One of the worst mistakes you can make when traveling is to not have information. From the very start of the planning process, you need to know where to go for the best prices, updates, and reviews. It doesn’t matter if you’re planning a weekend getaway or a month long backpacking expedition. Having the wrong information means you’ll be wasting money, visiting the wrong places, and missing out on the great trip you could have had. Of course, what kind of trip you want to plan is up to you. Don’t think we’re trying to force you into planning the most elaborate and overbearing vacation of all time. Whether you want to take it easy or take the journey of a lifetime, we want you to have the best resources. Here are some of the best travel sites for finding information.
Best Travel Sites for Basic Information
When you’re trying to plan a trip, especially one that includes airfare, where’s the first place you go? Most likely, you’ll try one of the big companies you remember from a TV commercial. Traveling is a big ($$) business so many of the different booking and pricing websites have to spend money to make money.
Most of the time, whichever site you choose will be a decent launchpad for finding a great deal. We do recommend, however, that you shop around. Here are some of the best travel sites when it comes to booking flights, hotels, and cars.
Expedia
The first thing you’ll notice when visiting Expedia is the sheer number of possibilities for which you can search. On top of the basic queries, you can browse cruises, special events, and vacation rentals. Expedia is a booking engine, which means you can book things like airline tickets through its website (instead of being kicked over to United, Southwest, etc.). Just like some other websites we’ll be mentioning below, Expedia is also in business with several popular companies (Orbitz, Alamo, Hertz, and so on) which allows them to offer the same pricing on its site that you would find on each of those companies’ pages.
Kayak
This is another solid company to use when booking your next trip. Kayak offers an array of pricing models for just about any vacation possibility. When looking for a flight, the website has an impressive number of filters to help you find the right price as well as a helpful price tracker which can give you reasonable certainty when picking the plane you want. One of the things to differentiate Kayak from Expedia is that the site simply aggregates prices for you to choose from. In other words, once you find the resource you wish to purchase, you will be led to a different site in order to complete the exchange.
Priceline
Another one of the best travel sites frequently used today is Priceline. Your best connection to this company is likely the series of commercials featuring William Shatner and Kaley Cuoco which often tout the brand’s big feature, the Name Your Own Price tool. While this feature is essentially dead, Priceline does have an Express Deals offer which allows for you to find some great pricing for your trip (the only tradeoff is they may keep the company names a secret until checkout). You can also use the Trip Builder tool which allows you to coordinate between different services and complete your own itinerary.
Booking.com
Owned by the same parent company as Priceline and Kayak, Booking.com is another quality tool you may want to use when planning your next vacation. Looking for a hotel can be difficult, but Booking.com has a wealth of information that can make the process so much better. You can find hotels by where they are in the city, which amenities are provided, how users rate them, and so much more. When looking for a hotel room, be it through this website or another, we always suggest you do your research.
Government Websites
It may not be the first place you’d think to go, but the US government has a lot of answers for travelers who need information. Want to find out how to get your passport for that trip to Europe you’re planning next year? Government websites make for some of the best travel sites because of safety advisories, answers to medical questions which could pop up, information on documents you might need, and so on. Not all of the research you need to do before taking a trip is going to be fun, but the boring subjects are usually the ones to which you should pay the most attention. Government websites have done a lot of the heavy lifting for you when it comes to overseas travel.
Company Websites
Sometimes the best travel websites belong to whichever companies with which you plan to travel. Checking the website of an airline, hotel, or cruise ship can help you know what to pack before you leave the house. You don’t want to be the person showing up to the airport only to realize he’s improperly packed everything. Other important information to have may be involving your pets, what time you have to bring the rental car back, or any number of important details. Once you have set up your vacation, do a quick perusal of the company websites just to make sure you know how things are going to go down.
Local Review Sites
If you’re living in the modern world, you’re probably already using some of the best travel sites, just with a different purpose. Review sites like Yelp!, TripAdvisor, etc. are essential when vacationing in the United States. How else are you going to know where the best restaurants, museums, and parks are in your area? Yelp! allows for users to find just about anything via location, price, and rating level. This may seem a little too simplistic at the start, but local customers likely know better than you which places are worth your time. Let them do the work for you by hunting down can’t-miss eats and attractions. We promise it’s worth your time when visiting a new city.
The best travel sites are those which can get you where you’re going in a timely fashion without overpaying and avoiding the hassle. Aside from shortcuts provided by such websites, the most important part of traveling is choosing a reliable company offering the trip of a lifetime in a place you want to go. Premier Israel wants to be that company for you. We offer remarkable journeys to the Holy Land and so much more. Find out how you can join us for an amazing trip by clicking on the link below.