5 Benefits of a Longer Holiday
On average, UK travellers spent 8.7 nights on their vacations abroad in 2022 but is there an ultimate holiday length? Should you plan short trips or long trips?
While there are arguments for both, we think longer trips are ideal for immersing yourself in new cultures and since the days of Grand Tours, savvy travellers have been using longer trips to learn in an engaging, hands-on way.
The history of the Grand Tour:
The idea of a 'Grand Tour' started in the British nobility and upper echelon in the late 17th century, 18th and early 19th century. According to English Heritage, the term comes from the 17th-century travel writer, Richard Lessels, who coined the term in his book Voyage to Italy, in 1670. The book inspired a tourist boom for English travellers looking for education and culture - mostly young men accompanied by a tutor or guide or members of their family and friends. You can still see evidence of Lord Byron's Grand Tour in the graffiti he left at the Temple of Poseidon in the Cape of Sounion.
While there was no set route, most tourists travelled through France and Italy - stopping in the likes of Rome, Naples, Venice and Florence. Continuing their journey, they often headed through the Alps to Switzerland - stopping in Geneva or Montreux - and coming back through Germany or sometimes Austria. Some, like Byron, travelled even further, exploring Greece and the Mediterranean.
Travelling in these times was no mean feat; tourists usually took boats across seas and lakes and horse-drawn carriages across land. But even then, weather conditions could delay sailing for days, and the roads could be perilous. In rugged landscapes - like the Alps - carriages had to be disassembled and carried. (Of course, this was done by local servants rather than the polished young men themselves.) As a result, these trips often lasted months, if not years.
Ultimately, the travel was worth it, exposing those early tourists to a wealth of art, architecture, food and fashion from across the continent. As well as paintings and statues, they brought back new ideas, transforming their estates in homage to the magnificent buildings they saw on their journey.
Travel today
Of course, over time, the traditional Grand Tour fell out of favour - in part due to unrest, like the Napoleonic Wars - but that love of travel was passed down through the generations. Over two centuries later, we travel more than ever with 64% of people polled in a recent survey planning to go away within the next 12 months.
With travel easier and more accessible than it ever was, there's no need to spend months exploring (although we wouldn't blame you if you did). But we think it's time longer holidays – holidays of 10 days or more - made a comeback, here's why:
Benefits of a longer holiday
1. Feel like a local
With such a short time in your chosen destination, it's easy to fall into the tourist traps. A longer holiday can help you dive deeper into the culture, not just observing but embracing it. You'll still see all the highlights but now you have the time to travel off the beaten path as well, explore the backstreets, shop shoulder to shoulder with the residents and discover the joys of local life.
Japan is known for its enticing juxtaposition of rich cultural heritage dating back over 30,000 years and futuristic innovation straight out of sci-fi. But many believe you can never truly understand the country until you've stood in the crowds of Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing and experienced its organised chaos for yourself, travelled across the country on the famous bullet train, marvelled at the views of Mount Fuji and taken part in a traditional tea ceremony in the ancient capital of Kyoto. This may seem like too much to fit in one trip, but we do all this and so much more on our 16-day Grand Tour of Japan.
2. Enjoy even more adventures
A longer holiday allows you to see even more of your chosen destination. Our Grand Journey from the Deep South builds on our already popular Deep South plus Texas tour - and we fit a lot into just four extra days, including another three states, two national parks and three towns and cities! By the end of our 18-day tour, we'll have travelled almost the breadth of the USA and visited a whopping eight states. That's a lot of extra adventures: a road trip along Route 66, explore America's second-largest state park - Palo Duro Canyon, see the Triassic fossils of the Petrified National Forest and marvel at the views of the Grand Canyon.
Our 20-day Grand Tour of South Africa adds an adventure along Route 62 to our tour of South Africa. As we travel, we'll visit the Winelands to find out more about South Africa's winemaking heritage, taste Cape Brandy and meet the artisans who produce it. You'll also enjoy some breathtaking natural scenery on a 4x4 drive through the Swartberg Mountains - one of only six botanical kingdoms on Earth - and visit the 200-million-year-old Cango Caves. If you had the chance to see more of this beautiful country without the hassle of organising everything, wouldn't you take it?
3. Make the most of longer flights
If you're planning a holiday further afield, air travel can eat up a day or more of your holiday. Spending longer in your chosen destination can make that time spent travelling feel worth it. Rather than travelling back and forth, why not tick two or more countries off your bucket list? Choosing to visit New Zealand and Australia in one trip instead of two means you can cut your overall flight time almost in half. Our 26-day Grand Tour of New Zealand and Australia allows you to stay in some of the countries' greatest cities - Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown, Sydney and Melbourne. You’ll also see New Zealand's Bay of Islands, the Southern Alps, fly across the iconic Franz Josef glacier and watch the famous penguin parade on Australia's Phillip Island. You’ll tick a lot of the main sights off your list and uncover a few hidden gems as well.
4. More time means more time to do absolutely nothing
... and we think that's glorious! We know you love exploring but holidays are also for relaxing, and longer holidays give you the time to do both. So you can give yourself permission to do absolutely nothing. What better place to relax than in a country whose motto is pura vida (pure life)? Let its verdant natural beauty and serene ambience lull you into a state of zen. On our Grand Tour of Costa Rica, you'll have four days to spend at leisure in some of the most beautiful locations in the world. In Rincon De La Vieja National Park you could enjoy a day wandering through the jungle or sinking into the volcanic mud baths and thermal hot springs - ideal for rejuvenating any weary traveller. Later on the trip, you could spend the days listening to the waves lap the shore as you stretch out on the golden sands of Guanacaste. And towards the end of your holiday, you can sample the laidback lifestyle of Costa Rica's local Caribbean community in Puerto Viejo.
5. It's good for you!
Research shows not taking a holiday is correlated with higher risks of heart attacks, high blood pressure and even premature death, as well as affecting your mental health. But how long should that holiday be to get the full effect?
Your health and well-being are said to rapidly increase when your holiday starts, you might even start to feel the effects on day two. And, according to a study conducted in the Netherlands, health and wellbeing peaks on the eighth day. That's probably enough time to overcome any travel-related stress, adjust to a new time zone and settle into a new place. But you don't want to leave just as things are getting good, so a longer holiday of eight or more days will allow you to enjoy the full health benefits of being away.
Put these restorative properties to the test on a Grand Tour of Malaysia, Borneo and Singapore. This 16-day adventure offers an exciting blend of tropical rainforests and incredible biodiversity in Borneo, colonial history in Malaysia and futuristic cityscapes in Singapore.
You can find out more about the benefits of a longer holiday for yourself on our worldwide Grand Tours, ranging from 12 to 26 days across The Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia.
