Best AI for planning a trip right now

Updated Oct 24, 2026. Checked daily.

Give the city, the dates in words, and what you care about. Ask for a rough shape of the days, then check opening hours yourself.

The general board measures everyday chat, not live travel availability.

Try this prompt

Sketch a trip for this place and these interests. Keep each day loose, and list what I should confirm.

Do not treat hours, prices, or visa rules as current. Confirm them with the official source.

#1 Champion

Google

Gemini app, Google AI Pro ($19.99/month), choose Gemini 4 Argon.

Paid plan

Leads LMArena Text overall

The highest-rated model overall in blind votes from millions of real users, across every kind of question.

LMArena Text overall 1517

Details

Why it leads: LMArena Text overall 1517 Source.
Cost: Google AI Pro is $19.99/month. API is $2 per million input tokens until Nov 30, 2026, then $4.
Free tier: Not on the free plan. Everyday Gemini on the free plan is a smaller Flash model.
Privacy default: Yes for adults. Gemini Apps Activity is on by default, and those chats can be used to improve Google AI. Gemini Apps Activity, turn off Keep Activity. Safety review can still apply. Source
When not to use it: Skip it for a narrow job another category already wins, such as code or contracts.
Starter prompt: Help me plan this. Ask one clarifying question, then give a short next step.

Top Alternative

OpenAI

ChatGPT Plus ($20/month), in Work or Codex, choose GPT-6.1 Sol.

Paid plan

Near-flagship quality at a lower price, with the largest context window of the top models.

LMArena Text overall not cited. BenchLM near-frontier value; 1.05M token context.

Details

Why it leads: LMArena Text overall not cited. BenchLM near-frontier value; 1.05M token context. Source.
Cost: Needs Plus ($20/month) or higher. API is $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output.
Free tier: Not on the free plan, and not in regular Chat yet. Plus includes it in Work and Codex.
Privacy default: Yes on personal Free, Plus, and Pro. Improve the model for everyone is on by default. Settings, Data controls, turn off Improve the model for everyone. Source
When not to use it: Skip it if you only use the normal chat box. Sol is in Work and Codex for now.
Starter prompt: Turn this messy idea into a one-page plan with the first three tasks.

Best Open Source

Xiaomi

Download the MiMo-V2.6-Pro weights from Hugging Face, or open Xiaomi MiMo Studio.

Free (limited)

The smartest open-weights model overall, free to download under the MIT license.

LMArena Text overall not cited. #1 open model on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (46).

Details

Why it leads: LMArena Text overall not cited. #1 open model on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (46). Source.
Cost: Weights are free under MIT. API is about $0.44 per million input tokens and $0.87 per million output.
Free tier: The weights are free to download and run yourself.
Privacy default: No, if you download the weights and run them yourself. Hosted Xiaomi apps may differ. Run the open weights on your own machine when chats must stay private. Source
When not to use it: Skip a hosted demo for anything you would not want stored on someone else's account.
Starter prompt: Give me three options for this, with one downside for each.