Whether you want to know where to go, how to get there, the finest places to stay or what to avoid at all costs, this list is a treasure trove of information for the trip of a lifetime
OpenTable
“If, like me, the idea of queuing for a restaurant while on holiday turns your stomach, this is your website,” says Srin. “With more than 40,000 restaurants to choose from, it’s still the biggest and best – and lets you search for places to eat by district, cuisine and review score, before booking your table for free. It’s particularly handy if you’re travelling through busy cities like London, New York or Sydney, where bagging a table at a peak time in a popular spot can be impossible without a reservation. For European cities including Paris and Madrid, French website, the Fork, is a little fiddlier to use, but does the same job.”
Sky Park Secure
“While no one’s going to get excited about airport parking, the fact remains that the costs – and inconveniences involved – can quickly mount up,” says Abigail. “This site compares more than 300 airport car parks at over 28 airports to help find you the best deal, but the algorithm goes beyond budget alone. Car parks are monitored for quality and the deals include official airport parking and meet & greet options as well as the more economical park and ride end of the scale.”
Viator
“So you’ve landed at your destination and you’re overwhelmed with options of what to see, eat, and do, but there are some challenges to accomplishing it all,” says Cynthia Drescher. “Viator offers activities that help travellers get to the heart of the local experience while removing some of the roadblocks. For example, I was in Tallinn and wanted to a see more of Estonia without having to rent a car on my own. Through a Viator experience, I joined a small group daytrip to nearby beaches and hiked through a quarry known for its otherworldly scenery. On my first night in Hoi An, Vietnam, I left all my dinner decisions to a translator and a Viator tasting tour of the best banh mi sandwiches. Greatest idea ever.”
Google Maps
“It might sound obvious, but with its local information, handy satnav directions and downloadable map options, Google Maps is a godsend for the modern traveller,” says John Walton. “There are so many options – walking, driving, transport and more – that you should make sure you have a handle on all of them before travelling.”
FriendzTravel
The last few years have seen a growth in the number of websites and apps that promise to act as a personal travel assistant, but in my experience, this site wins hands down. Book cheap Flight Tickets, discounts and coupon vouchers are avaialble. For any query realated to your travel, you can submit requests by email, phone, text 24-hours. Savour your travel time by allowing someone else to zip through your to-do list and finds the best deals for you. These days, I wonder how I got things done without it.
Routehappy
“Want to figure out how to travel in comfort as well as style? Routehappy (where I used to be Director of Data back in 2014) will help you pick a flight based on whether there’s good legroom, wider seats, new planes, faster wifi, fewer neighbours and a lot more,” says John Walton.
Adioso
“This is a flight search engine for people who are flexible on when they fly,” says Mark. “So you can type in a request such as, ‘London to Los Angeles leaving next week under £800’ and see what comes up. If the fares are too high, you can set an email alert that will let you know when the price reaches your budget. It’s intuitive, fun to use and nicely designed.”
Tripit
“Can’t remember the name of your hotel? Simply forward all your email booking confirmations to this nifty planning tool and it will pop them into in one sleek, shareable itinerary, covering everything from flights to restaurants,” says Srin. “It’s particularly useful if, like me, you’re a bit of a planning nut, or if you have a complex itinerary and plan to venture from place to place.”
Flyconumber
Can’t remember the number of your flight customer service? It offers a wide range of number of various brands. So, it become very easier to get any number from here.
Eater
“Perhaps one of the best things about travelling to a new place is trying new food and drink when you’re there,” says Cynthia. “Eater is a site that reports on everything from the latest trends in ingredients (and where to try them) to which chefs are opening new restaurants and where. Eater’s fantastic and exhaustive airport dining guides even aid you in deciding what to eat when you’re in between places.”
Euan’s Guide
“Looking for accessible places to visit? Euan MacDonald, the man behind this eponymous guide, and a fellow power chair user, has dedicated the past four years to digging out the best accessible attractions with unfailingly honest and detailed reviews,” says Srin. “It’s particularly useful for the UK, though more than 30 countries are covered. I particularly like that it goes beyond the usual well known tourist attractions to include more esoteric stuff like pop up festivals, farmers’ markets and little community theatres.”
Hipmunk
“Yes, Hipmunk is a travel search engine for the likes of airfare, hotel rates, and rental cars, but it’s also an innovator in that space,” says Cynthia. “Instead of simply organising results by what’s cheapest, Hipmunk applies an ‘agony‘ filter to show which flights, ranked by length of travel time combined with layovers and price, will be best for your money. They are then displayed on a grid that better represents what part of your day the plans will occupy, in order to help you plan around it instead of giving over an entire day to travel.”
Skyscanner
“Skyscanner faithfully pulls in airfares into an easy-to-search, easy-to-use flight finder and fare comparison website,” says Abigail. “What sets it apart is the number of ways you can filter your search results. You can narrow it right down to a preferred airline, flight duration and departure time or go wild and search for ‘anywhere in the UK’ to ‘anywhere in France’. It’s an essential part of my travel armoury.”
Owners Direct
“There’s a lot to dislike about Owners Direct, starting with the buggy 1990s-style website,” says Julia. “But it’s also a brilliant resource for self-catering accommodation that bypasses the middle man – you’re communicating direct with the owners. Where Airbnb is great for short city breaks, Owners Direct is unbeatable for longer stays – especially in the UK, where most cottages in places like Cornwall rent by the week. It’s part of the HomeAway behemoth (including VRBO) which means that you can also find great places in Europe and the US as well – two of my all-time favourite stays in Greece and California I found on here. Just remember to make sure the person you’re communicating with is the real owner of the property, and bypass the ‘reserve’ button and make an ‘enquiry’ instead – that way, you don’t pay the site the commission fee (about 10%) for putting you in touch.”
Accuweather
“Like a true Brit, I like to keep a keen eye on the weather,” says Srin. “This site is one of the best for travellers, as it lets you home in on off the beaten track destinations, from lesser known Greek islands to villages in northern Thailand. You can see an hour-by hour forecast for on-the-day planning, as well as an extended forecast for the entire month ahead, though the accuracy of this is somewhat doubtful.”
Canopy and Stars
“Sawday’s was one of the first companies to jump on the glamping bandwagon, and it really shows,” says Julia. “This website is always my go-to if I want something slightly different. Glamping can be grim, but I know that these have all been vetted, and the reviews, though brief, give a great impression of what you’re in for. There’s a huge worldwide selection.”
Google Flights
“There’s nothing better than Google Flights for figuring out your flight options,” says John. “Top tip: if you know your airport codes, you can search to or from up to five airports at a time, which is ideal if you’re within striking distance of several airports or want to hit a region but don’t care which airport you fly into.”
Time Out London
“I grew up in London, but still feel like I haven’t scratched the surface when it comes to the capital’s myriad attractions,” says Srin. “This regularly updated guide is here to help you out, with comprehensive listings that cover everything from the biggest exhibitions and musicals to roof top bars, new street food hangouts and intimate gigs. I love the regular weekend guides, which always include free things to do.”
Rome 2 Rio
“A door-to-door travel search engine that shows times, prices and even carbon emissions, whether you plan to fly, drive, take the train, bus or ferry,” says Mark. “For example, it’s a two-hour flight from Gatwick to Venice, but from my front door to Piazza San Marco will take six hours 24 minutes, apparently, including a 41-minute ferry ride to Ospedale, followed by an 18-minute walk. Getting to the Falkland Islands would take me 31 hours 40 minutes. It’s a fun and addictive site, but it can be beaten: it couldn’t find a way from my house to the South Pole.”
Google Translate
“I remember when Google first offered its translation service, just over 10 years ago, the results were either dodgy or indecipherable (generally both),” says Srin. “These days it’s pretty slick. I use it for translating websites into English, but it comes into its own when you’re travelling, and are struggling for a word or need to ask a question.”
Vital Vegas
“There’s nothing like local blogs for finding out the newest openings and trends in a place, but make sure you’re getting a blog that’s free from PR influence,” says Julia. “Vital Vegas is loathed by many Sin City PRs because it consistently breaks the stories they don’t want you to hear about, whether that’s charging for ice in drinks or decreasing the shot size in gamblers’ free drinks. But it also has its finger on the pulse of what’s going on.”
Jack Smith 