Best Search Engines

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As much as vacation is the time to relax and take it easy, we know that planning a trip can be stressful if we have little information in our hands. It all starts with booking your flights, hotels and car, and whether we’re swimming on money or not, maybe it’s in our nature but we’ll always want to search for the best deal. And this can consume hours if not days of our precious time, especially if we’re not looking at the right place.

So I gathered here some of my favorite search engines and booking sites, that are easy to use and where I generally find good prices and deals. As there isn’t a single site that is perfect for all countries, I’m also adding which countries or regions they are specialized in, as they may offer better prices for the location you’re looking for.

This post is a work in progress, and I’ll add more information as I find new links, and I’m also counting in our readers from all continents to contribute with their own favorite sites.

Here we go…
(Click on the name to go to their website)

- Farecompare - great deals daily, and I typically find prices to be cheaper in this site. They also get prices from several other booking sites, acting as a one stop shop. One of those worth subscribing to their newsletter and twitter feed. Works better for searches within the US or from the US to another country rather than the other way around.

- Kayak - probably one of the most popular nowadays, and it is indeed a good source, especially for trips within the US. I find it to be good as a source to find the best itineraries and prices, but often I would check the same itinerary with the carrier or hotel directly, as they may offer a slight lower price. So the advantage is that I can save time instead of looking at 15 different sites for each airline and compare them, Kayak does all that for me. And once I chose the best one, I just want to make sure I’m paying for the best price possible by comparing it with another site.

- Farecast / Bing Travel – I’ve been using Farecast for a while, and now it’s called Bing Travel. What I like about it is that it tells me when to buy my tickets, and more often than not, their forecast has worked well. If I get a yellow or red flag, I’ll wait another couple of days or so, also based on their timeline chart. Fun application. The price predictor works mostly for flights within the US and from the US, but it is also a good ‘aggregator’ and will show you where to book the best tickets.

- Decolar – One of the most popular and efficient booking systems in Brazil, along with its parent Despegar,that focuses on all other Latin American countries. Generally you’d find good prices for hotels, flights, car rentals and packages aroudn Brazil and from Brazil.

- Despegar – Same as Decolar, but focused on Latin American / Spanish speaking countries

- Rumbo – Apart from its bookings system, generally has good deals for flights or packages. Works well for Brazil, Spain and Portugal. They have coverage in other countries, though we haven’t tested it yet.

- Flight Network – specialized in flights from Canada and the US. Excellent for flights from Canada, I’ve often found tickets there to be cheaper than other US search engines, and even in airline’s websites.

- Hotels Combined – the great thing about this website is that it’s simple and easy to use. it’s not cluttered with the information, which makes your experience become much more pleasant.  It also has a powerful search engine that tracks numerous hotels around the world, at very good prices.

- Ctrip - for travels around China. Easy to use, offers better deals by searching locally. Also includes destination guides with pictures and reviews of each location.

- Zuji – from the Travelocity company, speciallized  in the Asia Pacific region

Other (WIP, will add notes about them soon)

- Ita Software

- Skytours

- Skyscanner

- getaroom.com

- 1800 flyeurope

- flights.com

- smartertravel

- lastminute

- air-fare.com

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