Traveller types

The six types of traveller — which one are you?

Everyone plans a holiday like one of these six people. Once you know which one you are, the whole ‘where should I go’ question gets a lot smaller.

Two people can want completely different holidays and still both call it “a nice break”. One wants a lounger and a book they won’t finish. The other wants to have walked twelve miles and eaten something they can’t pronounce by 2pm. Neither is wrong — they’re just different types. And the reason picking a destination feels so hard is usually that you’re trying to be all six at once.

Here are the six. You’ll recognise yourself in one straight away, and probably borrow a bit from a second. That primary type is the single most useful thing to know before you look at a single flight.

1. The Sun Chaser

Warmth first. Everything else is negotiable. You don’t want an itinerary. You want heat, water, and no decisions before noon. A Sun Chaser is happiest when the hardest choice of the day is which end of the pool. The trap: booking somewhere “interesting” you’ll resent because it rained.

Where you should go: short-haul, the Algarve or Lanzarote; if you’ve got the budget and the flight tolerance, Krabi in Thai winter.

2. The Culture Forager

Old streets, real history, no coach tours. You measure a trip in museums argued about, backstreets walked, and one perfect ruin. You’d rather stay in a scruffy neighbourhood with good bakeries than a polished resort. The trap: cramming so much in that you never actually sit down.

Where you should go: Seville, Kraków, Istanbul — cities that reward getting deliberately lost.

3. The Slow Coast Wanderer

Sea view, slow mornings, a town you can walk end to end. Speed is the enemy. You want one base, a short list of good places to eat, and permission to do very little. The trap: picking somewhere so lively you spend the week wishing it were quieter.

Where you should go: the eastern Algarve, Puglia, Kotor — small places where the pace is the point.

4. The Food Pilgrim

You book the restaurant before the flight. The trip is built around lunch; everything between meals is logistics. You’ll travel two hours for one sandwich if it’s the right sandwich. The trap: choosing a pretty place with forgettable food.

Where you should go: Naples, San Sebastián, Oaxaca — places where eating is the sightseeing.

5. The Adrenaline Case

If it doesn’t raise your heart rate, why fly? Sore legs, cold water, a summit photo. Rest is what the flight home is for. You want a trip that leaves a mark. The trap: booking a beach because someone else wanted one, and climbing the walls by day two.

Where you should go: the Azores, Interlaken, Costa Rica — somewhere the activity is the holiday.

6. The Off-Grid Reset

Signal optional. Silence mandatory. No crowds, no notifications, a view that makes your phone feel embarrassing. You’re not running from work so much as toward quiet. The trap: choosing a “bucket-list” spot that turns out to be a car park with a queue.

Where you should go: Lake Bled, the Faroe Islands, the North-West Highlands — genuinely quiet, genuinely reachable.


Why knowing your type actually helps

Because it turns an impossible question — “where in the entire world should I go?” — into a much smaller one: “where should a Slow Coast Wanderer with a week and a mid-range budget, flying from Manchester, go?” That’s answerable. That’s a decision.

Most “where should I travel” quizzes stop at the type and hand you a vibe. The useful part is the next step: matching your type against the boring, real stuff — your budget, your airport, how long you’ve actually got, who’s coming. That’s the difference between a fun result and a trip you book.

If you want yours worked out properly — type plus one confident, real destination that fits your constraints — that’s exactly what the quiz does. Twelve questions, about two minutes, one answer at the end.