Are staycations *actually* better than vacations for real rest?
Clinically reviewed by Dr. Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, MBA
A staycation can be the perfect way to relax without the stress of travel. Discover 7 creative ideas to unwind, recharge, and enjoy a vacation mindset close to home.
Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, but sometimes getting there can feel like more work than your day job. Between last-minute packing, possible traffic or flight delays, lost luggage, or forgotten items, getting away can start to feel like a lot. Before you know it, you could be returning home more exhausted than when you left.
Enter: staycations, the often overlooked and underrated step-cousin of the vacation. Rather than spending tons of money on travel and accommodations or expending lots of energy in planning, the staycation allows you to have the same re-charging experience you seek with a vacation, but in a way that’s usually far more sustainable for your budget and your mental health.
Now, this doesn’t mean forgoing travel to faraway places. It’s totally possible to veg out on a beach in Hawaii or Tahiti. But it’s important to remember that rest doesn’t have to come with a passport stamp or an expensive plane ticket. When you need to recharge your nervous system, what you actually need is space, time to decompress, and a little reprieve from the chaos of everyday life.
Let’s explore the mental health perks of slowing down and staying close to home, discover creative ideas for making it feel like an actual break, and remind yourself that you’re allowed to rest in whatever way works for you. We’re bringing back the glamour of the staycation — no flights, no frantic packing. Just rest… on your terms.
Why a staycation might be a better break than a vacation
Vacations come with baggage, and not just the rolling kind that barely fits in the overhead bin. Sure, jetting off somewhere can be exciting, but it can also be laden with mind-bending logistics and the pressure to make every second count. Not only that, but you could be balancing a packed itinerary or even jetlag and the symptoms of sleep deprivation.
When you take a staycation, you get to skip all of that. Here are a few of the magical things that can happen when you ditch the travel part and stay close to home:
You don’t lose half your relaxing getaway to planning, packing, and panicking.
You’re not funneling money into airport snacks and rideshares.
You can immediately snuggle into your favorite blanket whenever you want.
You get to sleep in your own bed.
But beyond the perks of opting for a staycation every now and then, there’s something deeper at play here. When you strip away the expectations of what a vacation should look like, you can finally tune in to what we actually need to feel human again. Maybe that’s silence. Maybe it’s sunlight. Or maybe it’s a whole day with no social interaction.
From a mental health POV, the real benefit of a break comes from giving your nervous system space to just chill. A staycation offers that much-needed pause without the pressure. You get to rest on purpose, in a space where you already feel safe, and without feeling like you need to do and see everything (like you might in a new city).
7 creative staycation ideas to help you recharge
For those times in life when you’re not interested in hopping on a plane or road-tripping across the country, the staycation gets to shine. And the beauty of staying home is that you can combine relaxation with creativity. A staycation encourages you to check in with yourself and see what feels good right now, and then do that.
Here are seven creative, low-key ideas to make your staycation feel like a legit weekend getaway:
1. Camp out in your living room: And we’re talking the whole shebang — blanket forts, fairy lights, microwavable s’mores, and old-school adventure movies.
2. Do a “yes day” for yourself: Treat yourself to saying yes. This could mean saying yes to dessert before dinner, yes to staying in your pajamas, yes to starting that book you’ve been curious about, and especially yes to dancing in the kitchen with your dog. Do whatever you want. If it sparks joy, go for it.
3. Create an at-home spa: You don’t need a full rose petal bath and classical music playing from surround sound speakers (although, if you have the capabilities, more power to you). All you need is some warm water, a face mask, maybe some bath salts, and 15 whole minutes with your phone in another room. Light a candle if you’re feeling extra. Breathe. Exhale. Repeat.
4. Be a tourist in your own city: We all have several places in our town that we’ve always meant to check out. This is your weekend to do it. Take a trip to the museum you haven’t visited in years, the bakery that always has a line, or that fancy restaurant with the sultry lighting and the really great cocktails. Explore where you live. Soak it all in. And treat your life like the adventure that it is.
5. Spruce up your days with a fun little theme: Friday could be “French café day” with croissants and espresso because why not? Saturday can be a retro game night or ‘90s rom-com marathon night if you want. Maybe Sunday is a day of indulgence with self-care and take out and long walks at your local park. Let the theme set the tone, and lean all the way into it.
6. Unplug and just exist: Take a day and unplug from technology. Put up an email auto-response that you’re OOO. Let your people know you’ll be off the grid. Then, silence your phone and put it in another room. Even an hour of digital silence can feel like a full day’s reset (though we encourage far more time away than 60 minutes). Read. Nap. Stare out the window pensively. Watch the rain. Listen to Enya. You’re allowed.
7. Bring the outdoors in: You may not live close to a park or green space, but you can still reap the benefits of nature by bringing the outdoors to you. Open up your windows and feel the breeze, put on a nature playlist, and bring whatever nature you can inside with you, like fresh cut flowers or a new potted plant. Think of it as nature-lite. If indoor gardening isn’t for you, buy a bundle of fresh herbs at the farmer’s market and put them in a vase or jar of water until you use them for a new recipe.
How to relax on a staycation: 9 ways to take a break near home
Relaxation sounds simple, but when it comes down to it, it can feel like an Olympic sport. So, let’s practice reframing. A staycation isn’t the moment to reorganize your closet or finally clean your refrigerator — it’s a permission slip to pause and to stop performing, achieving, or even trying for a hot second.
Save that closet for a regular Sunday off. Here are some ways to allow yourself space to have some actual downtime.
1. Create (and fiercely protect) your chill zone
Pick a space in your home—it could be your bedroom, the backyard, or the balcony—and claim it as your official sanctuary and make it your own. It can be as clean as you want, it can have fluffy blankets, there can be candles or incense and a bowl full of chocolate. The goal here is to make this space easy for your body to settle when you enter.
If you live with other people, like a partner or a roommate, let them know about your safe zone and set the boundary with them of when that door is closed to please leave you alone (here are six tips to help).
💙 Get comfortable setting kind and clear limits with help from the Daily Calm’s session on Boundaries.
2. Slow down (on purpose)
You know those moments when you sit down to relax and suddenly you’re bouncing between checking social media, half-reading emails, and mentally meal-planning for the week? Try actively working on slowing your pace in everything you do. Move slower. Talk slower. Eat slower.
Try setting a timer for 20 minutes and just sit and relax. Maybe sip something warm, but let your mind wander without judgment. Maybe you read a book. If you’re on your phone, make sure it’s intentional time, like listening to a podcast and not just scrolling. It might feel weird at first, but stick with it. Your nervous system is learning how to come down off high alert, and that’s important.
3. Schedule one small sensory joy per hour
While this isn’t about cramming your day full of fun, it is about creating little checkpoints of delight to interrupt the autopilot. Think of it as tiny doses of being present and focusing on joy.
Here’s what that could look like:
9am: Stretch in bed with the window open and feel the morning air
10am: Eat toast with butter and that farmer’s market jam and put on a nostalgic playlist
11am: Ten-minute hand massage with the lotion you forgot you loved
12pm: Sunbathe either outside, on your balcony, or in a sunny spot on your floor like a cat
1pm: Eat lunch somewhere that’s not at your desk
Read more: How to find happiness: 9 simple and helpful tips
4. Do one small thing that signals “This is not just a normal day”
This tip is all about setting the tone. When every day feels the same, life can get to feeling a bit boring, and your brain could use a cue that this day is different.
Do something that’s just a little outside your norm:
Make pancakes for dinner
Wear your robe all day
Hang twinkle lights or move furniture around to enhance your space and create a new vibe
Use your fancy wine glasses for sparkling water
Watch a movie at 10am, because you want to
These micro-rebellions against routine send a powerful message that you’re allowed to rest and enjoy your life, even if it doesn’t look productive or like a typical day.
5. Give yourself a nervous system time-out
Your brain and body deserve (and need) time to reset, especially if you struggle with being in constant flight-or-fight mode. Carve out 5–10 minutes a day for a calming ritual, whether that be through breathwork, meditation, or the art of doing nothing.
Try one of these:
Breathwork: Inhale for four seconds and exhale for six seconds. Repeat for a minute, and witness the magic.
5–4–3–2–1 grounding meditation: Name five things you see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste.
Imaginary escape: Picture a quiet forest, a cozy cabin, or a seaside town where time doesn’t exist. Let your mind go there. Relish in the environment. Embrace the escape.
Do nothing on purpose: Sit, lie down, or stare at the ceiling while doing absolutely nothing. Not scrolling. Not thinking. Just being.
💙 Try Jay Shetty’s Sigh of Relief guided exercise to help regulate your nervous system and restore calm.
6. Manage staycation guilt (because rest feels weirdly hard sometimes)
You finally get a moment to relax, and then you hear that agitating, grating voice that questions why you aren’t doing anything productive. Experiencing guilt during rest is super common, especially if you’re used to measuring your worth by your output.
Here’s the reframe: Rest is productive. Rest is maintenance. Rest is what allows your brain to function and your body to recover. So, when guilt shows up, acknowledge it, and then politely ask it to take a back seat. You’re not failing. You’re taking time for yourself. (If you need more support, check out these six tips to stop feeling guilty all the time.)
7. If you’re not alone, get strategic about shared space
Not everyone gets to vacation solo with noise-canceling headphones and zero responsibilities other than their own needs. If you’re sharing space with partners, kids, or roommates, try building little moments of solo time into the day for your peace of mind.
With a partner: Break the staycation into shifts. You take 90 minutes of uninterrupted time to do what you want while they wrangle life, and then switch.
With kids: Make the staycation fun for them too. Fill your staycation with movie marathons, pillow forts, or an ice cream sundae bar. Think of stuff that buys you some quiet time and gives them a sense of novelty and excitement.
With roommates: Set the vibe together. Declare a low-energy day where everyone wears cozy clothes and agrees to mutual chill.
8. Try a (light) digital detox
No need to toss your phone into the sea (if you want to, though, we support you), but you can loosen your grip on your devices for a bit. Start with picking one or two things to opt out of, like turning off email notifications after hours, deleting Instagram for the weekend, or choosing a single time of day to check messages before putting your phone in another room the rest of the time.
The idea isn’t to punish yourself by abstaining from using technology. It’s to interrupt the default doomscrolling we all do and, instead, make space for presence. Even just a few hours of space from your phone can feel like a full-body exhale.
Read more: Social media detox: 12 ways to scroll less and live more
9. Let it be imperfect (because real rest is messy)
Overall, staycations aren’t some flawless oasis where all of your problems magically float away. You might still feel anxious. You might get bored (which actually has six surprising benefits). You might try to meditate and end up reorganizing your junk drawer instead. And that’s okay. Rest isn’t about curating a specific vibe. It’s about taking time to focus on you and what you need.
Staycation FAQs
What are good staycation examples?
A good staycation doesn’t have to be elaborate or Instagram-worthy. It’s any plan (or non-plan) that lets you hit pause and feel even a little more like a human again.
That could look like a backyard picnic with a paper plate of snacks and your favorite playlist. Or a day-long movie marathon in your living room. It might be a solo day of exploring new coffee shops, visiting a new part of town, or simply turning off your phone and napping all day.
The best staycations are the ones that feel like a break from your usual rhythm, even if you’re only stepping one foot out of routine.
How can I make my home feel more like a vacation spot?
You don’t need a huge budget or a team of interior designers to make your home feel like a sanctuary. Start small. Think about what makes a vacation spot feel special. Maybe it’s soft lighting, calm music, fluffy towels, or the absence of visual clutter.
Try to recreate a little of that at home. Clean just enough to feel clear-headed. Light a candle that smells like a beach or a forest. Eat breakfast in bed. Rearrange your space so it feels slightly different than before. Even something as simple as fresh sheets and a closed laptop can trick your brain into thinking that you’re resting now. And allow yourself to enjoy it.
Can staycations be good for my mental health?
Staycations can offer many of the same mental health benefits as traditional getaways, like reduced stress, improved mood, and better sleep, without the travel-induced chaos. Because you’re skipping the stress of logistics, planning, and the act of travel, your body can actually rest. You’re in a familiar, safe environment, which can lower your baseline anxiety. And because you’re not trying to squeeze joy into a tight itinerary, there’s space for actual downtime.
How do I make a staycation feel restorative?
Start by giving yourself permission to actually take the break. That means releasing the guilt of not doing enough and letting go of the idea that rest has to be earned. Here are 20 mindful ways to take a break.
From there, focus on what truly fills your tank and not what you think should feel restful. Maybe you need silence and solitude, or maybe it’s connection and play. Build in moments of sensory calm (like a cozy nap or a warm bath) and emotional joy (like laughing at your favorite comedy or eating your dinner picnic-style on your living room floor).
If you finish the day feeling even 10% more regulated than you started, that’s a win. That’s restoration.
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