Planning a trip shouldn’t be a headache. In 2025 there are plenty of smart tools that help you book flights, build multi-stop routes, find local experiences, and even sketch an itinerary with an AI.
Below are the 10 best travel planning websites travelers actually use, what each does best, who it’s for, and a few practical notes to help you pick the right tool for your next trip.
Google Travel
Google Travel aggregates flight and hotel reservations from Gmail and shows them in a trip timeline. You don’t book directly on Google, which sends you to carriers or partner sites, but the search speed and price-tracking tools make it an essential first stop.
- Advantages:
- Fast search interface
- Powerful date and route price visualizations
- Useful price alerts
- Integrates with Gmail/Google Calendar for reservation aggregation.
- Disadvantages:
It's mainly able to stimulate tourism inspiration instead of providing practical itineraries for users.
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is a large, user-review–driven site for hotels, restaurants, attractions, and tours. The site hosts millions of traveler reviews and photos, and its “Trips” or saved-lists features let users collect and organize places. Many travelers treat Tripadvisor as one of the best travel planning websites for crowd-sourced feedback.
- Advantages:
- A vast number of crowd-sourced reviews and photos.
- Good for getting varied traveler opinions and user-contributed practical tips.
- Saving lists helps curate ideas.
- Disadvantages:
- Review quality varies and can be inconsistent or biased.
- Some listings or review authenticity have been questioned historically.
- The Trips/saved-lists feature is more for collection than a full itinerary builder.
iMean AI
iMean AI is a leading chat-based AI travel planning tool dedicated to providing users with personalized and efficient travel planning experiences. iMean AI emphasizes the ability to maintain context in multiple rounds of conversations, supporting users to gradually refine their travel preferences (such as budget, mode of travel, points of interest).
- Advantages:
- As one of the best travel planning websites, it can generate a comprehensive itinerary and shareable links.
- Intelligently recommend destinations/attractions/activities/hotels/restaurants based on user needs.
- Unlike other AI travel planning tools that can only recommend OTA flight tickets and hotels that are bound to them, iMean AI can compare prices across the entire network and recommend the best and cheapest flight tickets and hotels to users.
- Disadvantages:
At present, iMean AI only has a website version, but it is said that an app version will be available next year.
Wanderlog
Wanderlog is a travel planning app and website that focuses on building day-by-day itineraries, mapping stops, importing reservations, and sharing plans with others. If you’re traveling with a group, Wanderlog is one of the best tools for travel planning to try.
- Advantages:
- Intuitive drag-and-drop itinerary builder, map view
- Ability to import printable itineraries that others can edit on the same page (via email).
- Features for group collaboration and splitting costs.
- Disadvantages:
- Some important features require connecting email or forwarding reservation emails, which users may find privacy-sensitive
- Advanced exports or offline features may be limited by subscription tiers.
layla
Layla is an AI-driven travel assistant platform that offers chat-based itinerary creation and itinerary management features. It can chat with you in real-time for Q&A, recommend attractions and activities, and provide inspiration and planning for your itinerary.
- Advantages:
- Chat-based interaction for iterative itinerary creation
- Options to export or share plans, and integrations with booking channels in some deployments (varies by product offering).
- Disadvantages:
New users only get three free uses, after which a paid subscription is required.
mindtrip
Mindtrip is another chat-based travel assistant that lets you save and share conversation links. It’s useful for iterating on ideas and keeping a live conversation going while you refine your plan. If you work with friends on a trip, sharing a Mindtrip link is an easy way to keep everyone on the same page.
- Advantages:
- Good for brainstorming and keeping an ongoing, shareable conversation about itineraries
- Easy to share session links with friends.
- Disadvantages:
- Shared session links can expose itinerary details if not access-controlled.
- Generated suggestions should be verified for accuracy before booking.
Klook
Klook focuses on local experiences and on-the-ground bookings. It sells attraction tickets, tours, transfers, SIM cards, and local experiences, providing e-tickets and mobile vouchers. Klook makes booking easy, especially in Asia. If you prefer booking experiences and skip-the-line options, Klook could be your go-to among the best sites for planning a trip.
- Advantages:
- Convenient booking for activities and local services
- It has mobile vouchers and QR codes for many experiences, frequent regional deals and bundles.
- Disadvantages:
- Supplier quality and cancellation policies vary by vendor
- Prices can change with exchange rates and service fees
- Availability and terms differ by listing and region.
Wanderboat
Wanderboat offers a chat-style travel assistant that gives quick itinerary drafts and inspiration. Tell it your destination, travel style, and dates, and it returns a day-by-day suggestion you can refine:)It’s great for a fast starting point when you’re not sure what to do next.
- Advantages:
- Quick ideation and draft itineraries
- Visual interface and map integration to rearrange stops
- Easy sharing for collaborative planning.
- Disadvantages:
- Outputs can be outdated or contain inaccuracies (hours, availability, local rules) and should be verified
- It's not a replacement for final bookings or authoritative sources.
Roadtrippers
Roadtrippers is a trip-planning site/app built for road trips. Add dozens of stops, discover roadside attractions, campgrounds, diners, and public parks, and get total miles and drive-time estimates. The free plan works for basic trips, but the paid Roadtrippers Plus adds offline maps and more stops for serious planners. It’s very practical for long drives and scenic detours.
- export
- Designed for multi-stop road itineraries
- Discovery of campsites and roadside points of interest.
- It can calculate distances and drive times and export routes to navigation apps.
- Disadvantages:
- Some real-time traffic or rerouting features are handled by the connected navigation app (Google Maps, Waze) rather than Roadtrippers itself
- Free tier limits the number of waypoints per trip without a paid upgrade.
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a long-established travel guide publisher and website offering destination guides, articles, and travel tips. It provides both free web content and paid guidebooks/ebooks. For travelers who care about context and history, it’s one of the best tools for travel planning.
- Advantages:
It has in-depth cultural and practical content, trusted narrative guides, destination-focused articles and recommended itineraries, strong for research and context.
- Disadvantages:
Some guide content can age between updates; certain in-depth guides or ebooks require purchase.
Summary table
| Platform | Primary Function | Key Advantage (Pro) | Key Disadvantage (Con) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Google Travel / Flights | Flight & Price Aggregation | Fast search with powerful price visualizations. | Unable to make itineraries (it's mainly a search engine). |
| 2. Tripadvisor | Destination Discovery & Reviews | Vast number of crowd-sourced reviews and photos. | Review quality varies and can be inconsistent or biased. |
| 3. iMean AI | Personalized AI Itinerary Generation | Compares prices across the entire network for best deals. | Currently website-only (no mobile app yet). |
| 4. Wanderlog | Day-by-Day Itinerary Builder | Intuitive drag-and-drop itinerary builder; great for group collaboration. | Offline/Advanced features may be limited by paid subscription tiers. |
| 5. Layla | Chat-Based Itinerary Creation | Chat-based interaction for iterative itinerary creation. | Required paid subscription. |
| 6. Mindtrip | Real-Time Brainstorming & Sharing | Easy to share ongoing session links with friends for collaboration. | Generated suggestions should be verified for accuracy. |
| 7. Klook | Local Experiences & Bookings | Convenient booking for activities; strong in Asia with mobile vouchers. | Cancellation policies and supplier quality vary widely by vendor. |
| 8. Wanderboat | Quick Itinerary Drafts | Quick ideation and fast draft itineraries with visual mapping. | Outputs can be outdated or contain inaccuracies (must verify). |
| 9. Roadtrippers | Multi-Stop Road Trip Planning | Designed specifically for discovery of roadside points of interest (POIs). | Free tier severely limits the number of waypoints per trip. |
| 10. Lonely Planet | Destination Research & Context | In-depth cultural and practical content and trusted narrative guides. | Some guide content can age between updates (not real-time). |
Final Thoughts
In 2025, planning a trip is easier than ever thanks to a growing set of specialized tools. Whether you need the fastest way to compare flights, a collaborative planner for a friend group, or a conversational AI to sketch an itinerary, there’s a clear winner for every part of the process. Use the best travel planning websites in this list to match your needs, and you’ll be well on your way to a smoother, better-planned trip.
