Plan a trip with AI, minus the stress
Use AI to shape an itinerary around what you love, pack for the weather and get by in another language. Then check the official details yourself.
Video transcript
Twenty open tabs, a half-written packing list and a phrasebook you’ll never open. Here’s how AI can take the stress out of planning a trip.
Start with what you love. Tell it your interests, your pace and who’s coming, and it drafts a day-by-day plan you can reshape until it feels right.
It can write a packing list for the weather, rough out a daily budget, translate a menu or a sign from a photo, and teach you a few phrases to practise out loud.
But AI can be out of date. Check opening times and prices on the venue’s own website, and entry and visa rules on the government’s foreign travel advice pages.
Share your plans, not your documents. It doesn’t need your passport number or card details. And when you’re ready, book through official sites, not a link someone sends you.
So before you go, check the entry rules for every country, confirm times and prices, book direct, and save your key phrases somewhere you can see them without signal.
Read the full guide below for an itinerary prompt you can copy and make your own.
In 30 seconds
- Tell AI your interests, pace and budget, and it will draft an itinerary you can reshape.
- Photograph menus and signs to translate them, and practise key phrases out loud.
- Check anything official on official sites, including entry and visa rules on GOV.UK.
Planning a trip can mean twenty open tabs, three half-finished lists and a nagging feeling you’ve forgotten the plug adaptor. An Jargon busterAI assistant: A chat app such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini that answers questions and does tasks you describe in plain language. can draft most of it in minutes, leaving you more time for the fun decisions.
An itinerary that fits you
Guidebooks plan for everyone. AI can plan for you. Tell it where you’re going, when, who’s coming, what you love and how fast you like to go.
Ask for a day-by-day draft with travel times and a rainy-day option, then reshape it by chatting: swap the gallery for a market, or move the long walk to the cooler morning.
Plan [4] days in [city] for [two adults in their 60s] in [month]. We love [food markets, gardens and history] and like a gentle pace: no more than [two] main things a day, with time for a long lunch. Group nearby places together, include rough travel times and add a rainy-day option for each day. Flag anything that usually needs booking ahead.
You: Day two looks too busy for us, and it’ll be hot. Can you make it gentler?
AI: Sure. I’ve moved the castle to first thing, before the heat, and swapped the afternoon walk for a tram ride and a long lunch in the shade. You’ll be done by 3pm, with the evening free.
Pack, budget and get by in the language
Four more jobs for your trip
- Pack for the weatherAsk for a packing list for your dates and plans, then check the real forecast a few days before you go.
- Rough out a budgetAsk for a rough daily budget for food, transport and tickets. Treat it as a guide, not a quote.
- Learn key phrasesAsk for ten useful phrases and how to say them, then practise out loud in a voice chat.
- Translate on the spotPhotograph a menu or a sign and ask what it says, or what’s in a dish.
That last trick works because most assistants are Jargon busterMultimodal: An AI that understands more than one kind of input, such as text, pictures, sound and video.: they understand photos as well as text. With a serious allergy, though, don’t rely on a translation. Carry a written allergy card in the local language and show it to staff.
Check the official bits yourself
- Keep your passport details out of the chat. The AI doesn’t need your passport number to plan a trip.
- Book through official sites or companies you know. Watch out for lookalike sites that charge extra for official forms, such as visas.
- Treat suggestions as leads, not facts. AI can invent a restaurant or a train that doesn’t exist, a mistake called a Jargon busterHallucination: When AI states something false as if it were true, because it predicts plausible words rather than checking facts..
Used like this, AI takes the admin out of travel and leaves you the good bits. For more ideas, see five things to try with AI, or find out why AI gets things wrong.
Check yourself
3 quick questions nothing is savedSpotted a mistake? Tell us and an editor will check it.
