Here’s my honest review of the best AI travel planning tools I tested to plan my summer vacation. You’ll find their features, how I tested each one, and my final verdict.
You’re not alone if you’ve been using AI just to write emails or plan a content campaign. I do that too. Lately, I have also been using AI to plan my travels.
In this article, you’ll find the five best AI for travel planning, how I found them, and how I tested them. I also break down the key features of each tool and give you my honest take on how they performed.
Key takeaways:
- AI isn’t just for emails and content; you can use AI to plan travels.
- Trip planning is time-consuming. AI helps cut down that effort by organizing itineraries and offering recommendations.
- AI for travel planning you will find useful includes Mindtrip, Vacay, iPlan.AI, Wonderplan, and Copilot2trip.
- AI tools still have flaws; some hallucinated places and made generic suggestions.
- You don’t have to use AI travel apps alone; you can, and should, still use travel guidebooks, Google Maps lists, and tools like ChatGPT.
My backstory
Sharing my experience with you about the best AI tools for travel planning reminded me of those high school days when we had to write essays about our summer holidays. Remember those?
You’d plan your break, help your parents around the house, visit a relative, or join a summer camp. Even if your holiday was boring, you’d add some fiction to make it enjoyable. I was that student who wrote detailed narratives that made you feel like you were right there with me.
Back then, if you were spending summer in another city, your parents or older siblings usually handled the planning. They’d even ask your host about events to create a schedule. I won’t lie, I loved those days. All I had to do was pack my favorite clothes, get dressed, and show up. My parents already sorted everything else out or whoever was hosting me.
But here’s the part I didn’t enjoy—they’d sometimes exclude activities they thought were risky or unguided, like hiking. I get it now, but I felt a little robbed back then.
Now that I’m older, I love the freedom of planning my own trips. But the truth is, I often forget important details or end up with an unbalanced itinerary. And honestly, no one talks enough about how time-consuming trip planning is. I even forgot my table tennis kit, my favorite sport. That small mistake nearly ruined my trip.
With all the talk around AI, I’ve seen people use it for all sorts of things, and I do too. But I had no idea you could use AI to plan a trip until my boss, who’s always following my AI tools review, asked me which tool he should try for his summer travel plans.
I didn’t pretend I knew the answer. Instead, I made it my next project and decided I’d share everything I learned with you.
AI Travel Planning Tools and my testing methodology
AI travel planning tools are apps designed to help you organize your trip, get recommendations, and build a complete itinerary using AI. Sure, you can plan your trip by researching destinations and finding things to do. But if you want, the AI can create an itinerary based on your preferences.
Apps like these usually include a chat-based interface that lets you interact with the AI directly. Each tool offers different features but generally provides flights, hotels, and activity recommendations. They also create personalized itineraries and give trip updates.
While searching for AI travel planners, I didn’t find many options. After some digging, I narrowed it down to five recurring apps, which I tested.
To test the tools, I created travel prompts or scenarios and ran them through every app. Also, I used each AI tool to plan a summer vacation, paying close attention to several things while using each app:
- How well the AI responded to my prompts
- The ease of use and overall interface
- The accuracy of suggestions and itinerary planning
- How well the AI personalized plans to my preferences
5 best AI for travel planning
Mindtrip
Mindtrip is a travel companion for searching destinations, finding inspiration, and planning your trip. You can use its chat tool to ask for suggestions on any location or to create a full itinerary. If you don’t already have a trip plan, there is an inspiration tab where you can get ideas for your journey. Like a few other tools, Mindtrip includes collaboration features to plan a trip with friends, including a group chat feature.
Another feature is the receipt upload feature, where you can upload and store your trip receipts on the platform. If this is your first time planning a trip, Mindtrip has a traveler quiz to help you figure out what type of traveler you are. There is also a creator hub for turning your trips into guides with tips, photos, and videos to help others.
Planning a summer trip to Lagos, Nigeria using Mindtrip
When you first sign up, Mindtrip asks to access your location. After that, it personalizes your recommendations based on where you are. To test it out, I first used the chat with the prompt, “I want to visit Lagos, Nigeria, this summer for a one-week stay. What do you think about this location, and how do I go about it?” There’s also a voice input option if you prefer speaking instead of typing.
I entered the location, duration, budget, and travel vibe to create a trip. Mindtrip generated a seven-day itinerary and added it to the chat. Impressively, it even created its own follow-up prompt to continue the conversation. It also offered to help me book a hotel, which was a nice touch.
You can view your itinerary on a dedicated itinerary page, complete with a calendar and a section for any bookings you’ve made.
What I didn’t like
Honestly, I didn’t find anything I disliked during my first time using the platform.
Pricing
Mindtrip offers customized pricing plans. You’ll need to contact the team directly to get a quote.
Key features:
- Chat
- Explore
- Saved places
- Inspiration
- Updates
- Creator hub
Vacay
Vacay is a travel planner that uses OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs) to power its semantic search tools. However, you can’t book flights directly on the platform, and it doesn’t provide real-time ticket pricing. Instead, you can access a Flight Advisor and a flight search feature. You’ll also find cruises, restaurants, hotels, and resorts resources. Vacay includes a chatbot that responds with travel recommendations based on your prompts.
The itinerary planner helps you create and design your travel plans. On Vacay, you can explore curated travel guides that show you what to do, where to stay, and how to get the most out of your destination. Travel agents and planners can also use the platform, though the advisor tool is exclusive to users on the Professional plan.
Planning a summer trip to Lagos, Nigeria using Vacay
I started with the Vacay chatbot to test how well it understood my travel goals and whether spending my summer in Lagos would be a good idea. I entered the prompt, “I want to visit Lagos, Nigeria, this summer for a one-week stay. What do you think, and how do I go about it?”
The chatbot responded with a breakdown of flight recommendations, accommodations, dining and experiences, transportation, safety, and accessibility.
After reviewing those suggestions, I used the itinerary planner to plan. I gave it this prompt: “I’m going on a one-week summer vacation in Lagos, Nigeria, from Accra, Ghana. Help me plan my itinerary from day one to day seven. Remember my table tennis sport.” Then, it gave a rundown of the itinerary for the trip.
I also tried using the destination guides to search for Lagos, but unfortunately, no results were returned. However, Vacay includes a section where you can request new destinations or send suggestions.
Pricing:
Vacay offers a free plan for casual travelers. If you want more features, the Premium plan costs $9.99/month, while the Professional plan is available for $49/month.
What I didn’t like
The free version shows ads, and some destinations, like Lagos, aren’t available yet.
Key features:
- Vacay chatbot
- Itinerary planner
- Destination guides
- Hotels and Resorts advisor
- Restaurant recommendations
- Cruise advisor
- Flight advisor
iPlan.AI
iPlan.AI is a mobile travel planner app available on Android and iOS. When you tell the app about your upcoming trip, including the purpose, your interests, who you’re traveling with, how long you’ll stay, and your budget, it creates a personalized itinerary based on that info.
As it generates the itinerary, you can tweak the details. Whether you add or remove something, the AI adjusts the plan accordingly. You can also share your itinerary with your travel companions and collaborate to make it better.
The app includes an interests tab where you can customize your preferences. You can list the languages you speak, the cities you’d love to visit, and those you’ve already explored.
Planning a summer trip to Lagos, Nigeria using iPlan.AI
I downloaded iPlan.AI on my Android device and tried using the free version. As a new user, I found the trip creation process smooth. The app immediately prompted me to create my first trip.
I started by selecting my destination. Since Lagos, Nigeria, wasn’t on the list, I went for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which the app ranked as one of the most popular cities. Planning the trip took six steps. In the second step, I set the trip duration to seven days.
Next, the app asked me to choose my available free time. I adjusted the sliders for each day and selected my travel dates. Since I’m traveling solo, I chose the solo option for my travel companion. I then updated my interests and picked a budget.
You can plan the trip manually or let the AI do it for you at this stage. I chose the AI option. The app generated slides filled with daily activities, complete with images. However, it didn’t include anything about my arrival or the airport. It simply filled the available time I had selected with various activities.
What I didn’t like
The itinerary focused more on visuals than on detailed descriptions. I wanted more context or helpful info to understand the activities better. Also, some cities, like Lagos, Nigeria, weren’t available yet.
Pricing
iPlan.AI offers a free version and a Pro plan. The Pro plan costs ₦16,500 per year or ₦6,510 per month.
Key features:
- AI itinerary generator
- Customization options for location, interests, duration, and travel companion
Wonderplan
This is another trip planning and itinerary management app. Its AI travel assistant helps you generate accommodation recommendations based on your preferences and tastes. You can also download and save your plans as a PDF offline.
The app includes other interactive features, like a deals section that curates trip discounts on lodging, transportation, tours, and activities.
Planning a summer trip to Lagos, Nigeria, using Wonderplan
Using this app to plan a trip, it followed a quiz-style process similar to other platforms. I entered my destination, travel dates, budget, and preferred activities. After I submitted it, it generated an itinerary for me, from day one to the final day, and also added a cost estimate.
What I didn’t like
I noticed the AI hallucinated a bit when describing one of the activities. I also found that the app didn’t offer many interactive features beyond the basics.
Pricing
You can use it for free.
Key features:
- Copy
- Bookmark
- Share
- Download
- Map
- Deals
- Trip planner
Copilot2trip
Copilot2trip is a simple travel and itinerary chat app that helps you get trip recommendations and plan your travels. It works like a typical AI chat, but it’s designed for travel planning. A travel guides tab also curates experiences and highlights from popular destinations. These guides can inspire you to build an itinerary for similar locations.
When you use the app on the web or download it on Android or iOS, you won’t notice much difference in performance. However, the web version offers more detailed features and gives you a better view of the maps.
Planning a summer trip to Lagos, Nigeria using Copilot2trip
There were not too many features to explore; I dropped my prompt into the chat and let it respond. I typed, “I want to visit Lagos, Nigeria, this summer for a one-week stay. What do you think, and how should I go about it?”
The chat asked questions to understand my preferences and then generated an itinerary. It also included estimated prices for some of the suggested activities.
What I didn’t like
You won’t find many extra travel features in the app, and there’s no dedicated tab for organizing your trips in one place.
Pricing
I used the app for free and didn’t come across any exact billing cost.
Key features:
- Chat
- Maps
- Itinerary
- Travel guides
Best AI for travel planning at a glance
| Best AI for travel planning | Key features | Pricing |
| Mindtrip | Chat Explore Saved places InspirationUpdatesCreator hub | Mindtrip offers customized pricing plans. |
| Vacay | Vacay chatbot Itinerary planner Destination guides Hotels and Resorts advisor Restaurant recommendations Cruise advisor Flight advisor | Vacay offers a free plan. The Premium plan costs $9.99/month, and the Professional plan costs $49/month. |
| iPlan.AI | AI itinerary generator Customization options for location, interests, duration, and travel companion | iPlan.AI offers a free version and a Pro plan. The Pro plan costs ₦6,510 per month. |
| Wonderplan | Copy Bookmark Share Download Map Deals Trip planner | You can use it for free. |
| Copilot2trip | Chat Maps Itinerary Travel guides | I used the app for free and didn’t come across any exact billing cost. |
My Take: AI travel planning tools review
There aren’t many working options of AI travel planning apps out there, but the ones that exist try to make planning trips faster and easier. A few key things make an app stand out, like ease of use, helpful features, and actually doing what it promises.
Out of the five I tested, I found Mindtrip especially useful. It has an appealing user interface, and the experience wasn’t overwhelming for a first-time user. I liked that you can create a group chat and even paste a link from a past trip to help guide your new itinerary. On top of that, it offers business and creator programs for users on the platform.
That said, these AI travel planning tools aren’t the only ones worth checking out. Here are a few more you might want to try out:
- TripIt
- Roadtrippers
- Travel GPT
- Trip Planner AI
- Layla
Conclusion
Using an AI planning tool doesn’t mean you can’t still plan trips with other tools or do it manually. AI tools make travel planning easier, help you stay organized, save time, and offer more specific recommendations.
While more people are turning to AI for travel planning, I noticed some clear limitations when I tested these tools. Some apps suggested locations that don’t exist or gave descriptions that didn’t match the place. Others offered bland or generic recommendations that lacked creativity. Even after setting my preferences, the AI didn’t always deliver a unique experience.
Meanwhile, you don’t have to use AI travel apps alone; you can, and should, still use travel guidebooks, Google Maps lists, and tools like ChatGPT.
