8 websites that make travel dreams dangerously easy

Rome2Rio

Find out how you could actually get there

Rome2Rio is a useful first stop when you know the destination but have not worked out the journey. Enter two places and it brings together transport possibilities such as trains, buses, flights, ferries and driving. That small “how would we get there?” question suddenly has something you can compare.

Try the route from your nearest city to somewhere you have been saving for later. Look at the different ways of joining the dots. A train connection or a ferry crossing might become part of the appeal, rather than something to get out of the way.

Good to know: Use the route overview as a starting point. Check the operator's current timetable, ticket price and booking conditions before committing.

A little travel dare: Search for a journey you assumed was awkward. See whether the route changes your mind.

Find a route on Rome2Rio

Split Bill Calculator

Keep the shared costs friendly

A group trip gets easier when the money has somewhere sensible to go. Splitbillcalculator.net has a simple bill calculator for one shared total and an Expense Splitter for the messier reality: one person pays for groceries, another covers a taxi, and someone else books an activity.

Add the travellers, enter each expense, and choose who paid and who shared it. The result shows balances and who owes whom. For our own small example, imagine three friends sharing a €90 grocery shop and a €30 taxi. Each person's share is €40. If Maya paid for the groceries and Leon paid for the taxi, Leon owes Maya €10 and Sam owes her €40. If Sam skipped the taxi, select only its two passengers for that expense.

There is also a different-nights accommodation calculator for a rental where friends arrive late or leave early. It divides each night between the guests present that night, with separate options for fixed fees. Agree on that arrangement together before entering the booking.

Good to know: The Expense Splitter is free and requires no registration. Its result helps you settle up separately; it does not transfer the money.

A little travel dare: Make the shared-expense plan while everyone is still excited about the trip. Future-you will appreciate it.

For a closer look, read our guide to Splitbillcalculator.net.

Roadtrippers

Make the stops part of the holiday

Roadtrippers is for the moment when “we could drive” starts becoming an actual idea. Its trip planner and guides help you explore stops along a route: places to stretch your legs, something worth a detour, and somewhere that makes the journey feel like a holiday already.

Start with your departure point and destination, then browse what lies between them. The temptation is to add everything. A better little game is to choose one stop you would genuinely look forward to and leave enough time to enjoy it.

Good to know: Roadtrippers has free and paid plans. Saved trips, stop limits and features such as collaboration depend on the plan, so check its current memberships before building an elaborate itinerary.

A little travel dare: Find one stop that deserves its own photograph, rather than another photo through the windscreen.

Plan the scenic route with Roadtrippers

Google Earth

Look around before you land

Google Earth is where a place name becomes a landscape. Its satellite and aerial imagery, 3D views and Street View coverage let you move from the shape of a coastline to a closer look at the streets. It is very easy to open it for one destination and emerge with three more.

Use it to see how a town sits between the mountains and the sea, follow a river, or look around a neighbourhood where coverage allows. That wider view can help you decide what attracts you to a place. Sometimes the promising bit is just outside the famous centre.

Good to know: These are images collected over time, not a live view. Google explains how its imagery is collected; use it for orientation and inspiration.

A little travel dare: Pick a coastline and follow it until you find a place you did not already know.

Go exploring in Google Earth

Flightradar24

Follow a little plane somewhere interesting

Flightradar24 turns air traffic into a map you can explore. Select an aircraft and look at the flight information available for it. The little moving symbols make the world feel connected in a way a departure board never quite manages.

For travel inspiration, start near your local airport and see where a flight is heading. Look up its destination afterwards. You may find a city you have barely thought about, with the pleasing extra detail that a plane is already going that way.

Good to know: Flight tracking is different from ticket shopping. Available details depend on coverage and the service tier; use an airline or booking service to confirm a route you can actually book.

If this is your kind of map rabbit hole, FlightAware is another flight-tracking stop. For a slower journey, MarineTraffic lets you explore vessel positions on a ship map. They make good extra tabs when the journey itself is what catches your imagination.

A little travel dare: Follow one flight to a destination you cannot immediately place on a map.

See where the planes are going

Windy

Give your daydream a weather forecast

Windy makes weather something you can explore on a map. Look at your destination, switch between the available layers and move through the forecast. Wind, rain and temperature give the pretty postcard version of a trip a little everyday context.

It is useful when your plans include time outdoors. Look at the days you might travel, then think about which activities could move around. Its webcam map adds another way to peek at a destination, with each camera offering its own view and update schedule.

Good to know: Forecasts can change, and webcam images have timestamps. Check the date, time and location instead of assuming that every inviting view is happening right now.

A little travel dare: Look up the weather for your favourite possible escape, then imagine a lovely rainy-day version of the visit too.

Explore the forecast on Windy or browse its webcam map.

Drive & Listen

Borrow the passenger seat and the radio

Drive & Listen pairs videos of city drives with local radio stations. Choose somewhere that interests you and let the streets pass by. You get a small sense of the place between the landmarks: ordinary traffic, shopfronts, crossings and the sound of a station you would not normally hear.

The city list includes places such as Tokyo, Paris and Istanbul. Pick one you are considering for a trip, or let an unfamiliar name make the decision. Give it a few minutes. The everyday view is often the part that makes you want to be there.

Good to know: A city-drive video is a recorded visit, even when it is paired with a radio stream. It is a taste of the atmosphere rather than a live check of today's streets.

A little travel dare: Choose a city you know almost nothing about and stay for one song.

Take a drive with Drive & Listen

Virtual Vacation

Take a walk without leaving your chair

Virtual Vacation is a collection of ways to explore from home, including walking tours, driving tours, flying views and a separate live-cam section. There is also City Guesser, where you try to recognise a location from what you see around you.

A walking tour is a lovely starting point. Instead of collecting a destination's best five photographs, you get to notice the bits in between. Watch the streets, the pace of the place, and the small details that make you wonder what you would do with an afternoon there.

Good to know: Recorded tours and live cameras are separate experiences. Choose the mode you want and check the individual player; a virtual visit does not need to be live to be enjoyable.

A little travel dare: Take a short walking tour, then write down one thing you would like to see for yourself.

Choose an escape on Virtual Vacation