How to Use ChatGPT for Travel Planning

It’s hardly a surprise that ChatGPT can practically do anything. From helping you write essays to having the best ChatGPT prompts, a lot is possible. However, did you know you can even use ChatGPT to plan a trip; complete with a travel itinerary? To help you do exactly that, we have compiled a guide asking ChatGPT to help in travel planning. So without further ado, pack your suitcase and open your laptop while we do this.

Note: Even with the latest GPT-4 LLM from OpenAI, ChatGPT has a limited dataset that only spans as far as November 2021. Always remember to double-check all information the chatbot gives you and treat its inputs with a grain of salt.

Step 1: Figure out Your Destination

We will begin by figuring out where we have to go in the first place. Thankfully, if you don’t know where to travel, ChatGPT can help figure out that part too. However, do try to have a general idea of what you want, including things like general weather conditions and the vibe of your ideal place. With that, let’s begin.

• In a new ChatGPT chat window, type out the following prompt. But remember that you can modify this input prompt based on your preferences.

I am looking for a travel destination that has sunny sandy beaches, beautiful views all around the city, and an overall party and relaxing vibe. Can you help me figure it out by giving 5 recommendations worldwide?

• Within a minute, ChatGPT has given us five beautiful destinations we can travel to. However, before we finalize our choice you can ask ChatGPT to tell you more about it. I’m interested in visiting Bali, so I will enquire about that. In your chat, type the following prompt – “I am planning to visit Bali. Tell me more about it and why I should choose it.”

ChatGPT has given me enough reasons to choose Bali as my travel destination, so I will be going with that. Let’s begin planning our travel itinerary with the help of ChatGPT below.

Step 2: Use ChatGPT to Create an Itinerary

Now comes the part where we actually plan our trip. Depending on your chosen destination and lifestyle, your chosen number of days might vary. I’m planning a generous five-day trip wherein I can explore Bali. Let’s begin asking ChatGPT for travel planning.

• In the same chat window, type out the following prompt to get ChatGPT to generate an itinerary:

Create an Itinerary for a 5-day trip to Bali (or whatever destination you choose). Make sure to include the most beautiful yet safe places I can explore. Include a moderate amount of things to do since I also want some time to relax.

• As expected, ChatGPT has given me a modestly packed itinerary full of places and activities I can enjoy. These include not only the places the times I can go but the general times I can go on. I even double-checked a few restaurants and places, and thankfully, they are still standing. However, you should always do your due diligence before finalizing anything. You can ask ChatGPT to add more places to this travel list.

Step 3: Plan Your Travel Expenses

You might already have a budget set in mind for the entire trip. However, if you’re someone who has no idea of the expenses involved, it’s time to ask ChatGPT and get an estimate for your travel plans. While they naturally won’t be 100% up to date, they give you a good starting point. Let’s do it now.

• In the same chat, type out the below prompt:

Based on the trip you created, what will be the total expense of traveling around and just enjoying myself for just one person? Exclude hotel and flights.

• As you can see, I have excluded the prices of flights and hotels since we will be adding that later. You can also increase family members or add more details to this prompt.

• ChatGPT has given us a good rough breakdown of our expenses for a five-day trip to Bali. You can see the prices have a good range of price brackets as the AI has kept changes into account. As before, we did double-check the entrance fee prices and most of them were spot-on. However, I believe the taxi prices will escalate since the AI estimation is quite old. However, as stated before, we get a good idea of the expenses.

Using ChatGPT for travel planning does give us a budget we can work from. However, as a good rule of thumb, it’s better to overestimate rather than take AI for its word. In my case, I will take the upper limit of $580 and push it to $750 to be on the safer side.

Step 4: Book Flights and Hotels

Now comes the part where we book our flights and hotels. Since ChatGPT does not provide real-time information or actually book all your flights (AutoGPT can do that for you or ChatGPT plugins for Kayak or Expedia if you have received access to them), I will just be asking for it for airline and hotel recommendations.

• In the same chat, ask ChatGPT the following:

Suggest me quick and affordable flights to get to Bali <destination> from New Delhi, India <origin point>. Include the names of the airlines, how long they will take, and also add a rough estimate of how much each will cost.

As I mentioned, ChatGPT has stated that it cannot provide real-time flight information. However, it still gave a price estimate along with some popular flight options. I again checked flight prices going from DEL (Delhi) to DPS (Bali) from the suggested airlines, and again, it’s pretty spot on.

Even if ChatGPT cannot give you the exact prices, it’s actually good at giving a pretty accurate estimate. We can ask ChatGPT to mark the price estimate for a particular flight for later by typing, “I’m choosing AirAsia. Remember this information.” Now let’s ask about hotels.

• Type out to ChatGPT, the following prompt — “Suggest me some good 4-5 star hotels and resorts in Bali I can stay in. Make sure to keep my itinerary in mind and ensure it’s not too far from the things I want to do. Also, include a rough price estimate for each hotel.“

Thus, as part of our travel planning endeavor, we now have a nice list of hotels and resorts suggested by ChatGPT. I will be going with W Bali and ask ChatGPT to remember it, as I did above.

Step 5: Research on Experiences and Culture

This step is entirely optional, but I did want to learn more about Bali’s culture and its experiences. If you want to do the same, you can add this prompt to your ChatGPT too. Type out the following prompt in the chat:

I want to learn more about Bali’s culture. What are some local experiences I can try? Also, tell me more about how I should behave while I am there. Include any special instructions if any to follow.

ChatGPT scoured its database and gave me a list of things to do and how to act. I can now ask it to include these activities if not already in my plan or just do them myself. It’s also a good idea to be aware of the culture regardless you embrace it or not. With that, let’s proceed to the final stages.

Step 6: Ask for Emergency Numbers

Note: Always double-check emergency numbers with the official websites pertaining to your destination. Never take ChatGPT’s word as your final one.

• In the same chat, type out this prompt in ChatGPT — “Let’s talk about emergency options. What are the numbers for the nearest Indian Embassy near my hotel? Also include numbers for Police, Ambulance, and Firefighters. Also, give me some safety tips for my visit.”

As before, we have a list of numbers and tips to follow. However, as mentioned always double-check these. In my experience, ChatGPT was mostly accurate with a few changes here and there.

Step 7: Export Your Travel Plan from ChatGPT

And just like that, our entire travel plan is ready with the help of ChatGPT. Now while ChatGPT cannot export your plan per se, it can create neat tables that you can screenshot and store for your reference. Let’s begin doing that.

• With all our information in the chat and remembered by ChatGPT, type out the following prompt to get a summary:

With all the information I have selected, create two different tables summarising my final itinerary in detail, the entire budget, emergency numbers, customs, and safety. Keep the customs and safety brief.

As you can see above, ChatGPT has given us two tables we can use to mark down information for our travel plans. While the itinerary table is small, you can always expand it to include all the information for it. As for our secondary table, it’s quite informative. And just like that, I have our travel planning done with ChatGPT’s help.

ChatGPT & AI Travel Planning Websites

While the above process can help you dish a full-scale travel plan with ChatGPT, we agree that it might be a bit tiresome to get through. For all those cases and more, there are also a wide variety of ChatGPT-powered AI travel planning tools that can help you get the work done in a jiffy. Here are some of them:

1. Roam Around

Roam Around is one of the easiest and most plug-and-play travel planning websites we have come across. The website uses ChatGPT to quickly query and come up with a travel plan. You can type out any destination, and Roam Around will show good results instantly. However, do note that the itinerary is fixed to a standard 7 days.

To combat that, however, the AI travel planner allows users to change a few things about their trip including adding certain points for kids or pets. It then modifies the travel plan accordingly. While not as detailed as ChatGPT for travel planning, Roam Around is still useful.

Try Roam Around

2. Tripnotes

Tripnotes’ travel planner is a limited preview of the entire host of experiences where users can leverage the website to not only plan but map out their entire journey. However, for those who want to just plan their trips or find something in a jiffy, Tripnotes’ travel planner will do.

Like the above service, Tripnotes offers a neat website where a user needs to select their destination. Once done, simply ask the AI for any specific element, including restaurants, bars, and places to visit. You can even compose a full itinerary.

Tripnote dishes out a plan in mere seconds with an interactive map on the side. You can use this map to quickly look through the suggested experiences and have fun with them. Check out Tripnotes for a quick yet fun travel plan.

Try Tripnotes