Inspiratie van onze redactie
Geen anoniem SEO-blog. Onze drie redactieleden delen hier wat ze zelf op pad hebben gezien, gegeten, of geleerd — en welke aanbiedingen van Favotrip daarbij passen.
Linde · Reisredacteur · wellness & natuur
Bram · Reisredacteur · stedentrips
Sanne · Hoofdredacteur
SanneWhy we turn down most deals, and what is left
A few weeks ago, Dennis asked in a team meeting why our deal pipeline appears to grow so slowly when dozens of supplier proposals come in each week. The answer is that at Favotrip we turn down the majority. Not out of difficulty, but because we believe our offer must consist of packages we ourselves want to travel on. As editor in chief I see these rejections every week, and below I explain what we filter on and why.
door Sanne · 7 min lezen
SanneWhy packages tend to come out cheaper than booking separately
A question we get often: "Why book with Favotrip rather than the hotel direct via Booking and the attraction via the operator?" Fair question, and we always answer honestly. The answer is not automatically "because we are cheaper". But on the large majority of our packages, the bundle does come out cheaper net. Below we explain how that works, with a real example from our own offer.
door Sanne · 6 min lezen
SanneMidweek or weekend booking: when does it really save?
A question we get several times a month at Favotrip: "Is midweek really that much cheaper?" We see the pattern roll past in our own booking data every day. Rather than throw out generic tips, we put down here what we have actually seen across six months of bookings. And why we have built our packages so you see this difference directly in our calendar.
door Sanne · 6 min lezen
LindeThree Dutch spas compared: SpaWell, Thermen Holiday, Veluwse Bron
We at Favotrip have stayed at all three over the last eighteen months, SpaWell in Wellseind, Thermen Holiday in Nuland, and Veluwse Bron in Emst, all in the southern and central Netherlands. From the UK these are reachable via short flight to Amsterdam or Eindhoven plus an hour or so by car, or via Eurostar plus rental car if you prefer to drive in. None of the three is universally the best. That is exactly why we offer all three as their own package, wellness is personal enough that one formula does not fit. Here is what our editorial team learned, and which of the three packages suits which kind of weekend.
door Linde · 9 min lezen
SanneAmsterdam package: is the Heineken Experience worth it?
One of our best-selling city-break packages at Favotrip is Amsterdam with the Heineken Experience. That surprises a lot of people, including internally. I went through it again a few weeks ago with my sister-in-law to check whether we still stand by the recommendation: we only build packages we would book ourselves, and we re-test what we offer regularly. Short version: the package stays, and below we explain why we deliberately put together this specific combination. For UK travellers, Amsterdam is a long weekend reachable by Eurostar via Brussels onward, or a short flight from London City or Heathrow.
door Sanne · 7 min lezen
BramA weekend in Champagne by car: Reims and Épernay
From London, you can reach Reims in roughly four hours via the Eurotunnel and the A26, or about three hours by Eurostar to Brussels and onwards. Champagne feels like a well-kept secret, but it isn't: 80 percent of all champagne in the world comes from these 34,000 hectares of vineyard. We at Favotrip have driven there each spring for the last four years, and we have seen exactly where travellers get stuck: parking in a French town centre, a tasting that should have been booked days in advance, a reception that closes at 10 pm just as you arrive at 10:30. That is precisely what our Champagne package is built around. Not to add complexity, but so that you no longer need to think about it.
door Bram · 7 min lezen
LindeParis like the locals: four days outside the Eiffel cluster
Four days in Paris without a minute spent queuing at the Eiffel Tower. Not to be alternative for the sake of it, but because the 11th, 12th and Belleville offer a Paris that is much quieter than the cluster around Champ-de-Mars and the Louvre. We at Favotrip think this is the Paris people come back for, which is why our Paris package is deliberately built around three or four nights in a hotel with Metro on its doorstep. From London via Eurostar to Gare du Nord, you are in central Paris in two hours twenty. Two nights are simply not enough to escape the Eiffel cluster.
door Linde · 7 min lezen
BramHamburg or Bremen? Which northern German city break suits you
Hamburg and Bremen are both fixtures in our northern Germany line-up, and not by accident. We travel there regularly as an editorial team: Hamburg has been in our top five since our first seasons, and we built the Bremen package because we felt the city was underrated. Both are reachable from London via short flight to Hamburg or by Eurostar to Brussels and onward by ICE, both are port cities, both are curated by us. And yet they make for fundamentally different city breaks. Below, why we keep both packages running side by side, and which one we recommend to whom.
door Bram · 8 min lezen
BramFour days in the Loire Valley by car: Chambord, Chenonceau, Amboise
The Loire Valley is one of our personal favourites in the entire Favotrip catalogue. From the UK most travellers reach it via Eurotunnel and a five-hour drive south of Paris, or via Eurostar to Paris and a hire car onwards. Our editors have done it five times by car, three in May and two in September, and out of those trips emerged the two packages we now offer: a 3-day castle route and a 4-day extension including vineyards. Here is why we built them this way: the two unmissable castles (Chambord and Chenonceau) as anchors, paired with a hotel partner we have worked with since 2018. Here is our standard route and which of our packages fits where.
door Bram · 9 min lezen
LindeDisneyland Paris with kids 6-12: what works and what gets in the way
Disneyland Paris is large, busy and expensive, and yet we keep talking about it after a visit. For UK families it works as a Eurostar from St Pancras (2h40 direct to Marne-la-Vallée, or via Paris Nord and a 35-minute RER A) or as a Eurotunnel-and-drive trip. We have built the 1-day and 2-day variants of our DLP package because we see that different children's ages handle different energy levels. I went twice, once with an 8-year-old niece and an 11-year-old nephew, and once with parents on their first visit who found two days already overwhelming. Here is what we took from those visits, and how it shapes our two package variants.
door Linde · 9 min lezen
BramChampagne or Alsace: which wine weekend suits you?
Earlier this spring our editors ran both regions back to back, Champagne first then Alsace, three nights each by car. From London, both are reachable via Eurotunnel and an onward drive (about four hours to Reims, six to Strasbourg) or by Eurostar to Brussels and on. The question we hear most often: "Which one do I pick if I have never done either?" Here is an honest comparison, knowing that both sit in our package catalogue. We believe in both regions, but for different travellers. Here is why.
door Bram · 7 min lezen
BramLimburg caves and wine route: how a Valkenburg weekend should look
Valkenburg sits in the southern Netherlands, just over the German border and an hour from Aachen. From the UK it works as a longer weekend via Eurostar to Brussels and a 90-minute onward drive, or via a short flight into Eindhoven or Maastricht-Aachen. Hills, marl caves and Limburg vineyards that have produced genuinely drinkable wine for the last decade. We at Favotrip think this corner of the Netherlands is one of our most underrated destinations, and that is exactly why we have built our Valkenburg package to fit two or three days comfortably, with hotel, cave access and a wellness option in one booking. You only pick your dates.
door Bram · 7 min lezen
LindeEfteling with children aged 4 to 8: how we get the best day out of it
Our Efteling package exists because we at Favotrip see that many parents with younger children want the same thing: a hotel right next door so they can take a breather between visits. Efteling is in the south of the Netherlands, around an hour and a half drive from Amsterdam Schiphol or Eindhoven airport, making it a feasible long weekend from London by short flight or via Eurostar to Brussels and onward train. I went three times with my sister and her two children (six and almost eight) as part of our editorial test. The first visit was a disaster, trying to do too much, queues too long, and a tearful child after Vogel Rok. After that we became more methodical, and that experience directly shaped how the package is built today.
door Linde · 8 min lezen
LindeWellness on the Meuse and Moselle: three quiet weekend bases
We at Favotrip usually write about wellness within the Netherlands, but lately we, and many of our UK guests, have been looking just over the German border. The combination of river, hills and local wine works better for us than a sealed-off spa in a flat-country hotel. Three places that were worth the visit this spring, and which we offer as wellness packages in a single booking, with hotel, half-board and parking included. Why three different packages and not one "best"? Because wellness is personal enough that one formula rarely fits everyone.
door Linde · 7 min lezen
BramBavaria weekend: Neuschwanstein and an e-bike ride through the Alps, without doing the puzzle yourself
Bavaria is one of the destinations we tested three times before adding it to the Favotrip catalogue. Hills, villages, alpine foothills, and at the end Füssen at the foot of the Alps with Neuschwanstein as the anchor. From the UK most travellers arrive via a short flight to Munich (then a two-hour drive south) or via a longer Eurotunnel and motorway run. We believe this weekend only really works when hotel, castle ticket and an e-bike route are sorted in one booking, instead of you chasing three websites in the daily castle-slot lottery. That is exactly what our Bavaria package is built around.
door Bram · 7 min lezen
LindeWildlands Emmen with the kids: what works, what we skip
Wildlands is one of our most-requested family packages, and not by accident. Emmen sits in the northeast of the Netherlands, reachable from the UK via short flight to Amsterdam or Eindhoven plus around two hours by car. We at Favotrip have tested the park multiple times with our editorial team and we see that it offers exactly the mix of spectacle and manageability families with children look for. Three weeks ago I went with my sister and her two children (6 and 9) for our latest test round. Both children were comfortably worn out by the end of the day, in a good way. Below our observations, and how the package solves the logistics for you.
door Linde · 6 min lezen
BramDüsseldorf in 48 hours: a city break that fits in one booking
Düsseldorf is, for us, the German city break with the best balance of calm and things to do. Less crowded than Cologne, comparable infrastructure, and reachable from London by Eurostar via Brussels onward to Cologne, then a short hop, or as part of a longer continental trip. We only build packages we would book ourselves, and Düsseldorf is one we have visited several times as an editorial team before adding it to our top city breaks. Below, our trusted 48-hour routine and how our package handles the logistics for you.
door Bram · 7 min lezen
LindeDrenthe wellness: three places where you actually switch off
Drenthe is, in our view, the most underrated wellness region in the Netherlands. From London expect a short flight to Amsterdam or Eindhoven and roughly two hours onward by car, or pair it with a Eurostar and rental car if you want to drive in via Belgium. More space than the better-known Veluwe, less crowded than the coast. Three places we visited this year without picking up the phone once, and three reasons we now offer each as a wellness package rather than letting guests piece it together. We at Favotrip believe a wellness weekend only really starts working once you no longer have to coordinate anything.
door Linde · 7 min lezen
BramBremen by car: a city break where you do not have to organise anything yourself
Bremen has been in the Favotrip catalogue since our earliest seasons because we think it is one of the most underrated cities in northern Germany. For UK travellers it works as a short flight (Heathrow or Stansted to Hamburg, then 55 minutes by ICE train), or via Eurostar to Brussels and onwards. Our editors visit regularly, and what strikes us each time is how much calmer it travels when you do not have to solve the hotel-and-parking puzzle yourself. That is exactly why we built this package the way we did.
door Bram · 7 min lezen
LindeA weekend in Bruges without the tourist trap
Bruges is one of those cities you are meant to see once in a lifetime, and then you forget to actually visit because it is supposedly too touristy. We at Favotrip went back as an editorial team this spring. If you know three things, a Bruges weekend is possible without it feeling like a Disney set. Which is why we deliberately built our Bruges package around a Thursday arrival, edge-of-centre hotels and museum tickets sorted in advance. From London via Eurostar to Brussels, then a one-hour onward train, you are in Bruges in well under four hours door to door. Bruges still pays off, provided you visit it in a way that shows the city in its normal rhythm.
door Linde · 7 min lezen
SanneWhy we at Favotrip deliberately do not offer flights
We hear it weekly: "Why don't you have flight deals?" Short version: because it does not fit us. We at Favotrip believe a good package starts where we would book ourselves, and flights are deliberately outside that. Below, why this is a fundamental choice about who we want to be, and what it means for you as a customer. UK travellers tend to be used to short-haul flying; we are not arguing against that, but we explain how we focus our packages around hotel plus arrival by car, train or onward connection from continental hubs.
door Sanne · 8 min lezen