excel travel itinerary templates

Travel Itinerary Template

Easily create a concise summary of your travel plans using our free Travel Itinerary Template for Excel or Word. List your flight, transportation, lodging, meeting times and other activities so that you can get the information quickly while you're on the go. It includes a place to add hyperlinks, so you can link to maps or your flight's check-in page. Save the spreadsheet onto your mobile device (using OneDrive or whatever you prefer) so that you can access it easily. You may also want to print a paper copy just in case.

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License : Private Use (not for distribution or resale)

Authors: Jon Wittwer , Jim Wittwer, and Laura Cutler

Description

This travel itinerary template allows you to keep the many different and important trip details in one place. Details like confirmation numbers, flight times, meeting times and locations, car rental and hotel locations, and more. It is organized in a way that flows nicely with the actual trip: leaving on a flight, renting a car once you arrive, checking in at your hotel, attending meetings and events and then flying back home. It's an effective solution when planning a trip for yourself, your boss or fellow employee.

Create a Vacation Itinerary

We tried to design this to make it easy to customize. For example, if you are going on a vacation instead of a business trip, you could change the "MEETINGS" section to "ACTIVITIES" and then list some of the possible activities you could do while on your trip.

Instead of "Topic" and "Room" as labels you could add "Cost" and "Hours" to note how much an activity would cost and what hours the museum, store, or attraction is open.

Travel Tips and Resources

• Check the Weather!! at wunderground.com - This is a pretty cool travel planner by Weather Underground that will show you the weather during your trip. Use whatever weather app you prefer, but remember to check the weather.
• Tips for Traveling Abroad at travel.state.gov - This is an important checklist to use if you are traveling out of the country.
• Check with Big Brother at tsa.gov - Flying? Check TSA's rules and remember to leave the key-ring pocket knife that you got for Christmas at home.

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The Ultimate Free Travel Itinerary Template

Over the years, I’ve used Excel spreadsheets to help organize all trip details. Saving them offline as a PDF has also meant that I can easily keep track of my itinerary and confirmation numbers while on the go. It was important to me that I could access all the necessary information while on the road.

So I’m sharing with you a free travel itinerary template that makes travel planning easy. This travel itinerary template is for keeping track of the major details. One of the more frequently requested questions was how to plan and keep a trip organized, so this here has been the way I visually do so. Being organized for me has changed the travel experience. Plus, having all of the travel itinerary details with me at all times means less stress.

This travel itinerary template is designed to keep track of the most important parts of an itinerary. It’s not a home for every cafe or sight you want to see. The itinerary is designed to keep track of key components of an itinerary like flights, hotels, transfers, and a daily schedule. 

Below, you’ll find the download for the free travel itinerary template that includes an example itinerary, and some tips for how to use it! 

What’s In the Template

• Instructions on how to use the itinerary template.
• The itinerary template for you to use.
• A sample itinerary template so you can see what a finished itinerary looks like. 

A Guide to Using the Travel Itinerary Template

Thank you for downloading my travel itinerary template! I hope it helps you plan out your trips and keep things organized (plus stress-free).  There are a few key tips to using the itinerary template that will help when using it and while on a trip. 

Why A Travel Itinerary 

The whole reason for having this itinerary is so you can keep your travel plans readily available while on the go. It is also very helpful while planning your trip in order to see what days are there and any holes in the booking sections. Ultimately, this template helps keep an itinerary plan. Important confirmation numbers and transfers are key to a smooth trip. I find that visually, a day by day list keeps it the most simple.

Uses for the Travel Itinerary Template

• Road Trip Itinerary
• Vacation Itinerary
• Business Trip
• Bachelorette or bachelor’s party

How to Use the Travel Itinerary Template

The Itinerary Planner tab is designed for you to write over my prompts. Where you see the words “insert” is the location for each data field. You can find my Example Itinerary on the final tab to give you an idea of what a finalized itinerary will look like.

Always start with your flight details . Once you know your full dates, add in your departing and return flight information, including confirmation numbers.

Next, figure out your general itinerary and label the number of nights in each destination . List out your days and dates into the sheet so you know how much time to plan for. This will create blocks for each destination to help you stay organized. In each block create placeholders for important details like transportation, accommodations, and necessary reservations that you need to book. If you still need to book certain parts of a destination, you can fill a block with bright red or yellow to remind yourself to come back to it later. Once you make a reservation, add it to the appropriate block with the most important details like reservation name, time, and confirmation number.

Reminder: This template works best when it includes only the most vital planning details. Your goal is to keep it condensed and easily readable.

How to Keep the Travel Itinerary With You

It is printable! One option is to print this sheet or to save it offline as PDF. 

Saving the Travel Itinerary Offline

1. Save it as a PDF.

Go to “File” and select “Save As” Select “File Format” and select “PDF” Save to Desktop

2. Send it to your own email as an attachment. Once received, open the PDF on your phone and take screenshots. Save the screenshots as photos so you can access the itinerary without the internet.

3. Another option is to store the itinerary on Dropbox as an offline file (must have the Dropbox app on your phone). Once it is loaded on the Dropbox app, select the option to store it offline. You can then access it without data or the internet.

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Ps — are you booking a trip soon use my booking checklist.

These are the sites I use most to book my own trips. Using the links below is a great way to support Bon Traveler’s travel journalism at no extra cost to you . If you need help organizing your itinerary, get my free travel itinerary template here .

1. Book Your Flights

Use Skyscanner to find the best flights. It searches 100s of airlines and websites across the globe to ensure you’re not missing out on any route options or deals.

2. Book Your Accommodations

Use Booking.com for hotels and guest houses. They have the biggest inventory and consistently offer the best rates.

3. Book Your Tours & Experiences

Use Viator or Get Your Guide to find the best tours and experiences. They are my favorite tour search engines. I always check both as their inventory varies depending on the destination.

4. Book Your Car

Use Discover Cars or Rentalcars.com to find the best car rental deals. I recommend comparing rental agency reviews on Google to ensure you are booking with the best company in that destination, as the reviews are often more accurate than the car rental search engines.

5. Don’t Forget Airport Lounge Access

Get a Priority Pass membership to gain access to 1,400+ VIP lounges and airport experiences worldwide. The Priority Pass app is the first thing I check when I have a layover. I’ve been a member for over a decade, and having a comfortable place to relax before and between flights makes air travel so much more enjoyable.

6. Don’t Forget Travel Insurance

I never leave the country without travel insurance. It provides comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong (ie. illness, injury, theft, and cancelations, etc.). I use it frequently for my travels to stay protected.

My favorite companies that offer the best coverage and rates are:

• World Nomads (best for all-around)
• Safety Wing (best for frequent travelers)

Xx, Jessica

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My excel travel itinerary template & how to use it

After 9 years of creating travel itineraries - I have come to follow my own little process. I even crafted an excel travel itinerary template and I am sharing in this post the methodology and steps I always take !

1. Select the country for the travel itinerary

First pick a country, either like this famous French lottery ad or from an existing bucket list. There is no better ways, just let your mind wander!

(Pardon the bad subtitles encryption, but this ad in France is like a national private joke now. I had to add them myself to share this to the world ! but I am no pro at this at all :) ) 

My first stop is usually the French Ministry of foreign affair website section called “ advices to travelers ”. I would seek the similar platform of your own country. On the French one I can get real and up-to-date information about safety, visa process for my citizenship as well as any mandatory vaccines I must have. It also has all the great links to the official visa websites of the country I want to visit. This avoid wasting time searching for visa information and ending up on un-official agent site who do the procedures for you expensively.

2. Create the rough structure of your travel itinerary

Once I have decided that traveling there was safe and my timeline to get the visa was okay - I start into the details of the travel itinerary. My first step is often to see the couple of recommended itineraries from  the lonely planet - either I own the book or sometimes it can be found on their website.

It’s also great because you can buy just the chapters that you need on their shop in digital format so I can have them with me to work wherever I am on my iPad Pro (see how I turned mine into a blogging station ).

This way I have a rough idea of names of places, where most of the tourists go. Sometimes their itineraries are great and suit my needs, and sometimes it will be the “what I should avoid list” to stay off-the-beaten track.

Then I start searching, searching and searching the internet with key works such as: itinerary, road trip, one week in, two weeks in etc... This is to be able to understand the most common routes and get a sense of what can be achieved in the same timeframe as mine.

By that point, you have been exposed to dozens of travel plans, amazing photos and videos. You should start to get an idea of the key sights or activities you want to do. It’s time to put it into a format that suits you.

3. Put the travel itinerary down into a readable format ! My excel travel itinerary template !

Over the course of 9 years, I almost always work with the same excel file format. You can download the empty template here ! Do customize it to your liking !

Tab 1 is the overall route breakdown - it’s the non-detailed piece that helps me get a rough sense of what can be done in a day and timeline. I put weeks. Usually colors the dates if they are public holidays or week-end. Then, the following details per day: Morning, afternoon, evening, night, transport and comments.

I would just put lists of visits & sights to see in morning, afternoon and evening to see how busy my days are. I try to plan per half days or full days (then I merge the cells together). I have a night row to be able to add either the city where the night will be spent or if I have to take an overnight bus or train. Transport is where I would put information such as: self-drive, flights ETA, train or other relevant mode of transport. Comments are any other things that I must know at a glance.

Once I have done all the above - in this page I can see a general overview, when I need to rent a car, where I will be tired from an overnight train and need to put the next morning as “rest” for example. It gives a good and quick summary of my trip.

Under this table, I usually copy/paste all the links to amazing blogs, content that have significantly helped me build my travel itinerary. So that when I am traveling, I can go back to them or just to re-read them later on as I continue the fine tuning of the travel itinerary. I also copy paste the website or contact of the travel agent, tours and other diving center I am considering.   

4. Time to dive in budgeting the details of the travel itinerary

The second tab is the detailed budget. It’s where I go into the neaty-gritty and I start compiling the numbers. This usually is done by another round of detailed research and some educated guesswork.

As I am still wired as a French person - my currency of reference is always the Euro. Most information you find on the internet are often expressed into the local currency too. Therefore, in this file on the left side, there is the detailed day to day budget and on the upper part and upper right there are all the information that are permanent: any relevant exchange rates as well as food budget.

My food budgets are my buffer in most itinerary. First, because I love to eat and I don’t like being restricted to try that amazing restaurant I saw on a blog. Second, when you walk all day long, I need to plan for coffee or beer break - these are important to budget too! I mostly budget breakfast unless I have already pre-booked all accommodation and they all contain it. 

At the very end of this list of possible detailed expenses, I usually add up the fixed costs: visa, flights and vaccines. Then make the total. Most my budget files have a buffer of 10-15% more (mainly thanks to the oversized food budget) and if I am unsure of a cost, I always put it at the highest that I could find on the internet to be on the safe side. These extras allow as well for souvenirs shopping (since I never budget that).

I keep track on my budget white travelling by using the app called Trabee pocket. I have done a full review of it here.

5. Add more tabs and details to suit your needs

When the travel is a long one - I often create 2 more tabs - they help me with the bookings and as a checklist:

Transport: listing in the date of departure and arrival, as well as from and to. Then I fill up the exact time and company or method. If a private driver I would also add the contact information in the notes.  

Hotels: I would list here, the check in and check out date as well as the number of nights. Then once the bookings are made, I add the name of the hotel/hostel and the contact information or website. In some countries, I even add the GPS coordinate or I pre-save the addresses into google maps (to find them quicker when I need to find my way to them).

On average a travel itinerary takes me between 1 week and 3 days depending on how familiar I am with the country I am researching. Since I am always on the lookout for new travel ideas - I often compile lots of notes so I can be much quicker. If I have no idea at all and no-one I know to give me pointers, I can take up to 2 weeks to research a destination fully.

Check out my Resource page to know all the websites that I use the most to build my travel itineraries.

To me making those itineraries is already a good part of the trip, it builds my anticipation and I get really excited when I start looking at all the photos and videos available from other fellow travelers!

Some extra research tips to create your travel itinerary

• Don’t believe the instagram photos only. It takes a lot of skills to take photos of a highly touristic place and making it look like it’s empty. (Like Maya bay in Thailand?) Always research non-glamorous and less qualitative photos of a place just to make sure you set your expectations right.
• If you are a frequent traveler, don’t hesitate to cut some of the things that don’t impress you anymore. This way you can just take time to see the off-the-beaten track and more difficult to reach locations. Like for me: temples. If they are not UNESCO listed, have a very special view point or are en-route, then I don't make special detours to visit one and if it’s the only thing to see in a city, I can skip the city altogether. 
• I found that in the Lonely planet, the places that where mentioned with the least amount of details or just as a small paragraph are often the ones that I personally liked the most. 
• Don’t rely only on books & internet. Your colleagues, family and friends are the best source of information because they probably have the same expectations as you!
• Don’t be cheap. If you are not on a super long journey, then you don’t always need to follow a backpacker lifestyle. It’s important to know where to spend and where it’s okay to spend more to get a better experience. No-one will judge you if you splurge a bit, and you will forever keep the memory, that is priceless.
• I use extensively google translates which is really useful in countries like Taiwan or Japan when the best online resources are not in English.   

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