leave a comment below and I’ll help however I can.

And if this has you craving more of Greece, I’ve written plenty of other guides to help you explore the country:

• Our 1-Week Greece Island Hopping Itinerary
• Our Greece Sailing Holiday with Yacht Getaways
• 10 Best Greek Islands to Visit
• My Guide to Kefalonia Greece
• 20 Best Things to do in Mykonos, Greece
• Santorini with Kids
• 10 Best Historical Sites in Greece
• Sailing in Greece
• How We Find the Right eSIM for Travel
• 20 Best Travel Apps
• Best Travel Insurance

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to companies I use and trust. I get a small commission when you click on my links, at NO EXTRA COST TO YOU.

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We moved our family from Spain to Tbilisi a month ago, and this post covers exactly why we picked Georgia — plus the honest bits about living in Tbilisi.

If you’re new around here: my husband and I have been working remotely and living abroad, changing countries every few years with our daughter since she was 2 years old. I’m a travel writer, he’s a software engineer, and we’ve lived in Spain, the Netherlands, Mexico and most recently South Africa. Our daughter Kaleya is 11 now, and she’s been worldschooled for nine of those years, traveling to over 60 countries with us.

Travel had shaped her into the adventurous and adaptable little girl that she is today, and we want to keep this lifestyle going for as long as she’s happy. When our year in Cape Town wrapped up in May, we spent this summer in Spain having the same conversation we have every couple of years: right, where next? We narrowed our choices to Montenegro, Thailand, Japan, and Georgia. 

Georgia stood out amongst the others for various reasons. I’ve traveled Georgia before and absolutely loved it, and I knew we would have a good time here. In nomad forums and conversations with other travelling families, Tbilisi also kept popping up and it sounded like more digital nomads are staying here than ever. By August we were on a plane here and now a month later we’re settled in our new apartment, with our kid in a new school, a dog who’s adjusting, and an alphabet none of us can read yet. 

Why We Moved to Georgia

I’ve had more questions about this move than any other we’ve made. My own mother had to look up where Georgia was. So here’s the full answer — why we chose Tbilisi, what it costs, and how life looks here.

A New Adventure

We’ve lived in Europe for a long time, so we weren’t that interested in moving to a city in Western Europe that we’re familiar with. Georgia is different from the Europe we’re familiar with and unique in many ways. 

The language isn’t related to anything — it’s a genuine isolate, with no connection to any other language family anywhere. The alphabet is its own alphabet, all loops and curls, and until you learn it you can’t read a single shop sign. Sitting between Europe and Asia, the country is truly a Caucasian nation with its own cultural identity.

I’m starting Georgian classes next week and I cannot wait for the challenge. Kaleya is also learning it in school and she’s excited to share with us all the new Georgian words she’s learning.

Easy Access to the Mountains

After a year in Cape Town with Table Mountain basically at our back door, we knew we couldn’t go back to a city without nature surrounding it. I’d actually been to Georgia once, about 10 years ago, and honestly my favorite thing about the country is the snow-capped mountains. 

Tbilisi delivers on this in a way I didn’t expect. The city is green, it’s built into hills, and you can be on a funicular or cable car looking down over the whole thing about twenty minutes after leaving your front door. The Greater Caucasus — proper mountains, glaciers, the works — is a few hours’ drive away. We are heading to the Kazbegi mountains this weekend and we cannot wait! 

The Visa Policy is Generous

Georgia lets citizens of around 98 countries stay for a full year without a visa. That makes it so much easier for us. In every place we’ve lived, we usually have had to apply for digital nomad or temporary residency visas, which can be a pain. Here we get the same 365 days, no application, no fee, nothing to organise before flying. If you’ve ever tried to relocate a family, you’ll know what a relief that is.

One important caveat: this is a tourist allowance, not residency. The year resets when you leave and come back, and many people I know who’ve stayed here long-term just do a border run to Armenia or Turkey and start again. Georgia has been tightening up on overstays with bigger fines and entry bans, so if we stay beyond a year we’ll look into a proper residence permit rather than relying on border hops forever.

The 1% Tax Setup

This is the thing every article about Georgia leads with, and it’s usually oversimplified — including in my own Instagram caption, so let me be more careful here.

Georgia has a Small Business Status for people registered as Individual Entrepreneurs. It’s 1% on turnover up to 500,000 GEL a year (about US$185,000), then 3% on anything above that, and if you go over two years running you lose the status altogether. It’s a real registration with real obligations — monthly filings — and certain professions are excluded from it entirely.

Whether it fits your situation depends enormously on what you do and how you’re paid. Mine as a freelance writer and Alberto’s as an employed software engineer are two completely different cases. We’re not tax advisers and this isn’t tax advice — we recommend talking to Expat Hub, who helped us with our IE application.

Great International Schools 

We have tried homeschooling, and it genuinely worked — with online classes for 3-4 hours a day, afternoons free for fun activities like rock climbing, robotics and mountain biking. Kaleya has also tried a mix of schools: from small Montessori schools to green schools. But Kaleya is 11 now, and we feel it’s time to enrol her in a fully accredited international school that challenges her. 

So she’s back in a physical classroom at an international school here, and so far it’s going really well. There are kids from a dozen different countries in her year, the place runs like clockwork, and the facilities honestly surprised me. She came home after her first week with the names of four new friends and so much excitement! Watching her settle in has reassured me about this move more than anything else.

Tbilisi has genuine choices here, which matters — there are British, American, German, French and Georgian-international options, but fees are that much cheaper than in Western Europe. Most schools I looked at fall somewhere between 10,500 and 50,000 GEL a year (roughly US$3,800–20,000). These are the schools we narrowed down to:

• British International School of Tbilisi (our choice!)
• New School Georgia
• European School of Tbilisi
• QSI International School of Tbilisi

What We Actually Spend Here

The cost of living in Tbilisi is generally lower than in Western Europe — but rent has climbed a lot in the last few years, due to COVID and the Russia-Ukraine war. Honestly, we spend the same here as we do at home in Spain, but we do have a fuller life here. We eat out in restaurants more often, book experiences, go to cafes and take ride-sharing taxis without worrying too much about how much we’re spending.

Some rough numbers (US$1 is about 2.7 GEL):

• Rent – Furnished two-bedrooms in the central areas like Vake, Vera and Saburtaloi generally run from around US$800–1,800 a month. We’re in the Lisi area, right by our daughter’s school, and we pay $2,200 a month for a big 3-bedroom apartment (we need the space as we work from home).*
• Coffee – 5 GEL (US$2) for an espresso at a corner cafe, 12–15 GEL (US$4.50–5.50) for a matcha latte or flat white at a hip modern joint. Tbilisi’s coffee scene is much better than I expected.
• Eating out – A casual Georgian meal is around 15-30 GEL (US$5.50–10.50) per person. International food is more expensive, but you can still easily order sushi or Thai food on Wolt for less than 20 GEL ($7.50) per person. We eat out more often here and the variety of options is impressive.
• Taxis – A Bolt across town is 8–15 GEL (US$3–6). 
• Internet – US$10–40 a month for fast fibre and $10 for internet data on our phones. Internet connection has been rock solid so far. Check out Airalo’s eSIMs for Georgia here.
• Utilities – Roughly US$40–80 a month, though I’m told winter heating pushes that up.

*Note that monthly Airbnb rates run 20–30% above what the same flat costs on a proper lease, so it’s worth switching over as soon as you can.

Everything Here is Digital

This is the thing that has surprised me most: Georgia has digitalized a huge amount of ordinary life. Apple Pay works practically everywhere — the bakery, the taxi, the tiny fruit shop on our corner — and I’ve barely used cash since we arrived. There’s an app for everything else too: ordering groceries, booking a cleaner, paying utility bills, getting a ride across town. Errands that would have swallowed an entire morning in Mexico or South Africa take about four minutes on my phone here.

Buying a car is ridiculously easy – we found ours through a fixer, went to the car registration centre in Rustavi and within 10 minutes, we had our new plate and car ownership. Opening a bank account as a foreigner is refreshingly simple as well. No residence permit needed, no months of documents — you turn up with your passport and come out with an account. After what we went through setting up banking in previous countries, it felt almost too easy.

The fiddlier part is moving money between countries. We earn money in USD and Euros, but we pay rent in Georgian Lari, and I send money to my family in Singaporean dollars — so we need to figure out how to transfer money from bank to bank online with the least fees. If you’re US-based, it’s worth checking out SoFi for the most favorable transfer fees.

A Community That’s Already Building

We’re only a month in and we’ve already connected with quite a few people. Tbilisi has a big and growing international community — remote workers, families, people who came for a month and stayed for years — which makes the first weeks far less lonely than arriving somewhere with no scene at all.

We’re really keen to connect with more international families, people with kids Kaleya’s age who’ve also picked up their whole life and moved here. We’ve found people through Facebook groups and the school so far, and I’ll report back properly once we’ve been here longer.

Georgian Food is Amazing

Georgian food is winning us over completely. Khachapuri is a boat of bread filled with molten cheese and an egg yolk you stir in at the table. Khinkali are soup dumplings you eat with your hands and zero dignity. Ojakhuri is exactly what you want after a day in the hills. We’re having a blast trying out local dishes here. What’s impressive is Tbilisi’s array of international food — you can actually find pretty authentic Chinese, Japanese and Thai food here.

We Can Still Get to Our Families

Tbilisi sits at a useful crossroads: getting to Spain for Alberto’s parents is straightforward, Singapore is manageable, and Armenia, Turkey, Central Asia and the Middle East are all within easy reach. That’s a whole region we can explore, and having it on our doorstep for a year is a big part of the appeal. We already have plans to travel the ‘Stans soon and visit family during the Christmas holidays!

The Honest Concerns

Of course, nowhere is perfect. We had our concerns about certain things in Georgia too.

• Russia and the politics. Georgia shares a border with Russia and has two unresolved breakaway regions, and there have been significant political protests here.We did weigh it up seriously before committing, but so far we haven’t seen or heard any major protests here. We can see that there are many Russians and Ukrainians living here, but everyone seems civil and respectful.

• Winter. It’s coming, and Tbilisi’s winter has a reputation I’m told is deserved. One of the things that made Georgia so attractive to Kaleya is the snow – apparently Georgia offers some of the cheapest skiing in Europe and there are some beautiful ski slopes here. We’re excited about going skiing this winter, but I’m still worried about grey, gloomy weather. Ask me again in January.

• Leaving people behind. This is the part that never gets easier. We all left good friends in South Africa and Mexico, and we still message them at odd hours because of the time difference. No amount of khinkali fixes that, and it’s the honest cost of this life.

Nine years in, we’ve stopped waiting for a move to feel completely safe, because not one of them ever has.

Was It the Right Call?

Ask me in a year, which is usually when I find out whether a place has actually become home or was just somewhere we lived for a while.

But a month in: Kaleya walked into a classroom full of strangers and came out grinning, the mountains are twenty minutes up a cable car, and we can stay a full year without filling in a single form. That feels like a good start.

If you’re considering Georgia and have questions, drop them in the comments or send me a message — I’m answering a lot of these at the moment anyway, and I’d rather answer them properly here.

In the meantime, here are a few other posts that might help you figure out your own move:

• How We Keep Our Child Safe While Traveling
• What is Worldschooling
• My Ultimate List of Resources for Digital Nomad Families
• How We Find the Right eSIM for Travel
• How We Navigate the World as a Digital Nomad Family
• 30 Countries with Digital Nomad Visas
• 20 Best Travel Apps

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links i.e. if you book a stay through one of my links, I get a small commission at NO EXTRA COST to you. Thank you for your support!

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Svalbard’s cruise season is short, and every week looks different. Here’s a breakdown of the best time to go on a Svalbard cruise — and my experience of traveling there in August.

There was a moment on my cruise to Longyearbyen that I will remember forever. We were cruising somewhere north of Spitsbergen and having a few beers with my cruise mates at 11pm out under the midnight sun, when the expedition leader’s voice came over the speakers: bear, port side, walking. The few of us walked out on deck in fleece and half-zipped parkas, and none of us said a word for twenty minutes, watching the polar bear in awe. He was walking on the ice floe, barely a few inches from our vessel.

That moment is the whole reason people travel to the Arctic. But whether you get it depends enormously on which weeks of the year you book. Svalbard’s expedition cruise season runs roughly from late May to late September, and those four months are not interchangeable. In late May you can be sailing through pack ice at 78°N with a snowmobile still parked outside the hotel in Longyearbyen. By mid-August the same fjords are green-brown and snow-free, the bird cliffs are emptying, and ships are pushing all the way around Nordaustlandet. Same archipelago, completely different trip.

Having sailed to both the Arctic and Antarctica, I can tell you the Arctic is by far the more misunderstood of the two. This guide is the one I wish I’d had: an honest, month-by-month breakdown of what a Svalbard cruise actually delivers, so you can pick your dates around what matters most to you rather than around whatever’s on sale.

But:

• For pack ice and polar bears on ice → late May to mid-June
• For seabirds and Arctic flowers → June to mid-July
• For a full circumnavigation of Spitsbergen → late July to early September
• For whales → August and September
• For photography and golden light → September
• For the lowest prices → late May/early June, or September
• For hiking → August

Why Ice Dictates Everything in Svalbard

This is the single thing that separates Svalbard planning from planning any other cruise. In Alaska or Norway’s fjords, your itinerary is a schedule. In Svalbard it’s a proposal.

Sea ice extends far down the archipelago in spring and retreats steadily north and east through summer. Ships can’t push through fast ice — and since January 2025, breaking fast ice is explicitly banned under Svalbard’s environmental regulations. So the further into the season you go, the further your ship can physically travel.

Practically, this means:

• May–early June: ice still blocks the north and east. Routes stay along the west coast of Spitsbergen, with shorter distances and more Zodiac cruising than landings.
• Mid-June–mid-July: ice opens up along the north coast. Ships reach Raudfjorden, Liefdefjorden, the Monaco Glacier, and often the 80th parallel.
• Late July–September: ice hits its annual minimum. Hinlopen Strait, Nordaustlandet, and occasionally Kvitøya come into range — this is circumnavigation territory.

No operator can promise you a specific bay. Every good expedition team writes the itinerary each morning based on ice charts and wind. If a company guarantees you a fixed route in Svalbard, that’s a red flag, not a selling point.

Month by Month: What Each Part of the Season Really Gives You

Late May: Ice, Silence and Very Few Ships

• Temperature: −5°C to +5°C 
• Light: Midnight sun (the sun stays above the horizon in Longyearbyen from around 20 April to 22 August) 
• Ships sailing: Very few

May is the connoisseur’s month, and also the hardest one. Svalbard landscape is still fully white — mountains, valleys, beaches, all of it. Shore landings often need snowshoes. The ice hasn’t retreated enough for long-distance sailing, so voyages tend to stick to the west coast and Isfjorden’s arms.

What you get in exchange is atmosphere and ice. Polar bears are still hunting seals on sea ice, which is the classic image everyone’s chasing, and mothers with cubs are around. The light in May is genuinely strange — flat, bright, all night — and it’s the driest month of the year here, with rainfall around 13mm.

Book May if: you want a genuinely wintry Arctic, you’re a photographer who likes white-on-white, and you’re comfortable with a shorter geographical range.

Skip May if: you want hiking, flowers, or a circumnavigation.

June: Bird Cliffs Erupt and the North Opens Up

• Temperature: 0°C to 10°C, occasionally higher 
• Light: 24-hour daylight 
• Ships sailing: Season fully open

June is when Svalbard comes noisily alive. Around three million migratory seabirds arrive to breed — little auks, Brünnich’s guillemots, kittiwakes, puffins, Arctic terns — and the cliffs go from empty rock to something that sounds like a stadium. Alkefjellet in the Hinlopen Strait, home to roughly 60,000 breeding pairs of guillemots, is the standout, and it’s usually reachable from mid-June onwards.

The snow on the beaches recedes through the month, which is when proper shore landings and longer hikes become possible. The tundra starts flowering: purple saxifrage, Svalbard poppies, moss campion, all of it about three centimetres tall and improbably determined. Reindeer and Arctic foxes appear on land. Plankton blooms start pulling whales into the fjords.

Ice-wise, June is the transition. Early June still means limits; late June often means the north coast and a shot at 80°N.

Book June if: you want the best of both — some remaining ice, peak bird activity, and enough access to go north. This is my personal pick.

July: Peak Access, Peak Choice, Peak Prices

• Temperature: Average highs around 7°C, lows around 3–5°C 
• Light: 24-hour daylight 
• Ships sailing: The most departures of the year

July is the busiest and most flexible month. Sea ice has pulled back far enough that ships can reach the remote north and east, landings are straightforward, and the weather is as settled as it ever gets — rain falls on only around 15–19% of days, though cloud cover is high, hanging over the archipelago 65–73% of the time. It’s not a sunny destination in the way people picture; it’s a bright grey one.

Wildlife in July is broad rather than concentrated. Bird cliffs are still active. Walruses haul out at Moffen Island and Poolepynten. Fin whales appear on the continental shelf north of Spitsbergen. Belugas move along glacier fronts in the fjords. Polar bears are still around, but by July many have followed the ice north or are foraging along coastlines rather than hunting on sea ice — the encounters are more scattered and less picture-perfect than in June.

The trade-off is cost and company. Peak season pricing in July and August runs roughly 20–40% above shoulder months, and popular anchorages see more ships.

Book July if: you want maximum choice of itineraries and the widest geographical reach, and you’re not chasing sea-ice bear photography.

August: Circumnavigation Season and Green Tundra

• Temperature: 0°C to 8°C 
• Light: Midnight sun ends around 22 August; real nights return quickly after 
• Ships sailing: Peak season continues

This was the month I went on my Arctic cruise. We had a few sunny days but also gloomy and grey skies on certain days. For hikers, August is the best month to go tramping around Svalbard. The shores are completely snow-free, the tundra is at its most colourful, and by late August it starts turning gold and rust. 

It’s also the strongest month for a full circumnavigation of Spitsbergen — the sea ice minimum typically falls in late August or September, which is when ships can complete the loop through Hinlopen Strait, past the vast Austfonna ice cap on Nordaustlandet, and back down the west coast.

Austfonna deserves a mention on its own. It’s Europe’s largest ice cap by volume, and in warm conditions its 200km-long ice front at Bråsvellbreen produces dozens of meltwater waterfalls pouring straight off the ice wall into the sea. It is one of the most surreal things I’ve seen anywhere, and you generally need late-season ice conditions to get there.

The catch: most migratory birds leave from mid-August, so the cliffs go quiet. If seabirds are your priority, sail before the 15th.

Book August if: you want a circumnavigation, serious hiking, autumn colour, and the best odds of reaching Nordaustlandet.

September: Golden Light, Whales and the Season’s Last Word

• Temperature: −5°C to +5°C 
• Light: Midnight sun over; long golden hours and the first proper darkness 
• Ships sailing: Fewer departures, dropping off through the month

September is the photographer’s month, and it’s badly underrated. After a summer of unrelenting flat daylight, the sun finally dips and Svalbard gets sunrises and sunsets that last for hours. The tundra is copper-coloured. First snow dusts the peaks. And because sea ice is still at or near its minimum, the far-flung corners of the archipelago remain reachable well into the month.

It’s also the best whale window. Whales arrive from late spring and stay through autumn, and by September the season’s feeding has drawn in humpbacks, minkes, fin whales and, with luck, blue whales — sightings often happen close to Longyearbyen, along the southern end of Prins Karls Forland. There’s a real chance of aurora in late September too, once darkness returns.

Prices drop. Ships thin out. Weather gets rougher.

Book September if: you’re a photographer, a whale person, or you want the archipelago mostly to yourself.

Skip it if: seabirds or guaranteed calm crossings matter to you.

What About Winter?

Svalbard is spectacular between November and March — polar night runs roughly from mid-November to late January, and the sun returns to Longyearbyen on 8 March, celebrated with the Solfest — but there are no expedition cruises. Winter here is snowmobiles, dog sledding, ice caves and northern lights, based out of Longyearbyen. Worth a separate trip; not a cruise.

New Regulations 

If you last looked at Svalbard a few years ago, some of your assumptions are out of date. New environmental regulations came into force on 1 January 2025, and they genuinely affect what your voyage looks like:

• Polar bear distances: minimum 300 metres year-round, increasing to 500 metres from 1 March to 30 June. Notably, these distance rules don’t apply on pack ice beyond 12 nautical miles from shore.
• Passenger cap: a maximum of 200 passengers for vessels landing in protected areas.
• Designated landing sites: landings in protected areas are restricted to a set list of mapped locations.
• Walruses: stay 150m from haul-out sites; max 5 knots within 300m.
• Bird cliffs: 5-knot speed limit within 500m, and no drones within 500m, from 1 April to 31 August.
• Fast ice: breaking it is now banned outright.

Two practical consequences.

• First, if photographing bears at closer range matters to you, a July–September departure has a lower minimum distance than a spring one, and a ship that ventures onto offshore pack ice has more latitude than one hugging the coast.
• Second, big ships have lost access to a lot of Svalbard. The 200-passenger cap has made small vessels not just nicer but functionally necessary for the good stuff.

Choosing the Right Ship for Your Month

Ship size matters more here than almost anywhere. Fewer passengers means faster Zodiac turnarounds, more landings per day, less waiting in a queue in your life jacket, and access to sites larger vessels simply can’t use.

At the smallest end, you’re looking at charter-style yachts and true expedition vessels carrying 12 to 50 guests. This is where the experience changes character entirely — you’re not a cabin number, you’re one of a small group whose day genuinely gets rewritten when a bear appears. 

Aqua Expeditions runs their Arctic cruises aboard Aqua Lares, a 77-metre icebreaker superyacht carrying just 30 guests with 32 crew, sailing June through September with options from 5 to 14 nights, covering fjords like Liefdefjorden and Raudfjord, the whaling-era remains at Gravneset and Smeerenburg, plus kayaking under glacier fronts. That guest-to-crew ratio and the icebreaking capability are exactly the combination that makes the late-season, ice-dependent itineraries realistic.

Whatever you choose, the questions worth asking any operator are the same:

1. How many guests, and how many Zodiacs?
2. Is kayaking included or an expensive add-on?
3. What’s the expedition team’s ratio of guides to guests, and what’s their Svalbard experience specifically?
4. Does the itinerary depend on ice conditions you’re realistically likely to get in your month?
5. Ice class — can this ship actually push into loose pack ice, or only sail beside it?

What It Costs

Budget ranges shift constantly, but as a working guide for 2026:

• 6–8 day voyages: roughly $5,000–$10,000 per person
• 9–12 day voyages: roughly $8,000–15,000
• 13–15 days: $10,000 and up

Peak July–August departures carry that 20–40% premium; late May, early June and September can save you 20–30%. Fares usually include all meals, Zodiac excursions, guides, lectures and loaner boots and parkas. They usually exclude international flights, pre- and post-cruise hotels, alcohol, gratuities (£10–15 per day is standard), travel insurance and sometimes kayaking.

One line item people forget: you will almost certainly need a night in Longyearbyen before and after, and Longyearbyen is not cheap. You can also cut cost by looking for cruises that depart from somewhere nearer to you. Ambassador Cruise has cruises that depart from Hamburg, Dublin and Oslo and sail to Longyearbyen.

Getting There and Practical Bits

Longyearbyen is served by SAS and Norwegian, flying from Oslo (about 3 hours) and via Tromsø (about 1.5 hours). In peak season there are several flights a day; outside it, a few a week. Book the flight before the cruise, not the other way round — seats sell out.

Svalbard sits outside the Schengen area, so bring your passport even if you’re flying domestically within Norway. Build in a buffer day before embarkation; a missed connection in Oslo can cost you the whole trip.

Packing, briefly: the ship supplies the parka and rubber boots on most voyages, so your job is layers. Merino base layers, a proper mid-layer fleece, waterproof trousers, warm hat, buff, two pairs of gloves (one thin for camera work, one thick), and sunglasses — the glare off snow and water at these latitudes is fierce. Bring a blackout eye mask for the midnight sun; I cannot stress this enough. And more memory cards than you think, plus a dry bag for the Zodiac.

Is Svalbard Worth It With Kids?

Most Svalbard expedition operators set a minimum age somewhere between 6 and 12, and honestly, the ideal age is older than you’d think — the days involve long stretches of scanning empty horizon, and the payoff requires patience. 

Around 10 and up, it’s phenomenal: sea ice, glaciology, whaling history, Arctic ecology, all of it walking straight into a worldschooling curriculum. Check the operator’s minimum age before you fall in love with an itinerary, and pick a smaller ship where a kid can spend time on the bridge with the crew.

So, When Should You Go?

If you want my honest ranking after sailing here: late June first, for the combination of ice, birds and access. Early August second, for the light and the whales and the emptiness. Late July third, for reach and reliability.

What I’d avoid is booking on price alone without checking what that week actually offers. A cheap late-May departure is a beautiful trip if you want ice and don’t mind a short route — and a disappointment if you were picturing tundra hikes and puffins. A pricey mid-August circumnavigation is extraordinary if you want Nordaustlandet — and frustrating if you booked it for bird cliffs that emptied a week before you arrived.

Svalbard doesn’t hand you a guaranteed experience the way a resort does. It hands you weather, ice and luck. But get the timing right, and you’ll be standing on a deck at midnight in flat white light watching something most people only ever see on a screen — and you’ll understand why some of us keep going back to the cold places.

Further Reading

Thanks for reading this far! If there’s one thing to take from all of this, it’s that the best time to visit Svalbard for an Arctic cruise depends entirely on what you want to see, not what’s cheapest that week. Get the month right and the rest sorts itself out, whether that’s a bear walking past at midnight, a cliff full of guillemots, or a whale surfacing off the bow.

If you’ve got a Svalbard trip in the works, or you’ve already been and have your own version of that story, drop it in the comments. I read every one, and I’m always curious what other people got lucky with, or didn’t.

For now, here are a few more cold-weather guides worth falling into if you’re not done reading yet. Svalbard is a great place to start, but it’s far from the only icy corner of the world worth planning a trip around:

• Svalbard Landscapes
• Arctic Expedition Highlights
• How to Plan Your Polar Cruise
• Best Travel Insurance
• What’s It Like to Go on a Svalbard Cruise?
• Greenland Travel Guide
• 13 Cool Things to Do in Ilulissat, Greenland
• My Complete Iceland Travel Guide
• Northern Lights in Iceland
• My Iceland Packing List
• 10 Cool Things to Do in Nuuk, Greenland
• My Iceland Ring Road Itinerary
• What is Worldschooling

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links i.e. if you book a stay through one of my links, I get a small commission at NO EXTRA COST to you. Thank you for your support!

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Everyone thinks Orlando is all about Disney and theme parks Here’s our version with springs, cypress swamps and wild Florida — our recommended 3-day Orlando itinerary.

It comes as a surprise to many that Orlando is not all about Disney and mega theme parks. The Orlando we found is sprinkled with natural springs boasting spearmint waters and pristine national parks rich with wildlife. The truth is that Central Florida is home to one of the most pristine natural wilderness areas in the United States, and Orlando just happens to sit on top of it. 

We came to Orlando the way most families do — with a plan to visit theme parks and a rental car — and left with so many surprising experiences: from swimming with manatees to floating down a lazy river and spotting spoonbills in the wild. 

Below is everything I’d tell a friend planning 72 hours in Orlando: where to swim, where to eat, how to get around without losing your mind, and where to sleep so you’re near the good stuff. You’re welcome!

Weekend in Orlando Itinerary

Three days is enough to see three very different faces of Central Florida, and the trick is to organise them geographically rather than by theme. Orlando sprawls, and the difference between a lovely day and a wasted one is usually forty minutes of unnecessary driving.

Day one brings you north into spring country and the old citrus towns. Day two keeps you central, in the leafy lake districts and food neighbourhoods most visitors never find. Day three lead you down south into cypress swamp, prairie and cattle country.

Nature lovers get springs, wetlands and wildlife drives. Foodies get a Michelin-listed dining scene that has quietly become one of the most interesting in the South. Culture seekers get Tiffany glass, murals and a 1930s carillon tower. History buffs get sugar mills and Space Age hardware. And if someone in your group genuinely does want a rollercoaster, the parks aren’t going anywhere.

Orlando Itinerary Day 1: Spring Country & the Citrus Towns

Base yourself in central Orlando and prepare to drive north. Everything on today’s list sits within a 45-minute radius of downtown, in the belt of sandhills and blackwater creeks between Apopka and Sanford. Start early. I mean genuinely early — the springs work on a capacity system and the gates close when the lots fill.

Visiting in winter? Swap this entire day for a trip to Crystal River and swim with wild manatees instead. It’s the only place in the US where you can legally do it, and between December and February it’s the single best wildlife experience in Florida. It’s a two-hour drive each way and a 5:30 a.m. start, so it genuinely needs a day of its own — you can’t bolt it onto the springs. Full details in the day trips section below.

Swim in the Spring Run at Wekiwa Springs State Park

Wekiwa Springs is the easiest introduction to Florida’s spring system and, in my opinion, the most beautiful one this close to a major city. Millions of gallons of groundwater push up through the limestone here every day, filling a wide sandy-bottomed swimming basin that holds steady at 72°F (22°C) year-round. 

Beyond the swimming area, the water gathers itself into the Wekiva River and slides off into a corridor of cypress, palm and oak that is protected all the way to the St. Johns. Rent a kayak or canoe at the concession and paddle upstream — you’ll pass turtles stacked on logs like dinner plates, anhingas drying their wings, and if you’re lucky, a river otter working the bank.

There are also miles of hiking, biking and horse trails climbing away from the water into sandhill and scrub, which is a landscape most visitors to Florida never see: bone-white sand, wiregrass, longleaf pine, gopher tortoise burrows.

Practical details: The park opens at 8 a.m. until sundown, 365 days a year. Entry is $6 per vehicle for two to eight people, $4 for a single-occupant vehicle, and $2 if you arrive on foot or by bike. Crucially, Wekiwa now runs a day-use reservation system because the park hits its vehicle capacity almost daily in summer — book ahead at reserve.floridastateparks.org.

Float Down Rock Springs at Kelly Park

If you only do one water activity in Orlando, make it this. Rock Springs isn’t a swimming hole so much as a natural lazy river — the spring emerges from a rock face at the north end of Kelly Park and runs about three-quarters of a mile through a shaded channel of ferns and cypress roots before spilling out into the Rock Springs Run. You get in at the top with a float, and the current does the rest.

The water is startling: 68°F (20°C) year-round, so clear the sandy bottom looks about a foot away when it’s actually five, and green-gold where the sunlight comes through the canopy. The run takes 15 to 20 minutes, and then everyone walks the path back up and does it again. And again. We lost an entire day to it and I’d lose another.

Practical details: Entry is $5 per vehicle, cash or card with photo ID. Orange County caps admission at 280 vehicles in the morning plus another 50 after 1 p.m., and in peak season cars start queuing at the gate before 5 a.m. Check the county park page for live capacity. There are no tube rentals inside the park — pick one up from a roadside vendor on the way in, and note that floats must be under five feet. No pets, no alcohol.

Drive the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

This is my single favourite thing to do in Orlando and it costs nothing. Lake Apopka was, for decades, an environmental disaster — muck farms on the north shore poisoned the lake so badly it became a national case study. What’s happened since is one of Florida’s great success stories. The farmland was re-flooded and turned into a mosaic of marsh and open water that now supports an astonishing amount of life: 377 bird species have been recorded here, and in winter you’ll routinely see over 150 in a season.

The Wildlife Drive is an 11-mile, one-way crawl along the old levee roads through the middle of all of it. You drive with the windows down. Alligators lie on the banks close enough to make your kids go very quiet. Great blue herons stalk the shallows. Roseate spoonbills — improbable pink things with spatula faces — feed in the flooded fields. There are bobcats and otters and coyotes out there too, and enough people have photographed black bears on the drive that it’s worth staying alert.

Practical details: The gate is open on weekends and federal holidays only, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., with everyone required to be out by 5 p.m. Allow one to three hours depending on how often you stop, bring binoculars, and go as early as you can. Vehicles must be under 25 feet and no trailers are permitted. Details on the St. Johns River Water Management District site.

Cycle the West Orange Trail into Winter Garden

By mid-afternoon you’ll want to be off your feet and moving through shade, and the West Orange Trail is exactly that: 22.32 miles of paved rail-trail running from the Lake County line through Killarney and Oakland into downtown Winter Garden and on to Apopka. It follows the old Orange Belt Railway line, so it’s flat, straight and lined with live oaks for long stretches.

Rent bikes at Killarney Station or Winter Garden Station and ride the pretty middle section — the Oakland stretch skirts the edge of Lake Apopka with boardwalk spurs down to the water. The trail is free and open sunrise to sunset.

Winter Garden itself is the reward. It’s a genuinely charming small town that has been restored rather than themed: brick streets, a 1920s theatre, a clock tower, and the trail running straight down the middle of it with bike racks outside every café. Plant Street Market is the place to land — a converted warehouse full of local vendors with Crooked Can Brewing at the back, which handles the adults while everyone else works through tacos and ice cream.

Where to Eat on Day 1

• Chuck’s Wagon and the food trucks around Kelly Park handle lunch if you’re spring-hopping. 
• For a proper dinner, stay in Winter Garden — the Plant Street Market food hall covers every fussy eater in a group,.
• If you want a sit-down meal, the town has a growing restaurant row along Plant Street. Norigami, a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand pick, is here, which tells you how far this little town has come.

Orlando Itinerary Day 2: Lakes, Gardens & the Neighbourhoods

Today you stay inside the city and discover that Orlando’s actual downtown is a chain of small, walkable, lake-strung neighbourhoods full of independent restaurants, botanical gardens and Spanish moss. Almost none of it appears in the theme-park brochures.

The whole day can be done in a rough loop between Winter Park, Audubon Park, Mills 50 and downtown, and if you time it right you can do a lot of it on foot.

Ride the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour

Start with the best-value hour in Orlando. The Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour has been running since 1938 and has changed remarkably little: a small open pontoon, a captain with a microphone and several decades of local gossip, and a one-hour route through three of the Winter Park chain of lakes connected by narrow, hand-dug canals.

Those canals are magic. You go from open water into a tunnel of overhanging cypress and palm barely wider than the boat, sunlight coming through in coins, then pop out onto another lake lined with 1920s mansions, the Rollins College campus and a bald eagle nest the captain will point out. It is completely charming and, for kids, the perfect length.

Practical details: Tours leave hourly from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily from 312 East Morse Blvd, Winter Park. $20 for adults, $10 for children aged 2–11, first come, first served, no reservations for small parties. Cash is safest. Full details at scenicboattours.com.

Wander Park Avenue & the Morse Museum

Winter Park’s Park Avenue is the closest thing Orlando has to a European high street: brick, tree-lined, terrace cafés, independent boutiques, and Central Park running alongside it with a fountain and a wisteria that goes berserk in March.

At the north end sits the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, which holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany. That sounds niche until you walk into the reassembled Tiffany chapel interior from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and understand what all the fuss is about. There are entire galleries salvaged from Laurelton Hall, Tiffany’s Long Island estate, after it burned in 1957 — leaded-glass windows, lamps, the daffodil terrace. 

If you’re here on a Saturday, hit the Winter Park Farmers’ Market first: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Central Park’s west meadow, and one of the best produce markets in Central Florida.

Find the Egrets at Kraft Azalea Garden

A five-minute drive from Park Avenue, Kraft Azalea Garden is five acres of free public park on the shore of Lake Maitland, planted with enormous banyans and cypress and dominated by a marble exedra that everyone in Orlando has had their photograph taken in front of at least once.

Come for the birds. A great egret rookery of roughly 50 nesting pairs sets up here between February and early June, and watching them come and go with nesting material over the lake at golden hour is the sort of thing you’d pay for elsewhere. Nearby, Mead Botanical Garden offers another 47 free acres of boardwalk, creek and butterfly garden if you want to keep walking.

Spend an Hour at Harry P. Leu Gardens

Halfway between Winter Park and downtown, Leu Gardens is 50 acres of botanical garden on Lake Rowena with more than 15,000 plants — one of the largest camellia collections in the eastern United States, a formal rose garden, a tropical stream garden, bamboo groves and a butterfly garden. The historic Leu House Museum sits in the middle of it.

It’s a genuinely restful place, and after two days of springs and levees it’s a nice change of pace to walk on a path with signs on the plants. Adults $15, children 3–17 $10, under-3s free, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with last entry at 4 p.m., at 1920 N Forest Ave. Free parking.

Eat Your Way Through East End Market

If you do one food thing in Orlando, do this. East End Market in the Audubon Park Garden District is a two-storey neighbourhood food hall with about a dozen independent vendors, and it’s the beating heart of the city’s local food scene.

Inside you’ll find Domu (a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand ramen shop with a cult following), Gideon’s Bakehouse — the half-pound cookies with the queue outside — La Femme du Fromage for cheese and grilled cheese, Lineage Coffee Roasting, Winter Park Biscuit Co., Papi’s Burritos and Obon Chocolatier. Upstairs there are makers and jewellers and a bookshop-adjacent gift shop that’s dangerous for hand luggage.

Pedal a Swan Boat on Lake Eola

Downtown Orlando’s front garden is Lake Eola, a sinkhole lake ringed by a walking path, framed by the skyline, and populated by an implausible number of actual swans. In the middle, a fountain that’s been the city’s symbol since 1957 lights up after dark.

The swan boats are silly and completely worth it: $15 for a 30-minute pedal, up to five people per boat, available Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from the boathouse at 195 North Rosalind Avenue. Card payment only, no reservations. Pets are welcome aboard, which delighted us more than it should have.

The Orlando Farmers Market takes over the southeast corner every Sunday afternoon, and there’s usually something happening at the amphitheatre.

Finish in Mills 50

Round off the day in Mills 50, the district where Mills Avenue crosses Highway 50 just north of downtown. It’s Orlando’s most creative neighbourhood — home to the city’s Vietnamese-American community since the late 1970s, covered in large-scale murals, and now holding more MICHELIN Guide restaurants than any other part of the city.

Walk the murals in the last of the light, then eat. Bánh Mì Boy, The Strand, UniGirl and Zaru all carry Bib Gourmands. Black Rooster Taqueria does a small, precise, chef-driven taco menu that locals will fight you over. Afterwards, Will’s Pub and Lil Indies next door are the city’s most beloved dive-and-live-music combination, and Ten10 Brewing handles the beer.

Orlando Itinerary Day 3: Cypress Swamps & Cattle Country

South of the airport, the subdivisions thin out and Florida gets very old and very flat very quickly: sawgrass prairie, cabbage palm hammocks, cypress domes, and cattle ranches that have been in the same families since before the state had a tourist industry. This is the day people don’t expect.

Kayak the Headwaters of the Everglades at Shingle Creek

Here’s a fact that reframes the whole region: Shingle Creek is the northernmost headwater of the Everglades. The water you’re floating on in Kissimmee begins a 300-plus-mile journey down through Lake Tohopekaliga, the Kissimmee River, Lake Okeechobee and the River of Grass to Florida Bay.

It also happens to be beautiful. The creek winds through a proper old-growth cypress swamp — buttressed trunks, knees breaking the surface, Spanish moss, dragonflies — and it is completely silent apart from birds. Look for alligators, softshell turtles, great blue herons, wood storks, bald eagles and river otters. Deer and wild turkey come down to the bank.

Practical details: Launch from Steffee Landing at Shingle Creek Regional Park, 4266 W Vine St, Kissimmee. The old Paddling Center building is no longer operating, but there’s now a self-service kiosk from Whenever Watersports on site — scan the QR code, unlock a kayak through the app, and go. Single kayaks run $19.99 for one hour, $29.99 for two and $49.99 for the day. Paddles, life jackets and whistles included. 

Take an Airboat Ride Through the Marsh

Yes, it’s touristy. It’s also the fastest way to understand a landscape that has no roads through it.

Boggy Creek Airboat Adventures runs out of Southport Park on the shore of Lake Tohopekaliga, and the marsh out there is the real thing — vast, shallow, full of birds and, in the warmer months, an awful lot of alligators. The boats skim over grass beds and open water at speed, then cut the engine so you can hear the marsh, which is the part I’d actually pay for.

Prices run roughly $34–$41 for the 30-minute tour and $54–$61 for the hour, with sunset tours at $62–$74 and night tours at $67–$79. The night trip is the one to book if you’re brave: the guide sweeps a spotlight across the water and hundreds of pairs of eyes glow back at you. They’re at 2001 E. Southport Rd, Kissimmee, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. See bcairboats.com.

Walk the Boardwalks at Tibet-Butler Preserve

Ten minutes from Disney’s gates — genuinely, you can see the resort traffic from the road in — sits 438 acres of pine flatwoods, cypress swamp and lake shore with barely anyone in it.

Tibet-Butler Preserve has a small network of shaded trails and boardwalks running down to Lake Tibet-Butler, plus the Vera Carter Environmental Center with exhibits that are genuinely good for kids. It’s free, it’s quiet, and it makes an extraordinary contrast with what’s happening a mile up the road. Bring insect repellent in summer.

Drive Through Wild Florida’s Safari Park

If you’re travelling with children like we did, Wild Florida in Kenansville combines a drive-thru safari park with a gator park and airboat operation on Lake Cypress.

The drive-thru holds over 150 animals including zebra, bison, wildebeest, watusi and giraffe across open pasture that, in fairness, looks quite convincingly like somewhere else entirely. Admission is $35 for adults and $25 for children aged 3–12, and includes entry to the walk-through Gator Park with its 200-plus native and exotic animals — sloths, lemurs, capybaras and a resident white alligator. Animal encounters start around $45. Details at wildfloridairboats.com.

Day Trips from Orlando

If you can stretch the weekend to four or five days, Central Florida’s real luxury is how much sits within 90 minutes of the city. Here are the day trips I’d prioritise, in roughly that order.

Swim with Wild Manatees at Crystal River

Crystal River, on the Gulf Coast, is the only place in the United States where you can legally swim with wild manatees. Everywhere else, you can only watch them from a boardwalk. Here, Kings Bay is fed by more than 70 springs pushing out fresh spring water, and when the Gulf turns cold, hundreds of manatees move in to sit out the winter in it. You slip into the water with a snorkel, float still, and wait.

And they come to you. That’s the part nobody prepares you for. A one-tonne animal with a face like a wrinkled potato drifts up, rolls slowly onto its back, and looks at you with genuine curiosity. Important to know: This is passive observation, ie no chasing, no grabbing, no feeding, no diving down on them, no splashing. If a manatee chooses to come to you, a single gentle open-handed touch is permitted — but you never initiate. Operators are strictly regulated and brief you properly before you get in. Take it seriously, because this only stays legal as long as people behave.

When to go: Manatees are around in small numbers year-round, but the season that matters runs November 15 to March 31, with the biggest gatherings from December through February. Go on a weekday and take the earliest departure — usually around 7:30 a.m. — when the water is clearest, the bay is quiet and the animals are most active.

Practical details: Tours run about three hours door to door including the orientation video, boat time and roughly an hour in the water. Group tours start around $65–$85 per person and private charters from about $450 for up to six, with wetsuit, mask, snorkel, guide and parking usually included. You do not need to be a strong swimmer — the wetsuits are extremely buoyant and guides carry pool noodles. Children are welcome, though under-3s generally require a private boat.

If you’d rather stay dry, the Three Sisters Springs boardwalk in the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge lets you look straight down into the springs from above, and on a cold January morning the view is spectacular. Winter admission (Nov 15–Mar 31) runs up to $20 for adults, $17.50 for seniors and $7.50 for children 6–15, with under-5s free and lower rates in summer. Access is by shuttle from the Three Sisters Springs Center, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., last ticket sold at 3:30. Nearby Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park offers guaranteed year-round viewing of resident rescued manatees through an underwater observatory — the reliable option outside the season or with very small children.

Bird the Boardwalks at Orlando Wetlands Park

Half an hour east in the tiny town of Christmas, Orlando Wetlands Park is a 1,600-acre constructed wetland built to polish the city’s reclaimed water — and one of the finest birding sites in Florida as a result. Nearly 20 miles of levee trails, boardwalks and observation platforms run through open marsh, hardwood hammock and lake.

You’ll see alligators, herons, wood storks, sandhill cranes and — the prize — roseate spoonbills. It’s free, open sunrise to sunset Tuesday to Sunday at 25155 Wheeler Road, and the education centre runs tram tours on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 to 3. No dogs. Come at first light with binoculars and a flask of coffee.

Combine Rockets and Wilderness on the Space Coast

The single best day trip from Orlando pairs two things that shouldn’t coexist. Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge wraps around the Kennedy Space Center, and because NASA needed a buffer zone, 140,000 acres of coastal marsh, hammock and dune never got developed.

Drive the Black Point Wildlife Drive at dawn for herons, ibis, alligators and, in winter, thousands of migratory ducks and waders, then walk part of Canaveral National Seashore — 24 miles of undeveloped Atlantic beach, the longest stretch left on Florida’s east coast. A refuge pass is $10 per vehicle per day (or $25 annually); the visitor centre at 1963 Refuge Headquarters Road, Titusville opens 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.

Then spend the afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, about 45 minutes from Orlando, where the Space Shuttle Atlantis hangs at an angle with its payload doors open and the Saturn V lies on its side in a hangar the length of a football pitch. One-day admission currently runs around $67–$72 for adults, and it’s open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Check the launch schedule before you book — watching one go up from the causeway is a core memory.

Kayak Through Bioluminescence

Between roughly May and November, the Indian River Lagoon fills with bioluminescent dinoflagellates, and paddling at night turns your kayak into something out of a fairy tale — every stroke throws blue-green sparks, and fish leave glowing trails under the hull. July and August are the peak. In winter, from about November to March, the show switches to comb jellies, which flash rather than shimmer.

Operators like BK Adventure launch from Titusville and Cocoa between 8 and 10:30 p.m., with tours from $67 to $98 depending on whether you want a clear-bottomed kayak. Book within four days either side of a new moon — moonlight washes the whole thing out. No experience needed.

Cook Your Own Pancakes at De Leon Springs

An hour north, De Leon Springs State Park has a 72°F swimming spring feeding 19 million gallons a day into Spring Garden Run, a 4.5-mile paddle down to the wild, bird-heavy Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge. That alone justifies the drive.

But people come for the Old Sugar Mill Pancake House, built into a 19th-century mill beside the spring, where every table has a built-in griddle and you cook your own pancakes from pitchers of batter — around $9 a head for unlimited, plus $3 for blueberries, chocolate chips or pecans. Park entry is $6 per carload. Be warned: summer weekend waits run two to three hours, so put your name down, then go for a swim or a hike while you wait.

Glide Over Glass at Silver Springs

Ninety minutes northwest near Ocala, Silver Springs has been running glass-bottom boat tours since the 1870s, which makes it one of the oldest tourist attractions in the country. It’s one of the largest artesian spring formations in the world, pushing out hundreds of millions of gallons a day, and the water is so clear the boats feel like they’re hovering — you can see fish, turtles, ancient dugout canoes and old film props on the bottom 30 feet down.

You can also rent a kayak and paddle the Silver River, where you stand a decent chance of spotting the population of wild rhesus macaques that have lived along it since the 1930s. Park entry at the main SR 40 entrance is $2 per person, with under-5s free; short glass-bottom tours run about 30 minutes and extended ones 90. Note that swimming is not permitted here. See silversprings.com.

Orlando Weekend Itinerary Guide

How to Get to Orlando

By Air

Orlando International Airport (MCO) is one of the busiest airports in the United States and connects to virtually every major US city plus a long list of international ones, particularly from the UK, Canada, Brazil and Colombia. It sits about 15 miles southeast of downtown and 20 miles from the theme-park corridor.

Orlando Sanford International (SFB), 30 miles northeast, is much smaller and handles mostly domestic budget carriers plus some UK charters. It’s a far calmer arrival if the route works for you.

Fares swing enormously by season — the weeks around US school holidays are brutal. Search for flights here and set a price alert a few months out.

By Train

This is the one that’s genuinely changed in the last couple of years. Brightline now runs a modern, comfortable, high-speed service directly from a station inside Orlando International Airport down the coast to West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Aventura and Miami — roughly three and a half hours to Miami with power, wifi and proper seats. If you’re combining Orlando with South Florida, it beats both driving and flying. For more on what to do once you’re there, see my Miami weekend guide.

Amtrak also serves Orlando (and Kissimmee, Winter Park and Sanford) on the Silver Service and Auto Train routes, which is how a lot of northeasterners bring their own cars down for the winter.

How to Get Around Orlando

By Car Rental

Let me be direct about this: for the itinerary above, you need a car. Springs, wildlife drives and preserves are not served by public transport, and rideshare fares to Apopka or Kenansville will hurt. Orlando is also one of the cheapest places in the world to rent a vehicle, so this isn’t a hardship.

Drive defensively on I-4, which is consistently ranked among America’s most dangerous interstates, and avoid it entirely between 7:30–9 a.m. and 4–6:30 p.m. Many toll roads in Central Florida are cashless — ask your rental company about their toll transponder before you leave the lot, because the administrative fees for driving through unpaid are far worse than the tolls. We always book through Discover Cars because it compares local suppliers alongside the big names and shows the full insurance picture upfront, the same setup we use for our 2-week Florida itinerary.

Search for car rentals in Orlando here!

By SunRail

SunRail is Central Florida’s commuter train, running north–south through DeBary, Sanford, Winter Park, downtown Orlando, Kissimmee and Poinciana. Fares are distance-based, starting around $2 for a single-county trip and topping out near $9.50 return. The catch: it runs primarily on weekdays, with only occasional weekend service for special events. If your weekend includes a Friday, it’s a lovely car-free way to get from downtown to Winter Park.

By Bus and Trolley

LYNX operates the region’s buses — over 70 routes, $2 a single ride or $4.50 for a day pass, payable through the LYNX PawPass app. Route 50 will get you to Disney Springs; other links reach the airport and Universal.

Downtown, the LYMMO bus rapid transit circulator is completely free and runs in dedicated lanes around the core, including past Lake Eola and the Dr. Phillips Center.

On International Drive, the I-Ride Trolley stops near most hotels and attractions in the tourist corridor for $2 a ride, with multi-day passes available.

By Rideshare

Uber and Lyft operate everywhere and are usually cheaper than taxis. They’re fine for hopping between Winter Park, downtown and Mills 50 in the evening — which is exactly when you don’t want to be driving anyway.

Best Time to Visit Orlando

Spring (March to May) and autumn (October to early December) are the sweet spots. Temperatures sit in the 70s and low 80s, humidity is bearable, afternoon storms are rare, and the springs are pleasant rather than shocking. March and April bring spring-break crowds, so aim either side of them if you can.

Winter (December to February) is Central Florida’s secret. Days run in the low 70s, the mosquitoes vanish, the birding at Lake Apopka and Merritt Island is at its absolute best, and manatee season at Blue Spring peaks. Swimming in a 72°F spring in January is more pleasant than it sounds, because the water is warmer than the air.

Summer (June to September) is hot, humid and stormy — highs in the low 90s with a heat index far above that, plus near-daily afternoon thunderstorms that roll through around 3 or 4 p.m. It’s also when the springs are most glorious and most crowded, hence the capacity limits. Plan water in the morning, indoor things after lunch. Hurricane season officially runs June 1 to November 30, with peak risk in August and September — travel insurance is not optional.

Where to Stay in Orlando

Where you sleep matters more in Orlando than in most cities, because the region is enormous and traffic is real. Broadly: International Drive puts you near Universal and the trolley; Kissimmee / Lake Buena Vista puts you closest to Disney and the southern nature spots; Winter Park and downtown put you in the middle of the food and lake neighbourhoods.

For families — and for anyone who wants a kitchen, a washing machine and separate bedrooms rather than a hotel room — Westgate Resorts run several villa-style properties around Central Florida, which is what we look for when we’re travelling as a family and not eating out three times a day. The reason we liked staying here is the marina — you can rent kayaks, paddle boats and pontoons and be out on the water without leaving the property, which is a very easy win on a day you don’t want to drive. 

Where to Eat in Orlando

Orlando’s dining reputation has been transformed in the last five years, and the MICHELIN Guide’s arrival made official what locals already knew. The city now holds six starred restaurants and fourteen Bib Gourmands, and almost none of them are inside a theme park. Here’s where I’d send you.

• Domu: The ramen shop inside East End Market that started as a stall and became an institution. The tonkotsu broth is the reason — 20-plus hours of pork bones, thick enough to coat a spoon — and the Richie Rich with pork belly and a soft egg is the order to make if you can’t decide. It’s a Bib Gourmand pick, it’s loud, it’s small, and there’ll be a wait. Worth it. Read reviews here.
• Black Rooster Taqueria: A tiny, brightly painted taqueria in Mills 50 doing a short chef-driven menu of tacos on house-pressed tortillas — the carnitas and the fish are the ones I’d order, and the chicharrón is not for sharing whatever you tell your table. It’s counter service, it’s cheap, and it’s been winning the city’s “best tacos” awards for years running. Read reviews here.
• The Ravenous Pig: Winter Park’s gastropub, a Bib Gourmand holder and arguably the restaurant that started Orlando’s whole independent food movement back in 2007. Expect elevated Southern cooking, a serious cocktail programme and their own on-site brewery. Book ahead — this is the one to save for your last night. Read reviews here.
• Se7en Bites: A Milk District bakery-café doing Southern comfort baking with total sincerity: biscuits the size of your fist, a chicken pot pie under a biscuit lid, and a chocolate cake that regularly stops conversation. It’s a breakfast-and-brunch place, it’s counter service, and yes, there’s a queue. Get the biscuit. Read reviews here.
• Sorekara: If you want to see how far Orlando has come, this is the proof: a two-MICHELIN-star contemporary tasting-menu restaurant in Baldwin Park, quietly doing some of the most precise cooking in the American South. It’s a splurge and it needs booking well in advance, but it’s a genuine destination restaurant in a city people still think can’t cook. Read reviews here.
• Plant Street Market, Winter Garden: Not a restaurant so much as an answer to the perpetual family problem of everyone wanting something different. Local vendors under one roof, Crooked Can Brewing at the back, communal tables, and the West Orange Trail running past the front door. Read reviews here.

Final Thoughts on a Weekend in Orlando

Orlando rewards anyone willing to drive twenty minutes past the exit everybody else takes. Spend three days doing that and you’ll come home with a version of Central Florida that has spring water, spoonbills, cypress swamp and a Saturday-night rodeo in it — and you’ll have barely queued for a thing.

If you’ve got a weekend and a rental car, this is the Orlando I’d send you to.

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Tokyo with a child in tow is louder, slower and infinitely more delightful than I expected. Here’s how we did it.

If you’re wondering whether Tokyo is too much city for a small child, I’ll save you the worry: it isn’t. Beneath the neon-lit districts and the 14 million people is a city that runs on wonder. Gachapon machines glow on every corner like tiny treasure chests, department store basements hide entire floors of food, and convenience stores become a nightly ritual of choosing the strangest snack on the shelf. Tokyo somehow makes room for both old and new: with high-rises and ultra-modern malls juxtaposed against peaceful shrines and gardens.

I’ve traveled Japan four times and brought my daughter here when she was just four years old. She rode the Shinkansen with her face pressed to the glass, ate ramen with more enthusiasm than skill, and still talks about it years later. Tokyo rewards curious kids in a way few big cities do: it’s safe, ridiculously clean, easy to navigate once you crack the train system, and full of small delights designed for exactly their eye level. Here’s a look at what’s it like to travel Tokyo with kids.

How Our Tokyo Family Trip Went

Arriving in Tokyo: The First Feeling of the City

Our flight to Tokyo was long and we landed jetlagged, dragging too much luggage between us. My husband and I had been to Tokyo before, so we knew what was coming. Kaleya didn’t. I watched her go quiet on the train into the city, forehead against the window, and I remembered doing exactly the same thing years ago.

What always gets me about Tokyo isn’t the size of it. It’s the sound. Vending machines humming on every corner. Train doors chiming shut at the exact second they said they would. Thousands of people moving around you at rush hour with almost none of the noise you’d get anywhere else. Then there’s the smell, which I’d forgotten and recognised instantly: cold metal in the station, a bit of cigarette smoke drifting from a doorway, something sweet and buttery from a bakery we hadn’t spotted yet.

We didn’t do anything that first evening. We walked, bought onigiri from the konbini downstairs, and let Kaleya press every button on the toilet in our hotel room until she’d worked out what they all did. That’s the thing about coming back somewhere with a child. You get to notice it all over again, through someone who’s seeing it for the first time.

If you’re planning a visit to Tokyo, or just want to learn more about Japan in general, Japan Travel Compass has detailed guides to help you plan your trip. But once we were actually there, we let the research go. We checked into our hotel, found dinner nearby, and let Tokyo introduce itself slowly, one street at a time.

The Beauty of Getting a Little Lost

We didn’t set out to get lost in Tokyo. It just kept happening, and every time it did, we found something better than what we were originally looking for. Tokyo is easy to plan for and hard to predict, the kind of city that quietly rewrites your route the moment you step outside a station.

One of those wrong turns led us straight into Shibuya Crossing at rush hour, half by accident. We stood at the edge as hundreds of people surged across from every direction at once, gripping hands without really deciding to. It should feel overwhelming, and for a second it does, before settling into something closer to choreography. Everyone moves, nobody collides, and somehow it all resolves in under a minute before the next wave begins.

Akihabara pulled us in for different reasons, its neon and arcades giving way to something quieter just one street over. We turned down a narrow side street on a whim and passed tiny shops stacked floor to ceiling with old electronics and figurines nobody seemed to be selling to anyone. It felt like wandering into someone’s obsession rather than a store.

None of this required much Japanese, which surprised us going in. We don’t speak more than a few basic phrases, and between pointing, gestures, and translation apps, we managed just fine, even down backstreets with no English signage in sight. A nod, a smile, a moment of figuring something out together without a shared word between us. Small exchanges like that ended up being some of the ones we still bring up now.

The Contrasts That Make Tokyo Special

What struck us most about Tokyo wasn’t any single place. It was how quickly the city could change character within a few blocks, or even a few steps. One minute we were pushed along by a crowd outside a train station, and the next we’d turn a corner into a silent residential street with potted plants on doorsteps and not another soul in sight.

That push and pull runs through everything here. Centuries-old shrines sit in the shadow of glass towers. A vending machine selling canned coffee stands next to a shopfront that’s been family-run for generations. Even the noise shifts on its own terms, the clatter of an arcade bleeding into the hush of a temple courtyard just around the corner.

We felt it most clearly from the top of Tokyo Skytree, one of the tallest towers in the world at over 600 meters. The elevator ride up popped our ears, and the view from the observation deck made the whole sprawling city suddenly make sense. Our daughter pressed her hand against the glass and started naming things she recognized from the last two days, proud of herself for remembering.

From up there, a grid of rooftops and rivers and train lines stretched out toward the haze where Mount Fuji hides on clear days. Tokyo looked still and almost orderly. Down on the street again, it was alive in every direction, the same city seen from a different height.

The Tokyo We Found Between the Famous Places

Some of our favorite moments in Tokyo had nothing to do with the places we’d actually planned to see. They happened in between: on a walk to catch a train, or while looking for somewhere to sit down for ten minutes. Tokyo rewards that kind of aimless attention almost as much as it rewards planning.

One afternoon in Harajuku, we ducked into an Owl Cafe more out of curiosity than intention. Themed cafes are something of a Tokyo institution at this point, with everything from cats to hedgehogs to owls, and this was one we stumbled on rather than sought out. Inside, the owls perched at eye level, close enough to reach out and touch, which was a genuinely novel thing to experience up close.

The owls were tethered to their perches, and while the staff seemed attentive to them, it left us with mixed feelings about the whole experience. Animal cafes in Japan have drawn increasing scrutiny over the years, and welfare standards vary a lot from one place to the next. We’d still call it memorable, but we’d also say it’s worth looking into how a particular cafe treats its animals before deciding whether it’s for you.

Experiencing Japanese Traditions Together

If Tokyo’s neon side is what draws people in, its older side is what tends to stay with you longest. We spent part of a day at Senso-ji, Tokyo’s oldest temple, said to date back to the 7th century. Walking up through the Nakamise shopping street beforehand felt like its own small ritual.

We also carved out time for a tea ceremony in a room set apart from the crowds. We sat close together on the tatami, nobody reaching for their phone. Watching the slow, deliberate movements involved in preparing a single bowl of matcha was a sharp contrast to the pace of the rest of the city, and gave us a real sense of how much intention sits behind something that looks, from the outside, like a simple cup of tea.

Later, we tried on kimono for an afternoon, something we’d recommend to any family visiting Tokyo. Getting dressed properly took longer than expected, with layers and sashes we never would have figured out alone. We ended up helping each other tie the ones we couldn’t reach, laughing every time someone got it wrong. Wearing it around the city afterward made the whole day feel different.

None of it felt staged for visitors passing through. For a few hours, we weren’t just watching Japanese tradition from the outside, we were inside it, and that’s what made the afternoon worth the extra layers and sashes.

Slowing Down as a Family 

Not every day in Tokyo needs to move fast, and some of our best hours were the slower ones. We spent an unhurried morning in Yoyogi Park, one of Tokyo’s largest green spaces and a favorite spot for locals to jog, picnic, or just sit under the trees.

From there it was a short walk to Meiji Jingu, a shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and set inside a forest of roughly 100,000 trees planted by volunteers from across Japan when the shrine was built. Passing under the towering wooden torii gate, the noise of the city dropped away almost instantly. Nobody said anything for a while. We just walked, side by side, listening to gravel under our feet instead of traffic.

One morning we watched sumo wrestlers train, an experience that slows you down almost by force. There’s no rushing a sumo practice. You sit, you watch, and you start noticing details you’d otherwise miss, like the discipline behind every drill and the restraint between wrestlers even mid-practice. My husband and I ended up making quiet bets, dead serious, on who’d win the next round.

TeamLab was a different kind of slow. The digital art spaces are built for lingering, with rooms that shift and respond as you move through them. We lost track of time in there, letting our daughter lead us from one glowing room to the next instead of following any set path ourselves.

These weren’t rushed, ticket-and-go stops. They were the moments where Tokyo let us catch our breath, and looking back, they’re some of the ones we remember most clearly. If you’re mapping out Japan with kids and wondering how much room to leave for slow mornings like these, our answer is: more than you think.

The Flavors We Discovered Along the Way

Tokyo might be the best food city we’ve ever visited as a family, and not just at the restaurants we’d planned for. Some of the best dishes to eat in Japan turned out to be the ones we found by accident, a bowl of ramen or a simple bento from a vending machine or convenience store that tasted far better than the price suggested.

We also spent an unreasonable amount of time in department store basement food halls, wandering past counters of perfectly arranged tamagoyaki, wagyu, and pastries that looked too neat to eat. It’s one of those Tokyo experiences that never makes the highlight reel, but it might be the easiest way to eat well as a family without ever sitting down.

One dinner stood out above the rest. A local friend brought us to Kisoji for shabu-shabu, and we ended up cooking thin slices of wagyu ourselves at the table, in a private tatami room that made the whole meal feel like an occasion rather than just dinner out. We kept passing the good pieces to each other before taking our own.

Harajuku gave us the opposite kind of food experience entirely. We tried the rainbow-colored cotton candy that’s become something of a local novelty, the size of a small pillow, along with an equally colorful grilled cheese sandwich from a nearby stall. Half the fun was seeing whose tongue turned the strangest color first. It wasn’t the best thing we ate all trip, but it was easily one of the most fun.

Between the ceremony of shabu-shabu and the sugar rush of Harajuku, Tokyo made it clear that food here isn’t just fuel. It’s part of the story, one we’ve kept going since getting home by hunting down Japanese recipes and trying to recreate a few of those meals in our own kitchen, with mixed results.

Finding a Home Base in Tokyo

Where you stay in Tokyo shapes the trip more than you’d expect, mostly because the city is so spread out that a good location saves you real time every single day. Tokyo isn’t one center so much as a cluster of them. We’ve done our share of driving in Japan on other trips, but Tokyo itself is a city built for trains, not cars, so picking a base near a major line matters more than picking one near any single attraction.

Areas like Shinjuku and Shibuya tend to work well for that reason, and happen to be central for sightseeing too. Both sit on multiple train and subway lines, both are packed with restaurants and convenience stores at every hour, and both put you within easy reach of the rest of the city.

For most of our trip, we stayed at the APA Hotel Tokyo Nishishinjuku, a modern hotel just steps from the subway. The rooms were smaller than we expected, but the location made up for it, and the onsen downstairs turned into a small nightly ritual after long days of walking.

We also spent a couple of nights at Ryokan Kamogawa Asakusa, a traditional inn near Senso-ji. Sleeping on futons laid over tatami floors was a genuinely different experience, quieter and slower in a way that matched the neighborhood around it. Someone joked that the walls were thin enough to hear the whole family breathing, and for once that felt more like a feature than a flaw.

If a hot spring stay sounds more appealing than a city one, we’ve also stayed at one of the best ryokans in Hakone, just outside Tokyo, and it’s worth doing at some point, even if it’s not part of the main trip.

Modern hotel or traditional ryokan, Tokyo has a way of making either choice feel right for a few nights. My husband was the one who pushed for the ryokan nights, and I’m glad he did, since trying both instead of picking just one turned out to be the right call. If you’re weighing the same decision, it’s worth choosing based on train access first and everything else second.

If You’re Planning Your Own Tokyo Trip

If there’s one thing I’d pass on, it’s this: don’t over-plan it. We tried, at first. We had maps open, routes drawn out, a rough Tokyo itinerary for each day. Then we landed, and all of that fell away within the first hour, replaced by whatever the street in front of us happened to be doing.

The trip only really came alive once we stopped trying to keep pace with our own schedule. Some of our clearest memories are the ones with no plan attached at all: the smell of something grilling from a stall we never found again, the sound of a temple bell cutting through traffic noise a block away, an entire afternoon that started as a ten-minute detour and never circled back.

We happened to be there in a season when the light stayed soft into the evening and the air rarely turned uncomfortable, which made all that wandering easy. If you have the extra time, it’s worth doing what we did on a later trip, and extending a Tokyo stay into a few days on the Northward Golden Route, which actually starts right in the city and heads north into a side of Japan you won’t see on foot.

If I’m honest, the moments that stayed with us weren’t the ones we circled on a map beforehand. They were the ones that happened while we were technically headed somewhere else, half lost, half paying attention, letting the city decide the rest. 

We still did our homework before landing, and Japan Travel Compass was a big part of that, its guides gave us enough of a feel for the country that we felt confident letting go of the schedule once we were actually there.

For more on exploring Tokyo and the rest of Japan, visit Japan Travel Compass.

Further Reading on Japan

Thanks for reading this far! I hope this look at our Tokyo family trip gave you a real sense of how it actually feels to spend time with loved ones in such a spectacular city.

Feel free to drop any questions in the comments below, whether you’re planning your own trip or you’ve already been and want to share how it went for you. Every time we visit Tokyo we come home with a new list of favorite spots, so I always love hearing what other families discover too.

Tokyo was just one part of a much longer love affair we’ve had with Japan, and if you’re starting to plan your own trip, there’s plenty more to dig into. Here are a few of our other guides that might help along the way:

• Tokyo Itinerary: 5 Days in Tokyo
• My Detailed Japan Itinerary: Two Weeks in Japan
• Japan with Kids
• My 4-Day Kyoto Itinerary
• Japan Off the Beaten Path: Traveling the Northward Golden Route
• Driving the Northward Golden Route in Japan
• Driving in Japan: How to Plan a Japan Road Trip
• Staying at The Best Ryokan in Hakone, Japan
• Japanese Food Guide
• 30 Easy Japanese Recipes to Make At Home
• Best Travel Insurance

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links i.e. if you book a stay through one of my links, I get a small commission at NO EXTRA COST to you. Thank you for your support!

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Everyone flocks to the Costa del Sol — but two hours down the coast, we found wild dunes, empty beaches and a glamping resort that welcomed our dog. Here’s our review of Dunas Tarifa.

We heard the wind before we saw the sea. Somewhere past the last bend of the coastal road, the pines started leaning sideways, and a dozen kites appeared over the ridge. Kaleya pressed her face to the window. Our dog, Brownie, who had spent the whole drive from Málaga asleep across her lap, sat up and started sniffing the air like he knew something good was coming.

10 minutes later we were pulling into Dunas Tarifa, a luxury glamping resort tucked into the scrub behind the Valdevaqueros dunes. Before we even checked in, we went running up the giant sand dunes and were blown away by the view: the windswept beach of Valdevaqueros spread before us, with spearmint water lapping against the soft confectionery sand, while miles and miles of dunes ran further into the distance.

Our Dunas Tarifa Review

The Andalusia Everyone Drives Past

Every summer, millions of people pour into the Costa del Sol — Marbella, Fuengirola, Torremolinos — and park themselves on a strip of coast where the beach clubs are stacked three deep and you pay 15 euros for a sunbed you have to reserve by 9am. And barely two hours down the road, at the very bottom of the map, sits a town with some of the most beautiful, empty, wind-scoured beaches in Europe.

Tarifa is where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, separated from Africa by a small body of water. Punta de Tarifa is the southernmost point of the European mainland, and on a clear day — which is most days — you can see the Rif Mountains of Morocco lying across the water like a sleeping animal. Just last week, I’d crossed the strait by ferry and reached Tangier in an hour – to a completely different world.

The wind is Tarifa’s whole personality. The levante comes howling in from the east and the gentler poniente blows off the Atlantic, and between them they’ve turned this stretch of coast into one of the world’s great kitesurfing capitals. That wind is also the reason Tarifa never became overly touristy. High-rise hotels and sun-lounger tourism don’t work in a place where your umbrella gets airborne. Instead you get a whitewashed old town with a 10th-century castle and narrow Moorish lanes, surf shops and chiringuitos, a scruffy, salt-crusted, slightly bohemian town full of people who came for a season and stayed for ten years.

A Small Bungalow That Fit Us Perfectly

We stayed in one of the two-bedroom bungalows, which is also the only pet-friendly accommodation on the property. Set among the low trees, it has a private deck out front and a kitchenette. The bungalow is small, but it has what we need, designed with pastel-colored wooded walls, linen, a stylish bathroom, and big windows that let in the smell of pine and sea. The bungalow is newly renovated and everything feels modern. 

We loved spending time on the deck. Coffee in the morning with the wind moving through the trees, Kaleya reading with her feet up on the railing, Brownie soaking up the sun. But most of the time, we were out and about, exploring the nearby sand dunes, beaches and Tarifa’s old town.

A Day in the Dunes

You can walk from the bungalows to the beach in a few minutes. That proximity is the whole point of this place: the resort sits right behind the dunes, low and hidden in the scrub, so there’s no road to cross, no promenade, no rows of parasols. You walk up through the sand and pines, crest the top, and the Atlantic just appears, enormous and empty, with Africa on the horizon.

The Valdevaqueros dune is a formidable mountain of sand that was amazing to explore. Kaleya went up first, of course, and by the time Alberto and I made it to the top she’d already ran down the far side and was climbing back up for a second run. Brownie went up and down with her countless times, and they just had the best time.

From the ridge you can see the whole sweep of the bay — the kites strung out over the water like confetti, the mountains of Morocco, the wind farms turning slowly on the hills behind. The light here in late afternoon does something extraordinary; everything goes gold and the sand starts throwing long shadows and you understand why photographers rate this coast so highly.

The Best Breakfast We’ve Had in Spain

We lived in Spain for 7+ years, my husband is Spanish, and making a claim about breakfast in his country is not a thing one does lightly. But: the breakfast at Dunas Tarifa is the best we’ve had in Spain, and Alberto agrees.

Breakfast at Dunas was a proper spread, laid out generously and refilled constantly — good local bread, fresh-from-the-oven pastry, real tomato, Iberian ham and cheeses, eggs done how you want them, fruit that tasted like fruit, pastries, yoghurt, juice pressed that morning, and coffee that arrived hot and kept arriving.

We ate outside both mornings, under the trees, with Brownie under the table and the wind doing its thing somewhere above us. There’s a wood-fired pizza spot on site too, which is exactly what you want after a day of hauling children up sand dunes, and an all-day bistro for when nobody can face going anywhere. We ended up eating almost every meal on the property, which is not like us at all.

Beyond the Resort

Fifteen minutes up the coast is Bolonia, which might be the most beautiful beach in Andalusia and comes with a shifting white dune that’s a protected natural monument. At one end sit the ruins of Baelo Claudia, a Roman town that made its fortune on garum, the fermented fish sauce the Romans were obsessed with. You can walk through the forum, the theatre and the old fish-salting tanks with the sea right there behind them. It is, hands down, one of the best Roman sites I’ve visited, partly because of the setting and partly because you can often have it nearly to yourself.

The Strait itself is one of the best places in Europe for whale watching. Pilot whales and dolphins are in these waters year-round, sperm whales pass through, and in high summer orcas come to hunt the tuna runs. We didn’t do a boat trip this time — a reason to return.

And then there’s Tarifa old town: ten minutes away, white walls and blue doors, the old Moorish gate, surf shops, tapas bars, and a castle you can climb for views over to Africa. It’s small, but surprisingly quiet, considering it was summer when we visited.

The Downside: There’s No Pool

One big caveat for us: there is no swimming pool at Dunas Tarifa, and for a beach resort in southern Spain in summer, that’s a big deal.

The reason it matters here more than it would elsewhere is the wind. Tarifa is windy — that’s the entire appeal of the place — and when the levante is blowing hard, the beach can be tough going. Sand in your eyes, sand in your lunch, sand in places sand should not be. On those days a pool is exactly where a family ends up, and here there simply isn’t one to retreat to. The sea is also the Atlantic, which means bracing even in August; Kaleya lasted about four minutes.

We got lucky with the weather and barely noticed. But if you’re traveling with younger kids, or in the peak of summer, or you’re the kind of traveler who wants to spend the afternoon horizontal beside water, go in with your eyes open. It’s the one thing I hope they add.

A Beach Retreat We Loved

We’ve stayed in a lot of places as a family, and our favorites are the ones where everyone’s needs are met at the same time — where the kid has space, the dog is welcome, the adults get to sit still, and nobody has to drive anywhere for dinner.

Dunas Tarifa is one of those. It’s not a resort in the sprawling sense — no pool, no kids’ club, no entertainment programme. What it has instead is the dunes on its doorstep, a very good kitchen, bungalows built with actual thought, and a quietness that costs a lot more to find on the more famous side of this coast.

Two hours from the crowds of the Costa del Sol, and a completely different Spain. Go before everyone else figures it out.

How to Get to Dunas Tarifa

Dunas Tarifa sits in Valdevaqueros, about ten minutes’ drive west of Tarifa town on the N-340 coastal road.

• By air: Málaga (AGP) is the main gateway, roughly a two-hour drive. Gibraltar (GIB) is closer at around 45 minutes, Jerez (XRY) is about an hour and a half, and Seville (SVQ) about two hours. We flew into Málaga and picked up a rental car there. Search for flights to Malaga here
• By car: You’ll want one. Public transport down here is limited, and half the joy of Tarifa is being able to drive out to Bolonia or along the coast on a whim. The drive from Málaga along the coast is straightforward and genuinely beautiful for the last stretch. Search for car rentals in Malaga here
• Best time to go: Spring and autumn are ideal — warm, far quieter, and the wind is more forgiving than in high summer. July and August bring the crowds and the strongest levante.
• With a dog: Book a two-bedroom bungalow — it’s the only pet-friendly accommodation on the property, and there aren’t many of them. Note too that beach dog rules in Spain vary by season and municipality.

Further Reading on Spain

Thanks so much for reading this far! I hope my review of Dunas Tarifa has helped you get a real feel for the experience and perhaps even put it on your list for an Andalusia itinerary. Even after you’ve left the dunes behind, a place like this has a way of staying with you.

Spain has a lot more to offer, and I’ve written about much of it. Check out my other guides and stories from across the country for practical tips that make trip planning easier:

• Living in Spain
• Renting a Car in Spain
• 2-Week Spain Itinerary
• Spain with Kids
• Weekend in Malaga
• Things to Do in Málaga
• Best Things to Do in Granada
• Weekend in Madrid
• My Detailed Guide to Spanish Cuisine
• Where to Find the Best Tapas in Barcelona
• How We Find the Right eSIM for Travel
• 20 Best Travel Apps
• Best Travel Insurance
• How We Keep Our Child Safe While Traveling

Disclaimer: Our stay was hosted by Dunas Tarifa, but all opinions expressed are my own. I only recommend companies I have personally used and enjoyed.

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