12 Best AI Trip Planner Tools: Pros, Cons, Costs, and Tips for Use

Planning your next trip but need a little help? 

The good news is you don’t have to invest in a travel agent or spend hours doing your own research. The travel industry is now packed full of AI powered tools that can generate personalized travel itineraries which make travel planning faster and your trip more enjoyable.

But with so many on offer, what are the best ai trip planner tools you can use?

As a prolific traveler, I’ve tested dozens to see if they meet my high expectations and help the travel planning process. The result was this list of the top 12. 

Here they are (and what they do best):

1. ChatGPT– Best overall for catering to all your travel planning needs
2. Wonderplan – Best for breaking down costs and top level information
3. Curiosio – Best for planning road trips
4. iPlan.ai  – Best for real-time itinerary updates as you travel
5. PlanTrip – Best for a multi-destination itinerary
6. Plan by Ixigo – Best for ready-made ai generated itineraries
7. JourneyPlan – Best for simple travel suggestions by the hour
8. Skoot – Best for planning family trips
9. Tripbot– Best for eco-conscious travelers
10. Roam Around – Best for quick and simple itineraries
11. Kayak – Best for booking travel options in one place
12. Destinations.ai– Best for figuring out when to travel (US specific)

Keep scrolling to learn more about each tool, its pros, cons, cost and a top tip to help you use it most effectively. 

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1. ChatGPT – Best overall for catering to all your travel planning needs

There’s nothing quite like ChatGPT on the AI scene when it comes to capabilities and customization of use. 

ChatGPT can help you choose your destination, design a custom itinerary, help you book your transportation and accommodation, as well as plan and stick to a budget. 

What makes ChatGPT standout as a travel planning tool is its ability to iterate on its suggestions and build off what it’s already produced for you so that the trip becomes exactly what you’re looking for. Its plug-ins even help you search the web and pull information from booking sites like Kayak. 

Here’s an example of a Day 2 itinerary it put together for my trip to Rome, including restaurant recommendations, timings, and site visits all organized geographically:

Check out ChatGPT here: openai.com 

Pros of using ChatGPT as an ai travel planning tool:

• Versatile in what aspects of trip planning it can help with
• Easy to use thanks to its chat box interface
• Customizable responses to your travel preferences and needs
• Free version available

Cons of ChatGPT as an ai travel planning tool:

• Can’t be used offline
• Advanced features sit behind a paywall
• Requires prompts to get the best responses

Cost of ChatGPT: 

ChatGPT-3.5: Free 

ChatGPT Plus: $20/month

With ChatGPT plus you get more sophisticated and accurate responses to your queries and you’re able to use plug-ins that enhance the capabilities of the AI.

And you can always cancel the subscription for months you know you won’t use it. 

Top Tip for using ChatGPT as a travel planner:

ChatGPT’s output is only as good as the prompts you put in. If you ask it to plan a trip then make sure you get specific and provide all the necessary details it needs to make the trip highly personalized, accurate, and useful.

Have ChatGPT ask you any question it needs to have answers to in order to plan your trip effectively. That will help you figure out what information you need to provide.

Not sure where to start?

→ Check out our ChatGPT Travel Planning 2023 Guide. It walks you through the steps and prompts you should be using to get a clear, specific, and accurate travel plan for your next trip.

2. Wonderplan – Best for breaking down costs and top level information

Wonderplan is an AI trip planner that generates personalized itineraries based on where you’re going, what your interests are, and what budget you have. 

This AI travel planner even breaks down that budget with estimates on what you’ll spend on what (accommodation, transportation, food, activities) and provides other helpful information you’ll need such as exchange rates and weather.

The presentation is beautiful and easy to navigate though it’s hard to imagine how I’ll access it on the trip itself.

How does it come up with this? 

The AI tool has you fill out a short form with travel dates, the rough budget for your trip, when you’re going and for how long, who you’re traveling with, activity types you enjoy, and even if you need Halal or vegetarian food.

The itinerary it spins up for you includes links to deals from Viator and other travel companies such as Kayak, Booking, and Trip.com. It also links the activities and destinations on Google maps. 

Check out Wonderplan here: https://wonderplan.ai/ 

Pros of Wonderplan as an AI travel tool:

• Has a detailed costs breakdown by category and activity
• Clear categorization and sectioning 
• Includes restaurant recommendations and even takes into consideration some dietary requirements.

Cons of Wonderplan as an AI travel tool:

• The itinerary can’t be edited or adapted once its been created
• There are only 3 budget types to choose from, making the results inaccurate to your spending constraints 
• The itinerary can’t be exported or accessed offline

Cost of Wonderplan: 

Wonderplan is free to use.

Tips for using Wonderplan:

When Wonderplan creates the activities for your itinerary, make sure to do your due diligence and double check its suggestions. The activities are linked to ‘deals’ but you might want to find alternative tours and tickets.

3. Curiosio – Best for planning road trips

Curiosio, out of all the AI travel tools, is the best AI travel assistant for planning road trips. Where it falls short is in its limited database. There are only 24 countries to choose from.

I used it to plan a road trip from New York City to San Francisco. 

All I had to do was plug in my starting and destination city, let the tool know if I wanted a round-trip or a one-way itinerary, plug in any destinations I knew I wanted to stop off at, my budget, and some other specifics you can see in the image below.

It then created 4 itinerary options for me.

Within those itineraries, there was a breakdown of the days, budget, and sights. 

There’s also a map and the itinerary can be exported to Google maps for practical use while on the road with all of your destinations plugged in. That was my favorite part.

Check out Curiosio here: https://curiosio.com/ 

Pros of Curiosio:

• You can edit the itinerary once its been created for ultimate customization
• Export capabilities into Google maps 
• Multiple trip itineraries are available to choose from
• Makes suggestions for stops you can make en-route
• Helps you find and book accommodation

Cons of Curiosio:

• Currently only has 24 countries in its database
• Limited to road trips
• Doesn’t tell you how long certain activities will take
• No restaurant or food suggestions

Cost of Curiosio: 

Curiosio is free to use. 

Tips for using Curiosio:

If there are destinations you know you want to see on your road trip, make sure to include them in the form you fill out before Curioso creates your itinerary options. 

4. iplan.ai – Best for real-time itinerary updates as you travel

Iplan.ai not only creates your travel plans but it adapts your itinerary on the fly based on your needs, personal preferences, and even current conditions like weather or local events. 

To use it, you’ll need to download the app to your phone. From there, sign up for a free or paid account and follow the prompts so it can build your trip itinerary. 

The only downside is that you have to pay for the AI feature while the free account requires you to manually plan your trip. Either way it’s a helpful and interesting tool to use when planning your trip.

Pros of iplan.ai:

• Updates your plan in real-time based on factors such as weather, events, and preferences
• You can edit and customize the plan as little or as much as you want 
• Easily accessible on your phone while traveling
• Plans are highly personalized to your preferences and trip constraints such as budget and time available

Cons of iplan.ai:

• You’ll need a stable internet connection for the updates to take place
• Paywall makes the AI inaccessible to free users
• You have to create a separate trip if planning on visiting more than one destination on your trip 

Cost of iplan.ai: 

Iplan.ai pro is $3.99 a month. 

That price gets you unlimited access to itineraries and the use of AI in planning your trip.

There’s a free version available but the AI will not create the itinerary for you.

Tips for using iplan.ai:

At only $3.99, the app is worth paying for. Go ahead and buy it for the time you need it. It’s a non-recurring subscription so it won’t renew unless you want it to. 

Make sure to get data for your phone while traveling so the app can work and you can refer back to it. You can get data from a local sim card that you buy or you can use your home provider.

5. PlanTrip – Best for a multi-destination itinerary

PlanTrip is really useful when you’re planning a multi-destination trip, which is something most of the other tools aren’t capable of accommodating.

To use it, you’ll fill out a short questionnaire and provide basic travel details. 

The activities it recommends are broken down by price and how long you’ll spend doing each one. It’s loose enough that you have plenty of freedom to add in your own activities and discover things once there. 

It also provides several buttons you can click to get more information such as safety tips, what to pack, hotels in the area, and nearby places to eat. 

The best part? You can easily download it as a PDF that you can revisit digitally or by printing it out and bringing it on your travels. 

Pros of PlanTrip:

• Plenty of helpful information provided to help you prepare for your travels 
• Helps you plan multi-destination travels
• Comes up with places to eat based on where you’ll be on the day
• Includes pricing and time needed at each itinerary activity
• You can save the itinerary as a PDF 

Cons of PlanTrip:

• The number of ads and pop-ups on the site are distracting and frustrating as the user
• It doesn’t provide links to the suggestions it makes
• Can’t make edits to the itinerary once it’s created

Cost of PlanTrip: 

PlanTrip is free.

Tips for using PlanTrip:

Make sure to click the ‘Advanced options’ when filling out the form. That will help the tool make a more personalized and accurate itinerary based on your preferences and trip criteria.

6. Plan by Ixigo – Best for ready-made ai generated itineraries

Plan by Ixigo is great because there are tons of itineraries already built on the app and categorized for you, but it will also come up with a custom one based on your destination and a short prompt. 

You can see an example in the screenshot below:

Once you’ve prompted the tool, the itinerary is created and there are suggestions broken down by time of day and with links that provide more details, including reviews.

Check out Plan by Ixigo here: https://www.ixigo.com/plan 

Pros of Plan by Ixigo:

• There are many pre-planned itineraries you can take inspiration from and use
• It’s free and easy to access ahead of your trip
• You can share it over whatsapp and twitter with others going on your trip

Cons of Plan by Ixigo:

• The suggestions are pretty basic and lack detail 
• Doesn’t take into account budget, who you’re going with, or other important details
• Relies on you to prompt and creates the itinerary on very little information

Cost of Plan by Ixigo: 

Plan by Ixigo is free to use.

Tips for using Plan by Ixigo:

Put in different prompts to get a range of suggestions. 

Then you can pick and choose items from each itinerary you want to do and put the information into a Google doc you can access offline while on your trip. 

7. JourneyPlan – Best for simple travel suggestions by the hour

JourneyPlan is a travel planning AI tool that is simple yet effective. 

It lacks the frills of some of the other tools such as links to book activities directly from the site but it breaks down your days down to the hour so you know exactly what to do when. 

You’ll have to answer a few questions and then it presents you with a custom itinerary.

I was surprised how long it took for the itinerary to be created but once I saw it, I did see how it paid attention to my special requests which were: snorkeling activities, temple visits, and smoothie bowls. I just wish it had made suggestions of specific restaurants to try. 

Check out JourneyPlan here: https://journeyplan.co/ 

Pros of JourneyPlan:

• Provides specific time suggestions alongside each itinerary suggestion
• You can copy the itinerary easily and transfer it to your own document
• Asks you questions about activities you want to do so that they’re included in the travel plan 

Cons of JourneyPlan:

• Asks for dietary requirements and food interests but doesn’t recommend specific restaurants
• Doesn’t help you find tour providers or make specific suggestions
• You can’t edit the itinerary or request changes without starting the process over

Cost of JourneyPlan: 

JourneyPlan is free to use.

Tips for using JourneyPlan:

JourneyPlan’s response is similar to a very basic output from ChatGPT. You could combine the tools by taking the itinerary from JourneyPlan and asking ChatGPT to fill in the gaps such as providing suggestions for places to eat and group or private tours.

8. Skoot – Best for planning family trips

Skoot makes your family travel planning easier. 

You can use its chatbot or fill out the form to generate a detailed travel itinerary that takes into account the whole family. 

For the chat to work, all you have to do is put in your destination, number of days you’ll be there and the ages of your kids.

You can also use Skoot to recommend activities directly by clicking ‘Activity finder’, ‘Get outdoors’, ‘Rainy days’ or ‘Food and drink’. 

Check out Skoot here: https://skoothere.com/ 

Pros of Skoot:

• Suggests activities based on the ages of your children
• You can easily save the itinerary or copy it and paste it elsewhere
• Has tabs to generate rainy day activities, food and drink suggestions, and outdoor activities

Cons of Skoot:

• Only puts activities in the itinerary, not restaurants or accommodation recommendations
• Pretty basic suggestions
• Format is chunky and difficult to skim read

Cost of Skoot: 

Skoot is free to use.

Tips for using Skoot:

You can use Skoot to come up with ideas even when you’re not traveling. 

If you live in a destination like New York City, why not have it make suggestions on a rainy day or to help you get the kids outside?

9. Tripbot – Best for eco-conscious travelers

Tripbot is an ai-powered app helping you get to your destination efficiently while keeping your carbon footprint small. I loved the focus on sustainability.

You’ll need to sign up for an account, and then click ‘Plan My Trip’.

The app actually connects you to ChatGPT where it will create a prompt for you and generate your travel plans right there on the site. It then organizes your itinerary by day and plans the best driving route to get you from point A to point B.

Check out Tripbot here: https://www.tripbotapp.com/ 

Pros of Tripbot:

• Tripbot prioritizes routes that save you time, making your travel more efficient
• Provides eco-friendly route options, helping you reduce your carbon footprint while traveling
• Tripbot is connected to ChatGPT
• Can plan routes based on driving or using public transport with the option to edit

Cons of Tripbot:

• The itinerary is not hyper-personalized like some of the other ai tools on the list
• Doesn’t help with things like car rentals, hotel rooms, or booking flights
• Fairly limited app with only basic activity planning features

Cost of Tripbot: 

Tripbot is free.

Tips for using Tripbot:

You can download the app to your phone and use it on the go. So no matter where you are, you can find the most sustainable way to get there.

10. Roam Around  – Best for quick and simple itineraries

Roam Around is the perfect tool if you’re looking for quick, straightforward trip planning without any bells and whistles. 

While it may not offer a plethora of features, it does the basics well, making it a reliable choice for simple travel needs.

You’ll get a breakdown of day to day activities and some information around the weather, the language, and the currency. There are links that let you book activities from the itinerary. There’s also a chatbot that helps customize the trip further so you can ask for additional recommendations, for things to be changed, or even for it to connect you with the best deals. 

Check out Roam Around here: https://www.roamaround.io/ 

Pros of Roam Around:

• Engaging user-interface, simple to use
• Chatbot lets you further customize the itinerary to your preferences and needs
• It’s fast and can pull together an itinerary in a few seconds

Cons of Roam Around:

• At first, it’s not very personalized because it’s only taking into account your dates and your travel destination
• The features are limited 
• Not suited to plan for multiple travel locations

Cost of Roam Around: 

Roam Around is free to use.

Tips for using Roam Around:

You should definitely use the chatbot feature so that the itinerary becomes more customized to you. Treat him like your personal AI powered travel assistant.

11. Kayak – Best for booking travel options in one place

Kayak is a well-known name in the travel industry, and for good reason. This tool excels in providing comprehensive price comparisons for flights, hotels, and car rentals. 

Its search engine is powered by AI and it will take into account where you’re coming from, where you’re going, and the length of time.

It even has a section for business travel and can make suggestions on when the best time to travel is.

Check out Kayak here: www.kayak.com     

Pros of Kayak:

• Kayak scans multiple travel sites to provide you with the best deals on flights, hotels, and car rentals
• The tool offers a flexible dates feature, allowing you to find cheaper options by adjusting your travel dates
• Kayak includes user reviews for hotels and other accommodations to help you make informed bookings

Cons of Kayak:

• Sometimes it’s better to book directly through providers rather than third parties
• The number of options can be overwhelming and cause analysis paralysis when choosing
• You might find cheaper prices elsewhere

Cost of Kayak: 

It’s free to use Kayak. You’ll only need to pay for anything you book through the site.

Tips for using Kayak:

When you find what you want to book, do some research to see if it’s cheaper to purchase elsewhere. 

You can also use Kayak as a plug-in for openAI’s ChatGPT tool.

12. Destinations.ai – Best for figuring out when to travel (US specific)

Know where you want to go but not sure when the best time to travel is? Or maybe you’re looking for specific weather and activities but are unsure of the location?

That’s where an AI tool like Destinations.ai comes in. This tool takes into account your weather preferences and helps you choose when and where to go within the US.

It’s niche but it’s useful.

Check out Destination.ai here: https://destinations.ai/ 

Pros of Destinations.ai:

• Tells you the best times to travel, potentially saving you money and avoiding crowds
• Great for US travelers
• Helps you plan a trip based on weather and activity preferences

Cons of Destinations.ai:

• Focused only on domestic U.S. travel, making it less versatile for international trips
• It’s only useful when choosing locations and times to visit

Cost of Destinations.ai: 

It’s completely free to use.

Tips for using Destinations.ai:

To get best use of this tool, you’ll want to use it in the early planning stages of your trip. That way you can see when the best time to travel to the destination is and go from there with one of the other tools.

Frequently asked questions about trip planner ai tools 

How to use AI in travel?

You can use AI travel planners to help you: 

• Plan a trip itinerary day by day
• Book accommodation, find flight deals, and suggest or book activities
• Get language and cultural tips 
• Choose your destination and when you’ll go
• Map out a road trip
• Give you helpful information about currency, exchange rate, weather, etc.

And that’s just the beginning of its capabilities.

Is there an AI for travel planning?

Yes. In fact, there are tons of AI for travel planning. This list has the 12 best I found but there are dozens of other tools available that you can sift through and test.

Is there an app to plan a road trip?

Yes, you can use AI tools like Curiosio to plan a road trip. 

It has a database of 24 countries and lets you export the itinerary to Google maps for ease of use while driving.

ChatGPT can also help here if you give it the right prompt but I would recommend an app that specifically caters to road trips. Or you can use both.