Searching for budget flights? Want to save money on accommodation? Need help planning your route? These 7 essential sites for travel planning are just what you need.
Travel planning can be stressful. Narrowing down the ideal destinationĀ is hard enough but then you have to shop around to make sure you are getting the best deals and not paying over the odds.
But luckilyĀ there are some great sites out there to help you do exactly that.Ā Here, Iāve compiled a list of the travel sites I use most often for finding flights, plotting routes and catching trains, which should give you a helping hand.
Deciding when to go
Travel advice calendars ā trivago
Unless you have friends in good places or are a serial couch surfer, accommodation will generally make up the bulk of your travel costs ā but picking when you go can help save you a bundle.Ā trivagoās travel advice calendars show you the most expensive and cheapest times to visit popular cities across the world, using past hotel price data.
Read more: 10 travel hacks to save you money on your hotelĀ room
Finding budget flights
Skypicker
Like most frequent travellers, I have spent far too long daydreaming with Skyscannerās addictive āEverywhereā travel option. However, I am around an hour to 90 minutesā travel away from four different airports.
Move over Skyscanner, Skypicker lets you set a search radius encompassing several local airports in one search. Dates are also flexible: you can search for flights by the number of nights you wish to stay. It also features all budget airlines (including Ryanair and WizzAir) which arenāt always found on Skyscanner.
Fare Finder ā Ryanair
The budget airline that everyone pretendsĀ to hate, Ryanair has really upped its game recently, with a better site and very responsive Twitter team.
Part of the new site includes the new-and-improvedĀ Fare Finder.Ā Simply enter your closest airport and your budget and you’ll find a list of destinations available, ranked by price. You can even filter by departure time and trip length (either 1-3 days, 4-7 days or longer) – perfect for weekend breaks.
Ryanair has even started its own blog, Into the Blue.
Planning yourĀ route
Rome2Rio
Probably the travel planning site on this list I use the most often, Rome2rio is great for plotting the best way to get from A to B.
Much more comprehensive than Google maps, Rome2rio shows you a number of different routes via plane, train, bus, car, taxi and more to give you a sense of how long it will take. I havenāt tried booking anything with them yet, but the site is great for checking the feasibility of day trips.
Top tip:Ā consult travel forums to find recent threads about local bus routes or train routes if youāre worried they might not exist anymore.
On the ground
DB navigator app – Deutsche Bahn
Though it might not be the most exciting app in the world, you canāt beat the wisdom of Deutsche Bahn. Functional but entirely uninspiring, the DB navigator app is perfect for checking train connections and invaluable when it comes to checking platforms when making a tight changeover.
XE app
Again, while it wonāt win any prizes for its simple design, you simply canāt beat XE when it comes to exchange rates. The XE app is very quick, so itās great to refer to on the road.
Feeling lucky…?
Blind Booking – Eurowings
Of course, you could throw caution to the wind and forget planning entirely. If the idea of booking a mystery flight appeals, then Blind Booking from Eurowings (formerly Germanwings) could be for you. Simply enter your dates, pick and theme and book. Only then is your destination revealed.
Read more: Blind Booking: only the brave?
Looking ahead to travel in 2015
So there you have it. This list is definitely not exhaustive, but these are the sites and apps I depend on the most when Iām planning a trip ā or even pre-planning a trip. Iām always keen to discover new sites, so please comment below if there is another site you couldnāt plan without!Ā
The Travel Advice Calendars are extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing! š
Glad you agree Suze. I think they are perfect for this time of year – you know where you want to go but can’t work out when to actually go.
Some excellent tips there – I can see myself getting pretty addicted to skypicker.
It’s a great little site – my cheapest option seems to constantly be Craiova in Romania, so no doubt it’ll bully me into going before too long.
The advice calendars are awesome! Apparently I am planning on going to Stockholm during one of the cheapest months, yay! I’d like Ryan Air’s Fare Finder more if they had more flights from Bucharest, right now they only have 4, boo! š
They are really useful, aren’t they? Apparently I’m going to Marrakech during the most expensive time… whoops.
Ryanair used to have quite a few from the UK to Bucharest I think but it looks like WizzAir took over all their routes. I know what you mean though – Manchester was amazing for Ryanair but Dusseldorf isn’t so cheaply connected š
OMG you’re going to Marrakech!! I wanna go too! :'(
Damn it, I forgot I haven’t posted my plans yet! Spoiler alert..m
Two spoilers in one day! š
The calendars are really useful especially if you’re just kind of searching for a cheap holiday on a whim. And I live by the xe.com app!
The xe app is so useful! I’m getting quite good with Ā£ to ā¬ but I’m not great the other way round. The calendars are a fab little tool, too!
Very useful post! I saved it as a bookmark and will use them when I plan my next trip! Thanks
Glad it was useful for you! I have most of these as bookmarks now, I use them all far too often…
This is an awesome list!! I never checked skypicker.com I will do so now š thank youuuuu and happy planning!!!
No problem! Skypicker is great – like a budget Skyscanner in some ways. Happy planning to you too!
Thank you John!! Yes… I took a look at it and its great, I certainly will be using it to plan this year’s trips š
Being “time rich” now we’ve retired, your suggested sites should be really useful. Pity we aren’t “cash rich” as well. š
Being really flexible should definitely help you save money on travel at any rate – glad you liked the sites.
The Inspire Me feature seems really neat, wish we could use it in the U.S., too : Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked it Peter – hopefully some US airlines will pick up on it soon.
Great resources and several I wasn’t aware of. Wish I relished the planning more but it’s such an essential aspect of successful travel. The trick for me is planning enough and leaving space for the travel magic and serendipity to fill in the gaps. Happy travels.
I always half-jokingly say the planning is just as fun as the actual travelling, because I really enjoy it. I love doing my research and finding a less-trodden route. Magic and serendipity is still very important too, though.
I’ve used a couple of these but most are new to me and will definitely be worth a try!
Glad you liked them, Laura – thanks for your comment!
I haven’t heard of any of these but will definitely use them when we finally go to Europe!
Glad you liked them Samantha!
I Love XE – i use it daily when i travel!
And thanks for introducing me to the Travel Calendar – im always pulling my hair out about when to go and when it low season!
The travel calendars seem to be pretty popular – I think they are a brilliant idea. So simple, but so useful when thinking about your bucket list destinations.
I’m not planning any trips except for US in September; ironically flights to the States are dirt-cheap right now.
Oooh, where abouts are you heading? I’ve been reading so much about the South at the minute, specifically New Orleans and Savannah.
Will you be travelling much for work this year?
Wedding in New Jersey, possibly a couple of drinks in NYC with old friends (I lived there for 7 years), then my BFF in Connecticut, and some errands in CT and Rhode Island (family abode). I just killed all your excitement for the trip, didnt I? š
Bc our budget is in rubles but most expenses are in dollars/euros/pounds, and the ruble has crashed, I doubt there would be a lot of work travel this year. If it does happen, first tier probabilities are Berlin and Paris, and 2nd tier are London and Brussels. I know, I know – not shabby at all. But doubt it would happen (whereas 2 months ago all of those plus more were almost definite).
The travel calendar looks like a great idea, and I use the DB site all the time so will definitely add the app too. Skypicker’s a new one to me too, I sense some time wasting coming up on there!
Careful – Skypicker is addictive! Especially when you have a choice of a few local airports. The DB app is brilliant when you are on the move, I rely on it a lot these days.
By compiling this ultra-helpful list, you’ve just made all my (and I imagine a lot of other people’s) travel plans that much easier! Thank you š
Thank you – glad you found it useful š
Really helpful! Those calenders are a great idea.
Glad you liked them – the calendars seem to be the clear favourites on the list!
Hola – I’m always looking for good travel blogs to read – I’m glad I found yours (randomly through Vlad’s) š
Had no idea about Rome2Rio – will have to check that out. Great tip. Also, I always use Deutsche Bahn’s site to figure out timetables, but had no idea they had an app! Thanks for sharing. Cheers, G.
Well thank you for stopping by and I’m glad the post was helpful – I use Rome2rio all the time!