Engaging intro paragraph when you’re thinking of a trip planner, a travel agent may come to mind. Someone who makes your reservations, books flights, in arranges your transport while working in an office of some sort. Trip planners alleviate the need for this. Instead of endless lines of communication for your future trip, you can see real-time price estimates and trip options in front of you.
The best trip planners include:
- TripAdvisor
- Kayak
- Roadtrippers
And those are just a few. Even AirBnB is getting in on the trip planning scene with tools to help you plan an entire vacation.
To avoid trip planning disasters, enlist the help of an easy-to-use trip planner. These websites are responsible for planning millions of successful trips, so let them help you with yours! Here we will discuss the ten best trip planners out there and get you started on the right foot first before you fall into that rabbit hole of stressful planning.
Table of Contents
What is the Best Trip Planner?
TripAdvisor is the number one app among the most popular trip planner apps that you can find on almost any mobile device today. While there are multiple trip planning apps on the market, TripAdvisor stands out in many ways.
This particular site allows you to search more than 200 websites when booking your vacation. This allows you to see multiple comparisons in one place, which in turn allows you to get the best bang for your buck or, in better terms, great deals for potential vacation destinations.
TripAdvisor is also free to use and consists of over 500 million reviews and comments for searchers to use to make well-thought-out vacation accommodations. TripAdvisor is the most recognized and trusted travel site which provides efficiency and affordability with every search.
If you’re unsure which flight search engine to use, check out our detailed comparison between Skyscanner and Google Flights to find the best option for your travel needs.
What Kind of Information Do I Need Before Using a Trip Planner?
Before using a trip planner, there are a few things that you might need to get started. For starters, go ahead and decide on a destination and a budget for your travels.
Suppose you aren’t sure where you want to go just yet. In that case, that’s no problem as many sites offer potential vacationers information on new hot spots in affordable vacation destinations.
Decide if you’ll be traveling solo or if you’ll be trying to accommodate multiple people. Then, think about the mode of travel that you would like to use, a guesstimate of when you would like to travel, and the things that you would like to do. Next, you need to start using a trip planner are the general questions that a travel agent would ask.
You need to know where you want to go or at least the type of climate you would like to be in, how much money you’d like to spend, and the things you would like to do.
In a nutshell, take a peek at this quick list of the information you should have readily available or should know before you get started planning your trip:
- Overall budget
- Solo travel vs. group travel
- Possible destinations
- Do you have a passport?
- Transportation/mode of travel
- Vacation activities
Make sure that you know the basics so that you can have some information to base your searches off of and if you don’t have a concrete trip idea in mind, keep yourself open to new destinations and different budget ranges.
Understanding the importance of travel insurance cannot be overstated as it provides crucial protection and peace of mind throughout your journey.
The 10 Best Trip Planners Out There
To save you the time and energy of finding the best trip planner, we’ve lined up the ten best right here. Up next, we’ll detail each one to choose from, finding the best trip planner for you a little easier.
If you need to manage your mail while on vacation, we’ve got you covered with practical tips and solutions to ensure your mail is handled smoothly in your absence.
Kayak
Kayak is an online travel agency and search engine that you may have heard of already. It’s safe to say you may have seen a kayak commercial at some point as well. Kayak constantly revolutionizes the travel industry with its easy-to-use search engine, filter features, and price alerts.
One of the most popular uses of Kayak is the different modes of alerts whether, through email or phone, you will always be notified about price drops on different flights and hotels so that you never miss a deal, and this applies to live time. Also, instead of doing multiple searches, Kayak allows you to literally “one and done.” Now that’s travel made easy.
Roadtrippers
Go ahead and scream road trip at the top of your lungs! Roadtrippers is by far the best trip planning and itinerary app that will assist you with creating the perfect road trip. You can discover different attractions, find the best routes to your destination, and plan visit-worthy stops along the way.
You can also search restaurants, nightclubs, and hotels throughout any route you plan, and you don’t have to start over every time you plan a trip. Instead, your route will update as you plan along the way.
Tripit
When planning a trip, you can often get overwhelmed with the different things that you have to keep in mind or are readily available. Tripit is one of the top tools for keeping all of your travel needs in one place. From round-trip tickets to hotel bookings and other reservations, this platform keeps it all at your fingertips, and all you have to do is create an account.
Being able to have your travel plans in the palm of your hand can go a long way, especially if you are in the midst of a trip already.
Airbnb
You have more than likely heard of Airbnb, which is a vacation rental company. It’s an online marketplace used for lodging that consists of homestays and vacation rentals. They even offer the opportunity for you to search for experiences if you aren’t necessarily looking for a place to stay.
While utilizing this platform, you can find tons of vacation rentals and unique stays that will surely put the cherry on top of your dream vacation. This platform is popular among people looking for unique lodging options or who want to offer their home or rental property to travelers to make an extra form of income.
The possibilities while using Airbnb are limitless.
Packing Pro
With every opportunity to plan a trip comes an opportunity to not be comfortable on that same trip. If you are an iPhone user, you’ll be happy to know that Packing Pro is an app meant to provide comfort and reliability when it comes to making sure that you have everything you need.
Just look for that brown briefcase, and you have found the right app. It provides detailed reports about any plans you have and the list of items you would need to bring along with you throughout that entire trip.
It handles more than just making sure you have properly packed but also takes care of food preferences as you travel, places that would pique your interest, and even religious formats. Packing Pro puts the pro in professional.
Couchsurfing
Did you know that you can couch surf literally? Couchsurfing is an amazing app that supports finding more local experiences, cheap travel, and an easy way for solo travelers to make friends. If you are someone who’s not afraid to hop on a plane alone and end up in a foreign land, then couch surfing may be perfect for you.
With this app, you are guaranteed to make new friends and connections wherever you end up. One of the coolest features of this app is that hosts are not allowed to charge you for lodging. All you have to be willing to do is explain to your host why you want to meet them, and the rest goes from there.
Skyscanner
For those jet setters who travel regularly, Skyscanner is the all-in-one app that might appeal the most to you. When the word “everything” is used to describe something, this app would be exactly that. You can search and compare flights, car rentals, hotels, and anything else that has to do with accommodations all in one place.
You can search through different discounts and even update your travel arrangements to new situations, such as if you need a quicker flight. This particular app can also be run in more than 30 languages, so it’s safe to say that Skyscanner takes ease of travel to the heart.
When comparing flight search engines, our analysis of Skyscanner vs. Google Flights can help you choose the ideal platform for your travel needs.
Hopper
If you want to hop from place to place on a budget, then Hopper may be the app for you. This particular app is fairly simple to use, and its sole purpose is to save you money when planning a vacation. The algorithm built into it is used to predict the lowest possible prices on airfare and any hotel you could find.
It does this all while trying to stay a year into the future. The only downfall to this app is that they focus on traveling by plane, so the application does not offer any information for other modes of transportation. It is important to note that Hopper is very simple in design and functionality, so there are some common functions that you may notice are not there, such as the feature to filter out search material.
The app also consists of a commission fee when booking flights but still finds you the cheapest flight available.
Tripomatic
Tripomatic has to be by far one of the most useful travel apps out there. It literally allows you to choose a destination and then provides you with options for your itinerary that day and will usually cover major attractions.
Utilizing this app, you can access your maps offline, calculate the distance between different places and even check out the weather forecast for that day.
Tripomatic is a travel planning software that gives you day-to-day plans to make your itinerary worth what you’ve been waiting for.
Planapple
Easy, free, and truly accommodating are three things that describe the Planapple platform. It is a great app to effortlessly organize your trips and ideas in one place and makes planning your dream vacation easily plannable. This particular app may be less heard of, but it deserves to be known about.
You can organize your ideas in your trip notebook. You can share you’re planning ideas and plan trips with other people throughout the app. How efficient is it to plan a trip with someone right through your phone so that you can get the most ideal itinerary possible?
All of your plans are easily viewable on your mobile device, and you can share your trip ideas with friends in your network.
You're Ready for Your Next Trip
Now that we have divulged through the ten best trip planners out there, it’s safe to say that there is an app or platform for everyone when it comes to planning a trip.
When it comes to trip planning, consider the budget-friendly option of staying at hostels, offering a unique and social experience for travelers from around the world.
Many of the platforms that were mentioned are free, easy to use, and are overall great tools to have if you are planning a vacation. While most can be used or found within the Google Play store or the Apple store, you can often find easily navigated sites that can be used instead of the app versions as well.
Suppose you need simple tools to plan your next family vacation or getaway. In that case, you may want to consider utilizing a trip planner. Many of these platforms will allow you to see the best rates you can get for hotels, rentals, flights, and other means of transportation and plan out your day-to-day itineraries for you throughout your trip, and some even offer discounted excursions. Check out these essential things to pack to ensure a smooth and enjoyable travel experience.
What’s not to love about simplicity?