There are so many travel resources to plan a vacation that it can be overwhelming to find reliable information
Every day I have people asking me how to get the best deals for hotels, flights and tours. In the middle of so many resources over the internet and so many websites, organizing a simple trip can became a hard task!
Over the last 5 years I have traveled to a lot of different countries and continents. Through my experience I have now organized a list with the most useful resources I frequently use to organize my own trips.
Hopefully this will make your next trip much easier to plan. Enjoy!
The best resources to plan a trip
Flights
When I’m planning a trip somewhere I always start with flights. I try to get the cheapest flight within the days I want to travel and then plan everything around it. The more flexible you are with dates and times the best. Most times I try to book my flights with 2-3 months in advance or even more.
Websites that I frequently use to book flights:
This is the first website I use when booking my flights. You can search flights to basically anywhere in the world and you can see prices for a whole month for when you have flexibility with dates. The app is great to have on your phone for a quick check.
My second option when booking flights is Google Flights. Occasionally you will find better deals and options for multi-flights.
ACCOMMODATION
Booking accommodation to some places can became a nightmare when it comes to choose the best in the middle of hundreds of options sometimes.
These are the websites that I frequently use to book all kinds of accommodation:
This is the first website I check when looking for accommodation: hotels, hostels, resorts, apartments or any other type. It’s easy to use, there is free cancellation in a lot of properties and the Genius feature can give you 10% discount in some bookings. Have a look on some of the deals!
After I select the hotels that I love I always have a quick look on TripAdvisor. Sometimes they have some great deals of up to 30% and I like to read the reviews.
Airbnb it’s really popular right now, not just for long term staying but also for short term. This is because you can easily find incredible apartments/houses with central locations of where you want to go. Some of them are an absolute delight from decoration to location, you name it! Sign up today and get $25 credit on your first booking, here.
The best website when you’re looking for budget accommodation: hostels, guesthouses, B&B and hotels. It’s simple to use and I have been in the best hostels ever through bookings in this website.
TOURS
With tours it all depends on where you going to. Most times I prefer to book them on location by comparing prices and it’s usually the cheapest option.
Other time when I’m off to remote destinations where I am unsure what to expect, I prefer to book it in advance and have that reassurance before my trip.
Some of the companies I have used in the past are Intrepid Travel, G Adventures, Contiki, Topdeck and Viator.
I recently found out Get Your Guide which is great to book all types of tours from all over the world. They have a lot of choice, check it here.
TRAVEL GUIDES
For almost every place in the world Lonely Planet has a guidebook with details about where to go, what to see and experience from the best each country has to offer. Check them out!
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Either is a long trip or a short one I highly advise you to always have a travel insurance. If you travel frequently you can get a yearly one which is cheaper, but then all depends what you want to add to your insurance.
To compare prices on different insurance companies I use GoCompare.
Usually for my travels I rely on World Nomads, a travel insurance really easy to use with covering to over 150+ activities and 24/7 emergency assistance.
Other super helpful tool is the Service by ClaimCompass app that can help save the average traveler over $300 per year! With a simple e-mail connection the app will look at your pass and future flights as well as hotel reservations and automatically pursue compensation for any delays or cancellations you’ve experienced up to 12 months (the starter plan has no fee).
All the items listed in this article are products that I have personally used and recommend. I hope this will make your next trip much easier to plan.
If you’re having trouble with some links or you think I should add something important please feel free to e-mail me.
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*This article contains affiliate links which means that if you book something through these links I will earn a small commission at no extra cost for you.
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I use similar resources and websites to book our trips however I didn’t have a clue about few of them you mentioned, so thank you for the tips. And my best trips and best guides were found when i actually arrived to the destinations. We met incredible people thanks to it.
Oh my gosh, LOVE google flights! I used to use Kayak but once I discovered GF I never looked back! I love that you can mix and match and find your perfect flight plan at the perfect cost! Well, almost perfect… everything is a little too expensive for my ideal tastes but, they really do find you the cheapest flights out there!
Some great tips. I love using Skyscanner myself as I seem to always find it has the best prices. Noticed your guidebooks. That’s on the bucket list so I may just pick up a copy.
What a great list! I love travel and spend a bunch of time planning my trips, but I’m often overwhelmed trying to look at everything. I will definitely be using some of these tools for my next one!
I love using Skyscanner to check for the cheapest flights! I genuinely think their prices, you wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere~
Great list! This is so helpful, I am forever using sky scanner and holiday pirates is another good one for random deals.
I think that my way of planning a trip is so similar to yours, I also start with the flights and go from there.Trip advisor is really important for me too.
As a traveler, it is always good to know what works well to ensure the trip goes on just smoothly. I love this list- sharing your perspective from flight booking to accommodation to the whole tour itself. Other travelers will definitely find this worth it.
My dream in life is to travel the world and when I do, these will be the perfect apps to use! The most random things can go wrong when traveling so it is important to be as prepared as possible. Thank-you for sharing!
I have not heard of a bunch of these resources! We love doing our own planning for our trips and this would be a great place to reference. Thanks for these tips!
Best compilation of the travel resources. Personally I love using Trip advisor , AirBnB, Booking.com, Skyscanner for every trip we plan. Though I didn’t have any idea about Kayak . Shall browse the ones I didn’t knew to check out their functionality.
I have heard a lot about Skyscanner but haven’t tried it yet. Friends have been telling me about the awesome deals they got from there. Booking.com and Expedia.com are the best, however, I have also found another booking website, Trivago.com that also offers some great hotel deals.
I am so glad I found this post! I didn’t know half of these sites! Now maybe I can plan my next trip without breaking the bank!
There are quite a few listed here most of which I haven’t used myself. I have heard of some of those mentioned but only really use trip advisor although not to book trips just for info.
I have used Booking.com to plan a few trips. I love the app on iPhone. It is so useful for staying on top of your itinerary.
This is such a fab list! I find it hard to get the best deal on flights, and travel insurance is always a smart idea.
I love using Tripadvisor, Skyscanner, and Airbnb. I have never checked Google flights before so I am going to try it out…these are some great resources!
These are all great resources. I came across a website once where people commented about things to do depending on the city, state, country when I was planning a trip to Japan. It is a great resource but I couldn’t find it anymore. So sad!
This is such a useful post, I am going to bookmark it and keep it for future reference.
Your write-up adds my knowledge about how to take care about travel insurance, as not have much knowledge of that. To have a safe and happy traveling experience these resources are so useful, saving this post so that I can remember where I have to compare the things.
Those are some pretty great resources when you are going on a trip. I know I have used a few of those in the past. They really work. I have saved a lot of time and money with them.
Skyscanner is my favorite website to get flights. They always have deals that nobody else can find!
Really good list with many useful tips. I use already a few of them, for hotels booking I like Agoda!
Great list of very useful travel resources. A few I have never heard about and added to my “to check out” list.
This sounds like an amazing comprehensive guide when it comes to planning a trip! I also look for the cheapest flight sin months advance before planning my trip!
This is a fantastic resourceful article. Thanks a lot. Bookmarked for future use
I also do the same, I usually plan my trips 2-3 months before. This helps me planning and organising things. I tend to do all my bookings mostly from MakeMyTrip.
these are some great resources ! thank you for sharing , I’m planning a Scandinavian road trip for this summer and your post came in just in time to make my life easier!
This is a great list for people looking to plan a trip. One other option for flights that I know a lot of people use is skiplagged. You can find very cheap airfares on there because of how they book the flights.
I absolutely love to use skyscanner and Google flights. It’s really important to compare between different websites to find the best price. But so far skyscanner has always won!
I love the fact that you mentioned travel insurance because a lot of people forget about that completely. It’s really important to know that you have something to rely on in case an emergency comes up. Also appreciate all the tips for finding flights and hotels/accommodations!
What a great comprehensive list of resources to use! I will be saving this for when I book our next trip!
I love taking tours while on vacation, so thanks for the suggestions! I had heard of Viator and Contiki before but will definitely check out the other ones.