Look for convenient accommodation options in. Travel services: accommodation. Exchange accommodation with another tourist

Not everyone knows, but very useful travel sites. Most of the travel sites and apps on this list have been tested by us personally, there are still some waiting their turn, but that doesn’t make them any less cool.

List: Travel Sites: Preparing for Travel

Travel websites: buying tickets for Buses in Europe

Ecolines. International bus lines that provide connections between 21 countries and 205 cities in Europe. It is the largest and oldest carrier in Eastern Europe. Ecolines is ideal for independent European trips, because... the flights are very inexpensive and the buses are comfortable. In addition, Ecolines has a cumulative bonus system, and with active travel you can receive free trips. This is more than real! Personally, over three trips I have accumulated bonuses for one practically free move.

Luxexpress. Another European carrier that amazes with its constant promotions and discounts on tickets. For example, you can often travel from St. Petersburg to Helsinki and Tallinn for 400-500 rubles. The number of routes of Lukeexpress is significantly less than that of Ecolines - only 10 countries, but the prices are sometimes simply symbolic, and the buses are more like business class airplanes.

Websites to buy train tickets online

Once upon a time, it became a discovery for me, and then a constant practice, buying train tickets online. As it turns out, this can be easily done on the Russian Railways website. Yes, the interface is not the most convenient in the world, but it is a million times more pleasant than standing in endless lines at the cash register. The electronic ticket is printed and presented upon boarding the carriage. It's simple, fast, and also allows you to choose your own flights and seats on board. By the way, today Russian Railways operates 100 international routes in 30 countries in Europe and Asia.

Tutu.ru. Search engine for air and train tickets in Russia. Convenient, first of all, with a complete and up-to-date schedule of commuter trains.

Raileurope. A service that combines maps, schedules and tariffs of more than 50 different railway companies throughout Europe. The site makes it easy to book train tickets, as well as hotels and travel programs. On a fun note, the site has an encyclopedia of European trains, explaining how they differ from each other and how to have fun while traveling. For those traveling in a large group, discounts are provided - both on trains and in cities.

Websites for booking cruises and sea travel

Mcruises. A site where you can choose and book a sea or river cruise around the world. The service unites all the world's largest and Russian cruise companies and informs about special offers and discounts.

Renting a car for travel

The leading site on the RuNet for car rental abroad. Reservations are possible with more than 800 car rental companies in 150 countries. 20 thousand car rental points, Russian-language support service, low prices and high quality services have made this service the absolute market leader.

Transfer and so on for travel

Kiwitaxi. If you don’t want to rent a car, but public transport doesn’t suit you, you can pre-order a suitable transfer from point A to point B. How does it work? You find the desired route in cities and resorts around the world, book a transfer online, the driver meets you with the name on the sign and takes you to your place. The service operates in 65 countries around the world.

Uber. A service that is gaining international popularity for ordering a driver and finding passengers. A convenient mobile application allows you to search, call and pay for taxis or private drivers. The application is available for dozens of cities around the world, including in Russia. Using the Uber application, the customer reserves a car with a driver and tracks its movement to a specified point; payment is made using bank card information.

Sites for finding travel companions

Blablacar. Another world leader. A service that unites drivers and travel companions around the world. Just enter the city of departure, arrival and date to see a list of drivers who offer trips along your route and choose yours. Before contacting, you can view the driver's profile with a photo, brief information about himself and reviews. The service itself is free, but drivers usually charge money for gasoline. This is not hitchhiking!

Poiskpoputchikov.ru. The site was created to make it possible to find a travel companion on vacation or on any other trip, from a trip to a neighboring city to a hitchhiking trip around the world.

Travel sites where you can book Accommodation, Hotels, Hostels

A well-known site that presents advertisements from private individuals - owners of apartments and houses. Today it is so popular that I won’t even recommend any analogue, because... I think that all landlords already have pages on , even if they previously preferred some other resource. I wrote two whole articles about this site. This is a really cool resource that allows you to find wonderful apartments abroad.

Booking.com. The world's largest site for searching and booking hotels and hostels. A huge database of options, honest reviews, good prices, excellent support service - this is why so many people choose booking. This site is good if you are planning a trip to Europe, North and Latin America, Australia.

If you want to find a good accommodation option in the territory of the former USSR, the search engine Ostrovok.ru is unrivaled here.

For Asia, your best bet is to search for hotels on Agoda.com.

There is an excellent database of hostels on the website Hostelworld.com.

Home Exchange. House exchange. The website's database contains more than 65 thousand real houses in 150 countries. If you own your own home, you can exchange your homes with property owners from another country for the duration of your vacation. The service has existed since 1992, when it all began with a book directory of those wishing to exchange houses.

Well, and, of course, adored by all travelers (and us too) Couchsurfing.com. A site where you can find free accommodation and great company in an unfamiliar city.

Websites for purchasing airline tickets online

ayak One of the most reliable services for searching for travel deals, buying air tickets, booking hotels and renting cars. The site works with hundreds of travel agency and airline sites around the world and selects the most profitable deals for clients. In this case, Kayak redirects directly to the booking pages of service providers

Onetwotrip. About the same as Kayak. True, there are only air tickets and hotels here. Has a great bonus program. For me, the site is not much different from other ticket search engines, but the number of acquaintances who are ardent adherents of this site is so large that it was guaranteed a place on this list.

Momondo. An international travel website that allows you to quickly and easily organize your trip yourself. On it you can find a whole set of free tools for intelligently searching for cheap air tickets, hotels and housing for rent, as well as rental cars.

Anywayanyday. Russian analogue of the above sites. Winner of many travel awards in the field of online services. Worthy of attention.

Websites for purchasing tours online

Level Travel. If you need an organized tour, but are tired of traveling independently, then the best way to find a great tour is the Level Travel tour search engine. The service searches all leading tour operators and allows you to book tours directly with them, without the participation of travel agencies. Those. You won’t see any extra charges, and the tour will cost the same as the operator’s. Too cool to be true, but it's not a dream))

Online hypermarket of tours. Best prices from 120 reliable tour operators.

List of websites for travelers: City maps

Maps.me. Free application for phones on all platforms. These are the only cards we use and they are amazing! After installing the application, you need to download a map of the country you need, and then the map with all the signs, attractions, hotels, hostels, restaurants will work offline! If your phone supports GPS, then when combined with maps.me, you can forget about the awkward communication in crooked French/Chinese/Portuguese trying to figure out exactly where to get off the bus and how to find the museum.

Translators for travel

Google Translator as an application for Android or iPhone will help you find a common language with foreigners without any problems. More than 90 languages ​​are supported offline, although you need to download the necessary language packs in advance. This translator saved us more than once, but, of course, the translation of phrases is not always ideal.

Travel Sites: Leisure and Entertainment

Geocaching. is a worldwide travel game, the essence of which is to hide and search for treasures. Geocaching has been around for 15 years and brings together more than 6 million people from around the globe. Today there are 2.5 million caches hidden in 200 countries around the world, and their number is growing every day. This is a great way to have fun, find unusual places in a new city, and meet curious people.

Izi travel. A service that contains a large, high-quality, and most importantly free collection of audio guides to cities and museums. Before your trip, you can install the izi.travel application on your smartphone and enjoy excursions from professional guides, as well as amateurs. Some content on the site is paid.

A site designed for booking Russian-language excursions around the world. Today it offers 4088 excursions in 566 cities around the world.

Tripster. "Our people all over the world." The service carries out two large projects: unique excursions from local residents and an international community of travelers, which is presented in the form of a giant forum with questions and answers about any city on the planet. If you have absolutely no idea what to do in the city, ask a question on this forum and get recommendations from the locals.

Stay.com. A site that creates for you an individual guide to the most interesting places of the selected city. You select interesting attractions, and the service creates a detailed guide with maps and descriptions, which you can print or download to your mobile device and use offline. And all this is free!

Free Travel Sites

Workaway. The leading site in searching for volunteer work abroad. Volunteering means an extremely wide range of tasks: from teaching English (for example) to building a farm, from working in a hostel to caring for the elderly. As a “salary” for their work, volunteers receive housing, food, interesting communication, immersion in the culture of the country, and often other bonuses (discounts on excursions, participation in master classes, etc.) Transport must be paid for independently.

European Voluntary Service. European Voluntary Service. Within the framework of EVS, dozens of programs lasting from 2 to 12 months operate. All of them are funded by the European Commission, and the programs can be both inside and outside the European Union. These projects, as a rule, have a social orientation and are designed for young people aged 18 to 30 years. The candidate is required to possess certain skills, level of a foreign language, and sometimes have a special education. The European Commission, in turn, covers the costs of accommodation, food, transport, insurance, daily expenses, a cycle of training, including language courses and 90% of the cost of the flight.

Study tours to Poland. STP are study visits to Poland for students, young professionals and professionals from Eastern European countries (North-West region of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova). The program is divided into two large blocks - for students (from 18 to 21 years old) and for workers (no age limit). The trip is completely free: participants pay for travel, accommodation, meals, all activities during the visit, as well as visa processing.

Travel Sites: Other

Wikibook on hitchhiking. If you're planning a hitchhiking trip for the first time, this tutorial has absolutely everything.

Wikitravel. A project whose goal is to create a free, free, up-to-date and reliable world travel guide. There are currently 1,657 guidebooks in Russian and other articles written and edited by Wikitravelers from all over the world.

And a bonus, final link - Travelzakladka. A site that contains sooooo many (more than three hundred!) different travel resources: top LJ, websites, VKontakte communities, independent blogs, magazines, TV channels, TV programs, hotel search engines, maps, forums, train tickets, language tourism, exotic tourism, extreme tourism, visas, guidebooks, tour operators, cruises, diving, car rental, air tickets, insurance, YouTube travel channels, travel blogs on Instagram.

In this article we will tell you which sites you can use to book your own accommodation and give step-by-step instructions on how to do it.

Have you ever had to search for accommodation around the world on your own or do you trust this task to travel agencies? The latter will prepare all the documents for you - this is a plus. However, you will pay them more money, the only exception is last-minute travel packages. In addition, you will be accommodated in one of the typical hotels where all package tourists are taken. And if you want to go on the trip of your dreams, then no one can organize it better than you.

Today we will tell you how to book accommodation yourself. To get started, we recommend reading this article. It will help you navigate housing rental sites around the world. And if you like it, sign up for ours.

Where to book an apartment yourself: the best English-language accommodation search sites for travelers

Previously, in order to rent an apartment in our city, we read advertisements on poles and in newspapers in the “For Rent” section. We asked our acquaintances if they had friends who were looking for lodgers. And renting a home abroad, before arriving in another country, seemed like an extremely difficult task. Thanks to the Internet, everything has changed - home rental sites around the world will help you.

1. Airbnb

These Airbnbs Will Blow Your Mind (Not Your Budget) features 79 of the world's most unique travel accommodations, from luxurious treehouses and small trailers to fairytale mansions.

2. 9flats

3. Wimdu

5. Tripping

6.Agoda

8.Hostelworld

10.Outdoorsy

12.Private Islands Inc.

2. WWOOF

Wherever you plan to go on vacation - be it Italy, Turkey or a dacha in the Moscow region, the main thing is to take a good mood with you. And then unpleasant little things, even if they exist, will not be able to ruin such a long-awaited vacation for you.

The most important and, perhaps, time-consuming part of preparing for a trip is finding accommodation. There are too many factors to take into account, you want to save money on a place where you will essentially spend little time, because traveling does not imply being confined to four walls around the clock.

We hope this selection of housing search sites will help you with this.

Renting a hotel or apartment

On these sites you can find accommodation that suits your budget and in the desired area. The sites take their own commission, but you can do something smarter: find the apartment you like by name or owner’s name on Facebook and negotiate directly, without commission from intermediary sites.
All of the sites listed below have a convenient search engine, you can customize search parameters for the items you need (availability of parking, pets allowed, distance from the center) and a convenient booking system with the subsequent possibility of canceling the reservation if you liked another place or the trip route has changed.

Websites with a database of hotels and apartments:

• Roomguru.ru
• Airbnb.com
• Villas.com

Couchsurfing

This method is good for short trips and involves providing accommodation for a few nights free of charge. Couchservers, as a rule, not only hospitable hosts (they will provide a bed and set the table), but also an unlimited source of information about the place you have come to - they will recommend all the most interesting things, from the point of view of local residents, and this will make your trip more vivid than following the instructions in guidebooks.

The largest and most popular resource now is of course:

• couchsurfing.com

But there are similar sites where you can also leave a request:

• www.bewelcome.org
• hospitalityclub.org (you can use the site in Russian, which is very convenient)
• globalfreeloaders.com
• zotel.com (this site has a fixed price per night – $40)

Hostels

Hostels- these are hotels/guest houses with shared rooms for 4/6/8 people and a shared kitchen and bathroom. In addition, the hostels have free Wi-Fi, a common area where you can work, and discount arrangements for hostel guests with a restaurant nearby.

Hostels much cheaper than hotels and usually conveniently located. Some of them offer free tours.

Sites for finding a hostel:

• hostelworld.com
• hostelbookers.com
• hostels.com

Housesitting

Housesitting is a convenient way in which a traveler can get free accommodation (in a house, on a yacht, in an apartment, or even in a castle), in return, looking after the house, garden and pets while the owners are away.

Housesitting sites:

• Trustedhousesitters.com
• housecarers.com
• housesitmatch.com
• mindmyhouse.com

All of these sites have a small annual fee for use (about $20-30)

Work exchange

A very popular option is to provide housing in exchange for performing certain work (for example, help with housework). Very often this is work on a farm, so think carefully about whether you are ready for such an experience :)

Websites for finding housing in exchange for work:

• www.wwoof.net
• helpx.net
• workaway.info
• staydu.com

1. Let the housing be a little more expensive, but in the center, because this way you will save money, time and effort on the road, and the impression of the trip will be better than if you live in a less-than-best area on the outskirts.
2. Pay special attention to the conditions for rest and sleep: a comfortable sleeping place (better avoid folding beds and sofas), windows that do not overlook a noisy street or road.
3. When calculating the price, keep in mind that the price does not include city tax, it is charged additionally (in Venice, for example, it is 3.5 euros per person for 5 days)

Using this popular service, you can rent apartments and rooms in 190 countries around the world, contacting the owners directly. The concept of “welcome home”, when you get not only a roof over your head, but also a feeling of being at home, appeals to many - last year there were one and a half times more apartments on Airbnb than rooms in the Hilton chain.

To rent a coveted room in Manhattan for $50 or a mill in Lisbon for $68, you first need to send a request to the owner, get confirmation and pay (using the “pay in advance” principle, plus a percentage to the service itself). If you want to speed up the process, look for apartments with the “instant booking” mark. If the owner is suspicious, then the deposit may also be blocked on the card - until the eviction date.

Usually it’s more profitable to rent an apartment if there are at least three people traveling. A traveling couple can rent a single room and then add another guest - it usually works out cheaper. We advise you not to be timid and always bargain with the owners - it worked more than once. Often, when booking “from today to tomorrow,” it is easier for the owner to make a cheaper offer than to leave the apartment empty.

Are you traveling alone? Get an apartment with an owner (or at least a cat) - you’ll have someone to chat with in the evening and have a couple of shots at the bar around the corner. From the owner's profile it is usually clear whether he will make a decent drinking companion.

9 flats

A less-promoted analogue of Airbnb, with which you will become the happy owner of an apartment, room or igloo anywhere in the world (even if only for a vacation). The mechanics are similar: you find an apartment, write to the owner, get an answer - and voila! For those who are on fire and want to rent an apartment immediately, we have prepared options with the “Instant booking” label.

You can’t relax with 9 flats either: often for a cheap apartment they will charge a separate daily cleaning fee. In addition, an 11% service commission is usually added to the price indicated on the main page.

Couchsurfing

Sign up for Couchsurfing to find the best free surfing around the world. Use the filters to choose the host with whom you will be most pleasant - you can sort by experience in Couchsurfing, languages, age and even his attitude towards smokers. To increase the likelihood of success, do not be lazy to fill out your profile in detail and write a heartfelt letter to your future host. There is no need for any payment, just make an agreement. But in eastern countries, be careful - behind the nice hosts there are usually guesthouse managers who will want to charge you money for your room.

The owner always indicates how many people he can accept, so don’t forget to check this point in advance. If possible, grab a blanket and a towel, as well as cranberries in sugar, striped chips and Rogachev condensed milk - we have not yet seen a single host who would not melt at the sight of these riches. Ask the owner for secret places, cook him something from your mother’s assortment, sharpen your knives, in the end. And be sure to leave a good review if you liked everything.

By the way, the Belarusian crowd of couchsurfers often gets together - join us, and at the same time ask about the service.

Homeexchange

For adherents of free exchange, this option is ideal: find a person who wants to come to your city, let him into your apartment, and go live with him. Such matches are found by the Homeexchange service. Add an apartment to the database, indicate the dates of your future trip and the city of your dreams - and wait for those who want to go on an “exchange vacation”. Or be bolder and offer the owners of apartments you like to stay with you.

Homeexchange services are paid (€ 65 per year, if you did not find an exchange in the first year, then you do not need to pay for the next one). The creators of the service are confident that it usually takes 3-4 months to find one ideal exchange, and if you live in the center of a tourist city, you can do it in a month.

Booking.com

You can find any type of accommodation - from a bunk in a 20-bed dorm to a presidential suite with three bathrooms - using the convenient Booking.com service. Use the smart filter to select a city, area and amenities (for example, free parking or a balcony).

Most bookings can be canceled free of charge if done 2-3 days before your arrival date. If you found a better option the day before, that’s also okay: no one will write anything off your card if you didn’t enter your CVV data (the three-digit number on the back of the card) when booking. For determined travelers, options with payment at checkout are suitable - you can save 20-40% right away.

Booking.com can be a little intrusive: once it gets your email, expect two emails a day with “super good” offers. A nice bonus from booking - if you place more than 10 orders, you can upgrade to Genius status - with more serious discounts and check-out an hour later.

agoda.com

A large and convenient service with hotels, which is especially good for trips to Asia. There are also hostels and inexpensive huts here, but the main emphasis is on hotels. The traditional filter helps you find the best place, price, and decide on room amenities and meals. Registered users are promised special discounts (usually a maximum of 10%, but still nice).

The most loyal users can earn bonus points that go toward future bookings. You can deftly manage your order using apps - you want to kiss the creators, especially when your phone picks up Wi-Fi at the airport, and Agoda already shows you an interactive map and gives directions on how to get to the hotel.

Island

“Island” was invented so that in three clicks you could book a hotel room or a bed in a hostel. There were no fundamental differences from Booking.com and Agoda (flexible prices, no commissions), except perhaps more jokes. For example, about the Bank of Dreams loyalty program, the guys say that Ostrovok will pay for nights with you, “and this is not what you think.” For each booking, you can receive “dreams” - bonus points that at first (“black and white”) make it easier to use the site, and then (“colored”) are exchanged for discounts not only on the service itself, but also with partners.

Hostelworld

No matter where your curiosity takes you, with Hostelworld you can always find a cheap room in the heart of the action. The interface, of course, is poorer than Booking.com, but you can find a hostel by city, price, rating and amenities.

If you are absolutely sure of your choice, you can take the Non-flexible booking option - you leave a 19% deposit, which will not be returned in case of cancellation, and in return you receive a 25-30% discount on the room. For bookings with cancellation you will have to pay 25% more. For larger companies, Hostelworld will be happy to offer better conditions.

By the way, the guys have a good travel brochure and free pdf maps of the largest cities.

Hostelsclub

Another hostel search service that offers a large selection of cheap places, as well as the best options for last-minute bookings. Hostels can be compared by location, prices, ratings and amenities. For its services, the site charges from € 2, for each order you need to leave a deposit - 10% of the cost. This is a great option if you are applying for

I have collected in one place links to all sites for booking travel accommodation that I know of. Here you will find out how easy it is to spend the night in almost any city in the world at an affordable price or even for free! Or find a truly unusual place where you will remember your stay for a long time.

The post contains the largest database of hostels in the world, the largest service for renting accommodation from hosts, sites for booking unusual designer hotels, overnight accommodation in exchange for help around the house or looking after a pet - in general, options for every taste. Choose!

Classic: hotel aggregator sites

Personally, I open these sites first when I'm going on a trip somewhere. As the name implies, they combine information from various booking systems, such as: booking, hotels, ostrovok (some of the best prices in Russia), agoda (good for traveling around Asia), trivago, expedia and many others.

Aggregators compare prices, look for discounts and special offers; there you can find not only hotels, but also hostels and guest houses - it’s very convenient when everything is in one place.

Read also:

Free overnight stay

The best way to understand a country and its people is to get to know the locals, or better yet, live with them for a while. International hospitality sites provide such opportunities when people invite guests to their home. Just don’t see them as just a free overnight stay, rather it’s a cultural exchange, interesting communication, an opportunity to improve your languages ​​and find new friends around the world.

Source: instagram: @myinterior

Accommodation in exchange for housework

These sites should not be considered only as a way to stay overnight for free, but as a new unusual experience and an opportunity to help people and the ecology of the planet for a week, a month, or maybe more. The idea is that you work several hours a day, and in return you receive room and board.

Source: GettyImages

Rental services for cool and unusual hotels

If you want to live in a lighthouse, in a tree house, stay in eco-friendly hotels or hotels only for vegetarians, try glamping (glamorous camping) or just have fun, then there are special sites for this.

✔ and - here you can buy someone else’s reservation at a discount. Someone couldn’t go and is selling their reservation on the website. You get a good discount, and the person gets money for a non-refundable room.