20 useful websites to improve your travels

The internet is a wonderful tool full of useful websites to help you improve your travels. Grab a coffee, bookmark this page to use in the future and I hope they help you to travel cheaper, smarter and better in the future.

Here are my Top 20 websites that I use to help improve my travels, enjoy!:

1. Momondo

My Favourite website to use when booking flights. I’ve found many flight search websites to be the same, it’s all about finding one that suits your personal needs and gather the best price. Momondo just makes the whole search process a piece of cake. You can use the panel at the top of the website to quickly change the dates or location, perfect for when your flexible and want to find the best deal out there. As long as the price is good I’m happy to shift a day back or forward to make it work, this site easily allows this. Easy to sort out one way flights, connecting flights to slash the cost and gives you many options, perfect if you’re on a budget and need to locate a quick flight.

2. Man in seat 61

Perfect travel website for any explorer looking for some train route inspiration. If a country you’re visiting has a train network, then this site lays out the whole route point to point with costs, tips and even pictures of what’s inside the train carriage. Perfect for when you’re debating over the best deal on transportation options for your journey. Useful website and extremely handy, this is always on my list, a true travelling website champ! Constantly being updated too, so you can ensure the information is spot on.

3. Seat Guru

You’ve booked your flight and then you’re given the option to choose your seat. This website does the job spot on, type in your flight details and the Seat Guru does the rest of the world for you. Locates the best possible seat on your flight and comes along with tips and hints on what spots are the best choice. I’ve always found myself debating on which seat would have the best leg room and this website will help you find it. If you’re going to spend 8+ hours on a flight its worth the time and effort.

4. Rome2Rio

This fun website will help you plot a route from any location to the next. Helpful to locate information on finding the best route to take. It uses web data to conveniently direct it to you, very smart indeed. My friend recently went to Greece and he was able to find the cost and daily departure times of a local boat he was looking for with one search, extremely useful travel tool to use. Exciting also if you just want to see how to get to Antartica from Tilburg or see if flying, taking the bus or train is the best option price wise and time wise for your travels.

5. Bla bla car

The modern form of hitch hiking in Europe, a car share style site that helps you locate and find drivers heading to your next location and sort out a split price on the petrol, very cheap way of travelling long distance and great for the environment too. Perfect also for making new friends on the road and the site has many security features so you can get to know your driver first before departure.

6. With Local

Want to find a local around Asia? Find an endless list of locals willing to become a local tour guide or cook you a local dish in their home. Great way to locate an expert in the area you’re visiting for a reasonable price. No one will cook a better local dish for you than someones grandma and they are up for chatting, getting to know you and creating an incredible experience for you and your travels.

7. Xe.com

I’m always using this website for my currency conversion and it’s both simple and easy to use. Keep up to date and you can use it offline using the smartphone app , handy for when you need to get cash out at an airport with no internet.

8. Sleeping in Airports

If you’re travelling with a budget airline you might find yourself having to fly extremely early in the morning, to money and avoid booking a hostel, use this website to see if its possible to sleep at the airport. Some Airports are against it, some welcome it, this site will easily point out what works. Covering almost all airports round the world its very well covered.

9. Hostel World

My Hostel website of choice, it’s both quick and simple to use and covers the globe, perfect for easily finding a cheap night stay in any city. Great for booking long term rentals for a month or two as well. Lots of reviews, easy to navigate and now with no booking fee makes a perfect choice.

10. AirBnB

Everyone is talking about AirBnB and its a fantastic concept, why pay for a hotel room when you can stay with a local for a fraction of the price in a unique apartment. Every night stay on Airbnb is unique and different and with the review system you can find something that suits you. Perfect way to get a glimpse into a locals home and culture.

11. WikiTravel

Know before you go, always be prepared and travel smart. avoid paying for expensive guidebook and check out Wiki Travel instead, loads of inside information for any destination. read up on safety tips, locate fun and exciting places to visit, find places to eat out and make sure you don’t miss anything you might like to explore.

12. Gapyear.com Board

ask questions about travel that you need help with here, full of handy information to get rid of your travel worries. Been around for ages and perfect for first time travellers.

13. Tripit

I’m always getting my Flight details and hotel bookings muddled up, this site plugs into your email browser, scans your emails, then places all these important details for your next trip in one place, be on top of your flight times and booking reservations, the perfect website to organise your travels and for lazy people too.

14. VisaMapper

Not sure about Visa situations on your next trip? One look at this site will sort it all out, very handy indeed so you can plan for the unexpected.

15. Expatistan

Why are you where you are now? Fancy making a change? You can use this site to compare standards of living with many location round the world. It calculates if it would be cheaper to live and work somewhere else. Great site to get your travel bug going on the possibilities.

16. World nomads

When travelling always use travel insurance, my travel insurance of choice is World Nomad, they are built with backpackers in mind, easy to use and manage and will jump into assistance when you need it, worth checking out.

17. Holiday Pirate

One website I shouldn’t visit so often. Scans the web for flight price eras and then lets you know about them. Once booked a return flight from Rome to Beijing for €120, it really is dangerous if you don’t want to spend money or come up with a random on the spot adventure, be careful its cheap and addictive.

18. Duolingo

I’m not the best at learning languages, but this website has such a different approach compared to traditional methods. It makes it more fun and speeds up your language learning. Handy when you’re travelling to countries where English can be a struggle. I found it funny that the first word I learned in Russian, using the app was toaster? But it’s stuck in my head and that’s pretty unique, great fun and helpful language website worth checking out.

19. Couchsurfing

The best way to locate a local in any location and not just for finding a free place to stay its much more than that it’s a community. It has many alternative uses (can just meet for a coffee or borrow a bike) and for that reason its perfect to connect with locals in the location you’re visiting.

20. Nomad List

Nomad list is a new website I recently discovered and it helps you to locate where you can work and live with an online business, calculates the local costs, the community that is around that area and how good the internet connection is. Fun if you’re looking at moving and trying something new.

Thank you for reading my blog post about useful travel websites and I hope you found this post useful. Remember to bookmark this page if you want to come back and find the websites again. If you have any more interesting travel websites that you use feel free to post below in the comment section, thank you: