Planning a weekend getaway: how to arrange your hotel, food, and outings without stress

Getting away for a bit doesn't have to be far or expensive. A weekend away in another city, by the sea, or in nature often feels like half a vacation. But it needs to be well-organized, because nothing is as wasteful as spending your Saturday evening looking for a restaurant that still has a free table.

With this step-by-step plan, you can plan a weekend away where sleeping, eating, and fun things all fit together.

Step 1: determine what kind of weekend you want

Before you look at hotels: what are you actually looking for? A weekend full of museums and terraces requires a different place than a weekend where you mainly want to sleep in and go for walks.

• City: culture, shops, lots of choice in restaurants, everything within walking distance.

• Sea or nature: peace, being outdoors, often a quieter evening program.

• Wellness: the hotel is the destination; eating and relaxing in or near the hotel.

Step 2: choose your dates wisely

Friday to Sunday is the most popular, and you'll notice that in availability and prices. If you can shift a day, look at Sunday to Tuesday or a long weekend outside of school holidays. Also, keep events in your chosen city in mind: a festival can be fun, but it makes hotels scarce.

Step 3: choose a hotel in the right location

The location of your hotel determines how your weekend feels. A hotel in the center means walking to the restaurant in the evening and back. A hotel outside the city is often quieter and more spacious, but then you are dependent on the car or public transport for everything.

When choosing, pay attention to:

• Type of hotel: boutique, city hotel, design, or just a quiet place.

• Breakfast: included, bookable, or prefer to have breakfast elsewhere?

• Parking: if you are coming by car, check if there is parking at the hotel or nearby.

• Cancellation policy: until when can you cancel free of charge?

Choose where you sleep first, and then look for where you eat. Otherwise, you often end up taking a taxi through the city.

Step 4: reserve your dinner in time

This is the step that is most often forgotten. On Saturday evenings, popular restaurants fill up quickly, especially in tourist cities. Therefore, reserve immediately after your hotel is sorted.

A few tips:

1. Look for restaurants within walking distance of your hotel; then you don't have to drive anywhere after eating.

2. Choose something simple for the first evening and the "big" dinner for the second evening. After a travel day, not everyone wants five courses.

3. Keep a lunch spot in mind, but don't book it. This leaves room to discover something.

Step 5: plan the day, but not too full

One or two fixed things per day is enough: a museum, a boat trip, a walk. The rest of the time is for strolling, sitting on a terrace, and letting yourself be surprised. A program that is too full turns a weekend away into a work week.

Step 6: put everything in one overview

Hotel, restaurant, times, addresses: put it in one place, especially if you are traveling as a couple or with a group. Then everyone knows what time you need to be where, and you can see at a glance how far apart everything is.

Planning your weekend with HelloWhere

In HelloWhere you can search for hotels and restaurants in the same place. Put them in a plan: you can see on the map where everything is and how far a restaurant is from your hotel. Your travel companion can watch and choose along, and for hotels and restaurants that offer it, you can book directly via HelloWhere.

Don't know which hotel yet? With Choose together, everyone privately indicates what kind of hotel, what budget, and what is really necessary, and you can see together which hotels fit.