Friend trips fail in two classic ways: money and taste. One friend wants luxury, another wants the cheapest hostel, and the group spends the trip negotiating instead of enjoying it. Or one friend plans every day around their own hobby, and everyone else quietly endures it. A shared budget per person, agreed before booking, removes the money fight at the root. Rotating interests by day removes the taste fight: the beach lover gets a beach day, the food lover gets a food day, and nobody owns the whole trip.
This tool works in your browser. Enter your travellers, budget per person, trip days, and interests, one per line. The planner totals the group budget, splits it by day, and gives each day a different interest, so everyone gets a day they love. The result appears below the form, in plain lines you can read at a glance. You can change any value and run it again, so the plan improves as your trip details become clearer. Save the result, or copy it into your notes, and take it with you. The tool never asks for personal details, and nothing you type leaves your device, because all the maths runs on the page itself.
Why rotate interests instead of voting on everything? Because votes create winners and losers, and losers remember. A rotation is fair in a way a vote never is: every interest gets its day, in turn, and the group knows the order in advance. People enjoy days outside their taste far more when they know their own day is coming. The planner makes the rotation automatic from the interest list, so the organiser does not have to defend the schedule. The result is a trip where friendship survives the planning, which is the whole point.
How to use it, step by step. First, gather your trip details: dates, group size, and budget. Second, enter them in the form, in the format shown in each box. Third, press the button and read the result from top to bottom. Fourth, change one thing at a time if the result looks tight, and run it again. A good plan usually needs two or three short tries, and that is normal. The goal is not a perfect plan. The goal is a plan your group can actually follow and enjoy.
Start with the example already in the form. It shows a typical trip, with sensible numbers and a realistic plan. Run it once, just to see the shape of the result. Then replace the example with your own dates, group, and budget, and run it again. Compare the two results. If your own plan asks for too much in one day, that is a warning sign, not a challenge. Spread the plan over more days, or accept a lighter day, and the whole trip will feel calmer at once.
The Friends Trip Planner is free to use, with no account and no sign-up. It works on a phone or a computer, in any modern browser, and you can run it as often as you like. Keep the plan simple: one main idea per day, a clear budget, and room for the unexpected. Trips rarely go exactly as planned, and that is fine. A good plan bends without breaking, and the best days are often the ones the plan left open.
Three tips make any result better. Book the big things early, so dates and prices do not force a worse plan. Keep one day lighter than the rest, so a delay or bad weather does not ruin everything. Share the plan with the whole group before you go, so everyone knows what to expect. Can I use this tool for free? Yes, it is free, with no account and no sign-up. Does it work on a phone? Yes, it works in any modern browser, on a phone or a computer. Can I change the plan later? Yes, change any value and run it again as often as you like. The tool shows the maths clearly, so you can see exactly how the plan was built.
Spanish version: Planificador de Viaje con Amigos