Even if you consider trip planning part of the fun of travelling, it can still be a lot of work. From booking flights to choosing hotels and tours, there are a few travel planning websites that I have come to rely on. Here are the websites I use whenever I travel to help me plan and save money.
This post is your ultimate guide to travel planning websites.
This page contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you purchase through my links (at no extra cost to you). I ONLY recommend companies and products that I have personally used, love, and trust.
Hotels.com
Hotels.com is my go-to website for travel planning. I’ve found unique stays and great deals. I love their rating system and checking out other travellers’ reviews to help ensure that the place is a good fit for me.
I’ve used Hotels.com for accommodations all over the world. They offer many options, from big-brand hotels to smaller boutique hotels, guest houses, and even apartments. And most places have free cancellation in case your plans change.
Also, VRBO is good for unique, more home-like accommodations.
Get Your Guide
When visiting a new place, I love doing a blend of exploring on my own, plus a few guided tours. Get Your Guide is one of my favourite websites for planning when I travel, with fascinating tours by local experts and skip-the-line tickets. Tours that I’ve loved and would recommend:
Rome’s Domus Aurea, Nero’s Golden House Guided Tour: This is a great tour to escape Rome’s summer heat. Discover Emperor Nero’s Golden House, and with the help of Virtual Reality, see how it would have looked 2000 years ago.
Florence’s Uffizi Gallery & Accademia Small Group Tour: You can’t go to Florence without visiting its world-famous art, and this tour lets you skip the line to see masterpieces like Michelangelo’s David and Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus.
Viator
Viator has a vast offering of experiences, more than 300,000 in 200 different countries. They offer everything from skip-the-line tours of famous landmarks to cooking classes and cruises to see the Northern Lights. Tours that I’ve loved and would highly recommend:
Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter’s Basilica Tour: Line-ups to get into St.Peter’s are always long, and the Vatican Museum is enormous. This is the place where you need a skip-the-line tour with a guide.
Taste of Two Continents: Istanbul Food Tour: Turkish food is incredibly delicious, and this tour allows you to sample some of its best in the world’s only city spanning two continents.
Tiqets
Tiqets helps you score digital tickets for attractions around the world. It is an especially great website if travel planning is not your thing because it’s possible to buy same-day tickets, even while standing in line, gaining access to the site before the rest of the crowd.
Tiqets can be invaluable in Rome, where the line-ups can be long. Here are a few of my favourite places to visit.
Castel Sant’Angelo, located on the Tiber River, was initially built as a mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian in 139 AD and today offers some of the best views of Rome.
Borghese Gallery is a beautiful villa that houses the art collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese and his nephew Pope Paul V. Marvel at Bernini’s sculptures and painted masterpieces by Caravaggio and Raphael.
Omio
Omio is a brilliant travel planning website, especially when comparing different transportation options. While it offers tickets for trains, planes, buses, and ferries in Europe, Canada and the United States. I’ve used it exclusively for train travel in Italy. If you want to learn more, check out this post, Taking Trains in Italy by a Girl with a Big Suitcase.
If you are planning a European vacation, you need Omio for train travel and rail passes.
Airalo
Getting an eSim was a game-changer for me. Before discovering Airalo, I was always reluctant to buy a physical SIM card and would wander around, lost and out of touch with family and friends.
If your phone is your everything, and you want it fully functional while you are out of the country, then Arialo is for you!
Download and install your selected Airalo eSim from over 200 countries/regions before you fly, and you’ll automatically be connected when you land. Yes! It’s that easy.
Vacation planning can be fun and easy with these travel planning websites. Are you planning a trip to Italy? Check out this post on the Five Best Views of Florence, Italy.
