{"id":7026262,"date":"2026-08-04T05:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T05:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/10-creative-things-to-do-while-traveling-fun-crafty-hobbies\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T05:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T05:00:25","slug":"10-creative-things-to-do-while-traveling-fun-crafty-hobbies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7026262","title":{"rendered":"10 Creative Things to Do While Traveling: Fun & Crafty Hobbies"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Creative things to do while traveling<\/strong> can help you experience a place in a completely different way, especially when you need a break from looking at everything through your phone (it happens to all of us from time to time). I take a LOT of photos when I travel and always will, but sometimes it is nice to do something that makes you sit down, look around properly, experience the moment in its entirety, actually feel fully present,<\/em> and actually create something from the place you are visiting.<\/p>\n

Some of these ideas are easy enough to do on a train, in a caf\u00e9, or during a rainy afternoon, while others involve finding a local class or carrying a few extra supplies. A lot of them also leave you with something you can keep afterward, whether that is a painting, a notebook full of random memories, a slightly wonky handmade souvenir, or a roll of film you are VERY excited to develop.<\/p>\n

Here are some of my favorite creative things to do while traveling that will take out actively out of experiencing life through your phone screen and into being more present \u2013 including a few I have done myself and others I still really want to try.<\/p>\n

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Why It Is Worth Having a Creative Hobby While Traveling<\/span><\/h2>\n

Travel can move FAST, especially when you are trying to fit a lot into one trip. You visit the landmark, take photos, move on, find food, go somewhere else, and suddenly the entire day is over.<\/p>\n

Doing something creative makes you stop for a little longer. If you sit down to paint, sketch, write, or take photos with an actual idea in mind, you start paying more attention to what is around you. You notice the colors of the buildings, little details in the streets, things people say, the light at a certain time of day, and loads of other things you probably would have forgotten later\u2026 things that pull you into the present moment.<\/p>\n

Creative hobbies are also great for all the random gaps that come with travel. Think long train rides, airport delays, ferries, rainy days, lazy afternoons, or mornings when everyone else is still asleep. You can scroll during all of those times, obviously, but making something is usually a lot more memorable.<\/p>\n

Watercolor Painting<\/span><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s start with my favorite, because this is the hobby that started it all. A couple of years ago, I was sitting on a balcony somewhere with one of those tiny travel watercolor sets, a glass of wine, and a sunset in front of me. Instead of taking another photo, I decided to see if I could paint it instead.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t suddenly trying to become an artist. It was much more of a \u201clet\u2019s see how badly this goes\u201d situation. And even though it was messy and imperfect\u2026 I absolutely loved it.<\/p>\n

Ever since then, watercolor has become one of my favorite creative things to do while traveling.<\/p>\n

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These sets are tiny and portable! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And fun to do with friends <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You Do Not Need to Know How to Draw to Watercolor ( I PROMISE)<\/span><\/h3>\n

Let me be very clear about this: you do not need ANY artistic talent to enjoy watercolor while traveling. None. Zero. Zilch.<\/p>\n

I could barely draw a stick figure when I first picked up a paintbrush. The idea of staring at a blank page and trying to create something from scratch was genuinely intimidating, which is exactly why I ended up loving watercolor workbooks so much.<\/p>\n

The outlines are already printed for you, so you skip the hardest part and get straight to painting instead of No wondering what to draw or staring at a blank page. You literally just open a page and start. The point is, the barrier to entry is basically zero.<\/strong> If you can hold a paintbrush, you can do this.<\/p>\n

You can also use watercolor in whatever way makes sense for the trip. Paint the sunset from your balcony, copy the colors of a tiled building, try to recreate a landscape, or just fill in a workbook while watching the view from a train. It does not need to be good enough to frame or show anyone. The fun part is sitting there and doing it.<\/p>\n

The Best Times + Places to Paint While Traveling<\/strong>: One of my favorite things about watercolor is how ridiculously easy it is to travel with. My little palette is tiny, my brush fits inside it, and the whole thing takes up barely any room in my backpack. I\u2019ve painted on trains, ferries, caf\u00e9 terraces, airport floors during delays (glamorous, I know), and while waiting for sunsets. Honestly, the weirder the location, the more fun it is.<\/p>\n

I tried a few different ones over the years, but our favorite watercolor workbooks for beginners<\/a> have been the best by far. Each one has 30 pre-sketched illustrations printed on watercolor-friendly paper, so you can just open a page and start painting! They also have fun seasonal ones so look out for those.<\/p>\n

Travel Journaling<\/span><\/h2>\n
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My Bali journaling setup isn\u2019t half bad! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Travel journaling is one of the creative hobbies that\u2019s completely up to you. It can be pages of writing every night about each experience, thought, feeling, person, and place\u2026 or it can just be a notebook full of random thoughts, funny conversations and quotes from the trip, restaurant recommendations, little sketches, and things you know you\u2019ll forget if you don\u2019t write them down.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found it\u2019s never the big things that I forget after a trip. I remember climbing the mountain or seeing the famous landmark; it\u2019s the tiny things that disappear first\u2026 the name of that amazing little bakery, the taxi driver who made me laugh for twenty minutes, the tiny wine bar we stumbled into on the way home, the random beach someone recommended that turned out to be my favorite.<\/p>\n

You can also use a journal as part notebook and part scrapbook by sticking in tickets, labels, receipts, maps, postcards, or anything else you collect along the way, messily stuck in the order you got them to make a bit of a travel scrapbook AND journal at the same time. That way, you can look back at it and remember what each day or destination was like.<\/p>\n

Sketching and Urban Sketching<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Sketching is probably the simplest creative travel hobby because all you need is a pen or pencil and some paper. You can sit in a plaza, at a caf\u00e9, beside a beach, or anywhere else with something interesting in front of you and simply try to draw it. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

Urban sketching<\/a> is a whole thing now, with people meeting up around the world to draw buildings, streets, markets, and everyday city scenes. You do not have to join a group or be particularly good at it, though. A quick sketch of a church, doorway, market stall, or old building is enough to make you look at it more carefully.<\/p>\n

When you try to draw a place, you start seeing all the lines and strange little details that are easy to miss when you are only taking a quick photo. The drawing might be terrible. That is fine. Mine probably would be too. It still becomes a very specific little memory from that day.<\/p>\n

Take a Local Craft Workshop<\/span><\/h2>\n
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One of the most unexpected and fun craft workshops I\u2019ve done was this wool needle felting class in Tbilisi, Georgia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taking a local craft workshop is one of the best ways to do something creative while also learning more about the place you are visiting. Different countries and regions are known for different crafts, so the class itself can become part of the trip rather than feeling like something you could have done anywhere.<\/p>\n

A few ideas include:<\/p>\n