Running around trees (and hills, and beaches) is how we Indians describe the capers of our movies’ lead pairs, tongue-in-cheek. Natural habitats still seem to be lovers’ favourites for a romantic getaway as HolidayIQ.com, a holiday reviews website found.

Its report on Valentine’s Day Travel 2014 is an analysis of romantic holidays for the period from February 13-18, based on the actions (search and filling in lead forms) of 50 lakh unique Indian visitors on its site. The report looks at patterns in top domestic and international destination preferences, top holiday themes, trends in budgets and planning behaviour. The top six themes for this holiday are hills, beaches, city, heritage, jungle and adventure, in that order.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Kerala, Goa, Manali, and Ooty are the top domestic destinations while Thailand, the Maldives, Bali, Singapore and Mauritius are the most preferred international destinations.

Generally Wednesdays are the most popular day for holiday planning by Indian travellers. Wednesday is the most stressful day at work and that is probably why people’s thoughts turn to vacation, says Hari Nair, founder & CEO of HolidayIQ.com.

Not only are the maximum number of trips planned on Wednesdays, the budget for these holidays is on average 16–18 per cent higher than for holidays planned on any other day.

However, when it comes to planning a romantic holiday for this Valentine’s Day, Friday was the most popular day to book one.

Couples are allocating higher budgets of ₹20,000 per night for international destinations as compared to ₹5,000 per night for domestic holidays. Also, the length of a holiday abroad stretches to six days whereas for domestic holidays it is four days.

Interestingly, international holidays are planned quicker than domestic holidays. While domestic holidays are planned 34 days in advance, international holidays are planned only 29 days in advance.

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