Gemini: Trip planning & itineraries

Compare Disney World trip budgets from three AIs with ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity

Amanda Caswell gave ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the same prompt: plan a five-day Walt Disney World trip for a family of five flying from Philadelphia, from March 30 to April 3, 2027. ChatGPT came in cheapest, suggesting about $8,500, but its hotel estimate was far too optimistic for those dates. Gemini estimated $10,050 to $13,350 after noticing the dates fall just before Easter Sunday 2027, in a busy spring-break period, and that kids 10 and older pay adult ticket prices. Perplexity's full estimate reached $10,545 to $13,955, more than $5,000 above ChatGPT's figure, and Caswell liked its itinerary best. Caswell judged that Gemini wins on budgeting. When shown the other two estimates, ChatGPT revised its target to about $10,000, with $11,000 available.

Plan a five-country family trip with Gemini, despite some wrong tips (partial)

Manish Kurse planned a family trip through France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands with little kids and several families, testing Gemini and ChatGPT along the way. A detailed prompt in Gemini Canvas, covering needs like vegetarian food and kids in strollers, produced a day-by-day itinerary that saved hours and was updated as plans changed. On the road, the AI helped with a lost parking ticket at an Amsterdam P+R, Brussels metro tickets and questions at the Louvre. But a highly recommended Paris creperie was closed, a pizza tip 'didn't sell pizza', and a chairlift in Cochem was shut. Google Maps mostly had it right; 'even Gemini gave the wrong answers.'

Underpack for a Mount Shasta climb after following Gemini's advice, ending in a rescue

According to the U.S. Forest Service, three novice hikers planned a Mount Shasta climb partly with Google Gemini, which recommended supplies for an 8-hour climb rather than the 16 hours it took and told them to eat simple carbohydrates rather than fats. They reached the summit at 7 p.m., got lost off-route on the way down after their phone battery died, and one hiker injured a knee at about 11,500 feet. Rangers reached them the next morning; the hikers said they 'relied too much on AI rather than our own critical thinking.'

Plan a Hong Kong trip with Gemini, Grok and ChatGPT (some addresses were made up)

A traveller planned a Hong Kong trip mainly with Gemini, using Grok and ChatGPT as extras, to organise locations, build itineraries, make packing lists and turn store addresses into Google Maps links. The traveller says routes were logical and personalised, but the AIs sometimes produced convincing addresses that didn't exist, and got names, opening hours or whether shops were still open wrong. Next time they'd verify every important detail on maps and official sites.

Plan a flexible beach day with an infant in Goa by voice with Gemini

Overwhelmed by pins on Google Maps while travelling with an infant, Android Police's Akshay Bhalla asked Gemini by voice for a flexible day at Mandrem Beach in North Goa: sunset, local food at a beach shack rated 4.2 or higher, maybe water sports, using maps, weather, UV index, traffic and blogs. Gemini suggested a creek in the morning, a local restaurant for lunch, shade during the peak UV hours of 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM, and the beach from 5:30 PM for sunset, then added a café with good Wi-Fi when asked.

Plan a month of family travel and remote work across Europe with Gemini, from route to co-working bookings

Planning a month of travel with kids while working remotely, Nick Thomson gave Gemini the family's profile, preferences and goals. It talked them out of a there-and-back route from London to southern Italy, suggesting three routes starting with a flight to the furthest point; recommended beaches by the kids' ages and swimming ability, off-peak trains, surf schools and teen-friendly activities; flagged when train companies release cheap tickets; and found co-working spaces, compared day rates and drafted booking emails in French and Spanish. Over the month, one recommendation was wrong: a bus to a market that didn't exist.

Plan a two-week Taiwan and Hong Kong trip with a toddler using Gemini and Ask Maps

A New York Times personal tech columnist used Gemini (with personal data from Gmail) and Google Maps' Ask Maps to plan a 14-day Taiwan and Hong Kong trip with their wife and 20-month-old. The columnist says activity planning took only about 30 minutes; Gemini drafted family-friendly daily plans that accounted for jet lag, to-do and packing lists, and found a cheap data plan. But the packing list left out the columnist's own socks and underwear, and in Hong Kong it suggested restaurants near the previous hotel in Taiwan; Ask Maps handled real-time requests better.

Plan a vegetarian trip around Vietnam with Gemini

Over two weeks in Vietnam, Android Police's Parth Shah used Gemini to check weather by region, which showed they'd need warm clothes for Ba Na Hills and Sa Pa, and to build packing lists, shopping hotspots and a list of pure vegetarian restaurants they saved in Google Keep. On the trip it helped them check snacks for eggs and hidden allergens and explained the history behind temples and old towns.

Pick a holiday destination for three friends from their questionnaires with ChatGPT and Gemini Deep Research

For an AI-planned trip with two colleagues, TechRadar's Josephine Watson sent the same Deep Research prompt and three completed preference questionnaires to ChatGPT and Gemini: four days, one base, about $2,000 each, scenic and filming-friendly. Gemini returned five well-known picks such as Lagos and Mallorca in under five minutes. ChatGPT asked follow-up questions first, then ran 110 searches across 34 sources in 16 minutes and suggested Santorini, Madeira, the Bay of Kotor, Cappadocia and Essaouira. ChatGPT came out on top in their head-to-head.

Plan a solo summer vacation with Gemini (forgot it was a solo trip)

XDA's Mahnoor Faisal let Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini plan a real summer vacation they were taking alone. They say Gemini kept forgetting basics, repeatedly defaulting to group and couple-oriented ideas like a romantic candlelight dinner, and tended to agree their plan was great when it needed work.

Plan a vacation with flight, hotel and busy-week checks in Gemini

A Hacker News commenter says they've been using Gemini to plan a vacation and finds it surprisingly useful: it can look up flights from Google Flights and hotels from Maps, and knows about busy weeks at the destination. They add that you have to hope it isn't hallucinating, which they see as safer for trips than for healthcare.

Plan a 10-day Malaysia trip with flights and hotels with Gemini

Hulry's writer asked Gemini to plan a 10-day trip from Bangalore to Malaysia for two at a moderate pace, low-to-mid budget with hotels under ₹5,000 a night. Gemini returned a decent itinerary and, using Google Flights data, flight options with accurate timings and pricing, but it mixed up the travel dates while searching for flights. The article says the whole plan took under 15 minutes.