There are less and less independent online vacation sites nowadays as the larger companies fight to buy them out. However, they keep popping up and soon you can find yourself pulling your hair out trying to find the best online vacation deals.

Hotwire, Hotels.com, Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline all search those hundreds of little sites for the best deals and vice versa. Expedia owns Hotels.com, Priceline owns Travelocity so they double up their search. Much of your time planning a vacation will be spent doing price comparisons. You can end up with ten different windows open at once. It is easy to forget which one had the best price. If you have a particular destination in mind and want to stay in one hotel, check out the hotel's website for the same packages. Some hotels will price match what you are seeing online; it is worth asking the sales representative when you call. Some hotels can not.

Websites such as Lonely Planet and Frommer's both have terrific resources and articles for travel packages. They are less cluttered than the larger sites. With gorgeous photos, videos, and personal recommendation articles by long time members and the site's owners, you will feel at home planning a trip through Lonely Planet's trip planner services.

Frommer's offers Trip Ideas, Trip Deals and a helpful forum for travelers just starting out on their journey or even those who are seasoned professionals. Reading recent articles from folks who have traveled and experienced the same area where you are shortly headed can be a real vacation saver.

Budget Travel has all of the above plus updated travel news and trip suggestions such as girlfriend getaways, adventure, solo traveling, and handy 'how-to's for airports, booking on foreign websites, and dealing with travel emergencies.

Going on a camping trip? Don't forget to check out the US National Park sites. They have really come a long way in catering to the tourist. Yosemite has a very accessible website as does Yellowstone.

If it is a cruise you are interested in, these major websites, Expedia, Hotwire, and Priceline are also partnered with most all of the cruise lines. Again, it is well worth contacting the cruise sales line directly to see if they can match a price you are seeing online or offer you something better.

Many of these websites offer specialty coupons on local attractions once you are there. It is also highly recommended to stop in at the local information bureau or chamber of commerce to find further information about discounted city tours or day cruises that some of these big website do not know about. If you are purchasing your plane ticket separately, often train and bus passes can possibly be purchased via your travel agent before you leave so that you do not have to stop and dig for change when you arrive at your destination.

Statravel is a specialized website for student and group travel. They also have 18 stores across the country where you speak to someone face to face. They offer discounted train passes for groups of 2-5 people and for those under 26 there is a further discount.

Trip Advisor is also another traveler website dedicated to the budget savvy traveler. Sign up for their newsletter in regards to discounted tickets coming up for sale for your designated area. Best Travel Store I have used a number of times to find the best priced airline tickets.

It really can be a headache to search for plane tickets and hotels online. If this is a once every two years or five years vacation, be kind to yourself the first week and start with three major online websites to find the best deals. It will allow you time to get used to online searching and see how these travel websites operate. Always keep a notebook nearby to jot down sites and prices or copy and paste a specific link into your email and save it as a Draft. This way, notepads do not go missing and you have the direct link to that one website that you could have sworn you remembered - you know, the one that had the best vacation packages!

Learn more about this author, P Vandegrift.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about The best sites to look online for vacation deals?
We want to hear your view. Write now!