It’s vacation season, and for many politicians, both on and off the ballot this year, that means careful calculations about whether to take time off, how much time to take and where to go. After all, one awkward photo can be used as campaign fodder against them. (See: John Kerry, windsurfing.)

For those pols hoping to take a breather this summer, here’s how to do it without getting into trouble:

Keep your downtime on the down-low

Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning primary loss — he was dinged for, among other things, spending too much time in the Hamptons — has left many pols concerned about appearing complacent or out of touch, a sentiment compounded by voters’ dim views of Washington.

( PHOTOS: Obama family’s Hawaii holiday vacation)

So some politicians simply won’t divulge their vacation plans.

“Hey, I’m in a race,” said Warner, the Democratic senator from Virginia, when a reporter inquired about his summer schedule. “I may sneak off for a day or two, but don’t think I’m going to talk about it.”

Asked what he‘d do on those days, Warner replied as he ran down the Senate’s marble stairs, “I wouldn’t tell the press!”

POLITICO also sent about a dozen emails to campaigns and elected officials’ press teams asking about their bosses’ vacation intentions. Most didn’t reply.

Graham, a Republican senator, copped to plans to use about four days in August to golf and take a quick trip with his sister’s family. But then it’s back to work, he stressed.

( PHOTOS: Politicians on vacation)

“I’ve got to prove to people that I deserve to be reelected, and I’ve got to prove to people that I want to be reelected,” said Graham, who is expected to cruise to victory in deep-red South Carolina.

Consider a ‘staycation’

Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, would probably love a family getaway this summer. But he’s the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and given the spate of current international crises, a real vacation is looking unlikely.

“They say sometimes the best vacations are the ones you take at home,” he said. “I’ve got lots of stuff to read. I’ve got lots of stuff to put in order. I’m not planning a vacation per se, in August, but I’ll be in my district, I’ll be home, I’ll be relaxing — that’s what I’m going to do.”

Other pols, such as Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), also are planning to squeeze in a little downtime in their home states.

( Also on POLITICO: The Do-Little Congress heads home)

James Carville, a longtime Democratic strategist, said that’s a wise approach. “If you’re running in New Jersey, in midterms, vacation at the Shore — that’s a good rule,” Carville said.

Veteran GOP strategist Charlie Black said that politicians on the ballot this cycle should just take off a weekend if they need it, or maybe just a day. “If they’re on the ballot in November, they need to be working,” he said.

Newt Gingrich learned the importance of timing the hard way. In the summer of 2011, soon after announcing his bid for president, he set off on a two-week vacation with his wife, complete with a cruise to the Greek islands. The move prompted much of his senior staff, already worried about other campaign problems, to quit (though Gingrich ultimately rebounded and made it through several 2012 primaries).

Schlep your own bags

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent excursion to Italy drew some scrutiny given his populist credentials. But he and his aides did their best to signal that the trip was in line with his supporters’ values.

De Blasio, who roared into office last fall on the strength of the progressive movement, kept quiet the details about where he stayed and which restaurants he visited, according to New York news reports. However, the press was informed that he and his family flew coach and that the mayor hauled around his own luggage.

“The man of the people emerged as the man of the people,” said Hank Sheinkopf, another veteran Democratic strategist. “He carried his own luggage, walked among the people of the town his [family] came from. He continued to develop this kind of populist appeal. He took it to Europe and back, and it worked.”

The de Blasio model is one likely to be followed by progressive candidates down the road as the Democratic base increasingly moves in a populist direction, Sheinkopf said. At a time of persistent economic anxiety, “not flaunting [wealth], not flaunting luxury is probably a good idea,” he said.

Ditch the grind, but stay on the grid

At first, Rubio said he did “nothing” but relax at a lake house in North Carolina earlier this summer. But the senator soon noted that it wasn’t possible to totally unplug.

“I’m still, every day [doing] something, except for Sundays, with staff on the phone,” said the Florida Republican, a potential presidential hopeful. “And of course I wake up every day and read my five newspapers, read my memos, communicate with staff. We tried not to do more, but this job has some elements — you have to keep in touch.”

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is headed to Guatemala in August to perform eye surgeries in “remote locations,” according to a spokesman, a nod to his past as an ophthalmologist.

Some reporters will be in tow, there will be several meetings with high-level officials, and the Republican’s team insists it’s not a vacation. Still, Paul — another potential 2016 contender — grows visibly energized when he discusses medicine, so the trip offers a break from D.C. and perhaps a chance to recharge, all while avoiding looking like a slacker.

For candidates who can’t get out of town, sometimes the campaign stops themselves aren’t so bad.

“I’m up for reelection and obviously that will take some time and there is still a lot to be done,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who faces a long-shot Democratic challenger. “Fortunately, though, being in Maine in the summer is the very best place to be, and we have an endless number of fairs and festivals and parades and those are great fun to attend.”

Play the ‘family’ card

In most campaigns, going after families is off-limits — which means it’s a lot tougher to blast someone for taking a quick trip to be with loved ones.

So some candidates, such as Ed Gillespie, the Republican running against Warner in Virginia, are hoping to do just that.

He and his family are planning to attend his sister’s 50th birthday in New Jersey.

Engel, the New York congressman, noted: “Nobody begrudges you a vacation with your family … We didn’t go on a lot of vacations, much to my chagrin, but we went on some.”

Watch out for the cameras

Kerry, now the secretary of state, was the 2004 Democratic nominee for president, challenging incumbent George W. Bush. When footage of Kerry windsurfing off Nantucket emerged, the Bush campaign saw it as the perfect image for a campaign ad that decried Kerry as a wealthy waffler on key policy issues. “John Kerry: Whichever way the wind blows,” a narrator intoned.

Beach vacations present their own set of possible pitfalls: Bill and Hillary Clinton were photographed dancing while wearing only swimsuits in 1998, an image that popped just ahead of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The then-president said at the time that he liked the picture, though he found it to be an invasion of privacy. (Pictures of a shirtless President Barack Obama on the beach have often generated positive chatter.)

Beyond the visuals, Democrats blasted Bush for the time he spent on his Texas ranch; now Republicans routinely criticize Obama for family vacations in Hawaii.

The bottom line is, if a trip generates attention, chances are opponents will seek to turn it into a political bludgeon. Whether their line of attack sticks is another matter, Carville said.

“…I don’t think it drives voting behavior,” he said. “… If you were running in Shreveport and said you were going to Paris for vacation or Milan to listen to the opera, I guess that’d be, some would say, [out of touch]. There are exceptions, but it’d have to be something pretty out-there to have some effect on voting behavior.

2016ers: Take a real vacation while you still can

Hillary Clinton is expected to be in the ultra-luxurious Hamptons sometime this month, a break that follows the most intense period of promoting her new memoir.

During that book tour, she was criticized for the way she discussed her family’s wealth. But the potential 2016 Democratic front-runner, along with any other possible presidential candidates, shouldn’t stress about how their vacations play at this point, say observers on both sides of the aisle.

In fact, said Black, the GOP strategist, 2016 hopefuls should be resting up and enjoying themselves.

“In the lead-up to a campaign, two, three years out, obviously they ought to be taking vacations and getting some rest,” Black said. Or, if they’re really motivated, he added wryly: “You could vacation in New Hampshire, and I guess in Iowa. Go pick corn or something.”