How good is ChatGPT at planning holidays? I put it to the test on a weekend trip to Tallinn

Could your next holiday be planned by artificial intelligence (AI)? More and more people are choosing to use tools like ChatGPT, Vacay and GuideGeek to cut down booking time and cost when deciding the details of their next trip.  

AI trip planners can be quick, convenient and easy to use with itineraries often generated in seconds. These can then be customised as much as you like, depending on what details you feed into the planner. 

Omio’s 2024 NowNext travel report highlighted that 44 per cent of European and US travellers revealed that they would use AI to book and plan travel this year, which was up from 27 per cent last year. 

According to Gen Z and millennial travellers surveyed by American Express, some of the most useful travel features of generative AI were budgeting and expense management, activity recommendations, personalised trip recommendations and translation help. 

With all of this in mind, my growing curiosity got the better of me. I decided to let AI plan my early March trip to Tallinn, Estonia with my husband. 

Given ChatGPT’s overwhelming popularity, I used it to plan the bulk of my trip. However, I also tried out Vacay and GuideGeek, just to have something to compare ChatGPT’s recommendations to. 

We’d already booked the hotel, so I asked the tools to plan a three-day, two-night budget trip. All three platforms suggested very similar itineraries, with only slight differences in restaurants, activities and timing. This was done in seconds, cutting down on weeks of time-consuming, confusing and contradictory research. 

ChatGPT’s version was the most comprehensive and interesting to me. It included classic attractions such as Tallinn’s Old Town, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Kiek in de Kök and Bastion