Editor’s Note: The airfares, hotel rates, and vacation package prices in this story are sample prices only, and may vary depending on your specific travel dates.

The Best Destinations for All-Inclusive Vacations Under $500

All-inclusive resorts and packages allow guests to take care of all food and lodging expenses upfront, meaning they can relax on vacation without fear of unexpected costs cropping up during their trip. These four destinations offer travelers a chance to book an all-inclusive vacation and roundtrip airfare for under $500.

The Dominican Republic

The beaches of the Dominican Republic are as beautiful as any in the Caribbean, and round-trip flights to the island can cost as little as $180 from Chicago or Miami. Choice Hotels’ Ascend collection includes two all-inclusive resorts in the Dominican Republic with incredibly low nightly rates: Travel during the off seasons—spring and fall—and you can nab a stay at Emotions by Hodelpa Juan Dolio for as little as $100 per night, or at Emotions by Hodelpa Puerto Plata from $97 per night.

Both are beachfront properties with a variety of restaurants, as well as outdoor pools, in-room fridges, microwaves, an on-site fitness center, and a location that’s within easy distance from the airport and major attractions. Members of the Choice Privileges Rewards Program also earn points by staying at either resort.

Pick the right dates, book a few nights, and do the math, and you’ll have gotten yourself a Caribbean vacation that includes airfare, hotel, food, and beverages (yes, even the alcoholic kind) for under $500.

Jamaica

For travelers willing to travel in the off-season—between mid-April and mid-December—a four night stay at the beachfront Royal Decameron, an all-inclusive property on Montego Bay’s lively strip, and roundtrip airfare can cost as little $474 when booked as a package through CheapCaribbean.com.

The Royal Decameron is within easy walking distance of the city’s best hot spots, shops, and restaurants, though all your food is already taken care of on-site. To stick to your budget, you can also stick to admission-free attractions in Jamaica—including Negril Cliffs and Castleton Gardens—and use local buses and taxis instead of renting a car.

The Bahamas

While not a classic all-inclusive resort vacation, you’ll certainly find everything you need on board a cruise ship to the Bahamas. And if you’re setting sail from Florida, you can, without too much effort, find a four-night cruise for about the cost of a single hotel night in any major American city.

A quick Expedia search brings up plenty of three- and four-night sailings from Florida that start under $300 per person, while Cruises.com offers a similar list. Cruise prices typically include all the food you can eat, live entertainment, and calls at ports such as Nassau, Freeport, and, often, private islands belonging to that cruise line. We even found a 4-night cruise departing from Miami going to the Bahamas for $169 per person! 

Cancún

Roundtrip flights to Cancún from southeastern airports like Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, and Miami can be found for as little as $183. You’ll find the best deals during off-season, mid-summer through autumn, and fares tend to be cheaper for travel on weekdays than weekends.

Riu Hotels & Resorts operates a series of all-inclusive resorts in Cancún, including the HOTEL RIU DUNAMAR 5* which has rooms available for as little as $137 per night. For those who would rather bundle their airfare and hotel, CheapCaribbean.com offers deals on several all-inclusive vacation packages with airfare that will get you to Cancún for under $500. This vacation package to Riviera Maya  includes three nights at the Bahia Principe Grand Coba, a 5-star hotel right by popular Playa Del Carmen complete with spa, casino, and beach access. 

Other Top Spots for a Budget Vacation

If all-inclusive resorts aren’t your style, there are still plenty of other cheap tropical vacation spots to explore.  While additional expenses like food and excursions won’t be covered, you can still find round-trip airfare and lodging for under $500 at these destinations.

Puerto Rico

You can often find round-trip flights from Miami to San Juan for around $100—with some weekday options as low as $75—and flights from other parts of the east coast are usually under $200 thanks to budget airlines like Spirit. 

Vacation rentals are the most affordable option for accommodations and you can find several cheap options that are right by the beach – like this two-bedroom condo that costs just $89 per night or this spacious studio with spa tub and patio for just $99 per night.

Stretch your budget even further by spending your days lounging on the gorgeous beaches around the island, all of which are free and open to the public, or seeking out fun free experiences in the capital city of San Juan, like the University of Puerto Rico’s Botanical Garden.

Oahu, Hawaii

Budget airlines like Southwest and Alaskan have made trips to Hawaii affordable. Several times a year, these airlines have sales that bring flights to Hawaii down to less than $300.  (Airfare sites such as Airfarewatchdog, SmarterTravel’s sister site, will alert you when fares drop.)

If you’re lucky enough to snag one of these low fares to Honolulu—or if you’re the lucky owner of a Southwest Companion Pass, which is actually fairly easy to get if you keep an eye out for associated credit card offers—Oahu has worthwhile low-budget lodgings that could help keep your tropical vacation total under $500. Vacation rentals will once again give you the best bang for your buck, with many highly rated options on Vrbo listed at less than $100 per night.

Once you’re there, Honolulu doesn’t have to be expensive since the city has plenty of cheap street food and affordable restaurants—Moose McGillycuddy’s is a favorite for low-cost breakfasts—and bus transportation is easy and much less expensive than renting a car. Plus, many of Oahu’s most worthwhile attractions are free or open for a nominal fee, including hiking up Diamond Head ($5 for entry, $10 to park a vehicle in the lot), paying tribute at Pearl Harbor’s USS Arizona (free), and sunbathing on Waikiki Beach (free).

Florida

Americans looking to keep their tropical vacations under $500 don’t actually have to leave the contiguous part of their continent to laze on the beach while shaded by palm trees. Orbitz’s list of vacation package deals under $499 usually offers some worthwhile all-inclusive deals to Orlando. Likewise, Travelocity has a dedicated Flight + Hotel Deals Under $400 page that includes various packages to Miami and Orlando, with stays at properties like the Westgate Vacation Villa Resort and the Boulan South Beach.

If you’d rather book airfare and lodging separately, check out Expedia’s round-trip fares to Orlando for less than $100. Couple that with affordable lodgings, like the family-friendly Coco Key Hotel and Waterpark Resort—just $132 for a room that sleeps four and only $19 more for a King Suite—and you’ve got yourself a memorable tropical trip with the kids that won’t break the bank.

Tips for Finding All-Inclusive Vacations with Airfare Under $500

Wherever you choose to book your affordable tropical vacation, one key strategy to keeping it under $500 is to understand what average prices look like for where you want to go—and to be ready to buy the minute you see fares that are listed well below that.

“If you’ve been watching for a good fare and you find one, don’t hesitate,” says Jeff Klee, the CEO of CheapAir. “When you go away for a few days or hours to consult with friends, or just continue to shop around, you may be surprised to find that the fare has disappeared while you mulled it over.”

One other tip for keeping vacations under $500, from Klee: “Flexibility is your friend. Unless your trip is for an event tied to a specific set of dates, often just shifting your search dates by a few days can offer big savings. Remember that mid-week flights—Tuesdays and Wednesdays—are usually a much better value than those on the weekend.”

All of the products featured in this story were hand-selected by our travel editors. Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Hotel Checkout Mistake #1: Failing to Double-Check Your Bill

Hotels are notorious for tacking on hidden fees. While some are unavoidable, you’ll want to scan your bill for anything that looks fishy—such as charges for snacks or drinks when you didn’t touch the minibar, or a dinner in the hotel restaurant that was charged to the wrong room number. Be sure to dispute these charges and get an updated copy of the receipt before you check out.

Hotel Checkout Mistake #2: Leaving Something Behind

My parents once made it all the way to the airport in Paris before realizing they had left their passports in the hotel safe. Needless to say, they missed their flight—and had a stressful ending to an otherwise pleasant trip.

Their story isn’t uncommon. In addition to leaving things in the safe, travelers often forget about toiletries in the shower and phone chargers in out-of-sight, out-of-mind electrical outlets.

Pack as much as you can the night before, when you’re not stressed for time. Then, right before hotel checkout time, do one last sweep of your room. Peek under the bed for things that might have fallen, pull back the shower curtain, check all the outlets, and open up the safe.

One trick long recommended by savvy travelers: Put one of your shoes in the safe the night before so you can’t leave without opening it. Another option is to bring along your pre-trip packing list and go over it to make sure you have everything before you leave the hotel.

Hotel Checkout Mistake #3: Forgetting to Leave a Tip

Don’t forget your hardworking (and often underpaid) housekeeper in your rush to get out the door. If you don’t have small bills handy, the front desk can make change for you. Consider leaving the equivalent of $2 to $5 each night of your stay, depending on local tipping norms and how messy you are.

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Hotel Checkout Mistake #4: Not Allowing Enough Time

In an ideal world you’d step out of the elevator, hand the keycard to a front desk staffer, and complete your hotel checkout in about 90 seconds. Don’t count on that—especially if you’re staying at a large hotel that caters to conventions and/or tour groups. Such properties often have long lines at the front desk during the most popular checkout times.

If you’ve got a plane or train to catch, allow yourself plenty of extra time to check out—just in case.

Hotel Checkout Mistake #5: Letting the Hotel Call You a Cab

Yes, it’s convenient, but travelers on a budget should order themselves an Uber or Lyft instead. Not only will the fare likely be cheaper, but you’ll also save a few bucks on tips for the hotel staff.

Hotel Checkout Mistake #6: Failing to Reserve a Spot on the Airport Shuttle

If you’re staying in an airport hotel before an early flight, chances are the property offers a free shuttle—but don’t assume you can just show up at 5:30 a.m. and hop on. Shuttle spots can be limited, and many hotels recommend (or even require) that you reserve your place the night before.

Once you make a reservation, be sure to arrive on time. The front desk might give you a courtesy call if you aren’t in the lobby when the van is ready to leave, but with other passengers in a hurry to make their flights, the shuttle might not wait long.

Hotel Checkout Mistake #7: Overstaying Your Welcome

Normal hotel checkout time for most properties is 11:00 a.m. or noon so housekeepers have time to clean rooms for the next guest. Be sure you know the deadline at your hotel so you can plan accordingly.

If you need a little extra time, call the front desk as far in advance as you can and see if they can accommodate you. Don’t just stay in the room beyond the checkout time; you will disrupt the housekeeping schedule and could face extra fees.

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Don’t Forget About Alternate Airports

Many major cities have more than one good-sized airport, but by searching only on a specific one, you won’t see potentially better fares to other nearby gateways. A couple of classic U.S. examples are Newark vs. JFK vs. LaGuardia, or Long Beach vs. LAX; overseas a good example is Gatwick vs. Heathrow in London.

To get these airports into the mix, choose the “All Airports” option shown on many airline and flight booking sites that includes a city code instead of an airport code. So when traveling to or from New York, sites like Expedia allow you to use NYC instead of JFK or EWR, and will return fares from all area airports. In Los Angeles, the code for all airports is QLA (instead of the more limited LAX).

In the case of densely populated areas, you can sometimes fly into an entirely different city altogether. For example, San Diego is about a two-hour drive from Los Angeles (depending on traffic, of course); that makes it a somewhat reasonable alternative to Los Angeles, especially if your trip takes you to areas south of L.A. like Newport Beach, San Clemente, and the like. Similarly, Chicago and Milwaukee are about 90 miles apart, and Tampa and Orlando are separated by about 85 miles.

If your booking site does not allow this (for example, CheapFlights.com seems to accept NYC, but not QLA), or you’re not sure what your other options are, another way to discover nearby airports is to do a search on Kayak and use their filter options to include nearby airports with available routes. You can also consult this cool chart from Johnny Jet that lists nearby airports in the U.S. by miles from your departure or destination airport.

Don’t Forget to Try Searching on an Incognito Browser

It’s long been suspected that airlines and booking engines may show higher fares on routes that you have previously searched. If you are researching an upcoming trip from Chicago to Paris, for example, and have checked airfares on the route frequently in recent days or weeks, the site “knows” you really want these fares, and “guesses” that you might be willing to pay a bit more for them.

So, do flight prices go up the more you look at them? I have not been able to duplicate this myself, and the SmarterTravel team hasn’t found any evidence that airlines raise fares if you’ve previously searched for a given itinerary. A recent study found that fares do differ on occasion, but you’re actually more likely to see lower fares if you’re logged into a given booking site rather than searching on a browser with no previous history of researching that route.

Because of this uncertainty, it’s worth trying your search both ways—on your normal browser (preferably while logged into your favorite booking site) and on an incognito browser where your searches aren’t tracked.

Don’t Book on Days When Prices Are Higher

Unless you are booking travel for work, it is obviously most convenient to shop for and purchase airfares over the weekend, when you have more free time. However, Airfarewatchdog reports that many airlines release sales early in the week, making Tuesday and Wednesday a good time to catch low fares. FareCompare narrows it down even further, reporting that the best time to book U.S. domestic flights is Tuesday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

This varies somewhat for international flights, as might be expected with airlines based in a variety of countries with different fare updating patterns, so you will want to be a bit more vigilant for international fares. I recommend checking prices throughout the week or signing up for fare alerts from Airfarewatchdog.

Keep in mind, too, that prices for last-minute flights are almost always higher than those booked further in advance. You’re typically better off booking at least six weeks before a U.S. domestic flight, and even further in advance for international itineraries.

Don’t Fly on Friday or Sunday

Airlines tend to jack up airfares for Friday and Sunday flights for the simple reason that these are the most likely days leisure travelers and vacationers are going to travel. The number of travelers also gets pushed up on Fridays by business travelers racing home, so this can be a particularly pricey day. Mondays can also be pricey thanks to their popularity with business travelers.

The cheapest days to fly tend to be Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with Thursdays and Saturdays costing a little more. That means that if your departure or return flight falls on a Monday, Friday, or Sunday, you’re likely paying more than you need to. It may take some creative use of your vacation time—such as a trip that runs Tuesday to Tuesday rather than Sunday to Sunday—but what you lose in flexibility you more than make up for in savings.

Don’t Forget to Shop Around

Like a lot of us, over the years I have accumulated some booking engine loyalties, but they’re not strong enough to keep me from checking fares on multiple sites, especially as I get closer to making the actual booking. There are some great search engines out there that allow you to compare flight prices on multiple sites at once. But relying on any one of them alone would be a mistake. Each site employs slightly different search algorithms, and as a result can sometimes return different prices—and flight times and combinations as well, which certainly adds value.

A good starting point is our list of The Best Flight Search Sites for Booking Cheap Airfare. To make this easier and semi-automated, you may want to set up multiple email alerts, too. It can take significant time to check a whole heap of sites every day, but if you sign up for fare alerts, you’ll be notified when a price goes down.

And unless you’re aiming for elite status on a specific airline—which generally requires a minimum of 25,000 air miles flown per calendar year, as well as a minimum amount spent—it doesn’t make a lot of sense to base your purchasing decisions around loyalty to an airline or its frequent-flyer program. Shop around on all of the major online travel agencies (OTAs) and directly with the low-cost carriers (like Southwest) whose best fares are nowhere to be found on OTAs.

Don’t Book a Too-Tight Connection

Fifty minutes might seem like long enough to get from one gate to another on a domestic flight, but what happens if your first flight is delayed by half an hour? On international flights, have you allowed enough time to go through customs, reclaim your bags, and wait through another security line—even if your first flight doesn’t arrive on time?

Avoid booking domestic connections that are less than an hour, particularly if you know your connecting airport is large and has terminals spread out, or if you’re flying different legs on separate carriers that may not share gate areas and/or terminals. On international flights, allow at least two hours.

Don’t Ignore Other Costs, Both Human and Financial

Sometimes the money you save on a cheaper airfare is absorbed almost instantly by other expenses you incur. Make sure you check to see if the rates you’re excited about include all taxes and fees, including baggage fees for checked or even carry-on bags. For example, a $200 round-trip flight on American will cost you $240 if you check a bag. That same $200 flight on Southwest will cost you … $200.

Consider other sneaky travel expenses as well: the need to stay in an airport hotel for a really early flight, seat selection fees on a discount airline, or gas and tolls to a more distant airport. Other potential costs might include an extra day in a kennel for your pet or more expensive airport meals on the road when saving by booking connections.

You may also want to check whether one airline has better entertainment options, seatback screens vs. overhead (or none), a better seat layout, more legroom, or better meal service. Price aside, these are all factors that can make a big difference in how pleasant—or miserable—your flight might be.

A good friend recently booked his family on a very early flight out of San Antonio, and at around 7:00 a.m. posted a photo on Twitter of his bleary-eyed teenage daughter dragging herself through the airport. The caption: “Thank you to my daughter for getting up at 3:30 a.m. so we could save $30 on airfare.” Ouch.

4 Quick Bonus Flight Booking Mistakes to Avoid

• Don’t book a trip to the wrong airport. Make sure you know your airport codes; you don’t want to end up in South Dakota when you meant to go to Hawaii (it’s possible).
• Don’t dismiss the travel agent option—especially if you’ve got complicated, multi-stop flights. If you’ve got an agent you love and who loves you, you’ll quickly see the perks pile up.
• Don’t ignore any follow-up emails or calls from your travel provider. Be sure to update your spam filters to ensure these messages don’t end up in the trash folder. Otherwise, you might miss flight time changes or other important notifications.
• Don’t confuse direct and nonstop flights. A nonstop flight is exactly what it sounds like, while a direct flight may include a few stops along the way to drop off and pick up passengers. You may want to pay the extra fare to get the nonstop (read: faster) trip.

One Mistake That Could Work In Your Favor

We all make mistakes, and this applies to major airlines as well. Every so often, carriers accidentally publish fares much lower than the actual intended cost of the flight. If you can snag these ‘mistake fares’ while they’re still live, you could score an incredible deal. Rather than staying glued to the screen in hopes of coming across a mistake airfare by chance, there are multiple services that will send you automated emails when these fares are published. Check out our guide on How to Score Premium Airfare Deals to learn how to stay on top of the best fares for your flight.

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This story was originally published in 2017. It has been updated to reflect the most current information. Heather Greenwood Davis, Sarah Pascarella, Josh Roberts, Sarah Schlichter, and Margaret Leahy also contributed to this story. Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The post 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight appeared first on SmarterTravel.

I tested more than a dozen vacation package sites to see which ones had the lowest prices and best user experience. I discovered that many of the best vacation package websites allow you to book any combination of flight, hotel, and rental car, while others are more limited (flight + hotel is often the default). Fortunately, some sites will let you add a car onto a hotel+flight package, even if a car isn’t listed on the initial booking page.

It’s also important to compare the price of a vacation booked as a bundle to that same trip booked a la carte as separate components. Booking a package isn’t always cheaper, and sometimes you’ll get  better flight options to choose from if you search for your airfare separately. In some searches, I discovered that the flight options included by default with my vacation package had ridiculously long layovers or undesirable departure times (4:30 a.m., anyone?).

Keep a sharp eye out for resort fees; many of the best vacation booking sites don’t count them in their initial per-person price estimate because they’re collected separately by the hotel, but they can drive up the final cost of your trip. Similarly, optional airline baggage fees can also increase your total bill, especially if you book a flight in basic economy, and some vacation package sites don’t disclose these fees as clearly as others.

Finally, it’s important to know that many of the best sites for vacation packages are owned by the same parent company, so you’ll often find similar inventory and prices from one to the next. Knowing which sites are mostly interchangeable can save you some research time.

The Best Travel Package Sites

We put them to the test to compare prices, inclusions, and more. The following are the best websites to book vacations, listed in no particular order. Scroll down for more in-depth analysis of each one.

• Expedia
• Expedia’s sister sites: Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets
• Priceline
• CheapCaribbean.com
• Kayak
• Funjet Vacations

Expedia

This well-known site is one of the best travel package sites for a reason. Expedia offers a full complement of bundle options (flight/hotel, flight/car, hotel/car, and flight/hotel/car) as well as trips to just about every corner of the globe. It’s reliable when it comes to pricing, too: Expedia offered the lowest price in two of my five tests, and was cheaper than average in all but one test booking.

That said, the amount the site said I was saving on a given package didn’t always match up to the actual price difference when I added up the cost of the trip’s individual elements. In one of my test cases, it was actually cheaper to book my flight, hotel, and car separately. So take those supposed savings with a grain of salt (or even better, price out the components separately on your own to be sure you’re getting the best deal).

Expedia has plenty of useful filters to help you find what you need. You can sort hotels by price, distance from a city’s downtown, guest rating, package discount, and property class, while flight options can be filtered by general departure and arrival times (for example, morning vs. evening), airline, whether carry-on bags are included, and more. You can also sort flight options by duration (longest or shortest), price (highest or lowest), departure time (earliest or latest), and arrival time (earliest or latest). There’s also a map view so you can check out the location of each hotel.

Best Feature: The breadth of choice and consistency of pricing make Expedia perhaps the best site for vacation packages. You may not always get the absolute lowest price here, but chances are you’ll pay a fair rate and have plenty of options to choose from.

Check out Expedia

Expedia’s Sister Sites: Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets

Many travelers don’t realize that Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets are all owned by Expedia Group, and typically have very similar inventory and pricing to Expedia. Each of these sites has similar layouts and filter options, too. Like Expedia, these three sites offer every possible vacation package combination involving a flight, hotel, and/or rental car.

It was rare for any of these sites to beat out Expedia’s prices in my tests; in general, the rates were identical (especially on Travelocity, where I didn’t find any deviations from Expedia) or a little bit higher. However, Orbitz and CheapTickets did offer slightly cheaper packages on one flight/car itinerary.

Because the pricing is so similar, it’s probably not worth searching all three of these sites in addition to Expedia unless a difference of a few dollars will make or break your travel budget.

Best Feature: Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets offer a checkbox on their main booking page to specify “I only need accommodations for part of my trip”—a feature that allows user to select a subset of their trip dates and search for travel packages only within that period. This feature is also reflected on Expedia’s search page.

Note: Expedia Group also owns Hotwire, which I didn’t find quite as reliable as the other three in my tests. For one itinerary, a nonstop flight that the other sites offered was not available when booking a Hotwire package (though it was available when booking a separate flight on Hotwire), and the pricing on some searches was a little higher than on the other sites.

Check out Expedia’s sister sites below:

Priceline

Like Expedia and its partners, Priceline also offers every possible combination of flight, hotel, and rental car. Its search results pages are easy to navigate, with plenty of filter and sort options, plus a map view for hotels. Priceline offers numerous hotel options in popular vacation destinations at every price point.

One quirk to prepare for: Priceline’s flight result page lists departure and return flights together as a pair rather than letting you choose each one separately. This cuts down on the number of screens you have to click through but could mean extra scrolling while you try to find the exact two flights you want. Not all flights that are available when booking airfare separately on Priceline seem to be accessible to those booking a package—so it’s worth checking both.

Priceline was in the middle of the pack as far as pricing was concerned. It won one of my tests but was the most expensive option in two others; overall, it offered cheaper-than-average prices 60 percent of the time. To help you save money, the site offers “Express Deals” for rental cars, an opaque option in which you don’t know which rental car brand you’ll get until after you’ve booked. If you’d rather choose which company you’re renting from, standard car rentals are also available.

Best feature: Once you’ve selected your flight and rental car preferences, the site will keep them the same as you click through alternate hotel possibilities—saving you the hassle of having to select them over and over again.

Check out Priceline

CheapCaribbean.com

As its name suggests, CheapCaribbean.com has a more limited scope than other sites on this list, but it’s worth checking if you’re planning a trip to the Caribbean, where package trips such as honeymoons are particularly popular. The site turned up cheaper-than-average prices for both of my Caribbean tests.

CheapCaribbean.com is one of the best vacation websites for all-inclusive packages. Once you’ve entered your trip information, you can also filter your results by “adults only,” “children’s amenities,” and “luxury.” Each hotel-specific page includes a list of active promotions, on-site activities, and the property’s Tripadvisor Traveler Rating.

In some ways CheapCaribbean.com isn’t quite as sophisticated as other travel package sites. There’s no map available to compare locations of the listed hotel options. Also annoying: not being able to group Houston’s two airports into a single search, though you can select “all airports” for New York City and Washington, D.C. But the affordable deals are worth a few snags, as long as you’re only looking for a flight/hotel package—there’s no option to add a car or create any other package combinations, though you can add travel insurance and transfers, at least for the destinations I checked.

Best Feature: The “Deals of Fortune,” or bookings where you know the destination but not the exact resort until about a week before the trip. This is a fun feature for value-conscious travelers who aren’t set on a particular island or property.

Check out Cheapcaribbean.com

Kayak

A popular meta-search site, Kayak saves travelers time by searching many of the best travel package sites with a single click. Unfortunately, you can’t specify which elements of your trip you’d like to bundle; it searches flight + hotel by default. You can add a car later on some of its partner sites, but if you’re looking for a flight/car package, you’ll have to go elsewhere.

Results list the cheapest available packages from sites such as Priceline (Kayak’s sister company), Expedia, and CheapCaribbean.com. There’s a map view available, and the results page shows both air- and hotel-related filters to make it easy to find nonstop flights, free breakfast, or a specific hotel.

I found that the prices listed on Kayak didn’t always match the price on the source site when I clicked over to find the deal—a fairly common problem with meta-search sites. But I also occasionally discovered that I got a different price after clicking from Kayak than I did when searching the same itinerary from the booking site’s home page. For example, a Las Vegas package was $819 per person on Priceline when I clicked over from Kayak, but just $783 when I booked the same package from the Priceline home page. Another test offered the opposite result, with the price being cheaper after clicking from Kayak than it was when booking directly on Priceline. The lesson: Test both options when using a meta-search site.

Best Feature: Being able to search some of the best vacation booking sites in a single place is a major time saver. Though Kayak doesn’t always find you the lowest possible price, it’s a good place to start your search and get an idea of what’s out there.

Check out Kayak

Funjet Vacations

The Funjet home page gives you a single package option: flight/hotel. However, you can work around this by adding a rental car on at the end of a flight/hotel or individual flight booking. There are plenty of sort options for your results, including price, hotel name, rating, points of interest, and location.

One annoyance: Similarly to CheapCarribbean.com, there is no option to select “all airports” for certain cities like Houston or Chicago. And Funjet’s prices aren’t the most consistent, ranking as the cheapest in one test and the most expensive in another. Still, the site is worth comparing to others when booking your vacation.

Best Feature: Rather than making you scour the web for coupons, Funjet automatically applies any relevant promo codes to your search.

Note: If you’re headed to the Caribbean, Central or South America, Hawaii, or Mexico, try your search on Funjet’s sister site, Apple Vacations. The destinations it covers are more limited than Funjet’s, but I found that the prices were often a little better. CheapCaribbean.com is also owned by the same parent company, Apple Leisure Group.

Check out Funjet

Book Your Stay With SmarterTravel Hotels

If you’re ready to book your next adventure but don’t want to commit to a prepackaged bundle, you can still save big by booking your hotel stay with SmarterTravel Hotels.

Book Now

All of the products featured in this story were hand-selected by our travel editors. Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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The following guide explains how to plan a trip to Europe in 10 simple steps—so you can spend less time worrying about your travel arrangements and more time staring at pictures of castles and men in kilts.

1. Get your documents in order.

If you don’t have a passport, it will take at least four to six weeks from the time of application for you to receive one. Expedited services—either through the State Department or an expeditor such as Travel Visa Pro—can trim the process down to a week or so, but it will cost you an additional fee, so it’s best to take care of this well before your trip.

Already have a passport? Check its expiration date. The last thing you need is to find out your passport has expired while you’re in line at airport check-in. Keep in mind that some countries require your passport to be valid for six months beyond your trip dates.

All car rental companies require drivers to have valid licenses in their home country, so you’ll also want to check the expiration date of your license. Some car rental companies also require an international driving permit for European rentals in addition to a valid driver’s license. For U.S. citizens, these can be obtained through the American Auto Association (AAA); in Canada, try the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA).

Depending on length of stay, some destinations require valid visas in addition to passports; obtaining one is a complicated process that can take weeks even after you have been approved—so start early.

2. Establish a budget.

When planning a trip to Europe, establish a budget as early as possible—even before you know your destination, travel dates, or itinerary. Some destinations are generally cheaper than others, but there are ways to save everywhere: travel in the off-season, pick budget accommodations, plan a shorter trip. For example, London is an expensive city, but many travel providers and airlines offer affordable vacation packages to the city, and it’s not hard to find cheap air deals to London, especially during the winter.

Set your budget early on, and you’ll avoid any disappointment that could come from forging a fabulous itinerary, like two weeks in Switzerland during summer, and then discovering you can’t afford it. Travel budget apps such as TrabeePocket (iOS | Android) can help you keep track of your expenses once you start making bookings.

3. Pick a destination.

Now that you know how much you can spend, where do you want to go? If you’re like many travelers and you have a humongous list of places in Europe you want to visit, this could be tricky.

One strategy is to pick a particular site that’s on your must-see travel list, and plan your vacation around that. Last year I planned a trip to Ireland centered on an excursion to remote Skellig Michael Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site I’d dreamed of visiting. The excursion turned into an unforgettable two-week Emerald Isle road trip.

Another option is to pick someplace timely. Visit countries’ tourism websites and search for seasonal events like festivals or local holidays (which you may want to either avoid or join, depending on how you feel about crowds). Don’t forget to check the weather before you decide on your destination.

4. Create a rough itinerary.

So you want to go to France, eh? Don’t go ahead and buy a roundtrip flight to Paris and a hotel room—at least, not yet. Planning a European vacation takes a lot of prep work. You’ll want to sketch out a day-by-day itinerary of your perfect trip to France before you book a thing. Research sites and cities you really want to explore, and then figure out which ones you have the time and budget to get to.

Check out alternative ways to travel in Europe. If you want to see multiple countries or cities but are on a tight budget, you may want to consider a cruise (exchange rates are naught for U.S. citizens onboard American ships). If you’d rather not do the work of creating your own itinerary, continue booking a group tour with a company such as Intrepid Travel, G Adventures, Trafalgar, or Rick Steves’ Europe.

5. Book your airfare.

Because airfare will probably be the most expensive part of your trip, you’ll want to book it before anything else (car rental, hotel, etc.). This will allow you to be more flexible with your dates, which is a great way to save money on your flight. You can often spend less by flying on international discount airlines like Aer Lingus or Norwegian. Check multiple booking sites, including meta-search sites such as Skyscanner and traditional booking sites such as Expedia, to make sure you’re seeing a wide range of options. You can also set up fare alerts using Airfarewatchdog, SmarterTravel’s sister site, so you’ll be notified when the price of your flight drops.

Consider spicing up your trip with a layover in a different country. Icelandair has a long-running program that allows passengers flying elsewhere in Europe to take a free stopover in Reykjavik for up to seven nights.

6. Book your accommodations.

It’s time to go back to that rough itinerary you jotted down and fill in some places to sleep. As is the case with pretty much everything you book for your trip, the earlier you make arrangements, the better—especially during summer high season.

Sure, you can just book a room at the local Hilton and be done with it. But do a bit of research and you could discover some funky lodging that’s almost as exciting as the attractions you plan to visit. Keep your eyes open for historic castles, tiny bed and breakfasts, houseboats, eco-friendly hotels, or organic farms. Budget travelers take note: Vacation rentals, homestays, farm stays, and house-swapping are accommodation options that can be shockingly affordable … or even free.

As with airfare, you should shop around on multiple hotel sites to make sure you’re getting the best deal, and read reviews from past guests to see what the experience is like. TripAdvisor, Booking.com, and Hotels.com are a few good places to start.

7. Consider travel insurance.

There are several kinds of travel insurance: trip cancellation insurance, flight cancellation insurance, medical insurance, etc. The best time to buy insurance is right after you put down the major deposits on your trip, whether that entails airfare, a package, or prepaid hotels. Once you know how much money you’ve paid upfront, you can ensure your trip if you so choose. Many airlines and travel providers sell insurance that you can purchase along with your flight or tour package. Always, always read the fine print in your policy and compare it with other travel insurance policies before you make a purchase.

Check your medical insurance coverage to see if you’re covered overseas. If not, you may want to purchase supplemental medical insurance to cover situations like the cost of transportation back home for emergency care.

Reputable travel insurance companies to consider include Allianz Travel and Seven Corners.

8. Book local transportation and day tours.

When in Rome, ride the Metropolitana. Find out how the locals get around the destination to which you’re traveling and act accordingly. You won’t need a car rental in places like bike-friendly Amsterdam or London with its convenient underground Tube, unless you plan to go outside the city.

A car rental is your best bet if you’re traveling to locales that can’t be easily reached by rail or plane (such as the Irish countryside). Be mentally prepared to drive in a foreign country, which can be a frightening experience when faced with incomprehensible traffic signs, narrow streets, or sheep roadblocks.

To get from city to city or country to country, examine your rail options in comparison to routes and prices offered by European discount airlines like easyJet or Ryanair. Travelers embarking on extensive travel within Europe may save money by purchasing a rail pass from Rail Europe that permits unlimited train travel within a specified region.

Check out Viator to book day tours, especially if you want to take advantage of skip-the-line options.

9. Tackle last-minute logistics.

A few weeks before your departure date is the right time to start taking care of a number of key logistics: money, phone, house-sitter, pet-sitter.

Call your credit card companies to let them know you’ll be traveling abroad. While you’re at it, find out if you’re going to be charged a fee for using your card overseas. Research the locations of ATMs in your destination, especially if you’ll be relying on cash.

Does your cell phone plan allow you to make calls overseas, and if so, how much will it cost you? Many cell phone companies offer temporary international plans that you can purchase for the month you’re traveling. You might also want to consider a mobile hotspot device to keep you connected.

10. Pack.

Packing for Europe requires both different items and a different mindset in comparison to some other types of trips. After all, there’s no arguing that Parisians are more stylish than your typical North American tourist. Most of central and western Europe have milder climates throughout the year, but that doesn’t mean you won’t encounter rain or a heatwave. You should pack clothing that’s easy to layer, and always include a packable raincoat or travel umbrella in your suitcase when traveling to Europe. Think about how you’ll be carrying your money—pickpocketing schemes are more common abroad, so it’s important to carry your money and personal belongings securely. When researching your European destination of choice, consider the overall climate and time of year you’ll be traveling. Then, about a week before your trip check out the forecast, mobilize a packing list, and ensure your suitcase is in working condition and meets your airline’s size restrictions.

Pro packing tip: If you’re tight on packing space, invest in a packing cube set. They do wonders, especially if you’re stopping in multiple destinations as they make repacking a breeze.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2017. It has been updated to reflect the most current information. All of the products featured in this story were hand-selected by our travel editors. Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Planning a Trip to Europe: Your 10-Step Guide appeared first on SmarterTravel.

The TSA’s “Can I Bring” search tool breaks it down for you: Dry batteries (your common household AA, AAA, C, and D batteries) are allowed in both carry-on and checked bags. Lithium batteries with more than 100-watt hours or less can only be brought aboard a plane in carry-on baggage. Nonspillable wet batteries are allowed in carry-on bags with limits on quantity and size and in checked bags with no restrictions. Spillable batteries are not allowed to be brought on the plane, except for those in wheelchairs. 

What Kinds of Batteries Can You Bring in Carry-On Baggage?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says, “Passengers can carry most consumer-type batteries and portable battery-powered electronic devices for their own personal use in carry-on luggage.”

Batteries allowed in carry-on baggage include:

• AA batteries
• AAA batteries
• C batteries
• D batteries
• 9-volt batteries
• Button-sized cell batteries
• Dry cell rechargeable batteries such as Nickel Metal Hydride and Nickel Cadmium
• Consumer-sized Lithium-ion batteries (up to 2 grams of lithium per battery)
• Nonspillable wet batteries limited to 12 volts and 100 watt hours per battery

This covers most types of batteries the average traveler would bring on a plane, including camera batteries, laptops, cell phones, e-readers, and portable chargers. 

What Kinds of Batteries Can You Bring in Checked Baggage?

Lithium-ion batteries can overheat and cause fires, so they cannot be put in checked baggage on planes. This applies to any bag that gets put in the cargo hold—so if you have to gate-check your bag, remove any Lithium-ion batteries first. 

Aside from spare lithium metal and lithium-ion batteries (including external battery packs, power banks, and e-cigarettes), all other batteries that are allowed in carry-ons are also allowed in checked baggage.

Before you pack any spare batteries, make sure to inspect them for damage and protect them for the journey. The FAA warns, “Batteries must be protected from damage and short circuit or installed in a device.” To protect batteries before packing, keep spare batteries in a protective pouch or case and place tape over the terminals of unpackaged batteries.

The FAA also notes, “Battery-powered devices—particularly those with moving parts or those that could heat up—must be protected from accidental activation.” 

I was once on a flight that was significantly delayed because a passenger admitted they had left their laptop in their carry-on, which had been gate-checked. The flight had to be held until the ground crew could relocate the laptop from the bag underneath the plane into the cabin. Batteries are a safety concern on flights that are taken very seriously. 

Is There a Limit to How Many Batteries You Can Bring on a Plane?

Batteries and battery-powered devices must be for personal use (not for sale). There is a two-spare limit on large lithium-ion and nonspillable batteries. 

Can You Bring Smart Luggage on Planes?

Many suitcases now have integrated chargers that can be used as backup batteries. These smart suitcases have lithium batteries built in and can be brought on a plane only as carry-on luggage. If you must check your bag, remove the battery first. 

What Should You Do if Your Battery Overheats on a Plane?

Call a flight attendant immediately if you notice your battery or device expanding, overheating, smoking, or burning. Do not dump water on the battery in an attempt to put out a fire, as it can make a lithium-ion battery fire worse. Cabin crew are trained to handle these in-flight emergencies with the correct equipment.

The post Can You Bring Batteries on Planes? appeared first on SmarterTravel.

Many people aren’t aware that most of the best vacation rental websites are owned by a handful of large companies—so you could find yourself wasting time searching the same inventory on multiple sites.

The Best Vacation Rental Sites

To help you sift through the options, I tested more than a dozen top vacation rental sites to figure out which ones offer the best combination of plentiful inventory, useful filters, informative listings, and fair prices, without too many hidden fees. I discovered that there’s no single best vacation home rental site, but that each one has pros and cons to suit different types of travelers.

For example, some of the top vacation rental websites are better if you’re open to both hotels and rentals, while others are more specialized to suit those who already know they want a vacation home, rental apartment, or private room in someone else’s space. Some vacation rental sites make it easier than others to browse properties on a map or to contact the owner of a property to ask questions before your stay.

The following are the best vacation rental sites I found in my testing. Scroll down for more in-depth analysis of each.

• Airbnb
• Booking.com
• Expedia
• HometoGo
• Hotels.com
• Tripadvisor
• Tripping
• Vrbo
• Plum Guide
• Sonder
• Marriott Homes & Villas
• Agoda
• Getaway
• FlipKey

Airbnb

The name of this site is almost synonymous with short-term rentals these days, and its reputation as one of the best vacation rental sites is well deserved: Airbnb offers abundant listings in most popular travel destinations, and its site is cleanly designed and easy to use. There’s a prominent map of properties accessible from the main listing page, so you can quickly browse by location. The main listings page offers useful filters right off the bat, including the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, price, key amenities, and type of accommodation—such as “entire apartment” or “private room in house.” You can also scroll through a listing’s photos right on the initial results page.

Once you click into a given listing, there’s more than enough information to help you decide whether to book, including house rules, bed configurations, cancellation policies, amenities, reviews from past guests, and a full price breakdown (which typically includes things like a cleaning fee and Airbnb’s own service fee). You can also contact the property’s host through the platform if you have questions before you book.

Best feature: The site makes it easier to sort through hundreds of properties by identifying Superhosts (“experienced, highly rated hosts who are committed to providing great stays for guests”) and Airbnb Plus listings (“a selection of places to stay verified for quality and design”). Because standards can vary so widely from one vacation rental to another, choosing properties with one or both of these designations can help travelers feel more confident in their selection.

Cancellation Policy: Airbnb offers several cancellation policies for property managers to choose from. They include:

• Flexible: Cancel up to 24-hours before check-in for a 100% refund
• Moderate: Cancel up to 5 days before check-in for a 100% refund
• Firm: Cancel up to 30 days before check-in for a 100% refund; cancel between 30 and 7 days before check-in for a 50% refund
• Strict: Cancel within 48 hours of booking and more than 14 days before check-in for a 100% refund; cancel after 48 hours and more than 14 days before check-in for a 50% refund; cancel between 7 and 14 days before check-in for a 50% refund

Airbnb offers similar cancellation policies for long term rentals (28+ days) that can be found here.

Check out Airbnb

Booking.com

Booking.com lists just about every type of accommodation imaginable, from hotels and B&Bs to vacation rentals and apartments. This is a perk for travelers open to a variety of lodging options, while those who know they want a vacation rental will have to take the extra step of filtering out extraneous search results. (That’s easily done via a “Homes and Apartments First” dropdown option at the top of the results page or searching by property type.)

Property listings offer plenty of information, including amenities, guest reviews, house rules, and an option to contact the host through the site. The site clearly labels whether your booking is nonrefundable or you can cancel without penalty up to a certain date. (In some cases, you’ll pay less if you’re willing to make a nonrefundable booking.)

Keep an eye out for extra fees, which can be significant depending on the property. For example, one property’s listed price was a seemingly affordable $689 for seven nights in the Outer Banks—but when I clicked “book,” the site added a 12.75 percent tax, $63.11 tourism fee, $105 resort fee, $130 cleaning fee, and $260 property service charge, taking my total charges to $1,406—more than double the original quoted price. However, none of these were Booking.com’s own fees; unlike Airbnb, Booking.com does not charge guests a service fee.

One annoyance: The site sometimes clutters up the search results page with sold-out properties, complete with a little “You missed it!” message. These are probably meant to spark a sense of booking urgency, but many travelers will find it irritating to see options that aren’t actually available.

Best feature: The sheer breadth of offerings on Booking.com means you’re almost guaranteed to find something suitable, even if it doesn’t end up being a vacation rental.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellation policies on Booking.com are dependent on the specific partner or property. Pay close attention to the policy when booking, or check the property’s website (if applicable) for more information.

Check out Booking.com

Expedia

Like Booking.com, Expedia offers a variety of accommodation types, but it has a dedicated vacation rental search page so you can skip the filtering step. The site offers a good selection of results, though for certain searches I got some listings that really didn’t seem like vacation rentals (TownePlace Suites by Marriott, Outer Banks Motel).

Expedia also features a map to browse through listings in an area, which can be toggled on and off from the results page. Filters are also available while in map mode, so you can set your preferences without going back to the results listings.

Once you click into a listing, you’ll find photos, amenities, policies, reviews, and a list of nearby attractions. However, there does not appear to be a way to contact the owner of a given property. The total price is not visible until you click “reserve,” at which point you’ll see an additional amount listed vaguely as “taxes and fees,” with no detailed breakdown. On many properties, the site notes that you can save on the booking if you log in as an Expedia member.

Best feature: The site has useful filters such as “Business friendly,” to help you find properties with Wi-Fi and breakfast, and “Family friendly,” for listings that have “in-room conveniences and activities for the kids.”

Cancellation Policy: Vacation rental cancellations are subject to specific property policies and must be canceled directly with the property host through the itinerary page in your Expedia account. Expedia allows travelers to filter search results by “fully refundable property” so guests can book with greater peace of mind.

Check out Expedia

HometoGo

The prime advantage of HometoGo is that it’s a hybrid marketplace, which means that you can book onsite or search through deals from many of the best vacation rental sites (including most of the others on this list) with one click. Persistent pop-ups and offers to sign you in with Google or Facebook are annoying, but once you’ve cleared them away you can view tons of properties, visible in a clean listing format or on a map. Each listing features photos you can scroll through as well as user rating, type of lodging, and where you can book the property (such as Airbnb, Hotels.com, Vrbo, or directly on HomeToGo).

One handy feature: You can toggle the price filter to show you either the nightly rate or the total cost of your stay, and then adjust your price range accordingly. Other filters include accommodation types (including an “instant booking” option), location, user rating, and amenities.

In most cases, when you click on “view deal,” you’ll be taken to the site where the property was originally listed. However, there are occasional properties where you will go to a HometoGo listing page and fill out a booking request that will then be fulfilled through one of the site’s partners.

I occasionally found that when I clicked over to a deal (particularly on Airbnb), I was not taken directly to the property I was interested in but rather to a list of other rentals in my destination. Unfortunately, travelers will be familiar with this from other meta-search sites; sometimes a given deal simply isn’t available anymore. I also sometimes discovered that the price on HomeToGo didn’t match what was advertised on the original listing site.

Best feature: Despite the occasional pricing glitches, this site is the closest thing the vacation rental industry has to a one-stop shop, as it lists inventory from hundreds of other short-term rental websites.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellation policies vary by property and can be found in the “Terms and Condition” section of the property details page.

Check out HometoGo

Hotels.com

Like Booking.com, Hotels.com lists a wide array of accommodation options, so travelers who know they want a vacation rental have to use the “Property Type” filter on the search results page to weed out hotels, hostels, and other options. I appreciated the honesty of the note at the top of the page: “How much we get paid influences your sort order.” That said, you can sort your results by star rating, distance from a given landmark, guest rating, and price, and refine the list with a variety of other filters.

There is a map view available, though I didn’t find it very useful; it shows properties that don’t meet your criteria by default, and by the time you screen those out, you’re often left with just a few options (even if the site is showing hundreds of listings on the main results page).

The list view of results is better, displaying both the nightly rate and the total price for your stay, as well as guest rating and location information. Note that you may need to weed through occasional “fully booked!” listings.

Once you click into an individual listing, you can see amenities, policies, photos, guest reviews, and a list of attractions within walking distance. One drawback: There’s no way to contact the owner or property manager directly. While there is a phone number given for “more info” about the listing, this does not put you in contact with the owner but rather takes you to a general Hotels.com corporate phone number. Taxes and fees aren’t visible until you click the “Let’s book” button, and there’s no detailed breakdown of where your money is going.

Best feature: Many vacation rental bookings are eligible for OneKeyCash (formerly Hotels.com Rewards), so you can count your stay toward a future free night at either a hotel or a rental.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellations are subject to individual property policies and guests who wish to cancel a reservation must contact the property owner through the itinerary page in their Hotels.com account. Like Expedia, Hotels.com offers a “fully refundable property” search filter so guests can weed out stricter policies at the start of the booking process. 

Check out Hotels.com

Tripadvisor

Although it’s best known for hotel reviews, Tripadvisor also provides vacation rentals thanks to its acquisitions of FlipKey and HolidayLettings. (The sites share inventory, so searching Tripadvisor will turn up properties from the other two sites.) There are plenty of listings, which you can filter by price, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, distance from a landmark, and many other factors. The site also lets you change the order of your results based on traveler reviews and number of reviews, making use of its large base of user generated content.

The site has a mix of properties, some of which can be paid for online and others that require direct arrangements with the owner. (The former is generally preferable, as paying with a credit card is the safest way to go—and you’ll be backed by Tripadvisor’s Payment Protection guarantee.)

I found that photo quality could vary widely from one listing to another on Tripadvisor, whereas some other vacation rental sites have more consistently glossy images. Otherwise, Tripadvisor’s listings are generally informative, with traveler reviews, house rules, and an owner profile. Prices and fees are spelled out in detail.

Best feature: The price on the listing results page is the final price you’ll pay, including taxes and fees—rather than the base rate, which is what most vacation rental sites list. Tripadvisor also lists both the nightly rate and the total cost.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellation policies are not as clearly stated on this site as on some others. There is an option to send a message to the owner through the site. Tripadvisor also gives property owners the option to waive their policy and offer a refund to guests who cancel their stay, so try kindly explaining your situation to your hosts if your trip is disrupted by extenuating circumstances. 

Check out Tripadvisor

Tripping

Acquired by HometoGo in 2019, Tripping is another meta-search site for vacation rentals that turns up listings from hundreds of different sites, including many on this list. When I searched HometoGo and Tripping side by side, I found a lot of overlapping properties, but the results did not appear to be completely identical. (A Rome search turned up 8,800+ properties on HometoGo vs. more than 14,000 properties on Tripping, for example.) So even though the two sites are owned by the same company and offer virtually identical layouts and filters, it may be worth your time to check both.

Tripping offers a prominent map view alongside the listings on its main results page. Like HometoGo, Tripping shows hotels and hostels in addition to apartments, homes, and other types of properties, so you can use the “Accommodation types” filter to trim your results. You can toggle between “per night” and “per stay” options for pricing, specify a minimum number of bedrooms, and filter for amenities such as internet, air-conditioning, and washer. And you can scroll through listing photos right from the results page.

Clicking on “view deal” takes you to an external site for information and booking. As with HometoGo, there were occasional snafus in this process; prices didn’t match, properties weren’t available, or (in one case) I got a dead-end error page. But in most cases the listings were as advertised.

Best feature: Both Tripping and HometoGo have a flexible dates feature that lets you search with a date parameter of “anytime” to see when the best deals are available.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellations are subject to the policies found on the booking sites surfaced by Tripping’s search results. Tripping frequently populates deals from its parent site, HomeToGo, who’s cancellation policies (as noted previously) vary by property and can be found in the “Terms and Condition” section of the property details page.

Check out Tripping

Vrbo

Acquired by Expedia Group in 2015 and then merged with its sister site HomeAway in 2019, Vrbo (originally stylized as VRBO, which stands for “vacation rentals by owner”) offers the strongest features of both sites. You can browse by property type, from condos to cabins, through their catalogue of over 2 million vacation rentals. If you have an idea of the type of trip you’d like to take but aren’t attached to a destination, you can check out their curated lists of properties by vacation type and nearby activities. The search results are displayed alongside a convenient interactive map to show how far your rental is from your target destination. While this is a great visual, if you move the map even slightly the site will recalibrate your search to show you new properties, which can be a bit of a nuisance.

The search results display the number of bedrooms and bathrooms at a glance for each property along with both the nightly price and total price of the stay for the selected dates. Click into a result to see an in-depth and easily navigable description of policies and amenities, along with star ratings and traveler reviews.

Best feature: Vrbo highlights Premier Partners that offer great guest service. The Premiere Host program is invite-only, designed to ensure guests of a track record of success of its members. The program requires that all properties managed by members have an average rating of at least 4.4 stars, a booking acceptance of at least 95%, owner-initiated cancellation rate of less than 1%, at least 3 VRBO reviews, and at least 5 books or 60 booked nights.

Cancellation Policy: Property managers can choose from a list of pre-drafted cancellation policies provided by Vrbo, which include:

• a no refund policy
• Strict: 100% refund if canceled more than 60 days before check-in
• Firm: 100% refund if canceled more than 60 days before check-in; 50% refund if canceled between 30-60 days before check-in
• Moderate: 100% refund if cancelled 30 days before check-in; 50% refund if cancelled between 14-30 days before check-in
• Relaxed: 100% refund if cancelled 14 days before check-in; 50% refund if cancelled between 7-14 days before check-in

Property owners are also permitted to create custom cancellation policies. Make sure to review the property page before booking. 

Check out Vrbo

Plum Guide

Aimed at taking the hit-or-miss guesswork out of vacation home rentals, Plum Guide has dedicated itself to what it refers to as “the science behind the perfect stay.” This site is extremely selective in its properties, with only 3 percent of homes at any given destination passing its 150 criteria Plum Test conducted by their seasoned Home Critics. 

With a real person team of Plum Experts available seven days a week to assist with any questions and an easy to navigate, highly visual website, the Plum Guide’s people-centric approach to booking will make your vacation rental experience easy and pleasant.

Best Feature: Plum Guide’s best feature by far is their selective criteria. You can be sure you’re getting what you see online. While this can be a blessing if you want the peace of mind that comes with knowing your accommodation has been given a professional seal of approval, it may restrict your options if your travel dates don’t allow for flexibility. 

Cancellation Policy: Plum Guide featured a wide spectrum of cancellation policies, with seven options ranging from SuperFirm60, in which guests receive a 50% refund for cancellations made 60 or more days from check-in, to Premium Relaxed, in which guests will be fully refunded for cancellations made up to 24 hours before check-in.  See their full list of options here.

Check out Plum Guide

Sonder

Focused on eliminating unnecessary steps in the rental process, Sonder is a streamlined way to book your next vacation rental. Guests can check in, make requests, and ask for recommendations all through their phones. The site’s layout is remarkably easy to navigate—the search results are clean and simple, populating next to an interactive map that displays the rental’s approximate location. Key amenities, such as in-unit laundry, parking, and access to fitness equipment, are highlighted directly on the search results page so travelers can compare at a glance without clicking into the details of each property.

The streamlined designed carries into the details pages, with clearly marked amenities for each property and information on parking, accessibility, and house rules readily available. The pages feature a brief description of the surrounding neighborhood and there’s an easily accessible phone and email contact for any further questions about each property.

Best Feature: Sonder’s totally contact-free process is perfect for travelers who want flexibility during check-in and to have all their communications with their host neatly handled by a dedicated system.

Cancellation Policy: Guests can select their cancellation policy at the time of booking. Choose between the Economy Rate, in which the rental costs less per night but the booking is nonrefundable, or the Flex Rate, which is more expensive but allows you to cancel for a full refund up to three days before check-in.

Check out Sonder

Marriott Homes & Villas

If you want the quality assurance of a big hotel brand without the big hotel feel, then Marriott Homes & Villas may be the right site for you. All accommodations come with 24/7 guest support, kitchen essentials, in-unit washer, bathroom amenities such as shampoo and soap, wi-fi, linens and towels, and a television.

The site has the same easy user interface you expect from Marriott. The search function allows you to filter by destination, with travel dates being optional criteria to narrow the search. This is great for those early in their trip planning process or travelers who like to let deals dictate their itinerary. No destination in mind? You can click the “near me” option to see what weekend getaways are available right down the road. Properties on this site typically have upward of 30 photos in their galleries so you’ll be able to see exactly what you’re booking.

Best Feature: Marriott Homes & Villas ties into the larger Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. You can earn points when you book or redeem existing points on a vacation rental. Just set the results to “Show in Bonvoy Points” in the Filter & Sort menu to see how many points a booking costs.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellation policies vary by property, so make sure you review the policy outlined in your reservation. Marriott Homes & Villas 14-day policy outlines the refund travelers can generally expect to receive depending on the time of cancellation. Reservations made 10 days or less before arrival or booked 11 to 14 days before arrival but canceled after a 48 hour window has elapsed will not be refunded. 

Check out Marriott Homes & Villas

Agoda

Agoda allows you to book both hotels and vacation rentals through its online services. With over 2 million hotels and rentals available, at first glance booking through Agoda can seem overwhelming (my cursory search for an August week in Kuala Lumpur returned just shy of 3,700 results). 

Luckily, Agoda allows you to refine its catalogue with highly specific search criteria. Travelers can filter by the typical destination, trip dates, and number of guests, but they can further narrow their search through options such as 

• Deals and discounts
• Number of stars
• Payment options
• Guest rating
• Specific amenities
• Property type
• Proximity to local attractions 

This is great for whittling down your options as well as sparking some inspiration for how to fill your days at your destination.

Best Feature: Agoda will match any competing online price for their properties or refund the difference (in AgodaCash credited to your account). Once you know where you want to stay, do your comparison research to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellation policies for each property are outlined on the details page under the Payment & Cancellation section. During search, you can filter by properties that offer free cancellation.

Check out Agoda

Getaway

If a break from your hectic day-to-day is calling your name, there’s no better option than Getaway. Getaway makes it their mission to give people the “time, space, and permission to be off.” Their thirty Outpost locations—focused mostly in the eastern and central parts of the country with a few options on the West Coast—are made up of minimalist cabins that range from about 140 to 200 square feet. The mini-kitchens at these properties provide only the bare necessities, but you can supplement your supply by opting for a $35 Sustenance Box, which includes some nonperishable meal and snack options. Other camping essentials, such as insect wipes and log bundles, are also available for purchase.

Each cabin has a firepit, grill grate, and picnic table. The neighbors are close enough to be seen but far enough away that everyone has their own outdoor space to enjoy. Check in starts at 3 pm with a personalized entry code sent to your phone, so it’s possible you may not see another soul your entire trip. The trade-off for some time in the great outdoors is that cell phone service may be spotty or unavailable. However, there is a landline for emergencies and to contact the Getaway team. There’s also no Wi-Fi (and “never will be” according to their FAQ) so make sure to download those Spotify playlists pre-trip. 

Best Feature: If you’re looking for the feeling of an off-the-grid escape but aren’t truly ready to pitch a tent in the middle of the wilderness, this is the right rental experience for you.

Cancellation Policy: Bookings must be canceled at least 15 days prior to check-in to be eligible for a refund.

Check out Getaway

FlipKey

FlipKey was founded in 2007 and acquired by Tripadvisor the following year. As such, booking through FlipKey gives travelers access to the same Book with Confidence payment protection guarantee found on Tripadvisor’s main rentals search. The homepage is clean and simple, with pre-populated lists of suggested rental destinations like Trending Destinations, Traveler Favorites, Hidden Gems, and Beach Getaways. FlipKey allows guests to filter by an extensive list of rental types like chateau, apartment, and yurt, so you can get highly specific with the type of stay you want.

The listing pages highlight “key information” along the top of the listing, then break down the details like amenities, access, and house rules further down the page. Each property displays a note from the owners about the level of interaction guests can expect to have with them during their stay and a graphic clearly laying out which cancellation policy applies to the property. A map shows nearby attractions and restaurants.

Best Feature: You can save rentals to “My Shortlist” and return to compare your favorites from a variety of searches side by side.

Cancellation Policy: Travelers who wish to cancel their accommodations within 24 hours of booking may do so for a full refund as long as the dates of their stay are at least 60 days away. Cancellations that don’t meet these guidelines are subject to individual property’s cancellation policies, as follows:

• Relaxed: full refund if a guest cancels more than 14 days prior to check-in; 50% refund if a guest cancels more than 7 days prior to check-in
• Moderate: full refund if a guest cancels more than 30 days prior to check-in; 50% refund if a guest cancels more than 14 days prior to check-in
• Firm: full refund if a guest cancels more than 60 days prior to check-in; 50% refund if a guest cancels more than 30 days prior to check-in
• Strict: full refund if a guest cancels more than 60 days prior to check-in

The timeframe within which a guest cancels their booking also determines the portion of booking fees they will be charged on their cancelled reservation.

Book Now

Frequently Asked Questions

What vacation rental site is right for me?

The best vacation rental website for you will depend on your goals for your trip. Travelers looking for a chic city apartment near the best nightlife spots won’t have much luck on Getaway, while those just searching for the cheapest nightly rate may not need the extra vetting provided by Plum Guide. Determine your priorities—easy access to a nearby nature hikes, in a family-friendly neighborhood, by the best restaurants—and let them guide which sites you book through.

Is a hotel or vacation rental better?

Hotels and vacation rentals both have features that are suited to different travel styles. Those who want the convenience of housekeeping, concierge service, and onsite amenities like dining and fitness centers may prefer the all-in-one feel of a larger hotel. Travelers who value privacy, want to experience life in a local neighborhood, or are traveling with larger parties may do better with a rental. Investigate your travel style and find out what type of accomodation fits your trip with our ultimate hotel versus vacation rental guide.

What is the cheapest vacation rental site?

Sites that offer points eligible bookings, like Marriott Homes & Villas, will be the cheapest option for rewards members. Metasearch sites and OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia have a larger inventory with more chances to turn up a bargain. However, there is no single cheapest vacation rental site. Each option on the list will surface great deals—its all a matter of filtering and refining search results.

What is the best website for beach rentals?

Year after year, beach vacations remain one of the most popular types of getaways. Options for beach rentals will populate across all sites on this list (with Getaway being a notable exception). Larger sites like Booking.com, Hotels.com, Tripadvisor, Tripping, and HomeToGo make it easy to compare deals on beach rentals from across the web. However, if you have a specific destination in mind, its worth looking on some of the smaller sites to compare prices. There may be a hidden gem within the results.

Book Your Stay With SmarterTravel Hotels

While vacation rentals are great options for a little more privacy and living space, some travelers miss the perks and conveniences that a hotel can offer. If you’re dreaming of room service and a poolside bar, book your hotel stay for a great rate with SmarterTravel Hotels.

Book Now

Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2019. It has been updated to reflect the most current information.

The post The 14 Best Vacation Rental Sites for Travelers in 2024 appeared first on SmarterTravel.

If you’re interested only in evading the main cabin, you won’t find any deal alert services that don’t charge a fee. A bunch of free information sources can help you hunt down your own deal, but no premium airfare service is as automatic as Airfarewatchdog.

Why Are Premium Airfare Deals Difficult to Find?

One reason for the lack of a simple premium airfare system is that, for many travelers, premium flying is inextricably bound to frequent flyer programs. The best way to get into a front cabin is often by using frequent flyer miles. And for some, the game is to apply for a bunch of credit cards that offer huge initial bonuses if you meet an exorbitantly large monthly charge threshold for the first few months. So the problem of finding outright premium airfare deals isn’t easy, but it’s not insurmountable, either.

Where to Find Premium Airfare Deals

Still, premium deals are available. Airlines offer flash sales and special promotions in premium cabins just as they do in economy. A few years ago, I found (and bought) a round-trip business class ticket to Asia for just $1,500—which was less than half the nominal first-class rate.

How to Find Premium Airfare Deals

First, set yourself up for success on your hunt for the best premium airfare deals by following these booking tips.

Set Up Fare Alerts

Ideally, you’d be able to monitor every booking site at all hours of the day, ready to pounce on the best deal as soon as it goes live. Unfortunately, few of us have the time to spend hours sifting through fares. This is where airfare deal alerts come in handy. Many top flight search sites allow you to track certain itineraries and will send you alerts when fares drop on your preferred travel dates. Expedia’s “Price Tracking” and AirfareWatchdog’s “Deal Alerts” are among the best options. Setting up multiple alerts on multiple travel dates increases your chance of scoring a great rate.

How to Set Up Flight Price Alerts: Flight search sites make it easy to set up fare alerts. Oftentimes it’s as easy as searching for the route you want and toggling a switch on the flight results page. From there, you’ll be prompted to enter your email or create an account so the site can send you the latest fares. On our sister site, Airfarewatchog, all you have to do is click “track this route” to be alerted to price drops and great deals to your destination. 

Listen to the Data

Some flight search sites use predictive analysis and historical booking data to let travelers know when the best time to book a certain route may be. Momondo’s “Our Advice” section on their flight search results page offers recommendations for when travelers should buy and predictions for future price changes. On a flight search for business and first class fares from Los Angeles to New York, Momondo let me know that I should buy now and that “prices [were] unlikely to decrease within 7 days.”

Travel on Tuesdays

While there is some debate about whether Tuesday remains the peak day to fly, it can’t hurt to take into consideration. According to NerdWallet, airfare can be roughly 24% lower for flights departing on a Tuesday. This applies across fare classes, so try snagging a business or first class airfare deal.

Book on Off Days and During Off Season

If traveling during a high air traffic season, like around Christmas or spring break, booking flights on less popular travel dates can lead to better fare deals. According to Hopper, international flights that departing on Christmas Day this past holiday season saw airfare up to 17% lower than flights departing the previous Friday. Additionally, travel during your destination’s off season will see cheaper fares across the board.

Shoot for an Upgrade

Gone are the days when free upgrades were (relatively) easy to obtain. However, for those willing to do their due diligence there’s still hope. Follow our guide on how to really get an airline upgrade to try your luck.

Expand Your Horizons

Traditionally, the most luxe fares were business and first class and the rest of the cabin was stuck in coach. But recently, the emergence of fares like premium economy have made it possible for a budget traveler to fly in comparative style. Expand your search to include these alternate classes to get the same benefits at a much lower price.

Paid Services to Find Premium Airfare Deals

If managing your own fare alerts and flight searches sounds daunting, don’t worry. There are services dedicated to doing the legwork for you.

First Class Flyer

First Class Flyer is the gold standard for finding deals on premium airfare, for both performance and membership price. The minimum Silver level costs $97 per year, and gets you a daily bulletin that covers special deals for both cash payments and use of miles. Higher levels of membership cost $197 and $297 per year and add on a bunch of additional information that’s useful, but not essential, if you’re just looking for flash sales.

MightyTravels

MightyTravels’ premium option is $69 per year and offers daily bulletins on economy class deals from your home airport. Their Premium Pro ($199/year) membership includes bulletins on economy, premium economy, and business class deals from your home airport, including unpublished and “mistake fares”, while Premium Max ($159/year) adds on additional tiered benefits, such as Travel Concierge Assistance.

Going

A membership with Going—formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights—works similarly to those listed above, however the first two membership tiers are less expensive than the either MightyTravels or First Class Flyer. A Limited Membership is free and gets you access to economy deals within the continental United States from your home airport. The Premium membership is $5.99 per month ($69 annually) and unlocks both domestic (all 50 states) and international economy deals. The Elite tier is where you’ll find premium economy, business class, and first class airfare deals, for just $16.58 per month ($199 annually). Both Premium and Elite members have access to points and miles deals, mistake fares, and custom destination alerts.

Free Blogs to Find Premium Airfare Deals

A handful of free blogs also cover the full gamut of airfare deals with a minor focus on premium cabin options. All or most of the free blogs often find the same deals—so you’re probably ok finding one you like and sticking with it. Options include AirfareSpot.com, Godsavethepoints, No Mas Coach, One Mile at a Time, The Points Guy, and View from the Wing. There’s a lot about credit cards, hotels, and other stuff in them, too, but they do dig out some good premium deals.

FlyerTalk also has an online forum on premium flying. It’s not organized for easy search, but it’s especially good for deals that originate outside of the U.S.

So unless you spring for the First Class Flyer or MightyTravels paid services, you’ll have to do your own digging through blogs and websites. But that’s a lot easier than spending hours on a metasearch engine, yourself. The amount of money you’ll save warrants a bit of extra effort, anyways.

Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Where to Find Premium Airfare Deals on First Class and Business Class appeared first on SmarterTravel.

Mexico Passport Requirements for U.S. Citizens

Passport requirements for U.S. citizens entering Mexico vary whether traveling by air, land, or sea. Travelers may be required to obtain additional permits or authorizations depending on the means of entry. Regardless of how they arrive, all travelers must present either a passport book or card before they are permitted to enter Mexico. No visa is required for U.S. citizens staying up to 180 days.

Traveling to Mexico By Air

A valid passport book with enough blank pages for entry stamps is necessary for passengers arriving by air when visiting Mexico. You may also be asked to provide proof of economic means along with a return ticket home.

Previously, passengers arriving by air had to fill out a physical form called the Forma Migratoria Multiple (FMM) and pay a $35 fee, typically included in the airline surcharges. However, most Mexican airports have phased this out in favor of its digital counterpart, the Forma Migratoria Multiple Digital (FMMD). At certain airports, travelers may receive a stamp in their passport instead of a physical form. Pay close attention and follow the instructions given upon arrival. 

Traveling to Mexico By Land

Travelers crossing a land border may use a passport book or passport card and, if they plan to remain within the roughly 12-mile “border zone” for the entirety of their trip, are not required to fill out an FMMD. However, travelers planning to go beyond that zone must complete a physical FMM at a National Institute of Immigration (Instituto Nacional de Migración or INM) location. This form is necessary when traveling in and leaving Mexico, so keep it in a safe spot along with your other travel documents. 

Travelers driving their U.S.-registered vehicles beyond the border zone must also obtain a special vehicle permit. These permits can be obtained at the border, at a consulate, or ahead of time online through the government agency Banjercito. Drivers will be required to provide a valid vehicle registration and their FMM form, and to leave a deposit that will be refunded upon leaving the country.

Traveling to Mexico on a Cruise

Passport cards are valid for entry into Mexico by sea. However, it’s best to take your passport book with you on a cruise if your itinerary involves stops at international ports outside of Mexico or in case of an emergency. 

If you are traveling on a closed-loop cruise—or a cruise that departs from and returns to the same U.S. port—all you need to re-enter the United States is an Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL). An EDL contains an RFID chip with the owner’s biometric data and can be used as proof of citizenship. This is not the same as a REAL ID, which can be used to fly domestically but cannot be used to cross an international border. Currently, Enhanced Driver’s Licenses are only available to Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington residents.

Please note that your destination ports—including those in Mexico—still require the appropriate passport book or card and will not accept an EDL for entry.

More Information When Visiting Mexico

Do I Need a Passport to Travel to Baja California?

Yes, travelers still need a passport to travel to Baja California and Baja California Sur. However, these areas, along with Sonora, are part of a “hassle-free” zone that waives the need for the above-mentioned vehicle and entry permits.

What Should I Do If I Lose My Passport in Mexico?

If you lose your passport while in Mexico, dial 078 from any phone for embassy and consulate information. From there, ask to speak to the Consular Section to report your documents missing and make an appointment to apply for an emergency passport.

Are there vaccine requirements for U.S. citizens traveling to Mexico?

No vaccinations are required. However, the CDC does provide a list of recommended vaccines for travelers.

What is the Difference Between a Passport Book and a Passport Card?

A U.S. passport book has 28 or 52 pages and is valid for ten years. It is required for air travel to all foreign countries. A U.S. passport card looks similar to a state ID and contains all personal information found in a traditional passport. It can be used for U.S. citizens traveling by land or sea to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, and certain countries in the Caribbean and is cheaper to apply for than a passport book.

What is a REAL ID?

A REAL ID is a new form of state identification that follows a uniform set of security standards across states and will be required to board domestic flights beginning in May 2025. Read our guide here to learn more about the REAL ID Act and what it means for your travel plans.

Where Can I Find Information on Mexico Travel Advisories?

The U.S. Department of State provides detailed information, including travel advisories and passport validity requirements, to your destination.

What Is the Best Way to Plan a Trip to Mexico?

Visit Mexico is an excellent resource for things to do and places to stay, as well as everything you need to know before you go when planning a trip to the country.

Check out our handy guides to some great destinations in Mexico, like top hotels, the safest places for U.S. tourists to travel, and our guide to the capital, Mexico City. When planning your itinerary, don’t forget to check out the best trip-planning apps, flight search sites, and—of course—packing lists.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2016. It has been updated to reflect the most current information. Kate H. Knapp contributed to this story.

The post Mexico Passport Requirements: Do I Need a Passport to Go to Mexico? appeared first on SmarterTravel.

In addition to the option of booking directly with your airline, there are dozens of flight booking websites, also known as online travel agencies (OTAs), to choose from. The uncomfortable truth is that no one flight search engine can guarantee the best price 100 percent of the time, but using a mix of the right resources can help ensure you’re not overpaying.

The Best Flight Booking Sites

One important thing to remember about booking sites/OTAs is that Southwest fares are not sold on them. Some other airlines have also pulled their fares from some booking sites, but most airlines do make their fares available.

Here’s why these 14 are the best flight booking sites and metasearch options out there, and the best defining feature of each. Since it’s impossible to know which site will provide the best price for your particular trip, you should always compare fares from a few sources before you book.

Best Flight Search Site for Comparing Flight Types: Travelocity

It should be noted that Expedia owns Travelocity, so this flight booking site basically gives you Expedia price results with a different color scheme and organizational preferences. Travelocity’s homepage is streamlined but doesn’t offer a flexible-dates search. On the results page, bag fees are revealed by a pop-up screen that activates when clicking each fare, which makes it a little difficult to compare fees (you will likely have to scroll a bit). Travelocity charges booking fees for some but not all flights.

Best Feature: Travelocity displays all fares for a selected flight in a convenient pop-out window, allowing you to compare fares on a given itinerary while still scrolling through options from the search results on the same screen.

Best Flight Search Site for Comparison Shopping: BookingBuddy

Editor’s note: BookingBuddy is owned by SmarterTravel Media, SmarterTravel.com’s parent company.

Compare multiple airfare sites with one click to find the best flight deals on BookingBuddy. This metasearch site lets you easily compare prices from other sites (like Priceline) without having to do a bunch of different searches. You can choose which flight search sites you want to compare, and BookingBuddy opens up a new tab with your selected flight dates and destinations already filled in.

Looking for a flight and hotel? BookingBuddy offers a combination flight and hotel search that can save you some decent money by bundling.

Best Feature: Sign up for a price drop alert, and BookingBuddy will email you when costs drop on your route.

Best Flight Search Site for Transparency: Expedia

As previously mentioned, Expedia is nearly identical to Travelocity, but fares did vary between the two sites on some of my searches. As with Travelocity (and to be fair, a number of other OTAs), Expedia will try to up-sell you on adding a hotel to your itinerary. This can save you money, but be sure to compare prices before you book. Expedia charges variable booking fees (and they are not always the same fees that Travelocity charges). When you select your fare from the list of options, there’s an interstitial step that displays what is and isn’t covered in the fare, including seat selection, cancellations, changes, and baggage rules.

Best Feature: Like its subsidiary Travelocity, Expedia basically double-checks that you understand what sort of fare you’re choosing before you click “select” again. It’s a helpful bit of transparency in today’s cluttered airfare landscape.

Best Flight Search Site for Nonstop Flights: CheapOair

Much like Travelocity and Expedia, flight search sites CheapOair and OneTravel (discussed later in this article) are versions of the same product, owned by Fareportal Inc. Though the sites are owned by the same company, the fare results are not always identical, so it’s worth checking both. CheapOair shows some “Super Saver Fares” for which you don’t find out the airline you’ll be flying until after you book—which means you also don’t find out what baggage fees apply until after you book. However, the savings might be worth it. CheapOair charges a service fee on air travel transactions, from $0 to $35 per ticket.

Best Feature: CheapOair prioritizes nonstop prices over itineraries with stops, organized in an easy-to-read chart that’s organized by airline.

Best Flight Search Site with Flight Reviews: Tripadvisor Flights

Tripadvisor is known for its hotel reviews, and now travelers can apply their ratings to airlines, plus search for airfare on Tripadvisor Flights. On testing this flight booking site it’s clear that Tripadvisor doesn’t always serve up the cheapest fares, but sometimes it did. It always, however, gives you the option to surface Expedia, Travelocity, and other flight booking sites’ results, so you can compare right away with one click. Tripadvisor Flights also has some helpful search options up front, like a checkbox for prioritizing nonstop flights.

Best Feature: Tripadvisor’s flight search tool is unique from others in that it offers review-based FlyScores of airlines alongside their fares, so you’re less likely to book with an obscure, poorly rated airline without realizing it.

Best Flight Booking Site for Environmentally-Conscious Flyers: Skyscanner

Skyscanner is a popular metasearch site that works with hundreds of other travel providers to find the best fares. You can specify nonstop-flights-only right from the homepage, and there’s also a handy “everywhere” option if you don’t have a particular destination in mind and want to see what’s available. Search results show the “best” option (based on a combination of price and speed) as well as the fastest and cheapest, and you can filter by airline, alliance, number of stops, and flight times. When you select a result, you’ll see a variety of places to book that particular flight. Skyscanner casts a wide net, so you’ll often see very cheap fares from booking sites you’ve never heard of; to help you figure out how trustworthy they are, Skyscanner shows user star ratings for each.

Best Feature: For flyers concerned about the environmental impact of their travel, Skyscanner has a unique “Greener flights” filter, which shows only itineraries with lower-than-average CO2 emissions based on your search. The site also highlights certain itineraries in your results as a “greener choice.”

Best Flight Booking Site for Flexible Travel: OneTravel

OneTravel has a similar interface to CheapOAir, with a convenient chart prioritizing the best nonstop flight options at the top of the results page. The search results automatically populate similar but cheaper flights on alternate dates close to the user’s original search date, which is great if there is flexibility in your plans. If you are committed to your arrival and departure dates, however, you can toggle off alternate dates in the filters section. One major drawback: OneTravel charges a steep service fee of up to $50 per ticket.

Best Feature: The search results page is subdivided into Recommended, Cheapest, Shortest, and Alternate Date tabs, making it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for at a high-level and continue to filter down from there.

Best Flight Booking Site for People on a Budget: Travelzoo

Travelzoo is quite different from the other sites listed here. Instead of booking specific itineraries, you can search broad timelines (this week, next month, this summer, etc.) for deals in your desired destination by either month or season. This makes Travelzoo a good fit for people with a budget and time frame, but no firm idea of when or even where they want to go. The downside is that if you do have specific plans in mind—for example, you need a flight to Omaha in March—Travelzoo is not likely to be helpful.

Best Feature: Travelzoo’s flexibility requirement can afford some great deals you won’t find elsewhere, like cheap business-class flights and multi-city itineraries that will make a dream trip a lot more affordable than you’d think.

Best For Where You Don’t Care Where You Go, You Just Want a Good Price: Google Flights

Google Flights is a powerful, simple metasearch site that comes free of ads and distractions. After you enter your departure and arrival airports, the calendar pre-populates with prices so you can target dates with lower fares. Once you have your results, you can track fares on your selected dates and receive updates by email. You can also view fares over various dates using the “Price Graph,” which shows you a bar graph that makes it easy to see when the lowest fares are available.

Best Feature: Instead of putting in a certain city as a destination, you can put in a larger region such as Europe or South Africa. You’ll then see fares to various cities within that region displayed all at once on a map. This can be helpful if you want to go to Europe in April, for example, but don’t have a particular destination in mind.

Best Flight Booking Site for Filtering: Kayak

Often imitated and frequently duplicated, Kayak was a game-changer when it launched back in the mid-2000s. And it’s still one of the most powerful metasearch tools available. You can also set up fares alerts to track prices over time. The interface is noisier than Google Flights thanks to a preponderance of ads, but still easy to use. Like Google, it has a flexible search feature that lets you search for good deals to a region like Europe or even simply put in “anywhere.” Another handy feature available on many itineraries: an “Our Advice” box that lets you know whether you should buy now or wait, depending on whether Kayak thinks fares will go up or down over the next seven days.

Best Feature: Its Hacker Fares claim to piece together separate one-way tickets, potentially saving you money compared to similar itineraries, and its wide range of filters, sorting options, and predictive technologies put a lot of tools at travelers’ disposal.

Best Flight Booking Site That Included Southwest: Momondo

Like Kayak, Momondo is a metasearch site that takes you to other sites to make your purchase. One plus: Momondo surfaces results from Southwest, including flight times and other details from the carrier … but no prices. Only by clicking through to Southwest could I see the fare. Still, it’s nice to have a reminder that Southwest is an unlisted option. Another plus: Momondo searches for fares from a ton of smaller OTAs, which could lead to a deal that other metasearch tools miss.

Best Feature: The mention of Southwest is unique to Momondo.

Best Flight Booking Site for Multi-Stop Itineraries: Nomad from Kiwi.com

Kiwi.com is an OTA like many others; you book directly on the site (as you would on Expedia) rather than being linked off to a different site (as you would on Kayak or Momondo). But what sets it apart is its Nomad search engine, which lets you find cheap itineraries for multi-destination trips. You enter the starting and ending places of your journey as well as the cities where you want to stop along the way, including how many nights you want to spend in each place. Hit “find routes,” and the site will put together an itinerary that mixes and matches airlines and routes for the lowest possible price. (For example, I was quoted a route involving four flights—New York City to Rome to Moscow to Tokyo and back to New York—for a measly $1,031 round-trip.) You can filter your results to weed out routes with multiple layovers or flights that don’t include checked baggage.

Best Feature: This is by far the easiest tool I’ve used to research around-the-world and multi-stop itineraries.

Best Flight Booking Site for Fare Alerts: Airfarewatchdog

Full disclosure, airfarewatchdog is a sister site to SmarterTravel, so we are slightly biased with this one, but promise it is worth your while. Airfarewatchdog is the best for flexible travelers who are just looking for a great deal on airfare. Search fares from a city, to a city, or you can “choose an adventure,” which will show you fares from your city to various hotspots depending on what you are looking for – castles, caves, coffee, you name it, airfarewatchdog will point you in the right direction. Their blog features great travel tips, and one of the best features is the fare alerts you can sign up for. If you know you want to travel somewhere, but all you want is a cheap price, sign up for an alert, and you’ll find out as soon as the price dips so you can book it right away.

Best Feature: The fare alert—it allows you to stop searching daily for that perfect price! Let airfarewatchdog do the work for you.

Best Mobile-Friendly Flight Booking Site: Hopper

Hopper is primarily an app for your phone (although it can be used as a website) but it is worth putting on here just the same. Have you ever been scared to book a flight because it might go down, or afraid to not book it in case it goes up? One of the features of Hopper that makes it shine is its price predictor, which means you never have to worry about making the wrong booking decision. Another bonus is it shows you the price with all of the fees and taxes included, so there is no sticker shock when you finally go to book. After you search, if you aren’t ready to book, you can set up an alert to watch that trip, dates and all. 

Best Feature: Hands down the price predictor. 

Which Flight Booking Site is Best for Me?

In determining which of these sites are the best ones for you to compare prices with, it’s helpful to determine which sites meet your trip-booking needs. Do you want to clearly see bag fees up front? Do you want an easy “flexible dates” function, or are your dates firm? If your travel plans are loose, do you want to see prices for multiple destinations? Different flight booking sites have different capabilities.

Once you determine which site is worth your time depending on the trip, compare prices with a few to make sure you’re getting the best deal. And always check the airline’s own site: OTAs are good at displaying fees associated with an individual flight, but it’s trickier to compare fare options (classes like basic economy vs. economy) on that flight.

Lastly, it’s important to remember that this list can be separated into two main types: booking sites (also called OTAs) that you book directly with as a third party, and aggregators otherwise known as metasearch sites that’ll send you to a booking site to make your transaction. The latter are better if you want to use any frequent flyer programs you might belong to and acquire points.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2019. It has been updated to reflect the most current information. Sarah Schlichter and Megan Johnson  contributed to this story. Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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