Why plan a surprise holiday?
Not knowing where you're going is half the fun. The build-up becomes part of the holiday, and there's no arguing about where to go, because nobody knows. A surprise trip also gets you somewhere you'd never have picked, which is often where the best memories come from.
It suits lots of occasions: a birthday or anniversary, a reward after exams, a treat for children who've been asking "where are we going?" for months, or just a way to make an ordinary half term feel special.
Find out what they'd love, without asking
The risk with a surprise is that it's somewhere the other person doesn't want to go. So do some quiet research first. What did they love about past trips? Have they mentioned somewhere they've always wanted to see? Do they hate the heat, long flights or early starts?
Play it safe on the big things (temperature, travel time, how busy it is) and save the surprise for the place itself. A short flight somewhere warm, like Madeira or Malta, is easier to get right than a long-haul trip.
Keep it a secret
- Book in your own name and switch off email notifications on shared devices.
- Tell them only what they need: the dates, roughly what to pack, and whether they need a passport.
- Give a packing list, not a destination. "Swimming things, one warm jumper, comfortable shoes" keeps the mystery while making sure nobody arrives in the wrong clothes.
- Take care at the airport. Departure boards give the game away, so decide whether the airport itself is the reveal.
Make the reveal part of the fun
How you reveal it is the moment everyone will remember. A few ideas:
- Clues in the run-up. One clue a day for a week, from the weather to a food or a word in the local language.
- A homemade boarding pass in an envelope, opened on the morning you leave.
- A suitcase with a hint inside, like a phrasebook or a guidebook.
- At the airport, let them find the flight on the departures board themselves.
- A scratch card or a map with a pin, revealed bit by bit.
Let the draw keep it a surprise for everyone
There's another way to make a holiday a surprise: let everyone choose, but leave the final pick to chance. In somewhere🎉, each person adds the places they'd love to go and spreads points in secret. Nobody sees anyone else's points, and nobody knows which place will win until the departures board reveals it.
So the whole family gets a say, and the result is still a surprise, even for the person who organised it. Read how the draw works in our guide to deciding where to go.
A few surprise holiday ideas
Not sure where to send them? Some places that make a great surprise:
- A first look at snow: Rovaniemi or Tromsø in winter
- A warm escape in winter: Tenerife or Cape Verde
- A city that feels like a film set: Prague, Vienna or Kotor
- A once-in-a-lifetime trip: Tokyo, the Maldives or a safari in the Maasai Mara
Or browse where to go in each month for something at its best when you travel.