The ultimate guide to the best travel Web sites

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Haunted destinations
From the inspiration for “The Shining” to the Headless Horseman’s hangout, visit the world’s wildest, weirdest tourist attractions ... if you dare.

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Autumn’s awesome rainbow
Across the nation and the world, fall repaints landscapes with a palette of vivid hues.

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10 great American road trips
Fun one-day driving adventures.

Bidding on affordable luxury hotels
Winner: LuxuryLink.com

When to use it: Your dates are flexible and you’re looking for posh digs at budget prices.

Why we like it: You don’t need to pay a membership fee, and savings can be as high as half off the regular rates. Many travel sites claim to offer discounts on luxury hotels, but we’ve found that Luxury Link delivers the best values on the greatest array of upscale properties worldwide. In our tests, the winning bids on Luxury Link ranged from $146 to $1,966 below the lowest prices available.

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Caveat: Bidding takes time and patience.

Tip: Rather than purchasing a package, bid on a room and then buy the extras (meals, wine, golf) à la carte.

Runner up: With AndrewHarper.com, you’ll need to pay $200 to join, but the investment is well worth it. Andrew Harper offers a limited selection of world-class domestic and international properties, some at savings of more than 50 percent. On high-end hotels, this can add up to more than $1,000 for a three-night stay.

Booking hotels in Europe
Winner: Hotels.com

When to use it: You need a hotel and are particular about the price and location.

Why we like it: Hotels.com, our winner in the U.S. hotel booking category, also comes out on top in Europe. Each time we searched the Web site, it delivered the lowest or second-lowest rate when compared with Euro-hotels.com, HotelsEurope.com, Kayak, and Skoosh. The savings varied widely, but the most impressive deal we found was a room at Rome’s luxury Hotel Eden for $609 per night on Hotels.com; it was $788 on Kayak. Perhaps most helpful is the “view by map” feature, which plots hotels and landmarks on a map so you can see precisely how far you’ll be staying from, say, the Pantheon.

Caveat: Beware the star ratings. Hotels.com rates Paris’s Hotel Lutetia as a five-star property, but Expedia and TripAdvisor give it four stars, and TripAdvisor’s Traveler Ratings average just 3.5.

Tip: Call the hotel directly to see if it will meet or beat the online rate.

Runner up: Euro-hotels.com, the Orbitz sister site, performed extremely well. Its Member Dollars program can be used for future discounts and for award bonuses when you refer friends.

Booking hotels in Asia and the Pacific Rim
Winner: Kayak.com

When to use it: A good place to begin a search for lodging anywhere in Asia or the Pacific Rim.

Why we like it: The combination of low room rates, terrific search tools, and a wide inventory make for a trifecta. Kayak may be based in Connecticut, but we found that it consistently provided the best rates when we searched for hotel rooms throughout the Asia-Pacific region, although the extent of the savings varied significantly from place to place. In Tokyo, for instance, Kayak’s rates were just a few dollars cheaper than the competition’s. But when we searched for a four-star property in Melbourne, Kayak’s rate of $321 for three nights at a four-star hotel was $84 to $181 less than four other popular sites—Asia-hotels.com, Hotels.com, OctopusTravel.com, and Skoosh.com. It’s worth noting that in our experience, Hotels.com, which performed so well when we searched for rates in the United States and Europe, ranked dead last in the Pacific Rim. The best four-star rate it proffered for a 90-day advance booking in Melbourne, for instance, was $502 — $40 more than the next-highest competitor.

Caveat: Star ratings on hotel booking sites aren’t necessarily reliable, so always double-check with a travel agent or other trusted resource the level of luxury at any hotel you’re unfamiliar with.

Tip: All Kayak rates are listed in U.S. dollars, but when clicking through to book on a different site, watch for a flag that warns you if another currency is being used.

Runner up: Asia-hotels.com is another site in the Orbitz family, Asiahotels.com handles more than 70,000 bookings a year at 4,000-plus hotels and resorts in 24 countries across Asia and the Pacific Rim. The site turned up some impressive but wildly inconsistent savings, so the need to shop around remains essential. For example, Asiahotels.com performed well in Tokyo (three nights at the four-star Grand Hotel Tokyo for $486) but was $141 more expensive than the best rate we could find in Melbourne.

Rental cars in Europe
Winner: Kemwel.com

When to use it: If you’re looking for a good price on a great selection of cars.

Why we like it: Kemwel has a broad selection of vehicles, and combines easy-to-use booking tools and low rates. For instance, it offered a luxury vehicle (a Mercedes E-280) for $1,085 for a three-day rental in Venice, which was the lowest price among eight sites we compared. In addition, options abound with Kemwel; unlike some U.S. sites, it gives a choice of vehicles within a particular car class. We searched for a premium vehicle in one city, for example, and were offered seven alternatives on car types and prices, including a Mercedes C-Class, a Volvo V70 wagon, and a BMW 5 Series.

Caveat: Kemwel doesn’t always turn up with the lowest prices, and bargains vary from location to location, so it’s imperative to shop around.

Tip: A handy feature on the site allows you to price one-way rentals in countries throughout Europe.

Runner up: Kayak.com outperformed Auto Europe (autoeurope.com) on price consistently yet barely — by a dollar — but also provided more rental choices.

Currency conversion
Winner: XE.com

When to use it: Before you head anywhere that doesn’t use the greenback.

Why we like it: It’s simply designed and easier to use than other currency-conversion sites.

Runner up: Oanda.com. Among the site’s many helpful travel tools are currency cheat sheets — printable wallet-size conversion charts customized for your destination. You can even program it to include credit card fees for overseas purchases.

Maps and directions
Winner: MapQuest.com

When to use it: Whenever you’re driving stateside.

Why we like it: Aside from the invaluable zoomable maps and door-to-door directions, the site has other great features, including a list of gas prices at nearby stations (updated daily) and a calculator that tallies how much gas money you’ll need for the drive.

Caveat: New streets can take a while to make it into the database.

Tip: To plot to or from an airport, insert the three-letter airport code in the “Place Names” box.

Runner up: RoadTrip Wizard (travelocity.roadtripwizard.com) lets you map your trip and book hotel stays along the way.

Driving directions in Europe
Winner: ViaMichelin.com

When to use it: You normally rely on MapQuest, but you’re on the other side of the Atlantic.

Why we like it: Given that this site has detailed, zoomable maps available for 42 European countries, we couldn’t imagine setting out for a European road trip without first consulting it. The site is easy to navigate and provides directions to and from popular destinations even if you don’t know
the address. It also highlights the hotels and restaurants tested and recommended by Michelin inspectors along your route.

Caveat: Road names are often the official versions and may not match what’s on the actual street signs.

Tip: Set your preferences to display directions that avoid tolls and congestion charge zones, or to find routes that stick to the main freeways or meander on the back roads.

Rental cars in the U.S.
Winner: Travelocity.com

When to use it: Before checking any rental company’s branded site.

Why we like it: It has various tools that allow you to quickly discern all your options. Car rental pricing is a competitive business, so it’s important to first use a search site to review the going rates. We found that Travelocity nudged out the competition by providing rates equal to or lower than any other online travel agency or travel search engine, and by being the most user-friendly: It offers 14 rental brands and 30 search options, including ten types of SUVs and trucks, six kinds of vans and wagons, and five types of specialty cars. It also posts promotions from the rental companies that often lead to even better deals. Best of all, we appreciate that Travelocity — unlike some other sites — doesn’t give preference in its results to companies that it has marketing agreements with but which may not provide the cheapest rates.

Caveat: There are no one-stop shops for rental cars.

Tip: Once Travelocity has found a price you like with a particular rental car
company, always check that company’s own Web site to see if it is offering an even lower rate.

Runner up: Rental-car companies’ branded sites. Much as we liked Travelocity, we often found even better rates on the rental-car companies’ sites. For example, a three-day rental of a luxury car from Thrifty in Honolulu was $221 on Travelocity but $202 on Thrifty’s site.

Traveler safety
Winner: U.S. State Department(travel.state.gov)

When to use it: Before planning or booking foreign travel and for general information on countries and important safety and security issues.

Why we like it: It tells you what the tourism boards won’t. Want to know where Uncle Sam thinks it’s too dangerous for us to travel? Looking for updates on heightened tensions along the Eritrea-Ethiopia border? It’s all on the State Department’s travel page.

Caveat: Information isn’t always up-to-date.

Tip: Always confirm travel documentation requirements with the consulate or embassy of the country you’re planning to visit.

Runner up: Foreign & Commonwealth Office (fco.gov.uk) — Britain’s equivalent of our State Department is another excellent source of information on safety concerns abroad. Its advice on where it is and is not safe to travel is often more specific than the State Department’s.

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The ultimate guide to the best travel Web sites