Bring your vacation photos together in a perfect travel keepsake
Vacations have a way of slipping by too quickly. One moment you’re watching the sun set over a new city or coastline, and the next, those moments are living quietly on your phone. Designing a custom vacation photo book allows your memories to live on, capturing the essence of your travels in a physical keepsake you’ll love revisiting for years and years.
Whether it’s a weekend escape or a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, a thoughtfully designed vacation photo album allows your photos to tell a complete story you can look back on whenever you’d like, even long after the adventure began. From choosing your most-loved images to designing page layouts that reflect the pacing of your trip, this step-by-step guide will show you how to make a custom vacation photo book or album that lives on beyond the trip itself.
Start by selecting the vacation photos that truly capture the feeling of your trip and everything that makes you excited to even think back to it. Focus on images that evoke the most emotion — candid moments en route, meaningful details that define each pit stop, and scenes that instantly transport you back to that special time. It’s better to choose fewer, stronger photos than to include everything and risk cluttering your vacation photo book. Let the photos speak for themselves; quality over quantity will make your vacation photo book more impactful and enjoyable to flip through.
Once you’ve done the difficult task of narrowing down your photos, sort them in a way that makes the most sense for your travel journey. This might be a chronological order, following your journey day by day, or by theme such as landscapes, food, or the people involved along your adventure. Sorting your vacation photos early will make the design process much smoother and help your photo book or album flow naturally from beginning to end.
3. Edit & enhance your images
A little bit of editing can go a long way and make your vacation keepsake even more outstanding. If necessary, you can adjust exposure, brightness, contrast, and tone balance to ensure your photos look consistent throughout your vacation photo album. Subtle enhancements help elevate your images without taking away from their authenticity.
Keep in mind that there is such a thing as over-editing your photos! Be mindful to keep your photos authentic so the nostalgia from each snapshot shines through. Aim for a cohesive look that reflects how the trip really felt, rather than over-editing individual photos.
Note: We do not currently offer photo editing services within the MILK Design Studio. Take advantage of free-to-use editing software (such as Canva) to tweak your photos before uploading. If your photos are held on your phone, check out our top mobile photo editing app recommendations in our blog.
Choosing the right format is key to creating a custom vacation photo book that works best with your memories. Consider the size, orientation, and cover materials that best complement your vacation pictures. A landscape format works beautifully for any wide-shot scenic travel photography, while a portrait orientation may suit city escapes, journal-style layouts, or photos mostly captured through your mobile phone. Think about each of your vacation spots and how they fit particular formats.
If you have an abundance of stunning photos (or photos you simply can’t resist including), a MILK Photo Book or Travel Magazine might be the perfect fit. Looking for a collectible format or hoping to start a series? Try a Mini Magazine format — compact, contemporary, and ideal for showcasing every memorable adventure. For those seeking the ultimate in luxury, our lay-flat Photo Albums are unmatched, providing the perfect home for your top-quality photos that speak for themselves. Still can’t decide? Visit our Compare Our Range page to help you select the most ideal format for your vacation memories.
This is where your vacation photo book truly comes to life! Using our intuitive Design Studio, you can experiment with layouts, spacing, and page flow to create a clean, balanced design for your vacation album. Let your photos breathe with generous margins and our thoughtfully created page templates to help your images shine. Play around with a variety of fonts and high quality covers to match the aesthetics of your travel story. Our top tip? Keep it simple — this often makes the strongest statement.
Captions and short, snappy travel notes can add depth and context to your vacation photos. You can include place names, dates, or any small memories you don’t want to forget, such as a relaxing café vibe, a particularly funny situation, or how a specific spot made you feel. These special details can turn an already beautiful photo book into an extra personal travel memoir.
Before printing your finished vacation photo project, take the time to carefully review your vacation photo book. Flip through the pages and check your image placement, text alignment, spelling, and overall flow to ensure you’re satisfied. Common issues to look out for include poor image quality warnings, wide-spread images covering book gutters, grammatical errors, and accidental image choices. Our Design Studio is made to help you avoid these – watch our video tips to explore all our features to ensure your project is perfect as you review it.
One of our best tips is to view your project with fresh eyes or step away and come back later. This can help catch small details and ensure your final book or album is exactly how you want it.
Once printed, your custom vacation photo book deserves to be seen. Display it on a coffee table, bookshelf, or keep it close for moments when you want to revisit your travels. A well-made vacation photo album isn’t just a keepsake — it’s an exciting travel story you can relive, share, and pass down to friends and family as the years go by.
Creating a custom vacation photo book is more than sorting your photos and dropping them on the pages, it’s about creating something preserving the travel memories you never want to forget. By carefully shortlisting and selecting images, designing thoughtfully, and adding plenty of your own personal touches, you can transform your vacation photos into a long-lasting keepsake. Our Photo Books, Albums and Magazine formats allow you to make a vacation photo book that highlights your beloved experiences and keeps your travel memories alive, long after the trip ends.
