Create an Inspiring Travel Moodboard: A step-by-step guide

Capture the spirit of your next trip with a travel moodboard – before you even pack your bag

When I’m planning a trip – especially to a place I’ve never been to – I often start by pulling together images, colours, and small details that help me get a feel of the place. Before I book anything or even settle on the route, I find myself gathering bits and pieces: photos of local dishes, patterns from local crafts, colours I associate with the place, sometimes even quotes or old travel posters.

Then I put them together in a collage – which is what a Travel Moodboard is. You don’t need to be an artist or designer to make one. It’s just a tool – and a fun one – to inspire you to travel.

Without further ado, here’s how to make a Travel Moodboard that reflects the food, must-see places and even natural elements of your future destination!

Why Make A Travel Moodboard?

Let’s start with what a moodboard can actually help you do:

Inspire your itinerary – Let the visuals guide you to places and experiences that match your mood.
Deepen your cultural awareness – Notice motifs, patterns, or themes you might otherwise miss.
Plan your creative captures – Know what to photograph, sketch, or journal once you’re there.
Shape your travel style – From what to pack to how you document your trip, it becomes a practical guide.

A little tip: Creating a moodboard sharpens your eye. It tunes you in to the sensory world of a destination before you even arrive.

Here are the steps you need to follow to create a great travel moodboard, in my experience:

Choose a Cultural Theme or Destination
Pick your format
Collect visual inspiration
Curate a colour palette
Add words, quotes or local phrases

I’ll now go through each step in more detail.

‘The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.’

Marcel Proust

How to Create a Travel Moodboard

Choose a Cultural Theme or Destination

The first step in creating a travel moodboard is choosing a cultural theme or destination. This gives you a clear focus and makes it easier to gather the right visuals.

You might pick a specific place, like Muscat, Istanbul, or Amman, which helps you collect images that show the city’s unique look and feel.

Alternatively, you could choose a seasonal festival, such as Diwali, Eid, or Lunar New Year. These events have distinctive colours, outfits, and decorations that bring a lot of character to your moodboard.

Another option is to focus on a cultural design style, like Berber patterns, Omani interiors, or Japanese minimalism. This lets you explore colours, textures, and shapes that reflect a culture’s style.

Having a clear theme keeps your travel moodboard focused and makes it easier to find images and materials that work well together. It acts as a guide, helping you create a moodboard that really captures the essence of your travel inspiration.

Pick Your Format — Digital or Hands-On?

Next up, decide whether you want to go digital or hands-on with your travel moodboard. I like to create digital ones because you can update them anytime, access them wherever you are, and share them easily. If you like working on your phone or computer, tools like Pinterest, Canva, or Milanote make it easy to gather and arrange images from all over the web.

But if you enjoy getting crafty, a physical travel moodboard might be more your style. Grab a scrapbook, pinboard, or sketchbook and start cutting out pictures. The tactile process can be really satisfying and helps you connect with your ideas in a different way.

There’s no right or wrong here — just pick the format that feels right and sparks your creativity. Some people even like to mix both, using a physical board at home and a digital one on the go.

Collect Visual Inspiration

It’s now time to gather visual inspiration for your moodboard. Look for photos and images that capture the feel of your destination or theme.

Think about architecture like doors, tiles, rooftops, and cafés. Traditional clothing and jewellery show local culture, while street life and markets bring in colours, patterns, and textures.

Don’t forget food and spices, especially how they’re presented, plus nature and landscapes like dunes, coastlines, or mountain villages.

Adding quotes or phrases in the local language can give your board extra personality. Fabrics and patterns are great too – if you can’t get actual scraps, images work just as well.

There are plenty of free online resources for travel photos. Some of my favourites are:

Unsplash
Pexels
Pixabay
Stocksnap.io
Canva’s image library.

These sites offer high-quality pictures you can use to build your moodboard without spending a penny.

One last tip: don’t just screenshot photos. Add your own notes or captions to remind yourself why something stood out. It makes your moodboard more personal and useful.

Curate a Colour Palette

Pick 4 to 6 colours that capture the mood of your destination. For example, if you’re focusing on Oman, you might choose sandstone beige, indigo blue, copper, date palm green, white, and terracotta.

Having a defined colour palette helps make your moodboard look more cohesive and visually pleasing. It ties all your images and materials together, giving your travel inspiration a clear, unified feel.

You might want to check out some travel destinations palettes at Sarah Titus’ blog. She proposes 25 great palettes!

Add Inspiring Words, Quotes, or Local Phrases

I like adding words, quotes, or local phrases because it can really bring your moodboard to life and give it cultural flavour. You might include proverbs or sayings that capture the spirit of the place.

Other ideas include snippets of poetry or travel writing that inspire you. You can even write local names of dishes, cities, or customs.

You can also add your own travel intentions, like “Learn one new recipe” or “Visit a traditional market.” These personal touches help connect your moodboard to what you want to experience.

Include Maps

A map helps me see where the destination is, which neighbourhoods I want to check out, or the routes I’m curious about.

Whether it’s a vintage map, a simple street plan, or even a hand-drawn sketch, maps add context that makes the whole moodboard feel more connected to the trip.

I usually find free map images online or create my own digital versions that fit the style of my board. It’s a small detail, but it really brings the whole moodboard to life for me.

Final tips for making your travel moodboard

You don’t need to be artistic. It’s not about perfection — it’s about connection.
Use the moodboard to notice what you’re drawn to — it reveals how you personally connect with a culture.
Create one for each destination — or even for each day of a trip if you love detail!

WELCOME to JOUSSOUR to OMAN

Hello and welcome to Joussour to Oman! I’m Christine van den Hogen, a Franco-British writer, teacher and watercolourist. I’ve been living in the Middle East for 7 years and 4 years in Oman.

I’m passionate about helping independent travellers interested in cultures create immersive journeys.

Joussour to Oman is my cultural travel blog and it’s my hope to share my first-hand experience as someone who lives here as well as insights from local people. I want to share insiders’ tips with you so you can plan your trip to Oman efficiently and truly EXPERIENCE Omani culture when you come.

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Author: Christine van den Hogen

Hi, I’m Christine. I’ve lived in Oman for over four years and spent that time travelling across the country - from desert camps to remote mountain villages. Joussour to Oman is where I share practical guides and honest tips for experiencing Omani culture, nature, and daily life. This list is based entirely on places I’ve visited myself - often more than once.

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2 responses

Sofia says:

08/06/2025 at 10:44 AM

Amazing work… it reflects you as someone who is advanced in the field of art as well the art of life

Reply
1. joussourtooman.com says:
  
  08/06/2025 at 12:07 PM
  
  Thank you, Sofia 🙂
  
  Reply