After years of exploring the world with my best friend, I thought what a great idea it’d be to pull together the best friend bucket list. I wanted to recommend any places that me and my best friend have been on, but also let you know what destinations are on our best friend travel bucket list.

In this post, I have included the places we’ve been and those we’d like to go to. Travelling with Katie is one of my favourite things to do, and despite being in a relationship, I love spending quality time with my best friend, in far-flung corners of the world.

Me and Katie are not new to exploring the world together, having been on countless trips together over the years since we became besties on the first day of University over seven years ago.

Our Best Friend Travel Bucket List has included Dublin for a weekend, spent four months travelling down the coast in New Zealand and Australia, we’ve been to Iceland to visit the waterfalls, took a trip to Malmo for the weekend, spent five days in Switzerland, headed off on a cruise and this year we are hoping to head to Eastern Europe together!

It’s the greatest escape, being out of your element, with your number one by your side.

Travelling with your best friend will bond you in a way nothing else can, while still inspiring and motivating you to gain confidence in your own skin. And don’t worry about taking all of these trips – even just one is sure to cement memories for a lifetime…

 

Best Friend Travel Bucket List

ICELAND

Me and Katie ventured to Iceland back in March 2018 and we fell in love with love incredible country. I couldn’t think of anyone else when the trip came up – the idea of a road trip around this wonderful island with my best friend was just up my street. 

We spent four wonderful days in Iceland, exploring the south of the island, as well as all the tourist hot spots along the way. In order to help you guys with planning your own trip (after I spent hours and hours researching the best places to go and where to stop) I decided to throw together another of my ’48 Hours’ guides, but this time it was for Iceland. Read the full post here.

 

Best Friend Travel Bucket List

COPENHAGEN

If Denmark wasn’t on your travel radar before, then now’s the perfect time to keep an eye out for deals and plan a last-minute “YOLO” trip with your BFF. Copenhagen is the perfect city for a break with your BFF, as they have lots of things to do, as well as some very hygge cafes, Christmas markets and of course the famous Tivoli Gardens. Read the full post here.

 

Best Friend Travel Bucket List

SWITZERLAND

At the end of last year me and my best friend Katie jumped on a plane from London and off on a five day Switzerland adventure exploring some of the countries best cities. I had never been to Switzerland so I was super excited to explore the country, visiting three cities over five days, including Basel, Lucerne and Zurich.

All three cities were amazing and had so much to offer, check out my blog posts on 12 places to visit in Zurich, and 48 Hour Guide to Basel. But for now, here’s my guide to 5 days in Switzerland… 

While Switzerland is geographically quite small and people might think they can do a lot in five days in Switzerland. And to be honest, I wouldn’t recommend any less than five days in this magical country, as we felt like we hardly scratched the surface, and next time I visit Switzerland I plan on going to the east of the country to Interlaken and the mountains.

 

Best Friend Travel Bucket List

UNITED KINGDOM

We may live in the United Kingdom but that doesn’t stop us exploring our very own country. We love taking a staycation, although often we end up in a bar in a city, we also love the weekends spent relaxing in a country manor.

Who would you rather tour Downton Abbey Highclere Castle or Pride and Prejudice Chatsworth House with besides the one who probably watched them all with you? Best spent here at Christmas when the Christmas markets are in full swing up and down the country.

 

Best Friend Travel Bucket List

DUBLIN

Some go to Dublin for the stunning Georgian architectural and long history, others, like me and my girls visit Dublin for it’s robust pub culture, wonderful museums and good-looking Irish men (joking obviously). Last year me and the girls went to Dublin for a weekend exploring this wonderful city.

We spent the weekend drinking, walking, eating and drinking some more. We flew with British Airways, but you can also fly with Aer Lingus, Ryanair and FlyBe to Dublin Airport from the UK. Read the full post from our trip here.

 

Best Friend Travel Bucket List

NEW ZEALAND

Before arriving in New Zealand, we had no idea where to start. All we knew was that we had two weeks in New Zealand to explore both the South Island and the north island. We had no idea what we would do, but we knew that two weeks in New Zealand would not be enough time to see this magical country.

But like many others, we only had two weeks annual leave to spare so we booked two weeks in New Zealand made the most of our time to experience this magical country.

New Zealand top the lists of my favourite countries in the world, alongside Sweden and The Netherlands.

And it’s a favourite among tourists too… it’s a country to opposites, calm relaxed bays, alongside bungy jumping into a canyon, weather that varies from hour to hour, and food so indulgent alongside juice bars and health retreats. Make sure you add a holiday to New Zealand to your bucket list now…

 

Best Friend Travel Bucket List

MALMO

I visited Malmo last month with Katie and we loved this quaint city. Located only half an hour from Copenhagen, Malmo functions at a much slower pace, with cafes dotted around the city, boats for hire along the river and wild swimming from the harbour.

We loved everything about this city and especially the emerging food scene – we stopped off for lunch one day at the Instagram famous Avokado, and their food was bloody brilliant. I’d happily spend my weekends in Malmo, eating tasty food, and people watching!

 

Best Friend Travel Bucket List

NYC

Whether you’re of the Sex and the City class or a Girls recent graduate, no doubt the Big Apple has shown you some depiction of friendship over the years, either good or bad. It’s time to make it your own – after all, life is best lived first-hand. So grab your real-life best friend and take the city by storm. 

With four distinct seasons and many parades and festivals throughout the year, New York City offers a holiday as diverse as its residents. In ‘the city that never sleeps’, tourists can have the best in food and entertainment at their fingertips. The largest city in the U.S. is also one of the world’s most energetic.

From a night in a museum to a street-food festival, this metropolis has it all. I’ve never been to New York but I’ve heard it’s immense – GO GO GO!

 

Best Friend Travel Bucket List

AUSTRALIA

When you think about Australia, you think campervan. Well that’s what I did when I was planning my trip down the east coast. It made sense to hire a campervan for some of the way at least, so that you could really get a feel of Australia and see things that being on a bus just doesn’t give you.

Being on the Greyhound bus is great! Free wifi, no-hassle, they drive you and sometimes you can even get a sleeper bus and arrive at your destination however you don’t have freedom.

You can’t however nip to the shop 5km away without a car or go to the zoo 29 km away without jumping on public transport, however with a campervan you can!

So we decided to hire a campervan from Brisbane to Sydney for 10 days with campervan company Travellers’ Autobarn. I had previously clocked the company when trailing through travel websites and in STA Travel, however it wasn’t until I contacted head office and asked for a quote that I was delighted with my choice and decided to go with them.

I was in regular contact with a lady at head office who was amazing and answered all my questions about the hiring of the campervan and the admin side of it as well. Read the full post here.

 

Other posts that may help you:

10 Hygge Things to do in Copenhagen

Ultimate Guide to a Weekend Break in York

10 of the Best places to eat Brunch in London

The Best Weekend Trips in the UK

10 Things to do in Aberdeen

Log cabins with hot tubs in the UK

Thank you for reading and as always happy adventuring! 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please share it for me with all your friends and family!

Sophie X