If you are considering a gap year to travel the world, these are some of the most awesome and memorable gap year travel ideas for you!
Taking a year after school before you dive into more school or a full-on desk job to travel is one of the best ideas you could have. There are so many different ways to travel for your gap year and this is just a handful of those possibilities!
> Check out all the reasons you should take a gap year to travel!
We’ll cover gap year travel ideas, gap year ides for 18-year-olds, gap year ideas for adults, ideas for gap year during COVID, and more!
This post is all about gap year travel ideas that you will love!
Gap Year Travel Ideas:
Travel A Continent
If you are looking to travel a bit more than just one city or country, you could pick one continent and really explore it. I would love to spend a whole year exploring every part of Europe or Asia. There is so much that every continent offers and you’ll find it very easy to explore for a long period of time. You can travel a bit slower to really explore and that will help save money. You will also be able to avoid many flights and take lots of ground transportation, which is also cheaper but so pretty to look out the window the whole way!
> Follow along on YouTube for all our world travels and inspiration!
World Cruise
If you are looking for something really different but gets you to a lot of different locations, you can look into a world cruise. This will allow you to not have to pack up every few days or weeks and you can keep the same home base the whole time. You’ll also be able to make friends along the way and travel to dozens of countries together. Transportation is a breeze with everything being on the cruise and you don’t have too much to plan or worry about! This is an extremely stress-free way to travel a ton during your gap year!
World Traveler
Traveling the entire world is the best way to go big! Hit every continent (maybe not Antarctica) on your travels and see as much as you can! Eat delicious food all over the world and meet locals as you go. After your gap year, you’ll have friends in every corner of the world and be able to jet off to meet them again whenever you want. You can roam from the pyramids of Egypt to the beaches of Indonesia to the volcanoes of Guatemala. There is a ton to see and you’ll never run out of fun things to do or see.
Backpack Southeast Asia
Backpacking through Southeast Asia is how so many travelers start their journey. They pack up their few clothes and belongings and hit the road. The dollar goes further in Southeast Asia, so this is a great spot for budget travelers to visit. The beauty is truly remarkable and the food… You can find cheap hostels, delicious street food, tons of other backpackers, and lots of free activities. Be sure to head to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia while you are there!
> Get more tips on how to travel on a budget!
Book a Group Excursion
There are certain companies that will organize an entire trip for you. One of the most popular is EF Ultimate Break. They can plan a world adventure, a European summer, or a 3 month trip through Asia for you. The best part is you will be traveling with a group of like-minded travelers looking to make awesome memories and always have a good time. Since you’ll be with a group, you will have far less daily planning to do and don’t have to worry about figuring out transportation or where to go next. These are a great option for gap year travel and they have tons of different options to chose from for an entire year of travel!
Eat Pray Love Style
You can’t say you watched this movie and didn’t immediately want to move to Italy, India, and Indonesia. This style of choosing 3 or 4 different countries and using your entire 90-day visa for each location is awesome. You can really get to know a country and learn from each destination. You’ll find fellow friends along the way and you’ll even be able to learn some of the languages! Traveling slowly like this is a dream and you’ll still be able to travel around to multiple destinations!
> Read our full breakdown of how much it costs for a couple to travel the world for a year!
Wonders of the World
This would be a really fun trip to take a year and travel to each of the Wonders of the World. A good route would be Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu, Christ the Redeemer, Colosseum, Petra, Taj Mahal, and the Great Wall of China. You could spend more time in each country because they all have so much to offer. And you could add in a few of the honorary wonders of the world like the Great Pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat, Easter Island, and the Acropolis of Athens.
Move Abroad
If you are looking to travel but want some of the comforts of home, have a tighter budget, or want to really get to know a city and its people, then moving abroad is for you. You can choose any city in the world and move there. Most places have a 90-day visa upon arrival (at least for US citizens) but you can apply for longer visas or do what is called visa runs. That’s where you leave the country for a 5-day trip and return to start the 90-day visa over again. This doesn’t always work but could be helpful and allow you to get some additional travel in!
You’ll be able to rent an apartment, maybe with roommates, and really settle into a neighborhood and city. You can explore all the best restaurants, every park, and plaza, get to know the locals at your favorite cafe and market, and have a familiar route home. This sounds like a dream to me to move to Italy and really become a local myself!
Homestay
One last gap year travel idea is homestay around the world. Staying in a hotel is different than renting an apartment which is different than staying in a homestay. A homestay is where you are staying with a family as a guest in their home. You’ll likely eat dinner with them, go exploring, even carpool with their places. It’s like you are a member of the family. It can be such a unique way to get to know locals and their way of life. You’ll learn to speak their language more and even how to cook some of their family dishes! You can do this for an entire year or pick multiple families around the world to visit and stay with. A great resource to find a great homestay is Homestay.com.
