Planning a vacation can be exciting, but also overwhelming. Finding the perfect combination of flights, hotels, and car rentals that fits your budget and preferences takes time and effort. Luckily, the Best Travel Package Websites are designed to simplify this process, often saving you both time and money. Booking flights, hotels, and car rentals together can unlock significant savings compared to booking each component separately. However, with so many options available online, it’s crucial to choose the right platform for your needs.
We’ve tested and analyzed numerous vacation package sites to bring you a guide to the top platforms available right now. Our evaluation focuses on pricing, user experience, range of options, and those features that truly enhance your travel planning. This guide helps you navigate the landscape of online travel agencies and find the best travel package websites to book your dream vacation efficiently and affordably.
It’s important to remember that while package deals can be enticing, it’s always wise to compare the bundled price against booking each element individually. Sometimes, the advertised savings don’t fully reflect the actual cost difference, or the included flight options might not be ideal due to lengthy layovers or inconvenient times. Being informed and doing a little comparison shopping ensures you truly secure the best value for your trip.
Keep in mind hidden fees like resort fees, which are often not included in initial package prices but can significantly increase your overall expense. Airline baggage fees, especially for basic economy fares, are another factor to consider. The best vacation package websites will transparently present these potential extra costs, allowing for a more accurate budget planning.
Interestingly, many leading vacation package sites are owned by the same parent companies. This means you’ll often encounter similar inventory and pricing across different platforms. Understanding these relationships can streamline your search, saving you valuable time when comparing options.
Top Websites for Booking Travel Packages
We’ve rigorously tested the leading platforms to assess their pricing, inclusions, and overall user experience. Below are our recommendations for the best websites to book vacation packages, presented in no particular order. Read on for a detailed analysis of each platform.
Expedia
Illustration of a laptop computer screen showing the vacation packages search page for Expedia
Image alt text: Expedia Vacation Packages Search Page on Laptop, showing flight, hotel, and car options.
Expedia stands out as one of the best travel package websites for several compelling reasons. Its comprehensive offerings include every possible bundle combination: flight and hotel, flight and car, hotel and car, and the all-encompassing flight, hotel, and car package. Whether you’re planning a weekend getaway or an international adventure, Expedia covers destinations across the globe. Pricing reliability is another key advantage; in our testing, Expedia consistently offered competitive rates, securing the lowest price in multiple scenarios and remaining cheaper than average in the majority of tests.
However, it’s worth noting that the advertised savings on Expedia packages may not always perfectly align with the actual price difference when you calculate the cost of booking each component separately. In some instances, we found that booking flights, hotels, and cars individually was actually more cost-effective. Therefore, while Expedia offers great deals, it’s still prudent to independently verify the total cost by pricing out the elements separately to guarantee you’re getting the absolute best deal.
Expedia’s user-friendly interface is enhanced by a wide array of filters that help refine your search. For hotels, you can sort by price, proximity to the city center, guest ratings, package discounts, and hotel star class. Flight options can be filtered by departure and arrival times (morning, afternoon, evening), airline, baggage allowance (carry-on included), and more. You can also sort flights by duration, price, departure time, and arrival time. The integrated map view is particularly useful for visualizing hotel locations and their surroundings.
Key Highlight: Expedia’s extensive selection and consistent pricing solidify its position as a top choice for vacation packages. While it might not always guarantee the absolute lowest price, you’re likely to find competitive rates and a vast selection of options to tailor your perfect trip.
Expedia’s Network: Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets
Travelocity Vacation Packages Search Page on Desktop
Image alt text: Travelocity Vacation Packages Search Page on Desktop, similar layout to Expedia with travel options.
Many travelers are unaware that Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets are all part of the Expedia Group. Consequently, these sites often mirror Expedia in terms of inventory and pricing. Their website layouts and filtering options are also very similar. Just like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets provide every possible vacation package combination involving flights, hotels, and/or rental cars.
In our price comparisons, these sister sites rarely outperformed Expedia directly. Typically, prices were either identical (especially on Travelocity, showing almost no price variations from Expedia) or marginally higher. However, Orbitz and CheapTickets did occasionally present slightly cheaper packages for specific flight and car itineraries.
Given the strong price parity, searching all three sites in addition to Expedia might not be necessary unless even minor cost differences are critical to your travel budget. Focusing on Expedia and perhaps checking one or two of these alternatives might be sufficient for most travelers.
Key Highlight: Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets include a convenient checkbox on their main search page labeled “I only need accommodations for part of my trip.” This unique feature allows users to specify a subset of their total trip dates and search for travel packages exclusively within that period, offering added flexibility for travelers with variable accommodation needs. Expedia also reflects this feature on its search interface.
Note: The Expedia Group also owns Hotwire. In our tests, Hotwire’s package deals were slightly less consistent compared to the other three sites. For one test itinerary, a direct flight available on Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets was not offered when booking a Hotwire package. Furthermore, pricing on some Hotwire searches was marginally higher. While still a viable option, it might be worth prioritizing Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, or CheapTickets for potentially better deals and more consistent flight options.
Explore Expedia’s Sister Sites:
Priceline
Priceline Vacation Packages Search Interface on Screen
Image alt text: Priceline Vacation Packages Search Interface on Screen, displaying options for flights, hotels, and cars.
Similar to Expedia and its related platforms, Priceline offers comprehensive vacation package options, encompassing every combination of flights, hotels, and rental cars. Priceline’s search results pages are user-friendly, featuring ample filtering and sorting options, along with a helpful map view for hotel locations. You’ll find a wide selection of hotels across various price points in popular vacation destinations.
One distinctive aspect of Priceline is its flight search interface. Instead of allowing separate selection of departure and return flights, Priceline presents them as pre-selected pairs. While this can reduce the number of clicks, it might require more scrolling to find 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, it’s advisable to check both package and individual flight options on Priceline to ensure you’re seeing the full range of possibilities.
In terms of pricing, Priceline generally positioned itself in the mid-range during our tests. It secured the lowest price in one test scenario but was the most expensive in two others. Overall, Priceline offered cheaper-than-average prices in 60% of our test cases. For budget-conscious travelers, Priceline features “Express Deals” for rental cars – an opaque booking option where the specific rental car company is revealed only after booking. If brand preference is important, standard rental options are also readily available.
Key Highlight: Priceline offers a convenient feature that remembers your flight and rental car preferences as you browse different hotel options. This eliminates the repetitive task of re-selecting your flight and car choices each time you consider a new hotel, saving valuable time and effort in your search process.
CheapCaribbean.com
CheapCaribbean.com Vacation Package Website on Screen
Image alt text: CheapCaribbean.com Vacation Package Website on Screen, specializing in Caribbean destinations.
As the name suggests, CheapCaribbean.com specializes in travel to the Caribbean region. While its geographical focus is narrower than broader platforms, it’s a valuable resource if you’re planning a Caribbean vacation, particularly for popular package trips like honeymoons. In our evaluations focused on Caribbean destinations, CheapCaribbean.com consistently delivered cheaper-than-average prices.
CheapCaribbean.com excels as one of the best travel package websites specifically for all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean. After entering your trip details, you can filter results by categories like “adults only,” “children’s amenities,” and “luxury,” allowing you to quickly narrow down options that match your specific needs and preferences. Each hotel listing includes a summary of active promotions, on-site activities, and the property’s Tripadvisor Traveler Rating, offering valuable insights for your decision-making.
However, CheapCaribbean.com exhibits some limitations compared to more versatile travel package sites. It lacks a map view for comparing hotel locations, which can be helpful when visualizing proximity to beaches or attractions. Another minor inconvenience is the inability to search “all airports” for Houston, although this option is available for major cities like New York City and Washington, D.C. Despite these minor drawbacks, the attractive deals, especially for flight and hotel packages, make it a worthwhile site to consider. Note that car rental options and package combinations beyond flight and hotel are limited, although you can typically add travel insurance and airport transfers.
Key Highlight: CheapCaribbean.com’s “Deals of Fortune” offer unique value. These bookings provide a guaranteed destination but keep the exact resort a secret until about a week before your trip. This feature is ideal for budget-focused travelers who are flexible about the specific island or property and prioritize cost savings.
Kayak
Kayak Website on Screen displaying Vacation Packages Search
Image alt text: Kayak Website on Screen displaying Vacation Packages Search, a meta-search engine for travel deals.
Kayak is a popular meta-search engine that saves travelers time by simultaneously searching numerous best travel package websites. However, Kayak’s package search is primarily focused on flight and hotel bundles by default. While you can sometimes add a car rental later through partner sites, it’s not designed for flight and car packages directly. If a flight/car combination is your priority, you might need to explore other platforms.
Kayak’s search results compile the cheapest available packages from various sources, including Priceline (Kayak’s parent company), Expedia, and CheapCaribbean.com. It offers a map view and comprehensive filters for both flights and hotels, making it easy to refine your search based on criteria like nonstop flights, complimentary breakfast, or specific hotel amenities.
During our testing, we observed that prices displayed on Kayak didn’t always precisely match the final price on the source website after clicking through – a common characteristic of meta-search platforms. Interestingly, we also occasionally found price discrepancies where the price 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 appeared at $819 per person on Priceline via Kayak, but was $783 when booked directly on Priceline. Conversely, in another instance, the price was cheaper after clicking from Kayak to Priceline. The key takeaway is to double-check prices both through Kayak and directly on the source site to ensure you’re getting the most accurate and potentially best deal.
Key Highlight: Kayak’s ability to aggregate results from many leading vacation booking sites in one search is a significant time-saving advantage. While it might not always pinpoint the absolute lowest price, Kayak serves as an excellent starting point to survey available options and understand the general price landscape for your desired vacation package.
Funjet Vacations
Funjet Vacations Website Interface on Screen
Image alt text: Funjet Vacations Website Interface on Screen, specializing in flight and hotel packages.
Funjet Vacations’ homepage primarily focuses on flight and hotel packages. However, it offers flexibility to add a rental car to your booking either at the end of a flight/hotel package selection or even to an individual flight booking. The search results pages provide numerous sorting options, allowing you to organize listings by price, hotel name, star rating, points of interest, and location.
Similar to CheapCaribbean.com, Funjet Vacations lacks the “all airports” search option for certain cities like Houston or Chicago, which can be slightly inconvenient for users in those regions. Furthermore, Funjet’s pricing consistency varied in our tests, ranking as the cheapest in one scenario but the most expensive in another. Despite these inconsistencies, Funjet remains a valuable site to compare when researching vacation packages.
Key Highlight: Funjet Vacations automatically applies any relevant promotional codes to your search results, eliminating the need to manually scour the web for coupons. This feature ensures you automatically benefit from available discounts without extra effort.
Note: If you’re planning a trip to the Caribbean, Central or South America, Hawaii, or Mexico, consider exploring Funjet’s sister site, Apple Vacations. While Apple Vacations covers a more limited destination range than Funjet, our research indicated that prices were often slightly more competitive. Notably, CheapCaribbean.com also belongs to the same parent company, Apple Leisure Group, suggesting potential overlaps in inventory and pricing strategies within this group.
Book Your Stay with SmarterTravel Hotels
If you’re ready to plan your next adventure but prefer to book your hotel separately rather than committing to a pre-packaged deal, SmarterTravel Hotels offers significant savings on hotel stays.
Conclusion
Choosing the best travel package websites depends on your individual travel needs and preferences. Expedia and its sister sites offer broad selections and reliable pricing, making them solid all-around choices. Priceline provides a user-friendly experience and unique features like remembering your preferences, while CheapCaribbean.com shines for Caribbean getaways and all-inclusive deals. Kayak is a valuable tool for comparing prices across multiple sites, and Funjet Vacations offers automatic promo code application for added savings.
Remember to always compare package prices against booking components separately and factor in potential extra fees like resort fees and baggage charges. By utilizing these top travel package websites and practicing smart comparison shopping, you can confidently plan your next vacation, saving both time and money.
