Where and When to Go: destinations and dates compared for your trip

Name up to six destinations (or a region and let it suggest them), a window of start dates, the nights, who is going, the budget and the kind of trip. For each destination and start date it reads five years of weather for those days, prices the stays for your party on those dates, finds the cheapest flights from your city, checks public and school holidays and counts the top-rated places for your style.

It ranks every option with the reasons in plain words (warm and dry, cheaper stays, more top-rated beaches) and returns a comparison page, a PDF and data.

What you get

Field	What it holds
Ranked options	Destination × start date, best first, with a score and its parts.
Weather	Typical highs, lows, rain and wind for those days from five years of records.
Cost	Stays for your party from and typical, flights from your city, against your budget.
Holidays	Public and school holidays in the dates.
Style evidence	How many top-rated places each has for your style, with examples.

What people use it for

• Families choosing a holiday: Which coast, which week.
• Couples: The warmest, best-value city break in a window.
• Travel content: Data-backed "best time to go" comparisons.

How to use it

1. Name destinations or a region.
2. Set the window of start dates, nights, party, budget and style.
3. Run it: every option ranked with its reasons.

Input

Field	Example	Notes
Destinations	Cape Town; Durban; Plettenberg Bay	Up to six, or a region.
Earliest / latest start	2026-12-05 / 2026-12-19	At most 120 days apart.
Nights	5	1 to 14.
Budget	40000 ZAR	Stay and flights together.
Flying from	Johannesburg	For flight prices.

Output

Each result is one row in the run's dataset (download it as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read it through the API). An example row (values shortened):

{
  "kind": "option",
  "rank": 1,
  "destination": "Example coastal city",
  "start": "2026-12-19",
  "end": "2026-12-24",
  "score": 87,
  "scores": {
    "weather": 89,
    "cost": 71,
    "style": 70
  },
  "weather": {
    "highC": 24.9,
    "lowC": 16.5,
    "rainDays": 13,
    "windKmh": 25
  },
  "stayTypical": 20590.5,
  "estimatedCost": 37250.5,
  "currency": "ZAR",
  "why": [
    "usually 25° by day and 16° at night, rain on about 13% of days",
    "stays for the party typically ZAR 20,591 for 5 nights",
    "flights from ZAR 16,660"
  ]
}

Example from a real comparison on 19 October 2026 (three South African coastal destinations × two start dates, flights from Johannesburg, 56 requests); the destination name was replaced.

Pricing

• $2.99 per completed comparison (at least two options, page and PDF delivered).
• Suggesting destinations from a region uses a little model time, billed by Apify at cost.

What typical jobs cost at the list price:

Job	Cost
Three places × three dates	$2.99
Region, six suggested places	$2.99 plus a cent of model use

On Apify's Scale and Business plans the per-event prices are lower (Store discounts). Set Maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached: you never pay more than that.

Tips

• Two or three start dates show how much a week changes prices and weather.
• Turn off flights if you will drive.

Use it through the API

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("zaiq/where-when").call(run_input={"region": "Mediterranean islands", "earliestStart": "2027-06-01", "latestStart": "2027-06-30", "nights": 7, "adults": 2, "budget": 3000, "currency": "EUR", "tripStyles": ["beach", "relaxing"], "origin": "London", "includeFlights": true})
for row in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(row)

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('zaiq/where-when').call({"region": "Mediterranean islands", "earliestStart": "2027-06-01", "latestStart": "2027-06-30", "nights": 7, "adults": 2, "budget": 3000, "currency": "EUR", "tripStyles": ["beach", "relaxing"], "origin": "London", "includeFlights": true});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

HTTP (one call, results back)

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/zaiq~where-when/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"region": "Mediterranean islands", "earliestStart": "2027-06-01", "latestStart": "2027-06-30", "nights": 7, "adults": 2, "budget": 3000, "currency": "EUR", "tripStyles": ["beach", "relaxing"], "origin": "London", "includeFlights": true}'

Integrations and schedules

• Schedules: run it every hour, day or week from the Apify Console (Schedules) and keep a history of results.
• Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack, Airtable: connect it through Apify's integrations, or send each finished run to a webhook.
• Datasets: results stay in the run's dataset; export them or read them by API whenever you need them.

Use it with AI agents (MCP)

Add Apify's MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com) to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client. The agent can find this Actor and run it for you: ask it for "Where should a family of four go for five nights in December: Cape Town, Durban or Plett, flying from Joburg?". AI agents can also pay for runs directly through Apify's agentic payments.

Limits

• No login, CAPTCHA solving or forged challenge tokens; a source can withhold public data, and the run says so.
• Prices are public snapshots for your dates and party, not held reservations; check again before booking.
• Weather is typical for the dates, not a forecast.
• Stay prices sample the first listings Google Hotels returns, enough to compare, not the whole market.

FAQ

Is the weather a forecast?

No. It is five years of records for those days; a forecast only exists two weeks out.

Why these weights?

Weather, cost and style lead; holidays count against busy dates except for families.

Related Actors from Zaiq

• holiday-planner: the whole holiday in one run: stays, days, car hire, experiences and a budget

Support

Questions, a site that changed, or a field you need? Open an issue on this Actor's Issues tab: we answer there, usually within a day.

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Also found as: where to go on holiday, best time to visit, destination comparison, holiday destination finder, when to travel, trip comparison.