The Best Websites For Travel Planning

In my 25 years of age I have travelled quite a bit and learned a lot. I have learned about what works best for me, and as airlines and planes and airports and the internet change, you have to adjust and keep learning.

Currently there is a set of websites I love using for various things related to travel planning that make it a bit easier and fun, and I have gathered them for you. Whether you like planning down to the last detail or you like your travels to be more spontaneous, these websites cater to both types of travelers. 

For Flights

Hipmunk. Some of us are visual thinkers and this website makes it easy to search for flights with a super simple and attractive visual interface. You see your results free of clutter and ads. It allows you to sort by price, flight duration, and the number of layover and agony (my favorite, which is a version of all three. I have bought many flights through Hipmunk. Plus, they have an adorable mascot.

Kayak. I have found the prices of kayak to be really good. They also have any possible flight you can think of. You can narrow your results by preferred airlines, preferred departure times, and so much more. You also have the option of managing your itinerary with My Trips.

 

Skyscanner. Another all around great flight search engine.

 

For Accommodation

Airbnb is my absolute first choice when it comes to finding a place to stay. I love the variety of places you can find across the world from sleeping in a boat to a treehouse. I love that they have something for every budget and I love the interaction with the hosts often resulting in great conversations, great tips and great friendships. If you haven’t signed up yet, with this link you get $25 usd credit towards your first booking!

Couchsurfing. This service is similar to airbnb in how you stay at a local’s home but it is probably more suitable for more intrepid wanderers as you can probably find less ideal places to stay but at probably lower prices.

Hipmunk makes another appearance because they also make it easy to find the right hotel with a map-based, color-coded sorting, and heatmaps for nearby attractions. They also have a cool feature called the The Walk Score, which ranks the strolling convenience of each location.

Booking.com. For old fashioned online hotel search, Booking makes has a vast array of hotels around the world with lots of reviews from other travelers.

 

For Trip Planning

Tripadvisor (What to do). This site is great for finding things to do as they have abundant reviews from travelers alike. They have attraction rankings and very helpful reviews.

Rome2rio (How to get there). If you wanted directions from the U.S. to Europe in the early days of Google Maps, the service suggested you swim across the Atlantic.

But Rome2rio is designed specifically to get you anywhere in the world, whether in planes, trains, automobiles, or ferries. Every journey is sorted by complete travel time and broken down with specifics for each leg of the trip.

Adioso (For spontanous and cheap travel). Adioso is for those with a free spirit. For those that just want to travel no matter where. For those adventurous travelers, Adioso is a budget-friendly search engine that shows you the cheapest domestic and international flights available from your city by auto-searching low-cost airlines for the best possible fares.  If your schedule permits you can book the trip.

I hope these are useful for your future travels and your fantasy trip planning (which I do a lot.)

Do you have a favorite useful travel website that wasn’t in this list?