Having planned & booked numerous trips in India and abroad, some together and others individually (i.e. before we got knotted to each other), we are mentioning some of our all time favorite travel related resources. We have listed them since we have used them ourselves regularly to research and book. Over the period we have come to firmly trust in them. We regularly update this family travel resources page and only the best out there are mentioned to help you find the best deals whether it be the cheapest flights, tours, accommodation and anything else that’s travel related for planning your next great family holiday.
Family Travel resources
Flight bookings
Skyscanner
Skyscanner is a great place to start any airline search whether in India or abroad. It gives option for checking flights to & fro nearby airports as well. Somehow, it just manages to finds the best deal there is to offer from various other travel sites, OTA’s and budget carriers.
If you select the MAP option at the top right corner of the search box, it opens a calendar view allowing you to find the cheapest days to fly. You can also check out the lowest fares offered to various other places in the map mode based on the dates selected. So, in case your dates of travel are fixed and the place you are travelling is not yet decided, this mode really helps in zeroing your next travel destination based on the cheapest place to travel, assuming you do want to travel cheap! (like there is any other sensible option 🙂 )
Note: Green Circles indicate direct flights and Red circles indicate 1+ stops, so when travelling with small kids, we find it easier to restrict ourselves to the green circles.
Yatra
Yatra.com is another leading provider of consumer-direct travel services in India. It is a great website which searches most of the airlines including budget carriers as well. Its a good site to compare prices and more often than not offers the cheapest of options available.
MakeMyTrip
Another great flight search engine, as an alternative to Yatra. I use it mostly just to compare and if getting the best deal, then I book it using as many Payback points as is available in my Payback account at that time.
Google Flights
Another awesome search engine available at your disposal is Google Flights. Although we have never booked any flight via Google Flights as yet but we have used it many a times to check out the cheapest destination from the map in which the prices of flights all over the world are displayed.
Booking Hotels
Numerous options are available nowadays for searching the best family accommodation anywhere on the click of the button. Following are some of the family hotel / resorts booking resources we regularly use to finalize our stay. Once we have finalized our accommodation at a place, we generally check at least 2-3 websites mentioned below before making the wallet lighter.
Hotelscombined.in
This great resource allows an easy comparison of all the top travel sites in one simple search and gets you the best deals in one click. Hotelscombined has become our all time favorite hotel search go to site which we simply can’t do without.
Agoda
Agoda needs a special mention here as it has time and again given us the best accommodation deals and free room upgrades upon check-in. It has become our No.1 go to accommodation search site whenever we need to plan our family vacations. The trick to cheaper and best deals is to book hotels at least 21 days in advance that’s when you get deep discounted rates for better quality hotels.
TripAdvisor
Well, one doesn’t become the world’s largest travel site overnight, and there is definitely a reason for it. TripAdvisor offers advice from millions of travellers and so it naturally becomes the go to site before finalizing our hotel bookings. It has a wide variety of travel choices as well. Its hotel booking tool checks hundreds of websites to find great hotel prices. On a few occasions we have even booked our hotel stay via TripAdvisor since we found the best deals available here.
Booking alternative accommodation
Airbnb: With hosts sharing their spaces in 190 countries and more than 34,000 cities, Airbnb makes it easy to book unique accommodations anywhere in the world. All you have to do is create an account, enter your destination and travel dates into the search bar to discover distinctive places to stay, anywhere in the world. Use this link to create your account and get INR 2,200 off on your first trip of INR 5,000 or more.
Tour Companies
Hello Travel
If you prefer going on tours, you should inquire about a trip package or a customized holiday deals from HelloTravel. They will connect you with up to 4 independent travel agents who will provide you their best quotes. It saves time since there is no need to surf multiple sites for packages, quotes and travel plans. You easily get multiple itineraries which can then be compared, negotiated and money can be saved by simply choosing the best from the available options.
Other great trip planning resources
Book your adventure
With numerous discounted attractions on offer for over 25 tourist destinations around the world, Klook Travel makes it simple to discover activities, attractions and things to do wherever you travel. It allows to book services and attractions at the best prices.
Having used Klook ourselves extensively for our Singapore and Bali trip, we discovered more activities than would have otherwise with just a few clicks. With the best priced tickets to our attractions already printed with us, it ensured that we don’t sweat it out in the long ticketing queues (which offer NO discount) and just enjoy everything a destination offers.
Travel Insurance
Restaurants & Online Ordering
Our Top 10 List of Books to Read when Travelling
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
- Before I Go to Sleep by S.J.Watson
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- The Beach by Alex Garland