Nice and short; smart and cheap? Are you hunting for the perfect short-term getaway? Then you’ve come to the right place. You already know that KAYAK searches hundreds of other travel sites at once to help find the best offers on flights, hotels and car hires. But now we are going to give you even more insight into the amazing tools we’ve built. Travel planning just got a whole lot easier.
Let’s take a look at our best tools and help you find a great deal on that short-term holiday you’re planning:
1. The best airfare for you
As soon as you land on the flight search page, simply click on the date selection box, and the drop-down calendar will show you the cheapest flights to your chosen destination. Just follow the dots. A fantastic friend if you know the where but can be flexible with the when.
2. Flight filter
Use flight filters right at the beginning of your search for a full scope of everything that might be available around the time you fly. You can search for exact dates, enter a search period of +/- 3 days, or you can filter for a weekend flight.
Use the weekend filter for the perfect short-term getaway:
- You can see what’s on offer next weekend or check out what’s available any other month you fancy a wee trip
- You can vary the flight day from Thursday to Monday
- You can even limit the departure time to flying in the AM or PM.
If you are a registered KAYAK user, there is even an option that gives you an entire month’s overview to help you find the lowest flight prices:
3. Hotel Heatmap
So, with the pro tips above, planning and saving on flights for your short term getaway is a walk in the park. Once your plane has landed, however, and you’ve disembarked and set foot in your destination of choice, there is still the burning question: where should you stay?
Short holidays are increasingly becoming more and more popular amongst the British public, meaning that a lot of you are starting to realise the most important thing about short-term accommodation options. Location, location, location. To fully experience your chosen destination you have a find a hotel at the heart of all the things you want to do. Naturally, we have just the tool. KAYAK Heatmaps. To get things started just click on ‘Map View’ in the top-left-corner of the hotel search page. Now you can filter by categories such as sightseeing, nightlife or shopping. Find your perfect hotel in the perfect location and do everything you want to do with ease.
Of course, there are plenty of further filter settings available in Heatmaps; e.g. price, equipment and evaluation.
4. Cheap car hire
The main part of the journey is easy, shuttling through the air above the clouds, reclined in your chair. But what about when your feet are back on the ground? Is extra mobility going to enhance your holiday and give you the freedom you need? Do you need to hire a car?
With the help of the car hire map view, you can choose the best car hire agency and pick-up point for you, and then filter the car hire specifications according to your wishes and needs.
5. Plan your experiences & activities
A short getaway can and should be just as special as any holiday. With the help of KAYAK’s tools finding the best flight, the perfect hotel and the freedom of a hired car is easy as pie. But often once we’ve ticked off the one or two main reasons we head to a place for, we often end up with time on our hands and a sense of being overwhelmed by what to do next? Guess who has the tool for you? KAYAK presents – the Activities search page.
Do you fancy a tour of a city’s most haunted spots, catching a musical, attending a local wine tasting, or throwing shapes on the dancefloor? Pick your destination, choose your dates and select your filters; whatever your tastes, the Activities page will help you find it.
6. Organise, manage and share your itinerary with KAYAK Trips
Now, with a little help from your friends, all the elements you need for an unforgettable holiday are in place. But it should be unforgettable because of how stress-free it was, how smoothly everything ran, and not because of a bumbled check-in time or a lost reservation. At this point you can guess what’s coming next – Surprise! We have a tool for this too: KAYAK Trips is your personal travel planner.
Trips helps you plan and organise your travel, no matter where or how you book it. Track prices, create itineraries, get alerts, share plans and more, wherever you roam. All for free.
