Travel planning. It’s a love-hate thing, isn't it? One minute you're giddy with possibility, dreaming of Parisian cafes or Thai beaches. The next, you're 37 tabs deep into a browser black hole, comparing hostel reviews, trying to decipher a bus schedule, and cross-referencing three different “Top 10” lists that all recommend the same tourist traps.
I’ve been there. My Google Drive is a graveyard of abandoned spreadsheets, each one a monument to a trip that was almost planned to death. For years, we in the travel and SEO space have been watching AI tools bubble up, promising to solve this very problem. Most have been… underwhelming. Clunky, generic, or just a fancy wrapper for a Google search.
So when I stumbled upon Let's Trip, my default setting was skeptical. Another AI travel planner? Groundbreaking. But something about its approach, which claims to build itineraries from social media trends, made me pause. It felt a little more tapped into how people actually find cool stuff these days. So, I decided to put my cynicism aside and see if this tool could really save me from my next planning spiral.
What Exactly Is Let's Trip?
At its heart, Let's Trip is an AI-powered trip planner. You give it a destination and some basic parameters—like how many days you'll be there and what your vibe is—and it spits out a full-blown itinerary. But here's the kicker: it doesn't just give you a list. It builds a day-by-day schedule, complete with restaurant recommendations, hotel options, and even a proposed route on an integrated map. And it generates a music playlist for your trip. A nice little touch.

Visit Let's Trip
The platform says it pulls inspiration from social media trends to keep its suggestions fresh and relevant. This is a pretty smart move. Instead of just scraping the same old travel guides that have been ranking on Google for a decade, it's aiming to catch the wave of what's currently buzzing. It’s less of a rigid, old-school tour guide and more of a knowledgeable friend who just happens to have a PhD in Reddit threads and TikTok travel hacks.
Putting It to the Test: My First AI Itinerary
To give it a fair shake, I threw it a challenge: “A 3-day quirky road trip from Portland to the Oregon Coast.” I wanted to see if it would just give me the big names or if it could dig up something with a bit more personality.
The process was stupidly simple. I entered my start and end points, the duration, and a few interests. A few moments later, a plan appeared. It had the usual suspects, sure—a stop at Cannon Beach is almost mandatory—but it also suggested a detour to a lesser-known state park and pointed me toward a specific food truck pod in Astoria that I’ve seen pop up in a few niche travel forums. Not bad. The ability to then immediately click, drag, and re-order the day's events, or swap out a suggestion entirely, was seamless. It felt collaborative rather than prescriptive, which I appreciated. I could see my route, my stops, and my potential lunch spots all in one clean interface. No more flipping between Maps and a messy notes app.
The Features That Actually Matter
While any AI can generate a list, a few features in Let's Trip stood out to me as genuinely useful for the modern traveler.
More Than Just a List of Places
The integrated map and itinerary is the unsung hero here. Seeing your day planned out geographically is a huge advantage. It prevents that classic tourist mistake of zig-zagging across a city, wasting hours on transport. The tool seems to logically sequence stops, which shows a level of 'thought' that goes beyond simple list-making. This is the kind of efficiency that spreadsheet warriors (hello, it's me) spend hours trying to perfect manually.
The "Reddit Hidden Gems" Premium Feature
Okay, this got my attention. As someone who often types "... reddit" at the end of a search query to get real human opinions, this feature is gold. The premium version of Let's Trip integrates suggestions from Reddit, digging for those off-the-beaten-path recommendations that you only find in community forums like r/travel or r/solotravel. This is how you find the best dive bar, the most authentic taco stand, or that weird little museum that no official guide ever mentions. It's a fantastic way to filter out the marketing fluff and get to the good stuff.
A Soundtrack for Your Travels?
I'll admit, I thought the music playlist was a gimmick. But for a road trip? It was actually pretty cool. The playlist it generated for my hypothetical Oregon trip was a mix of indie folk and Pacific Northwest rock. It was a small detail, but it added to the whole experience, making the trip feel more like a curated movie scene than a logistical checklist. A bit of fun, which is what travel is all about.
Let's Talk Money: The Let's Trip Pricing Model
Here’s where Let's Trip really breaks from the pack. In a world drowning in monthly subscriptions, their pricing is a breath of fresh air. They operate on a freemium and pay-as-you-go basis.
Plan | Price | Key Features |
---|---|---|
Free (Basic AI Model) | Free | Generate, modify, save, and share your itinerary. |
Premium AI Model | $1.99 / itinerary | Smarter AI, Unlimited Audio Guides, AI Search, Reddit Hidden Gems, Google Maps Integration, Unlimited Suggestions. |
The free plan is surprisingly generous. You can plan a whole trip with it. But that $1.99 per itinerary for the premium features is the real genius here. It’s a microtransaction. You’re not committing to a $10/month subscription you’ll forget to cancel. You’re essentially buying a cup of coffee in exchange for a supercharged, Reddit-scouring, map-integrated travel plan. For a one-off vacation or a big road trip, that feels like an absolute bargain.
The Good, The Bad, and The AI
No tool is perfect, right? I'm a bit of a control freak, so letting an AI take the wheel completely makes me twitchy. The main benefit is also its potential pitfall: its reliance on AI. If you're the kind of person who enjoys the serendipity of getting lost and discovering things for yourself, a fully structured plan might feel restrictive. But then again, you can edit it freely, so it’s more of a powerful starting point.
The real strengths are clear: the freemium model is fantastic for trying it out, the customization is top-notch, and that pay-per-trip premium model is just… chef's kiss. It respects the user's wallet. The primary con is that, to get the really juicy stuff like the Reddit integration, you do have to pay. But at two bucks a trip, it's hard to complain too loudly.
Who Is Let's Trip Actually For?
So, who should be using this? In my opinion, it's perfect for a few types of people:
- The Overwhelmed Planner: If you find the process of planning a trip stressful and time-consuming, this is your solution.
- The Road-Tripper: The integrated map and logical sequencing are built for life on the road.
- The Spontaneous Traveler: Got a free weekend? Punch in a destination and have a plan ready in minutes.
- The Inspiration Seeker: If you're tired of the same old tourist recommendations, the AI's ability to pull from current trends can give you a fresh perspective.
It might not be the go-to for a hardcore budget backpacker who plans every single cent for a six-month trek, or for a luxury traveler who prefers a human concierge. But for the vast majority of us who fall somewhere in between, it hits a real sweet spot.
Frequently Asked Questions about Let's Trip
- Is Let's Trip completely free to use?
- Yes, there is a robust free version that allows you to generate, modify, save, and share itineraries using the Basic AI Model. You can plan an entire trip without paying anything.
- How is the Premium model different from the Basic one?
- The Premium model uses a smarter AI, and for a small fee, adds powerful features like Reddit Hidden Gems, unlimited audio guides, Google Maps integration, and unlimited place suggestions to your itinerary.
- Can I change the itinerary after the AI creates it?
- Absolutely. Customization is a core feature. You can add, remove, or reorder any part of the suggested plan to make it your own.
- What kind of "hidden gems" does it find?
- This premium feature scours communities like Reddit for recommendations that don't typically show up in standard travel guides—think local favorite restaurants, unique viewpoints, or quirky attractions that only locals and seasoned travelers know about.
- Is the $1.99 a one-time charge or a subscription?
- It's a one-time, per-itinerary charge. You pay $1.99 to upgrade a specific trip plan to Premium. There is no recurring monthly or yearly subscription for this feature.
- Does Let's Trip book my hotels or flights?
- No, Let's Trip is a planner. It provides recommendations and links for hotels (and includes a price tracker), but it does not handle the actual bookings for you. You maintain full control over your reservations.
My Final Verdict
Look, the perfect travel planner probably doesn't exist. The magic of travel often lies in the unexpected. But the preparation? That doesn't have to be a chore. Let's Trip is one of the most promising AI travel tools I've seen in a while. It’s smart, intuitive, and built on a pricing model that feels fair and modern.
Am I ditching my spreadsheets entirely? Let's not get crazy. But for my next spontaneous weekend getaway or that cross-country road trip I keep dreaming about, Let's Trip is absolutely going to be my first stop. It's an incredible starting block that saves hours of grunt work, leaving more time for the fun part: the actual traveling.
Reference and Sources
- Let's Trip Official Website
- Let's Trip Pricing Page
- r/travel Subreddit - An example of a community source for travel tips.