The best AI trip planners in 2026, compared

Which planner is best depends on what you want at the end. Highlights gives you a free day-by-day plan on a map that friends can open and RSVP to. Mindtrip and Layla also book the trip for you. ChatGPT and Gemini write a quick draft in a chat. All five are free to start.

These are ten AI trip planners you can use today: what each one does for free and what costs money. Features and prices come from each one's own site, checked on November 3, 2026. Highlights is our app. It's first because it's the one we know best, and we say where the others do a job better.

The 10 AI trip planners at a glance

1. Highlights: a plan you can follow and share

Write where you're going, when, who's coming and what you like, in one sentence. Sally, the planner inside Highlights, asks at most two questions, then builds every day in about a minute: real places with their ratings, opening hours and photos, in an order that doesn't cross town twice, with the walk or ride between stops and the whole day on a map. Ask her to swap anything after.

Most AI planners stop at the plan. Highlights is built for what comes next: you send one link, and friends open the plan in their browser and tap Going, Maybe or Can't go, with no app and no sign-up. In the iOS and Android apps your trips are saved for offline use, and on iPhone the day can run on your Lock Screen.

• Free: planning trips with Sally, the share link and RSVPs, the apps. No account is needed to start.
• Paid: ready-made plans for events (Mardi Gras, the 2027 eclipse, Christmas markets) show Day 1 free and cost a one-time price for the rest, and a person can check a custom plan and deliver it within 24 hours.
• Not for: booking. Highlights plans the trip and you book where you like; if you want one app that plans and books, look at Mindtrip and Layla.

You can plan a trip free with Sally without an account, or start from a ready-made plan such as Japan in 10 days.

2. Mindtrip: an assistant that learns your style and books

Mindtrip is a personal travel assistant. Tell it how you like to travel and it remembers, so the next trip doesn't start from scratch. It suggests flights, stays, restaurants and experiences, puts them in an itinerary you can share, with photos, maps and reviews, and you can book on Mindtrip. After you book it keeps an eye on price drops and flight changes. It runs on the web and in an iOS app.

Best for: people who want one assistant to plan, book and follow the trip.

3. Layla: AI plans it, a travel expert books it

Layla builds a trip around your dates, budget and style, then a human travel expert checks it and books the hotels and experiences. Planning is free, with no subscription or planning fee; you pay for the trip if you book it, and Layla says nothing is added on top. It also has ready-to-book trip templates and plans road trips.

Best for: people who would rather hand the booking to someone.

4. ChatGPT: a fast draft in conversation

Ask ChatGPT for "4 days in Lisbon with two kids, no early starts" and you get a day-by-day draft in seconds, which you reshape by replying. The free plan is enough for a trip plan; ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month in the US. The plan lives in the chat, so to follow it on the trip you copy it into a map, a note or a planner. It can still name a place that has closed or changed its hours, so check each stop.

5. Gemini: a draft from Google's own data

Gemini, Google's assistant, can use Google Maps, Google Flights and Google Hotels in the same chat, so a draft can include real flight times and hotel prices. It's free with a Google account, and Google AI Pro raises the limits. Like ChatGPT, the result is a conversation: save the plan somewhere you'll have on the trip.

6. Wonderplan: a quick free draft

Wonderplan builds a multi-day itinerary from your destination, dates, interests and budget, and you can adjust it after. It says it's free "at least for now". It's a quick way to get a first draft, which you then check.

7. Trip Planner AI: a plan with prices to book

Trip Planner AI (tripplanner.ai) turns your dates and destinations into a full plan with flights, hotels and activities, with timing, routes and budget estimates in one view. It compares live prices and sends you to book with partners such as Skyscanner, Booking.com and GetYourGuide, and companions can work on the itinerary with you. Its site has no pricing page.

8. Vacay: a travel chatbot with an itinerary planner

Vacay has a travel chatbot and a separate itinerary planner, plus chat tools for hotels, dining, cruises and flights. The free Personal plan includes unlimited use of the standard chatbot and the itinerary planner. Premium, $9.99 a month, adds its most advanced chatbot and saved itineraries across trips. It also sells a plan for travel advisors.

9. iPlan.ai: a plan sized to your time

iPlan.ai asks the purpose of the trip, your interests, who's coming, how long you're staying and your budget, then builds an itinerary in seconds that shows roughly how long to spend at each place. You can move, change or remove stops, and share the plan privately or publicly. It's on the web and Android.

10. Stippl: an AI itinerary with hotels and a budget

Stippl writes a day-by-day itinerary from one prompt and keeps hotels, a budget and group planning in the same app. The app is free, with a paid Stippl Pro subscription.

Also worth a look: iMean, which searches flights and hotels and builds an itinerary in one go, and Copilot2trip, a free assistant with interactive maps.

How to choose

• You want a plan to follow day by day and send to friends: Highlights.
• You want the trip booked for you: Layla, where a person books it, or Mindtrip.
• You want flights and hotels priced into the plan: Trip Planner AI or Gemini.
• You want a quick idea to start from: ChatGPT, Gemini or Wonderplan.
• You're planning with a group: Highlights for the plan and the RSVPs, or see trip planners for groups.
• You'd rather build the itinerary yourself: see the free travel itinerary planners, such as Wanderlog and Google My Maps.

Which AI trip planners handle trips with several stops?

Highlights, Trip Planner AI and Layla all plan trips with more than one stop. In Highlights, Sally plans around each place you'll sleep, in order, keeps each city's days together and adds the train or drive between them; on a road trip, every hop past walking distance becomes a drive. To compare two routes, make each one its own trip and open them side by side, or ask Sally to change the route and she plans the days again.

• Flights and tight layovers: Highlights doesn't plan flights, so check connection times where you book. Trip Planner AI and Mindtrip put flights into the plan, and Gemini can look up flight times in Google Flights in the same chat.
• Road trips: Layla plans road trips. To build the route yourself, Roadtrippers finds stops along the way.
• A long journey on a world map, tracked as you travel: Polarsteps. Both are in our free travel itinerary planners.

How to check an AI-made itinerary

An AI plan is a first draft. Before you rely on it:

• Check that every place exists and is open on the day you'll be there. Restaurants and museums change their hours by season.
• Look at each day on a map. If the stops zigzag across town, reorder them.
• Count the hours: a museum, lunch and a walk around one neighborhood is a full day in most cities.
• Book anything with timed entry (popular museums, towers, tours) as soon as the dates are fixed.
• Keep a copy that works offline.

Highlights does the first three when it builds the plan: the places come from Google Places with their hours and ratings, and each day is ordered on a map. Try it free.

For narrower jobs, we also compare AI apps for food trips, AI tools for tracking travel spending and AI apps for finding local restaurants.

Sources, checked Nov 3, 2026: Mindtrip, Layla, ChatGPT, Gemini, Wonderplan, Trip Planner AI, Vacay, iPlan.ai, Stippl, Roadtrippers, Polarsteps.