How Long Your Vacation Should Be, According to Science

By the moment you are feeling that is more than time to plan your next break. Much have happened already in 2019 and you need to rest and gather forces to face victoriously the next 3 quarters of the year. So where to start planning your next days off in the magical wonderland of vacations?

Vacations are a great moment. Eighter you fly solo or with your loved ones, this will be a moment of relaxation and joy. Days that will extend, as lazy or as active as you wish, you being the master of your time, the captain of your days... any similarity with the movie quote might be pure coincidence. 

Back to serious business, vacations: A recent study published on Vacations assure us that "vacationing was associated with higher life satisfaction and lower health complaints". 

Some other interesting facts are that you must take several short breaks during the year and still take this self-healing long vacations, that enable you real disconection from work life, as the same study states:

"Employees are often unable to recover sufficiently during short respites from work due to increasingly permeable boundaries between work and home domains, long working hours, working overtime and prolonged physiological activation as a result of pre-occupation with work. (...) Therefore, a longer period away from work may be needed to fully recover from work"  

Researchers add that along the vacation period you will feel an increase of happiness over the first several days, with that feeling peaking on the eighth day. 

In 1910 an article written by William Taft, 27th president of the US, and published at The New York Times,  stated that people needed 2 or 3 months to recover and to work  the next year with full energy and productivity. Interesting isn't it? Find the study here. 

Choose one of the 3 simple science principles for finding major happiness in your time off and fear not, we will also make it easy for you to plan your next vacations as we plan our itineraries having in mind the same 3 principles of relaxation and hapiness. Let's start...

1. The Short Break Breeze

Taking a 3-days weekend may be as beneficial to your mental health as taking off an entire week. Indeed, a three-day vacation will help you feel more relaxed. Short breaks are less stressful to plan than a long getaway and will keep you excited looking forward to the next short break as your vacation days seem to trick your mind into an expansion of available vacation days.  

So if you don’t like Mondays, be ready to change opinion, choose the next Monday to skip work and enjoy a glass of Portuguese wine instead. 

2. The Medium Optimal Breathing 

Recent researches show that the optimal time for vacations is in fact an 8-days period. Long enough to disconnect from the everyday rush and establish a new rhythm, but still not long enough to settle a routine and take things for granted, so you get to enjoy every new moment to the fullest. 

Also, if you are an American citizen this is considered a reasonable period according to the average 10 paid vacation days a year.

3. The long relaxation moment you've been really longing for

"Longer vacations should have stronger and longer lasting effects" - following this principle and combining this idea with a long flight, the best is to really enjoy some time away from home building long lasting memories. 

Here is your opportunity to discover the different wine regions and styles and become a Portuguese wine connoisseur. Book now your 14-day tour in Portugal.

No one knows better than you what you want. But our staff has the experience and knowledge to show what is available and what is possible. 

By booking with us, you'll work with one dedicated consultant, who will not only take the time to listen to your requests, but also discuss different options with you. All of this coupled with a knowledge of the country means you'll get the best out of the time you have to spend on your next tour in Portugal.