21 of The Best Staycation Ideas for Winter 2024

Author: Veruska Anconitano, Award-Winning Food Travel Journalist, Sommelier & Outdoor LoverAuthor information
Veruska
About the author
Veruska Anconitano
Veruska is a a food travel journalist with awards to her credit, such as World Best Food Travel Journalist. She holds a certification as a sommelier and she is also an ardent lover of the outdoors. Aside from this, Veruska is a Multilingual SEO and Localization Consultant and co-owns multiple websites that cater to a global audience.
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No time, budget, or too many restrictions for a winter holiday? You’re not alone! This list of the best winter staycation ideas will help you make the best of your time in 2024-2025. The staycation ideas we’ve selected are suitable to the whole family, but also young people, and are location independent, meaning that no matter where you’re located, you can do these things yourself and have the best staycation of your life.

Use the Table of Contents below or jump straight to the tips you like!

Read Also: 8 Essential Travel Accessories to Travel Safely in 2024

Staycation: What Does it Mean?

The word Staycation is the combination of “stay” and “vacation,” literally staying at home and participating in leisure activities within driving distance of their home. A staycation may or may not require spending the night out.

Staycation. The Benefits

Staycations are extremely useful when one has a tight budget. A staycation is also perfect when travel restrictions are in place. Also, when we don’t have time or interest in traveling abroad, we don’t want to cope with the stress that can go along with travel. At the end of the day, it’s not the destination but the mindset and the plans we have!

How Can I Enjoy My Staycation?

This is the trickiest part: people may not think you’re having a break just because you didn’t go far from home. It’s your responsibility to introduce measures to disconnect you from the daily routine completely. Turn off your smartphones, do not check your email and working tools, and make sure you don’t feel the guilt of not answering back to working calls and requests.

You need to consider your staycation a proper vacation: disconnect your phone, don’t set up your alarm clock, don’t bother reading office news. And make sure you treat yourself to experiences you would gladly make also if you were abroad: a pizza if you’re on a low-carb diet, a cake if you’re on a diet, and so on.

How Long Does a Staycation Last?

Well, as long as you like. It can be one day, or a weekend, or even a week or 14 days. The longest it is, the more you can do! But the longer it is, the more you need to plan it to avoid getting bored.

27 The Best Winter Staycation Ideas for Any Budget in 2024-2025

1. Play Tourist in Your Hometown

Is there a museum you’ve always wanted to visit? Is there a district you’ve never explored? Is there a newly-opened attraction you want to check? Do it by any means! We all think that exploring our city is boring, but the more we do the more we understand how funny it is. If you cannot travel abroad, make sure to travel in your city like a tourist!

2. Try a New Fitness Class

If you were going on holiday abroad this winter, you would probably have tried something new. You can do the same in your city! Try a new fitness class, something that stimulates your mind or something you’ve always wanted to try. It could be a Bellydance course, or a Zumba class, or even a martial arts class. Whatever it is, make sure it’s new to you!

3. Book a Spa Day

Put in some time at your local spa for a massage or a full package: you can go alone, or book a spa day with your partner or also with your family. In every city, there are facilities for every person where to enjoy a spa day if this is not the best way to spend your home holiday.

4. Plan Fun Activities

The concept of “fun activities” is extraordinarily subjective, but the options are almost infinite. Whether it is a day at the closest winter park or a food tour in a different neighborhood, there’s no shortage of options. Choose the one you prefer, and have fun!

5. Visit Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Take time to acknowledge your local restaurants, spend time eating there, and support them. Remember: if you’re staycationing, they’re working, so make sure you’re always nice and supportive.

6. Visit New Local Restaurants

Make sure you schedule at least a visit to one of the new local restaurants: check the reviews on Google, talk with your friends, and pick up the one you want to visit. It may become one of your favorites, who knows?

wine and food

7. Volunteer at your local charity

A winter staycation may not rime with volunteering, but it can be seen as a moment to give back. Giving back is a great way to remind us all of how much we have and how lucky we are: treat your staycation as your chance to give back to the community, especially in wintertime when the weather may not play nice with less fortunate people.

8. Book a Cooking Lesson

Staycationing means you’ve saved some money, so make sure you treat yourself and your family to something unique: booking a private cooking lesson with a chef and learn to cook. You may plan an Italian-theme night, or a Mexican-theme night, for example.

9. Host a Party

Do not make the mistake of inviting people over and ending up working a lot to be sure your dinner party will go as planned. Host a party but ask each of your guests to bring something. You can go for a theme dinner party to make things even more funny and challenging.

10. Go to a Hotel in your Town for the Night

Why not scouting for the best offers on hotels in town and booking a night? It may sound weird, but it’s actually funny and super relaxing: hotels tend to reduce their rates for the day if they don’t sell out, and who can avail of these if not the people who already live in the city and want to do something different? Imagine having access to a hotel breakfast the morning after.

11. Set Up a Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are not just for kids, and they are a great way to spend some time while staycationing. You can play with your friends, your family, or only your children: plant treasures around your neighborhood or even your house, give people a clue that leads them to the next one, and have fun!

12. Hit the Mountains

If you’re fortunate enough to live near the mountains, take advantage of it and spend as much time as you can in there. Hitting the mountains is one of the best staycation ideas. Even if you’re used to going to your local place, and it’s not that big of a deal for you, you can always make it more interesting: pick up a different location, go exploring, and treat it like if you were on a long-distance destination.

13. Hit the Closest Heated Pool

If it’s too cold, look for the closest and heated pool. The best thing to do would be to choose a hotel pool to enjoy your day. Grab a magazine, a towel, a cocktail, and you’re all set for the day!

14. Host a Movie Night

Have a movie marathon at home, whether it’s just for yourself or open to friends and family: you can pick up a theme and run a few movies, or go for only one film. Amazon Prime Video is a great resource, and so are Netflix and Apple TV. Make sure to complete your movie night is with snacks, of course!

15. Try Something New

Winter is not meant to be scary and if you plan on staycationing, you can use this time to try something new: ideally, you should go for something that somehow intimidates you and can challenge you. Whether it is a rope course or a cooking class, trying something new is a fun way to spend your staycation, and the options are unlimited.

16. Learn New Recipes

Cooking is one of the funniest activities ever, but doing it every day can become tiring and not challenging anymore. Use your winter staycation to learn new recipes, challenge yourself with a different type of food, have fun with ingredients you’ve never tried. Grab your laptop or tablet and follow a cooking class, then apply what you’ve learned and enjoy!

17. Learn New Skills

Even if a traditional vacation is a way to relax and detox, we could also use our staycation to learn new skills. Treat this learning path as a way to relax by doing something different and useful: you may learn how to code, for example, or how to sew or learning the basics of Korean beauty. And this could also lead to life and career changes, who knows?

18. Discover Local Producers

If you are into food and are also into the idea of community, use your staycation to find and discover new local producers: it could be a new small brewery, a cheese maker, or a bakery. Supporting local small businesses is essential because locally grown food tastes better, and it is healthier.

19. Start Your Own DYI Project

Pick a project that is not crazily expensive and start working on it: wintertime helps in choosing an indoor project, whether it is just rearranging the furniture in your room or creating a image lazy photo album. Anything that will allow you to see a change in your daily life. The reward associated with starting and completing your own DYI is immense.

20. Sleep

In winter, the days are shorter and our body needs to rest as much as possible to cope with the cold weather. Sleeping is a fundamental activity of every holiday, and it has to be considered in the same way even when you’re staycationing. Deactivate your alarm clock, sleep in for as long as you like, and don’t feel guilty at all: sleeping is a respectable and well-deserved activity!

The Aurora Borealis

21. Explore the World from Home

So you haven’t left your house, but you still want to travel and explore? Do it from your home, by booking online tours and experiences that will make you feel like in another country. A fun, cheap, and excellent way to travel from the comfort of your home!

We hope that this list with 21 best staycation ideas will give you tips on what to do this winter and how to spend your time vacationing at home!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means that we may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

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