How to Plan a Trip in Google Sheets (+ Free Travel Itinerary Template)

Open sheets.google.com and start a blank spreadsheet. Name it at the top-left so you can find it later, something like "New York, March 2026." A trip holds a few different kinds of information, and they don't belong on the same tab. At the bottom of the screen you'll see one sheet tab. Right-click it and rename it "Itinerary," then use the little plus in the bottom-left corner to add two more: "Budget" and "Packing & To-Do." Three tabs, one file.

On the Itinerary tab, build your header row across the top: Day, Date, Time, Activity, Category, Location, Cost, Notes, Map Link. That order matters, because you read a day left to right the same way you live it. Two small things make that header behave. Select the first row, go to View, then Freeze, then "1 row," so the headers stay put when you scroll down a long trip. Then click the letter above the Category column, open Insert, choose "Dropdown," and load it with your six options: Food, Sightseeing, Hotel, Transport, Flight, and Activity. Now that column fills in with a tap instead of retyping the same words all day.

Now fill it in, one row per stop. Put the day number in the Day column, the date beside it, and a rough time in Time so the day has a spine. Activity is whatever you're doing at that hour, and it isn't only place names. "Katz's Delicatessen" belongs there, but so does "Check in at hotel" or "Dinner reservation, 7pm." Write it the way you'd say it to a friend. Location holds the neighborhood, not the full street address, so Lower East Side or Upper West Side rather than a house number, because the neighborhood is what tells you whether two stops sit near each other. Cost is what that line runs you, and 0 if it's free. Drop the link in Map Link (in Google Maps, hit share, copy link, paste it in). Notes is where the small stuff lives: the reservation name, the thing you don't want to forget, which entrance to use. Group your rows by day, all of Day 1 together, then Day 2, and so on. A wall of white rows is hard to scan, so give each day its own color. Select that day's rows, click the fill-color bucket in the toolbar, and pick a light shade. Do the next day in a different color. Now the days separate at a glance instead of blurring together.

One tip. Keep the times in order within each day, and if they drift, select just that day's rows, open Data, and choose "Sort range" by the Time column. Sheets reorders them for you. Do this one day at a time, not across the whole sheet, or you'll scramble the trip.

Switch to the Budget tab and build a header row: Category, Item, Estimated, Actual, Difference. Category groups the spend (Flights, Accommodation, Food & Dining, Transportation, Activities), Item is the specific thing, Estimated is your guess before you go, and Actual is what you really paid once the trip starts. Difference is the column that does the thinking for you. Click the first cell under it, type =, click the Actual cell in that row, type a minus sign, click the Estimated cell, and hit enter. Copy it down the column. A positive number means that line went over budget and a negative one means you came in under, so you can spot the trouble at a glance instead of doing the math in your head. Under your last row, add a row labeled TOTAL. In the Estimated column type =SUM(, select every number above it, close the bracket, and do the same in Actual and Difference. Now your estimate, your real spend, and the gap between them add themselves up as you go.

Select the Estimated, Actual, and Difference columns and set them to currency so the numbers read as money: Format, then Number, then Currency, and pick the one you're spending in. If your trip crosses currencies, keep the tab in one and convert as you type, or the totals stop meaning anything.

The last tab is the one that saves you at the front door. On the Packing & To-Do tab, keep it simple with three columns: a checkbox, Item, and Category (Clothing, Toiletries, Electronics, Documents, Before I leave). Click the first cell under your checkbox header, open Insert, and choose "Checkbox." Copy that cell down the column so every row has one. Now list everything you need to pack and every errand before the trip, passport, chargers, hold the mail, and tick them off as you go.

A spreadsheet you built on your laptop rides along on your phone. Install the Google Sheets app, sign in, and your trip file is already there. To make sure it works when the wifi doesn't, open the app, tap the three dots next to your file, and turn on "Available offline." Now the plan loads on a mountain road or a subway platform with no signal. Here's the honest part. A spreadsheet that felt roomy on a big screen gets tight on a phone. Nine columns is a lot to fit in one hand. You're pinching to zoom, scrolling sideways to reach the Notes column, and hunting for the right row while you stand on a corner trying to figure out where to go next. It works, but it's fiddly at the exact moment you want it to be fast.