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5 Best Flight Search Engines for Finding the Cheapest Flights

Use these flight search engines to plan your next trip.

You've picked your next vacation spot , and it's time to look into flights. Where do you begin? There are several methods for researching flights, whether that's through airline websites and apps; online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz; or through third-party metasearch engines.

If you're searching for the best price rather than for flights on a specific airline, you'll want to head to OTAs or metasearch engines, which will show you flight options from a variety of airlines. But a word of warning here: we don't recommend booking flights through OTAs. If something were to go wrong —  a flight delay or a canceled flight , for instance — the airline won't be able to help you find a solution, and you'll have to work with your OTA instead. It creates an extra step in the process, and an often frustrating one at that. The pro to booking through an OTA, however, is that the prices may be cheaper than booking through an airline directly. Book via an OTA at your own risk.

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For that reason, we're focusing this list on metasearch engines, though you could still use OTAs to search for flights, then book directly with the airline, if you so choose. Plus, most metasearch engines do include pricing from OTAs if you're looking for the absolute lowest price, regardless of the booking site.

And there's one more caveat to consider: Southwest Airlines generally does not allow its flights to show up in third-party search engines or booking platforms. There is one exception, which we've mentioned below.

So, without further ado, check out our picks for the best flight search engines.

Google Flights

In the 1990s, a company called ITA built the first flight search engine called QPX to help travelers find the lowest fares. Today, it has evolved into Google Flights , a robust, user-friendly search engine that is the best across the board for researching flight options. You can use a set of filters to narrow down your options — say, by time of departure or by airline alliance — and you can even track pricing to see if it drops over time. If you're planning a trip based on cheap airfare rather than selecting a destination first, Google Flights can help you there, too. Simply leave your destination open ended when searching for flights, and Google Flights will show you a map of airfare prices across the globe. 

Though Kayak is often lumped into the OTA category, it's actually a metasearch engine. That means you can't buy tickets via Kayak itself, but rather Kayak redirects you to airline sites or OTAs for booking. While Kayak hits all the highlights of major metasearch engines, such as search filters and price alerts, it stands out among competitors because it does include Southwest flights. But it does so in a specific capacity: it's only available for users with a (free) Kayak business account. Other things we like about Kayak include a feature called Fee Assistant, which helps calculate baggage fees, and Hacker Fares, which allows you to price out one-way fares on separate airlines. These fares may be cheaper than booking round-trip tickets with a single airline.

A sister site to Kayak, Momondo offers pretty much all the same services, including Hacker Fares, though it doesn't have Fee Assistant. What we like better about Momondo, however, is the fact that it automatically shows you flight prices for the days before and after your target travel dates, which could help you snag some pretty big flight deals. It also offers flight insights between your origin and destination, which includes stats like the cheapest month, day of the week, and time of day to travel. Plus, overall it's a very user-friendly site in terms of design.

Skyscanner is a classic flight metasearch engine, but it has some particular strengths over its competitors. First, it has a cheapest month feature that can help you pick the best time to visit a destination based on cheap airfare. Second, it includes some smaller OTAs which may help you find even cheaper prices than what's offered by the larger OTAs (again, we don't recommend booking through OTAs, so do so at your own risk). And third, it can be better than competitors at finding the lowest prices for last-minute flights.

Expert Flyer

Expert Flyer is indeed best for expert flyers. This tool requires a paid subscription, for which it has some very advanced features that go far beyond a simple flight search.  But it comes in particularly handy for flight searches by allowing you to search for award fare availability. As we said, this is best for expert flyers, as it requires pretty substantial airline knowledge to maximize its use, and its user interface isn't the most intuitive.

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The 14 Best Flight Search Sites for Booking Cheap Airfare

Contributing Editor Carl Unger believes that every trip is worth taking. He loves an extended trip to Europe as much as he enjoys exploring the towns and landscape near home. Basically, you'll find him wherever there is good food, fresh air, and plenty of stories to bring home.

Carl has been writing for SmarterTravel since 2005. His travel writing has also appeared on USA Today and the About.com Boston travel guide.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: "It's not revolutionary, but a small Moleskine notebook is my one travel must-have. It's great for noting things you want to remember and it takes up hardly any space in your bag."

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: "Japan. I'd love to take a month off and visit the cities, temples, and countryside. I'm fascinated by the country's juxtaposition of ancient traditions and modern ambitions."

Travel Motto: “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” –Terry Pratchett

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: "Window."

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Wondering which website you should be booking your airfare with to get the best deal? You’re not alone. There are seemingly endless options when it comes to choosing the best flight booking site these days.

In addition to the option of booking directly with your airline, there are dozens of flight booking websites, also known as online travel agencies (OTAs), to choose from. The uncomfortable truth is that no one flight search engine can guarantee the best price 100 percent of the time, but using a mix of the right resources can help ensure you’re not overpaying.

The Best Flight Booking Sites

One important thing to remember about booking sites/OTAs is that Southwest fares are not sold on them. Some other airlines have also pulled their fares from some booking sites , but most airlines do make their fares available.

Here’s why these 14 are the best flight booking sites and metasearch options out there, and the best defining feature of each. Since it’s impossible to know which site will provide the best price for your particular trip, you should always compare fares from a few sources before you book.

Best Flight Search Site for Comparing Flight Types: Travelocity

It should be noted that Expedia owns Travelocity , so this flight booking site basically gives you Expedia price results with a different color scheme and organizational preferences. Travelocity’s homepage is streamlined but doesn’t offer a flexible-dates search. On the results page, bag fees are revealed by a pop-up screen that activates when clicking each fare, which makes it a little difficult to compare fees (you will likely have to scroll a bit). Travelocity charges booking fees for some but not all flights.

Best Feature: Travelocity displays all fares for a selected flight in a convenient pop-out window, allowing you to compare fares on a given itinerary while still scrolling through options from the search results on the same screen.

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Best Flight Search Site for Comparison Shopping: BookingBuddy

Editor’s note: BookingBuddy is owned by SmarterTravel Media, SmarterTravel.com’s parent company.

Compare multiple airfare sites with one click to find the best flight deals on BookingBuddy . This metasearch site lets you easily compare prices from other sites (like Priceline) without having to do a bunch of different searches. You can choose which flight search sites you want to compare, and BookingBuddy opens up a new tab with your selected flight dates and destinations already filled in.

Looking for a flight and hotel? BookingBuddy offers a combination flight and hotel search that can save you some decent money by bundling.

Best Feature: Sign up for a price drop alert, and BookingBuddy will email you when costs drop on your route.

Best Flight Search Site for Transparency: Expedia

As previously mentioned, Expedia is nearly identical to Travelocity, but fares did vary between the two sites on some of my searches. As with Travelocity (and to be fair, a number of other OTAs), Expedia will try to up-sell you on adding a hotel to your itinerary. This can save you money, but be sure to compare prices before you book. Expedia charges variable booking fees (and they are not always the same fees that Travelocity charges). When you select your fare from the list of options, there’s an interstitial step that displays what is and isn’t covered in the fare, including seat selection, cancellations, changes, and baggage rules.

Best Feature: Like its subsidiary Travelocity, Expedia basically double-checks that you understand what sort of fare you’re choosing before you click “select” again. It’s a helpful bit of transparency in today’s cluttered airfare landscape.

Best Flight Search Site for Nonstop Flights: CheapOair

Much like Travelocity and Expedia, flight search sites CheapOair and OneTravel (discussed later in this article) are versions of the same product, owned by Fareportal Inc. Though the sites are owned by the same company, the fare results are not always identical, so it’s worth checking both. CheapOair shows some “Super Saver Fares” for which you don’t find out the airline you’ll be flying until after you book—which means you also don’t find out what baggage fees apply until after you book. However, the savings might be worth it. CheapOair charges a service fee on air travel transactions, from $0 to $35 per ticket.

Best Feature: CheapOair prioritizes nonstop prices over itineraries with stops, organized in an easy-to-read chart that’s organized by airline.

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Best Flight Search Site with Flight Reviews: Tripadvisor Flights

Tripadvisor is known for its hotel reviews, and now travelers can apply their ratings to airlines, plus search for airfare on Tripadvisor Flights . On testing this flight booking site it’s clear that Tripadvisor doesn’t always serve up the cheapest fares, but sometimes it did. It always, however, gives you the option to surface Expedia, Travelocity, and other flight booking sites’ results, so you can compare right away with one click. Tripadvisor Flights also has some helpful search options up front, like a checkbox for prioritizing nonstop flights.

Best Feature: Tripadvisor’s flight search tool is unique from others in that it offers review-based FlyScores of airlines alongside their fares, so you’re less likely to book with an obscure, poorly rated airline without realizing it.

Best Flight Booking Site for Environmentally-Conscious Flyers: Skyscanner

Skyscanner is a popular metasearch site that works with hundreds of other travel providers to find the best fares. You can specify nonstop-flights-only right from the homepage, and there’s also a handy “everywhere” option if you don’t have a particular destination in mind and want to see what’s available. Search results show the “best” option (based on a combination of price and speed) as well as the fastest and cheapest, and you can filter by airline, alliance, number of stops, and flight times. When you select a result, you’ll see a variety of places to book that particular flight. Skyscanner casts a wide net, so you’ll often see very cheap fares from booking sites you’ve never heard of; to help you figure out how trustworthy they are, Skyscanner shows user star ratings for each.

Best Feature: For flyers concerned about the environmental impact of their travel, Skyscanner has a unique “Greener flights” filter, which shows only itineraries with lower-than-average CO2 emissions based on your search. The site also highlights certain itineraries in your results as a “greener choice.”

Best Flight Booking Site for Flexible Travel: OneTravel

OneTravel has a similar interface to CheapOAir, with a convenient chart prioritizing the best nonstop flight options at the top of the results page. The search results automatically populate similar but cheaper flights on alternate dates close to the user’s original search date, which is great if there is flexibility in your plans. If you are committed to your arrival and departure dates, however, you can toggle off alternate dates in the filters section. One major drawback: OneTravel charges a steep service fee of up to $50 per ticket.

Best Feature: The search results page is subdivided into Recommended, Cheapest, Shortest, and Alternate Date tabs, making it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for at a high-level and continue to filter down from there.

Best Flight Booking Site for People on a Budget: Travelzoo

Travelzoo is quite different from the other sites listed here. Instead of booking specific itineraries, you can search broad timelines (this week, next month, this summer, etc.) for deals in your desired destination by either month or season. This makes Travelzoo a good fit for people with a budget and time frame, but no firm idea of when or even where they want to go. The downside is that if you do have specific plans in mind—for example, you need a flight to Omaha in March—Travelzoo is not likely to be helpful.

Best Feature: Travelzoo’s flexibility requirement can afford some great deals you won’t find elsewhere, like cheap business-class flights and multi-city itineraries that will make a dream trip a lot more affordable than you’d think.

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Best For Where You Don’t Care Where You Go, You Just Want a Good Price: Google Flights

Google Flights is a powerful, simple metasearch site that comes free of ads and distractions. After you enter your departure and arrival airports, the calendar pre-populates with prices so you can target dates with lower fares. Once you have your results, you can track fares on your selected dates and receive updates by email. You can also view fares over various dates using the “Price Graph,” which shows you a bar graph that makes it easy to see when the lowest fares are available.

Best Feature: Instead of putting in a certain city as a destination, you can put in a larger region such as Europe or South Africa. You’ll then see fares to various cities within that region displayed all at once on a map. This can be helpful if you want to go to Europe in April, for example, but don’t have a particular destination in mind.

Best Flight Booking Site for Filtering: Kayak

Often imitated and frequently duplicated, Kayak was a game-changer when it launched back in the mid-2000s. And it’s still one of the most powerful metasearch tools available. You can also set up fares alerts to track prices over time. The interface is noisier than Google Flights thanks to a preponderance of ads, but still easy to use. Like Google, it has a flexible search feature that lets you search for good deals to a region like Europe or even simply put in “anywhere.” Another handy feature available on many itineraries: an “Our Advice” box that lets you know whether you should buy now or wait, depending on whether Kayak thinks fares will go up or down over the next seven days.

Best Feature: Its Hacker Fares claim to piece together separate one-way tickets, potentially saving you money compared to similar itineraries, and its wide range of filters, sorting options, and predictive technologies put a lot of tools at travelers’ disposal.

Best Flight Booking Site That Included Southwest: Momondo

Like Kayak, Momondo is a metasearch site that takes you to other sites to make your purchase. One plus: Momondo surfaces results from Southwest, including flight times and other details from the carrier … but no prices. Only by clicking through to Southwest could I see the fare. Still, it’s nice to have a reminder that Southwest is an unlisted option. Another plus: Momondo searches for fares from a ton of smaller OTAs, which could lead to a deal that other metasearch tools miss.

Best Feature: The mention of Southwest is unique to Momondo.

Best Flight Booking Site for Multi-Stop Itineraries: Nomad from Kiwi.com

Kiwi.com is an OTA like many others; you book directly on the site (as you would on Expedia) rather than being linked off to a different site (as you would on Kayak or Momondo). But what sets it apart is its Nomad search engine, which lets you find cheap itineraries for multi-destination trips. You enter the starting and ending places of your journey as well as the cities where you want to stop along the way, including how many nights you want to spend in each place. Hit “find routes,” and the site will put together an itinerary that mixes and matches airlines and routes for the lowest possible price. (For example, I was quoted a route involving four flights—New York City to Rome to Moscow to Tokyo and back to New York—for a measly $1,031 round-trip.) You can filter your results to weed out routes with multiple layovers or flights that don’t include checked baggage.

Best Feature: This is by far the easiest tool I’ve used to research around-the-world and multi-stop itineraries.

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Best Flight Booking Site for Fare Alerts: Airfarewatchdog

Full disclosure, airfarewatchdog is a sister site to SmarterTravel, so we are slightly biased with this one, but promise it is worth your while. Airfarewatchdog is the best for flexible travelers who are just looking for a great deal on airfare. Search fares from a city, to a city, or you can “ choose an adventure ,” which will show you fares from your city to various hotspots depending on what you are looking for – castles, caves, coffee, you name it, airfarewatchdog will point you in the right direction. Their blog features great travel tips, and one of the best features is the fare alerts you can sign up for. If you know you want to travel somewhere, but all you want is a cheap price, sign up for an alert, and you’ll find out as soon as the price dips so you can book it right away.

Best Feature: The fare alert—it allows you to stop searching daily for that perfect price! Let airfarewatchdog do the work for you.

Best Mobile-Friendly Flight Booking Site: Hopper

Hopper is primarily an app for your phone (although it can be used as a website ) but it is worth putting on here just the same. Have you ever been scared to book a flight because it might go down, or afraid to not book it in case it goes up? One of the features of Hopper that makes it shine is its price predictor, which means you never have to worry about making the wrong booking decision. Another bonus is it shows you the price with all of the fees and taxes included, so there is no sticker shock when you finally go to book. After you search, if you aren’t ready to book, you can set up an alert to watch that trip, dates and all. 

Best Feature: Hands down the price predictor. 

Which Flight Booking Site is Best for Me?

In determining which of these sites are the best ones for you to compare prices with, it’s helpful to determine which sites meet your trip-booking needs. Do you want to clearly see bag fees up front? Do you want an easy “flexible dates” function, or are your dates firm? If your travel plans are loose, do you want to see prices for multiple destinations? Different flight booking sites have different capabilities.

Once you determine which site is worth your time depending on the trip, compare prices with a few to make sure you’re getting the best deal. And always check the airline’s own site: OTAs are good at displaying fees associated with an individual flight, but it’s trickier to compare fare options (classes like basic economy vs. economy) on that flight.

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Lastly, it’s important to remember that this list can be separated into two main types: booking sites (also called OTAs) that you book directly with as a third party, and aggregators otherwise known as metasearch sites that’ll send you to a booking site to make your transaction. The latter are better if you want to use any frequent flyer programs you might belong to and acquire points.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2019. It has been updated to reflect the most current information. Sarah Schlichter and Megan Johnson  contributed to this story. 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. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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6 Best Websites for Booking Cheap Flights

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The desire to get a good deal unites practically all travelers. Whether you're looking for a cheap getaway or a luxury vacation, no one wants to spend more than necessary. When it comes to booking flights, travelers may naturally head to an airline's website. However, that's not always the best site to book flights.

Whether it's taking advantage of credit card perks, earning bonus miles or saving money, the best flight booking site can vary depending on your situation and willingness to get creative. Let's take a look at six of the best sites to book flights and when each is the best option.

» Learn more: The best travel credit cards right now

The best flight booking sites

1. google flights.

For ease, speed and features, Google Flights is arguably the best website for flight searches. Search results appear almost instantly. Filters let you narrow down to nonstop options, select a subset of airlines, limit by price or factor in the price of a bag. Similarly, you can use Google Flights filters to avoid certain airlines, multi-stop itineraries, long layovers, early flights or pretty much whatever you might want to avoid.

You can easily check flexible dates, and if you're flexible on where you go you can use the Explore map to see prices for a variety of destinations for certain dates, a certain month or anytime in the next six months.

Google Flights partners with hundreds of airlines and online travel agencies (OTAs) to pull current flight prices. That way you don't have to search each of these sites to be able to see the options. Once you select your preferred trip, Google Flights links you to the top booking options for actually booking your flight — including the airline itself and the best OTA booking options.

The downsides of Google Flights are few. One downside is that Google Flights doesn't always show the cheapest prices — particularly for international flights. That means it's worth double-checking prices on another site before booking through Google Flights.

Like Google Flights, Kayak searches hundreds of other websites and flight booking platforms to find the best deal. Kayak generally doesn't let you book flights directly. However, one benefit of Kayak is the streamlined process. Rather than having to click through several pages to confirm your selection, clicking "view deal" on the results page can take you right to the cheapest booking option.

Also, some travelers may find Kayak's flexible date search a bit easier to work with as you can see results from several days in the search results — eliminating the need to check each day's results separately.

But perhaps the most important reason to use Kayak instead of Google Flights is that it can catch better deals. For example, we found a $550 round-trip flight from Los Angeles to Barcelona using Google Flights. Kayak found a way to lower that price to just $472 round-trip — at least once you scroll past an advertisement.

Note that Kayak manages other flight search sites — including Momondo and Cheapflights — so the results may be very similar between these sister sites.

» Learn more: Is Kayak legit?

So far, we've focused on ease in flight searching, and that's going to be enough for many travelers. However, now let's add in some additional elements to consider when choosing the best flight booking site: earning rewards and saving by booking packages. Expedia excels at both of these.

Through the new One Key rewards program , travelers can earn 0.2% in OneKeyCash from flight bookings made through Expedia. That's not much, but it can stack on top of the awards you earn from the airline and those that you earn on your credit card purchase.

Even better, you'll earn credits toward One Key elite status by booking your flight through Expedia. As you climb up the tiers, you'll unlock up to 20% savings on hotels, get hotel upgrades, priority support and even price drop protection.

Plus, Expedia boasts that travelers can "save up to 30%" when bundling a hotel with a flight booking — although actual discounts are likely to vary.

» Learn more: The pros and cons of Expedia

4. Capital One Travel

For many Capital One cardholders, Capital One Travel might just be the best flight booking site. Part of this is to take advantage of cardholder benefits.

For example, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card holders earn 5x Capital One miles when booking flights through the Capital One Travel portal. Plus, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card holders get up to $300 off travel booked through the Capital One Travel portal each cardholder year.

» Learn more: How to maximize the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Also, Capital One Travel can help you truly get the best price for your flight. Capital One partnered with travel data company Hopper to show suggestions about when it's the best time to book.

Capital One backs up these recommendations with money. If you book a flight through Capital One Travel when Hopper recommends doing so, you'll get up to a $50 credit toward future travel if the price drops within the next 10 days.

» Learn more: How the Capital One Travel portal works

Would you be willing to book a trip as two separate tickets in order to save money? That's the idea behind Kiwi. Instead of simply searching flights from your home airport to your destination, Kiwi checks all potential options to get between A and B. That could mean taking a bus or train from your home city to another to catch a flight to your destination. Or, Kiwi might pair a low-cost domestic flight with a cheap international flight from another city to lower your total cost.

Protect your upfront travel expenses by booking with a card that has travel insurance or by purchasing a separate policy .

For example, when we priced out a round-trip flight from Phoenix to Tokyo, the cheapest option when booked as one ticket cost $1,353 round-trip — and that's with an overnight stay in Vancouver.

Pricing out the same itinerary and dates through Kiwi drops the price to just $789 round-trip. The secret? Booking this as two round-trip flights: One from Phoenix to Los Angeles on Frontier and a separate round-trip from Los Angeles to Tokyo on Zipair.

Keep in mind that there are risks with booking separate tickets to get where you want to go. If a delay or cancellation causes you to miss your connection, the second airline/bus/train company isn't obligated to honor your ticket and rebook you on the next option. So make sure to factor in all of the risks of booking travel like this.

» Learn more: When to use Kiwi for your next flight booking

6. BookWithMatrix

ITA Matrix is a very powerful and ultra-customizable search platform for finding exactly the flight itinerary you want — whether that's booking a longer layover, avoiding certain aircraft types or booking nerdy trips such as the Alaska Milk Run .

The catch: Travelers can't actually book flights through ITA Matrix. And, unlike Google Flights, ITA Matrix doesn't even link to the best flight booking site for that itinerary. Instead, travelers are left to attempt to re-create the same itinerary through another flight booking website — which can be hard in the case of certain complex itineraries.

Enter BookWithMatrix. Travelers can copy-paste their perfect itinerary from ITA Matrix into BookWithMatrix to get bookable links through the airline or select OTAs.

Alternatively, travelers have the option to install the PowerTools extension in Google Chrome .

This extension adds booking links right on the ITA Matrix itinerary page, avoiding the need to browse to another page.

Popular cards for booking flights

Depending on the airline and credit card issuer you choose, you may earn anywhere from 1 to 3 miles per dollar spent on the card that you can put towards booking flights.

You usually earn more when you use the card to purchase travel directly from the airline. You could also earn more by making purchases in expense categories that pay bonus miles, like restaurants or gas stations (these vary from issuer to issuer).

on Chase's website

on American Express' website

$0 intro for the first year, then $95 .

$0 intro for the first year, then $150 .

• 2 miles per $1 on United purchases.

• 2 miles per $1 at restaurants and hotels (when booked directly with hotel).

• 1 mile per $1 on all other purchases.

• 2 points per $1 on Southwest purchases.

• 2 points per $1 on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases, local transit and commuting (including rideshare), and on internet, cable, phone services and select streaming.

• 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.

• 2 miles per $1 on purchases made directly with Delta and at U.S. supermarkets and restaurants (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.).

• 1 mile per $1 on all other eligible purchases.

Terms apply.

• 6 points per $1 with JetBlue.

• 2 points per $1 at restaurants and grocery stores.

• 1 point per $1 on other purchases.

• 1 Mosaic tile per $1,000 spent.

When you open a new airline credit card account, you may be eligible for a big welcome bonus after meeting a minimum purchase requirement. After that, you'll continue to earn miles for purchases you would have made anyway.

If you seek more flexibility in redeeming miles for award flights, consider applying for a more general travel credit card instead. A more general travel credit card differs from an airline card in that you can book flights with multiple carriers, rather than reaping the benefits of staying loyal to a single brand.

The more high-end (or 'premium' ) the travel credit card, the more benefits you can enjoy, including airport lounge access or automatic elite status in certain programs. That said, a brand-specific airline card can net you benefits like waived baggage fees, which can have meaningful dollar value.

» Learn more: The best airline credit cards

Final thoughts on the best flight booking site

There's not a one-size-fits-all best website for booking flights. Instead, the best flight booking site for you is going to depend on how simple you want the process to be, whether you're willing to get creative with your booking, and even which credit cards you have.

For most travelers, the simplicity of Google Flights is going to make it the best one-stop shop for searching and booking flights. However, it's worth considering other options if you're flying internationally, want to book a flight-and-hotel package or have a Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card .

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are some of the best travel credit cards of 2024 :

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

1x-5x 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

75,000 Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's over $900 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

1.5%-5% Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.

Up to $300 Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!

on Capital One's website

2x-5x Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day. Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options.

75,000 Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

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

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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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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

24 Best Travel Websites to Find Deals and Save You Money

Use our guide to the best travel websites and find discounts and deals so you can vacation without breaking the bank.

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Whether you’re looking for a cheap last-minute vacation or planning to go home for the holidays, you’ll want to know the best travel websites to use. And if you’re tired of wondering which sites are best for each part of your trip planning, we’ve got you covered. 

Here are some of the best travel sites we’ve found to help you bag bargains on airfares, lodging, car rentals and all your other travel needs. Best of all, almost all of the travel websites are free to use. Bon voyage! 

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Best websites to save on airfare

Keeping up with airfare prices has gotten easier thanks to sites like Google Flights and Kayak . To use them, just type in your home and destination airport, pick the flights that work best for you and then set an alert to track the price. For example, Google Flights will send you an e-mail showing if your tracked flight went up or down in price. Both sites also let you see which days are cheaper to fly in that month. Airfarewatchdog also lets you search flight deals.

If you haven’t decided on where exactly you want to go,  sign up for Going (formerly known as Scott’s Cheap Flights.) Their newsletter comes straight to your inbox with deals on domestic and international locations. Or you can follow Twitter handles such as @TheFlightDeal for flights, too.

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Best websites for flight information

Once your flight is booked, you’ll want to keep tabs on gate changes, layover information and more. FlightStats.com can help you plan a smooth trip by advising you on the best time of day to fly from a specific airport and which terminals to avoid when connecting flights. You can also view live updates of flight delays and sign up for free e-mail and phone alerts. Flightaware.com also tracks and predicts flight delays.

If you’re delayed by weather or some unforeseen event, it pays to act quickly. The TripIt Pro smartphone app ($49/year) will send you alerts about cancellations, delays or gate changes, sometimes even ahead of an airline announcement. Use it to locate alternate flights, find out when better seats are available, get fare refund notifications, track your rewards program points, and more.

Best websites to save on hotels

Hotels.com lets you search just one site for accommodations at hundreds of thousands of properties. Plus, its rewards program is simple: For every ten nights you spend at any combination of the program’s 500,000 member properties, you’ll earn a free night’s stay. As a member, you also unlock an average discount of 15% on select hotels. 

Similarly, HotelTonight is an app that lets users book hotels at low last-minute rates. Priceline Express Deals helps you find the best bargains, but there’s a catch. Priceline doesn’t tell you which hotel you’re booking until after you pay.

And try TripAdvisor.com for a detailed list of rated hotels (and excursions) that are close to your destination. The site links you to partner sites, such as Expedia and Travelocity for fulfillment. Click on the "check rates" button and select the site or sites you’d like to try — a new window with results will open for each partner.

Best websites to save on vacation rentals

Vacation rentals are an especially good value for groups because they generally offer more space and amenities for prices similar to or less than hotel rates, particularly if you look at it on a per-bed basis. Check out VRBO and Airbnb to find the perfect experience. For Marriott loyalists, Marriott Bonvoy lets you browse its 30-brand portfolio — which includes more than 2,000 private homes.

At the other end of the scale, if you don’t mind college-dorm-level amenities, check out Hostelworld.com , as a way to save money on vacation rental properties . The site lists 36,000 properties in 178 countries around the globe and includes reviews.

Best websites for cruises and vacation packages

At CruiseCompete.com , more than 500 travel agencies vie to give you the lowest prices for dates, ports and ships you specify, whether you’re booking well in advance or at the eleventh hour. You set up a CruiseCompete account, and they send you their best offers without ever seeing your personal information.

Kayak.com and Tripadvisor.com will also knit together vacation packages for you. Just type in your destination and travel dates to get the best prices.

Best websites to save on rental cars

Hotwire often offers the best-published deals on cars by collecting rates from its eight rental car company partners, including Alamo, Enterprise and Hertz. The site also offers "hot rates" from rental companies that aren't identified until after you’ve paid.

And while Hotwire does offer some good prepaid rental car deals, in certain international cities for the best overseas auto deals you should check out AutoEurope . It offers rentals at more than 20,000 locations worldwide, and customer service is available 24/7.

AutoSlash is also a good site to find rental deals, as it will apply the best coupons and discount codes to your rental and re-book your reservation if the system finds a better deal.

Best websites to save on international train tickets

Trains are often the fastest and cheapest way to travel within and between European countries. Our favorite for checking timetables and booking tickets on European train lines is RailEurope . But you might be able to catch better deals directly from European railways’ sites if you don’t get lost in translation — and make sure you have what you need to travel to Europe as an American!

Best websites for travel insurance

You never know when an emergency situation will spoil your travel plans. That's what travel insurance is for. But don't just go for the default options from agencies and travel providers. At Squaremouth , you can compare plans and prices from multiple insurance providers with just one search and narrow your search results by specifying the kind of coverage you need. Another option is InsureMyTrip.com .

Rivan joined Kiplinger on Leap Day 2016 as a reporter for Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. A Michigan native, she graduated from the University of Michigan in 2014 and from there freelanced as a local copy editor and proofreader, and served as a research assistant to a local Detroit journalist. Her work has been featured in the Ann Arbor Observer and Sage Business Researcher . She is currently assistant editor, personal finance at The Washington Post.

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Compare flights from 100s of sites.

Big names, great deals, filter for what you want, track prices, more than flights, start your travel planning here, search flights , hotels & rental cars.

• The Palmerston C$ 39+
• The Parkdale Hostellerie C$ 53+
• Samesun Toronto C$ 78+
• Toronto North Travellers Home C$ 91+
• Homenets C$ 92+
• Toronto Travellers Home C$ 100+
• University Apartment - Campus Accommodation C$ 113+
• Crowne Plaza Toronto Airport C$ 161+
• Woodbine Hotel and Suites C$ 167+
• Best Western Plus Travel Hotel Toronto Airport C$ 184+
• Pembroke Inn C$ 185+
• Pan Pacific Toronto C$ 191+
• Sandman Signature Toronto Airport Hotel C$ 200+
• Courtyard by Marriott Toronto Airport C$ 200+
• Toronto Don Valley Hotel And Suites C$ 202+
• Flight Halifax - Toronto (YHZ - YKF) C$ 124+
• Flight Halifax - Toronto (YHZ - YYZ) C$ 135+
• Flight Abbotsford - Toronto (YXX - YKF) C$ 153+
• Flight Winnipeg - Toronto (YWG - YYZ) C$ 155+
• Flight St. John's - Toronto (YYT - YYZ) C$ 170+
• Flight Vancouver - Toronto (YVR - YKF) C$ 174+
• Flight Winnipeg - Toronto (YWG - YTZ) C$ 185+
• Flight Edmonton - Toronto (YEG - YYZ) C$ 209+
• Flight Abbotsford - Toronto (YXX - YYZ) C$ 226+
• Flight Vancouver - Toronto (YVR - YYZ) C$ 226+
• Flight Moncton - Toronto (YQM - YTZ) C$ 228+
• Flight Calgary - Toronto (YYC - YYZ) C$ 245+
• Flight Calgary - Hamilton (YYC - YHM) C$ 262+
• Flight Montreal - Toronto (YUL - YYZ) C$ 269+
• Flight Edmonton - Toronto (YEG - YTZ) C$ 275+
• Book A Bed Hostels C$ 34+
• Generator London C$ 47+
• Nx London Hostel C$ 49+
• Flight Toronto - London (YYZ - LHR) C$ 611+
• Flight Montreal - London (YUL - LGW) C$ 624+
• Flight Montreal - London (YUL - LHR) C$ 627+
• Pod Hotel C$ 46+
• M Montreal Hostel C$ 68+
• Hotel Quartier des Spectacles C$ 119+
• Hygie Boutique Hotel C$ 121+
• Flight Halifax - Montreal (YHZ - YUL) C$ 135+
• Flight Edmonton - Montreal (YEG - YUL) C$ 191+
• Flight Winnipeg - Montreal (YWG - YUL) C$ 196+
• Flight Calgary - Montreal (YYC - YUL) C$ 221+

Los Angeles

• Boutique Hostel C$ 46+
• Freehand Los Angeles C$ 62+
• City Center Hotel C$ 136+
• Flight Vancouver - Los Angeles (YVR - LAX) C$ 144+
• Flight Toronto - Los Angeles (YYZ - LAX) C$ 251+
• Flight Calgary - Los Angeles (YYC - LAX) C$ 254+
• Malate Pensionne C$ 20+
• Hotel Dream World C$ 26+
• RedDoorz Near Naia Terminal 1 C$ 27+
• Flight Vancouver - Manila (YVR - MNL) C$ 1,088+
• Flight Toronto - Manila (YYZ - MNL) C$ 1,219+
• Flight Calgary - Manila (YYC - MNL) C$ 1,254+
• Fabhotel Royal Residency Ii C$ 27+
• Katriya Hotel & Towers C$ 43+
• Royalton, Hyderabad C$ 50+
• Flight Toronto - New Delhi (YYZ - DEL) C$ 1,260+
• Flight Toronto - Mumbai (YYZ - BOM) C$ 1,298+
• Flight Toronto - Hyderabad (YYZ - HYD) C$ 1,382+

Philippines

• Daylight Inn C$ 9+
• Hotel Uno C$ 18+
• The Manor Hotel C$ 23+
• Flight Vancouver - Manila (YVR - MNL) C$ 1,115+
• Flight Toronto - Manila (YYZ - MNL) C$ 1,217+
• Flight Vancouver - Cebu City (YVR - CEB) C$ 1,239+

Niagara Falls

• Advance Inn C$ 56+
• Howard Johnson by Wyndham Niagara Falls C$ 57+
• Ritz Inn Niagara C$ 60+
• Flight Thunder Bay - Toronto (YQT - YYZ) C$ 124+
• Flight Québec City - Toronto (YQB - YYZ) C$ 135+
• Winnipeg Peace Home C$ 59+
• Close to center C$ 60+
• Winnipeg Homestay C$ 68+
• Flight Toronto - Winnipeg (YKF - YWG) C$ 112+
• Flight Calgary - Winnipeg (YYC - YWG) C$ 127+
• Flight Edmonton - Winnipeg (YEG - YWG) C$ 153+
• Empire Landmark Hotel C$ 74+
• The Cambie Hostel Seymour C$ 93+
• Carey Centre C$ 172+
• Hotel at the Waldorf C$ 179+
• Flight Edmonton - Vancouver (YEG - YVR) C$ 94+
• Flight Saskatoon - Vancouver (YXE - YVR) C$ 102+
• Flight Calgary - Vancouver (YYC - YVR) C$ 109+
• Flight Victoria - Vancouver (YYJ - YVR) C$ 150+
• Hi New York City Hostel C$ 80+
• West Side Ymca C$ 144+
• The Washington C$ 204+
• Flight Toronto - New York (YYZ - JFK) C$ 214+
• Flight Toronto - Newark (YTZ - EWR) C$ 237+
• Flight Toronto - Newark (YYZ - EWR) C$ 249+
• Hotel Hari Piorko C$ 31+
• Hotel Ajanta C$ 39+
• Hotel City Star C$ 43+
• Flight Halifax - New Delhi (YHZ - DEL) C$ 1,409+
• Flight Ottawa - New Delhi (YOW - DEL) C$ 1,426+
• St Christopher's Inn Paris - Canal C$ 50+
• Generator Paris C$ 55+
• St Christopher's Inn Paris - Gare du Nord C$ 56+
• The People - Paris Nation C$ 68+
• Hotelf1 Paris Saint Ouen Marché Aux Puces C$ 69+
• Le Regent Montmartre by Hiphophostels C$ 72+
• hotelF1 Paris Porte de Châtillon C$ 76+
• The People Paris Marais C$ 85+
• ibis budget Paris Porte de Montmartre C$ 89+
• Auberge Internationale Des Jeunes C$ 90+
• Hotel De La Poste C$ 96+
• ibis Paris 17 Clichy-Batignolles C$ 126+
• Flight Hamilton - Paris (YHM - CDG) C$ 394+
• Flight Montreal - Paris (YUL - ORY) C$ 642+
• Flight Toronto - Paris (YYZ - CDG) C$ 664+
• Flight Toronto - Paris (YTZ - CDG) C$ 664+
• Flight Toronto - Paris (YYZ - ORY) C$ 682+
• Flight Montreal - Paris (YUL - CDG) C$ 687+
• Flight Québec City - Paris (YQB - CDG) C$ 770+
• Flight Halifax - Paris (YHZ - CDG) C$ 822+
• Flight Vancouver - Paris (YVR - CDG) C$ 826+
• Flight Calgary - Paris (YYC - ORY) C$ 837+
• Flight Calgary - Paris (YYC - CDG) C$ 848+
• Flight Edmonton - Paris (YEG - CDG) C$ 870+
• Hotel Boutique Casa Mallorca C$ 78+
• Wyndham Garden Cancun Downtown C$ 98+
• Suites Malecon Cancun C$ 105+
• Flight Toronto - Cancún (YKF - CUN) C$ 234+
• Flight Toronto - Cancún (YYZ - CUN) C$ 293+
• Flight Montreal - Cancún (YUL - CUN) C$ 349+
• Sparta Team Hotel C$ 23+
• Socrates Hotel C$ 75+
• Victory Inn C$ 83+
• Flight Toronto - Dublin (YYZ - DUB) C$ 544+
• Flight Toronto - Amsterdam (YYZ - AMS) C$ 602+
• Azores Youth Hostels - São Miguel C$ 30+
• Out Of The Blue C$ 63+
• Hotel Alcides C$ 91+
• Flight Toronto - Ponta Delgada (YYZ - PDL) C$ 563+
• Flight Toronto - Lajes (YYZ - TER) C$ 577+
• Flight Toronto - Porto (YYZ - OPO) C$ 596+
• Ottawa Backpackers Inn C$ 37+
• Saintlo Ottawa Jail Hostel C$ 43+
• The Stay Lounge C$ 103+
• Flight Halifax - Ottawa (YHZ - YOW) C$ 135+
• Flight Winnipeg - Ottawa (YWG - YOW) C$ 195+
• Flight Calgary - Ottawa (YYC - YOW) C$ 262+
• Mount Saint Vincent University C$ 78+
• Dalhousie University C$ 80+
• University Of King's College C$ 112+
• Flight Ottawa - Halifax (YOW - YHZ) C$ 124+
• Flight Toronto - Halifax (YYZ - YHZ) C$ 124+
• Flight Toronto - Halifax (YKF - YHZ) C$ 124+
• The STRAT Hotel, Casino & Tower C$ 24+
• Harrah's Las Vegas Hotel & Casino C$ 42+
• Silver Sevens Hotel & Casino C$ 46+
• OYO Hotel And Casino Las Vegas C$ 49+
• Circus Circus Hotel, Casino & Theme Park C$ 57+
• Excalibur Hotel & Casino C$ 62+
• SAHARA Las Vegas C$ 62+
• Flight Toronto - Las Vegas (YYZ - LAS) C$ 165+
• Flight Edmonton - Las Vegas (YEG - LAS) C$ 173+
• Flight Calgary - Las Vegas (YYC - LAS) C$ 174+
• Flight Vancouver - Las Vegas (YVR - LAS) C$ 192+
• Flight Abbotsford - Las Vegas (YXX - LAS) C$ 221+
• Flight Regina - Las Vegas (YQR - LAS) C$ 341+
• Flight Toronto - Las Vegas (YTZ - LAS) C$ 348+
• Grand Hotel Kissimmee At Celebration C$ 71+
• Monumental Movieland Hotel C$ 71+
• Developer Inn Downtown Orlando, a Baymont by Wyndham C$ 81+
• Rosen Inn International C$ 90+
• Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Orlando Resort & Suites Intl Drive C$ 93+
• Rosen Inn Closest to Universal C$ 98+
• Rosen Inn At Pointe Orlando C$ 102+
• Avanti International Resort C$ 106+
• Avanti Palms Resort And Conference Center C$ 109+
• Holiday Inn & Suites Across From Universal Orlando C$ 112+
• Coco Key Hotel & Water Park Resort C$ 119+
• Flight Hamilton - Orlando (YHM - MCO) C$ 204+
• Flight Toronto - Orlando (YYZ - MCO) C$ 204+
• Flight Toronto - Orlando (YTZ - MCO) C$ 219+
• Flight Toronto - Orlando (YKF - MCO) C$ 221+
• Flight Montreal - Orlando (YUL - MCO) C$ 252+
• Flight Ottawa - Orlando (YOW - MCO) C$ 303+
• Flight Winnipeg - Orlando (YWG - MCO) C$ 369+
• Flight Halifax - Orlando (YHZ - MCO) C$ 374+
• Flight Vancouver - Orlando (YVR - MCO) C$ 380+
• Flight Calgary - Orlando (YYC - MCO) C$ 394+
• Flight Thunder Bay - Orlando (YQT - MCO) C$ 442+

Fort Lauderdale

• Red Carpet Inn Airport Fort Lauderdale C$ 87+
• Fort Lauderdale Grand Hotel C$ 91+
• HomeTowne Studios by Red Roof Fort Lauderdale C$ 93+
• Days Inn by Wyndham Fort Lauderdale Airport Cruise Port C$ 98+
• La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Fort Lauderdale Tamarac C$ 101+
• La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Ft Lauderdale Cypress Cr C$ 103+
• Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort Hotel & Suites C$ 105+
• Flight Montreal - Fort Lauderdale (YUL - FLL) C$ 155+
• Flight Toronto - Fort Lauderdale (YYZ - FLL) C$ 195+
• Flight Hamilton - Fort Lauderdale (YHM - FLL) C$ 303+
• Flight Toronto - Fort Lauderdale (YTZ - FLL) C$ 318+
• Flight Ottawa - Fort Lauderdale (YOW - FLL) C$ 339+
• Flight Québec City - Fort Lauderdale (YQB - FLL) C$ 358+
• Flight Halifax - Fort Lauderdale (YHZ - FLL) C$ 360+
• Canadas Best Value Inn Calgary Chinook Station C$ 56+
• Brother Li Homestay C$ 76+
• Emerald Hotel & Suites Calgary Airport C$ 88+
• Flight Abbotsford - Calgary (YXX - YYC) C$ 100+
• Flight Vancouver - Calgary (YVR - YYC) C$ 100+
• Flight Winnipeg - Calgary (YWG - YYC) C$ 142+
• Prince Palace Hotel C$ 42+
• Asia Hotel Bangkok C$ 46+
• Ambassador Bangkok Hotel C$ 52+
• Flight Vancouver - Bangkok (YVR - BKK) C$ 1,112+
• Flight Montreal - Bangkok (YUL - BKK) C$ 1,191+
• Flight Toronto - Bangkok (YYZ - BKK) C$ 1,249+
• Rodeway Inn Fairgrounds-Casino C$ 90+
• Econo Lodge Airport at RJ Stadium C$ 94+
• Tampa Inn Near Busch Gardens C$ 95+
• Flight Montreal - Florida (YUL - USFL) C$ 155+
• Flight Toronto - Florida (YYZ - USFL) C$ 194+
• Flight Hamilton - Florida (YHM - USFL) C$ 204+
• Lyngás Guesthouse C$ 127+
• Hotel Edda Egilsstadir C$ 200+
• Hérað - Berjaya Iceland Hotels C$ 220+
• Flight Hamilton - Reykjavik (YHM - KEF) C$ 341+
• Flight Toronto - Reykjavik (YYZ - KEF) C$ 488+
• Flight Halifax - Reykjavik (YHZ - KEF) C$ 677+
• Hi Edmonton - Hostel C$ 58+
• Economy Inn C$ 74+
• Chateau Motel C$ 80+
• Ocean Island Inn Backpackers Suites - Hostel C$ 66+
• Cherry Tree Inn C$ 115+
• Victoria Gorge Waterway Vacation Home C$ 148+

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 vacation plans with friends and family and also check out your travel stats for past vacations, like how far you’ve travelled, your most popular cities and how many times you’ve travelled 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.

Where do you want to go?

Big names, great deals, filter for what you want, more than flights, trusted and free, start your travel planning here, search flights , hotels & hire cars.

• Book A Bed Hostels £20+
• Generator London £27+
• Nx London Hostel £28+
• Corbigoe Hotel £51+
• Ramada London North M1 £55+
• King Solomon Hotel £57+
• Britannia International Hotel £73+
• Ibis Budget London Whitechapel £74+
• Travelodge London City Road £92+
• Central Park Hotel £101+
• Novotel London Excel £108+
• Copthorne Tara Hotel London Kensington £108+
• St Giles Hotel - London £109+
• Travelodge London Kings Cross Royal Scot £109+
• Park Plaza London Park Royal £117+
• Flight Edinburgh - London (EDI - STN) £27+
• Flight Belfast - London (BFS - STN) £29+
• Flight Edinburgh - London (EDI - LTN) £31+
• Flight Edinburgh - London (EDI - LGW) £49+
• Flight Glasgow - London (GLA - STN) £50+
• Flight Glasgow - London (GLA - LGW) £52+
• Flight Glasgow - London (GLA - LTN) £52+
• Flight Belfast - London (BHD - LTN) £54+
• Flight Belfast - London (BFS - LTN) £57+
• Flight Newcastle upon Tyne - London (NCL - LHR) £63+
• Flight Belfast - London (BHD - LGW) £64+
• Flight Glasgow - London (GLA - LHR) £64+
• Flight Belfast - London (BFS - LGW) £65+
• Flight Edinburgh - London (EDI - LHR) £67+
• Flight Belfast - London (BFS - LHR) £70+
• Prince Palace Hotel £24+
• Asia Hotel Bangkok £27+
• Ambassador Bangkok Hotel £30+
• Flight London - Bangkok (LGW - BKK) £430+
• Flight London - Bangkok (LHR - BKK) £456+
• Flight Birmingham - Bangkok (BHX - BKK) £503+
• St Christopher's Inn Paris - Canal £29+
• Generator Paris £32+
• St Christopher's Inn Paris - Gare du Nord £32+
• The People - Paris Nation £39+
• Flight Birmingham - Paris (BHX - BVA) £27+
• Flight Manchester - Paris (MAN - BVA) £27+
• Flight London - Paris (LGW - ORY) £47+
• Flight Bristol - Paris (BRS - CDG) £52+
• Seven Hills Village £22+
• Litus Roma Hostel £32+
• Colony Hotel £45+
• Flight London - Rome (STN - CIA) £36+
• Flight London - Rome (LGW - FCO) £41+
• Flight Manchester - Rome (MAN - CIA) £67+

Los Angeles

• Freehand Los Angeles £36+
• City Center Hotel £78+
• Four Points by Sheraton Los Angeles International Airport £85+
• Flight London - Los Angeles (LGW - LAX) £349+
• Flight London - Los Angeles (LHR - LAX) £366+
• Flight Manchester - Los Angeles (MAN - LAX) £380+
• Hotel Bilal £7+
• Hotel Crown Inn £17+
• World Inn Karachi £22+
• Flight London - Karachi (STN - KHI) £385+
• Flight London - Karachi (LGW - KHI) £436+
• Flight London - Karachi (LHR - KHI) £449+
• Fabhotel Royal Residency Ii £16+
• Katriya Hotel & Towers £24+
• Royalton, Hyderabad £29+
• Flight London - New Delhi (LHR - DEL) £346+
• Flight London - Mumbai (LHR - BOM) £364+
• Flight London - New Delhi (LGW - DEL) £381+
• Travelodge Manchester Central Arena £31+
• Yha Manchester £32+
• Assheton Arms Hotel £33+
• Flight Belfast - Manchester (BFS - MAN) £27+
• Flight Belfast - Manchester (BHD - MAN) £49+
• Flight London - Manchester (LHR - MAN) £74+
• Selina Birmingham £20+
• Homestay near a station and park £21+
• Birmingham Central Backpackers £22+
• Flight Glasgow - Birmingham (GLA - BHX) £46+
• Flight Edinburgh - Birmingham (EDI - BHX) £47+
• Flight Belfast - Birmingham (BFS - BHX) £50+
• Hi New York City Hostel £46+
• West Side Ymca £83+
• The Washington £117+
• Pod 51 £120+
• Flight London - New York (LGW - JFK) £269+
• Flight London - New Windsor (STN - SWF) £286+
• Flight London - Newark (LHR - EWR) £306+
• Flight Manchester - Newark (MAN - EWR) £307+
• InOut Hostel Barcelona £20+
• Barcelona Pere Tarrés Hostel £26+
• Mellow Hostel Barcelona £27+
• Flight London - Girona (STN - GRO) £29+
• Flight London - Barcelona (STN - BCN) £31+
• Flight Birmingham - Reus (BHX - REU) £32+
• Generator Dublin £27+
• Jacobs Inn Dublin £27+
• Gardiner House £33+
• Flight Birmingham - Dublin (BHX - DUB) £27+
• Flight Bristol - Dublin (BRS - DUB) £27+
• Flight Glasgow - Dublin (GLA - DUB) £27+
• Generator Berlin Prenzlauer Berg £16+
• Neohostel Berlin £18+
• a&o Berlin Mitte £22+
• A&O Berlin Friedrichshain £22+
• A&O Berlin Kolumbus £23+
• Meininger Hotel Berlin Hauptbahnhof £25+
• A&O Berlin Hauptbahnhof £27+
• Heart of Gold Hostel Berlin £28+
• Metropol Hostel Berlin £29+
• Comfort Hotel Lichtenberg £55+
• Good Morning + Berlin City East £56+
• acom-Hotel Berlin-City South £61+
• Flight Birmingham - Berlin (BHX - BER) £27+
• Flight Nottingham - Berlin (EMA - BER) £27+
• Flight Manchester - Berlin (MAN - BER) £31+
• Flight London - Berlin (STN - BER) £36+
• Flight Edinburgh - Berlin (EDI - BER) £55+
• Flight London - Berlin (LTN - BER) £70+
• Flight London - Berlin (LGW - BER) £84+
• Flight Bristol - Berlin (BRS - BER) £86+
• Flight London - Berlin (LHR - BER) £102+
• Flight Glasgow - Berlin (GLA - BER) £126+
• Flight London - Berlin (LCY - BER) £133+
• Flight Belfast - Berlin (BFS - BER) £139+
• Chameleon Hostel Alicante £20+
• ibis budget Alicante £40+
• Hostal La Lonja £43+
• Flight Exeter - Alicante (EXT - ALC) £40+
• Flight Cardiff - Alicante (CWL - ALC) £50+
• Flight Newquay - Alicante (NQY - ALC) £50+
• Gilligan's Backpackers Hotel & Resort £21+
• Yha Cairns Central £21+
• Global Backpackers Cairns £22+
• Flight London - Melbourne (LGW - MEL) £555+
• Flight London - Sydney (LGW - SYD) £569+
• Flight London - Sydney (LHR - SYD) £600+
• Canadas Best Value Inn Calgary Chinook Station £32+
• Olympia Lodge £52+
• Econo Lodge Motel Village £54+
• Flight London - Toronto (STN - YYZ) £335+
• Flight London - Toronto (LGW - YYZ) £344+
• Flight London - Toronto (LHR - YYZ) £344+
• a&o Edinburgh City £30+
• Code Pod Hostels - The Court £37+
• Destiny Student - Holyrood (Brae House) £65+
• Flight Belfast - Edinburgh (BFS - EDI) £27+
• Flight London - Edinburgh (STN - EDI) £27+
• Flight London - Edinburgh (LTN - EDI) £31+
• Revolver £21+
• Safestay Glasgow Charing Cross £23+
• Euro Hostel Glasgow £40+
• Flight Birmingham - Glasgow (BHX - GLA) £43+
• Flight Belfast - Glasgow (BFS - GLA) £46+
• Flight London - Glasgow (LGW - GLA) £49+
• Amsterdam Teleport Hotel £32+
• Via Amsterdam £35+
• The Flying Pig Uptown Hostel £35+
• Clinknoord Hostel £37+
• Generator Amsterdam £39+
• Budget Hotel Tourist Inn £45+
• The Flying Pig Downtown Youth Hostel £52+
• Flight Bristol - Amsterdam (BRS - AMS) £58+
• Flight Manchester - Amsterdam (MAN - AMS) £60+
• Flight London - Amsterdam (LGW - AMS) £65+
• Flight London - Amsterdam (LTN - AMS) £70+
• Flight Liverpool - Amsterdam (LPL - AMS) £73+
• Flight London - Amsterdam (SEN - AMS) £73+
• Flight London - Amsterdam (STN - AMS) £74+
• The George Hotel by Saffron Dubai Creek £26+
• Form Hotel Dubai, A Member Of Design Hotels £31+
• Premier Inn Dubai International Airport £33+
• The S Hotel Al Barsha £33+
• Queen Elizabeth 2 £39+
• Four Points by Sheraton Downtown Dubai £39+
• Atana Hotel £41+
• Asiana Grand Hotel £42+
• Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel & Towers £51+
• The Tower Plaza Hotel Dubai £51+
• The First Collection at Jumeirah Village Circle £53+
• Flight London - Dubai (LTN - DXB) £206+
• Flight London - Dubai (STN - DXB) £223+
• Flight London - Dubai (LGW - DXB) £250+
• Flight Manchester - Dubai (MAN - DXB) £269+
• Flight Glasgow - Dubai (GLA - DXB) £276+
• Flight Birmingham - Dubai (BHX - DXB) £301+
• Flight Edinburgh - Dubai (EDI - DXB) £304+
• Flight Belfast - Dubai (BFS - DXB) £323+
• Flight Bristol - Dubai (BRS - DXB) £327+
• Flight London - Dubai (LHR - DXB) £333+
• Flight Leeds - Dubai (LBA - DXB) £337+
• Grand Hotel Kissimmee At Celebration £41+
• Monumental Movieland Hotel £41+
• Rosen Inn International £52+
• Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Orlando Resort & Suites Intl Drive £53+
• Rosen Inn Closest to Universal £56+
• Rosen Inn At Pointe Orlando £59+
• Avanti International Resort £61+
• Flight London - Orlando (LGW - MCO) £349+
• Flight London - Orlando (LHR - MCO) £369+
• Flight Manchester - Orlando (MAN - MCO) £414+
• Flight Edinburgh - Orlando (EDI - MCO) £423+
• Flight London - Orlando (LCY - MCO) £443+
• Flight Glasgow - Orlando (GLA - MCO) £452+
• Flight Newcastle upon Tyne - Orlando (NCL - MCO) £458+
• Feel Hostels Soho Malaga £26+
• Residencia Universitaria San José £38+
• Malaga Lodge Guesthouse £46+
• Flight London - Málaga (LGW - AGP) £29+
• Flight London - Málaga (LTN - AGP) £37+
• Flight London - Málaga (STN - AGP) £41+
• HI Lisboa - Pousada de Juventude £20+
• Bluesock Hostels Lisboa £29+
• Varandas de Lisboa £75+
• Flight London - Lisbon (STN - LIS) £52+
• Flight London - Lisbon (LTN - LIS) £57+
• Flight Manchester - Lisbon (MAN - LIS) £82+
• Flight London - Barcelona (LGW - BCN) £34+
• Flight London - Barcelona (LHR - BCN) £47+

New Zealand

• The Flaming Kiwi Backpackers £20+
• Nomads Queenstown £24+
• Haka House Queenstown Lakefront £24+
• Flight London - Auckland (LGW - AKL) £543+
• Flight London - Auckland (LHR - AKL) £573+
• Flight London - Christchurch (LGW - CHC) £756+
• Yha Liverpool Albert Dock £19+
• International Inn £21+
• easyHotel Liverpool £34+
• Flight Belfast - Liverpool (BFS - LPL) £49+
• Flight Belfast - Liverpool (BHD - LPL) £49+
• Flight Edinburgh - Liverpool (EDI - LPL) £85+
• Rock n Bowl Hostel £16+
• Yha Bristol £26+
• Harbourside Hostel Bristol £27+
• Flight Belfast - Bristol (BFS - BRS) £52+
• Flight Belfast - Bristol (BHD - BRS) £52+
• Flight Edinburgh - Bristol (EDI - BRS) £53+

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 and more, plus it can be shared with friends. Simply forward your booking confirmations to [email protected] or use the KAYAK app and sync your email account to keep all your travel plans organised 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 holidays, like how far you’ve travelled, your most popular cities and how many times you’ve travelled 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 , hire 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.

Find Your Perfect Flight: Top Search Engines Reviewed

TL;DR: Key Takeaways

• Skyscanner leads the pack with over 90 million monthly visits, according to a 2019 SimilarWeb report.
• Google Flights shines with its use of the powerful ITA Matrix software.
• Kayak and Momondo  can aslo be good options for travel planning.
• Insider tips and tricks will elevate your flight booking game beyond the ordinary.
• Uncommon angles and approaches challenge the status quo, promising you better deals and more enjoyable travel experiences.

Why Your Flight Search Engine Matters More Than You Think

Every seasoned traveler knows that the journey begins long before you step on the plane. It starts in the quiet moments spent scouring the internet for the best flight deals .

But here's the kicker: not all flight search engines are created equal. Some are champions of cost, others excel in convenience, and a few are the hidden gems of the travel world.

Skyscanner: The Behemoth of the Skies

Skyscanner has firmly established itself as the titan of the flight search engine universe, a fact underscored by a 2019 SimilarWeb report highlighting its staggering influx of over 90 million visits each month. This monumental popularity is the fruit of meticulously designed features and functionalities that resonate with the needs and preferences of globetrotters across the globe.

At the heart of Skyscanner's appeal is its exceptionally user-friendly interface, which effortlessly guides users through the maze of flight booking with intuitive navigation and clear, concise information. This ease of use demystifies the often-overwhelming process of comparing flights, making it accessible to both seasoned travelers and first-time users alike.

Furthermore, Skyscanner's comprehensive database stands as a testament to its commitment to offering a wide array of choices. Covering a vast spectrum of airlines, from the largest international carriers to smaller domestic operators, and an extensive range of flight options, Skyscanner ensures that users have the freedom to explore every conceivable travel itinerary. This inclusivity not only enhances the likelihood of discovering the most cost-effective flights but also caters to the varied preferences and requirements of a diverse user base.

But the allure of Skyscanner extends beyond its interface and database . The platform is renowned for its innovative features, such as the ability to search for flights to 'anywhere' — a dream come true for spontaneous travelers and those seeking inspiration for their next destination. Additionally, Skyscanner's price alert system is a game-changer for budget-conscious flyers, notifying them of price drops and helping them secure flights at the best possible rates.

Google Flights: The Powerhouse of Precision

Google Flights , leveraging the formidable capabilities of ITA Matrix software, stands out as a colossus in the realm of flight search engines. This sophisticated software, hailed as one of the most advanced flight search systems available, sets Google Flights apart in a crowded marketplace. It's not merely a tool but a precision-engineered solution designed to navigate the intricate web of global air travel options.

What makes ITA Matrix's integration into Google Flights so revolutionary is its unparalleled efficiency in analyzing and processing vast amounts of flight data. This system delves deep into the complexities of airline schedules, pricing algorithms, and routing options to unearth flight combinations that might otherwise remain obscured. Whether you're looking for the shortest layovers, the least expensive routes, or a balance between convenience and cost, Google Flights is adept at presenting you with a curated selection of options that align perfectly with your travel criteria.

The brilliance of Google Flights lies in its ability to simplify the complexity behind the scenes into an intuitive and user-friendly interface. Travelers are empowered with the flexibility to modify search parameters with ease, including dates, destinations, and even airline preferences, all while the ITA Matrix works its magic in real-time. This seamless integration ensures that users can make informed decisions without feeling overwhelmed by the technicalities of airfare search algorithms.

Moreover, Google Flights goes beyond mere flight searches. It offers predictive analytics about price trends, advises on the best times to book, and even integrates with Google's vast ecosystem, allowing users to plan their trips more holistically.

This level of precision and integration embodies Google Flights' mission to not just meet but anticipate the needs of modern travelers, making it a true powerhouse of precision in the world of flight search engines.

Kayak: The Ultimate Travel Aggregator

Kayak stands as a beacon for comprehensive travel planning , distinguishing itself by aggregating hundreds of travel sites into one seamlessly intuitive platform.

It's not just about flights; Kayak encompasses hotels and car rentals, ensuring all facets of your journey are covered under one roof. The inclusion of innovative tools like the price forecast feature exemplifies Kayak's commitment to empowering travelers.

By advising users on the optimal time to purchase based on historical data and trends, it demystifies the often perplexing question of "buy now or wait?" Additionally, its flexible date search offers unparalleled adaptability, allowing travelers to navigate the complexities of booking with ease and confidence.

This holistic approach to travel planning positions Kayak as an indispensable resource for savvy travelers seeking convenience, efficiency, and value.

Momondo: The Colorful Pathfinder

Momondo emerges as a vibrant contender in the flight search engine arena, especially lauded for its prowess in unearthing the lowest prices for international flights.

Its interface is a breath of fresh air—vivid, user-friendly, and inviting, making the search for flights an enjoyable experience rather than a chore. Momondo's strength lies in its detailed search capabilities, which dive deep into a vast array of options to present the most cost-effective and convenient flights available.

This focus on delivering value, combined with an aesthetically pleasing design, makes Momondo a favorite among travelers who prioritize both budget and usability in their quest for the perfect flight.

The Wisdom of Flexibility

Scott Keyes hit the nail on the head when he said,

"The best flight search engines are those that consider flexibility in dates and airports."

Flexibility can unlock doors to deals you never thought possible, and the best search engines are those that allow you to play with your options.

Beyond the Basics: Insider Tips and Uncommon Approaches

Here's where we dive deeper. Beyond the familiar paths tread by casual travelers, lies a world of strategies that can lead to staggering savings and optimal travel experiences.

Ever considered a layover as an opportunity for a mini-adventure? Or using airport hubs as strategic waypoints to cheaper fares? These are the kinds of insights and tactics that can transform your travel planning from mundane to masterful.

A Personal Touch: My Secret Sauce

I've spent years in the trenches of travel planning, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that the best deals come to those who look beyond the surface.

My secret? Start with the heavy hitters like Skyscanner and Google Flights for a broad overview, then drill down using niche engines that specialize in regional deals or specific travel niches.

Conclusion: The World at Your Fingertips

In conclusion, navigating the vast landscape of flight search engines can transform from a daunting task to an exciting journey with the right tools at your disposal.

Platforms like Skyscanner, Google Flights, Kayak, and Momondo each bring unique strengths to the table, ensuring that every traveler's needs are met with precision and efficiency.

Skyscanner dominates with its massive database and user-friendly interface, while Google Flights impresses with its advanced ITA Matrix software, offering unparalleled precision in flight searches. Kayak excels as the ultimate aggregator, providing a holistic view of travel options alongside innovative features like price forecasts and flexible searches. Momondo, with its focus on securing the lowest prices and its vibrant interface, stands out as the go-to for budget-conscious international travelers.

The evolution of these platforms reflects a broader trend in the travel industry towards more personalized, flexible, and efficient planning tools. By leveraging the unique capabilities of these top flight search engines, travelers can save both time and money, ensuring their journey is as smooth and enjoyable as the destination itself.

As we look to the future, the importance of choosing the right flight search engine cannot be overstated—it's about making informed decisions, maximizing value, and enhancing the overall travel experience.

Embrace the adventure of flight search with these powerhouse platforms. Whether you're a seasoned globetrotter or planning your first getaway, the key to a stress-free travel planning process lies in utilizing these tools to their fullest potential. Fly smarter and explore further, knowing that the best flight search engines for this year are ready to guide you to your next great adventure.

What makes a flight search engine "the best"?

The best flight search engines are those that offer a blend of comprehensive search results, user-friendly interfaces, and features that allow for flexible travel planning.

Why is Skyscanner so popular?

Skyscanner's popularity stems from its extensive database of flights and airlines, easy-to-use interface, and powerful filtering options.

How does Google Flights utilize ITA Matrix software?

Google Flights leverages ITA Matrix software to analyze complex flight data and provide users with optimized flight options based on multiple factors, including price, duration, and layovers.

Can flexibility really help me save on flights?

Yes, being flexible with your travel dates and departure/arrival airports can significantly increase your chances of finding better flight deals.

Are there any hidden gems among flight search engines?

Indeed, aside from the well-known giants, there are niche and regional flight search engines that can offer specialized deals, especially for specific destinations or travel styles.

How can I use layovers to my advantage?

Strategically planned layovers can not only reduce the cost of your flight but also give you the opportunity to explore an additional destination on your journey.

• Google Flights
• Scott's Cheap Flights Insights

How to use Google Flights to find cheap flights and maximize your next travel booking

Editor's Note

Google Flights is constantly evolving, but it's the one tool I always mention when people ask me how to find better flight prices.

This easy-to-use website can help you find the best possible price on airfare (and even hotels). It's one of the biggest weapons in our arsenal at TPG to help save money on travel. While TPG does offer deal alerts , if you are looking for a particular flight, destination, airline or routing, Google Flights is the way to find personalized deals.

Google Flights is where I almost always begin my search for new bookings. I come back to it again and again to book trips, see if prices have dropped and check if I can get a better deal.

Now, it even shows fares for Southwest Airlines flights .

Here's everything you need to know to use and master Google Flights.

What is Google Flights?

Google Flights is one of our favorite tools for finding deals on flights. It's an amazingly powerful flight search engine, and the best part is that it's easy to use. Google shows you nearly all available flights for a search but doesn't force you to book with it.

Unlike Expedia, Orbitz, Tripadvisor or Kayak, it's not an online travel agency. Google is simply showing you what's available. Once you find the flights you like, you "click through" to actually book. You can choose to book directly with the airline or via a third-party OTA, but not Google itself.

Previously, Google Flights didn't show fares for Southwest Airlines flights, but this week, Southwest started allowing Google Flights to show what it is selling, too. This makes Google Flights even more useful.

Some other new features at Google Flights

Google has also introduced new features that suggest when prices are historically lowest and when you should book for maximum savings. Google has always shown whether the price for a suggested flight itinerary is typical, low or high, but now it gives you even more data to consider.

The tool will "let travelers know when airfares are expected to be lowest for booking their chosen dates and destination," according to Craig Ewer, who works in communications at Google.

For example, when I searched last year, Google showed me that a flight from New York to San Francisco in October was $93 cheaper than usual, and the typical range is between $245 and $415. In other words, it was a good time to book.

It gets even better: In some situations, Google will suggest alternate dates you should actually book the flight to save a few bucks. The example below shows that a December flight to Miami would have been much cheaper if I had waited to book it until Sept. 13.

Here's a final example. I apparently waited too long to book my flight home for Christmas.

Basics of Google Flights

How to perform a basic flight search.

First, you'll want to navigate to Google Flights .

The toolbar has additional features for trips, including things to do, hotels, vacation rentals and a shortcut to a cool tool called "Explore." However, we'll focus on using the tool to book flights for now.

All of the fields and drop-down menus on this page are relatively easy to decipher:

• Departure (where you want to fly from)
• Destination (where you want to fly to)
• Date(s) of travel
• Round-trip flights, one-way flights or multicity trips
• The number of passengers (but here's why you should search for a single ticket , even if you're traveling in a group)
• Ticket class: economy, premium economy, business class or first class

If you know where you're going and when you want to be there, all you have to do is plug in that information and hit the blue search button.

For example, here are all the options I see when I search for flights from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). You can search by destination or by airport code.

Note that Google automatically displays what it considers the best departing flights based on a combination of factors, such as price, the convenience of routing, the number of stops and the travel time. Of course, these may or may not be the best flights for you.

In this case, there are hundreds of options to choose from.

For this example, I chose to book an American Airlines flight on my outbound trip.

The cheapest option is sometimes to fly the return on a different carrier. However, Google Flights clearly indicates there will be two tickets purchased separately.

Often, Google will suggest remaining on the same carrier for both legs. In this instance, one of the flights was on JetBlue.

There are all kinds of ways to filter your searches. We'll get a bit more into that below.

Google Flights now works with Southwest Airlines

Traditionally, prices for Southwest flights didn't show up on Google Flights, but that has now changed, as you can see in the screenshot below.

Once you've found the flight you want, you have the option to book directly with the airline. Google will give you several options for the type of ticket you want to purchase, including basic economy, refundable and other types of fares.

Clicking the blue button would take me to the American Airines website , with these flights and prices already selected. There, I could enter my passenger details and loyalty number, select a seat and pay for the ticket.

All elite perks and other loyalty benefits are honored on flights booked directly on the airline website via Google Flights. However, if you are booking via a third-party site, that may not be the case. It pays to make sure you book directly with the airline if possible.

In this example, the cheapest option is for mixed tickets with multiple stops. Most people are not going to want to take that option. It involves booking through a third-party website with tickets on different airlines and multiple flights and layovers. No thanks.

Related: 9 things to consider when choosing to book via a portal vs. booking directly

Below is an example of Google Flights' handy historical price guide, which shows whether the fare you found is low, high or near the average price for flights on this route.

I can see the flights were more than $600 a few months ago, and my $423 fare was considered low. Given how expensive airfare generally is these days , I was happy enough with that.

The bottom of this screenshot also shows the options available at the bottom of each Google Flights page, where you can select your preferred language from a drop-down menu. You can also customize your location and preferred currency for easy conversion.

Search by specific times of day

Say you want to take a weekend trip. You need both flights to be outside business hours but not too late in the evening, as you don't want to land in the middle of the night.

Google Flights has a handy filter we use to make sure the flights are exactly when we want them. No matter how inexpensive that 6 a.m. flight may be, a 3:30 a.m. wake-up call rarely feels worth it.

So, you can set the search results to only show flights departing and arriving within your chosen specific time range.

See how many bags you can bring on board

In the same series of buttons below your Google Flight search, click on the "Bags" button to specify how many pieces of luggage you want to bring on board with you.

This selection may greatly limit your search results — or drive up your price options — so be prepared to change it if necessary.

Nonstop, one-stop or any flight will do?

Similarly, you can filter flights by the number of stops along the way. You might be the glutton for punishment who longs for a 50-plus-hour flight with multiple layovers. You can do that if you so desire.

However, if you want to minimize the chance of delays or disruptions, have a family to rush back to or just want a shorter flight, nonstop is your friend. Headed overseas? The usual sweet spot between price and comfort will be a one-stop flight.

Search for flights from your preferred airline or alliance

If you don't fly often, the operating airline may not matter to you as much as the price does.

However, if you've begun accumulating miles and status with a specific carrier, it can be addictive to stick with that carrier and program. The exclusive benefits of elite status can be exhilarating, and there's nothing more exciting than booking your first award flight — especially if you know you got an amazing deal.

Related: What are airline alliances, and who's in them?

With filtered airline search results, Google can help you keep that momentum going. Use the button under the search results to filter out unwanted airlines or select specific airline alliances you want to patronize. Or, turn off the "Select all airlines" option and manually select the carriers you want to choose from.

Whether booking with cash or points, you may want to stick with one program to maximize mileage earning or status. For example, if I were trying to hit Diamond on Delta Air Lines, I would search only for Delta flights.

You can also pick airline alliances like Oneworld and SkyTeam to ensure you travel on your preferred airline or its partners. In my case, I would select SkyTeam.

Connecting flights

You can also decide if you want to fly nonstop or choose how many stops you are willing to make. You can even choose the connecting airport.

Especially with international flights, some airports are better to connect in than others. Helsinki Airport (HEL) is lovely. Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) can be challenging , even if you are an experienced traveler.

Related: What are the best European airports to connect in?

If you have a range of options to travel from New York to Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO) with a choice of connecting airports, you can filter the results to only show the airports you want to connect through.

You can also choose how long you would like your layover to extend. You might want to keep it short to reach your destination as quickly as possible. Or, you may prefer a long layover to allow for some buffer time in the event of delays.

Related: How to plan a free stopover on your next trip abroad

Score the best legroom and other seat amenities

Don't you hate boarding a flight to find your knees touching the back of the seat in front of you? Fortunately, Google Flights has a feature that will show you the legroom you can expect on your next flight before you have purchased the seat.

Legroom can differ noticeably from carrier to carrier, aircraft type to aircraft type. From the search results below, you can see that Spirit Airlines' is below the industry average at 28 inches, while JetBlue's is above average at 32 inches.

If you value legroom, this means the JetBlue option will have 4 inches more legroom than Spirit.

In coach seating terms, that's a lot.

Along with legroom, Google Flights will also indicate if Wi-Fi is scheduled to be available on your flight (and if it is free or available at a cost), if the plane has in-seat charging options, and if the flight offers entertainment like live TV or options to stream to your personal device.

On a flight longer than five hours, your devices may run out of juice. So, again, you may want to choose the product that best suits your needs rather than selecting a flight based entirely on price or carrier.

Know your emissions

With sustainability becoming an increasingly important topic in travel , Google Flights will let you know the approximate carbon emissions for your flight based on the route, aircraft type and seating classes.

Below are the search results for a flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Tokyo's Narita International Airport (NRT). United Airlines operates a fuel-efficient Boeing 787 on this route, which would produce a lower-than-average 734 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

However, the Singapore Airlines flight uses a less fuel-efficient (and larger) Boeing 777 aircraft that produces a higher-than-average 1,163 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

You can even filter your search results only to show lower-emissions flight options.

How to search by cheapest dates

Let's say I want to get from JFK to LAX in September, but I'm not tied to any specific dates. Google Flights can help me find the best possible prices for that trip.

On the search page, I can see the lowest price for that particular day if I click on the calendar icon. Prices listed in green represent the lowest price available across all current dates, while the days highlighted in blue show which dates I've selected.

Another way to view the cheapest dates is to click the date grid option. This will again show the cheapest dates in green, and you can easily line up different outbound and inbound options to see if the cheapest dates work for you.

You'll often find that the cheapest flight isn't necessarily the best or most convenient route. Google will show you those lowest prices but prioritize better routes before it.

In this example, Google Flights prioritizes slightly higher fares as the "best flights" search results because they include a full-size carry-on bag.

How to set a pricing alert for yourself

After all that diligent work, give yourself a pat on the back. You've likely found the best option for you.

Some people are ready to book immediately, but most of us might need a day or two to solidify our plans with our fellow travelers or with work. Never fear: Google will help you track your flight and even tell you when the price goes up or down.

Immediately above your search results, a little toggle reads "Track prices" (boxed in green in the screenshot above).

Click on that — and log in to your Google account if necessary — and Google Flights will send updated pricing alerts directly into your inbox.

If you have booked a refundable or changeable fare, you may want to switch this on even after you've booked. You will be alerted if the price goes up or down, so you can feel comfortable knowing you are getting the best deal. You can see part of my list of flights I'm currently tracking in the screenshot below.

Related: How to avoid airline change and cancellation fees

How to search multiple airports at once

Sometimes, you're willing to land or depart a bit farther away in order to find a better flight deal. Google Flights can help reward that flexibility. In fact, you can enter as many as five departure or arrival airports on Google Flights.

Let's say you live in New York City, where you have three major airports from which to choose. You want to fly to Southern California, which is easily accessible from multiple airports as well.

There are two ways to run this search:

• Type in your city name and let Google offer suggestions: This works for many major metro areas. As soon as I type in New York, I see several of the major airports: Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and JFK. Sometimes, you'll even see New York Stewart International Airport (SWF) in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of Manhattan, as an option.
• Manually type in your airport codes or names : Some cities won't show you all the logical potential airports. For Southern California, you will have to manually type in the names or codes of each airport in the area for some searches. (Don't forget San Diego International Airport [SAN] as a potential option.)

You can open a separate browser tab and look up local airports by name. Or, if you're a pro and know the codes, you can type them directly into the destination airport search field (i.e., LAX, SNA, BUR, ONT). Then, hit the blue check to run the search.

Voila: The cheapest option for March 18-25 is taking a nonstop, round-trip flight from EWR to LAX for $258 in United basic economy.

How to check for carry-on bag policies

I don't care what anyone says: Low-cost carriers can be fantastic for finding great deals.

However, if you're a heavy packer, you'll need to plan ahead. Many airlines cut costs by charging extra for bags. You're used to this with major airlines, but some ultra-low-cost airlines will even charge you for carry-ons larger than a backpack or a purse .

It can be difficult to track which airlines charge what, but Google Flights can also help with that.

Basic economy flights will show on the search results page, with the little "no luggage" icon next to the $247 price tag in green.

When I click through to the final booking page, Google will remind me again that I'm booking a basic economy flight; it'll show my current price and its limitations while also displaying economy and first-class booking options next to it.

Organize your travel

There's a "Travel" button on the toolbar of Google Flights.

It will display the travel you have already booked. When you click on the trip, it neatly shows travel booked through your Google account, such as those reservation emails sent to a Gmail account.

It will also show "potential trips." This is where you may have been searching Google Flights for a particular destination but have not yet bought the ticket. Additionally, it will provide suggestions based on what destinations you've Googled in general.

Perhaps you have searched for " When is the best time to visit Hawaii ?" Google Flights may show you suggestions to help you continue planning that trip.

Finally, the "Travel" button will suggest trips you might consider taking based on upcoming trips you have booked or trips you've taken in the past.

For example, if you've been to Melbourne, Australia, it may show options to visit Sydney.

Related: The best ways to use points and miles to fly from the US to Australia

How to find the best getaway deal

This function is similar to the previous tip but focuses on another aspect of your search. Start by clicking the "Explore" button on the toolbar.

If you know you want to get away on specific dates — let's say the second week of October — but don't have a specific destination in mind, use Google's open-ended search functionality to find good flight deals within your window of availability.

In the example below, I picked a long weekend in October and set my hometown of New York as my departure airport. Instead of specifying a destination, I just left it open-ended. You can give Google a hint by typing "Europe" or "Caribbean" to narrow your search results to a specific region.

Related: 9 awesome features you didn't know about in Google Flights

If I zoom in closer on the map, the system recalibrates and shows me more destinations and price points within the updated map view.

If I zoom way out for a world view, I'll see the best-priced destinations of note across the globe.

I can also force the algorithm to show me price points for a specific region.

For example, the world map above doesn't show me many deals for Australia, South America or Africa. However, if I zoom in on Africa, I see more than half a dozen options on the continent and more than a dozen in "surrounding" areas.

Related: Safaris, cities and lots of elephants: How I returned to South Africa using points, miles and cash

Bottom line

Google Flights is an incredibly powerful tool the TPG team uses daily to price airfare . It can help you quickly find the best flights for your travel, but it can also track prices and let you know if you are getting a good deal. It can also help you plan trips and find hotels and activities.

It's one of my favorite tools to find deals and new places to visit. Add it to your travel toolbox. I promise it will become one of your favorites, too.

Related reading:

• Key travel tips you need to know — whether you're a beginner or expert traveler
• The best travel credit cards
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• 8 of the best credit cards for general travel purchases
• 13 must-have items the TPG team can't travel without

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How to use Momondo to Find Cheap Deals for Flights, Hotels, and Car Rentals

Katie Seemann

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Table of Contents

What is momondo, how to using momondo to find cheap flights, how to use momondo to find cheap hotels, how to use momondo to find cheap car rentals, how to use momondo to find cheap vacation packages, momondo deals, momondo mobile app, final thoughts.

We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners. Terms apply to the offers below. See our  Advertising Policy for more about our partners, how we make money, and our rating methodology. Opinions and recommendations are ours alone.

There are so many different booking websites out there that it can be hard to know where to go to find the best deals.

We’ve previously gone over some of the best websites to use for cheap flights , hotels , and car rentals and have broken down some of the most popular sites like Orbitz, Hotels.com ,  Google Flights , and Trivago . Now it’s time to take a deep dive into Momondo.

Momondo is a travel metasearch engine that helps you search for and compare prices from other websites all in 1 spot. Once you find a deal you like, you’ll be transferred to a different website (usually an online travel agency or independent site) to complete your booking.

Here’s what you need to know to use Momondo to find cheap flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages.

A travel metasearch engine based out of Copenhagen, Denmark, Momondo is part of Booking Holdings, Inc, the group that owns other popular sites like Kayak ,  Booking.com ,  Priceline , and Agoda.

Momondo helps you find the best deals on flights , hotels , rental cars , and vacation packages . You’ll use Momondo to search for and compare prices on lots of booking sites (online travel agencies or individual company sites), then you’ll be transferred to your chosen site to complete your booking. You won’t actually book anything through Momondo.

Best of all, Monmodo is free to use — the site makes money through ads and referral fees paid by the booking websites.

Searching for a cheap flight on Momondo is simple and only requires a few steps.

Momondo’s home page defaults to the flight search page , so you just need to input your departure city, destination city, and travel dates and then click Search . You can specify one-way vs. round-trip, the number of passengers, and the class of service above the main search box.

Next, you’ll see your search results. At the top of the page, you’ll notice a graph that shows you how the prices for your trip vary by the day. This can be really helpful if you have flexible travel plans! You’ll be able to filter your search results using the parameters on the left side of the screen. Then you can sort your results using the 4 options above the list (Cheapest, Best, Quickest, Custom).

Each search result gives you a lot of information at a glance. In addition to the basics like flight times, you’ll be able to see:

• The airline’s policies regarding COVID-19
• The specific airline or Mix & Match ; Mix & Match is used when a roundtrip flight includes more than 1 airline (in this instance, you’ll have to book your ticket as 2 one-way tickets on 2 different booking sites)
• The rating: a happy face rating system shows the balance between the price and average flying time of your selected flight
• The class of service

When you click on View deal , you’ll be taken to the booking website to continue your reservation. If you book a Mix & Match fare, open both booking windows and confirm that both flights are still available before completing your reservation.

Hot Tip: If you have some flexibility and aren’t sure where you want to go, search Anywhere as your destination and you’ll get the top deals for your selected travel dates.

Flight Insights

The Flight Insights feature is a great perk when using Momondo to find cheap flights. You’ll be able to access this information on your flight search results page.

When you click on this, you’ll get lots of great information about your specific route including:

• Cheapest month, day, and time to fly to your destination
• Cheapest airline and route to fly to your destination
• Cheapest time to buy a ticket

While all of this information is just an estimate and prediction based on past history, these insights can really help in deciding when to purchase a ticket.

Price Comparisons

Let’s take a look at some price comparisons to see if using Momondo can save you money on your next flight.

For the first example, we searched for the cheapest round-trip flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Miami (MIA) through Momondo, as well as some other popular booking websites.

In the second example, we searched for the cheapest prices for a flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL)

As you can see, in the first example, each website we checked offered the same low price across the board. In this case, you’d be better off booking directly through the airline or through an online travel agency that offers rewards, like Orbitz .

In the second example, Momondo actually came in as the highest price. It should be noted that Momondo listed lower-priced tickets but they were never available when we clicked through to the booking website.

Hot Tip: Keep in mind that metasearch engines and online travel agencies, including Momondo, don’t include flights from Southwest Airlines .

In addition to flights, you can use Momondo to search for cheap hotel prices.

Click on Hotels in the main menu, then input your destination and travel dates.

You’ll be able to filter your results list using the options at the left side of your screen and then sort your list using the drop-down arrow right above the list. To search for a hotel by location, click on the map icon in the upper left-hand corner.

Each hotel search result will display some basic information, including a rating and price. The featured price (often sponsored) might not always be the lowest! To see all the prices available, click on the drop-down arrow. Just as when searching for a flight on Momondo, when you click on View Deal , you’ll be taken to the booking website to complete your reservation.

For this price comparison, let’s take a look at 2 hotels in Fort Lauderdale. All prices are for a week-long stay including all taxes and fees.

*Includes daily $25 resort credit

In the first example, the hotel’s own website offered the cheapest price plus a daily resort credit. Momondo was in the middle of the pack when it came to price.

In the second example, the lowest price is also found on the hotel’s website, but all of the websites were within about $30 of each other.

Hot Tip: If you book a hotel that has a loyalty program like Marriott or Hyatt , you usually won’t earn points when you book through a third-party website and any elite status you have might not be recognized at the hotel.

In addition to flights and hotels, you can use Momondo to search for and compare car rental deals.

To search for a rental car on Momondo, click on Car Rental in the main menu, then enter your pick-up location and rental dates.

Your results list will also include a map so you can search by location. Use the options across the top of your screen to narrow your search and use the drop-down arrow if you’d like to sort your list by price.

Each result will give you lots of information, including the type of car, whether or not the rental comes with free cancellation, the car rental agency, and the booking website . If you see a drop-down arrow by View Deal , that means there are multiple booking website options. Click on View Deal to get transferred to the booking website to complete your rental.

Let’s look at how much it costs to rent a car through Momondo versus some other popular car rental agencies.

Both of these examples are for a week-long rental including all taxes and fees. The first example compares prices for the cheapest option available, and the second example compares prices for a specific type of vehicle.

In both of these examples, Momondo offered the lowest price by far! While you’re not guaranteed to always find the lowest price on Momondo, there’s a good chance you could save money.

Bottom Line: When you’re renting a car, be sure you’re using a credit card that covers car rental insurance. Many cards carry enough coverage so that you won’t have to pay for an additional policy through your car rental agency.

If you prefer booking your flight and hotel together, you’re in luck, because you can search for vacation packages on Momondo, too.

Click on Packages in the main menu and input your departure city, destination city, dates of travel, and the number of travelers.

You’ll choose your hotel first. In addition to the regular hotel filtering and sorting options, you’ll see Airlines and Stops filtering options for the flight portion of your package.

Your search results will show the package price as well as the booking website. For flight options, click on See all at the bottom of each search result.

When you see Hacker Fare listed instead of a booking website, that means that your package will consist of elements from more than 1 booking website. To get a Hacker Fare, you’ll need to book your package in multiple parts.

Can you save money by booking a vacation package through Momondo? Let’s find out.

Example #1: A week-long stay in Miami at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach including a hotel room, round-trip airfare, and all taxes and fees for 2 people

Example #2: A 4-night stay in Mexico at the Hard Rock Hotel Cancun including a hotel room, round-trip airfare, and all taxes and fees for 2 people

Unfortunately in the first example, Momondo is the most expensive by far — over $2,000 more expensive than any of the other prices! In the second example, they’re in the middle of the pack price-wise.

Booking a hotel and flight together is generally a good way to save some money, but it’s always good to price out your options on several websites before booking.

Be sure to check out our guide to the best credit cards to book vacation packages to ensure you get the maximum value from your purchase.

If you’ve got a lot of flexibility and are after a great deal, check out the Deals section on Momondo . You’ll find it by clicking on More in the main menu, then clicking on Deals .

In this section, you’ll enter your departure city, then you can search for All Deal s , or you can narrow down your search to a specific region, month, or budget . You can make your search as wide or narrow as you’d like.

The Momondo mobile app lets you book a flight or hotel room on the go. You’ll find much of the same functionality as on the website like the Anywhere search function and the price calendar.

Plus, you’ll be able to use the Draw on Map feature with the Momondo app. This neat tool allows you to draw an area on the map to limit your hotel search — quite handy when you’re looking for a hotel in a specific location.

Momondo is a travel metasearch engine that helps you sort through prices from lots of other websites. After you’ve searched and compared prices on Momondo, you’ll be transferred to the booking website to complete your reservation.

Momondo is free to use so it’s a good tool to help you find the best prices on hotels, flights, rental cars, and vacation packages. While Momondo’s prices won’t always be the lowest, there is some opportunity to save money, so it’s worth checking out when you’re comparing prices for your next vacation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you use momondo.

Momondo is a website you can use to search for and compare prices on flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages. You’ll use the site like any other metasearch engine or booking website you’re familiar with. Then, once you’ve found a deal you like, you’ll be transferred to a booking website (an online travel agency or independent site) to complete your reservation.

How is Momondo vs. Kayak?

Momondo and Kayak are similar websites and are actually owned by the same company. With both sites, you’ll be able to search for and compare prices on thousands of flights, hotels, and rental cars. Momondo is a little more simple than Kayak, which also includes restaurants, vacation rentals, and road trips.

How can I find Momondo Deals?

You can find the best deals on Momondo by click on More then Deals in the main menu at the top of your screen. From here you can search for deals from your home city. You’ll be able to search for all deals or you can narrow your search by region, month, or budget.

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About Katie Seemann

Katie has been in the points and miles game since 2015 and started her own blog in 2016. She’s been freelance writing since then and her work has been featured in publications like Travel + Leisure, Forbes Advisor, and Fortune Recommends.

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The best AI search engines of 2024: Google, Perplexity, and more

When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, the AI chatbot soared in popularity because people were amazed at its ability to respond to any question with conversational and concise answers. However, ChatGPT lacked one major feature -- access to current information. AI-powered search engines emerged to fill that gap.

Within months of ChatGPT launching, major search engines, including Google and Bing, infused generative AI into their platforms to offer conversational answers based on up-to-date information found across the internet. Other companies, such as Perplexity AI , also entered the space, building AI search engines from scratch to compete with the search engine giants and ChatGPT. 

Also: The 4 biggest Google Search features announced at Google I/O 2024

AI search engines offer users the same basic service but with significant differences in execution. Some options are more helpful than others, including differences in user interfaces, search results, and suggestions. 

To help you decide which AI search engine is worth using, ZDNET tested the best tools we could find and rounded them up, with notes on key specs and hands-on experiences. 

The best AI search engine of 2024

To compare how each search engine functions, I entered the same search query, "What is a Yorkie?" into each engine and included screenshots of how they responded below. I encourage you to look at each image closely because the results vary, and what works best for you may be highly personal. 

Perplexity AI

Best ai search engine overall.

• Combines best of AI and search
• Designed for this purpose
• Includes images, footnotes, and links
• Own search engine
• Paid subscription option

Unlike the rest of the picks on this list that have integrated AI into existing search engines, Perplexity AI has been built to be an AI search engine -- and this approach shows in its interface, which perfectly blends the best features of AI chatbots and search engines. Ultimately, this capability sets Perplexity apart from all the competitors on the market and makes it the most compelling and comprehensive AI search engine. 

When you first visit the application, you will see a textbox that resembles what you see when you visit any AI chatbot. However, when you click on the textbox, you will be given many prompt suggestions based on current events, much like when you are going to enter a search query in a search engine. These suggestions are helpful for prompt ideation and set Perplexity apart from other AI chatbots. 

Also: The best AI chatbots of 2024: ChatGPT and alternatives

Once you enter your search query, the results page provides several links at the top, which is helpful if you use Perplexity as a search engine to find the most appropriate website. The results include conversational, concise, bulleted AI-generated answers with footnotes and website links. 

Lastly, underneath the AI insights, users can take advantage of a "related" section, which resembles the experience on a search engine tool, such as Google's "people also ask" feature. This "related" section encourages discovery. Perplexity is free to use, and you don't need an account, making it easy to jump in and try the tool. 

Perplexity features :  Free | Proprietary LLM | Premium subscription available with access to advanced models such as GPT-4 Turbo, Claude 3, and more

Microsoft Bing

Best integration of ai into an existing search engine.

• Bing search engine
• Automatically there

Microsoft infused its Bing search engine with its AI chatbot, Copilot , and the tech company has seen its Bing daily active users increase significantly, with over 40 million new users  during the past year. In my testing, Copilot has proven itself to be an extremely competitive chatbot, with features that make it a more attractive option than ChatGPT. 

Microsoft collaborated with OpenAI when developing Copilot, and, as a result, the chatbot uses GPT-4 , OpenAI's very capable LLM. With the integration of Copilot in Bing, users experience high-quality responses when they search for anything through the box at the top of the search page results. The best part of Microsoft's execution, which places it over Google's, is that the AI insights aren't overwhelming and limited to one box off to the side, as seen in the picture below. 

This approach means you can easily expand the results to see more AI-enabled insights. However, if you want to ignore the output and scroll through the normal search results, the AI insights are confined to a small portion of your desktop screen that you can ignore. If you aren't entirely sure if you want to commit to an AI search engine, Bing is a great option. 

Microsoft Bing features:  Free | GPT-4 

Best AI search engine for Google users

• Shopping help
• Too much space

If you are a loyal Google user and curious about how AI can improve the search experience, then Google might already be the best option for you. Last year, Google introduced its Search Generative Experience (SGE), which was only accessible via Search Labs and gave users AI-generated insights at the top of their search results. However, at Google I/O, the company announced it was bringing those AI overviews to all users in the U.S.

Also: How to sign up for Google Labs - and 5 reasons why you should

This means that when you type a search query into Google that could be optimized by AI overviews, Google will automatically show you the AI insights. The only downside is that if you are not interested in seeing them, you are automatically exposed to them. Since the AI insights are not as compact as Bing's and take up the top of the screen, pushing organic search results down may not be an approach that works for everyone. 

Google features:  Free | New Gemini model customized for Google Search

Best AI search engine with a chatbot interface

• Chatbot interface
• Less of a search engine

If you like the look, feel, and experience of using an AI chatbot, then You.com is the best AI search engine for you. On your first visit, you'll see that You.com's interface resembles an AI chatbot, with the major difference being that it the tool is connected to the internet to act as a search engine. 

You can enter any question or topic you'd like to learn more about and receive real-time web results, plus a conversational response. However, the output displayed does not resemble a regular search engine, so if you like to see results as a list of websites, like traditional search results, this tool may not be the best option.

Also: YouPro lets me access every popular premium AI chatbot for $20/month - but there's a catch

Instead, You.com displays a conversational response with added footnotes that users can click on to verify the source and visit the website. The tool will also add images when relevant that elevate the answers over those from a traditional AI chatbot like ChatGPT, as seen in the image at the top of the article. You.com also includes a "People also ask" section underneath its response and a "private mode", similar to Google's incognito mode.

You.com features :  Free | Option for subscription | You.com proprietary LLM in the free version

Brave Search

Best ai search engine for privacy.

• Increased privacy
• Can be an official browser
• No footnotes
• Not Google's engine

Brave Search's appeal as a search engine comes from the increased privacy and security it offers users while browsing online. Some of Brave's standout features include blocking trackers and ads on websites, which also helps improve device battery life and browsing speeds. Recently, Brave added an "Answer with AI" feature that infuses generative AI into the search engine, offering an experience nearly identical to those in the tools above while keeping the security features users enjoy. 

Also: Brave search engine adds privacy-focused AI - no Google or Bing needed

You can download the Brave browser to your computer for the full experience. However, you can also use Brave Search in any browser by visiting its  site . Using Brave Search is intuitive, as all you have to do is enter a search query. Similarly to Google and Microsoft's search enging, you will get AI-generated insights at the top of the search results, as seen in the photo below. 

Even though Brave Search doesn't include footnotes in its answers, the tool does include "context" underneath the answer with links to relevant content, which can be useful for verifying the source. Another feature that sets Brave Search apart is that the company says the answers generated are based on Brave's independent search index, unlike many competitors that rely on Google's or Bing's search engines.

Brave Search features :  Free | Brave's independent search index

What is the best AI search engine?

Which is the right best ai search engine for you.

I picked Perplexity AI as the best AI search engine overall because it has features most users can benefit from. However, you can choose from many AI search engines that might be better suited to your specific needs. 

For example, if you are a loyal Google user, Google's Search Generative Experience might be your best option. You can see the full breakdown below. 

How did I choose the best AI search engines?

I tested every AI search engine that made the list across factors critical to users. Some of the factors I considered included: 

• Quality of the AI-enabled insights
• User interface

What is an AI search engine?

An AI search engine has built-in generative AI that gives users AI insights in its search results. For example, all of the examples of AI search engines above include an AI-generated, summarized response to the user's search query. 

What is the difference between an AI search engine and an AI chatbot?

An AI chatbot is an application that uses generative AI to process a user's input and provide a conversational response. An AI search engine produces similar output but is also connected to the internet. 

Do AI search engines cost money?

All of the AI search engines above are free to use. However, there are premium subscription upgrades of some of the AI search engines listed above if you want to take advantage of more advanced LLMs. 

How to Grow a Travel Agency With a Metasearch Engine

• Affiliate marketing 101

Looking for ways to grow your travel agency? A metasearch engine can help you boost your online visibility and help users compare hundreds of deals in real time. Don’t worry, building a metasearch engine is straightforward and requires only basic technical skills. Whether you have an online or offline agency, a metasearch engine will be a win-win solution to its growth.

In fact, 94% of travelers use metasearch engines to compare hotel rates. No wonder that 60% of independent hoteliers already consider metasearch to be the most effective marketing channel, which has generated $6 billion in economic value over the past decade.

While integrating a metasearch engine on your website might sound like a challenge, in fact, it is not. Read on to learn about the benefits of metasearch engines for travel agencies and the best tips on their quick and simple integration.

What Is a Travel Metasearch Engine

A travel metasearch engine, also known as an aggregator, is a price comparison page or website that allows users to list and compare rates from different travel providers.

When users type in a certain destination, metasearch engines display available offers in the region. For convenience, they usually offer various filters, such as price, company, rating, etc. Most often, metasearch engines have a global inventory and display real-time pricing. They also feature a mobile-responsive design and send online booking confirmations as soon as the user has made a reservation.

Benefits of Own Metasearch Engines for Travel Agencies

Metasearch engines have been there for over two decades, but lately they have become the biggest trend in the travel market, as more and more travelers find them very useful for travel planning. These websites help users compare deals from hundreds of different providers in a short amount of time, allowing them to do proper research and make informed decisions. In fact, 94% of travelers use metasearch engines to compare hotel rates. This isn’t a surprise. After all, who doesn’t like to feel that they have done proper research and get to book at the best possible rates?

Here are the most important benefits of integrating a metasearch engine into your travel agency:

Extra Income

Every time someone books their flight or hotel via your website, you receive an affiliate commission. The amount of this commission depends on the specific travel brand and ranges between 1-7%.

Higher Reach

It takes a good amount of effort for traditional travel agencies to connect with service providers and list their offers. With a metasearch engine, not only can you integrate travel offers from different providers faster, but you can also do so on a larger scale and reach global audiences.

Metasearch engines allow users to compare deals from different providers and book their travel at the best possible rates. Users don’t have to browse multiple travel websites and search for offers themselves. This convenience can facilitate travel planning and attract more users to your travel agency.

Increased Customer Retention

Thanks to a fast and convenient travel booking process, customers will be more likely to return to your travel agency the next time they have an itch to travel.

Enhanced Brand Image

With a metasearch engine, your travel agency can position itself as a sophisticated brand that is on top of all the latest technological trends. It will also boost your online visibility and help you attract bigger audiences.

Diversified Services

As your strategy begins to cover various channels, your income will become more independent. For example, if a certain provider is sold out, you will still be able to offer deals from other companies and agencies.

However, there are things you need to consider before integrating a metasearch engine into your travel agency. Most importantly, to build and support a metasearch engine, you will need some technical skills or even hire a dedicated technical expert. To help webmasters streamline this integration and avoid technical hurdles, Travelpayouts has developed a White Label solution.

How to Launch Your Own Metasearch Engine 

As a small business owner, it is crucial to understand and learn how to effectively build a metasearch engine. Creating one from scratch may require some technical expertise and time. Alternatively, you can take advantage of white label solutions that will allow you to rebrand a popular travel product in your company’s name.

White Label Web – The Best Deal for Travel Agents 

Travelpayouts created the first low-code solution designed specifically for travel agencies: White Label Web . The tool allows you, in just one day, to set up a sleek, fully functional metasearch engine under your domain (or on a brand new website) with the following benefits:

• Built-In Integration with Leading Travel Vendors: Provide your audience with the best deals from over 250 global travel brands in real time.
• Maximum Customization: Easily adjust colors, fonts, currencies, and other details to match your brand identity.
• Global Market Targeting: Reach any market with support for 26 languages, 79 currencies, and right-to-left adaptation for Arabic.
• Extra Revenue: Earn up to a 7% commission on each flight or hotel booking made through your metasearch engine.

The Best Part: There is no need for a development team. You can either set up your own metasearch engine yourself following our detailed guide or purchase our setup assistance for just $50. We also offer a 7-day return policy.

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Best SEO Services (2024 Rankings)

Katie Gray is a Chicago-based editor. She started her career writing and editing content about home services before transitioning to home improvement products. She has spent the last year and a half working at a software company, managing content about CRM, project management and other business topics.

SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of optimizing your website to make it appear higher in more Google searches. If you can make this happen, then more Google users will see your website and learn about your business, which grows your pool of potential customers.

SEO can be complicated, which is why some businesses outsource it. However, choosing the right SEO agency is also confusing, as each business needs a unique SEO strategy.

To help you make sense of your SEO service options, we at the MarketWatch Guides team have evaluated some of the top agencies on the market. We rated them based on service offerings, customer reviews, pricing, customer support and more to give you the following list.

Why Trust Us?

Best seo services for small businesses.

• Best for Customizable Plans: WebFX
• Best for Building Authority: Victorious
• Best for Integrated SEO: Ignite Visibility
• Best for Full-Service SEO: HigherVisibility
• Best for E-Commerce SEO: OuterBox
• Best for SEO Content Development: Big Leap
• Best for Local SEO: Funnel Boost Media
• Best for Local Service Businesses: Fannit
• Best for New Businesses: SEO Brand

SEO Service Comparison

All of the providers on our list offer national and local SEO services. In terms of pricing, many of them require a custom quote. Here is a table going over some other points of comparison.

WebFX is on our list for its transparent pricing and powerful technology. The agency offers full-service SEO strategies supported by its proprietary software, MarketingCloudFX. 

In terms of pricing, clients can choose from pre-built SEO packages. The Silver plan is the lowest tier for national SEO, priced at $2,500 a month after an initial investment of $7,750. The same goes for e-commerce. Local SEO is significantly less costly, starting at $425 a month. Considering how difficult it can be to get a sense of what SEO services cost, WebFX’s transparent pricing is a big plus.

Victorious is on our list for its SEO expertise in link building and content optimization services. If your business already has existing content, but you’re not seeing the rankings you’d like, it may make sense to focus on gaining or improving backlinks. Victorious can take this task on, finding opportunities to get more sites linking to your content. This builds trust with visitors and authority with Google. 

Victorious has a proven track record of success. It has numerous case studies, showcasing how it can help a variety of businesses with various SEO services. The agency has also won quite a few awards for its work in recent years, including the U.S. Search Award for Best Large SEO Agency.

Ignite Visibility ranks near the top of our list. In addition to national and local SEO, Ignite offers other marketing services, such as digital public relations (PR) and paid media.

Ignite positions itself as a team of earned media experts with a focus on return on investment (ROI) for its clients. Its experts meet with clients weekly or bi-weekly to share progress. Clients also have access to project management boards for tracking and reporting. While there are no long-term contract requirements, businesses need to reach out directly about custom pricing.

HigherVisibility earns the title of Best for Full-Service SEO because its services span different marketing needs and business types. Its client list has everything from national e-commerce brands to local franchises, including lawyers, car dealerships and home builders. 

In addition to local and national SEO marketing, HigherVisibility can help with pay-per-click (PPC), which is a type of paid marketing. The company also has a service for social media campaigns.

OuterBox has racked up decades of experience with e-commerce clients. The agency improves search engine rankings for these clients with the aim of driving more sales. OuterBox has experience with major e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, Amazon and WooCommerce. It also offers design and PPC services in case you have more marketing needs. 

Another factor that sets OuterBox apart is its real-time reporting and weekly meetings. OuterBox meets with its clients once a week to provide high-level updates, but you can also log into the reporting dashboard in between meetings to get more details. By comparison, many agencies don’t have reporting dashboards or frequent check-ins.

Big Leap takes a holistic approach to digital marketing efforts, offering services for SEO, content development, paid ads and conversion rate optimization (CRO). The agency is our pick for content development because it boosts brands by planning and creating online content. 

Big Leap has an in-house team of content strategists, writers and editors. These team members create editorial calendars and write and edit content planned within those calendars. The clientele for Big Leap’s content development service spans several industries, including manufacturing, health and nonprofit.

If you are a local business with a physical location, Funnel Boost can set up and manage your Google My Business profile as well as your listings in other local business directories. Funnel Boost’s SEO experts tailor keyword research to your area so that you can optimize the language on your site based on local search terms. 

Once you decide to use Funnel Boost, you get assigned a dedicated account manager who will help you build a custom plan based on the number of business locations you want to optimize. After that, Funnel Boost provides monthly reporting on website traffic.

Fannit positions itself as a go-to SEO agency for local businesses, especially those in the home services industry, such as construction, roofing and HVAC. However, Fannit’s experience isn’t limited to just one type of business, as it has clients in e-commerce, manufacturing and other industries.

Fannit helps local businesses with every aspect of their online presence, including designing website pages, finding backlinks and crafting content. You can visit the agency’s site to see an online portfolio of businesses that saw success with this all-in-one approach.

SEO Brand earns the title of Best for New Businesses thanks to its wide variety of services, including SEO strategy, web design, paid advertising and content development. If you are starting from scratch and want to get your online presence off the ground, finding an agency like SEO Brand that can handle multiple facets of marketing is essential. 

SEO Brand has services geared toward a variety of industries, including both e-commerce and lead generation businesses. The agency has been trusted by some high-profile clients, including Montblanc, The Weather Channel and Sotheby’s International Realty.

What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization, or SEO, refers to the techniques websites use to appear in search engine results pages (SERPs). The higher your website appears on a SERP and the more SERPs that feature you, the more visitors you’re likely to get, which can lead to more customers. Each search engine uses its own rules and algorithms to determine what searchers see when they type something. Seeing as Google is by far the most common search engine , most websites focus on optimizing for Google as opposed to Bing or Yahoo.

SEO is not the same as search engine marketing (SEM). SEO focuses on helping you appear organically on SERPs, while SEM uses paid advertising to help you appear. For example, on Google, you have websites labeled as “sponsored” at the top of the SERP and every 10 or so websites after that. Sponsored placements are SEM, and the websites between them are SEO.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Organic search traffic

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Paid search traffic

Types of SEO

There are several types of SEO, each focusing on a different aspect of your website or online presence. Here is an overview of the main types so that you can determine which one(s) you need the most help with:

• On-page SEO: On-page SEO is focused on optimizing the actual content and language of your pages. Improving readability and incorporating more target keywords are examples of on-page SEO efforts. 
• Off-page SEO: Off-page SEO is mostly about link building. You want to show the search engine that you are the authority on a given subject by having other sites link to yours. 
• Technical SEO: Accessibility, user experience, page speed and other technical aspects of your site can affect rankings. Technical SEO focuses on these factors to avoid critical issues that search engines can pick up on when they crawl your site. 
• Local SEO: Local SEO is essential for businesses that have physical locations or local offerings that they want to rank for in a specific locale. The goal is to write locale-specific content and rank for that content so that searchers in that area see your business.
• E-commerce SEO: As an e-commerce business, you will be competing with Amazon, Walmart, Target and other big names in the space. It takes a lot of SEO optimization to get your small website to rank against these big ones.

How Much Do SEO Services Cost?

Working with an SEO agency can be expensive, but it’s not always easy to know that because many don’t offer public pricing. Usually, you have to provide more information about your business and have an introductory call with a member of their team before they will provide a cost estimate. If pricing still isn’t transparent after that initial consultation, that may be a red flag.

That being said, there are a few agencies on our list that publicize a starting price. From these providers, we estimate SEO services to start at $2,000 to $3,000 per month. It can increase from there as you add on more services. There may also be an initial onboarding fee that costs a few thousand dollars.

Our team recently conducted a survey with small business owners who use an SEO agency currently or have used one in the past. They cited price as their biggest point of frustration. They wished that SEO services were more affordable or that they could get more for their money.

How To Choose the Best SEO Service Provider

Choosing the best SEO agency for your business depends on what you need. However, in our recent survey, here are the factors that most current and past users of SEO services recommended considering.

SEO Services

You can expect most SEO agencies to provide these services:

• SEO audits: Running a website audit is a common starting point for any SEO agency. An audit tells the agency the current state of your on-page, off-page and technical SEO. 
• Keyword research: An SEO agency can provide you with a list of keywords for your website to target. They can hand it off to you to write content yourself. Or, they can handle the content creation for you (see last bullet point). These keywords are phrases that a lot of search engine users are typing into the search bar. The agency has usually fine-tuned the list to select the keywords that relate most to your type of business. 
• Link building: Link building is the key component of domain authority, which is if the search engine sees your website as an expert on the subject at hand. An agency can audit your current backlink portfolio, suggest opportunities for improving it and execute on those opportunities.
• Competitive analysis: Part of ranking ahead of your competitors is understanding their performance. SEO agencies will have tools that they can use to analyze what your competitors are doing and what you can do to try to compete with them.
• Brand management: How you appear online can affect how potential customers interpret your brand. Many SEO agencies can help you manage your website’s appearance to create a brand that customers want to interact with. 
• Optimized content creation: If you don’t have existing articles or blog posts on your site or you want to write new pages, many agencies offer content writing services designed specifically for SEO. You can also use an agency to optimize existing content.

In our survey, respondents said the following services were most important in an SEO agency:

Track Record

Agencies should be able to show you proof of their success with past clients. Most share a portfolio of case studies on their website or upon request. When evaluating different SEO service providers, see what they offer you to demonstrate past performance, especially in similar industries to your business. 

Rankings are never guaranteed. Any agencies that offer guaranteed results may be promising more than they can deliver.

Potential Conflicts

If you opt for an SEO agency with experience in your industry, make sure that you won’t run into any issues with competitor overlap. For instance, if you’re a local ice cream business, you won’t want to work with an SEO agency that has competing ice cream businesses on their client list.

Reporting and Transparency

You’ll want to have scheduled check-ins with your account manager to go over how the strategies they are executing for you are performing. They should be open to sharing detailed results, such as how each page is ranking and how much traffic it is bringing in. In terms of cadence, monthly seems to be the industry norm, though there are some agencies that do weekly or quarterly.

In some cases, agencies might also offer a real-time reporting dashboard. You can use this dashboard to track performance between meetings. 

White Hat SEO vs. Black Hat SEO

White hat SEO refers to SEO best practices that abide by the rules of Google or your other search engine of choice. Black hat SEO refers to techniques that aren’t approved by search engines, even if they improve rankings. These tactics are risky and could result in your site being banned altogether. 

It may be difficult to know what tactics an agency uses, as agencies that use black hat SEO aren’t likely to advertise it. But, try your best to find a provider that only implements white hat SEO strategies. 

Client Experiences

Since SEO agencies are businesses themselves, most will have profiles on the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Trustpilot and other consumer review websites. Read through these reviews to see what past clients have thought of them. You can also turn to Reddit or reach out to members of your network who you know use these agencies. 

Additionally, you want to see how they treat you when you reach out to them about a potential partnership. They should be willing to provide some ballpark for pricing as well as a portfolio of client success stories. Many agencies, including the ones on our list, provide a free consultation, audit or review of some sort. Use that experience as a test run to see what it would be like to work with them in the future. 

The Bottom Line

Finding the best SEO company for your business will take some research and patience. There are a lot of agencies out there offering similar SEO services, so it’s key to first get a sense of what you’re looking for. For instance, if you’re a local business, you might want an agency that specializes in local SEO as opposed to one that does local, national, backlinking, content development and everything else that falls under the umbrella of SEO strategy.

Additionally, seeing as many SEO agencies are tight-lipped about pricing, you’ll want to narrow down your list by reaching out to them directly. They can hopefully give you a ballpark figure on how much they would charge for your needs, which you can then use to eliminate the ones that are over your budget.

Frequently Asked Questions About SEO Services

Is it worth paying for seo services.

Hiring an agency for SEO services is usually more expensive than handling site optimization yourself. However, it can take a lot of work off your plate. It also gives your site a better chance of performing well because you’re using SEO experts who know what they’re doing. Many companies see a return on investment, meaning they get more back in business than they paid for the SEO services.

Can you do SEO yourself?

Yes, you can DIY your SEO strategy. You may see varying results depending on how familiar you are with SEO, how willing you are to learn and how complicated your needs are. However, it is the more cost-effective option.

Why is SEO so expensive?

SEO is expensive because it requires in-depth knowledge and a lot of time and effort. Many SEO agencies have employees with years of experience in the space who are diligent about staying up to date on the ever-changing world of digital marketing.

How long does SEO take?

SEO is not a one-and-done deal. Even once you optimize your site, search engines continue to change their rules and other players continue to pop up on the market, affecting your ability to rank. However, let’s say you update your website based on current best practices in your industry. Google says it can take anywhere from hours to months for your changes to show up in search results.

Is SEO better than Google Ads?

No, SEO is not better than Google Ads; they each have their pros and cons. Google Ads guarantee placements on search engine results pages, but they require an advertising budget. There are no direct costs for Google to scan and rank your site organically — aside from paying for an SEO agency or software. However, you aren’t guaranteed to rank.

Methodology

We at the MarketWatch Guides team spent over 100 hours testing almost 35 marketing software solutions, including Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Semrush and Google Analytics. These providers help with some or all of the following marketing disciplines:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Text/short message service (SMS)
• Email marketing

We conducted a survey in 2024 of 200 professionals who were currently using marketing software or had marketing HR software within the past year. We analyzed the results of this survey to determine the following rating criteria:

• User Experience (7%)
• Pricing (8%)
• Features (65%)
• Customer Support (5%)
• Reputation and Reviews (15%)

Visit the full marketing methodology page for more details on our rating system.

If you have feedback or questions about this article, please email the MarketWatch Guides team at  editors@marketwatchguides. com .