When it comes to the “best” time to visit anywhere in the world, obviously the exact time of year will vary based on the location and seasons. But there can actually be one universal answer in my opinion: the best time to visit a place – any place – is in the shoulder season.

The shoulder season can vary around the world in terms of what month(s) it falls into, but the easiest way to understand the shoulder season is to know that it always falls between a location's high season and low season when it comes to tourism.

Off-season vs shoulder season travel

Lots of travel pros and influencers might actually tell you that off-season is the best season to travel. And this CAN be true in some cases, as the off-season is usually when you'll find the fewest people and the lowest prices, especially in places where there are drastic weather swings (think: the dead of winter in a non-ski destination, or the height of hurricane season in the Caribbean).

I've taken my fair share of off-season trips that I've loved to places like Portugal and Puerto Rico and the Oregon Coast and even New York City (I go to NYC every January, which is such a low season that the city runs Restaurant Week, Hotel Week, and Broadway Week all at the same time to make it more enticing).

BUT, in some cases and places it's actually more difficult to travel in the true off-season. For example, the Amalfi Coast in Italy pretty much shuts down completely during the winter months; most restaurants are closed, and many homes/hotels aren't heated well despite the chilly and wet weather.

It's the same in most places that have mainly seasonal tourism. The off-season is the time for locals working in hospitality to go on their own vacations, and often the best times for hotels and museums to work on renovation projects.

If you're considering planning an off-season trip, just do some research beforehand to ensure the things you want to do/see will actually be open in the off-season!

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Shoulder season travel tips

Shoulder season is honestly my very favorite time of year to travel, and it's when you're most likely to find me planning my trips. But there are a few things to keep in mind with shoulder season travel, too. Here are a few tips to help you plan the best shoulder season trip:

1. Find out when shoulder season is

The first order of business for planning any sort of shoulder season trip is to figure out when the shoulder season actually is! It's not a universal time frame around the world because of how seasons and hemispheres work.

Shoulder seasons are often in the spring (before high season in summer) and fall (before low season in winter), or in between the dry and rainy seasons.

There are pros and cons to these time frames depending on the country. For example, a con of visiting Japan in July is that it's going to be hot and humid. And it will be cold with shorter days if you visit Iceland in October – but you'll have a decent chance of seeing the Northern Lights!

2. Go further with your budget

The best part about shoulder season and off-season travel is that you can often find really great deals on everything from flights to hotel rooms to tours or cruises. Less demand generally means lower prices!

If there's a place you've always dreamed of visiting but have decided it's just too expensive, don't automatically count it out for a shoulder season trip! Rooms at luxury hotels, for example, might be selling for up to 50% off in the slower travel months. So it's always worth checking before settling on a destination.

If you usually have a set budget for trips, know that it will stretch a bit further during the shoulder season.

3. Nudge up against the off-season

Want to fully maximize shoulder season travel? Nudge up against the off-season when you can to save even more money and encounter even smaller crowds.

For example, the low season in Portugal is November-March. These are the coldest and quietest months throughout most of the country, with the shoulder seasons being April-May and October. BUT, March and November are still going to be good months to visit; the weather will still be mostly mild, and things won't be completely shut up for the winter.

When you nudge up against the off-season, you can also often take advantage of any early/late-season deals that might be out there on flights, cruises, or hotel rooms.

4. Allow for spontaneity

Another excellent thing about traveling in the shoulder season is that you usually don't have to pre-plan or pre-book every day-to-day aspect of your trip.

For example, if you're planning a trip to Paris in June or July, you're going to want to pre-book everything from museum tickets to all your dinner reservations, sometimes weeks in advance. Planning a shoulder season trip to Paris in April or October, though, means you can allow yourself a little more flexibility. Sure, I would still pre-book tickets to the Louvre, but you'll be able to walk into more restaurants and perhaps buy tickets for tours and attractions the day before instead of a month in advance.

(And this works even better in smaller cities; Paris isn't the best example since it's basically always busy these days, but you still can plan a lot less when traveling to Paris outside of the high season.)

So if a shoulder season trip is on the horizon for you, don't over-stress yourself with planning out every hour of every day in advance – unless you're really into that! Less demand for restaurants and tours means you can be a bit more flexible as you explore.

You also won't waste nearly as much time standing in lines in the shoulder season!

5. Don't stress about the weather forecast

The biggest downside to traveling in the shoulder season is that these times of year are usually in-between seasons – which can often mean more unsettled weather patterns.

But listen: I've taken enough shoulder season (and off-season!) trips to know that you can't let a weather forecast ruin a trip. I've adopted the Norwegian saying that goes “There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” You can pack for any kind of weather, and therefore enjoy any trip, no matter what the weather throws you.

Have I encountered less-than-stellar weather on some of my shoulder season trips? Sure. I've had glacier hikes and kayaking tours canceled while traveling in New Zealand in March; I once spent a few nights shivering in a tent in Botswana in May; and I've even encountered snow squalls in Northern Norway in early June.

But I've also had nearly perfect hiking weather in Peru in March, a sunny week in Ireland in October, and an excellent, warm trip to Portugal in March (twice!).

I've also enjoyed every single trip, even when the weather hasn't been the best. I pack my rain coat, umbrella, warm layers, and waterproof shoes, and just roll with it. Plus, sometimes it's fun to embrace the cozy indoors, too – the concept of hygge exists for a reason, after all!

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What if you can't travel in the shoulder season?

While the shoulder season is MY preferred season to travel, I realize that it doesn't always work for everyone! Teachers, families with school-aged kids, and others might not be able to take time off to travel during the most common shoulder season months (which tend to be spring and fall).

And that's fine!! If the summer months are the only time of year you can travel, you can still make the most of it.

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Do you also love shoulder season travel? Where has your favorite trip been?