Expedia Vacation Packages Search Page on Laptop: Find the best deals on flights, hotels, and car rentals with Expedia, one of the best travel package sites for planning your next vacation.
Expedia Vacation Packages Search Page on Laptop: Find the best deals on flights, hotels, and car rentals with Expedia, one of the best travel package sites for planning your next vacation.

Discover the Best Travel Package Sites for Your Next Getaway

Booking flights, hotels, and car rentals together can significantly streamline your travel planning and often lead to cost savings. However, with numerous options available, finding the Best Travel Package Sites can feel overwhelming. We’ve rigorously tested a wide array of vacation package websites to pinpoint those offering the most competitive prices and the most user-friendly booking experiences. Our findings reveal that while many top-tier sites provide extensive flexibility in combining flights, hotels, and car rentals, others may focus primarily on flight and hotel bundles. Crucially, we also emphasize the importance of comparing package deals against booking each component separately to ensure you’re truly securing the best value for your trip.

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It’s essential to be vigilant about hidden fees such as resort fees, which may not be initially included in the advertised per-person package price but can substantially increase your overall expenses. Similarly, airline baggage fees, particularly for basic economy tickets, should be factored into your budget. Transparency regarding these ancillary fees varies across different vacation package sites.

Finally, recognize that many leading best travel package sites are part of the same parent company. This often results in overlapping inventories and pricing structures across platforms. Understanding these relationships can save you valuable time during your research process.

Top Travel Package Websites

We’ve rigorously evaluated the leading platforms to compare pricing, inclusions, and user experience. Below are our top recommendations for the best websites to book vacations, presented in no particular order. Continue reading for a detailed breakdown of each site.

Expedia

Expedia Vacation Packages Search Page on Laptop: Find the best deals on flights, hotels, and car rentals with Expedia, one of the best travel package sites for planning your next vacation.Expedia Vacation Packages Search Page on Laptop: Find the best deals on flights, hotels, and car rentals with Expedia, one of the best travel package sites for planning your next vacation.

Expedia stands out as one of the best travel package sites due to its extensive offerings and reliable service. Expedia excels in providing comprehensive bundling options, allowing you to combine flights, hotels, and car rentals in virtually any configuration, for destinations worldwide. In our price comparisons, Expedia consistently delivered competitive rates, securing the lowest price in two out of five test bookings and remaining consistently below average in the majority of our trials.

However, it’s worth noting that the advertised savings on Expedia packages didn’t always precisely match the actual price difference when we calculated the cost of booking each element separately. In one instance, we even found it slightly cheaper to book flights, hotels, and car rentals individually. Therefore, while Expedia offers great deals, we recommend verifying the savings by independently pricing out the components of your package.

Expedia provides robust filtering tools to refine your search. You can sort hotels by price, proximity to city centers, guest ratings, package discounts, and hotel class. Flight options can be filtered by time of day (morning, evening), airline, baggage allowance, and more. Flights can also be sorted by duration, price, departure and arrival times. A map view is available for hotels, enabling you to assess location conveniently.

Best Feature: Expedia’s broad selection and consistent pricing solidify its position as a top contender among the best sites for vacation packages. While it might not always guarantee the absolute lowest price, Expedia offers fair rates and an extensive range of choices, making it a reliable starting point for your travel planning.

Check out Expedia

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Expedia’s Sister Sites: Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets

Travelocity Vacation Packages Search Page on Desktop: Explore flight and hotel deals with flexible date options on Travelocity, a top site for booking travel packages.Travelocity Vacation Packages Search Page on Desktop: Explore flight and hotel deals with flexible date options on Travelocity, a top site for booking travel packages.

Many travelers are unaware that Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets are all part of the Expedia Group. Consequently, these sites generally mirror Expedia’s inventory and pricing. Layouts and filter options are also remarkably similar across these platforms. Like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets support all combinations of flight, hotel, and rental car vacation packages.

In our testing, these sister sites rarely outperformed Expedia in terms of price. Rates were typically identical, particularly on Travelocity, or marginally higher. However, Orbitz and CheapTickets did occasionally present slightly cheaper packages for specific flight and car itineraries.

Given the close price alignment, searching all three sister sites in addition to Expedia may only be worthwhile if minor price differences are critical to your budget.

Best Feature: Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets conveniently offer a checkbox on their main search page labeled “I only need accommodations for part of my trip.” This useful feature allows users to specify a subset of their travel dates and search for vacation packages within that limited timeframe. This functionality is also integrated into Expedia’s search interface.

Note: The Expedia Group also owns Hotwire. In our tests, Hotwire proved slightly less consistent compared to its sister sites. For one itinerary, a direct flight available on other Expedia Group sites was not offered when booking a Hotwire package (though it was available when booking a standalone flight on Hotwire). Pricing on Hotwire was also occasionally slightly higher than on the other platforms.

Explore Expedia’s sister sites:

Travelocity

Orbitz

CheapTickets

Priceline

Priceline Vacation Packages Search Page on Tablet: Find deals on flights, hotels, and cars with Priceline, a well-known platform among the best travel package sites.Priceline Vacation Packages Search Page on Tablet: Find deals on flights, hotels, and cars with Priceline, a well-known platform among the best travel package sites.

Similar to Expedia and its network, Priceline provides comprehensive options for bundling flights, hotels, and rental cars. Its search results pages are user-friendly, offering ample filtering and sorting capabilities, along with a map view for hotel locations. Priceline boasts a wide array of hotel choices across popular vacation destinations, catering to various budgets.

One unique aspect of Priceline is its flight results page, which presents departure and return flights as pre-selected pairs, rather than allowing individual selection of each leg. While this approach reduces the number of clicks, it may require more scrolling to locate your preferred flight combinations. 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, comparing both options is advisable.

Priceline’s pricing performance was generally in the mid-range. It secured the lowest price in one of our tests but was the most expensive option in two others. Overall, Priceline offered better-than-average prices in 60% of our test cases. For budget-conscious travelers, Priceline offers “Express Deals” for rental cars, a blind booking option where the specific rental company is revealed after booking. Standard car rentals, with company selection, are also available.

Best feature: Once you’ve configured your flight and rental car preferences on Priceline, the site conveniently retains these selections as you browse different hotel options. This eliminates the repetitive process of re-entering your flight and car choices with each hotel search.

Check out Priceline

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CheapCaribbean.com

CheapCaribbean.com Vacation Packages on Mobile: Find all-inclusive resort deals in the Caribbean on CheapCaribbean.com, a specialized site for Caribbean travel packages.CheapCaribbean.com Vacation Packages on Mobile: Find all-inclusive resort deals in the Caribbean on CheapCaribbean.com, a specialized site for Caribbean travel packages.

As its name suggests, CheapCaribbean.com specializes in Caribbean travel. While its scope is narrower than broader best travel package sites, it’s an excellent resource if you’re planning a Caribbean getaway, particularly for popular package trips like honeymoons. In our Caribbean-focused tests, CheapCaribbean.com consistently provided below-average prices.

CheapCaribbean.com excels as one of the best vacation websites for all-inclusive packages in the Caribbean. Search results can be refined by categories like “adults only,” “children’s amenities,” and “luxury.” Each hotel page includes a list of current promotions, on-site activities, and the property’s TripAdvisor Traveler Rating.

In terms of functionality, CheapCaribbean.com is somewhat less sophisticated than some other travel package sites. It lacks a map view for comparing hotel locations. Additionally, searching flights from Houston’s airports requires selecting each airport individually, unlike cities like New York and Washington, D.C., which offer an “all airports” option. However, the attractive deals often outweigh these minor inconveniences, particularly if you are primarily seeking flight and hotel packages. Car rentals are not offered as part of package deals on CheapCaribbean.com, though travel insurance and airport transfers can be added for most destinations we checked.

Best Feature: CheapCaribbean.com’s “Deals of Fortune” offer significant value. These bookings provide a destination, but the specific resort remains undisclosed until approximately a week before travel. This feature appeals to budget-focused travelers who are flexible about their specific island or property.

Check out Cheapcaribbean.com

Kayak

Kayak Vacation Packages Search Page on Computer: Compare deals from multiple travel sites on Kayak, a meta-search engine for finding the best travel package site deals.Kayak Vacation Packages Search Page on Computer: Compare deals from multiple travel sites on Kayak, a meta-search engine for finding the best travel package site deals.

Kayak, a popular meta-search engine, saves travelers time by aggregating results from numerous best travel package sites in a single search. However, Kayak’s package search is limited to flight and hotel bundles by default. While car rentals can sometimes be added later through partner sites, Kayak is not ideal for directly searching flight and car packages.

Kayak’s results compile the cheapest available packages from sites like Priceline (Kayak’s parent company), Expedia, and CheapCaribbean.com. A map view is available, and results pages offer both flight and hotel filters for easy refinement, such as nonstop flights, free breakfast, or specific hotel amenities.

We observed that prices displayed on Kayak didn’t always precisely match the prices on the source site when clicking through to book – a common occurrence with meta-search platforms. However, we also occasionally encountered instances where the price obtained after clicking from Kayak differed from the price when searching the same itinerary directly on the booking site’s homepage. For example, a Las Vegas package was priced at $819 per person on Priceline via Kayak but was $783 when booked directly through Priceline. Conversely, another test yielded the opposite result, with a cheaper price after clicking from Kayak. The key takeaway is to double-check prices both through Kayak and directly on the booking site.

Best Feature: Kayak’s ability to search multiple best vacation booking sites simultaneously is a significant time-saver. While Kayak may not always pinpoint the absolute lowest price, it’s an excellent starting point to survey available options and get a general sense of market pricing.

Check out Kayak

Related:

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Funjet Vacations

Funjet Vacations Homepage on Computer: Explore vacation packages to destinations like Mexico and Hawaii on Funjet Vacations, a site offering various travel deals.Funjet Vacations Homepage on Computer: Explore vacation packages to destinations like Mexico and Hawaii on Funjet Vacations, a site offering various travel deals.

The Funjet homepage initially presents only flight and hotel package options. However, you can add a rental car subsequently, either after selecting a flight and hotel package or during an individual flight booking. Funjet offers numerous sorting options for results, including price, hotel name, star rating, points of interest, and location.

Similar to CheapCaribbean.com, Funjet lacks an “all airports” selection for certain cities like Houston and Chicago, requiring individual airport selections. Funjet’s pricing consistency was also variable in our tests, ranking as the cheapest in one instance and the most expensive in another. Nevertheless, Funjet is worth considering for price comparison when booking your vacation.

Best Feature: Funjet proactively applies relevant promotional codes to your search, eliminating the need to manually search for and enter coupons.

Note: For travel to the Caribbean, Central or South America, Hawaii, or Mexico, consider Funjet’s sister site, Apple Vacations. While Apple Vacations covers a narrower range of destinations than Funjet, we often found slightly better pricing. CheapCaribbean.com also shares the same parent company, Apple Leisure Group.

Check out Funjet

Book Your Stay With SmarterTravel Hotels

If you prefer to book your components separately, you can still achieve significant savings by booking your hotel through SmarterTravel Hotels.

Book Now with SmarterTravel Hotels

All products featured in this article were independently selected by our editors. Some links are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may earn a commission if you make a purchase through them. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Follow Sarah Schlichter on Twitter @TravelEditor for more travel insights.

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We rigorously evaluate and hand-pick all our recommendations through testing and reviews. Some products are provided to us without charge, with no obligation to provide a positive review. We maintain editorial independence and do not accept compensation for favorable reviews. Prices and availability are accurate at the time of publication. If you purchase through our links, we may earn a commission.

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