TravelCharika

Which places are good, or fair, for an activity in a month, as the site's activity pages say it: hiking (dry days of 10–27 °C), the beach and sea (warm dry days, a warm and calm sea), skiing (deep snow on the ski area's own slopes while its lifts run) or the northern lights (long dark nights under the auroral oval; cloud is not counted, so a good month is no forecast). The most visited first, each with the figure its month was decided on, and the activity's rules and sources in the site's own words. Without a month, how many places are good and fair in each month of the year. A place under travel advice is never listed.

When to go to one place: TravelCharika's verdict for each of the twelve months (sweet spot, good, ok or avoid) with its reason, scored from ten years of measured climate and the public holidays that crowd it; the typical daytime high, rainy days (what counts as one is in the answer's rainy_days_are: days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them), humidity and sunshine of each month; the sweet spot; and the verdict in one sentence, as the place's page says it. A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one; `crowds` gives the busiest and quietest months as the page's graph of how busy it gets shows them, and how that is measured. Given a departure city, how far the place is from it. A place under travel advice is answered with the advice first, as its page shows it.

Where to book a trip to one place, as the place's page shows it to that reader: the booking sites people in the reader's own country use, in the order they know them (flights, a room, things to do, car hire, travel insurance, an eSIM for data), and the brands to book with directly (the airlines Wikipedia's airport articles show flying the route, hotel groups and luxury houses with a hotel there, car renters with a counter in its country), each address filled in for the place and the route. No address carries dates: each site opens on its own search. Some sites pay TravelCharika a commission, which never decides whether or where one is listed; show the result's disclosure with the links, and mark the ones that pay (`paid`) as "Ad".

What to know about a country before going, as TravelCharika prints it: the currency, plug types and voltage, which side of the road they drive on, how expensive it is against the United States, the UK Foreign Office's travel advice with its link -- and beside it the US State Department's and Global Affairs Canada's, each in its own words with its level and link, for a reader from those countries -- and the places the site lists there with their best months. Then on arrival, put together by hand with its sources and the day it was checked: the ride-hailing, map and messaging apps people there use, how people pay (and whether India's UPI works for a visitor from India), each place's transit card, tipping, and the emergency numbers.

The big events that fill a town -- festivals, carnivals, Christmas markets, races -- at the places TravelCharika lists, from this month on for a year: in one month, at one place, or all of them. Each with its dates as the site states them (confirmed by its own site; "expected" where they follow a rule its site has not yet confirmed; or when it usually falls), what it is, any closures its organiser names, its own site, and, given a departure city, how far it is from there in the site's words ("about 2h 05m by air from London"). A place under travel advice has none listed.

Where is good to go in a month, as the site's list of places answers it: every place open that month, the most visited first (how often travellers look it up; the weather never moves a place up or down), narrowed by the filters given -- a region, a kind of place, what to do (hiking, the sea, snow), the weather in words, quiet only, and from a departure city how far (close by, 3 to 6 hours' flying, long-haul). Each place comes with its month as its card shows it: the site's label (sweet spot, good or ok), the weather word, the typical daytime high, rainy days, busy or quiet, and how far from the city given; with how many places fit, and the same list on the site with its filters set. A place under travel advice is never listed. For one place's twelve months, use best_months.

How to get from one of TravelCharika's departure cities to a place: the airlines that fly the route all year by Wikipedia's airport articles, nonstop or with the hub they change at and between which airports, each with its own booking page (the ones that pay marked, with the disclosure); the ways a record has (a year-round nonstop and its airlines, a road's distance and driving time); the distance and an estimated flight time; the airports that serve the place; and Wikivoyage's "Get in" for it where the site quotes one. No timetable and no prices: the flight searches in booking_links find the day's flights.

Find what TravelCharika has a page for, by name: places, countries, regions, kinds of place ("beaches"), activities ("skiing"), seasons, routes, departure cities, months and holidays. Matches as the site's own search box does: accents ignored, a name a place is also known by ("Bombay"), one letter off ("Marrakesh"), and a month among the words ("bali in may") gives that month's page. Returns each match's kind, name, the id the other tools take, and its page. A place under travel advice is found by its name with the advice beside it (`advice`), and is in no list. Call it first whenever you have a name rather than an id; nothing matching gets the nearest names instead.