Travel Planning Resources
Over the last 20-odd years of planning multi-city Asia trips with my husband and son, I’ve tried a lot of booking sites, tools, and apps. Some have been brilliant, some a complete waste of time. This page is everything that’s actually earned a permanent spot in how we plan.
A few of these links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you. I only ever recommend what we use ourselves or comes highly recommended as an alternate option.
Start Planning
Planning a multi-city trip starts long before you book a flight. If you’re still working out your route, how many cities, how many days each, what order it all goes in… this is where I’d start.
Free Multi-City Trip Planning Workbook
Start here before you book anything.
Before I book anything, I work through six decisions that turn “we want to see Hong Kong, Macau and Hanoi” into an actual route. I’ve put the process into a free workbook. Grab it below.
Book Your Trip
These are the sites I actually use to compare prices, and test out different routes and dates before deciding which flights to book. Some are free to use, some are affiliate partners, all ones I’d recommend to a friend.
Flights
Google Flights
I almost always start here. It’s the fastest way to see a whole route at a glance, and playing with dates or nearby airports often shows a saving you wouldn’t find searching one route at a time.
Skyscanner
My go-to once I know the route. This is what turned up the Hong Kong–Hanoi combination that ended up cheaper than a longer Hong Kong-only trip.
Trip.com
I book direct with the airline whenever I can, but for multi-city routes spanning a few different carriers, Trip.com is worth a look. It sometimes bundles cheaper than booking each leg separately, particularly with budget carriers that don’t always show up cleanly elsewhere.
Still not sure where to start?
Google Flights, Skyscanner and Trip.com are great once you know what you’re searching for. The Multi-City Flight Planner figures out the route first, so you know what to search, what to ignore, and what to book, before you spend hours comparing options.
Accommodation
Booking.com
This is the one I use for almost every hotel booking. I’ve stuck with it long enough to hit Genius status, which means better cancellation flexibility and the odd free breakfast or upgrade thrown in.
Agoda
I haven’t personally booked through Agoda, but I have used it for comparisons. It’s based in Singapore and specialises in Southeast Asia, so it sometimes turns up better rates or availability across our region than the bigger global sites do.
Vrbo
An alternative to Airbnb, Vrbo is worth checking for whole apartments and houses, especially if you’re travelling as a family and want more space.
Tours and Activities
If I’m honest, we’re more “book everything direct and wing it on the day” than pre-booked-activity people — something I keep meaning to change. These are the platforms worth knowing about if you want to skip queues or lock things in ahead of time, which is more than we usually manage.
Klook
We’ve used Klook a couple of times for skip-the-line tickets and airport transfers. Easy to book, and it covers a huge range of activities across Asia specifically.
Get your Guide
We haven’t personally booked through GetYourGuide, but it’s one of the biggest platforms for tours and experiences worldwide, worth checking if Klook doesn’t have what you’re after.
Viator
Owned by Tripadvisor, so it’s worth checking here if you want to cross-reference activities against Tripadvisor reviews before booking.
Tiqets
Particularly strong for museum and attraction tickets specifically. Worth a look if you’re mainly after skip-the-line entry rather than full guided tours.
Transport Between Cities
Getting between cities is its own puzzle on a multi-city trip. Train, bus, ferry, or a short flight all come into play depending on the route. Our process is pretty consistent: check what’s actually possible, then compare prices, then book. These are the tools we use each time.
Google Maps
Always our first stop. We check distances and see what public transport options exist before deciding whether a route even needs booking ahead, or if we can sort it out on the day.
Klook
Once we know what we’re looking for, this is where we book some transport options between cities, such as trains, transfers and ferry tickets. Great for airport transfers too.
12Go
If we’re not sure what’s available or want to compare a few operators on one route, 12Go pulls together trains, buses and ferries and their timetables in one place before we commit to a booking.
Internal Flights
Sometimes a short flight is the best option to save time, or even cost for a particular route. Google Flights and Skyscanner above work for city to city hops too.
Money & Connectivity
Two things worth sorting before you land: how you’ll pay for things, and how you’ll stay online. These are the two we actually use.
Wise
We keep a separate Wise account just for travel so we can spend in local currency without the terrible exchange rates and hidden fees a regular bank card charges overseas, and it’s genuinely saved us money on every trip we’ve used it for.
Airalo
An eSIM installed before we leave home means we’ve got mobile data the second we land, without hunting for a local SIM counter at the airport. Works across every country we’ve needed it for so far.