With years and years of travel planning experience, The Professor finds himself going back to the same reliable travel websites.  Here are 20 of the best travel websites as selected by The Traveling Professor. 

Transportation

• The Man in Seat Sixty One.  Hands-down the best website for researching and planning worldwide train travel: https://www.seat61.com/
• Trainline.   The best for booking train (and bus) travel in Europe.  Don’t use the RailEurope.com website unless absolutely necessary: https://www.thetrainline.com/
• Matrix Airfare Search:  It is almost always best to book airfare directly with the airline.  But there are websites that are helpful in searching for itinerary and pricing. While no website is perfect for researching airfares, this website has lots of flexibility and search options.  There is a bit of a learning curve, but it is a useful site for flight planning: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
• Google Flights:  A good complement to Matrix Airfare Search: https://www.google.com/travel/flights
• DFDS:  Northern European Ferry Crossings such as Copenhagen/ Oslo: https://www.dfds.com/en/passenger-ferries
• European Auto Rentals.  Not a great fan of this website, but it works, especially for research purposes: https://www.autoeurope.com/

Lodging and Cruises

I always recommend booking directly with the hotel, but websites like will help in determining availability and reviews.

• Inexpensive Europe Hotels.  EuroCheapo has a good travel blog section too: https://www.eurocheapo.com/
• Finding a Cruise: https://www.vacationstogo.com/

Travel Aids

• Northern Lights Forecaster (Iceland): https://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora/
• Finding a Guide.  A good starting point for looking for a tour guide in almost any location: https://www.toursbylocals.com/
• FlightRadar24.  Everything you wanted to know about a particular flight: https://www.flightradar24.com/
• Flight Status, Current Weather Conditions, Delays, Airline/Airport Performance Report: https://www.flightstats.com/v2

Travel Rewards

• Million Mile Secrets.  Another very good site not only for information on travel credit cards, but useful information on travel company policies and travel news: https://millionmilesecrets.com/.  Join the Facebook group too. I look at this website almost every day.
• The Points Guy.  Another website I look at almost every day.  There are way more tips here than how to accumulate and spend travel points.  All the advice given here is complete, well-written and practical.  My favorites include travel destination reviews, and latest news on airline policies and destinations.  Check out the Facebook page too, but the website is here: https://thepointsguy.com/

Travel Insurance

• Travel Insurance. Try comparing policies at Squaremouth (https://www.squaremouth.com/)  and InsureMyTrip (https://www.insuremytrip.com/).  For travel health insurance only, we like GeoBlue: https://geobluetravelinsurance.com/

Travel Planning

• Spain Travel Planning.  The website has two parts.  In one part they offer trip planning.  The other part offers a detailed and complete guide to itineraries, hotels, restaurants, and attractions of other cities in Spain.  I wish they did this for every country.  www.maribelsguides.com
• TripAdvisor Reviews.  I always read the bad reviews first and take all reviews with a grain of salt.  I limit my use of the website to the “Hotels” and “Forums” sections: https://www.tripadvisor.com/
• Reviews and Travel Advice:  The Traveling Professor offers straightforward and useful travel advice.  The Professor does not accept advertising from corporations or travel credit cards, so unbiased and practical travel advice and reviews that cannot be found anywhere else can be found here:.  See:  https://travelingprofessor.com/Travel-Blog