Hey. Are you thinking about planning a trip to a dark site to observe the sky?
Any time is good, right?
No.
No, no, no.
NO!
You want to plan around the moon.
Why don't you look at stars during the day? They're still there, but the sun washes them out, hiding them in the brightened atmosphere.
The Moon does the same thing, only not as thoroughly. (So does light pollution from cities). The brighter the atmosphere, the bright a target has to be to "burn through it".
Your eyes can also adapt - not just pupil dilation, but chemically - to very dark. You can see celestial objects MUCH BETTER when Dark Adapted.
The moon will ruin that as well.
So what do you do? You check the phase of the moon for your trip.
The Moon travels east around the earth in roughly 28 days.
The best skies are at the New Moon - when the Moon is passing between the Sun and Earth. At New Moon (and a couple of days before and after) the moon is invisible. It doesn't ruin a moment of observing.
At Full Moon, two weeks later, the Moon rises at Sunset and sets at Sunrise. Your night sky has a big fat ultra-bright Moon washing out most of your dimmer targets (which is everything but the planets and start clusters). The Moon is also least interesting to observe while full, because the terminator (the very sharp day/night line) is the most intersting feature. Mountains and Crater rims peak into the sunlight and the shadows provide a 3D effect.
In your internet browser, search for "moon phases" or "next new moon" or similar. You'll get dates.
For example the new moons for 2024 are Feb 9, Mar 10, April 8, May 7, Jun 6, July 5, Aug 4, Sep 2, Oct 2, Nov 1, Nov 30, Dec 30.
Nights around those dates are perfect for stargazing.
"But I need a weekend. Which weekend do I pick?"
The short answer is a week before a new moon will be increasing moon-free (at one week prior, a half-moon will rise at mid-night (not necessarily midnight)). Then you will have an increasingly big and bright crescent moon setting later each day after the New Moon.
A little bit of crescent moon is not a bad thing, especially for new observers. A crescent moon through a telescope is a cool target. The big decision is: how much time do you want to spend after sunset with the moon up? One week after the New Moon, the Moon won't set until mid-night. For most casual observers they're already asleep by the time the sky gets "good".
Check the moonset on the days you want to go. Note that moonrise and moonset vary quite a bit and it is best to search that by location (New Moon is global, but rises and sets are localized.