Top picks for Trip Planning (2026)
Itinerary generation and travel logistics. Ranked from 335 live models on the OpenRouter catalog, weighted for reasoning quality, context window, low cost.
| # | Model | Score | In / 1M | Out / 1M | Context | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenAI: GPT-5openai/gpt-5 | 145 | $1.25 | $10.00 | 400,000 | Details → |
| 2 | Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6 | 145 | $3.00 | $15.00 | 1,000,000 | Details → |
| 3 | Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.8anthropic/claude-opus-4.8 | 141 | $5.00 | $25.00 | 1,000,000 | Details → |
| 4 | Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.7anthropic/claude-opus-4.7 | 141 | $5.00 | $25.00 | 1,000,000 | Details → |
| 5 | OpenAI: o3openai/o3 | 138 | $2.00 | $8.00 | 200,000 | Details → |
| 6 | Google: Gemini 2.5 Progoogle/gemini-2.5-pro | 128 | $1.25 | $10.00 | 1,048,576 | Details → |
| 7 | OpenAI: GPT-4.1openai/gpt-4.1 | 127 | $2.00 | $8.00 | 1,047,576 | Details → |
| 8 | Google: Gemini 2.5 Flashgoogle/gemini-2.5-flash | 126 | $0.30 | $2.50 | 1,048,576 | Details → |
| 9 | OpenAI: o4 Mini Highopenai/o4-mini-high | 123 | $1.10 | $4.40 | 200,000 | Details → |
| 10 | OpenAI: o3 Mini Highopenai/o3-mini-high | 122 | $1.10 | $4.40 | 200,000 | Details → |
| 11 | OpenAI: o3 Miniopenai/o3-mini | 122 | $1.10 | $4.40 | 200,000 | Details → |
| 12 | Xiaomi: MiMo-V2.5xiaomi/mimo-v2.5 | 122 | $0.14 | $0.28 | 1,048,576 | Details → |
| 13 | Qwen: Qwen3.5-Flashqwen/qwen3.5-flash-02-23 | 122 | $0.07 | $0.26 | 1,000,000 | Details → |
| 14 | Google: Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025google/gemini-2.5-flash-lite-preview-09-2025 | 122 | $0.10 | $0.40 | 1,048,576 | Details → |
| 15 | OpenAI: GPT-5 Nanoopenai/gpt-5-nano | 122 | $0.05 | $0.40 | 400,000 | Details → |
How we ranked these
For Trip Planning, we weight models on reasoning quality, context window, low cost. Scores combine each model's public specs with independent benchmark results (Aider Polyglot coding scores, Artificial Analysis intelligence/coding/agentic indices) and live pricing. See full methodology →
About Trip Planning
Trip planning is the task of generating multi-day itineraries, researching destinations, organizing logistics like flights and hotels, and creating day-by-day activity schedules. You need this when you're designing a vacation, business trip, or any journey with multiple stops and timing constraints. Good models excel at cross-referencing opening hours, weather patterns, travel times between locations, and regional event calendars to produce realistic itineraries. Poor models hallucinate attraction details, ignore timezone math, or suggest activities physically impossible within stated timeframes. Speed matters here: Claude 3.5 Sonnet generates comprehensive 5-day itineraries in 15-20 seconds, while older models take 40+ seconds and often require follow-up corrections for date conflicts or logistical gaps.
When to use: Use this when you're planning a vacation or business trip and need help organizing activities, booking timelines, transportation between cities, or creating day-by-day schedules without spending hours researching yourself.
Common questions
Which AI model is best for generating detailed multi-city itineraries?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is the strongest choice for complex itineraries because it maintains consistency across multiple days, accurately calculates travel times between locations, and cross-references real-world business hours. GPT-4 performs well for simpler trips, but struggles with 7+ day itineraries involving four or more cities.
How much does it cost to generate a week-long international itinerary using these models?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet costs approximately $0.30-0.50 per detailed week-long itinerary through standard API pricing. ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) offers unlimited iterations, making it cheaper for multiple revisions; for one-off planning, API usage is more economical.