The best AI travel planners in 2026, compared honestly
Five planners, one question each. We compared what they publish about hours, travel times, booking, money and price, and we say plainly where the others win.
Every AI travel planner demos well. The question is what happens on a Tuesday in Lisbon when the tile museum is shut, the tram is full and lunch is forty minutes uphill from where the plan says you are. This piece compares five planners on the things that decide that Tuesday, using what each one publishes about itself and, for ours, what we know first-hand.
We haven’t run a lab test on the others and we won’t pretend we did. Where a product doesn’t say whether it checks something, the table says “not published”, not “no”.
How we compared
Does it plan by chat, does it check opening hours before placing a stop, does it book, does it track money, and what does it cost.
Each cell comes from the product’s own site or app listing, checked on the date at the top of this page. Links are in the sources at the end.
A comparison where the home team wins every row is marketing. The honest bit below is the part to read if you only read one.
The table
| What matters | LezPlanIt | Mindtrip | Wanderlog | Layla | Gemini | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plans the whole trip by chat | One sentence | Yes | AI assistant inside a manual planner | Yes | Yes | LezPlanIt, Mindtrip, Layla |
| Checks opening hours before placing a stop | Every stop | Not published | Shows hours | Not published | No | LezPlanIt |
| Travel time between stops | Walk | Map with routes | Routes and drive times | Not published | No | LezPlanIt, Wanderlog close |
| Books flights and hotels in the app | Partner links today | Yes | Links to partners | Yes | No | Mindtrip, Layla |
| Budget and expenses | Budget target | Not published | Expense list | Not published | No | LezPlanIt |
| Checklist and entry rules | Built in | No | Packing only | No | No | LezPlanIt |
| Works offline | iPhone app | Not published | With Pro | Not published | No | LezPlanIt, Wanderlog |
| Price | Free to start, Trip Pass one-off, Passport subscription | Free, no paid tier | Free, Pro $39.99 a year | Free, Prime $49 a year | Free with a Google account | Mindtrip, Gemini |
- Plans the whole trip by chat
- One sentence
- Checks opening hours before placing a stop
- Every stop
- Travel time between stops
- Walk
- Books flights and hotels in the app
- Partner links today
- Budget and expenses
- Budget target
- Checklist and entry rules
- Built in
- Works offline
- iPhone app
- Price
- Free to start, Trip Pass one-off, Passport subscription
- Plans the whole trip by chat
- Yes
- Checks opening hours before placing a stop
- Not published
- Travel time between stops
- Map with routes
- Books flights and hotels in the app
- Yes
- Budget and expenses
- Not published
- Checklist and entry rules
- No
- Works offline
- Not published
- Price
- Free, no paid tier
- Plans the whole trip by chat
- AI assistant inside a manual planner
- Checks opening hours before placing a stop
- Shows hours
- Travel time between stops
- Routes and drive times
- Books flights and hotels in the app
- Links to partners
- Budget and expenses
- Expense list
- Checklist and entry rules
- Packing only
- Works offline
- With Pro
- Price
- Free, Pro $39.99 a year
- Plans the whole trip by chat
- Yes
- Checks opening hours before placing a stop
- Not published
- Travel time between stops
- Not published
- Books flights and hotels in the app
- Yes
- Budget and expenses
- Not published
- Checklist and entry rules
- No
- Works offline
- Not published
- Price
- Free, Prime $49 a year
- Plans the whole trip by chat
- Yes
- Checks opening hours before placing a stop
- No
- Travel time between stops
- No
- Books flights and hotels in the app
- No
- Budget and expenses
- No
- Checklist and entry rules
- No
- Works offline
- No
- Price
- Free with a Google account
The row I care about is opening hours. I look up every stop’s hours for the day it’s on before I place it, which is why the museum that shuts on Tuesday lands on Thursday without you asking. If a planner doesn’t say it does that, assume you’re the one checking.
Why hours are the row that matters
In 2024 a British travel agency ran the same two-day brief for ten cities through a general chatbot and checked every stop. Half the itineraries sent people to places outside their opening hours. A quarter recommended somewhere that was closed, permanently or for renovation. Nine in ten had at least one error.
That is what a plan looks like when the model writes from memory. The fix is not a smarter model, it is a lookup: a real listing, its hours for each day of the week, and a rule that a stop only lands on a day it is open. It is unglamorous, and it is the difference between a plan and a list.
What a year costs
Published price of the paid tier, per year
Free tiers exist on all five. This is what the upgrade costs if you want it.
Product sites, checked 1 October 2026. LezPlanIt's Passport is listed here at its annual price; a one-off Trip Pass covers a single long trip for less.
Where others win
If you want to book the hotel inside the same app today, Mindtrip and Layla do that and we don’t yet; booking in LezPlanIt is coming soon, and until then we hand you to the booking site and log the reservation afterwards. If you want a free planner with no paid tier at all, Mindtrip is that. If you enjoy the planning itself, dragging stops around a map by hand, Wanderlog is built for that and we aren’t. And if you only want ideas, for free, with no new account, Gemini is already on your phone.
We would rather you knew that than found out on the first night. Where LezPlanIt earns its place is the gap between a plan that looks good and a plan that works: hours, closures, travel times between every stop in the mode you’ll actually use, weather, a single checklist and a budget that tracks what you really spend, so the week survives contact with the city.
Who each one is for
- LezPlanIt if you want days that hold up on the ground and you would rather chat than drag tiles around.
- Mindtrip if booking in one place matters more than hours being checked, and you like a visual, map-first plan.
- Wanderlog if you like planning by hand on a map and splitting a bill with friends afterwards.
- Layla for inspiration first with live flight and hotel prices attached, and a human to talk to on Prime.
- Gemini for a quick list of ideas you’ll organise yourself.
Questions people ask
Which AI travel planner is the most accurate?
Accuracy comes from lookups, not the model. Pick the planner that says it checks opening hours and travel times for each stop before placing it. LezPlanIt does; the others in this table either don’t say or leave the check to you.
Are AI trip planners free?
All five here have a free tier. Mindtrip and Gemini have no paid tier at all. Wanderlog, Layla and LezPlanIt charge for the upgrade, roughly $40 to $49 a year.
Can an AI planner book my trip?
Mindtrip and Layla book through partners inside the app today. LezPlanIt links you to booking sites and keeps the reservation on the trip once you’ve made it, with in-app booking coming soon. Wanderlog links out too. Gemini doesn’t book.
Did you test the others yourselves?
Not in a lab, and this piece doesn’t claim to. Every cell about another product comes from what that product publishes, checked on the date shown. If we got something wrong, tell us and we’ll fix it and update the date.
- Mindtrip, product and pricing (free, bookings through partners), checked 1 Oct 2026
- Wanderlog Pro pricing ($39.99 a year), checked 1 Oct 2026
- Layla Prime pricing ($49 a year) and live prices via Skyscanner and Booking.com, checked 1 Oct 2026
- Google Gemini trip planning (free with a Google account), checked 1 Oct 2026
- SEO Travel study of AI-generated itineraries, via Travel News, May 2024, checked 1 Oct 2026
- LezPlanIt plans and features, checked 1 Oct 2026
Run your own brief through Lez.
Paste the trip you're planning and compare the first day with what you got elsewhere. Look at the hours.
“Plan me a week in Lisbon in late September for two, mid-range, food first, one day trip”Ask Lez →