Why Some Places Are Better in Certain Seasons: Ratul Puri’s Travel Logic

 

One of the most common patterns in travel planning is that it is usually dominated by availability instead of considerations of suitability. Travel planning usually is dominated by the availability of approved leave, plane tickets, or the calendars of friends. Traveling voters seem to be unaware of the travel destination’s suitability at the specific time. The same travel destination can feel so different if visited at different times.

Travel planner Ratul Puri has years of experience tailoring journeys that play out in different seasons. Puri’s travel planning is based upon the reasoning that travel destinations are not always good or bad. Travel destinations are influenced by the conditions at the time of traveling, especially weather, pricing, crowds, and local traditions.

This blog will focus on the seasons of Ratul Puri’s travel reasoning and how he uses seasonal changes to optimize travel experiences in a destination without changing the travel destination.

The Myth of the Best Places to Visit

Travel lists leave out the seasonal aspect of travel planning and destinations. No destination is constant, and yet places are often on travel lists because of the myths associated with the location.

Puri explains how travel lists result in poor travel experiences and set up travelers for disappointment. Travelers expect to be able to visit a destination with its advertised postcard scenery, but the travel destination is often filled with bad travel conditions, and there are likely to be travel restrictions.

The problem is not the destination. The problem is the time of traveling.

Travel logic based on seasons begins with these three points:

• Mobility and comfort are impacted by climate changes
• Experiencing the same space is impacted by how crowded it is
• Seasonal demand leads to changes in local activities
• This understanding replaces guesswork with informed decisions.
• Seasonal Travel Experiences

Seasons are more than changes in temperature; they are instrumental in shaping the movement of people, the actions of businesses, and the energy of a place.

In the eyes of Ratul Puri, seasons affect travel in three primary ways:

• Physical comfort — temperature, humidity, daylight
• Human density — crowds, queues, availability
• Operational rhythm — frequency of transport, access to activities
• Travel feels effortless when these aspects are in harmony. When they are not, even the best planned trips can feel uncomfortably forced.
• Climate: Comfort Is the First Filter

Weather forecasts are often over simplified judgements of climate, but there are deeper impacts that they miss.

Ratul Puri suggests that travellers think about a destinations:

• Potential for walking / time spent outdoors
• Outdoor time: how heat and sleep affect energy and appetite
• Outdoor time: how the weather will alter/align with your planned activities

Hyper local outdoor activities can be exhausting during the extreme heat. Just like breathtaking destinations may be less inviting with poor weather. None of the conditions degrade a location, only seasonal suit the destination.

A good first step in travel planning is a seasonal alignment between weather and activities.

“How a place feels is often dependent on how crowded it is.

Puri explains that the influence of tourists is moreso felt in how they:

• Set the pace for movement
• Add/ reduce noise
• Visually fill/ empty the place
• Clutter / ease the local experience

Purchasing local experiences often feel restricted but add to the experience in peak season and ease the experience in off peak.

This is called seasonal awareness and it is knowing what some places feel like when it is busy and what it feels like when it is quiet.

For Ratul Puri, costs are not problems to solve, but pieces of information. In fact, high costs are often associated with:

• Maximum demand
• Scarcity
• Increased friction/crowd pressure
• Balanced or reduced demand is often associated with low or moderate costs.
• Instead of looking for the cheapest alternative, Ratul Puri encourages travellers to think: What type of experience does this price mean?
• The answer usually indicates whether or not the timing is right for them.
• Why Peak Season Works for Some and Not Others

Just because a time of year is characterized by peak demand does not mean it is bad. For some destinations, it even represents the most desirable circumstances.

For Ratul Puri, peak season is positive if:

• The conditions are right for the main activity
• The facilities can handle high demand
• The atmosphere is lively and people are engaged

However, peak season can be problematic for destinations that need quiet, space, and time for deep engagement. For these places, a high density of visitors causes a loss of quality and increased exhaustion.

Seasonal logic is understanding whether a destination is improved or harmed by peak demand.

The Value of Shoulder Seasons

Ratul Puri often recommends travelling during the shoulder seasons, the times just before or after peak demand periods.

• Why Shoulder Seasons Are Important
• Crowds are present but manageable
• Costs are more reasonable
• Services remain largely operational

When it comes to visibility, does it get much better than shoulder seasons? Conditions are stable enough for comfort, yet relaxed enough for exploration.Shoulder seasons often deliver the strongest overall experience for travellers who value balance.

Off-Season Travel: A Deliberate Choice

Off-season travel is not a compromise; it is a choice. From Ratul Puri’s perspective, off-season travel is ideal for those who

• Prefer quiet environments
• Are comfortable with limited options
• Value observation over activity

Periods of off-season travel reveal everyday life rather than curated experiences. However, they also require travellers a level of expectation realism, such as reduced schedules, weather variability, and wider closures.

• Seasonal logic means choosing off-season travel intentionally, not accidentally.
• Activities Define Seasonal Suitability
• Ultimately, a destination is only as good as what you can do there.
• Ratul Puri encourages travellers to map activities against seasons
• Outdoor-focused destinations are reliant on climate, ultimately have the least flexibility.
• Urban or cultural destinations are more season-flexible.
• Nature-focused locations have the greatest restriction of seasons.

If the core activities of a place are seasonally restricted, the destination may feel great disappointment, regardless of the place’s reputation.

Matching activities to seasons means travel energy spent is used for enjoying rather than compensating.

Local Rhythm and Seasonal Reality Outside of climate and crowds is local rhythm: how the community does things at different times of the year.

From Ratul Puri’s travel logic:

• Some places slow down intentionally in low-demand periods.
• Others focus on local life instead of visitors.
• Services may adapt instead of disappear.

All of the above describes local rhythm and helps to avoid disappointment. A quieter season may have fewer options, but a deeper cultural understanding may be revealed.

• Seasonal travel is about how a place operates just as much as it is about how a place functions.
• A Simple Seasonal Decision Framework

To clarify travel timing decisions, Ratul Puri often describes planning around four questions:

• What activities are most important on this trip?
• How much crowd energy feels comfortable?
• How much does climate comfort matter?
• How much are you willing to compromise on time, distance, or cost to get the crowd energy you want?
• Which season fits best is revealed in the answers to these questions. This framework aligns expectations to reality.
• How Seasonal Awareness Improves Travel Over Time
• With time, understanding seasons becomes easier. Travellers who plan their trips with seasonal logic;
• Are least likely to be surprised.
• Are more confident in their decisions.
• Have better and more realistic expectations.

Ratul Puri says that with each well-timed trip, you improve your judgement. Over the years, people start to stop looking for the same old, generic recommendations, and start selecting places to go based on when they’re travelling, rather than just where.

Some destinations aren’t better or worse than others, just that they are better at certain times of the year. Getting frustrated season after season because you are not getting the results you want is exhausting. Getting the right results when you are travelling is refreshing and respect the seasons.

In Puri’s system of travel logic, the aim is to achieve the highest level of travel satisfaction, and when travellers match destinations with seasonal attributes, they can travel more easily and get more satisfaction from the travel.

Great travel is not about visiting new destinations. More importantly, it is about identifying the ideal time to visit them.