You can use services like ChatGPT to generate a travel itinerary by just providing a few details. However, if you take a closer look, the plans from such platforms often fall short. They usually suggest popular spots in the city without considering practical things like location, travel time, and how long it takes to explore each place. This can lead to a chaotic and inefficient trip.
That’s where dedicated AI trip planners come into play. They consider time it takes to travel, budget, and your other requirements like food choices, accommodation, etc. This makes AI travel bots better than using a general all-purpose AI.
However, many of these tools either don’t work well or come with a price tag. After trying several travel AI chatbots, we have found one AI trip planner called WonderPlan. It is free to use and gets the job done. Let’s see how it works.
How WonderPlan Works
As the name suggests, WonderPlan is a free AI-powered travel planner that helps you create personalized travel itineraries. The UI is pretty simple. There are funky animations or big bold claims.
Unlike general AI chatbots, WonderPlan focuses solely on travel, so you will find suggestions around your itinerary. It considers your budget, travel dates, interests, and even the practical aspects of your journey, like travel time and logistics. Let’s try to plan our next trip with it and see how it goes.
- Go to Wonderplan.ai to get started.
- Log in to the platform and click on Get Started.
- Enter your destination city and travel dates.
- Below you can select the budget and who you are planning your trip with.
- Finally select the activities and vibe you want to have with the trip, along with your food preferences like vegetarian options.
- Once done, click on Submit to get a plan according to your preferences.
The default itinerary is intelligently arranged, grouping nearby places together to avoid unnecessary back and forth and reduce time spent traveling. It takes into account the popularity of locations, your budget, and the time available.
The good news is that WonderPlan allows full customization. You can add, remove, or rearrange places according to your preferences. This flexibility makes it easier to fine-tune your itinerary until it matches your ideal trip.
WonderPlan also provides hotel recommendations through Booking.com. You can view important travel details like currency, temperature, and even the types of power plugs supported at your destination. We noticed an overview of average costs for accommodations, food, and transport, giving us a comprehensive picture of our travel budget.
Once you’re satisfied with your itinerary, you can download it as a PDF to share. What we like is that the plan was accessible offline. This feature is particularly useful when traveling in areas with limited or no internet access.
While the AI-generated plan is generally solid, it may not always be perfect. In our usage, the tool occasionally suggested pricier options than our budget or crammed too many activities into a single day. Another limitation is that you can only choose one destination per plan. If you’re planning a multi-city trip, you’ll need to create separate plans for each city. Overall, I created three plans for my personal use. Two of them turned out great, especially for popular tourist spots. However, for the third city, which was less well-known, the tool lacked sufficient data and recommended places that didn’t match our interests.
We also wish there was an option to send prompts to customize the plan in a more detailed way. Now we have to rely on the options provided by the platform to select our interests.
Also Read:
- Best Travel Management Apps for Android and iOS
- This Google Maps Feature Will Ensure No More Late Arrivals for Group Trips
- Useful Travel Apps for Android
- How to Plan Route With Multiple Stops on Google Maps
Alternatives to WonderPlan
However, WonderPlan isn’t the only service. You can also check out aimytrip.com which offers a clear user interface along with planning for a trip that includes multiple cities. Also, it lets you edit your plans using a text prompt which is a missing feature of WonderPlan. Another tool is GuideGeek which lets you plan trips directly from WhatsApp, Instagram, or Facebook Messenger. All these tools are free to use, making it a no-brainer to try for your next adventure.
