It is the festive season and yet again, I have decided to write articles about travelling at Christmas. I have thought before about writing a few articles on this topic, so I thought it would be fun to kick off the new season by giving you useful ideas and tips as to how to plan a trip abroad for this time of year.

The main word that has to highlighted before anything is the word planning. This is essential for a successful trip and when you are going away at a time of the year like this. Planning takes months and is not something that you can do in a few weeks. Every time we have gone away at this time of year we have started to plan from September.

There is so much you have to account for – what will be open, what you can do on the actual holiday days, what do you need to take with you, what are the best deals on flight (which you get nearer to summer) where you want to stay etc.

Finding accommodation at Christmas can also be tricky – you need to think about things like whether you want to eat out all the time or whether you want to cook yourself. I wanted to recommend trying to stay in an apartment. It can be a lot easier at that time of year and also gives you the opportunity to try the local Christmas cuisine.

Having somewhere to stay at this time of year can actually be trickier to find because some do not rent in the winter, others put their prices up and others can even charge you extortionate amounts for heating. So always do your research before you rent somewhere and commit.

There is a lot of planning involved but it is worth it as it is great to go away at Christmas.