Drink In Life

An Ode to the Early Riser

Most travelers spend months planning where they’ll go, what they’ll see, and how they’ll fit everything into a limited number of days. We book restaurants, reserve museum tickets, and carefully map out each stop, hoping to make the most of every day. But somewhere along the way, it’s easy to create an itinerary so full that the trip begins to feel like a schedule instead of an adventure. Sometimes, one of the best ways to escape that schedule is surprisingly simple: early morning travel.

Every destination has two distinct personalities. There is the busy version most visitors experience once the cafés fill, museum doors open, and tour groups arrive. Then there is the more hushed version that belongs to the people who live there, or to the wildlife that shares those first hours of the morning.

If you wake up with the sun, you get to watch a place before it fully wakes. You catch the baker pulling the first loaves from a stone oven, the street sweeper washing down the cobblestones, and the locals lingering over an early coffee before the workday begins. In Rome or Milan, piazzas that feel impossibly crowded by midday are calmer, often cool, and beautifully tranquil in the first light of morning.

Fortunately, that’s never been much of a hardship for me. I’ve always been an early riser. Long before I traveled regularly, mornings were my favorite part of the day. That habit naturally followed me around the world, and somewhere along the way I realized those few minutes or hours before breakfast had become one of my favorite parts of every trip.

Traveling on my own, with my husband or with friends, I love being the first one awake. If everyone else wants to sleep in, I’ll happily head out with a camera over one shoulder. I never feel like I’m missing out on sleep. If anything, I feel like I’ve been given extra time to wander or scout out new locations.

If you’re looking for one simple habit that can completely change the way you experience a destination, I’d suggest setting your alarm a little earlier. Here’s how I make the most of those first hours of the day, whether you’re exploring a busy city, wandering through a small village, or heading out into nature.

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Resetting Your Clock: Morning Light and Jet Lag

After a long flight, it’s incredibly tempting to pull the curtains closed, shut out the world, and try to sleep as late as possible. Over the years, I’ve found the exact opposite works much better. Getting outside into the morning light, breathing the cool air, and simply walking helps my body adjust to a new time zone far better than lying awake in a dark hotel room mentally running through everything I want to see and do that day.

Here’s the simple routine I follow after almost every long-haul flight:

• Get outside within 30 minutes of waking. Even if it’s just for a short walk, the morning light makes a remarkable difference.
• Walk at an easy pace. This isn’t about exercise. It’s about moving your body, noticing your surroundings, and letting your brain begin adjusting to its new schedule.
• Spend a few minutes in the natural morning light. Morning light helps signal to your body that it’s time to be awake and begin adjusting to the new time zone.
• Enjoy breakfast afterward. By then, I usually feel like I’ve arrived instead of simply landed.

Why it works

Morning sunlight plays an important role in regulating your body’s circadian rhythm, your internal clock that helps determine when you feel awake and when you’re ready for sleep. Research has shown that exposure to natural light at the right time can help shift your body’s internal clock when traveling across time zones. Combined with a gentle walk outdoors, it’s one of the simplest ways I’ve found to ease the effects of jet lag. It doesn’t eliminate jet lag completely, but it almost always helps me settle in more quickly and start enjoying the destination from the very first day.

The “First Light” Rule for Exploring a Destination

I’ve found that my first morning in a new place often shapes the rest of my visit.

Here’s how I approach it:

• Keep your first morning unscheduled. Resist the temptation to book an early tour or rush to the biggest attraction—unless it’s an experience that truly requires an early start, like a full-day excursion.
• Leave your phone in your pocket. Give yourself permission to wander without a destination for a while. Let your curiosity, rather than your GPS, decide which street to take next.
• Slow your pace. Give yourself permission to be distracted. Walk a little slower than feels natural. Stop when something catches your eye. Look up at the balconies, down at the worn cobblestones beneath your feet, and across the rooftops instead of only looking straight ahead. You’ll be amazed how much you’ve been walking past.
• Stay a little longer. When something catches your attention, stop and linger. You might notice a flock of pigeons making perfectly synchronized, almost silent loops overhead, or spiderwebs stretched through tall grass, each strand holding perfect beads of dew glowing like tiny lanterns in the first light.
• When you find a place that draws you in, give it a few more minutes. Sit on a bench for ten minutes. Lean against a bridge railing. Watch the light slowly change, notice the shadows moving across old buildings, or simply observe how a place gradually comes to life. Some of the best travel moments aren’t found by walking farther, they’re found by standing still.

Why it works

This isn’t just true in busy cities. It works just as well in a tiny village, along a country road, beside a vineyard, or on a forest trail. Before the day settles into its familiar pace, every destination reveals a different side of itself. Without an agenda pulling you from one place to the next, you begin to notice the character of where you are instead of simply checking off what you came to see. Those first hours remind us that every destination has a story to tell long before the rest of the day begins.

Capturing a Destination as It Wakes

Sunrise in Tokyo

One of the reasons I love exploring before breakfast is what it does for photography. Yes, the early morning light is beautiful, but that’s only part of the story. The real gift is capturing the subtle way a destination comes to life through ordinary, everyday moments. Someone walking a dog along an empty street. Two espresso cups still steaming on an outdoor café table, making you wonder who was sitting there just a moment before. The reflection of a church in a canal before the wind ripples the water. These are the moments that tell the story of a place.

Without crowds, tour buses, and the constant movement of people, a destination has room to breathe. So do your photographs. Don’t worry about creating the perfect image or whether anyone else would stop to take the same picture. If something catches your eye, lift the camera and press the shutter. You may be surprised to discover that some of your favorite photographs are the simple moments that made you feel connected to the place you were visiting.

Here’s what I look for:

• Arrive while the destination is still waking up. Walk slowly and notice the details that disappear later in the day, weathered doors, colorful shutters, old windows catching the first light, narrow alleyways, reflections after an overnight rain, or shop windows waiting for their first customers. Photograph one weathered door, then another. Before long, you may find you’ve unintentionally created your own collection of doors, windows, or alleyways, your own travel postcard series.
• Work with the morning light instead of against it. Early light is softer and more directional than the harsh overhead sun you’ll find later in the day. It creates longer shadows, brings out texture in old stone, wood, and brick, and adds warmth and depth, often requiring very little editing afterward.
• Look for the stories between the landmarks. Muddy boots outside a doorway, laundry moving gently from an upstairs window, or a bicycle leaning against a centuries-old wall can say just as much about a destination as its most famous landmark.

Why it works

The people you photograph in the early morning aren’t there to be photographed. They’re simply beginning their day. That sense of purpose creates images that feel natural and unposed. Combined with the softer light and quieter surroundings, those first hours often produce some of my favorite photographs from an entire trip.

Some of my favorite photographs have come from quiet mornings in places like Roero, where wandering before breakfast became just as memorable as the wineries themselves.

Why Sunrise Is Worth the Alarm

Sunsets deserve every bit of their popularity. They’re easy to enjoy because most of us are already out exploring when evening arrives. Sunrise is different. It asks something of us first. It asks us to set the alarm, leave the comfort of a warm bed, and step into a world that hasn’t quite woken up yet. In return, it offers something that feels entirely its own.

I’m not suggesting you chase a sunrise every morning of your vacation. But I do hope you’ll give yourself one.

Unlike the leisurely morning walks I’ve talked about throughout this article, photographing a sunrise often takes a little planning. If I haven’t already done my research before leaving home, I’ll usually spend a few minutes the evening before looking at maps and photographs, researching the best viewpoint, and deciding whether I can walk there or if I’ll need a taxi. Somehow, that little bit of planning only adds to the excitement. By the time I go to bed, I’m already looking forward to greeting a new day somewhere I’ve never watched the sun rise before.

Here’s what I’ve learned over the years:

• Choose your location the day before. You’ll enjoy the experience far more if you’re not trying to navigate unfamiliar streets in the dark.
• Arrive before first light. The colors and atmosphere often begin long before the sun appears above the horizon, and some of the most beautiful moments happen while the world is still waiting for the day to begin.
• Don’t become fixated on the photograph you came to take. Keep looking around. Sometimes the image you never expected becomes the one you’ll treasure most.
• Remember that every sunrise is different. Some require careful planning and an early taxi ride. Others are waiting just outside your door.

One morning in Paris, I climbed into a taxi while the city was still dark, heading to the Trocadéro Esplanade with one photograph already imagined in my mind: the Eiffel Tower glowing beneath a beautiful sunrise. When I arrived, the platform was already filling with photographers and couples dressed in wedding attire, each hoping to capture the same iconic view. I hadn’t expected that.

The photograph I remember most wasn’t the one I had planned. It was a photographer carefully posing a married couple with the first light of day behind them. That unexpected moment told a much richer story than the sunrise alone ever could.

That’s one of the reasons I always encourage people to keep looking after they arrive. The photograph you’ve imagined may be wonderful, but don’t let it keep you from seeing the one unfolding beside you.

Why it works

You may have planned every detail or simply opened the door to see what the morning brings. Either way, those first moments remind us that every destination offers a fresh beginning, if we’re willing to greet the day before it asks anything of us.

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Why Early Morning Travel Is Worth Trying Once

If I could leave you with one parting piece of advice, it would simply be this: just try it once.

What do you have to lose? Well… maybe a little sleep.

I’m not suggesting you do it every day. Some mornings are meant for sleeping in, lingering over another cup of coffee, and letting the day unfold a little more slowly. But just once, set the alarm a little earlier than feels reasonable and see where the morning takes you.

Go by yourself or invite your travel companion to join you. If they aren’t convinced, bribe them with a good cup of coffee and a warm pastry when you get back. It just might work.

I hope you’ll try it just once.

You may come home with your favorite photograph, a new favorite place, or simply the memory of seeing a destination before it had fully awakened.

Sometimes the best travel memories aren’t the ones we planned. They’re the ones we almost slept through.

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I’d love to hear from you. Are you an early riser when you travel, or do you prefer to ease into the morning? Have you ever stumbled across one of those quiet, unexpected moments before the crowds arrived? Share your favorite morning travel memory in the comments.

Yellowstone National Park at Sunrise

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About Elaine

Elaine is an international award-winning travel writer, wine writer, photographer, and WSET Level 3 wine professional who believes every destination has a story worth telling. Through Drink In Life, she explores wine, travel, gardens, books, food, and the quiet moments that make a life well lived.

Read more about Elaine →

All text and images © 2017–2026 Elaine Luxton and Drink In Life LLC. Photography by Elaine Luxton / Drink In Nature Photography. International French 75 Day™ and French 75 Day™ are trademarks of Elaine Luxton. All rights reserved.