Off or peak season

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It is always the question to travel during off or peak season. What are the benefits of each and for who is what the best idea? Read this article and find out. 

What does off season mean?

Basically it is the time of the year when it is not the best idea to visit. The reasons for it could be:

1. Temperature, so to hot or too cold in the country
2. Weather, for example raining or dry seasons can be a reason for it to be off season
3. Event related, so when there is in a specific region only during a specific time something special in the region due to a specific event or many events going on.
4. Maybe nothing official, but conflicts and sanctions have a similar effect on people as off seasons
5. Outside of holidays, like peak seasons could be when there are school holidays, so when people travel a lot

What are the benefits for traveling during off season?

1. It is way cheaper, most people don’t travel during this time, so prices for flights and accommodation are just lower
2. Less tourists are found there, because most people tend to just travel to these places to avoid the down sides of it
3. You can travel more local and benefit from it due to some different experiences, instead of the other times of the year
4. You can experience things which is not known for the region. For example having the place underwater 

What are the negative parts of off season traveling?

1. Often things are closed and not so clean as during peak season
2. Things in general are possible to become more difficult, due to less touristic public transportation and infrastructure, not everywhere though
3. The weather can be terrible, for some people it’s great, that is always depending on yourself like all other points
4. Communication due to having not much tourism can be more difficult in region in which English isn’t that common

The benefits for traveling in peak season?

1. There are many things to do and people tend to focus on you
2. Especially for family traveling it makes things easier, that’s why families usually travel during this time!
3. Getting around with the language is easier. As more touristic related people are, as more English is being spoken for example, of course in specific regions also other languages
4. When you travel during summer holidays or specific public holidays in your country, it is possible to have many people of your nationality with you. 

What are the negative parts of peak season traveling?

1. It is packed with tourists, they are everywhere
2. Everything is more expensive
3. Traveling locally isn’t that easy. People tend to want to make profit with you, when working in the tourism sector which is common in touristic regions.
4. Hard to find peaceful places

What is good to know in general?

Peak seasons are based on the amount of tourists going to the country or region during a specific time of the year. This doesn’t mean it is the best time for yourself to visit the country. For example in Europe it is mainly peak season in the summer. For myself it is the worst time to visit Europe, because for me it is usually too hot then. 

You need to know for yourself what you like in general. Maybe you even prefer traveling in peak season and don’t mind spending more money, then that is also great.

• The Rainy season is also a great example, I traveled several times during the rainy seasons and for myself it wasn’t even bad. Usually one or two hours of rain, but still over 30 degrees. I was actually enjoying it in Central America, but for friends of mine, it was the worst time.

Also keep in mind, when off seasons mean that there is for example the hurricane season, be aware because during hurricane season it could be terrible and you could risk your life.

Conflict and sanction based regions

In those regions there are some things important to mention why it is harder

1. Sometimes due to high security reasons. Many controls are happening then and everything is just taking way longer. 
2. Sometimes you can’t just pay with your credit card, you need cash and change money on the black market.
3. Usually you need to find the information in the country itself while being there and can’t get reliable information online.
4. You can see bad things, destroyed buildings or even people in conditions you don’t want to.
5. Sometimes you need to dress a specific way. You are just being restricted in some countries in the region, which makes the comfort level less.

In general it always depends on where you are, just because there is war in a country. It doesn’t mean it is in the whole country. Syria is the best example, there is one region in which there is still a war happening, but in the rest of the country you can visit normal, so basically it is safe visiting the rest

What do I prefer?

I personally love to travel off-season, the negative parts are usually not as bad for me. It is just what I am used to after all these trips. It is not for everyone as well, especially when you travel with kids I would even say that peak seasons are probably easier to handle. 

At the end everyone should decide for themselves what is the best. Rather to choose a off or peak season for the upcoming trip. There are pros and cons to everything and here are just thoughts in this article. Whenever there are questions about anything travel related, just write it in the comments or as a mail!

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