How to Plan a Travel Route Around the World

Three Rules That Save Money and Sanity#

1. Move in one direction. The most expensive thing in travel is backtracking. A route that goes east-to-west (or north-to-south) in a continuous arc burns far less money on flights than one that zigzags. If you’re circling the globe, pick a direction and mostly stick with it.

2. Cluster cheap regions together. Southeast Asia, South Asia, and parts of the Middle East are all roughly in the same zone. Fly once to get there, then travel overland for months. Same principle applies to Central and South America, or Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Your big flights should be between clusters, not within them.

3. Let visa rules shape your timing. Most tourist visas are 30 - 90 days. If Thailand gives you 60 days and Vietnam gives you 30, plan accordingly. Some visas must be used within a window after issue - don’t apply for an Indian visa six months before you plan to arrive.

The Major Overland Corridors#

The world has well-worn overland routes where buses, trains, and ferries connect neighboring countries cheaply and reliably. Building your route along these corridors saves money and adds some of the best travel experiences.

The Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia has no road. You either fly (cheap from Panama City to Bogotá) or take a sailboat through the San Blas Islands (5 days, ~$500, and one of the great travel experiences if you have the time and stomach for it).

When to Fly vs. When to Go Overland#

Overland travel is cheaper, more interesting, and better for the planet. But sometimes a flight just makes sense.

Fly when: - You’re crossing an ocean (obviously) - The overland route takes 3+ days through terrain you’ve already seen - A budget airline fare is under $50 (common in Southeast Asia and Europe) - Visa logistics make a land crossing complicated - Safety is a concern on the overland route

Go overland when: - The journey itself is the experience (train through the Swiss Alps, bus through the Andes) - You’re saving an overnight bus = saving a hotel night - The countries between A and B are worth stopping in - You want to see the landscape change gradually

The open-jaw trick: Fly into one city and out of another instead of round-trip. Fly into Bangkok, travel overland through Southeast Asia, fly out of Hanoi. This avoids backtracking and often costs the same as a round-trip. Google Flights and Kiwi.com are best for searching open-jaw itineraries.

Visa Sequencing#

Visas are the invisible constraint that shapes every multi-country itinerary. Get the sequencing wrong and you’ll waste days at embassies, pay for rush processing, or skip countries entirely.

The basics: - Many countries offer visa-free entry or visa on arrival for 30 - 90 days. Check before assuming. - Some visas (India, Myanmar, some African countries) must be obtained in advance and have a “use by” date - typically 3 - 6 months from issue. - Some countries require you to show proof of onward travel. A cheap refundable flight booking or a bus ticket usually satisfies this.

The sequence matters: - Apply for visas with strict validity windows last, as close to your entry date as possible. - Get long-validity, multiple-entry visas (like the US or Schengen) early - they’re valid for months or years. - If a country requires an embassy visit (not just e-visa), plan to be in a city that has that embassy. Bangkok, for example, is famous as a visa hub - almost every country has an embassy there.

Don’t over-plan visas. For most of Southeast Asia, South America, and Europe, you can just show up. Save the advance planning for countries that actually require it: India, most of Africa, Russia, China, and a few others.

Building the Itinerary#

Here’s a practical process that works for trips of any length:

1. List the places you most want to see. Not countries - specific places. “Angkor Wat” is more useful than “Cambodia” at this stage.
2. Group them geographically. Cluster nearby places into legs. Each leg should be a region you can explore overland.
3. Sequence the legs. Put them in an order that flows geographically and follows good weather (see our when to go guide).
4. Identify the flights between legs. These are your big-ticket transport costs. Check prices on Google Flights or Skyscanner. Sometimes reordering legs saves hundreds.
5. Add buffer time. Whatever you think you need, add 30%. You will find places you want to stay longer and places you want to leave sooner.
6. Don’t book everything. Book your first flight and maybe the first few nights of accommodation. Everything else can be figured out on the road. Over-planning kills spontaneity, and spontaneity is half the point.

A good rule of thumb: one week minimum per destination, two weeks per country, one month per region. Anything faster than that and you’re sightseeing, not traveling.

Common Route Planning Mistakes#

• Too many countries, not enough time. The #1 mistake. Ten countries in three months means you’re spending more time on buses than in the places you came to see. Five countries in three months is a much better trip.
• Ignoring geography. Morocco and Egypt are both in Africa but they’re 3,500km apart with no easy overland connection. Check a map before assuming two places are “nearby.”
• Booking a rigid itinerary. Locking in every hotel and internal flight months ahead sounds organized. In practice, it means you can’t extend a stay you’re loving or skip a place that isn’t working. Book the first week; improvise the rest.
• Chasing bucket-list items over experience. The person who spends a month getting to know one Colombian city has a better trip than the person who “does” South America in six weeks. Depth beats breadth, every time.
• Forgetting about transit days. A bus from Lima to Cusco takes 20 hours. That’s a full day gone. Account for travel days when you’re planning how long to spend in each place.

Next Steps#

You’ve got a route. Now sort out the practicalities: