30 Best Travel Sites

Find the best deals for plane tickets, hotel rooms, vacation packages and car rentals, domestic or abroad, without leaving your desk.
By Stacy Rapacon, Reporter, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
December 2008
The bear market is putting the squeeze on the travel industry and travelers are reaping the benefits. As customers cut down their vacation budgets, airlines, hotels, and cruise lines are extending incredible deals to try and entice them back into traveling.
To help you find the best bargains, we personally surfed the torrent of travel sites flooding the Web and chose our favorites.You can satisfy your wanderlust without overspending -- and these top travel Web sites will help you find the best values in travel bargains. We've personally used each of these sites and found them superior to others.-->
For airfare, lodging and car rentals, we identify which links are best for three different types of traveler. So whether you're pressed for time, looking for the best deal or traveling internationally, you'll find a site to fit your needs. We also identify the best sources to find bargains on cruises and vacation packages.
Airfares
Lodging
Car rentals
Vacation packages
More resources

AIRFARES
Time-Pressed TravelerKayak.com fetches the best fares on the web from more than 140 sources. Click on the best deal, and Kayak.com will send you to the site where you can buy the ticket. Boost your chances of finding a deal by searching for dates up to three days before and after your ideal travel dates. Or you can use the Buzz tool to search for trips that leave within a calendar month, in the six upcoming weekends, or just anytime. And if you don’t have a specific destination in mind, Buzz lets you search by region, such as the Caribbean or Europe.
Tip: Book directly with the airline's Web site to avoid additional booking fees for buying tickets in-person, by phone, or through an online travel agent.
Best-Deal TravelerFarecast.com predicts whether fares on major domestic routes will go up or down. Enter your itinerary and the site will return a list of airfares with a recommendation to either buy a ticket now or wait for a better fare. Depending on how flexible your travel plans are, you can score the best deals using the site’s Flexible Map/Graph, which searches departures up to six months after your selected date.
Tip: Try departing on a Tuesday or Wednesday and returning on a Saturday. These less-traveled days often score the best deals.
From time to time, airlines will offer unbelievably low fares, often referred to as "fire sales," on selected flights and itineraries. In our experience, Airfare Watchdog posts these travel bargains faster than other Web sites and includes fares from Southwest, JetBlue and other small airlines that might not show up on bigger sites like Kayak or Farecast.
International TravelerEven for international flights, Kayak usually finds the best fares. But if you head overseas often, we recommend signing up with cFares. Platinum membership is $50 a year, but can be recouped in savings after a couple flights, especially on trips to Europe or Asia. Just like Kayak and Farecast, cFares aggregates travel fares sold through other providers; however, some travel deals require you to return to cFares.com after purchasing your ticket to apply for a rebate.
LODGING
Time-Pressed TravelerTripAdvisor is the most comprehensive and easy-to-use hotel review site, offering 20 million professional and amateur reviews of hotels in the U.S. and overseas. Photos and maps are provided for most property listings, adding to the usefulness of this site. TripAdvisor doesn't sell rooms but lets you compare and book rates sold by Web travel agencies, such as Expedia, Travelocity and Hotels.com.
Tip: When booking a hotel, try picking up the phone. Talking to an actual person (ask for the manager) may find you better deals, especially with the larger chains. Be sure to call the local number instead of the chain's toll-free listing. Note that calling is not advised for booking plane tickets -- airlines charge extra fees, up to $25, for processing phone orders.
Best-Deal TravelerPriceline.com offers the best bargains for luxury hotel lodging. Users specify a star class, the duration of stay and a neighborhood in a metro area, then submit a bid. (The site also sells airline tickets and rental cars this way.)
Bids less than $100 a night on luxury lodgings are often successful. There are three catches, though: Priceline doesn't disclose the name of the hotel you're booking until you buy; it doesn't refund your money if you cancel and it may place you in a hotel outside your selected neighborhood.
One more hitch: We don't recommend booking a hotel in an overseas city without knowing its precise location beforehand, so look to other sites to book a room abroad.
Priceline and TripAdvisor are most useful for booking big chain hotels. To find smaller inns and B&B's, try Bedandbreakfast.com. It lists extensive details on even the tiniest inns, plus "hot deals" in your desired location. And you can search for specific amenities, including pet- and family-friendly features.
Consider an alternative to hotels: Condo-apartment rentals. Vacation rentals generally offer more room and amenities for the same price as hotel rooms. Plus, their kitchens can spare you from having to dine out for every meal. The best selection of rental lodgings we've found is at HomeAway.com.
International TravelerVacation rentals are especially more desirable options when going abroad. Through Villas International, you can find cottages and apartments starting at as little as $25 per person per night throughout Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico and a few other places.
If you're even more adventurous, you might consider a home exchange. HomeExchange.com is the most well-known site for this type of transaction. As the name implies, you swap homes with someone else, usually for a one- to three-week vacation. Annual membership runs about $100 for unlimited transactions in the U.S. or abroad.
LateRooms.com emphasizes last-minute bargains at international hotels. The site lists retail room rates in the currency of your choice alongside discount rates charged per night. We recommend calling to book a hotel, whenever possible. LateRooms.com makes that easy by providing the number to call and a reference code for the rate it found you. The site also provides international city guides including recommendations for restaurants and activities for kids.
Another tip: When you pay your hotel room bill on checkout, beware if the clerk offers to convert your bill into U.S. dollars. Decline this offer because hotels usually charge higher exchange rates than banks charge through ATMs or credit cards. What's worse, if you're credit card issuer charges a currency conversion fee for international purchases (typically 1% of the bill), that fee may still apply -- even if the hotel provided a currency conversion. In essence, you'll be double charged.
CAR RENTALS
Time-Pressed TravelerOrbitz aggregates rental-car rates from seven of the most affordable car rental companies in the country, including Alamo and Budget. And Orbitz does not charge an extra booking fee for car rentals, though it does for plane tickets.
But beware, extra fees run rampant among rental-car retailers. Tip: if possible, avoiding renting at the airport where you can get slammed with hefty fees.
Best-Deal TravelerHotwire consistently offers lower rates because it doesn’t disclose which rental company you're working with until after you've paid. This approach might be risky for airline flights or hotels (for which Hotwire also applies this same blind-booking format), but with cars, you get the same sedan regardless of which company provides it.
International TravelerAuto Europe is a rental-car rate wholesaler that specializes in pre-paid international rentals. It returned better rates than other online booking sites (for comparable vehicles) when we recently searched for cars in England, Greece, Ireland and Spain. Plus, this company staffs its customer-service hotlines (toll-free internationally) 24-hours a day.
Be wary that the rental-car chains may, independently from Auto Europe, attempt to tack on hidden charges following your prepayment to Auto Europe. Carefully review your credit-card bill after an overseas trip. If unnecessary charges appear, Auto Europe will assist with disputing them. (You can also face this problem when you book directly with the rental-car company, particularly if the company is not headquartered in the United States.)
If it's worth paying a few extra dollars for a hassle-free trip, we recommend booking overseas car rentals with an American name-brand car company such as Avis or Hertz (through Auto Europe or direct). According to anecdotal staff experiences and reports from other media, foreign-owned car rental companies often bungle reservations for American travelers, either by not having the requested cars available or by adding undisclosed charges to the final tab.
Tip: When traveling overseas, consider renting a car with a GPS device that provides turn-by-turn driving directions using voice prompts. Hertz, for example, charges about $18 and has wide network coverage in Europe.
VACATION PACKAGES
CRUISESWith useful reviews and advice columns, CruiseMates.com explains the art of booking a cruise -- including how to select cabin type, theme and boarding port. (If you’re cruising for the first time, consider booking through a traditional travel agent who can walk you through the whole process.)
At CruiseCompete than 300 travel agents 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 provide an email address and they’ll send their best offers for you to compare. The site even staffs live agents to guide you through the process.
Quick TravelLastminute.com offers the best prices for booking an entire vacation as late as three hours before departure on domestic trips. Save time at the last minute by simultaneously booking airfare, hotel reservations, car rentals, activities and even airport parking.
Luxury Link offers discounted packages for high-end travel, including hotel nights, spa days, gourmet meals and sports activities, but usually not airfare. The site offers some "buy now" deals, but is really hailed for its auction packages (generally priced for two people). Some bidders boast savings of up to 65%. Flexible travel dates are required; vacation packages are subject to availability and black out dates apply. Luxury Link requires payment within 24 hours of an auction’s close and does not offer refunds.
Theme VacationsNational parks. For a value vacation, consider exploring a national park. You'll discover tips on how to stretch your dollars on your next stay by visiting the US Parks site.
Adventure travel. If you're looking for more thrills in your vacation, start by exploring iExplore.com. The site offers hiking and biking trips, as well as multi-sport tours. It also boasts expert advice on "experiential travel," such as a wildlife safari or culinary tour.
Green travel. Go back to BedandBreakfast.com to peruse specials for green getaways. And for a more in-depth search for eco-friendly accommodations, bookmark EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com. The site lists more than 3,600 hotels worldwide, specifying green amenities such as recycling bins or energy-efficient bulbs. Each venue receives a green score of up to seven "evergreens."
RESOURCES & TRAVEL ADVICE
Airport parking. To save money at airport parking lots, visit the aptly named AirportDiscountParking.com, which will direct you to bargain lots and offers printable coupons for additional savings.
Currency conversion. Check rates at XE.com and try to exchange your dollars at a local bank. Along with an easy-to-read conversion rates grid on the homepage, this site offers a host of tools including a travel expenses calculator, credit card charges calculator and, obviously, a conversion calculator.
Eurail. Traveling to Europe? Note that trains are often the fastest and cheapest way to travel within and between European countries. Our favorite English-language Web site for checking timetables and booking tickets on European train lines is RailEurope.
Flight information. AvoidDelays.com, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) provides online updates for flight delays; you sign up for e-mail and phone alerts, too. If you haven't booked a flight yet, you can search for the best time of day to schedule a flight from a specific airport and find out which airports to avoid for connecting flights.
Frequent flier miles. WebFlyer is the most useful site for getting the best upgrade for the miles you've earned. See how your miles convert between programs, learn about changes to your frequent flier program and discover how to max out the value of your mileage awards when you redeem them for merchandise or services.
Also try the Global Points Exchange program at Points.com to trade points and miles between rewards programs.
Packing. Pack lightly to dodge baggage fees. OneBag.com offers packing tips, including updates on banned carry-on items.
Seating. At some airlines, better seats come at a price. SeatGuru.com indicates which seats cost a fee, as well as which have the most (or least) legroom and recline.
Travel insurance. Buying travel insurance from agencies and travel providers, such as cruise lines, is usually a crummy deal because of price markups and restrictions on how the policy claims can be filed. The best value policies we've found are those sold directly by the leading travel insurance company, Travel Guard.
Editor's note: The original version of this article was written by Sean O'Neil, however, Kiplinger's Best Travel Web Sites is updated every year.