Living out of a backpack full-time has turned us into avid travelers. Over the years, we’ve tested and used countless websites to help us travel the world affordably and comfortably.
Check out our list of favorite travel sites to help you plan your trip: From cheap or free accommodation, the best flight deals, local tours, to minimalist travel gear. They will help you save time and money.
Tip: Bookmark this page for easy access when planning your next trip ✈️
Note: This page contains affiliate links, meaning we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we trust!
Accommodation
🛌 Hostelword – find the best & cheapest dorm or private rooms on Hostelworld. We love to book private rooms in hostels. That way you get to socialize with others but have your privacy and save money!
😴 Booking.com – this site is no secret but after testing many we still book most of our hotel stays on Booking.com. Sign up for their free Genius Loyalty Program and save extra bucks! A great alternative is Agoda.
🏠 Airbnb – is where we book most of our long-term stays. The search options are great for nomads and you often get up to 50% discount on monthly rents! An alternative is Vrbo which is popular in America.
🐶 TrustedHousesitters – is our favorite site to find FREE accommodation. If you love pets then this is for you. That way we have stayed in awesome city apartments or ocean-view villas rent-free! For 25% off use code HAPPYHEALTHYNOMADS. Read about our experiences here.
🤝 Workaway – find FREE accommodation in exchange for volunteer work. We used Workaway to extend our travels for 1 year in Mexico and had the best experiences. Read about them here.
Transport
✈️ Kiwi.com – find the best flight deals on Kiwi.com. We love their ‘Nomad’ function, monthly flight calendar and search option to ‘Anywhere’. A great alternative is Skyscanner. We share our favorite flight search hacks here.
🚐 Kiwitaxi – offers worldwide international airport transfers with English-speaking drivers. We are big fans of taking public transport to and from the airport to save money but sometimes an organized taxi can be safer, faster and cheaper.
🚕 Uber – in the city we always use ride-hailing apps like Uber. It’s so convenient, especially if you can’t speak the local language or want to use cash. Many countries have their versions of Uber, like Bold, DiDi, Grab or Lyft.
🚗 Blablacar – is the king when it comes to ride-sharing. Get onto the app and see who is going to the same destination as you. You can book a seat in that car and share the costs of the ride. Win-win!
🚙 Rentalcars.com – is a great search engine that will show you different car options and deals for your destination. Along with Economybookings.com, it’s our favorite site for renting cars.
🚌 Busbud – is a useful search engine to find buses. You can choose between different bus companies and buy your ticket. We love that you can select your seat during booking! A great alternative is Redbus.
🚃 Trainline – is awesome if you want to find the best train connections to your destination. We have used it a lot in Europe and found the lowest prices on their site. A great alternative is Raileurope.
📲 Omio – combines the search functionality of Busbud and Trainline and shows the best bus, train and flight connections to your destination. We love the clean design and how easy it is to book a ticket. We can’t stand clunky apps!
Tours & Tickets
👟 GuruWalk – joining a free walking tour is our preferred first activity when we arrive in a new city. They are free but a tip is expected. Read more of our budget travel hacks here.
🙋♂️ GetYourGuide – is our favorite go-to website for booking guided tours. From city, hike and food tours to transport, we always find affordable top-rated local guides on GetYourGuide.
🙋 Viator – offers similar tours as GetYourGuide but with a wider range of options outside cities and more luxurious packages. Always go for highly-rated tours and compare the prices of the two!
🙋♀️ TripAdvisor – is still the king when it comes to finding independent reviews on places and tours. Check out their “Things to do” and “Hotel” tab for highly-rated options and inspiration.
🎟️ Tiqets – offers entry tickets and skip-the-line options for almost every attraction in major cities. We also use it to get inspired by what’s there to see in a city. A great alternative is Klook, especially in Asia.
📲 GoCity – is great for when you want to maximize your time on short city trips. You can buy a city pass for a day and get into the best city attractions for a discounted price. Plus skip the line!
🎫 Ticketmaster – is our go-to resource when it comes to finding and booking tickets for concerts, festivals or events. The site is super easy to navigate and will guarantee you real tickets.
Travel Must-Haves
🩺 SafetyWing – is our go-to travel health insurance that can be booked even during your trip. You only pay per month and can cancel at any time. We are already years insured with SafetyWing and wrote about them here. Great alternatives are Heymondo and Genki, read a comparison here.
📱Airlo – is an eSIM and a must-have for frequent travelers. It’s super easy and cheap: You download their app, choose your destination + plan, install + activate your eSim and voilá you have a phone and data plan like a local. No physical SIM card is needed! A game-changer for us.
🥾 Alltrails – is perfect for beginners or avid hikers like us. It will show you all the hiking trails nearby with detailed maps, descriptions and reviews. We use it on all our hikes which you can find here!
🗺️ Maps.me – is a travel essential for city trips and hikes. It’s a super handy free offline map and shows much more trails than Google Maps in nature. Wherever we go we always download Maps.me alongside Google Maps.
Useful Services
👑 Priority Pass – gives you discounted access to airport lounges worldwide. It’s super useful if you are a frequent traveler. We use it to spend long layovers comfortably between cheap flights. Plus, with TrustedHousesitters, we get one free airport lounge access per year.
✈️ Airhelp – is a must when it comes to claiming back money from airline companies. Airhelp helps passengers receive up to $600 in compensation for delayed or canceled flights. Luckily we never had to use it, but a friend of ours did and it worked! They also have excellent reviews on Trustpilot.
🧳 RadicalStorage – is where we find cheap and secure storage places for our luggage in hotels or facilities around the world. Super useful if you are in between places or want to go on a weekend trip with a carry-on only.
🍽️ EatWith – is created by locals for foodie travelers. You can book a meal in a home hosted by a local to immerse in the local cuisine. We did it in Amsterdam and it was a memorable experience!
🎧 Audible – is our go-to platform to buy, download and listen to audiobooks. It’s perfect on long bus rides, layovers and to unwind in nature without carrying tons of books or electronics. Start your free trial here.
🗣️ Babble – is awesome for learning a new language on the go. Thanks to this site we have brought our basic Spanish to advanced which was essential when traveling Latin America.
Travel Gear
📸 Backmarket – is a game changer for getting trustworthy second-hand electronics up to 70% off. All our expensive travel gear (think laptops, phones, cameras) are from there. It’s a win-win for your wallet and the environment. If you use our friend referral code 18742e8a342c5318 you’ll get $25 off your first order!
🎒 Amazon – From a sustainability standpoint this marketplace is not our first choice. We try to buy as locally as we can. But Amazon is still the easiest universal address to get great lightweight travel essentials no matter where in the world you are.
Here are the ones we travel with!
- Cap – needed on every kind of travel
- Clif bars – to fuel our hiking adventures
- Reusable water bottle – a must-have in every pack!
- Insect repellent – a lifesaver in certain countries
- Sunscreen – an essential also on cloudy days
- Travel towel – a must-have for beach and bathroom
- Running shoes – a lightweight alternative to hiking boots
- Hiking pants – a must-have in the jungle
- Rain jacket – needs to be in every pack
- Rubber boots – for your jungle expeditions
- Travel yoga mat – great for workouts & mindfulness on the go
- Resistance bands – super small & lightweight for workouts on the go
- Gymnastic rings – advanced sports gear that travels with us wherever we go
- Skipping rope – fits in every pack and can be used anywhere
- Push-up bars – another perfect small & lightweight sports gadget
- Snorkel set – for longer ocean trips
- Goggles – lightweight & small alternative we love
- Headlamp – great for reading, camping, hostels
- Swiss Army Knife – an easy-to-pack essential for every trip, especially when dealing with bland Airbnb knives
- World travel adaptor – a must-have for every destination
- Travel power bank – an ultra-lightweight powerhouse for on-the-go
- GoPro Hero 11 – take perfect underwater or above footage
- Waterproof phone case – our cheap alternative for underwater
- Canon DSLR camera – the perfect camera for beginner photographers like us
- Deuter backpack – holds all your stuff in one place since 2020
- Luggage organizer bags – a must for every traveler!
We love to travel light. How? Master minimalism, choose travel gear wisely, and don’t overpack! We travel with one 50l-backpack each that only weighs 12 kg (26 lbs). Plus a small hand luggage. You can do it too! 💪
Start your own travel blog!
💻 WordPress.org – is the most popular and common tool to build your blog. The best: it’s completely FREE! To get started, we recommend the fast and free Astra theme or a highly functional and beautifully out-of-the-box designed paid theme from 17th Avenue, which we recently upgraded to.
🌎 Bluehost – when it comes to hosting look no further than Bluehost. Their entry prices are great for getting started and you can easily upgrade later or change host when your traffic picks up. When we were newbies we had many questions that all got answered via their 24/7 live chat.
💰 Travelpaypouts – is the best affiliate program for travel bloggers. From Booking.com to Tripadvisor you can recommend your favorite products and tours to your readers and earn a small commission every time someone purchases your tips. We use it on our blog!
🗝️ Keysearch – if you want your articles to be ranked on Google you need a keyword search tool. The best one for beginners at an amazing low price is Keysearch. For advanced users we recommend SemRush. Take advantage of their free trials, no strings attached! Read more about this topic here.
📝 Grammarly – is a must-have free Chrome extension for bloggers when it comes to detecting and correcting spelling mistakes. We use it on all our blog posts and couldn’t imagine writing without it.
🎓 Udemy – when we were new to the blogging space we had no clue how to build a website or do SEO. But this know-how is vital to succeed. We bought 4 courses on Udemy (from SEO to photography) and mastered those skills in no time thanks to their programs on the fly! A great alternative is Coursera.
Ready to travel?
Now that you have a list of the best booking sites and travel services, it’s time to hit the road! Here are some useful tips to help you kick-start your adventure.
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