Best Travel Tools for Trip Planning
How do you pick the best travel tools for trip planning when there a sea of options online? Read on for my recommendations on where to start, based on years of self-guided travel planning.
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I have spent hours comparing one flight deal to another, sizing up hotel accommodations, and looking for the best tours on the cheap.
I do this because enjoy orchestrating my own unique travel experiences.
That might mean arriving in a favorite city, renting a car to check out some of the lesser known areas, spending a night in an agriturismo or room at a bed-and-breakfast, taking the rail to another city, and a mix of guided and self-directed tours.
The more varied and off-beat, the more interesting!
However, here’s the truth.
Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming.
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Unless you buy a package deal or work with a travel agent that does all the travel planning work for you, there is a seemingly endless combination of possible travel itineraries and options.
So, the experienced traveler has her go-to list of best travel tools.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Here are the air, accommodation, activities and other travel resources I look to first when planning a trip.
I hope they offer you a good starting point as you plan your vacation or getaway!
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I’ll be adding more travel resources as I feel confident in recommending them to you, so be sure to bookmark this post for future reference.
When is the Best Time to Travel?
In addition to using these money-saving travel tools, I get the best fares and rates by planning my travel during the shoulder season.
If you’d like to know more about that, get my FREE Guide to the Shoulder Season.
What are Your Favorite Travel Planning Tools?
Do you have a favorite travel planning resource?
Please post it in the comments below!
I looove the planning process, almost as much as the trip itself! I use google flights (as Candy mentioned, always in incognito mode), AirBnB, and OneNote to organize everything. I’ve lately been obsessed with Scott’s Cheap Flights, and while I haven’t booked any of the deals yet, I spent way too much time oogling all of their emails!
Planning is half the fun, isn’t it?! I check out Scott’s Cheap Flights, too. It has some great deals! Those newsletters really showcase some amazing fares…
I like to use Google Flights (in an incognito window) to search for flights. As far as planning out my itinerary, I just use Google Docs so that I can share and also get to it easily no matter where I am 🙂
Love Google Docs…
I do shoulder season for Europe but for winter, I just go to Mexico even that’s peak!
Well, anyplace warm for winter is for me…LOL. Mexico sounds great!
Isn’t it interesting that we all kind of get used to the travel tools we know best and don’t really branch out? For me, it’s Google Flights and Airbnb. I’ve heard many people recommend shopping around a bit more for flights, and Skyscanner sounds like a great way to do that. I’ve also never heard of BedandBreakfast.com, but it would be cool to see how it compares to Airbnb. I’ll keep that in mind next time I need a place!
Yes, it’s true! It’s easy to get comfortable with what we know. And, it seems I find great new tools all the time!
I use Google flights to get a sense of high / low fares, use other travel bloggers posts to get ideas on what to see and do, and use Condé Nast and Travel + Leisure to find those quality accommodations and restaurants. But truth be told I spend hours upon hours doing research. And love learning about new tips.
Excellent choices. I always check with other bloggers, and am a big fan of Condé Nast and T+L myself!
I also seem to spend hours putting together my family’s and my own travel plans and looking for the best deals. I love to use Google Flights to look for deals and SkyScanner. Thanks for all the great tips.
Yes, Google Flights is a great source, too!