Planning a vacation can be exciting, but booking flights, hotels, and car rentals separately can quickly become overwhelming and costly. Fortunately, Good Travel Packages Websites offer a convenient solution, allowing you to bundle these essential components and often save money in the process. But with so many options available, finding the best travel package sites can be challenging.
We’ve done the legwork for you, testing numerous vacation package websites to identify those that consistently offer competitive prices and a user-friendly booking experience. Our in-depth analysis reveals the top platforms where you can find good travel packages, simplifying your vacation planning and potentially saving you significant money. We’ll explore the strengths and weaknesses of each site, helping you make informed decisions and book your dream vacation with confidence.
Expedia
Illustration of a laptop computer screen showing the vacation packages search page for Expedia
Expedia stands out as a leading name in the realm of good travel packages websites, and for good reason. This well-established platform provides a comprehensive suite of bundling options, encompassing flight and hotel, flight and car, hotel and car, and the all-encompassing flight, hotel, and car package. Whether you’re planning a trip across the country or to a far-flung international destination, Expedia offers packages to virtually every corner of the globe.
In our price comparisons, Expedia demonstrated consistent reliability, securing the lowest price in two out of five test bookings and consistently remaining more affordable than average in nearly all other scenarios. However, it’s worth noting that the advertised savings on package deals may not always perfectly align with the actual price difference compared to booking each component separately. In one instance, we found that booking flights, hotels, and car rentals individually was actually more cost-effective. Therefore, while Expedia is a strong contender for good travel packages, it’s always prudent to independently verify the total cost by pricing out the individual trip elements to guarantee you’re securing the best possible deal.
Expedia’s user interface is enhanced by a range of helpful filters that streamline the search process. You can refine hotel results by price, distance from the city center, guest ratings, package discounts, and hotel star category. Flight options can be filtered by preferred departure and arrival times (morning, evening, etc.), airline, baggage allowance (carry-on included), and more. Furthermore, flight results can be sorted by duration, price, departure time, and arrival time, giving you granular control over your choices. A map view is also integrated, enabling you to visually assess the location of each hotel option.
Best Feature: Expedia’s extensive selection and dependable pricing solidify its position as a top website for good travel packages. While it might not invariably offer the absolute lowest price, you can be confident in obtaining a competitive rate alongside a wide array of choices to tailor your perfect vacation.
Expedia’s Sister Sites: Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets
Illustration of a laptop computer screen showing the vacation packages search page for Travelocity
Many travelers are unaware that Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets are all part of the Expedia Group family. These sister sites largely mirror Expedia in terms of inventory and pricing, making them viable alternatives for finding good travel packages. You’ll find that these platforms share similar website designs and filtering capabilities. Like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets support all combinations of vacation packages involving flights, hotels, and/or rental cars.
In our testing, these sister sites rarely outperformed Expedia in terms of price. More often than not, prices were identical to Expedia, particularly on Travelocity, where we observed no price variations. Occasionally, Orbitz and CheapTickets presented slightly more affordable packages for specific flight and car combinations.
Given the close price parity, searching all three sister sites in addition to Expedia might only be worthwhile if even minor cost differences are critical to your travel budget. Otherwise, focusing primarily on Expedia might suffice for finding good travel packages within this network.
Best Feature: Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets share a useful feature on their main search page: a checkbox labeled “I only need accommodations for part of my trip.” This allows users to specify a subset of their travel dates and search for travel packages that align with only that portion of their overall trip, offering added flexibility. This feature is also available on Expedia’s search interface.
Note: Hotwire is also under the Expedia Group umbrella. In our tests, Hotwire’s package offerings were not as consistently reliable as its sister sites. For one itinerary, a direct flight available on other Expedia Group sites was absent when booking a Hotwire package (though it was available when booking a flight separately on Hotwire). Furthermore, pricing on some searches was marginally higher compared to the other sites in the group.
Explore Expedia’s sister sites:
Priceline
Illustration of a laptop computer screen showing the vacation packages search page for Priceline
Priceline, similar to Expedia and its related platforms, is another strong contender among good travel packages websites, offering a full spectrum of package options combining flights, hotels, and rental cars. The website’s search results pages are intuitively designed, featuring ample filtering and sorting options alongside a map view for hotel locations. Priceline boasts a wide selection of hotels across various price points in popular vacation destinations.
One distinctive aspect of Priceline’s flight search is that it presents departure and return flights as pre-selected pairs, rather than allowing individual selection of each leg. While this approach can reduce the number of clicks required, it may necessitate more scrolling to pinpoint your preferred combination of flights. It’s also worth noting that not all flights available when booking airfare separately on Priceline appear to be accessible when booking a package. Therefore, it’s advisable to cross-reference flight availability and options by checking both package and standalone flight searches on Priceline to ensure you are seeing the full range of choices.
In our price evaluations, Priceline generally landed in the mid-range. It emerged as the most affordable option in one test scenario but was the most expensive in two others. Overall, Priceline delivered cheaper-than-average prices in 60 percent of our tests, making it a consistently competitive option for good travel packages. To further enhance savings, Priceline offers “Express Deals” for rental cars, a unique opaque option where the specific rental car brand is revealed only after booking. If you prefer to choose your rental company upfront, standard car rental options are also readily available.
Best feature: A standout feature of Priceline is its ability to retain your flight and rental car preferences as you browse different hotel options. This eliminates the repetitive task of re-selecting these preferences each time you consider a new hotel, streamlining the package customization process.
CheapCaribbean.com
Illustration of a laptop computer screen showing the vacation packages search page for CheapCaribbean.com
As the name implies, CheapCaribbean.com specializes in good travel packages websites for getaways to the Caribbean region. While its scope is more focused than some of the broader sites on this list, it’s an invaluable resource if you’re planning a Caribbean vacation, especially for popular package trips like honeymoons. In our tests specifically targeting Caribbean destinations, CheapCaribbean.com consistently provided prices that were lower than the average.
CheapCaribbean.com excels as one of the best vacation websites for all-inclusive packages in the Caribbean. After entering your trip details, you can further refine your search by filtering for criteria like “adults only,” “children’s amenities,” and “luxury” resorts. Each hotel’s dedicated page presents a clear overview of current promotions, on-site activities, and the property’s TripAdvisor Traveler Rating, aiding in your resort selection.
However, CheapCaribbean.com exhibits some limitations compared to more versatile travel package sites. Notably, a map view for comparing hotel locations is absent. Another inconvenience is the inability to group Houston’s airports into a single search, although “all airports” selection is available for major cities like New York City and Washington, D.C. Despite these minor drawbacks, the appealing deals offered by CheapCaribbean.com make it a worthwhile platform to consider, particularly if you’re primarily seeking flight and hotel packages. The option to add a rental car or create other package combinations is not available, although travel insurance and airport transfers can be added for the destinations we examined.
Best Feature: CheapCaribbean.com’s “Deals of Fortune” feature presents unique value. These bookings allow you to secure a trip to a specific Caribbean destination at a discounted price, but the exact resort remains undisclosed until approximately a week before your departure. This feature is particularly attractive for budget-conscious travelers who are flexible about their specific island or property within the Caribbean.
Kayak
Kayak, a popular meta-search engine, functions as a time-saving tool for travelers seeking good travel packages websites. It aggregates results from numerous travel package sites with a single search. However, Kayak’s package search is limited to flight and hotel combinations by default. While you may be able to add a car rental on some partner sites after initiating a search, creating flight and car packages directly requires using alternative platforms.
Kayak’s results pages present the most affordable packages sourced from sites like Priceline (its parent company), Expedia, and CheapCaribbean.com. A map view is available, and the results page incorporates both flight and hotel filters, facilitating searches for nonstop flights, complimentary breakfast, or specific hotel amenities.
During our testing, we observed price discrepancies between the initial prices listed on Kayak and the final prices displayed on the source site after clicking through to view the deal. This is a common characteristic of meta-search engines. Interestingly, we also occasionally encountered instances where clicking from Kayak resulted in a different price compared to searching the same itinerary directly on the booking site’s homepage. For example, a Las Vegas package priced at $819 per person on Priceline via Kayak was available for $783 when booked directly through the Priceline homepage. Conversely, another test showed a cheaper price after clicking from Kayak compared to booking directly on Priceline. The key takeaway is to verify prices by checking both Kayak’s linked price and the booking site’s direct price when using a meta-search platform to ensure you are getting the best possible deal on good travel packages.
Best Feature: Kayak’s ability to search across multiple good vacation booking sites simultaneously offers significant time savings. Although Kayak may not always pinpoint the absolute lowest price, it serves as an excellent starting point to explore available options and gain a broad overview of the market for travel packages.
Funjet Vacations
Illustration of a laptop computer screen showing the vacation packages search page for Funjet Vacations
The Funjet Vacations homepage primarily showcases flight and hotel packages. However, it does offer flexibility by allowing you to add a rental car during the booking process, either after selecting a flight and hotel package or when booking flights individually. Funjet provides a good range of sorting options for search results, including price, hotel name, star rating, points of interest, and location.
Similar to CheapCaribbean.com, Funjet lacks the option to select “all airports” for certain cities like Houston or Chicago, which can be slightly inconvenient. Funjet’s pricing consistency was also variable in our tests, ranging from the cheapest option in one scenario to the most expensive in another. Despite these inconsistencies, Funjet remains a worthwhile site to compare when searching for good travel packages.
Best Feature: Funjet simplifies the savings process by automatically applying any relevant promotional codes to your search, eliminating the need to manually scour the web for coupons.
Note: If your travel plans include destinations in the Caribbean, Central or South America, Hawaii, or Mexico, consider exploring Funjet’s sister site, Apple Vacations. While Apple Vacations covers a more limited range of destinations compared to Funjet, our research indicates that prices are often slightly more competitive. It’s also worth noting that CheapCaribbean.com is part of the same parent company as Funjet and Apple Vacations, Apple Leisure Group.
Book Your Stay With SmarterTravel Hotels
If you are ready to plan your next trip but prefer to book components separately rather than opting for a pre-packaged bundle, SmarterTravel Hotels offers significant savings on hotel accommodations.
By exploring these good travel packages websites and understanding their strengths, you can confidently plan your next vacation, potentially saving both time and money while securing the best deals for your travel needs. Remember to compare package prices against a la carte bookings to ensure you’re truly getting the most value, and happy travels!
