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• Hi New York City Hostel $56+
• West Side Ymca $113+
• Central Park West Hostel $162+
• Radio Hotel $171+
• Pod 51 $179+
• Pod Times Square $189+
• OYO Times Square $192+
• The Washington by LuxUrban, Trademark Collection by Wyndham $195+
• Paramount Times Square $196+
• Pod 39 $196+
• The Gallivant Times Square $197+
• The Manhattan At Times Square $206+
• DoubleTree by Hilton New York Downtown $213+
• The New Yorker A Wyndham Hotel $221+
• Hotel Edison Times Square $230+
• Flight Atlanta - Newark (ATL - EWR) $39+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - Newark (FLL - EWR) $39+
• Flight Chicago - New York (ORD - LGA) $47+
• Flight Atlanta - New York (ATL - LGA) $50+
• Flight Miami - Newark (MIA - EWR) $50+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - New York (FLL - LGA) $61+
• Flight Miami - New York (MIA - LGA) $61+
• Flight Orlando - New York (MCO - LGA) $64+
• Flight Orlando - Newark (MCO - EWR) $66+
• Flight Dallas - New York (DFW - LGA) $67+
• Flight Chicago - Newark (ORD - EWR) $77+
• Flight Dallas - Newark (DFW - EWR) $85+
• Flight Los Angeles - New York (LAX - LGA) $98+
• Flight Los Angeles - Newark (LAX - EWR) $110+
• Flight Chicago - New York (ORD - JFK) $122+
• Monumental Movieland Hotel $48+
• Grand Hotel Kissimmee At Celebration $53+
• Developer Inn Downtown Orlando, a Baymont by Wyndham $58+
• Flight Philadelphia - Orlando (PHL - MCO) $35+
• Flight Atlanta - Orlando (ATL - MCO) $36+
• Flight Baltimore - Orlando (BWI - MCO) $39+
• Book A Bed Hostels $25+
• Nx London Hostel $37+
• Generator London $37+
• Ramada London North M1 $65+
• Flight New York - London (JFK - LGW) $326+
• Flight New Windsor - London (SWF - STN) $393+
• Flight Boston - London (BOS - LGW) $434+
• Flight New York - London (JFK - LHR) $445+

Fort Lauderdale

• Red Carpet Inn Airport Fort Lauderdale $65+
• Days Inn by Wyndham Fort Lauderdale Airport Cruise Port $67+
• HomeTowne Studios by Red Roof Fort Lauderdale $69+
• Flight Newark - Fort Lauderdale (EWR - FLL) $33+
• Flight Dallas - Fort Lauderdale (DFW - FLL) $36+
• Flight Atlanta - Fort Lauderdale (ATL - FLL) $37+
• Green Tortoise Hostel Seattle $60+
• Travelodge by Wyndham Seattle By The Space Needle $137+
• Coast Gateway Hotel $144+
• Flight Los Angeles - Seattle (LAX - SEA) $64+
• Flight San Diego - Seattle (SAN - SEA) $77+
• Flight Ontario - Seattle (ONT - SEA) $78+
• Fabhotel Royal Residency Lakdikapul $18+
• Katriya Hotel & Towers $32+
• The Altruist Business Hotel Hitech $33+
• Flight Chicago - Hyderabad (ORD - HYD) $513+
• Flight New York - Ahmedabad (JFK - AMD) $520+
• Flight New York - New Delhi (JFK - DEL) $575+
• Best Western Sapporo Odori Koen $31+
• Smile Hotel Premium Sapporo Susukino $32+
• Nest Hotel Sapporo Ekimae $35+
• Flight San Francisco - Tokyo (SFO - NRT) $603+
• Flight Los Angeles - Tokyo (LAX - NRT) $629+
• Flight Los Angeles - Tokyo (LAX - HND) $736+
• Royal Grove Waikiki $119+
• Kuhio Banyan Club $121+
• Ohia Waikiki Studio Suites $136+
• Flight San Diego - Honolulu (SAN - HNL) $256+
• Flight Los Angeles - Honolulu (LAX - HNL) $257+
• Flight San Francisco - Honolulu (SFO - HNL) $266+
• Super 8 by Wyndham Dallas Love Field Airport $53+
• Dallas Love Field Inn $59+
• Wyndham Garden Dallas North $63+
• Flight Miami - Dallas (MIA - DFW) $31+
• Flight Chicago - Dallas (ORD - DFW) $38+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - Dallas (FLL - DFW) $38+
• The STRAT Hotel, Casino & Tower $27+
• OYO Hotel And Casino Las Vegas $29+
• Silver Sevens Hotel & Casino $42+
• Four Queens Hotel and Casino $45+
• Flight Los Angeles - Las Vegas (LAX - LAS) $21+
• Flight Dallas - Las Vegas (DFW - LAS) $28+
• Flight Burbank - Las Vegas (BUR - LAS) $39+
• Flight Oakland - Las Vegas (OAK - LAS) $39+
• Freehand Chicago $42+
• Chicago Getaway Hostel $54+
• Travelodge by Wyndham Downtown Chicago $108+
• Flight Atlanta - Chicago (ATL - ORD) $39+
• Flight Dallas - Chicago (DFW - ORD) $40+
• Flight Houston - Chicago (HOU - ORD) $51+

San Francisco

• Hi San Francisco Downtown Hostel $48+
• The Mosser $74+
• BEI San Francisco, Trademark Collection By Wyndham $125+
• Flight Ontario - San Francisco (ONT - SFO) $48+
• Flight Los Angeles - San Francisco (LAX - SFO) $50+
• Flight Portland - San Francisco (PDX - SFO) $61+

Washington, D.C.

• Generator Hotel Washington DC $61+
• Days Inn by Wyndham Washington DC/Connecticut Avenue $117+
• Georgetown Residences by LuxUrban, Trademark Coll by Wyndham $152+
• Citizenm Washington DC Noma $157+
• Hyatt Place Washington DC/US Capitol $162+
• Hotel Harrington $164+
• Motto by Hilton Washington DC City Center $169+
• Beacon Hotel & Corporate Quarters $171+
• Arc Hotel Washington DC, Georgetown $173+
• Citizenm Washington Dc Capitol $178+
• Morrison Clark Historic Inn $180+
• The Churchill Hotel Near Embassy Row $181+
• Flight Atlanta - Baltimore (ATL - BWI) $39+
• Flight Boston - Baltimore (BOS - BWI) $39+
• Flight Dallas - Baltimore (DFW - BWI) $58+
• Flight Houston - Baltimore (HOU - BWI) $62+
• Flight Chicago - Baltimore (ORD - BWI) $70+
• Flight Los Angeles - Baltimore (LAX - BWI) $86+
• Flight Boston - Washington, D.C. (BOS - DCA) $123+
• Flight Seattle - Baltimore (SEA - BWI) $124+
• Flight Denver - Baltimore (DEN - BWI) $140+
• Flight Dallas - Washington, D.C. (DFW - DCA) $173+
• Flight Chicago - Washington, D.C. (ORD - DCA) $178+
• Flight Minneapolis - Washington, D.C. (MSP - DCA) $187+
• Hotel Boutique Casa Mallorca $68+
• Suites Malecon Cancun $73+
• Avani Cancún Airport Hotel $80+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - Cancún (FLL - CUN) $181+
• Flight Houston - Cancún (HOU - CUN) $181+
• Flight Dallas - Cancún (DFW - CUN) $182+

United States

• Flight Newark - Miami (EWR - MIA) $44+
• Kauai Palms Hotel $189+
• Tip Top Motel Cafe & Bakery $194+
• Kauai Inn $248+
• Flight Los Angeles - Hawaii (LAX - USHI) $214+
• Flight San Diego - Hawaii (SAN - USHI) $256+
• Flight San Francisco - Hawaii (SFO - USHI) $266+
• Super 8 by Wyndham San Diego Hotel Circle $92+
• California Suites Hotel $98+
• Best Western Seven Seas $105+
• Flight Houston - San Diego (HOU - SAN) $39+
• Flight Houston - San Diego (IAH - SAN) $39+
• Flight San Jose - San Diego (SJC - SAN) $39+
• Shared Living Not A Hotel $44+
• Super 8 by Wyndham Phoenix West $55+
• HomeTowne Studios by Red Roof Phoenix West $58+
• Flight Dallas - Phoenix (DFW - PHX) $40+
• Flight Los Angeles - Phoenix (LAX - PHX) $52+
• Flight Ontario - Phoenix (ONT - PHX) $58+

Los Angeles

• Boutique Hostel $34+
• Freehand Los Angeles $41+
• City Center Hotel $104+
• Four Points by Sheraton Los Angeles International Airport $108+
• Rotex Western Inn $113+
• La Quinta Inn & Suites LAX $114+
• The Dixie Hollywood $125+
• Flight Oakland - Los Angeles (OAK - LAX) $33+
• Flight San Francisco - Los Angeles (SFO - LAX) $51+
• Flight Dallas - Los Angeles (DFW - LAX) $57+
• Flight Minneapolis - Los Angeles (MSP - LAX) $65+
• Flight Houston - Los Angeles (HOU - LAX) $67+
• Flight Houston - Los Angeles (IAH - LAX) $67+
• Flight Newark - Los Angeles (EWR - LAX) $69+
• Selina Gold Dust $59+
• La Quinta Inn by Wyndham Miami Airport North $77+
• Motel 6 Miami. Fl $78+
• Miami Gardens Inn & Suites $86+
• La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Miami Airport East $92+
• Days Inn by Wyndham Miami International Airport $94+
• Holiday Inn Miami West - Airport Area $105+
• The Palms Inn & Suites Miami, Kendall, Fl $108+
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Miami-Kendall $109+
• Radisson Red Miami Airport $113+
• Courtyard by Marriott Miami West/FL Turnpike $115+
• Flight Chicago - Miami (ORD - MIA) $33+
• Flight Philadelphia - Miami (PHL - MIA) $33+
• Flight Atlanta - Miami (ATL - MIA) $39+
• Flight Baltimore - Miami (BWI - MIA) $39+
• Flight Dallas - Miami (DFW - MIA) $46+
• Flight Charlotte - Miami (CLT - MIA) $58+
• Flight Houston - Miami (HOU - MIA) $59+
• Flight Houston - Miami (IAH - MIA) $59+
• Flight New York - Miami (LGA - MIA) $61+
• Flight Raleigh - Miami (RDU - MIA) $63+
• Hometowne Studios by Red Roof Denver - Glendale/Cherry Creek $59+
• Super 8 by Wyndham Denver Stapleton $86+
• Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Denver Airport $97+
• Baymont by Wyndham Denver International Airport $103+
• La Quinta Inn & Suites By Wyndham Denver Airport Dia $105+
• Quality Inn & Suites Denver International Airport $106+
• Days Inn & Suites by Wyndham Denver International Airport $108+
• Flight Minneapolis - Denver (MSP - DEN) $38+
• Flight Ontario - Denver (ONT - DEN) $76+
• Flight Chicago - Denver (ORD - DEN) $77+
• Flight Cincinnati - Denver (CVG - DEN) $83+
• Flight Atlanta - Denver (ATL - DEN) $86+
• Flight Santa Ana - Denver (SNA - DEN) $87+
• Flight Los Angeles - Denver (LAX - DEN) $88+
• Hi Boston Hostel $67+
• Found Hotel Boston Common $91+
• Temple Place Suites $165+
• Flight Baltimore - Boston (BWI - BOS) $40+
• Flight Miami - Boston (MIA - BOS) $54+
• Flight Philadelphia - Boston (PHL - BOS) $59+
• Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Atlanta Airport $60+
• La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Atlanta Airport North $98+
• Sonesta Atlanta Airport North $102+
• Flight Baltimore - Atlanta (BWI - ATL) $36+
• Flight Chicago - Atlanta (ORD - ATL) $37+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - Atlanta (FLL - ATL) $38+
• Generator Madrid $32+
• C&h Aravaca Garden $40+
• Toc Hostel And Suites Madrid $43+
• Flight Newark - Barcelona (EWR - BCN) $350+
• Flight New York - Rome (JFK - FCO) $401+
• Rodeway Inn Fairgrounds-Casino $68+
• Tampa Inn Near Busch Gardens $68+
• Econo Lodge Airport at RJ Stadium $69+
• Flight Philadelphia - Florida (PHL - USFL) $37+
• Flight Baltimore - Florida (BWI - USFL) $38+
• Flight Chicago - Florida (ORD - USFL) $38+
• Flight Atlanta - Tampa (ATL - TPA) $38+
• Flight Baltimore - Tampa (BWI - TPA) $42+
• Flight Chicago - Tampa (ORD - TPA) $43+

New Orleans

• Ramada by Wyndham New Orleans $67+
• Maison Saint Charles by Hotel RL $98+
• Hampton Inn & Suites New Orleans Canal St. French Quarter $100+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - New Orleans (FLL - MSY) $38+
• Flight Atlanta - New Orleans (ATL - MSY) $40+
• Flight Dallas - New Orleans (DFW - MSY) $40+

Frequently asked questions about KAYAK

How do i find travel deals on kayak.

Simply use one of our travel search engines to scan for prices gathered from hundreds of travel sites. KAYAK’s search results pages have loads of filter options to help you find deals, discover exactly what you’re looking for and make booking seamless. Plus, there’s no extra fee from KAYAK.

What makes KAYAK a great travel app?

On the KAYAK app for iOS and Android you’ll find all the great travel offers found on the website and much more. There are special mobile rates and app only deals that allow you to save even more money. Plus, you can get notifications straight to your phone letting you know when prices for your next trip have dropped. But the KAYAK app is much more than just a travel app. Use the Trips function to manage your travel itinerary and get up to date status alerts on flights, check-in changes and to store your boarding pass. Even if you’re in the middle of nowhere on your travels, you can still access your travel notes via Trips, as no internet connection is required.

How can I use KAYAK to manage my travel bookings?

KAYAK Trips creates a travel itinerary for you that will give you flight status alerts, can be shared with friends and more. Simply forward your booking confirmations to [email protected] or use the KAYAK app and sync your email account to keep all your travel plans organized in one app, even if you didn’t book with KAYAK. You can share your holiday plans with friends and family and also check out your travel stats for past vacations, like how far you’ve traveled, your most popular cities and how many times you’ve traveled around the world. Even if you don’t have signal, don’t worry, as you can access Trips to check out your itineraries whilst on the road. Your data is safe and secure with us and you won’t have to re-enter credit card info when booking future trips. If you want to make changes or cancel bookings, then you should contact the travel provider, which is provided on the booking confirmation.

What are KAYAK Price Alerts?

Instead of manually checking back in on the price of your next flight or stay, let KAYAK do the hard work for you with KAYAK Price Alerts. Once you’ve saved your search, our data will determine how the price will rise or fluctuate over the coming days. You’ll then get a push notification letting you know when’s the perfect time to book.

Search flights , hotels , rental cars , travel guides and more with KAYAK. KAYAK searches hundreds of other travel sites at once to get you the information you need to make the right decisions.

Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

Travel Better, Cheaper, Longer

Skyscanner Review: The Best Website for Finding Cheap Flights

It’s never been easier to find a cheap flight . From deal finding websites like Going to points & miles tools like Point.me , travelers have plenty of options for finding cheap tickets.

There’s a lot of options for searching fares. I mean you have Google Flights, Expedia, Orbitz, Momondo, and so many other websites touting that they will find the cheapest fares.

There’s no one best flight search website. They all have their blindspots.

But, out of all the search engines I’ve used, Skyscanner is my all-time favorite. It always seems to find the best deals more often than the other websites and their ability to search globally means that they leave no stone unturned. It’s my favorite.

While Skyscanner is very straightforward to use, because of all its features, it helps to have a bit of a primer so that you can be sure you’re taking advantage of all its capabilities.

In this Skyscanner review, I’ll show you how to make the most of the site so you can always find the best deal!

Table of Contents

What is Skyscanner?

How skyscanner works, skyscanner’s everywhere feature, multi-city trips, skyscanner’s savings generator tool, hotels and rental cars.

It started in 2003 when three IT professionals became frustrated with how difficult it was to find cheap flights. Budget airlines were just beginning to pop up, but there was no central place to search across all airlines at once for the cheapest prices. So, they took matters into their own hands and created Skyscanner.

In recent years, they’ve added the ability to search for hotels and rental cars, and today, more than 100 million people worldwide use the app and website every month, with 80 billion prices searched every day.

As it’s predominantly a flight search engine, to use Skyscanner you simply input your desired travel dates (you can search by specific dates or by month) and destination, and voila — all your flight options appear. You can search by airport, city, or even an entire country.

If you’re flying to and from major cities with multiple airports (such as New York and Paris in the example below), you don’t have to search between all the different airport combinations as it will sort them all out for you automatically.

I recommend using the month calendar view because you can immediately see the cheapest days to fly. Even if you have specific dates, it might be helpful to take a quick glance at the month view, because if you’re able to shift your dates even by a couple of days, you could save hundreds of dollars:

( Note : If a date doesn’t have a price, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any flights that day. It just means that no one has searched for that flight recently, so Skyscanner doesn’t have updated data available. These dates are still searchable and a price will be added as soon as you search.)

Once you choose specific dates, you’ll get your results and can start refining your search even more until you find your perfect flight. At the top of the results, Skyscanner gives you a helpful breakdown so you can immediately see the best, cheapest, and fastest flights. It automatically displays the best overall flight first, but you can toggle that to sort by cheapest, fastest, or time.

You can also filter your search in a variety of ways, including:

• Number of stops
• Departure times (on outbound and inbound)
• Trip duration
• Airlines and airline alliances (Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and Oneworld)
• Airports (and for cities with more than one airport, you can toggle on the option to fly out and back using the same airport)
• Carbon emissions (toggling this on will only show flights with lower emissions)

Let’s say that you’ve sorted and filtered your results and found a flight that you want to book. Just hit “Select” and you’ll be brought to a page that shows you all the websites where you could book that ticket. Skyscanner calls attention to the airline itself with a little green box next to that result:

It’s always best to book directly with the airline, even if it’s slightly more expensive (in this case, it’s actually cheaper than third-party sites), as should something go wrong (such as a flight delay or cancellation), they’ll be on the hook to make it right. If you book with a third party (such as Expedia or MyTrip), it adds another layer of difficulty when it comes to getting refunds or changing/cancelling a flight.

(But no matter who you book/fly with, you should still get travel insurance as it’ll protect you against unexpected expenses that arise when things go wrong on the road, including delays and lost luggage.)

If you’re not happy with the current search results or aren’t ready to book yet, you can set up a price alert and receive an email if the price changes.

The coolest feature on Skyscanner is the Explore Everywhere option. It allows you to search the entire globe from any chosen airport for the cheapest flight. This is a great option if you have a certain time frame in which you’d like to travel but are open to going wherever the cheapest flight will take you. You can search by specific date or an entire month for even greater flexibility:

Once you’ve chosen your time frame, you’ll be brought to the results, ordered by country. Let’s say you’re searching in November for cheap flights from New York. You can see that the cheapest flights are elsewhere in the continental United States, with Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Canada, El Salvador, and Colombia all coming up next (and for super cheap!).

If you’re open to traveling anywhere, this is an invaluable tool. I use it all the time and can’t recommend it enough!

If you’re considering a trip with multiple destinations, Skyscanner has a handy “multi-city” feature where you can add up to six legs on one itinerary. This is perfect for anyone planning a trip around the world who wants to book their main flights in advance and have everything in one place for simplicity.

You can even use the multi-city tool to find and book flights where not all legs are connected. For example, say you want to go NYC-Madrid-Paris-London and then back to NYC — but you want to take the train from Paris to London so you don’t need a flight for that leg. You can skip legs with the multi-city tool, meaning that you can mix-and-match flights with other forms of transportation as you travel, giving you a lot of flexibility as you plan and book.

Skyscanner’s latest new tool is its Savings Generator , which uses past flight data to give travelers insights on how and when to book the cheapest flight for an upcoming trip. You put your departure airport, month, and desired destination into the tool, and it’ll tell you the best days to travel on as well as how far out to book:

Let’s say that you tell the Savings Generator that you want to travel from New York to Paris in May of next year. Skyscanner will tell you its best money saving tips based on last year’s flight data:

It’ll also give suggestions for cheaper places to travel from that departure airport during that month, in case you’re open to being flexible with your destination to save money.

While it’s an innovative concept, the Savings Generator is currently in beta mode, meaning that it’s still quite limited in its usage. Only major airports and destinations are searchable in the tool, and there could be more money-saving tips included. But knowing Skyscanner, they’ll surely continue to develop and expand this tool to help travelers find the cheapest flights out there, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do with it.

Skyscanner started offering hotel searches in 2014, so if you’d like to search for accommodation at the same time, it’ll open a new tab and display all your options on a map. As with their flight search, they search different booking websites to find the best deals, and you can filter and sort the results in a variety of ways.

You can also search for car rentals at the same time and toggle the filters until you find a rental that works for your needs.

Skyscanner is a vital tool for finding the best and cheapest flights. It’s where I start all my flight searches, and I recommend you do the same. Whether you need a flight on exact dates or are open to going anywhere the cheapest flight will take you, Skyscanner has you covered.

You can use the widget below to start planning your next trip:

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner . It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld . If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

• SafetyWing (best for everyone)
• Insure My Trip (for those 70 and over)
• Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage)

Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals.

Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more.

Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.

Got a comment on this article? Join the conversation on Facebook , Instagram , or Twitter and share your thoughts!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I recommend only products and companies I use and the income goes to keeping the site community supported and ad free.

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The 5 best flight search engines (to find the very best deals out there).

This article was subjected to a comprehensive fact-checking process. Our professional fact-checkers verify article information against primary sources, reputable publishers, and experts in the field.

We receive compensation from the products and services mentioned in this story, but the opinions are the author's own. Compensation may impact where offers appear. We have not included all available products or offers. Learn more about how we make money and our editorial policies .

If you love to travel and have plenty of dream destinations you have yet to cross off your bucket list, you’re living at the right time. The options for flights are increasing, and average fares continue to drop . Even airfare to Europe recently reached its lowest point in three years, according to Hopper .

At the same time, the options for booking are endless, and that means more opportunities to snag some deep discounts on flights. But the sheer number of choices for online flight search engines can be overwhelming. Some are packed with features you don’t need, while others don’t do enough to get you the right price.

To help you out and making finding the best deals easier, we’ve evaluated all the major flight search engines out there and chosen our favorites.

Methodology

To make sure you’ll have a positive booking experience, we’ve chosen sites that are easy and intuitive to navigate. We’ve also looked at the features provided, such as price-tracking tools and alerts and the level of customer service with regards to price matching and rewards programs.

Some of our favorite sites allow you to book package deals, while others are more focused on flights. Not every site checks all the boxes, so at the end of the day, you still might want to search multiple booking sites for the best deals.

Let’s take a look at our top five recommendations and what kind of traveler is a best fit for each one.

Google Flights

Which flight search engine comes out on top, runner-up for best flight search engine, how to use flight search engines to find and get the best deal, the bottom line on flight search engines.

What we like about Orbitz

Orbitz has an intuitive interface that lets you search fares in order of price. You can also use a variety of filters — arrival time, number of stops, airline, and more — to make sure you get the flight you’re looking for.

The site allows you to book packages in addition to flights, which can save you money on the overall cost of your trip. There are also a number of deal categories available — from flights under $200 to last-minute travel deals — that you can easily browse.

Orbitz is one of the few airfare search engines we found that rewards you for your flight and package bookings. You’ll earn 1% back for your flight purchases instantly, and you can use your Orbucks toward eligible hotels with no blackout dates. That’s in addition to miles earned through your airline loyalty program.

Booking on Orbitz also comes with a Price Guarantee. So if you find the same flight cheaper elsewhere within 24 hours, you can submit an application and Orbitz will refund the difference. For travel packages, you’ll have 48 hours after booking to submit your application.

What Orbitz could do better

You can’t set alerts for prices drop on a particular flight, so you’ll need to manually check for reductions or make use of another site. There’s also no flight calendar that shows you which dates are cheapest, so you’ll need to consult another site if your travel dates are flexible and you want to find the lowest fare.

Who should use Orbitz

A traveler with strict travel dates and times who wants to find the best price and earn rewards.

What we like about Hipmunk

Hipmunk searches a variety of other travel booking sites along with major airlines, hotel brands, and even Airbnb to find you the best deals on flights, hotels, and cars. You can search fares on a price graph, which makes it easy to find the best time to fly in the upcoming 90 days. After initiating your search, you can also set up a fare alert. You’ll get a free email notification if the price for your flight decreases.

Hipmunk also has additional tools for business travelers. You can sync your calendar with Hipmunk to find flights that will get you to a meeting on time and hotels that are close by. There are even some exclusive discounts for small businesses. And Hipmunk links with Concur Expense to automatically generate expense reports for your trip.

What Hipmunk could do better

Hipmunk doesn’t have its own rewards program, and there’s no low-price guarantee. And while you can book flights, hotels, and cars, you can’t search for package deals on Hipmunk.

Who should use Hipmunk

Hipmunk is a great fit for frequent business travelers.

What we like about Google Flights

Google Flights has the hands-down best calendar feature, and using it is the best way to find a cheap flight if you have flexible travel dates. And if you know you need a vacation but you haven’t decided on a destination yet, you can also explore cheap flights on a map. You’ll be able to choose your dates or keep them flexible, so you’ll have the best chance of finding a great deal. You can even set a maximum price while exploring to ensure you stay within your budget.

Google will also show you a few suggested flights from your departure city with lower-than-usual fares, which can be a great way to instantly snag a good deal, like a cheap flight to Europe . You can search for package deals on Google as well, though they won’t include your rental car.

If you’re not quite ready to book, you can track prices for a specific flight or route. After initiating your search, simply turn on the switch next to “Track Prices,” and you’ll get an email or mobile notification when prices for your route will likely increase. This lets you book your flight when it’s at the lowest price.

What Google Flights could do better

Google doesn’t have a price-matching policy, but since it aggregates results from other booking sites, you may be covered by a low-price guarantee at the site you use to complete your booking. However, as Google already shows you the cheapest place to book your flight, finding a lower price elsewhere is doubtful.

Who should use Google Flights

Flexible travelers who want to find the best deal on a vacation

What we like about Hopper

You’ll need a smartphone to use Hopper , since it’s an app without a desktop site, but the app is one of the best price-tracking tools out there. It predicts if prices will go up or down and notifies you when a fare reaches an estimated low price. When searching for flights, Hopper will let you know if you should wait for the price to drop or book now. Hopper reports that users save an average of $50 per flight by listening to these insights.

We love that you can explore popular destinations and easily browse the cheapest upcoming fares. It’s also super easy to identify the best time to fly on Hopper’s flight calendar. The calendar is color-coded with the lowest-price dates in green, so you can zero in on the best times for your trip.

What Hopper could do better

Hopper doesn’t have its own rewards program. And while you can book hotels and rental cars on the app, you won’t save by packaging these items together. There’s also no low-price guarantee.

Who should use Hopper

Travelers who prefer to book on mobile and enjoy a bit of risk when waiting for the cheapest deal.

What we like about CheapOAir

When choosing your departure and return dates on CheapOair , you can view prices on a flight calendar, which makes it easy to know the best time to travel. In addition to flights, you can search hotels, cars, cruises, and even vacation packages. You can also browse deals from your departure city, which can frequently save you 60% or more on your flight. And the “Deals Under $199” tab helps you locate the cheapest options when you just need to get away.

If you’re not ready to book, you can set up a price alert for your search and be notified by email when the price changes. This makes it easy to book when a flight falls within your budget.

CheapOair has a Price Match Promise, so if you find a lower price on a major competitor’s website within 24 hours of booking, CheapOair will either refund the difference or cancel your reservation for a full refund.

There’s also a rewards program that lets you earn one point per dollar on your bookings, score double points when you use the app, or reach a higher tier by completing multiple bookings. Plus, if you book using the CheapOair Visa Credit Card, you’ll earn an additional six points per dollar spent. Though be aware that carrying a balance on the CheapOair Visa may mean you’re paying more in interest fees compared to other travel rewards credit cards .

What CheapOair could do better

Unlike Hopper, CheapOair won’t predict when prices are at their lowest. And you can’t explore prices on a map like with Google Flights. Besides that, CheapOair checks all the boxes.

Who should use CheapOair

Travelers who want to search and wait for the best deal with plenty of options and tools at their disposal.

For all the tools provided for finding the best deal, Google Flights takes the cake. The flight calendar helps you decide the best time to fly, while the map feature shows you destinations within your budget. You’re bound to find a low price, even if you start off not knowing where or when you want to travel.

As an added bonus, the price alerts feature makes it easy to watch and wait for the lowest possible fare. And since Google searches major booking sites along with individual airlines, you may still be able to take advantage of the rewards programs and price guarantees at sites like CheapOair and Orbitz. Even if you’re booking through your credit card issuer’s travel portal, Google Flights should be the first place you look for the best fares.

While we think Google’s interface, particularly the map feature, is the easiest route to finding the best deal, CheapOair comes in at a close second. It meets almost all the criteria on our list: There’s a generous rewards program, a price-match promise, a variety of ways to browse for deals, a flight price calendar, and a price alerts feature. You can even get additional discounts by booking a package. What’s more, frequent users of the site can earn rewards for their travel bookings when using the CheapOair Visa Credit Card.

If you’ve racked up some points on one of the best travel credit cards , you can use one of these booking sites to find the most favorable deal, then replicate it on your credit card issuer’s travel portal to pay with points.

This is an especially good option if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve , since you can stretch your points further when you use them toward travel in the Chase travel portal. Here’s how it works:

• Locate a deal on Google Flights using the flight price calendar, map feature, or regular search option
• Write down the dates and flight information, along with the price
• Log into the Chase travel portal and input the same dates
• Locate the same flight and proceed to book with your points

The best part of the Chase travel portal is that there are no blackout dates, and any flight you can book with cash can also be booked with points. Plus, if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, your points will be worth 50% more when you use them to book a flight through the portal. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, your points will be worth 25% more.

That said, if you’re a member of multiple loyalty or rewards programs (such as one with a particular airline or a website like CheapOair) and you’re trying to get the most out of your travel rewards, you should always do the math on each of your redemption options to make sure you’re getting the best price.

The easy way to determine the value of each point you’re spending is to divide the cost of your airfare by the number of points required. The number you get is how many cents each point or mile is worth. So, for example, if you wanted to book a ticket that was priced at $1,000 or 100,000 points, the equation would look like this:

$1,000 / 100,000 points = $.01 per point

The best thing you can do if you’re looking at multiple options for booking a flight is to run this equation on each redemption option and choose the one where your points or miles are worth the most. Thankfully, these flight search engines make all that research easier!

Because prices can fluctuate and vary from site to site, you may want to consult multiple booking sites before purchasing your airfare. Always work through the math to find out which purchase or redemption will result in the lowest overall cost to you. And remember to use your frequent-flyer number when booking through any of these sites to get the maximum rewards.

Whether you’re booking with points or earning them for your next trip, you can save a lot of money if you use the right tools. So be patient, research prices, and do the math on all your options. No matter what your vacation budget looks like, your next travel adventure could be right around the corner.

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Which Travel Search Site Is Best? It Depends on Your Goals

By Lucas Peterson

• April 18, 2017

In the beginning, you called an airline or travel agent when you wanted to book a trip. But if you’ve done any traveling at all within the last 15 years, you’ve probably come across a fare aggregator or metasearch site. Hundreds of perfectly legitimate ones exist; you’ve undoubtedly heard of Expedia, Priceline and Hotwire, to name three. Does it matter which site you use, or are they all basically the same?

These online travel agencies, or O.T.A.s, and search sites scrape data from other sources, reorganize it and present it to you, the user. The two proverbial 800-pound gorillas in the travel world are Expedia Inc. and the Priceline Group. Together, they have a hand in most of the major travel booking sites. I ran through various scenarios — purchasing a flight, a hotel room and a flight, hotel and car package — with the aid of a sampling of those sites: Travelocity (owned by Expedia), Kayak (owned by Priceline) and the newish kid on the block, Hipmunk . I also searched directly with airline and hotel sites. I admit that I went into this informal study expecting prices and options to be more or less the same from site to site. Let’s just say I was surprised by how mistaken I was.

Let’s highlight a few features of the sites before getting into the nitty-gritty of travel details. Travelocity offers some nice options for travelers, including a $50 credit and refund of the difference if you can find a cheaper price on a flight, rental car or cruise within 24 hours of booking. It also featured some surprisingly useful travel articles in its “Get Inspired” section, including write-ups on Spanish sparkling wines and ideas for family-friendly locales in Ireland.

Kayak is more search engine than travel agent, and its focus seems to have shifted away from flights (more on that later): The site’s default search offering now involves hotels. It also allows you to connect, in most cases, directly to the service provider. If you search for a Hyatt hotel, Kayak will encourage you to book through Priceline, but will also send you to the Hyatt website. Some of its best features are its price predictor tool, which advises you to wait or pull the trigger on a purchase, and its alerts, which will track airfares and hotel prices over time; an email alert option will notify you about price changes and recommend that you buy or wait.

Hipmunk incorporates many of Kayak’s features, including alerts, along with a welcome dose of humor (it rates flights in terms of “Agony” — a combination of price, number of stops and total travel time). It also searches Amtrak routes when applicable, and Airbnb listings when you conduct a hotel search. Its flight search interface can be slightly confusing (sometimes it’s hard to tell which airline you’re selecting), but its other benefits make it a viable option.

I researched a long-weekend trip from New York City to Chicago from May 26 to 29 using those three sites, as well as individual airline sites. Travelocity offered a fare of $338 for a flight leaving Kennedy Airport around 7 a.m. on Delta and getting back into La Guardia on Spirit Airlines at 9 a.m. on Monday. (For the Spirit-averse, there was an option to bring you back into Newark on United for an additional $6.)

Kayak’s lowest advertised flight was on Delta for $362, a notable difference. (Kayak also offers “hacker fares” — flying different legs of a round-trip flight on different airlines — but I couldn’t even find the flight that Travelocity offered me on Kayak.) Hipmunk’s lowest advertised flight was an all-Spirit flight from La Guardia to O’Hare and back for $372.

Things got interesting when I searched on the airlines’ websites. The Delta flight Kayak offered me was the same price on the Delta site. With Spirit, though, things were a little wonky. The Travelocity flight that had one Delta leg and one Spirit leg cost just $269 if I booked the individual legs on the Delta and Spirit websites, respectively: saving $69. There was also a big difference with the Spirit flight Hipmunk offered: If booked directly on the Spirit site, the same flight cost $65 less.

It’s important to note that Southwest and its system, which allows for many nonstop routes other airlines don’t offer, won’t show its prices on the major search sites; the airline notoriously disallows third parties seeking to monitor its fares. In this scenario, that meant I had to go to Southwest’s site to find a round-trip package for an impressive $296, which includes two checked bags and no change fees.

Flights are travel sites’ bread and butter, right? Wrong. Hotels are where the money is. A 2013 Forbes article noted that an astounding 97 percent of Priceline’s revenue came from hotel bookings. Booking.com, which is owned by Priceline, is a big revenue driver and is able to do an enormous volume, as the company doesn’t act as the merchant of record. It simply connects guests with hotels and takes a fee.

Let’s get back to our long weekend in Chicago: Hotel selection is a bit more subjective, as more criteria are involved. I searched for a room for two at a four-star property downtown. Travelocity’s first nonsponsored recommendation was a room with a king bed at the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago, a decent choice, for $149 per night. Kayak’s first suggestion was the Hyatt Regency Chicago (also a king room) for $179 per night. Hipmunk’s top result? The Palmer House (with only a double bed) for $184 per night.

All three sites had the Hyatt room for $179. Travelocity had the same deal on the Palmer House, but Kayak shaved off a few bucks, offering the room at $180 per night. As for the Hard Rock Hotel, only Travelocity had the $149 rate; the other sites offered the room at $159.

On their own respective sites, the Hyatt and Palmer House rates were the same as the aggregators’. At the Hard Rock Hotel’s site, though, the lowest rate was $169 — undercut by all three aggregator sites. A good strategy can also be to call hotels directly and ask them to match (or beat) rates that you find online. They won’t always oblige, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

Let’s book the flight and hotel together and save some big money, shall we? I searched the same Chicago weekend on Travelocity, looking for the same flights and hotels as a package for two people. With taxes and fees, the total came to $1,207, saving ... negative three dollars. That’s right, it was actually more expensive to buy this particular itinerary as a package instead of booking the flights and hotels separately.

Hipmunk also offered a package with its preferred hotel, the Palmer House, for $1,310 for two people, saving $82. It’s worth noting, however, that the package included a JetBlue flight, not the lowest-priced Spirit flight that it advertised (which some may consider a plus). It’s also worth noting that to purchase the package Hipmunk directs you to Travelocity.

As for Kayak, buying a package that featured its favored hotel, the Hyatt Regency Chicago, wasn’t even available as an option. It did advertise a package at the Palmer House for $1,574, however, a significant markup from Hipmunk’s offering. And while my searches are admittedly a tiny sample relative to Kayak’s vast offerings, I noticed another hiccup on the very next package I selected: the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, advertised at $1,092 total for two people. I clicked on the price and was redirected to JetBlue Vacations, which had the price at $1,306.

That was probably an anomaly. (The very next Kayak package I clicked on actually ended up being cheaper than advertised.) But it was also a lesson learned. If you’re looking to save money, don’t take things at face value; results can vary greatly from site to site. Do your research and inquire directly with travel providers in addition to searching the big travel aggregators. They want your business, certainly, but promises of big savings don’t hold up in all cases.

How To Find The Best Value Flights

(By An Ex-Travel Agent)

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HOW TO FIND THE BEST VALUE FLIGHTS

Since our return to full time travel I’ve been organising a LOT of flights. And boy, are these the times I miss my travel agent days. Going from having the world at my fingertips with our live global flight booking system, to having to rely on the same resources as every other mere mortal is painful. But at least I’ve retained the knowledge, insight and know-how that comes from seven years working in the travel industry. I know exactly what I’m looking for when researching the best value flights. These days I just have to go a roundabout way to find them. Which got me thinking about all the tips, tricks, hints and insider info that is second nature to me, but might not be all that obvious to you. So I figured it’s time to share.

While flight search engines are a great place to start, they won’t necessarily turn up the best deal. And by ‘best deal’, I don’t just mean the cheapest, but also the best value for money and time.

With a bit of inside knowledge you too can search smarter, to find a flight deal that is a great price and ensures you make the most of your trip. Whether you’re looking for a short break close to home or planning a round the world trip, here’s what you need to know to find the best value flights.

Read Through The Whole Guide Or Jump To A Particular Section By Clicking The Links Below

How to find the best flight deals.

WHERE TO START TIMING SALE FARES THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX FREE STOPOVERS CHECK THE RULES

WHERE TO START?

Online comparison sites.

The first place to start when researching your flights is with a comparison search engine. There are a few out there, but my two favourites are Skyscanner and Google Flights . I always check both as they can sometimes return slightly different results. And if they don’t, well, I know I’m on to a winner!

If You Know Where & When You Want to Travel…

If you have a particular destination and dates in mind, a quick search on either of these websites will point you to the cheapest flights straight away. You can compare flight times and duration, then click through to the specified website to complete your booking.  

If You Know When You Want to Travel, But You’re Flexible With The Destination…

If you’re looking to get away, but don’t know exactly where, Skyscanner and Google Flights both have some great search tools you can take advantage of to find the best value flights.  

On Skyscanner just enter your departure city and dates of travel, then select ‘Everywhere’ in the destination tab. This will bring up a list of the cheapest destinations to fly to for your dates.

Select ‘Everywhere’ in the ‘To’ field 

The search results will show a list of destinations for your dates, cheapest first. Click through for more info about each one.

On Google Flights you can search a couple of ways. First, you can enter your departure city and dates of travel, then click on the ‘Where to’ field to bring up a list of suggested destinations and approx prices. Or (my personal favourite), click on the burger menu at the top left (three horizontal lines, resembling a burger) and select the ‘Explore Map’ function. Up pops a map, with prices for destinations all over the world from your chosen departure point. You can zoom in and out to focus on certain regions and click on the cities to bring up more info including airlines and flight time. We never would have visited Taiwan if it wasn’t for this awesome map highlighting a cheap deal over Lunar New Year.

Click on the ‘Where To’ tab to bring up a list of popular destinations and prices

Browse the map to quickly gauge prices for destinations all over the world

If You’re Completely Flexible About Where & When You Want To Travel…

If you don’t have specific dates to travel and just want to find out the best value flights over the next few months, this is possible too.

On Skyscanner click on the departure date field and select ‘Whole Month’, then choose a specific month or hit the ‘Cheapest Month’ tab. Hit ‘Search’ and you’ll be presented with a list of destinations and the cheapest prices for your chosen month or over the next few months.

Search for ‘Everywhere’ and select a whole month or the cheapest month to find the absolute cheapest possible flights

On Google Flights , navigate to the Explore Map page and hit the date field. This will bring up an option to select specific dates or flexible dates. You can choose a whole month, or search all of the coming 6 months. You can also choose the length of your trip – weekend, 1 week or 2 weeks. Then, hit ‘Done’ and play around with the results on the map until you find something good!

Select the date range and duration of your trip then explore the results map and find a great value flight

If you’re flexible with your departure/arrival airports and want to check out a few options this is also easy to do. On Skyscanner just select the ‘Add Nearby Airports’ box. The results will highlight any different airport combinations in red.

Tick the ‘Add Nearby Airports’ boxes for your departure point, arrival point, or both

Different airport combinations are highlighted in red

On Google Flights just hit the ‘+’ button in the departure or arrival fields to add multiple airports, or simply separate your entries with a comma. Hit the ✔️ button when you’re done and ready to search. Look at the airport codes in the results to figure out the different routes.

Search multiple airports at once by clicking the + button and adding airports, then hit the ✔️ when you’re done

The results bring back various routes with your specified airports

SEARCH FOR YOUR FLIGHTS ON SKYSCANNER NOW

Research Budget & Charter Flights

While Skyscanner and Google Flights are a great place to start, they don’t always give you the full picture when it comes to flight options. While I’ve noticed more and more budget airline flights appearing in search results, there are still plenty of instances when budget airline options fly under the radar. The same goes for charter flights.

Budget Airlines

It definitely pays to do your own research. Double check if there are any budget airlines that operate flights to or from your destination. Wikipedia is a great source of reference for hunting them out. You can also do a quick search online using some keywords like ‘low cost airlines Asia ’, or ‘ South America budget airlines’. Stumbling upon Cebu Pacific when planning our first trip to the Philippines back in 2012 felt like we’d struck gold, with budget flights and an extensive network making our trip so much cheaper and easier.

Charter Flights

Charter flights, while largely associated with package holidays, may also be a cheaper option for you depending on your destination. You can book just your flights with a charter airline then do your own thing when you get there. You’ll be limited to specific dates for flying as charter flights don’t operate every day, but you’ll benefit from a direct flight. If you’re travelling to a region with an existing package holiday market (think the Caribbean, North Africa, Goa, etc.) then do your research. It might just save you a fortune compared to regular scheduled airlines!

Look Offline Too

While we’re on the subject of thorough research and covering all the options, don’t forget to look offline too! This is especially true if you’re planning a more complicated itinerary involving multiple flights and destinations.

There’s a perception that booking with a travel agent will cost you more money than booking it all yourself. After all, aren’t they working on commission?! While the commission part may well be true, this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be the one out of pocket. It’s the airlines, tour companies, travel insurance providers, etc., that pay the commission to the agency. A smart travel agent will want to find you the best price possible to ensure you book with them. So do your research before and let them know the best prices you’ve found so they can try to beat it.

LOOKING FOR MORE GREAT TRAVEL TIPS?

CHECK OUT THESE 9 BACKPACKING GAME CHANGERS

When To Book

Generally speaking, the earlier you book your flights the better price you’ll get. This is because airlines have different fare levels, even within economy, and the cheaper fares sell out first. Let me explain further…

Let’s say there are 100 seats within economy. The airline will allocate a certain number of seats to be sold at a certain price, or fare level. This fare is represented by a letter of the alphabet. For argument’s sake, let’s call them D – A. ‘D’ seats might be priced at £250, ‘C’ seats £300, ‘B’ seats £400 and ‘A’ seats £600.

When flight seats become available to book (usually around 10 months in advance) it is of course the cheapest fares that people book first. So booking 8 months in advance means you’re likely to get availability on a cheap ‘D’ fare. However if you book 2 months in advance, it’s more likely that all the ‘D’ and ‘C’ fares will be sold out. Only the more expensive ‘B’ and ‘A’ seats will be available.

Of course, this is a simplified example of real-world flight pricing, but you get the gist. In reality you’ll likely never know what fare level, or ‘letter of the alphabet’ you’ve booked. This is just behind-the-scenes airline info to help you understand why flight prices can differ.

Everyone is travelling in economy. However, you may have paid considerably less or more than the person sitting next to you depending on what fare level you managed to get available at the time of booking.

Ultimately, if you have fixed dates that you need to fly, get your tickets booked as early as possible to ensure you get the best value flights. And if you’re flexible with your travel dates, be sure to check prices for flying on different days. There may be cheap ‘D’ seats available on one flight, but only expensive ‘A’ seats available the next day.  

When To Fly

Airlines are annoyingly savvy when it comes to deciding on the price of their fares. They know fine well that demand will be higher during busy travel periods like Christmas, Easter and school holidays. And so, their fares are higher too. Conversely, during quieter travel periods, airlines want to encourage people to fly, therefore their starting fares are cheaper.

As a general rule of thumb, seasons can be split into low, shoulder and peak travel periods.

Note that exceptions can always apply. Holiday periods such as Easter or special festivals/celebrations/events can all cause price spikes during what is normally considered low or shoulder season. Examples could be Songkran in Thailand, Golden Week in Japan or a huge sporting event.

The Best Time To Fly For Cheap Flights

If you can, always travel during the low season to take advantage of the best value fares. This means low season in your own country, but also the destination you’re travelling to.

For example, February is considered low season for travel from the UK.  But with Lunar New Year celebrations in East Asia or Carnival in South America prices spike in February to these destinations. If you’re flying to/from the southern hemisphere, these low/peak travel dates will be flipped on their head. And while winter is generally considered low season in Europe and North America, it’s peak season for popular ski destinations.

How to Score the Best Value Flights For Peak Season Travel

If you must travel during peak season here’s a couple of tips to try and keep your costs down.

Take Advantage of Seasonal Pricing

Flying out the day before a season price hike can make a huge difference. This is true even if you’re still flying home during peak season. For example, fares from London to Sydney in December might start from £1200 return for departures from London between 9-15 Dec. However, the cheapest possible fare for departures between 16-23 Dec might be £1600. Leaving on the 15th instead of the 16th would save you £400 (subject to availability). Travelling the day before a season price increase saved me hundreds of pounds when flying to Australia at Christmas one year.

Regional Variations

Another trick to avoid paying peak season fares is to search for flights from alternative airports where holiday dates might differ. For example, Scottish school holidays usually start earlier than English summer holidays, so flying from Newcastle or Manchester may be significantly cheaper than from Glasgow or Edinburgh.

These Emirates fare conditions show that travel is allowed up to 25 June from Edinburgh and Glasgow, but up to 28 June from Newcastle and Manchester. Their fares after these dates will be higher as it’s considered peak season. Assuming you can get availability, flying out of Newcastle on 26 June will be cheaper than flying out of Glasgow or Edinburgh. 

It’s not always obvious what an airline’s exact dates are for a particular low, mid or peak season. You can usually find them in the nitty gritty fare rules under ‘validity’, ‘valid for departures from’, ‘valid for outbound travel between’, or such like. Otherwise, viewing prices over a week or month can easily highlight when there’s a difference in price.

These Emirates fare rules clearly show the valid departure dates for this seasonal fare

Viewing prices over a month quickly highlights cheaper travel dates

HOW TO FIND SALE FARES

Airlines don’t usually advertise upcoming sales so if you want to grab a bargain sale fare you need to be on the ball. You’ll want to be alerted to the fact that a sale is on as soon as it’s announced and jump on it.

If You Are Flexible With Your Travel Plans…

If you’re flexible with your travel dates and destination, the best way to stay up to date is by signing up for mailing lists with airlines, travel agencies, flight comparison sites, etc., and following them on social media.

Signing up for general flight deal emails from Jack’s Flight Club (UK/Ireland/Europe departures) or Scott’s Cheap Flights (predominantly targeted at the North American market) is also a good idea. They both offer free (limited) services and premium (paid) services, sending out emails about bargain flight deals to destinations all over the world.

If You Have Specific Travel Plans…

If, on the other hand, you’re looking for a deal on a specific route and date, your best bet is setting up fare alerts. You can do this on Skyscanner and Google Flights by first searching for your chosen flights. Then hit the ‘Get Price Alerts’ button on the top left in Skyscanner, or toggle on the ‘Track Prices’ button on Google Flights. You’ll then receive emails alerting you to any price increases/decreases, allowing you to monitor the fares and snap up a cheap deal if it appears.

Search your desired flights then hit the ‘Get Price Alerts’ button on Skyscanner

Toggle on the ‘Track Prices’ button on your Google Flights search results page

Note that airlines are unlikely to have sale fares for travel during peak season. If that’s when you need to travel, your best bet for a great value fare is still to book as far in advance as possible. Don’t hold out for a potential sale!

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Think outside the box.

Search engines like Skyscanner make life a lot easier when it comes to narrowing down the options. But if you truly want to find the best value flights, sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands and think outside the box. Here are a few tips to help you hunt down the best flight deals.

Check Nearby Airports

Some places are just expensive to get to. There may be few airlines flying there, limiting your options and hiking the prices up.

Flying into a nearby airport and taking public transport or local budget flight to your final destination may be far better value for money in the long run.

Look For Flights In And Out Of Regional Hubs

Skyscanner and Google Flights won’t always find these options for you, even if you select the nearby airports function. So, it’s always worth comparing routes yourself.

Price up flights to the most popular airports in the region you’re travelling to (keep in mind this might include those in an entirely different country!). Then jump on Rome2Rio to find out how best to get to your final destination, or check out local budget flight options. Total the approx costs of this indirect route versus a more direct flight and you’ll quickly see if it’s a money saver or not.

Here’s a few examples of the most popular hubs in each region:

Let’s say you wanted to visit Hoi An in Vietnam. The closest airport is Da Nang, but the cheapest flights you can find from London are £539 return. A far cheaper option would be to fly into Ho Chi Minh City (£311 return), then take a budget Jetstar flight to Da Nang for £37 return. This works out nearly £200 less! Or you could save even more money by taking a bus – Rome2Rio flags up various transport options. 

Flying into Ho Chi Minh City is considerably cheaper than Da Nang

A local budget flight keeps the total cost of the trip down

A quick search on Rome2Rio brings up loads of transport options and prices

A Word Of Warning

Of course, there are various factors you should consider before opting for a flight routing like this. How much extra time will it take and are the savings worth it? Do you need a visa to visit? If you’re booking same day flights, do they arrive in and depart from the same airport? You should also be extra careful when booking two separate flight tickets to ensure you have enough time to collect your bags, check in for the next flight and allow for any delays. If you miss one flight because the other is late, the airlines won’t take any responsibility.

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Nothing to do with a shark. Open jaw flights mean you fly into one airport and out of another. If your trip involves travelling around different regions, countries, or even continents, then an open jaw flight could be the best way to save you both time and money.

How Does It Work?

Let’s imagine you’re planning a trip to Thailand for 2 weeks. Skyscanner might find you a great deal on flights to Bangkok. But what it doesn’t know is that you actually want to spend just a couple of nights there. You plan on visiting Chiang Mai for five days, island hopping around the Andaman Coast for a week and ending up in Phuket. So really, flying in and out of Bangkok isn’t that convenient. You’ll have to spend time and money getting back to Bangkok at the end of your trip just to fly home. Flying into Bangkok then out of Phuket makes much more sense, and doesn’t eat up precious holiday time getting from A to B. A search engine isn’t going to suggest this route to you though, so it’s up to you to look for it!

Fly In And Out Of Different Countries

Generally speaking airlines won’t restrict you to flying in and out of the same country, or even the same continent, on an open jaw ticket. This means they are ideal if you’re planning to travel overland around a region. For example, you could fly into Mexico City and out of Panama City, travelling the length of Central America in between. Or book a ticket into Bangkok and out of Delhi, jumping on a cheap Air Asia flight to get you from Southeast Asia to India. Fancy an epic African overland adventure? Fly into Cairo and out of Cape Town and explore everywhere in between!

Book an Open Jaw flight to explore more of a country or region, without wasting time backtracking. On our trip to East Africa we flew into Nairobi (Kenya) and out of Livingstone (Zambia), travelling overland between them. 

Start And Finish Your Journey In Two Different Places

With open jaw tickets it’s not just your arrival and departure airports that can be different. The start and end points of your journey can be completely different too.

I was scratching my head for ages and comparing endless options when researching the best value flights to get us from Korea to Australia, then on to Mongolia. Ideally we wanted to fly out of our closest airport Busan and into Melbourne. Then travel around Australia and fly from Brisbane to Mongolia . As Mongolia was the most obscure of these destinations, followed by Busan, I checked out each airport info page on Wikipedia to find out which airlines operated there. Air China ticked the box for both, as well as flying to Melbourne and Brisbane. Hoorah! Instead of using various airlines, with overnight waits and multiple transits in each direction, I found one ticket to take us from Busan via Beijing to Melbourne, and from Brisbane via Beijing to Ulaan Baatar. And for a very reasonable price I might add.

While the example above is pretty specific, you can apply this to your own trip easily. There are so many options out there, you just need to look for them. We’ve taken advantage of open jaw flights a lot over the years and love how much easier they make route planning, not to mention the time they save because you don’t have to backtrack to your original destination.

So How Can I Find These Types Of Tickets?

Whether you’re looking on a search engine like Skyscanner or an airline’s own website, you need to click on the ‘Multi-city’ or ‘Advanced Search’ option. Then you can add your departure and arrival destination and hit the ‘Add Flight’ button to add another sector.

Won’t It Cost Me More?

Maybe yes, maybe no, but it’s always worth checking. Airlines will generally calculate the total price by adding the return fare for each destination together and dividing by two. In the Thailand example above the return fare to Bangkok may be £350, Phuket may be £400, so the total for you to fly into Bangkok and out of Phuket would be £375. However, the cost of getting from Phuket back to Bangkok would be more than £25, not to mention the extra time involved, so this flight would work out much better value in the long run.  

Also, many full service airlines (as opposed to budget airlines) give better fares for return flights compared to one-ways. A one-way ticket often costs around two thirds of a return, sometimes ridiculously more. Therefore, booking an open jaw ticket can be much better value than buying two one-way tickets.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FREEBIES

Scoring a freebie stopover is like getting two holidays for the price of one. Working in multiple stopovers to your ticket, well that just gives me the biggest flight geek buzz ever! So what exactly are these stopovers I’m talking about?

Hub Stopovers

The majority of airlines will call one destination home, or their ‘hub’. Unless you’re flying directly to or from that hub, your flight will always go via it, where you’ll change planes and while away a few hours. Flying from London to Delhi with Emirates ? You’re going to transit through their hub in Dubai. Travelling from LA to Beijing with Korean Air? You’ll change aircraft at Incheon Airport.

The beauty of these transits is that airlines will often allow you to add in a stopover at their hub for free. Or at very little extra cost on top of your overall ticket price. Sometimes it can even make your ticket cheaper! With Iceland Air for example, throw in a stopover in Reykjavik when flying from Europe to America and your flight will be cheaper. This is because your first destination is now in Europe, not North America, and the taxes are less.

Fly Iceland Air between Europe and North America and take advantage of a free stopover in Reykjavik

Often there aren’t any rules on how long you can stay at this stopover destination, other than completing your entire journey within the validity of the ticket. This opens up so many opportunities to see more of the world and truly score a fantastic value flight deal! Both my parents and a couple of friends have explored Istanbul thanks to a stopover on a Turkish Airlines flight. Another friend spent a week in Tahiti after I booked him a stopover with Air Tahiti Nui when flying from Auckland to Paris. We’ve taken advantage of stopovers in Dubai, Oman , Finland, and many other destinations around the world.

To add in a stopover when booking your flights, just use the same ‘multi-city’ or ‘advanced search’ function mentioned before.

Multiple Stopovers

Want to score a serious bargain flight deal? Book your next trip with an airline like Emirates who offer multiple stopover options on one ticket. These are incredible value and might take you places you never thought of going before! I wouldn’t have travelled to Sri Lanka or Southeast Asia back when I was 19 if it wasn’t for one of these bargain beauties.

Take Advantage Of Existing Flight Routes

The secret to booking one of these tickets is taking advantage of existing flight routes. Let’s consider a couple of examples.

Not a bad price to fly to the other side of the world and back.

BUT you can take advantage of SO many more stopovers on the way to and from New Zealand and get a much better value deal on this ticket.

Wow, only an extra £149 to add in stopovers in Southeast Asia and Australia, bargain!

Umm, £278 more to visit Dubai, Southeast Asia, Australia and Bali as well?! YEP! And you can spend as long as you like in each place, as long as you use all the flights within the validity of the ticket (in this example 6 months).

Sounds amazing but you just don’t have the time to travel to all these places? Scale it down a bit, without compromising on getting a great value flight. Stick to just two or three destinations. In the above examples you could combine just Australia and New Zealand in one trip, or just city breaks in Dubai and Bangkok plus NZ.

How To Find And Book Multiple Stopover Flights

The best place to start when searching for a flight with multiple stopover options is the airline’s own route map. Emirates is my absolute favourite for these kinds of tickets because they have such an extensive network. You can get so much more for your money because of this.

Use The Airline’s Route Map

Go to the route map on the Emirates website and play around with routes. Enter your departure point and click around on some destinations to see the flight route. If a dotted red line appears alongside a solid red line, this tells you there are two route options. The dotted line means the flight will make an extra stop before/after Dubai on the way to/from your chosen destination. If you didn’t want to actually stopover here you would just touchdown, maybe get off the plane and wander around the airport for an hour, then get back on the same aircraft again to continue your journey. But if you do want to stopover, then you can build this into your ticket.

In the screenshot below you can see the possible routes for a trip between London and Auckland. The solid red line shows the most direct route:  London – Dubai – Auckland. But the dotted red line shows an alternative route: London – Dubai – Bali – Auckland. This tells you that stopover options on the way to/from Auckland are Dubai and Bali.

Fancy a stopover on the way to/from Australia? Click on the five different Australian destinations and you’ll find alternative dotted routes for flights to Melbourne, Brisbane (both via Singapore), and Sydney (via Bangkok). This tells you that a stopover is possible in Bangkok on the way to/from Sydney, or Singapore on the way to/from Melbourne or Brisbane. A stopover in Dubai is always a given too, as it’s the hub of Emirates airline. Codeshare flights with Qantas open up even more possibilities (like in Route 3 above), so play around with your flight search and see what you can find!

Combine your stopovers with open jaws

On top of these stopovers, you can combine open jaws in your ticket to really take advantage of a great flight deal and see more of the world. Why not fly into Bangkok, but out of Singapore on your way to Melbourne? This would allow you to spend a few weeks or even months travelling around Southeast Asia before heading Down Under. Planning to see both the South and North Islands of NZ? No need to waste time and money backtracking, just fly from Sydney into Christchurch, then out of Auckland onto Bali or Dubai.

Make the most of your flight and take advantage of stopovers in Sydney or elsewhere!

Do Stopovers Cost Extra?

Emirates will usually allow you a free stopover on the way to and from your final destination, plus another stopover in each direction for £100 each. So that means two extra stopovers at no extra cost, or four extra stopovers for only £200 more (plus any tax differences). That’s a bargain!

Emirates fare rules detailing their stopovers conditions

Emirates multistop tickets generally offer the best value for money when travelling from Europe to Australia or New Zealand, with stops in Southeast Asia on the way there and back.  A couple of other great routes you could combine are Male (Maldives) and Colombo (Sri Lanka), or Hong Kong and Bangkok.

How Can I Book Multiple Stopover Flights?

Once you’ve identified potential routes on the route map, all you need to do is search via the ‘Advanced Search’ or ‘Multi-City’ search function to bring up flight options. You can usually add up to ten flights.

An example of a multistop flight search on Emirates

A Note On Availability And Pricing

In order to get the best possible deal on your flights it’s good to know how these ticket prices are calculated. You want all your flights on the way to/from your ‘point of turnaround’ (ie. the furthest away destination) to be in the cheapest possible fare level. Even if just 1 flight out of 7 is more expensive, it will bump up the cost of every single flight on that half of your journey.

In the example of Route 3 above, let’s say that all flights on the way to Christchurch are available in cheap ‘D’ seats, with the exception of the Singapore – Sydney flight. This flight is only available at a more expensive ‘B’ seat fare level. This means that every flight from London – Christchurch will now be calculated at the ‘B’ seat price, making it more expensive overall. However, there may well be cheap ‘D’ seats available on the Singapore – Sydney flight a few days before or after. Congratulations! Your whole journey from London – Christchurch will now be calculated at the cheaper ‘D’ fare level.

Unfortunately, outside of the travel agency-type booking system, airlines don’t always clearly display fare level availability. As time-consuming as it is, the best thing to do is check each individual flight and look at the monthly calendar to see which dates are the cheapest. Note these down, then go back to ‘Advanced Search’ and put all the cheapest dates in for your flights. This will help you avoid those busier flights with only more expensive seats left, keeping the cost of your whole ticket down.

CHECK THE RULES & INCLUSIONS

A final word on weighing up the best value flights out there. READ THE RULES.

In particular, pay attention to the fees for changes and cancellations, and know what is and isn’t included.

A cheap flight might turn out to be more expensive than the next best fare after adding on baggage, meals and so on. Also, if your plans change and you have to alter your travel dates, change your destination, or cancel your flights altogether, a flight with lower cancellation/change/reissue fees will minimise your financial loss.

So, be sure to look at the ‘Fare Conditions’, ‘Fare Rules’ or other small print. Factor this in when comparing the best flight deals. Is an extra £20 now worth it to ensure you have a fully refundable ticket with flexible date/route change options, rather than a non-refundable and non-changeable ticket? You never think you’re going to make changes, but working in the travel industry I dealt with changes and cancellations day in, day out, often for completely unforeseeable reasons.

Does that cheap flight include checked baggage, or will you have to pay extra?

Note that it’s a good idea to purchase your travel insurance at the same time as you purchase your flights as this will usually cover you against cancellation immediately. This way, if you need to cancel or change your flights due to an insurable reason (perhaps sudden serious illness, the unexpected death of a family member, or being made redundant) you can claim money back from your travel insurance provider.

You can get a quote and check coverage details with  with True Traveller (UK & EEA residents) and World Nomads  (worldwide travellers) by clicking the boxes below.

GET A QUOTE NOW

It’s also important to know that if your flight ticket has more than one set of rules (ie. one covering the first half of your trip, and different rules for the return half) then the most restrictive rules apply for the whole ticket. So, if you’re reading the rules and one set states ‘Cancellation fee £200’, and another ‘Non-refundable’, this means your entire ticket is non-refundable.

So, that’s it for now, all my top tips for scoring the best value flights out there. I hope you’ve learned some useful hints and tricks that will ensure you bag a bargain for your next trip, and every one after that!

Happy Travels

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links – if you purchase a product or service via these links, we may earn a small commission  at no extra cost to you . This helps offset the cost of running this blog and keeps us travelling so that we can continue to produce great content for you. We greatly appreciate your support!*

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Got any questions or other tips to share about scoring the best value flights share in the comments below, 2 leave a reply.

Wow, what an insightful article on finding the best value flights! As someone who loves to travel, the tips provided by the ex-travel agent are incredibly helpful. The emphasis on flexibility, using multiple search engines, and considering alternative airports is a game-changer. The insider perspective adds a unique layer of expertise, making the advice feel reliable and practical. I’ll be implementing these strategies for my next trip. Thanks for sharing such valuable insights!

Is it possible to obtain a discount code or coupon for the lowest airfare available on any airline’s website? If affirmative, what would be the process to procure such a code or coupon?

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60 Best travel websites for researching & planning a trip

Researching and planning a holiday is like decorating a room. It’s all about the preparation. (Yes, you can have a great spontaneous holiday, but there’s a lot of luck involved in that…).

In the good old days, before the internet, we relied on travel agents, but in today’s digital world, a wealth of online websites and apps are on-hand to help.

But too many. The choice is overwhelming and the quality and trustworthiness variable.

So which ones are the best? Which ones should you use and for what purpose?

Planning a holiday – even before you book it – involves several steps. We’ve broken down this process and recommended the best tools to use at each stage, to make your research and planning process as simple, painless, fast –and enjoyable – as possible.

Where to go & what to do

1.1 ideas & inspiration.

Discover new places you never thought of going to, wonderful things to see & do on your travels. Add them to your travel bucket list.

Bucket List Travels

Concept: This specialist travel inspiration site works with an impressive list of leading travel writers around the world to recommend the world’s greatest travel experiences. It also offers destination guides, simple itineraries that link the top attractions together, and recommends the best places to stay while you’re there. You can search and filter through the recommendations e.g. to find recommendations by price, or that are suitable for kids. You can also save your ‘finds’ to your travel bucket list.

Pros: the search and filtering is unique amongst travel inspiration sites, and it allows you to sort through the thousands of expert recommendations to find what you want quickly – a huge time saver. The destination guides have curated, not comprehensive recommendations, so they’re effectively handing you a list of great recommendations for when you visit a new destination, i.e. the ‘bucket list’ experiences not-to-be-missed. The adding to favourites is also unique – great for ‘saving for later’ those brilliant experiences or places to stay you come across.

Cons: coverage is limited to only 100 or so destinations, which mainly centres on the UK and western Europe. Non-Europe content is limited (but being added in the near future).

When to use: Use it before any other site to decide on where to go or what to do next, and to get an outline list/itinerary of what you want to do there. Then supplement that with tours & activities from other inspiration sites listed here, especially the ones with the local authentic experiences.

Website : https://www.bucketlisttravels.com/

Concept: Instagram is a social media platform that allows users to share photos and videos with their followers. It’s popular among individuals, influencers, and businesses for promoting their personal brands or products.

Pros: Insta is a great source of travel inspiration, as it allows you to discover new destinations, attractions, and experiences through visually appealing and engaging content. You can follow travel influencers and bloggers for tips and recommendations, discover lesser-known destinations and experiences, find out about local events and festivals, and see how others experience a particular destination, which can provide ideas for your own itinerary.

When to use it: Day-to-day inspiration and idea generation for your next trip. Bookmark your favourites, or save your ideas to your travel bucket list for the next time you do want to go somewhere special.

Website : https://www.instagram.com/

Concept: Pinterest is a social media platform that allows users to discover, collect and share images and videos on virtual pinboards. Users can create boards on any topic and save Pins from other users or external websites, as well as search for inspiration and ideas. The platform has over 400 million active users worldwide.

Pros: Like Instagram, it’s a great visual travel inspiration tool, for discovering what to do in the world and specific destinations.

When to use it: For visual searches of potential destinations, and saving ideas (pins) for future trips.

Website : https://www.pinterest.com

Travel & Leisure

This high-end, luxury travel magazine covers a range of topics including hotels and resorts, airlines, cruises, food and drink, and various travel destinations around the world. Being a magazine, it focuses on the new and topical, so it’s a showcase of the latest and greatest in travel if novelty is your thing.

Pros: It’s top-quality content and genuine expertise from leading journalists and travel writers, with selective, curated recommendations. They have tonnes of round-ups of the ‘world’s best’ too.

Cons: Recommendations can be a bit too curated, missing lots of smaller experiences, and are often outside of the budget of most travellers. It’s primarily a magazine with an online afterthought, so recommendations tend to get buried in long pages of text. The site search turns up articles/posts that you then have to read further, rather than specific recommendations, and you can’t filter anything which is the big time saver.

When to use it: Sign up for their social feeds and newsletters, which often feature great round-ups like: “Best place to…”. Great for day-to-day inspiration and idea generation for your next trip. Bookmark your favourites, or save your ideas to your travel bucket list for the next time you do want to go somewhere special.

Honourable mentions: other great magazines for this include Conde Nast Traveller (featured later) and Wanderlust .

Website : https://www.travelandleisure.com/

Travel blogs

Concept: Travel blogs (too many to mention, but pretty much all the same in format) feature personal experiences, advice, and recommendations, usually written by an individual traveller or group of travellers who share their travel stories, photos, and tips with their audience.

Pros: You can’t beat personal experience when it comes to travel recommendations, and often these experienced author-travellers offer good insights and tips. They’re also usually an interesting, engaging read.

Cons: for planning a trip, blogs are hit and miss. They are written from the perspective of the blogger i.e. where they have just been or what they have just done, so it’s pot luck if that coincides with where you want to go or do next. They are also flat, text articles – you can’t search or filter their recommendations.

When to use it: Follow the ones you like if you enjoy reading such things. Once you have your list itinerary roughly planned out, they’re worth a quick scan for additional tips and insights (if you can find something relevant).

1.2 Top attractions, activities, tours & events

If you’re ready to start planning your trip, and nothing on your travel bucket list fits the bill, take a look at one of these sites to decide:

Concept: See listing above.

When to use: Head to their search results that shows all 100+ destination they cover, then use the filters to select a destination based on cost (cheap v expensive), or theme  (e.g. Science & Nature, Art, History & Culture) etc. You can also handily filter the list according to the best month of the year to visit.

FlightsFrom

Concept: this handy website lists all of the destinations you can fly to from every airport, on what days and with what airline.

When to use it: great for identifying where you can fly to from your local airport, and planning multi-destination trips.

Website : https://www.flightsfrom.com/

Google Flights

Google’s flight aggregator and comparison service consolidates flight schedules from all of the world’s commercial airlines in one place. By entering your dates and departure/arrival airports, you can quickly see who flies there, on what dates and at what times, and the price of the fare. Prices and availability are updated in real-time, and you can sign up for price alerts.

How to use it: The ‘Explore’ function allows you to specify a departure airport and see the cheapest flights to any destination you can fly to from that airport, for certain dates and trip durations – so great if you don’t have a fixed destination in mind. You can also handily add more than one departure airport if you have more than one departure option. (NB FlightsFrom shows you all available flights; Google Flights shows you available flights and their prices). NB Skyscanner has a similar ‘Explore everywhere’ feature, however, it is only available on the app and you can only enter one departure destination).

Website : https://www.google.com/travel/flights

This travel inspiration website provides a wealth of travel content, including destination guides, hotel and restaurant recommendations.

Pros: there’s loads of decent quality content, and their network of experts worldwide have good credentials and specialise in the destinations they write about.

Cons: The recommendations feature in text-heavy pages, making it hard to use for planning. You can’t filter, or save your favourites, and if you site search, you then have to wade through lots and lots of article posts. The content can also be quite random – as if it’s what someone felt like writing at the time, rather than being structured.

When to use it: Once you have your main list drawn up from the other sites listed here, it’s worth a quick scan for additional tips and insights.

Website : https://www.tripsavvy.com/

This global deals site specialises in providing exclusive offers and one-of-a-kind experiences to its 30 million members worldwide (membership is free). They partner with over 5,000 travel suppliers to source cut-price inventory.

When to use it: Sign up for their newsletter, then sit back and let the deals roll in. If you’re price-conscious, or just love a deal, then use their offers to decide on where to go and what to do next. Works best if you’re flexible on dates – most deals will be for when demand is lower i.e. in winter and/or outside of school holidays.

Website : https://www.travelzoo.com

1.3 What to do when you get there: attractions

Now you’ve decided on a destination, what should you do there? What are the top attractions, the must-see-and-dos, and the ‘bucket list experiences not to be missed?

How to use it: Navigate to the destination guide webpage. Our expert writes not only curates the top travel experiences – attractions, activities, tours & events – for you, but also further splits them as either ‘bucket list’ i.e. the not-to-be-missed, or ‘other’ experiences – nice to know about, but only for if you have time/interest.

Also, be sure to scroll through the destination page photo gallery for a pictorial summary.

Google Travel

Concept: Google’s travel planning platform offers a range of tools to help users plan their trips. It includes Google Flights (see later), a hotel aggregator and holiday rentals

For deciding what to do when you go somewhere, type your destination into the search, then click on the ‘Things to do’ side icon for full listings. It tries to list in order of priority/popularity, which mostly works, though it is an auto-generated list. The written descriptions come from Wikipedia, so it lacks that human expertise and it all feels a bit soulless (to me anyway). The interface however is easy to use, and you can add favourites to a trip list.

How to use it: After you’ve been to Bucket List Travels for the curated, expert list, if you feel you need more in your itinerary, and/or you’re worried we may have missed something, then use Google Travel to check the full comprehensive listings and see if there is anything else you want to do.

Website : https://www.google.com/travel/

Lonely Planet

Concept: The original ‘guidebook’ company, they have destination guides for pretty much every place on the planet. Their expert writers, who must specialise in the destination, provide comprehensive listings and recommendations for sightseeing, accommodation and food & drink, plus very detailed logistical and practical information.

How to use it: They’re comprehensive, not curated. They include a lot of minor attractions that the majority of travellers would not want to bother with, and there’s not a lot of imagery, just text. I use them as a cross-check once I have outlined what you want to do. It’s too detailed/comprehensive for researching and planning – unless you’ve got days to spare. Handy to take the book with you, though, for the in-depth local tips when you’re there.

Honourable mentions: all of the guidebooks are broadly similar. Also try Rough Guides , Fodor’s , Frommers’ , Rick Steves (Europe only) and DK Eyewitness .

Website : https://www.lonelyplanet.com/

Tourism Associations

Concept: A local government body, tasked with promoting tourism to the destination, that will provide comprehensive information, advice and recommendations for visitors to both attract and facilitate their visit. Being the local specialist, they should know better than anyone what to see & do, and they often include many smaller, high quality attractions and tours that others will miss. However, the quality of websites is highly variable (best in the most developed, richer nations as you’d expect), and they have to be impartial so there is no curation and little opinion.

How to use it: A great resource when it’s done well. If you’re going to a developed nation, I would say they are a must-visit. Use them to start drafting up your list.

Concept: A video-sharing website where users can upload, share, and view videos on a variety of topics. It attracts billions of monthly active users. There’s a digital tonne of travel content on there, covering every aspect – from destination recommendations to videos on how to book flights.

When to use it: if you’re a visual person, YouTube is a great resource for travel inspiration. It’s jammed packed these days with ‘What to see in X’, with video and image slideshows showing you the top sights. It tends to be top sights only, but a good place to start drawing up your shortlist. It’s also great for travel advice and tips.

Website : https://youtube.com

1.4 What to do when you get there: local experiences

‘Authentic’ experiences enable you to experience the real destination, to experience its culture, to meet its people, and to live like a local. Indeed, many travellers prefer them to crowd-thronged, tourist-spoiled ‘big ticket’ attractions. Here are some resources I use to discover them in my chosen destination:

Air BnB experiences

Concept: This service allows individuals and small businesses to offer unique activities and tours to travellers in over 1,000 cities around the world. Experiences can range from food tours to pottery classes to wildlife safaris, and are designed and led by locals who have expertise in their field.

Pros: Coverage is extensive, and the experiences can be a more immersive and authentic way for travellers to connect with the local culture and community.

Cons: Some of the experiences listed I feel are more for locals than tourists, and it’s tours/classes, so not really attractions you visit like museums.

When to use it: If you’re a first-time visitor wanting to tick off the main attractions, use a site like Bucket List Travels first to find those out and make a preliminary list, then complement what they give you with these experiences to add some local flavour and insight to your itinerary.

Website : https://www.airbnb.com/experiences

Atlas Obscura

An online travel guide that features unique, offbeat and even bizarre travel experiences – be it unknown/obscure destinations or little-known experiences within well-known destinations. It also offers tours and experiences to some of the destinations featured on the website.

Pros: Once again, this is a site for those seeking off-the-beaten-track, authentic and unusual experiences.

Cons: It’s very niche, aimed at the truly intrepid traveller. If you’re a mainstream tourist, wanting to tick off the main sites, this is not the site for you.

When to use it: If you want to avoid the big tourist sites and experience something unique and different in a destination. If you’re a first-time visitor wanting to tick off the main attractions, use a site like Bucket List Travels first to find those out and make a preliminary list, then complement what they give you with the Atlas Obscura experiences to add some local flavour and insight to your itinerary.

Website : https://www.atlasobscura.com/

Spotted by Locals

Concept: A travel website/blog that provides insider city tips from locals. Each city ‘guide’ is curated by a team of handpicked city residents, featuring their favourite local spots for food, drinks, culture, and entertainment.

Pros: it’s a great source for finding those authentic local experiences, away from the tourist hoards.

Cons: Recommendations/articles are quite random in subject – and you have to scroll through pages and pages of blog posts. You can’t search or filter by interest for example. Coverage is also limited to only 80 cities.

When to use it: They also don’t cover the big-ticket attractions first-time visitors will want to see, so use this for filling gaps in your itinerary or for second visits once the big ones have been ticked off.

Website : https://www.spottedbylocals.com/

1.5 What to do when you get there: tickets & tours

Get Your Guide

Offers a very similar proposition to Viator (see below). GyG though is Europe-based, so it has much stronger tour options in Europe than the US-based Viator, which conversely has a better US inventory.

Website : https://www.getyourguide.com/

Concept: An online tour ‘aggregator’ combines and lists multi-day organised tours, both small and large group, from all the leading tour operator brands like Intrepid , G Adventures and Exodus. They are to guided tours what Booking.com is to hotels. Search is by destination, so you need to know where you want to go first.

Pros: Listings are comprehensive and up to date, giving you a window on all of the options available that you can search and filter to your specific need.

Cons: Always beware the pricing on aggregators. Operators have learned to use low pricing to get you to click through to them, then load that up with expensive extras and upgrades once you are on their site (or they lie about the price in the first place).

When to use: If you want to go on a guided tour, this is a great place to start. It will tell you who the best tour operators are, what are your tour options, and the prices.

Website : https://www.tourradar.com/

Concept: A ‘tour aggregator’ offers a wide range of tours and experiences in destinations worldwide, through local third-party tour operators. (Think of them as the Booking.com or Expedia of tours). Tours can be anything from 1-hour walking tours to 10-day organised tours. A US-based company (owned by TripAdvisor), it’s much more comprehensive in the US than in Europe.

Pros: They partner with the best local tour operators, so the tour quality is good, and you have someone to complain to if things go awry. The site search allows you to sort through the extensive catalogue quickly.

When to use it: Work out where you want to go, and get a feel for the top attractions, somewhere else, then come to Viator to book tickets and tours.

Website : https://www.viator.com/

1.6 Draft an outline itinerary

Now you know what you want to see & do in your destination, work out a rough day-by-day itinerary to ensure you get to do everything you want to do, with minimal travelling around.

Concept: see listing above.

How to use it: For most destination guides (where it makes sense to do so), our writers have set out simple itineraries of what to do and where to go on each day of a trip. For cities, they are usually 3- and 5-day itineraries (the 5-day version has the same first 3 days, then two additional days on top). They link all of the top attractions together in the most logistically convenient way, minimising travel, and including recommendations for lunch and dinner while you’re there.

Rick Steves Europe

Rick Steves is a travel guidebook author and television personality who specialises in European travel. His guidebooks offer practical advice and recommendations for budget travel, including tips on accommodations, dining, and sightseeing. His approach emphasises cultural immersion and connecting with locals, and his guides often include suggested walking tours and off-the-beaten-path destinations.

Pros: Rick’s guidebooks offer much more in-depth expertise than the others for Europe, with high-quality, well-researched recommendations based on experts with years of experience. The website has great travel forums for asking fellow travellers questions.

How to use it: It’s not a site for researching where to go and what to do. It’s better once you know where you want to go, and really want to drill into the fine detail. However, like Bucket List Travels , the site does have helpful itineraries that set out where to go and what to do day-to-day.

Website : https://www.ricksteves.com/

1.7 Specialist travel

Cruise Critic

The world’s leading online cruise review website and community provides comprehensive reviews, ratings and forums to help you assess cruise vacations. It’s the TripAdvisor of cruises (and not surprisingly, it’s owned by them), so just like with TripAdvisor, don’t believe everything you read.

When to use: We would personally recommend finding recommendations elsewhere e.g. from cruise travel journalists writing for newspapers, magazines or even Bucket List Travels. Then come to this site to check out the reviews of your shortlist.

Website : https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/

Euan’s Guide

Set up by wheelchair user Euan MacDonald MBE, this disabled access review website is the go-to tool for many disabled people wanting to travel in the UK and beyond. It shares accessibility information for venues and the experiences/reviews of other disabled users.

Pros: Helps to solve some of the challenges disabled people face, and gives them the confidence to travel.

Cons: the coverage is mainly UK and Europe, but thankfully is widening to the rest of the world at a pace.

Website : https://www.euansguide.com

We Love 2 Ski

This excellent online resource provides skiers and snowboarders with up-to-date and comprehensive information on ski resorts, conditions, accommodation, equipment, and more. The website features detailed reviews, insider tips, and expert advice on everything related to skiing, as well as an active forum for the ski community to share their experiences and knowledge.

It’s managed by 3 ski experts, with a wealth of expertise between them and who really know their stuff and take pride in keeping the information up-to-date. It’s one of those more genuine sites that care about their advice and is not trying to constantly do the hard sell.

When to use: if you want to go skiing, start here. If you’ve already found somewhere to go or stay, be sure to check what they say about it here before you go.

Website : https://welove2ski.com/

Getting there & around

2.1 flights.

Concept: a flight deal finder service that sends you price and deal alerts on flights. You enter your preferred departure airport and they send you notifications of great deals, and price movements. Tickets are discounted 40-90%, for flights 2-6 months out in Economy, Business and First classes.

How to use it: If you’ve got flexible travel dates, or have a bucket list destination in mind. Sign up and wait for a deal.

Website : https://www.going.com/

Google’s Flights is a flight aggregator that allows you to find and compare flights. It enables you to find the airlines that fly between your destinations, and available flight times.

Prices and availability are updated in real-time, and you can sign up for price alerts. The pricing can sometimes be inaccurate, however, and when you click through, it’s usually for a basic fare without any luggage.

When to use it: Start your flight search here. You may have to add in the extras, then compare prices, or you may not get the cheapest option.

Honourable mentions: Skyscanner and Kayak offer similar services. In my experience, they pretty much have the same inventory. It really comes down to which interface you prefer.

Hopper is one of the US’s most successful travel apps, selling over $4.5B of travel each year. It helps you find the best deals on flights, hotels, home rentals, and car hire by analysing trillions of data points to predict when prices will rise or fall. When you set your dates, you see a helpful calendar showing when prices are highest and lowest, and you can sign up for price alerts.

Their second big USP is their ‘price freeze’ option, where you pay a small fee (5%-15% of the price) to freeze the price for a limited duration (options range up to 3 weeks). If the price goes up, you pay no more; if it goes down, you pay the lower price (like insurance). They also offer Flight Disruption and Cancel for Any Reason Guarantees.

Pros: Simple to use, the most accurate predictor of prices, really helps you get the best deal (if your dates are flexible). The insurance options have been a godsend to many in the recent years of travel disruption and inflating prices. Unlike other flight aggregators like Kayak or Skyscanner they show the different airline fare options within the app, so you don’t get caught by the artificially low basic fare enticing you to click through (see Skyscanner summary).

Cons: None that we can see! It really is an excellent service.

When to use it: Once you know where you want to go, come to the site to get the best deal on flights, car hire and accommodation. Simple as that.

It works best if you’re dates are flexible, so you can pick the cheapest travel dates, and/or if you have time before you book – take out the freeze option and you can be assured that the price will only come down, or sign up for the price alert.

Website : https://hopper.com/

Concept: This flight aggregator, owned by Chinese-backed Trip.com and based in Edinburgh, does the same thing as Google Flights. . It enables you to find the airlines that fly between your destinations, and available flight times.

Prices and availability are updated in real-time, and you can sign up for price alerts.

When to use it: I’ve not found much difference in pricing to Google Flights, though I much prefer Skyscanner’s user interface. It really comes down to personal choice.

Honourable mentions: US-based Kayak , originating in the US, offers a similar service to Skyscanner.

Website : https://www.skyscanner.net/

The Points Guy

If you’re someone that loves to save on travel using reward points, check out this advisory site by Brian Kelly. As he puts it, it’s ‘your go-to source for all things travel, points, miles, credit cards and more’. His advice covers both where best to earn points, and how best to spend them. There’s both a US and a UK website , with custom advice based on where you reside.

He gives up-to-date advice and tips in this ever-changing, evolving space that cuts through all of the confusion, and helps you find the best deals in the market, and explains how to take advantage of them.

How to use it: Visit here first if you’ve got points to burn, or will have and want to know the best scheme to sign up for.

Website : https://thepointsguy.com/

2.2 Car hire & taxis

Rentalcars.com

A global car rental booking platform that provides customers with access to over 60,000 rental locations in more than 160 countries worldwide. The site enables you to compare prices and features from a wide range of rental companies. Customers can also benefit from 24/7 support and free cancellation on most bookings.

I’ve regularly rented cars via them, and never found a cheaper deal. The customer service and support are also very good. There’s not really a reason to start looking anywhere else.

Website : https://www.rentalcars.com/

It doesn’t really need any introduction… but just for completeness. Founded in 2009, Uber is a ride-hailing service that connects riders with drivers in most major cities around the world. Through the app, you can request and pay for rides, track your driver’s location, and rate the experience.

Uber’s meteoric rise to a global brand can be attributed to solving several customer issues with then-taxi firms: they would find you a ride tell you how long it would take to arrive, how much the fare would be upfront, and sort payment automatically through your account, thus avoiding the need to have enough cash on you.

Other leading ride-sharing apps include Lyft (US and Canada) and Cabify (Spain & Latin America).

2.3 Rail, Bus & Ferry

Concept: Omio is a comprehensive travel search and booking platform that helps users find and book the best deals on trains, buses, and flights across Europe. The website offers a user-friendly interface, with real-time price comparisons and flexible search options to suit individual needs and preferences.

When to use: It’s a great tool for planning and booking multi-modal trips.

Website : https://www.omio.co.uk/

Rail Europe

Concept: Rail Europe is a one-stop-shop for planning and booking train travel in 33 European countries. The website offers a wide range of tickets, passes, and packages for different destinations and budgets, as well as information on train schedules, routes, and stations. Note, they don’t cover local trams and metros, it’s intercity trains only (that includes Eurostar). Enter the destinations you want to go to and they’ll recommend the best value ticket/pass.

For multiple trips, you’ll likely be recommended a Eurail pass. This brilliant invention allows you to travel on over 30 European railway operators and some ferries too. Kids under 11 travel free with an adult.

Website : https://www.raileurope.com/

2.4 Route planning

Google Maps

Who hasn’t used google Maps? And for good reason. Its coverage is comprehensive, it’s simple to use, and it’s is invaluable when you’re trying to figure out how to get from A to B in an unfamiliar place. It shows travel times and distances in multiple transport modes: on foot, bike, by available public transport and by car.

How to use it: use it to help plan upfront your transportation from point to point in your itinerary.

Website : https://www.google.com/maps

Hands down the best service for planning and booking journeys within and between countries. It combines and compares transport options from over 5,000 transportation providers across 160 countries, then recommends the cheapest, fastest, and most convenient routes for different modes of transportation including flights, trains, buses, and car rentals. The website also provides comprehensive travel information. It will quote prices, distances, times, mileage, route numbers, and which companies to book.

Their slogan is “Discover how to get anywhere by plane, train, bus, ferry & car – and it does exactly what is says on the tin.

Website : https://www.rome2rio.com/

Where to stay

3.1 'best' hotels - curated selections.

Whatever you go, there are always thousands of hotel options. These sites do the research work for you and use experts to curate a list of the best, based on location, quality and quality.

How to use it: For all the destinations we cover, we provide you with a curated list of the best hotels – for all budgets, from the mainstream to the unusual.

The selections are made by our writers, who must not only be leading travel journalists, but also specialise in that destination (either living there or visiting frequently). The writers have at least inspected and usually stayed in the properties they recommend.

Conde Nast Traveller

Similar to Travel & Leisure above, this high-end, luxury global travel magazine covers a range of topics including hotels and resorts, airlines, cruises, food and drink, and various travel destinations around the world.

When to use it: They do great round-ups of the ‘best’ hotels to stay in a destination – but obviously at the top end. If you’re not that price sensitive, start with their shortlist.

Honourable mention: Travel & Leisure, their great rival, also does destination hotel round-ups.

Website : https://www.cntraveller.com/

In my view, it’s the best ‘guidebook’ website for researching and planning a trip online – once you know where you want to go. They simply and helpfully list out a reasonably long short list of things to see & do and places to stay, and rate them each from 1-3, depending on how good they are.

However, like all the guidebooks online, coverage is comprehensive at times, requiring a lot of time and effort to research through it. The website is also swamped with banner ads that are off-putting and annoying.

How to use it: A good place to start your hotel search. They generally do select good options, though it’s more aimed at budget travellers.

Website : https://www.frommers.com/

The Telegraph (Travel)

This long-standing British newspaper does a fine job of curating and rating (out of 10) the best hotels in destinations around the world, for all budgets. The reviews tell you what you want to know – style, location, key amenities – without being overwhelming.

As for Bucket List Travels , selections and reviews are written by top travel writers who have inspected and usually stayed in the property. The number of hotels they recommend is a lot more than Bucket List Travels – and includes ones we certainly wouldn’t include – but it does give you a longer list to start with.

When to use it: if you care about where you stay, and really want one of the best places, this is a great place to start your start for somewhere to stay.

Website : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/

TripAdvisor

The original hotel review site, it has since expanded to become the global platform for reviews (and information) on hotels, restaurants, attractions, and other travel-related businesses. It also offers a variety of travel-related content and resources, including travel guides and forums.

Over the years it has, sadly become increasingly corrupted with fake reviews, but they can’t fake all of them and as long as there are at least several hundred reviews, the score should be reasonably reflective.

When to use it: I personally like to start drawing up a shortlist of places to stay on other sites listed here, then do a quick check of the reviews of each on TripAdvisor. I also filter to see only the negative comments, then look at 1) how recent they are 2) if it is a one-off complaint i.e. someone had a refund request refused and 3) if it is something that can and probably has been fixed e.g. a rude receptionist. Small room sizes, traffic noise from road proximity, and so on – these issues are not easily fixed.

Website : https://www.tripadvisor.com

3.2 Boutique hotel collections

If it’s a boutique hotel you’re after, try one of these specialist sites. They only list high-quality properties that meet their individual criteria.

Design Hotels

As the name suggests, this website offers a curated selection of over 300 independently owned and operated hotels and resorts around the world, each chosen for its unique design and aesthetic. The site emphasizes design and architecture and offers a range of luxury and boutique properties.

Pros: It’s a brilliant resource for finding unique and interesting stays, especially with modern and/or minimalist interiors.

Cons: if you’re not that worried about hotel design, then it doesn’t offer a lot of value other than a list of interesting hotels.

When to use: if you’re interested in design, and prioritise that in your accommodation, then this is a great resource. If it’s not that important, you’re better off elsewhere with a greater selection and better prices.

Website : https://www.designhotels.com/

This boutique hotel booking website offers a carefully curated selection of stylish, unique and independently-run hotels and vacation rentals around the world. They offer in-depth reviews of each property, personalised recommendations, and a friendly, 24/7 booking service.

Pros: The curated selection of unique and stylish properties is exceptional and of a consistently high quality that you can rely on. Each property has been personally inspected by staff. The reviews, from both customers and staff, are honest and in-depth and tell you who it is and isn’t for, rather than pretend everyone’s going to love it.

Cons: There’s a limited number of properties in many destinations, and it is property, not destination, led – meaning is easier to find the place, then decide on the destination rather than the reverse (which may suit).

When to use: if their style of property i.e. unique, high quality, small and independent, is what you like/are looking for, there’s no better resource to use. If they don’t have something in your preferred destination, then look elsewhere, but check first.

Honourable mention: Sawdays offers a similar service, but they’re UK & Europe only.

Website : https://www.i-escape.com/

Mr & Mrs Smith

This first-rate, UK-based hotel booking website curates handpicked, boutique hotels around the world, each personally inspected to meet their high standards of facilities, service and location. The website has in-depth reviews of each property, with insider tips like what are the best rooms to book, without being overwhelming.

There are also exclusive benefits for members like gifts on arrival, or late checkouts, and a 24/7 booking service.

Pros: The standard of hotels is consistently high, so much so that the brand has become a trusted stamp of quality. The booking service and post-sales support is efficient yet very personable, and hotel staff genuinely care about ‘Smith’ customers so you feel very welcome when you arrive.

Cons: They have limited or no options in many destinations. They also can’t match the benefits of the OTA reward schemes like Booking.com .

When to use: The site is great if this is your style of hotel, and you want to be looked after at every step. Limited coverage is only an issue if you are dead set on a destination. If you’re not really that bothered where you go, or at least are open to suggestions, check this excellent site first.

Website : https://www.mrandmrssmith.com/

Secret Escapes

A members-only hotel booking website that offers exclusive deals and discounts on luxury hotels and vacations around the world. The site negotiates special rates with hotels and resorts, available to their members only.

Pros: There some great deals and genuine exclusive discounts to be had, though max discount tends to be 30% (and average of 15%-20%), but still not to be sniffed at. They also do a good job of curation, so you know you’re getting a decent hotel.

Cons: You still need to compare prices to other sites like Booking.com and the hotel’s own website, as there are lots of sneaky tricks and breaking of agreements that going on behind the scenes and you never really know where the best deal is until you check.

When to use: if you know where you want to go, it’s well worth checking in for a deal.

Website : https://www.secretescapes.com/

Small Luxury Hotels of the World

This website has personally visited, verified and vetted every single one of its 520 hotels in more than 90 countries. The criteria for inclusions I small (<50 rooms, non-chain and offering the highest standards of luxury and service.

Pros: it’s an exceptional collection of outstanding hotels, and the brand guarantees a high-quality, luxury stay. Members get 10% off and extra (tiered) benefits like upgrades and late checkouts. Hotels welcome their members with open arms, as they usually spend well, and SMH look after their customers.

Cons: things this good come with a price tag. Many hotels are out of reach of most travellers’ budgets.

When to use: if you’re a discerning, occasionally demanding, traveller, that specifically wants a smaller hotel, this is a great place to start your search. Check other websites though for better prices – even with the 10% off – but if you’re not that price sensitive, it’s nice to book with someone who cares, as opposed to a hotel production line like Booking.com.

Website : https://slh.com/

Tablet Hotels

This New York-based brand, founded in 2000 and well-known across the US, has curated over 3,500 boutique & luxury properties around the world. In 2018, it was purchased by and merged with Michelin.

Similar to Mr & Mrs Smith, they curate a selection based on criteria, offer a full booking service, and exclusive benefits for ‘Tablet Plus’ members like VIP upgrades and free valet parking.

Pros: the curated selection guarantees a measure of quality, and some of the VIP benefits are really nice ones to have and make you feel a bit special.

Cons: You inevitably will pay more than on other sites, and sometimes they overpromise and underdeliver on the VIP experience – much depends on the attitude of the hotel. The criteria for selection is much broader than a Mr & Mrs Smith, so you’re not getting that real consistency of accommodation, and the personal relationship that Smith has with its properties.

When to use: If you want to feel like a VIP and value those benefits over saving a few pennies or cents, then they are worth a look.

Website : https://www.tablethotels.com/

3.3 Home rentals & stays

Launched in 2008 and needing no introduction, this global accommodation powerhouse forever altered the holiday market. Now with more than 300,000 listings in over 190 countries, it has expanded from its original core offering of ‘spare rooms to rent’ to include apartments, treehouses, villas – whatever you can stay in, it’s likely to be on AirBnB.

Pros: the sheer number of options and global coverage means you’re highly likely to find something you want. The site is simple and easy to use, with lots of photographs, user reviews and star ratings.

Cons: The product and website is great, but they don’t really care about customers, and customer service if something goes wrong can be challenging to find.

When to use: whenever you’re looking for something other than a hotel, and/or something more authentic or with a local feel. It’s especially good for families and groups wanting to stay together in one place.

Website : https://www.airbnb.com

Couchsurfing

This global hospitality exchange enables you to stay with a host for free for a few nights – be it sofa or, if you’re lucky, a bed. You simply create a profile, search for hosts, and request to stay with them. Surprisingly, perhaps, it works, and over the years the site has built a loyal following and a strong community of ‘couchsurfers’ who help and support each other, and even organise events around the world.

When to use it: When budget is tight and you just really want somewhere to crash, and/or you’re looking to connect with other travellers and the local community.

Website : https://www.couchsurfing.com/

This upscale holiday home and apartment rental specialist has a large catalogue of privately-owned places to stay, which you can filter by key criteria like price, location, number of bedrooms etc. Each listing is vetted by their team to ensure it meet minimum standards. It’s owned by the Expedia Group.

The quality of homes for rent is exceptional and varied, from lake houses to treehouses, and the search and filtering makes it quick and simple to find something that suits. Customer service is good, much better than AirBnB for example.

Website : https://www.vrbo.com/

Villas of Distinction

Villas of Distinction is a luxury villa rental company that offers an extensive portfolio of properties in over 50 destinations worldwide. They provide personalized service to help clients select the perfect villa for their vacation, and offer a range of amenities such as private pools, chefs, and concierge services to enhance the guest experience.

When to use it: When you’re looking for an independent, self-catering stay in an uber-luxurious villa. It’s top-end, with a price tag to match.

Honourable mention: One Fine Stay offers a similar service.

Website : https://www.villasofdistinction.com/

3.4 Campsites & Hostels

HostelWorld

The hostel specialist is the go-to place for booking budget accommodation in over 170 countries – both dormitory beds and private rooms. The website and mobile app allow you to browse and book from a wide range of hostels, hotels, and guesthouses, with a focus on affordable and social options. There are also offers travel guides, reviews, and a loyalty program for frequent users.

Pros: The UX is really smooth, the inventory (number of options) is much is larger than on the major hotel search engines (OTAs), and it does a much better job of setting out dormitory bed pricing and deal options. There are a number of ‘community’ features that encourage you to connect with fellow travellers.

When to use it: If you’re on a budget or want to meet people when you’re travelling, start here with your accommodation search.

Website : https://www.hostelworld.com/

If you’re looking for something off-grid, preferably unique and unusual – but don’t want to compromise too much on luxury, this website is for you. It’s a directory of for luxury campsites and stays, with various accommodation options ranging from tents to tipis, log cabins to vintage caravans. Coverage is mainly Europe & UK, though they have plans to expand beyond.

Website : https://campaglam.com/

3.5 Price comparison

Concept: This Expedia-owned hotel search engine allows you to compare prices from various booking sites for over 1.8 million hotels in more than 190 countries. You can search & filter to discover hotels matching your criteria, then each hotel listing shows the price of a room on the various OTA sites. The site also offers user reviews, ratings, and filters to help you decide.

For all aggregators, the prices are often inaccurate, and not the cheapest option when you click through. The OTAs (like Expedia, Booking.com) have learned over the years how to manipulate them to ensure their listing comes up first with the cheapest price.

When to use it: It’s a good place to start your hotel search, especially when you have specific requirements such that you can use the on-site filters to narrow down the options quickly. If you discover a hotel you want somewhere else, always come and check the prices here before booking.

Note – it doesn’t always include the hotel direct price (so make sure you check separately), and sometimes the prices are inaccurate when you click through.

Honourable mentions: HotelsCombined , owned by Booking.com and the main rival to Trivago, is known for having better deals as they search lesser-known booking sites (though that can come with risks). Both I suspect of bias, however, in pushing Booking.com and Expedia products. Skyscanner also now offers accommodation price comparison, and they have the advantage of being independent and unbiased of the leading OTAs. Kayak also offers price comparison – but they are owned by Booking.com too. I prefer Trvago above the rest purely because they also helpfully show you show the lowest price depending on the ‘deal’ type i.e. cancellable or non, including breakfast etc. which obviously makes a big difference to the ‘cheapest’ price.

Website : https://www.trivago.com

3.6 Accommodation booking

Booking.com

The world’s largest accommodation online booking service that lists over 28 million hotels (and now rentals, B&Bs and hostels) from around the world. They offer a tiered loyalty program called ‘Genius’ The three levels offer 10%, 15%, and 20% discounts (respectively) on bookings at hundreds of thousands of participating locations. They also include priority customer service help, and free breakfast packages or room upgrades when possible.

Pros: The website is easy to use, with excellent filter options, and once you have created an account, you can book within a few clicks. Their inventory is phenomenal, with most hotels in the world signed up. The loyalty program is accessible and with great benefits.

Cons: The loyalty program only applies for a limited number of participating hotels, so you won’t always get the benefits. Hotel websites often still have a better deal, and some don’t release all of their room types to Booking.com so you can’t see these rooms.

Booking.com may also confusingly say ‘sold out’ when there are rooms available still on the hotel website. So always check the hotel website before booking.

When to use it: Start your accommodation search here, and then once you’ve narrowed down the options with the filters, check other sites and the hotel website for a better deal.

Honourable mention: Agoda is essentially a carbon copy of Booking.com – they are owned by the Bookings Holdings Group. Agoda has it’s roots in Asia, and is based in Singapore, so it has more comprehensive Asian content. If that’s where you’re going, it’s worth using.

Website : https://www.booking.com

Concept: same as for Booking.com, with a similar tiered loyalty program, though at time of writing, the tiered benefits are not lifetime like they are with Booking.com. You need to be a regular customer to benefit from the higher tiers – not the case with Booking.com.

Their famous loyalty program of stay 10 times, earn one free reward night – now the basic tier – requires you to book at least once every 12 months or your reward night expires.

Honourable mention: Expedia is essentially a carbon copy of Hotels.com. They’re owned by the same group, and effectively have the same hotel inventory and pricing. There are slight differences in the reward program – I think Hotels.com’s one is better, hence why they got the nudge.

Website : https://hotels.com

HotelTonight

Owned by AirBnB , this mobile app and website offers last-minute hotel rooms at discounted rates. Inventory ranges from budget to luxury, and you can use the filters to specify your location and preferences. There’s also a ‘Rate Drop’ feature that discounts same-day prices after 3pm.

When to use: if you need a last-minute room, it’s definitely worth checking for a deal. However, in my experience, their deals weren’t especially good compared to other standard booking sites – though the ‘Rate Drop’ does deliver discounts.

Website : https://www.hoteltonight.com/

Food, drink & entertainment

4.1 food & drink.

A food and dining news website that provides reviews, guides, and information on restaurants and food trends in various cities across the world. The site offers articles on topics such as dining culture, chefs, industry news, and more. They also feature videos and podcasts related to food and restaurants. The quality of content and recommendations is excellent, and they’ve regularly won awards to their food & wine journalism.

When to use it: Officially it only spans 23 US cities, and if that’s where you’re headed, it’s a good place to check. However, that’s for detailed coverage. For most cities, however, they have a round-up of ‘the best restaurants in X’, covering all price ranges. Just search for it on their site.

Website : https://eater.com

Foodie blogs

Local foodies blog about anything from food trucks to Michelin-starred restaurants. In any destination, especially cities, the food scene changes so fast that almost any corporate website will not keep up. Local foodies are out testing daily, and take pride in keeping their blogs up to date with the latest and greatest. They also cover the smaller, more niche places that only a local would know about.

There are too many to mention, but search for ‘food blogs in X’ by Googling (or Binging) and see who you can find.

When to use: When you want to discover some insider foodie experiences in a destination, and get some good restaurant tips that are not Michelin-starred.

Concept: Increasingly the go-to resource for vegan and vegetarian dining around the world, run by vegans, as the popularity of the movement continues to gather a welcome pace and momentum. The site is also becoming a thriving community hub, with active forums and listings of fellow vegans in local cities that you can message for tips.

When to use it: to discover the best vegan and vegetarian dining options in your destination, or to get tips/advice from the local community.

Website : https://www.happycow.net/

This stalwart former magazine is still the place to go in the digital era for local listings of ‘what’s on’. It provides comprehensive listings, information and reviews on cultural events, concerts, theatre performances, film screenings, and other entertainment in cities around the world.

When to use it: If you’re wanting to book in some entertainment on your trip, this is the best place to start looking.

Website : https://www.timeout.com/

Yelp is a platform that allows you to search for and review local businesses, including restaurants, bars, shops, and other services in 220 cities in 32 countries . It’s best known for restaurant reviews, however – some of the other business listings can be fairly light. As with all review sites, it suffers from fake reviews,  but the volume is sufficient to give you an overall sense of what’s worth a try.

How to use it: I use it to draft a short list of places to try, then cross-check that with other sources and/or my hotel if I’m staying in one. Concierges will give good restaurant tips, but in my experience, the options they give are limited.

Website : https://www.yelp.com

Before you go

Centre for Disease Control

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a national public health institute in the United States. The website provides comprehensive information and resources on health and safety topics, including infectious diseases, vaccines, travel health, environmental health, emergency preparedness, and more.

When to use it: before you go to a new destination, stop here to check any disease risks and vaccination requirements (you can search by country from the home page). It also has helpful advice for people with special health conditions , and/or doing specialist activities.

Website : https://www.cdc.gov/

5.2 What to take

This global online store is a specialist in all things travel accessories, with over 200 products covering everything from adapters, to travel pillows and luggage security.

How to use it: have a skim before you go. I always end up seeing/buying things I never even knew I needed!

Website : https://go.travel

Packing List Checklist App

A handy app to create packing checklists – a godsend for people like me who always forget their sunglasses. A plethora of packing list apps, I like and use this one before it’s simple, quick – and free. No upgrades needed.

You manually create your own list(s) – you can create multiple different ones, for different holiday types for example – then select from a list of a fairly comprehensive list of suggested items to start you off. Most of the time that will do it, though you can add your own if needed. When it comes to packing, you can tick things off as and when they’re in the case.

How to use it: Next time you get a few free moments, create a packing list. Add to it as and when things pop into your head. Tick them off when you pack.

Website : https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/packing-list-checklist/id1235121075

5.3 Travel planning

TripIt is another travel organising app that allows you to store all of your travel plans in one place. Users can forward their confirmation emails for flights, hotels, and rental cars to the app, which will then create a master itinerary for their trip. The app also provides real-time flight alerts, directions, and travel recommendations.

Website : https://www.tripit.com/web

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Award Flight Search Engines: The FULL List (2024)

Travel hacking has been my passion since I was 13 years old, and one of the most rewarding parts is when you actually manage to book a flight using your hard-earned miles at a great value. For me, points and miles enabled me and my family to do things I wouldn’t be able to do otherwise, like taking my partner on Lufthansa First Class class for his birthday.

Navigating the seemingly complex universe of frequent flyer programs and miles can be overwhelming. Still, with the right technology, you can reveal hidden gems and turn them into unforgettable journeys.

In this blog post, I will guide you through the best award flight search engines available in 2024, demystify their features, and help you maximize your travel potential while saving significantly on your adventures. Let’s go!

Best for: Overall Fastest search engine Great mobile experience Impressive UI Multiple programs Free trial

Best for: Concierge service Great for someone who doesn’t want to deal with all the booking details Several additional services Supports hotels Free trial

Roame Travel

Best for: Credit Card Points Simple interface Advanced filters Alerts and notifications Friends of Roame ($9.99) Free forever

Tools to find award flights: Quick comparison

How to find award availability in 2024: the best award flight search engines, 1. awardfares.

Simply put, AwardFares is the world’s fastest search engine for award flights. It searches across multiple frequent flyer programs, displays real-time availability for multiple dates, monitors and alerts you via email when spaces open, and has a handy trip planner.

Ongoing Offer

Get 20% OFF when you upgrade to AwardFares Gold or Diamond using my link , or my code AIRLAPSE .

AwardFares Key Features

• Fast and easy to use.
• Modern user interface that works on mobile.
• Easy to understand and explore available award seats.
• Advanced filters (cabin type, airlines, number of stops, etc.).
• Best search tool for Star Alliance flights.
• Support for American Airlines AAdvantage, Alaska MileagePlan, SAS EuroBonus, United Mileage Plus, Air Canada Aeroplan, and more coming soon.
• Alerts for specific routes and dates. When award seats become available that match the alert criteria, AwardFares sends an email notification.
• Awesome trip planner to pick flights in sequence (open jaw, round the world, etc.)
• Pricing options for both casual (Gold) and hardcore users (Diamond).

2. Point.me

Point.me is a free online search tool designed to assist users in finding the best use for their travel reward points or miles. It aims to simplify the process of award travel booking by showing users how they can leverage their points across various frequent flyer programs. Point.me also offers a forum and a concierge service that can help book award flights and hotels.

Point.me Key Features

• Wide Airline Coverage.
• Flexible Search Parameters: Users can input their desired route and dates, and the tool will show available award flights and the points required for each option.
• Point Cost Estimation: Point.me estimates the points or miles required for each potential flight. This makes it easier to compare options across different programs.
• Simple and intuitive interface.
• No Booking Function. Similar to other award travel search tools, Point.me doesn’t provide booking functionality. After finding a flight, you will need to book the flight directly through the airline or relevant booking platform.

3. Roame.travel

Roame Travel is a free award travel search engine that allows users to search for award flights across multiple frequent flyer programs. It searches among 12 airline loyalty programs and covers over 122 airlines, which include alliance and non-alliance partners (with more to come).

Roame Travel Key Features

• Forever Free.  No subscription is required.
• Fast. Roame.travel searches for award availability in 12 seconds (on average).
• Comprehensive. Supports 12+ different frequent flyer programs.
• Easy to use and navigate.
• Advanced filtering . Filter search results by a variety of criteria, such as airline, cabin class, and departure and arrival dates.
• Great guides. To understand how to convert and transfer points from different loyalty programs.
• Skyview (paid). Great deals in the next 48h.

SeatSpy is a recent tool that helps you find award seat availability on British Airways Executive Club and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. It operates on a “freemium” model, which means you can complete a limited number of economy award searches for free. However, you’ll need to pay for a premium subscription to perform searches for premium cabins, set up award alerts, and perform unlimited award searches.

SeatSpy Key Features

• Real-Time searches award seat availability. Just BA and Virgin Atlantic.
• Easy to use and simple interface.
• Alerts for specific routes and dates. When award seats become available that match the alert criteria, SeatSpy sends an email notification.
• Detailed information. The search results show detailed information about each flight, including the number of rewards and upgrade seats available.
• Advanced filters (cabin type, stops, passengers).
• Pricing. SeatSpy offers both free and paid tiers. The free version offers limited features, while the paid tiers provide more comprehensive services and faster alert notifications.

5. Award Nexus

Award Nexus is a premium online tool for frequent flyers who use reward points or miles to book flights. It’s a powerful search engine that helps users find available award seats on flights across various airline alliances and frequent flyer programs. However, Award Nexus is only a premium service, meaning users must pay for access. They offer limited free accounts just for users at FlyerTalk or BoardingArea .

Award Nexus Key Features

• Multiple Airline Search.
• Alerts. They call it “automated searches”. Award Nexus can continually check for award space and notify users via email when it becomes available.
• Flexible simultaneous searches for multiple dates and routes.
• Detailed flight Information (number of stops, duration, aircraft type).
• Easy-to-use interface, although it looks dated compared to other tools.

6. AwardHacker

AwardHacker is an interesting proposal. The platform is a free product from  US Credit Card Guide , and can show you the best possible redemption options, but it does not contain availability info . Therefore, you are not allowed to input dates in AwardHacker, and you need to check the availability info on the official websites of the mileage programs.

I listed it in this position because, in a way, it can be a great complement to a tool like AwardFares : you can look first at the desired routes in AwardHacker, and then use AwardFares to search for available seats on that route.

AwardHacker Key Features

• Broad Airline Coverage.
• Flexible search parameters but no dates (since it doesn’t show up availability).
• Mileage Estimation.
• Routing Information (useful for planning travel).
• User-friendly.
• Search Tool Only . It’s important to remember that AwardHacker is a search tool only and doesn’t provide booking functionality.

7. KVS Tool

KVS Tool is an ancient legacy. It stands for KVS Availability Tool, and it is one of the pioneers in the space. It’s primarily used to search for flight availability, including award and upgrade availability, across a wide range of airlines and alliances. The tool can also provide fare information, seat maps, and more.

KVS Tool Key Features

• Wide Airline and Alliance Coverage.
• Flexible Search Parameters.
• Fare Information. In addition to flight availability, KVS Tool can provide fare codes and fare information, which can be useful for understanding pricing and booking class availability.
• Seat Maps and Aircraft Information. The tool can provide seat maps and detailed aircraft information, which can be helpful when selecting seats or comparing flights.
• Subscription-Based. KVS Tool operates on a subscription model, with different levels of access and features available depending on the subscription tier.

As a technologist, I love when tools have a huge impact on the way we do things while giving you back your time. Searching for award flights has always been rewarding but painful, confusing, and with a steep learning curve , given that each airline/program has its portal and workflow.

While award flight availability tools and search engines have been around for many years, I feel they are just starting. It wasn’t until recent years that the underlying technology to implement fast, smooth, and mobile experiences became available. I love the fact that these tools can help new users and beginners get started, democratizing opportunities for everyone.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts and comments below, and you can also reach out to me on Instagram at any time!

Other posts you’ll love

• New AwardFares Features! Support for American AAdvantage, Alaska MileagePlan, And More (2023)
• Roame Travel: A New Search Engine For Award Flights That Takes 12 Seconds (Review)
• Best ExpertFlyer Alternatives: Top Free And Paid Options!

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The 9 Best Sites to Book a Cruise

Avital Andrews

Avital Andrews, SmarterTravel's editor-at-large, is a travel and lifestyle journalist who is also a contributing editor for AAA's Via magazine. Her stories have been among the 10 most emailed or viewed on the Los Angeles Times, Outside, Sierra, and SmarterTravel websites, and have also appeared in USA Today, HuffPost, Apple News, Business Insider, and many other nationwide outlets. Her travel book , sold at bookstores and on Amazon, is in its fourth edition, and her journalism gets national media attention, including from The New York Times , The Atlantic , Time , NPR, and MTV. She's currently working on her first children's book. Follow her on Twitter @avitalb .

The Handy Item I Always Pack: My laptop—the lightweight and stylish HP Spectre x360—since I'm almost always on deadline.

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: A round-the-world cruise that makes stops to experience Aurora Borealis, the Olympics opening ceremony, Borneo, Madagascar, the Jerusalem Festival of Light, the Bolivian salt flats, Kenya's Giraffe Manor, the Galapagos, the Maldives, Bora Bora, the Seychelles, and every Disney park. (That itinerary definitely exists, right?)

Travel Motto: I'll steal Saint Augustine's: "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: Window, always. For the views and also the naps.

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Booking a cruise isn’t always simple. It can be a complicated, time-consuming process that involves dozens of open tabs and maybe a spreadsheet or two. But knowing the best site to book a cruise can help a lot.

And while would-be travelers are accustomed to clicking around on travel search engines to find the best deals on flights , hotels , and rental cars , many people don’t realize that they can use these same types of sites to book cruises, too.

But is there one best site to book a cruise? That depends on what you’re looking for. Sometimes the best cruise website is actually a cruise line’s own site—since technically, cruise booking websites aren’t allowed to undercut the prices that the cruise lines set.

Often, though, the best cruise search engines are indispensable for locating incredible deals, including ones that throw in booking incentives worth hundreds of dollars—in Amazon gift cards, complimentary shore excursions, onboard freebies, and so on.

To save you the hassle, SmarterTravel investigated the glutted space of cheap cruise sites to determine which are worthy of listing as the best cruise websites; below are a few that come highly recommended.

The Best Sites to Book a Cruise

• Expedia (including Travelocity and Orbitz )
• TripAdvisor

Avoya Travel

Cheapcaribbean.com, cruisedirect, cruise critic, costco travel, cruisewatch.

Expedia is an obvious first mention in a list of the best cruise booking sites, in part because it’s an absolute juggernaut (Expedia also owns Travelocity and Orbitz ). Its cruise-booking interface is simple and straightforward, only requiring you to enter your preferred sailing destination and date range, as well as how many passengers you’ll be bringing along. Then Expedia does the heavy lifting for you, with comprehensive results that make it one of the best cruise search engines.

On Expedia, it’s common to find bookable cruises for 70 percent off face value, with the ability to sort by price so the best cruise deals come up at the top of the list, saving you the scrolling. A sample search for a mid-June cruise to Alaska, for example, quickly came up with a seven-night itinerary starting at $389 per person—that’s less than $56 per person, per night for a mostly inclusive weeklong vacation.

Expedia’s cruise deals tend to come paired with other enticing offers, including steep discounts on pre-departure hotels when you book both your cruise and hotel through Expedia. There’s also a dedicated 800 number that lets you speak to Expedia’s cruise experts and, often but not always, a generous amount of onboard credit thrown in for good measure.

Best feature: Sheer search power. Expedia’s easy-to-use cruise search engine generates a useful and well-ordered list of the best cruise deals, without much effort required from the user. Also, Expedia’s prices frequently match what the cruise lines themselves offer.

Check out Expedia

Priceline is another powerhouse among cheap cruise websites. The initial interface comes off a bit clunkier than, say, Expedia’s or Kayak’s, but the tradeoff is that you can quickly search by cruise line, both standard and luxury, as well as by cruise length and departure port.

Using the seven-night Alaska example, Priceline brought up an itinerary aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Radiance of the Seas that starts at just $374 for the full week—roughly $53 per night. Hard-to-believe cruise deals like this show up on Priceline with regularity, which is part of what solidifies it as one of the best cruise websites.

Also adding to the appeal: deals exclusive to Priceline, plenty of bonus amenities (examples include $50 in onboard credit, third and fourth guests sailing free, and free specialty dinners for two), no money down to book certain sailings, frequent onboard credit sales, an 800 number to call should you need assistance while booking, and a loyalty club that’s ties in with every cruise line’s loyalty program. Priceline also lets you click a “senior discount” box if that applies to you.

Best feature: Priceline’s “ 110% Best Price Guarantee ” promises that if you find your cruise listed at a lower price on another website within 48 hours of booking, then Priceline will refund you 110 percent of the cost difference, including port charges.

Check out Priceline

Tripadvisor

Many people think of Tripadvisor mainly as a travel review site, where you go to get real talk on hotels and attractions, and to see non-glamorized photos of places as seen through actual travelers’ eyes. But Tripadvisor is also an excellent site for travel deals, including on cruises.

Tripadvisor Cruise , which launched in April 2019, is among the best websites for cruise deals—it lets you nab the lowest price by comparing more than 70,000 ocean and river cruises from some 60 of the best cruise websites. It’s got an attractive, inspiring landing page, and its newest function, “Explore Ship-tinerary pages,” lets you browse full ship profiles, details, photos, and itineraries.

Though Tripadvisor is technically a meta-search site for cruises, which means that it will send you elsewhere to actually book, its search engine lets users sort by destination, length, cruise line, and month of travel. The default search results are ordered by “best value”, unless you specifically click that you’d rather see the results organized by price, cruise length, departure date, or cruise ship. Even when you click on “price,” the lowest-priced offering doesn’t always come up first, though it only takes a few seconds of scanning to determine which itinerary has the lowest price—that seven-night Royal Caribbean International trip to Alaska came up on Tripadvisor starting at $365.

Best feature: What makes Tripadvisor one of the best sites to book a cruise? In addition to having one of the best cruise search engines, Tripadvisor lets you read other cruisers’ candid reviews of the cruise that you’re considering, so that you get the non-sugarcoated truth about each sailing.

Check out Tripadvisor

7 Things You Should Never Do on a Cruise Ship

A rarity on the internet, Avoya Travel is a family-owned company that has been dealing in travel for more than 55 years. Avoya is one of the best sites to book a cruise in part because of its patented technology that lets travelers search cruises by destination, date range, cruise line, and last-minute status—and then get matched up, in real time, with one of Avoya’s expert vacation planners, who use that algorithm to customize a cruise booking to your specific preferences. (From Avoya’s website: “…we combine the ease of online search, with the expertise and personalized service of Independent Vacation Planners, plus secure exclusive deals and extras so you get more out of every vacation.”)

Avoya’s team of staffers and wide network of independent agencies make for a cruise booking website that’s a bit different from the rest. Its front page shows the “Best Travel Deals,” which might include half-off cruise fares, onboard credit, prepaid gratuities, and free or reduced airfare.

Like several of the other best cruise websites, Avoya offers a low-price guarantee; if you book a cruise with Avoya and then find a lower rate on another website within 24 hours of booking, Avoya will refund the difference.

Best feature: Avoya offers free membership, and members get exclusive deals and discounts, access to unpublished fares, first dibs on promotions, the ability to save favorite searches, and the right to book, change, or cancel travel without incurring any Avoya fees.

Check out Avoya Travel

When looking for the best site to book a cruise, don’t be put off by CheapCaribbean.com ’s overly specific moniker. Despite the site’s name, it offers cruises all over the world. The site’s vibe is beach-oriented and a bit cheeky, with a front page that can overwhelm—but click on the “Cruises” tab, and a cleaner interface appears. There you can search by cruise line, ship, destination, departure date, and departure port.

CheapCaribbean.com offers refunds on 24-hour cancellations (within certain parameters) and a “ 110 percent best price guarantee, ” a promise that if you find a lower price on the same cruise within 48 hours of booking, the company will refund you 110 percent of the difference. The site also lists traveler reviews about each cruise ship (as supplied by Cruiseline), though the reviews often include comments about the ship’s destinations other than the one you’re considering, which isn’t entirely helpful. There’s also a live chat widget if questions come up while booking.

Best feature: Helping to make CheapCaribbean.com one of the best cruise search engines is the fact that it lets you check boxes for additional discounts, including a senior discount, discounts by state (just enter your ZIP code), and past guest discounts if you’ve previously sailed with, say, Princess, Norwegian, or Disney.

Check out CheapCaribbean.com

Its front page is clunky and sort of in your face, but CruiseDirect is still one of the best cruise sites for a variety of reasons. As a cruise-only company, CruiseDirect doesn’t deal in flights, hotels, or rental cars, allowing it to focus its full capacity on helping you find the best cruise deal possible. On the site, you can search by destination, departure port, month, length of cruise, and cruise line. There’s real-time online chat and a contact number for support from a cruise expert. If you aren’t quite ready to buy, you can “heart” cruises to save them as favorites to refer back to later.

CruiseDirect offers perks on most sailings, like onboard credit, free drinks, free Wi-Fi, free gratuities, free travel insurance, or a free specialty dining experience—check out the “Bonus” box on the cruise listing you’re considering to see what extras it comes with.

Best feature: Like some of the other cruise websites on this list, CruiseDirect offers a “ best price guarantee ,” which means that if you find a lower price on another cruise booking website within 24 hours of your initial booking, you’ll get refunded the difference. But one key difference between CruiseDirect and the other cruise sites is that you don’t have to pay the cost of your cruise up front, just a deposit—and then if your cruise fare drops before you’ve made your final payment, CruiseDirect will readjust your rate accordingly.

Check out CruiseDirect

5 Crazy Themed Cruises You Can Take in 2022 and 2023

A subsidiary of Tripadvisor, Cruise Critic has similar search results to that site, but it offers a bit more comprehensive information for seasoned cruisers who want more details before they book. Cruise Critic has tons of filters and sort options to help you find what you want, including everything from cruise line to cruise style (family cruises, luxury cruises, cruises for the disabled). Each itinerary clearly lists what is and isn’t included in the fare; Wi-Fi, alcoholic drinks, gratuities, and port taxes and fees are among the common exclusions.

Certain itineraries are marked with graphics declaring that the ship has won one of the site’s “Cruisers’ Choice” awards, denoting vessels that Cruise Critic members declare to be the among the best in categories such as cabins, entertainment, and family-friendly features.

You can sign up for price alerts, which will notify you by email when the fare on your selected itinerary drops.

Once you’re ready to book, Cruise Critic shows you a variety of offers from some of the best cruise booking sites, including bonuses such as onboard credit and prepaid gratuities. Then you click off to the site of your choice to make your purchase. Prices generally match what’s advertised on Cruise Critic.

Best feature: Under each search result is a tab for “reviews” where you can read reviews from Cruise Critic members who’ve previously traveled on the ship. On certain cruises you can click over to a full-length write-up of the ship by one of the experts on the Cruise Critic editorial team, including detailed information on dining options, cabins, entertainment, dress code, and more.

Check out Cruise Critic

When you think of Costco, you probably think of bulk food and toilet paper. But the next time you’re booking a cruise, it’ll be worthwhile to pull up Costco Travel , which is, unexpectedly, one of the best cruise websites.

The site doesn’t look fancy—it’s pretty bare-bones, visually—but the upside of going with a no-frills cruise-booking website is that Costco Travel offers extremely competitive prices, as well as some of the most attractive incentives, usually in the form of Costco Cash delivered to you after you get home from your cruise.

Though there’s no single point of contact if you need to call and discuss your cruise booking, Costco Travel’s call center is staffed with helpful agents from early morning until evening, seven days a week, and passengers can rest assured that Costco won’t go out of business before they set sail. Note that a Costco membership (starting at $60 per year) is required to book with Costco Travel, and that Costco doesn’t accept American Express.

Best feature: Rock-bottom prices—plus lots of cash back if you play your cards right: Costco Citi cardholders earn 3 percent cash back on cruise purchases, which can combine with the 2 percent Costco Reward for Costco Executive Members for a total of 5 percent back on Costco Travel’s already super low cruise rates.

Check out Costco Travel

Pondering which is the best site to book a cruise? Keep Cruisewatch in strong consideration—more than a typical cruise booking website, Cruisewatch bills itself as a “digital cruise advisor” that couples data power with personalization.

As an artificial intelligence cruise advisor, Crusewatch created technology that makes searching and booking a cruise more efficient—the first, it calls “Cruise Price Prediction.” In short, Cruisewatch collected and stored the daily price for each ship and cabin over a span of five years, resulting in millions of data points—and a massive database that informs exactly when cruise prices are lowest, and when the greatest saving potential exists.

Thanks to this comprehensive price history, Cruisewatch can predict cruise prices and drops with an accuracy rate of around 80 percent. Using the site’s cruise price prediction alerts, travelers can save up to 71 percent just by booking at the right time.

In addition to being able to predict prices, Cruisewatch tailors user search results to match their established preferences through customizable profiles and other similar features. This means you won’t waste time wading through cruises that may be cheap but don’t align with your vacation goals.

Best feature: Cruisewatch’s easy-to-set price alerts, based on tons of data, allow users to be notified in real time of the best new cruise deals the minute they come online.

Check out Cruisewatch

Book a Stay With SmarterTravel Hotels

Need a place to stay the night before you set sail? Search SmarterTravel Hotels for great accommodations in your port of call.

Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them.

Follow Avital Andrews on Twitter  @avitalb  or on  Facebook .

Editor’s note: Sarah Schlichter contributed to this story.

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11 Best Travel Insurance Companies in May 2024

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money .

If the past few years have shown us anything, it’s that travelers need to be prepared for the unexpected — from a pandemic to flight troubles to the crowded airport terminals so many of us have encountered.

Whether you’re looking for an international travel insurance plan, emergency medical care or a policy that includes extreme sports, these are the best travel insurance providers to get you covered.

How we found the best travel insurance

We looked at quotes from various companies for a 10-day trip to Mexico in September 2024. The traveler was a 55-year-old woman from Florida who spent $3,000 total on the trip, including airfare.

On average, the price of each company’s most basic coverage plan was $126.53. The costs displayed below do not include optional add-ons, such as Cancel For Any Reason coverage or pre-existing medical condition coverage.

Read our full analysis about the average cost of travel insurance so you can budget better for your next trip.

However, depending on the plan, you may be able to customize at an added cost.

As we continue to evaluate more travel insurance companies and receive fresh market data, this collection of best travel insurance companies is likely to change. See our full methodology for more details.

Best insurance companies

Types of travel insurance

What does travel insurance cover, what’s not covered, how much does it cost, do i need travel insurance, how to choose the best travel insurance policy, what are the top travel destinations in 2024, more resources for travel insurance shoppers, top credit cards with travel insurance, methodology, best travel insurance overall: berkshire hathaway travel protection.

Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection

• ExactCare Value (basic) plan is among the least expensive we surveyed.
• Speciality plans available for road trips, luxury travel, adventure activities, flights and cruises.
• Company may reimburse claimants faster than average, including possible same-day compensation.
• Multiple "Trip Delay" coverage types might make claims confusing.
• Cheapest plan only includes fixed amounts for its coverage.

Under the direction of chair and CEO Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection has been around since 2014. Its plans provide numerous opportunities for travelers to customize coverage to their needs.

At $135 for our sample trip, the ExactCare Value (basic) plan from Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection offers protection roughly $10 above the average price.

Want something cheaper? Air travelers looking for inexpensive, less comprehensive protections might opt for a basic AirCare plan that includes fixed amounts for its coverage .

Read our full review of Berkshire Hathaway .

What else makes Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection great:

Pre-existing medical condition exclusion waivers available at no extra cost.

Plans available for travelers going on a cruise, participating in extreme sports or taking a luxury trip.

ExactCare Value (basic) plan was among the least expensive we surveyed.

Best for emergency medical coverage: Allianz Global Assistance

Annual or single-trip policies are available.

• Multiple types of insurance available.
• All plans include access to a 24/7 assistance hotline.
• More expensive than average.
• CFAR upgrades are not available.
• Rental car protection is only available by adding the One Trip Rental Car protector to your plan or by purchasing a standalone rental car plan.

Allianz Global Assistance is a reputable travel insurance company offering plans for over 25 years. Customers can choose from a variety of single and annual policies to fit their needs. On top of comprehensive coverage, some travelers might opt for the more affordable OneTrip Cancellation Plus, which is geared toward domestic travelers looking for trip protections but don’t need post-departure benefits like emergency medical or baggage lost.

For our test trip, Allianz Global Assistance’s basic coverage cost $149, about $22 above average.

What else makes Allianz Global Assistance great:

Annual and single-trip plans.

Plans are available for international and domestic trips.

Stand-alone and add-on rental car damage product available.

Read our full review of Allianz Global Assistance .

Best for travelers with pre-existing medical conditions: Travel Guard by AIG

Travel Guard by AIG

• Offers last-minute coverage.
• Pre-Existing Medical Conditions Exclusion Waiver available at all plan levels.
• Plan available for business travelers.
• Cancel For Any reason coverage only available for higher-level plans, and only reimburses up to 50% of the trip cost.
• Trip interruption coverage doesn't apply to trips paid for with points and miles.

Travel Guard by AIG offers a variety of plans and coverages to fit travelers’ needs. On top of more standard trip protections like trip cancellation, interruption, baggage and medical coverage, the Cancel For Any Reason upgrade is available on certain Travel Guard plans, which allows you to cancel a trip for any reason and get 50% of your nonrefundable deposit back as long as the trip is canceled at least two days before the scheduled departure date.

At $107 for our sample trip, the Essential plan was below average, saving roughly $20.

What else makes Travel Guard by AIG great:

Three comprehensive plans and a Pack N' Go plan for last-minute travelers who don't need cancellation benefits.

Flight protection, car rental, and medical evacuation coverage, as well as annual plans available.

Pre-existing medical conditions exclusion waiver available on all plan levels, as long as it's purchased within 15 days.

Read our full review of Travel Guard by AIG .

Best for those who pack expensive equipment: Travel Insured International

Travel Insured International

• Higher-level plan include optional add-ons for event tickets and for electronic equipment
• Rental car protection add-on for just $8 per day, even on lower-level plan.
• Many of the customizations are only available on the higher-tier plan.
• Coverage cost comes in above average in our latest analysis.

Travel Insured International offers several customization options. For instance, those going to see a show may want to add on event ticket registration fee protection. Traveling with expensive gear?Consider adding on coverage for electronic equipment for up to $2,000 in coverage.

Be sure to check which policies are available in your state. You will need to input your destination, residence, trip dates and the number of travelers to get a quote and see coverages.

What else makes Travel Insured International great:

Comprehensive plans include medical expense reimbursement accidents, sickness, evacuation and pre-existing conditions, depending on the plan.

Flight plans include coverage for missed and canceled flights and lost or stolen baggage.

Read our full review of Travel Insured International .

Best for adventurous travelers: World Nomads

World Nomads

• Travelers can extend coverage mid-trip.
• The standard plan covers up to $300,000 in emergency evacuation costs.
• Plans automatically cover 200+ adventurous activities.
• No Cancel For Any Reason upgrades are available.
• No pre-existing medical condition waivers are available.

Many travel insurance plans contain exclusions for adventure sports activities. If you plan to ski, bungee jump, windsurf or parasail, this might be a plan to consider.

Note that the Standard plan ($72 for our sample trip), while the most affordable, provides less coverage than other plans. But it can be a good choice for travelers who are satisfied with trip cancellation and interruption coverage of $2,500 or less, do not need rental car damage protection, find the limits to be sufficient and do not need coverage for certain more adventurous activities.

What else makes World Nomads great:

Comprehensive international travel insurance plans.

Coverage available for adventure activities, such as trekking, mountain biking and scuba diving.

Read our full review of World Nomads .

Best for medical coverage: Travelex Insurance Services

Travelex Insurance Services

• Top-tier plan doesn’t break the bank and provides more customization opportunities.
• Offers a plan specifically for domestic travel.
• Sells a post-departure medical coverage plan.
• Fewer customization opportunities on the Basic plan.
• Though perhaps a plus for domestic travelers, keep in mind the Travel America plan only covers domestic trips.

For starters, basic coverage from Travelex Insurance Services came in at $125, almost exactly average for our sample trip.

Travelex’s plans focus heavily on providing protections that are personalized to your travel style and trip type.

While the company does offer comprehensive plans that include medical benefits, you can also choose between cheaper plans that don’t provide cancellation coverage but do offer protections during your travels.

Read our full review of Travelex Insurance Services .

What else makes Travelex Insurance Services great:

Three comprehensive plans available, two of which cover international trips.

Offers a post-departure plan geared exclusively toward disruptions after you leave home.

Two flight insurance plans available.

Best if you have travel credit card coverage: Seven Corners

Seven Corners

• Annual, medical-only and backpacker plans are available.
• Cancel For Any Reason upgrade is available for the cheapest plan.
• Cheapest plan also features a much less costly Interruption for Any Reason add-on.
• Offers only one annual policy option.

Each Seven Corners plan offers several optional add-ons. Among the more unique is a Trip Interruption for Any Reason, which allows you to interrupt a trip 48 hours after the scheduled departure date (for any reason) and receive a refund of up to 75% of your unused nonrefundable deposits.

The basic coverage plan for our trip to Mexico costs $124 — right around the average.

What else makes Seven Corners great:

Comprehensive plans for U.S. residents and foreigners, including travelers visiting the U.S.

Cheap add-ons for rental car damage, sporting equipment rental or trip interruption for any reason.

Read our full review of Seven Corners .

Best for long-term travelers: IMG

• Coverage available for adventure travelers.
• Special medical insurance for ship captains and crew members, international students and missionaries.
• Claim approval can be lengthy.

While some travel insurance companies offer just a handful of plans, with IMG, you’ll really have your pick. Though this requires a bit more research, it allows you to search for coverage that fits your travel needs.

However, travelers will want to be aware that IMG’s iTravelInsured Travel Lite is expensive. Coming in at $149.85, it’s the costliest plan on our list.

Read our full review of IMG .

What else makes IMG great:

More affordable than average.

Many plans to choose from to fit your needs.

Best for travelers with unpredictable work demands: Tin Leg

• In addition Cancel For Any Reason, some plans offer cancel for work reason coverage.
• Adventure sports-specific coverage is available.
• Plans have overlap that can be hard to distinguish.
• Only one plan includes Rental Car Damage coverage available as an add-on.

Tin Leg’s Basic plan came in at $134 for our sample trip, adding about $8 onto the average basic policy cost. Note that you’ll pay a lot more if you shop for the most comprehensive coverage, and there are eight plans to choose from for trips abroad.

The multitude of plans can help you find coverage that fits your needs, but with so many to choose from, deciding can be daunting.

The only real way to figure out your ideal plan is to compare them all, look at the plan details and decide which features and coverage suit you and your travel style best.

Read our full Tin Leg review .

Best for booking travel with points and miles: TravelSafe

• Covers up to $300 redepositing points and miles on eligible canceled award flights.
• Optional add-on protection for business equipment or sports rentals.
• Multi-trip or year-long plans aren’t available.

Selecting your travel insurance plan with TravelSafe is a fairly straightforward process. The company’s website also makes it easy to visualize how optional add-on elements influence the total cost, displaying the final price as soon as you click the coverage.

However, at $136, the Basic plan was among the more expensive for our trip to Mexico.

What else makes TravelSafe great:

Rental car damage coverage add-on is available on both plans.

Cancel For Any Reason coverage available on the TravelSafe Classic plan.

Read our full TravelSafe review .

Best for group travel insurance: HTH Insurance

HTH Travel Insurance

• Covers travelers up to 95 years old.
• Includes direct pay option so members can avoid having to pay up front for services.
• A 24-hour delay is required for baggage delay coverage on the TripProtector Economy plan.
• No waivers for pre-existing conditions on the lower-level plan.

HTH offers single-trip and multitrip medical insurance coverage as well as trip protection plans.

At around $125, the Trip Protector Economy policy is at the average mark for plans we reviewed.

You can choose to insure group trips for educators, crew, religious missionaries and corporate travelers.

What else makes HTH Insurance great:

Medical-only coverage and trip protection coverage.

Lots of options for group travelers.

Read our full review of HTH Insurance .

As you shop for travel insurance, you’ll find many of the same coverage categories across numerous plans.

Trip cancellation

This covers the prepaid costs you make for your trip in cases when you need to cancel for a covered reason. This coverage helps you recoup upfront costs paid for flights and nonrefundable hotel reservations.

Trip interruption

Trip interruption benefits generally involve disruptions after you depart. It helps reimburse costs incurred for flight delays, cancellations and plenty of other covered disruptions you might encounter during your travels.

This coverage can cover the costs for you to return home or reimburse unexpected expenses like an extra hotel stay, meals and ground transportation.

Trip delay coverage helps cover unexpected costs when your trip is delayed. This is another coverage that helps offset the costs of flight trouble or other travel disruptions.

Note that many policies have a total amount a traveler can claim, with caps on per diem benefits, too.

Cancel For Any Reason

Cancel For Any Reason coverage allows you to recoup some of the upfront costs you paid for a trip even if you’re canceling for a reason not otherwise covered by your standard travel insurance policy.

Typically, adding this protection to your plan costs extra.

Baggage delay

This coverage helps cover the costs of essential items you might need when your luggage is delayed. Think toiletries, clothing and other immediate items you might need if your luggage didn’t make it on your flight.

Many travel insurance plans with baggage delay protection will specify how long (six, 12, 24 hours, etc.) your luggage must be delayed before you can make a claim.

Lost baggage

Used for travelers whose luggage is lost or stolen, this helps recoup the lost value of the items in your bag.

You’ll want to make sure you closely follow the correct procedures for your plan. Many plans include a maximum total amount you can claim under this coverage and a per-item cap.

Travel medical insurance

This covers out-of-pocket medical costs when travelers run into an emergency.

Because many travelers’ health insurance plans don’t cover medical care overseas, travel medical insurance can help offset out-of-pocket health care costs.

In addition to emergency medical coverage, many plans have medical evacuation or repatriation coverage for costs incurred when you must be taken to a hospital or return to your home country because of a medical situation.

Most travel insurance plans cover many trip protections that can help you be prepared for unexpected travel disruptions and expenses.

These coverages are generally aimed at protecting the money you put into your trip, expenses you incur because of travel trouble and costs incurred if you have a medical emergency overseas.

On top of core coverages like trip cancellation and interruption and travel medical coverage, some plans offer add-on options like waivers for pre-existing conditions, rental car collision damage waivers or adventure sports riders. These usually cost extra or must be added within a specified timeframe.

Typical travel insurance policies offer coverage for many unforeseen events, but as you research to select a plan, consider your needs. Though every plan differs, there are some commonly excluded coverages.

For instance, you typically can’t get coverage for a named storm if you bought the coverage after the storm was named. In other words, if you have a trip to the Caribbean booked for Sept. 25 and on Sept. 20 a hurricane develops and is named, you generally won’t be able to buy a travel insurance plan Sept. 21 in hopes of getting your money back.

Many plans also don’t cover activities performed under the influence of drugs or alcohol or any extreme sports. If the latter applies to you, you might want to consider a plan with specific coverages for adventure-seekers.

For numerous plans, a few other situations don’t qualify as an acceptable reason to cancel and make a claim, such as fear of travel, medical tourism or pregnancies (unless you booked a trip and bought insurance before you became pregnant or there are complications with the pregnancy). This is where a Cancel For Any Reason add-on to your coverage can be helpful.

You can also run into trouble if you give up on a trip too soon: a minor (or even multihour) flight delay likely isn’t sufficient to cancel your entire trip and get reimbursed through your plan. Be sure to review what requirements your specific plan has when it comes to canceling a trip, claiming trip interruption, etc.

Travel insurance costs vary widely. The final price of your plan will fluctuate based on your age, length of trip and destination.

It will also depend on how much coverage you need, whether you add on specialized policies (like Cancel For Any Reason or pre-existing conditions coverage), whether you plan to participate in extreme sports and other factors.

In our examples above, for instance, the 35-year-old traveler taking a $2,000 trip to Italy would have spent an average $76 for a basic plan to get coverage for things like trip cancellation and interruption, baggage protection, etc. That’s a little less than 4% of the total trip cost — lower than average.

If there were multiple members in a traveling party or if they were going on, say, a rock-climbing or bungee-jumping excursion, the costs would go up.

On average, travel insurance comes to about 5% to 10% of the trip cost. However, considering many of the plans reimburse up to 100% of the trip cost (or more) for disruptions like trip cancellation or interruption, it can be a worthwhile expense if something goes wrong.

It depends. Consider the following factors that might affect your decision: You’re young and healthy, all your bookings are refundable or cancelable without a penalty, your flights are nonstop, you’re not checking bags and a credit card you carry offers some travel protections . In that case, travel insurance might not be necessary.

On the other hand, if you prepaid a large chunk of money for a nonrefundable African safari, you’re going on a Caribbean cruise in the middle of a hurricane season or you’re going somewhere where the cost of health care is high, it’s not a bad idea to buy a travel insurance plan. Here’s how to find the best travel insurance coverage for you.

If you’re thinking of booking a trip and not planning to buy travel insurance, you may want to consider at least booking refundable airfare and not prepaying for hotel, rental car and activity reservations. That way, if something goes wrong, you can cancel without losing any money.

Selecting the best travel insurance policy comes down to your needs, concerns, preferences and budget.

As you book, take a few minutes to consider what most concerns you. Is it getting stranded because of flight trouble? Having the ability to cancel for any reason you see fit without losing money? Getting sick or injured right before departure and needing to postpone the trip? Injuring yourself or falling ill while overseas?

Ultimately, you want a plan that protects you, your money and the large investment in your trip — but doesn’t cost too much, either.

Medical coverage. If your priority is having adequate medical coverage abroad, you might want to look for plans with high limits for medical emergencies and medical evacuation.

Complex travel itinerary. If your itinerary has lots of flight connections, prepaid hotels and deposits for activities you can’t get back, prioritizing a plan with the best coverage for trip cancellations or interruptions may land at the top of your list.

Travel uncertainty. If you’re on the fence about a trip and have nonrefundable reservations, you may want to select a plan with a Cancel For Any Reason coverage option, which can help you recoup about 50% to 75% of the costs. This helps provide peace of mind, placing the decision on whether to travel entirely in your hands.

Car rentals. If you’re renting a car, a collision damage waiver is often worth looking into.

The following destinations are the top insured destinations in 2024, according to Squaremouth (a NerdWallet partner).

The Bahamas.

Costa Rica.

Antarctica.

In 2022, travelers spent about 25.53% more on trips than they did before the pandemic.

As of December, NerdWallet analysis determined travel prices are 10% higher than pre-pandemic. Each statistic makes a strong case for protecting your travel investment as you plan your next trip.

Bookmark these resources to help you make smart money moves as you shop for travel insurance.

What is travel insurance?

CFAR explained.

Is travel insurance worth getting?

10 credit cards that provide travel insurance.

Here is the list of travel cards offered by Chase that include various forms of travel insurance.

Having one of these in your wallet is a good start to protecting your travel investments and preventing expensive accidents; however, savvy travelers check card terms closely and sometimes supplement with a third-party policy, like from one of the companies above, to better protect themselves.

on Chase's website

• Trip delay: Up to $500 per ticket for delays more than 12 hours.

• Trip cancellation: Up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip. Maximum benefit of $40,000 per 12-month period.

• Trip interruption: Up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip. Maximum benefit of $40,000 per 12-month period.

• Baggage delay: Up to $100 per day for five days.

• Lost luggage: Up to $3,000 per passenger.

• Trip delay: Up to $500 per ticket for delays more than 6 hours.

• Trip delay: Up to $500 per trip for delays more than 12 hours.

• Car rentals: Theft and collision damage for most cars in the U.S. and abroad.

• Trip cancellation: Up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip.

• Trip interruption: Up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip.

• Baggage delay: Up to $100 per day for three days.

We used the following factors to choose insurance providers to highlight:

Breadth of coverage: We looked at how many plans each company offered plus the range of their standard plans. 

Depth of coverage: We considered two data points to get a sense of how much each company pays out for common travel issues — the maximum caps for trip cancellation and trip interruption claims.

Cost: By looking at the costs for basic coverage across multiple companies, we determined an average cost for shoppers to benchmark plan prices against.

Customizability: While standard plans can cover a lot of ground, sometimes you need something a little more personal.

Customer satisfaction. Using data from Squaremouth when available, and Google Reviews as a backup, we can give kudos to companies with better track records from their clients.

No, it doesn’t necessarily get more expensive the longer you wait to purchase. However, as you put off buying insurance, you may lose access to potential plans and coverage options.

In general, buying travel insurance within a few days to two weeks of prepaying or making an initial deposit for your trip is your best bet. Assuming you’re not booking last-minute, this will provide you with access to the widest possible range of coverage options. It also helps prevent any medical conditions or storms that pop up between booking and buying a plan from ending up as excluded situations, which won’t be covered by your plan.

But, generally, many plans do allow you to buy coverage quite close to your departure date.

To get the most out of your travel insurance plan, buy it soon after making your initial prepayment or deposit to ensure you have access to the biggest menu of plans possible.

Select a plan that’s comprehensive enough to cover the travel scenarios you’re most concerned about or likely to encounter but not too expensive or laden with protections you’d never likely need.

Whatever your coverage, thoroughly review the plan so you understand what’s covered and what’s not, plus how to adhere to the plan’s rules for making a claim.

Travelers frequently use phrases like “trip insurance” and “travel insurance,” as well as “trip protection,” interchangeably, but they do mean different things, according to Stan Sandberg, founder of insurance comparison site TravelInsurance.com.

Trip insurance, or trip protection, generally refers to predeparture (or preevent) coverage if you need to cancel. You may see these plans sold by airlines, online travel agencies or even ticketed event sellers.

“You could refer to it as the portion that protects the investment in the trip,” Sandberg says.

A travel insurance plan typically includes that — plus more comprehensive benefits to protect you during your trip, from medical coverage to trip delay and lost baggage protections, and many more elements, depending on the plan.

Though travel insurance is typically not required for international trips, your personal circumstances will play a key role in whether it’s a good investment.

For instance, young, healthy travelers with few prepaid trip expenses embarking on a relatively risk-free trip may not see a need to buy a plan.

Older travelers with complicated itineraries who are visiting destinations where they could potentially fall ill or get injured — or who could encounter bad weather or some other disrupting factor along the way — may want to buy coverage.

Consider a few key questions:

How well would your health insurance plan cover you if you needed to visit a hospital overseas?

How much did you prepay for a hotel or rental car?

How much money would you be out if weather or some other flight issue derailed your itinerary?

Could you afford an unexpected night in a city where you have a connecting flight?

Do you already have a credit card that provides some travel protections?

Your answers to these questions can help you decide whether you need travel insurance for your international trip.

In general, buying travel insurance

within a few days to two weeks of prepaying or making an initial deposit

for your trip is your best bet. Assuming you’re not booking last-minute, this will provide you with access to the widest possible range of coverage options. It also helps prevent any medical conditions or storms that pop up between booking and buying a plan from ending up as excluded situations, which won’t be covered by your plan.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024 , including those best for:

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

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Wells Fargo confirmed to CNBC Select that Signify Business Cash cardholders can combine their cash rewards with an eligible Wells Fargo consumer card and then take advantage of the consumer card's redemption options. Using this strategy to transfer rewards to Wells Fargo's travel partners can greatly boost the value you receive. For example, transferring 34,000 points to Iberia is enough to book a one-way off-peak business-class flight from a handful of U.S. cities (Boston, New York, etc.) to Spain, a flight that typically costs thousands of dollars.

Given that those 34,000 points would net you only $340 when redeemed as cash, you can see how much more value you get by transferring to travel partners. Other transfer options include Choice Hotels, Air France/KLM, British Airways, Avianca and Aer Lingus.

New Signify Business Cash Card members also receive an intro 0% APR on purchases for 12 months from account opening, after that a variable 18.49% to 26.49% APR applies. You can also enroll for a Priority Pass membership for airport lounge access , however, you don't get free access and will pay a per-visit fee.

Alternative cards

Overall, the Signify Business Cash Card compares favorably to similar business credit cards that earn cash back. The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card earns 2% cash back on up to $50,000 per year (then 1% back). Its welcome offer is a $500 statement credit you earn after spending $8,000 in purchases on your card in the first three months after account opening. The Wells Fargo Signify Business Cash card earns an unlimited 2% in cash rewards and its bonus has the same value as the Blue Business Cash (even though the Wells Fargo card has a smaller spending requirement) .

The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card

Earn 2% cash back on all eligible purchases on up to $50,000 per calendar year, then 1% cash back earned is automatically credited to your statement

Earn a $250 statement credit after you make $3,000 in purchases on your Card in your first 3 months.

0% for 12 months on purchases from date of account opening

18.49% - 26.49% variable; APRs will not exceed 29.99%

Credit needed

See rates and fees , terms apply.

The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card earns 5% cash back on Lyft rides (through March 2025) and 1.5% cash back on all other purchases. This makes the Signify Business Cash more rewarding for most spending. The Ink Business Unlimited has a larger welcome bonus, but over the long haul, the Signify Business Cash Card's increased cash rate will win out.

You can move the cash-back rewards you earn with the Ink Business Unlimited to a Chase credit card that allows point transfers, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card . While the Signify Business Cash offers the same path to transferring cash rewards, Wells Fargo's travel rewards program is new and it has a far less robust list of transfer partners. If you can maximize Chase's travel partners , it's possible to squeeze more value out of the Ink Business Unlimited despite its slightly lower cash-back rate.

Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

Earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business

Earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

0% for the first 12 months from account opening on purchases; N/A for balance transfers

18.49% - 24.49% variable

Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater

Good/Excellent

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Bottom line

Wells Fargo isn't messing around with the new Signify Business Cash Credit card, which instantly becomes one of the best no-annual-fee business credit cards . It offers 2% cash rewards on all purchases with no caps, a valuable welcome bonus and no annual fee. Unless your business can benefit from specific bonus spending categories or you want free airport lounge access, it's hard to go wrong with this card.

Why trust CNBC Select?

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every personal finance article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of financial products .  While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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For rates and fees of the Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card, click here .

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This Quaint Town in Portugal Was Just Named the Best Place to Invest in Europe — and It Has Stunning Beaches

Lush pine forests, cobblestone streets, endless ocean views, and low real estate prices await in this quaint community in northern Portugal.

Xurxo Lobato/Getty Images

Portugal is on everyone's mind these days. The country's sunny weather , many beaches , and affordable cost of living have made it a popular choice for retirees and digital nomads. However, as is often the case, real estate prices in some of its most sought-after regions, like the capital, Lisbon and Algarve , have soared. But that doesn't mean you should give up on your dream of owning property in Portugal.

A new report by International Living ranked the small, under-the-radar- town of Caminha the best place to invest in real estate in Europe for its value and growth potential. 

The community is located in the northwest along the mouth of the Minho River, which separates Portugal from Spain, and is home to about 16,000 residents. International Living gave Caminha a perfect score of 10 in the relative value category and nine for quality of life and stability.

"Caminha, which is only separated from Spain by a river, completely charmed me," Ronan McMahon, founder of Real Estate Trend Alert and author of International Living's Global Real Estate Index, told Travel + Leisure . "It has a beautiful Old Town surrounded by a verdant and bucolic countryside, with mountains, rivers, forests, and fields overflowing with brightly colored flowers and fruit trees heavy with their bounty. And then there are the stunning Atlantic beaches."

The ancient town has plenty of character, with fountains, churches, and other buildings dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. And it's easily accessible from Porto, which is just an hour and 15 minutes south, providing access to an international airport. 

Jeff Opdyke, International Living's personal finance editor, called Caminha a "holdover of Portugal before tourism and modernity swept over Lisbon, the Algarve, and Porto," where affordable real estate is still the norm. 

Potential buyers can find apartments downtown for as low as $150,000 and stand-alone houses for $280,000 .

And while Caminha is the best place to invest in Europe, another destination took the top prize for global real estate value: Mexico's Los Cabos. International Living ranked first with almost perfect scores in categories such as income potential, climate, and international appeal. Riviera Maya and Estepona in Spain, a town in the country's famous Costa del Sol region, are tied for the third place.

You can see the full ranking at internationaliving.com .