How to use Google Flights to inspire and plan trips

Google Flights and the overall Google Travel are my preferred sites to find cheap and affordable flights and to help me plan new trips and discover new destinations.

The “explore destinations” feature allows you to set your outbound airport and then move across a map and see flight prices for different destinations all across the world. You can set strict or loose dates, or even just pick ‘a week-long trip’ in a set month, and Google will find you the best prices.

What I appreciate the most about Google Flights is that the prices are consistent. The price that is given, is the same as the price when it comes to clicking the link to the booking website. None of that price-changing nonsense that I see happen so often with other flight search and travel agent websites.

Below I’m going to show you some of the cool features of Google Travel and how you can use it to find cheap flights that suit your availability or preferred destination.

Google Travel Features

Flexible dates

In the dates section, you can select flexible dates, and then the length of the trip, and Google will suggest the dates with the cheapest flights for the destinations on the map.

Most flight search websites will allow some degree of flexible date searches, whether this is a ‘-/+ 3-days’ toggle or a month-wide calendar search. However, what’s different with Google Flights is that it also has a feature that allows you to select trip length. So you can say that you are looking for a week-long holiday, give no dates, and the search engine will suggest dates and destinations that are the most affordable - perfect if you’re looking for ways to spend your annual leave.

In my opinion, this is what puts Google Flights above the rest. It takes out the hard work of trying to find the cheapest dates and the cheapest locations and does it all for you, with a big map to help you visualise the results.

The results of a 1-week trip in May are listed in the tab on the left with suggested dates for the cheapest flights. Alternatively, it can be visualised on the map.

Limitations: Unfortunately, you can only carry out flexible date searches for up to 6 months in advance. After that, you will have to manually put in dates in a trial-and-error fashion to suss out when is a cheap time to fly, or you will have to pick a specific airport and then flick through the calendar to see the different flight prices. Another limitation is that you can’t always get Google to suggest other dates. It will pick out the cheapest dates in your time frame, but won’t show you alternative dates that are also affordable. Instead, you will have to do this manually, using the date grid or price graph.

“Flights only” filter

In the ‘filters’ section of the search you can select travel mode to be “flights only” or “all”.

Google Flights allows you to see destinations that are reachable only by flight (i.e., destinations that you fly directly into), or flights that are reachable by flight and car (i.e., destinations that will require transport on the other side to reach). This is quite a cool feature as it helps you discover destinations that you may previously not have thought of before. It also allows you to see how far away another destination is from the suggested airport, many of which are at reasonable distances that you would likely be able to find public transport to cover instead of hiring a car.

On the map, destinations that can be reached by flight only will be a blue circle with a picture of a plane in it. Destinations that can be reached by plane + another mode of transport are represented as plain blue dots on the map.

Example: Milan vs Lake Como

On the map below you can see that a search for a 1-week trip in June in Northern Italy has turned up destination suggestions for Milan, Lake Como, Lake Garda etc.

Milan has a blue icon with a plane showing that this destination can be reached directly by plane. On the left, you can see that that flight is non-stop from London, takes 1 hour 55 minutes, and costs £35.

Lake Como on the other hand, has a simple blue circle icon, showing that this destination needs to be reached by plane + car / other mode of transport. The dotted green path from Milan indicates ground transport is required for this leg of the journey. On the left, you can see that the flight to reach Lake Como is the same flight as the option to reach Milan alone, non-stop from London, 1 hour 55 minutes, £35. It then shows a car icon with a time, indicating further travel is required to reach this destination, in this case, a 1.5-hour journey by car. This is also shown on the Lake Como image on the map.

Milan has a blue circle with a plane icon which shows you can travel here directly by flight. Lake Como has just a blue circle icon which indicates you need another mode of transport after the flight to reach it. You can also see in the image of Lake Como and in the list on the left that travel to Lake Como involves a 1 hr 55 min flight and a 1.5h car journey. The blue dotted line on the map indicates flight travel, while the green dotted line on the map indicates ground travel.

Limitations: Unfortunately, Google Flights only gives you information about travel by car. It does not give you information about public transport alternatives to different destinations which I think would be a very useful feature for travellers, and potentially something Google can integrate with their usual Google Maps function.

Therefore, if you’re not planning on driving, you will have to do your own research into whether these destinations can be reached by public transport, or whether you will need to book private transport yourself.

Continuing with the Milan vs Lake Como example: if I open up a separate tab for Google Maps, I can then search for transport options to get from Milan to Lake Como including public transport options. In this case, Lake Como looks easily accessible by public transport using a combination of train, bus, and/or ferry. And takes only a little bit longer than by car, 2 hours vs 1.5 hours.

Using the usual Google Maps you can look for public transport alternatives to Google Travel’s suggested destinations.

Other search filters

When exploring destinations, there are a bunch of cool filters that you can use to help find the right trip for you.

Alongside the usual standard filters like “number of stops/changes”, “price” and “airline” you can also select “carry-on bag” and “interests”.

The “carry-on bag” filter is mainly useful for getting accurate prices for flights. Many flights, including long-haul flights, do not include the price of luggage in the base ticket prices. Oftentimes you think you’re getting a good deal, only to click ‘book now’ and discover the cost of luggage is almost as much as the flight itself. If you know you’re going to need more space than just a small bag that fits under a seat, select this option to give accurate pricing and save yourself the shock of additional fees.

The “interests” filter is a cool one. It allows you to explore destinations based on certain travel interests. These include “popular” destinations, “outdoors”, “beaches”, “museums”, “history” and “skiing”. Below you can see how the destinations suggested change depending on the interest filter (apart from Moscow which seems to come up for all of them..)

Destination suggestions filtered for by beach interests.

Destination suggestions filtered for by outdoors interests.

Additional information

Once you select a destination on the map, a side tab on the left opens up with additional information. At first, you will see your flight options. But if you continue to scroll down this tab you will then see top attractions under the “Discover X” title, options for accommodation under the “Stays” title, seasonal information under the “When to visit” title, and FAQs under the “What people ask” title.

The “When to visit” section provides information about the weather, tourism popularity, and on- and off-season times. This is useful for planning your trip if you want to get a feel of what to expect and what to prepare for

“When to visit” section gives seasonal information details.

The “What people ask” section is sort of like an FAQ but for most searches on Google. I think this is a great integration for Google and can be further filtered by travel requirements, local recommendations, food etc. Whilst it may not always be super useful, just due to the nature of what people search for, it does give you a feel about things to do, potential issues, and what may require additional planning.

The “What people ask” section details popular questions from Google Search and can be further filtered by questions about ‘getting around’, ‘costs’, ‘food’ etc.

Planning travel, finding flights

Here is a step-by-step of how to use the “explore destinations” option to find cheap flights and plan your travels using Google Travel.

If you have a set destination, but no set dates

Go to the Google Travel website and open the “explore” tab: google.com/travel/explore

Input your outbound city and your destination into the search bar. You can be as broad as a continent or region, or as specific as a certain city or airport. The map will then orientate you to this area.

Next in the dates section, click the “flexible dates” tab and select “all”. This will search flights and prices for the next 6 months. You should also set a trip duration and you have options for “weekend”, “1-week”, or “2 weeks” - you will be able to alter this later.

Once you have input these search terms, and any additional filters you want to use, Google Travel will draw out the cheapest flights with the corresponding dates for different destinations within your search area. This is designed to provide you with a suggested itinerary, a starting ground from which you can alter dates and prices to best suit you.

In this example, I’m looking for flights to India. I’ve input India as my destination and selected a 2-week trip for any time (for Google anytime means in the next 6 months). These are the options it has picked out for me, with destinations across India with suggested dates for the most affordable flights.

When you click on a destination, select flights in the left-hand tab and a new window will open with Google Flight. From here it will provide you with different flight options for the dates it has suggested. At first, it will display “Best departing flights” at the top, sort by price to see the cheapest flights at the top, this will the be price you would have seen on the map previously.

Once you select a destination and flights, a new window will open that takes you here to Google Flights. Initially, flights will be ranked by “best departing”, sort by price to see the cheapest flights first.

Flights have now been sorted by price, with the cheapest displayed first. This will be the flight that you saw on the “explore” map.

You can then play around a bit here, filtering the flights, checking the date/price matrix, checking the price graph, or selecting the calendar and seeing the prices for different dates over the next few months. All are different ways to view and compare prices - use whichever works best for you.

You can visualise flight options by “price graph”. This will only give you options for a couple of months ahead. You can change the duration of your trip to get updated prices.

You can visualise flight options by “date grid”. This will only give you options for a couple of days on either side of your selected/suggested dates.

An alternative method, if you know exactly where you want to fly to, skip the “explore destinations” window and go straight to the “flights” window: www.google.com/travel/flights

Put in your outbound and inbound cities and press the dates box. A calendar will come up with flight prices. At the bottom of the calendar is the option to select the number of days you are planning your trip. Set a trip duration, and then flick through the calendar to see the latest prices for different dates. Again, you can use this as a starting point. Once you select some dates that suit your availability and price you can then play around with flight filters, price matrix, etc. to nail down the flights that suit you.

You can visualise flight options by using the calendar. Again, you can change the duration of your trip to give more accurate prices. This will go as far ahead as flight details allow, if you go too far ahead there may not be many flight options as airlines have not booked/detailed these flights online yet.

Once you’ve chosen your flights you will be directed to booking websites. If you are not ready to book just yet, you can toggle the “track prices” underneath the search bar and this will send you email notifications if the price of your flights change.

If you have set dates, but no set destination

Go to the Google Travel website and open the “explore” tab: google.com/travel/explore

In the search section, for destination either leave blank or select “anywhere” - you can also just zoom out on the map. For the dates section, input your preferred dates. You can be as specific as you want, either selecting exact dates or going into the “flexible dates” tab and selecting the duration of your trip and your preferred month of travel. You will be able to adjust this later on.

In my example, I’m looking for a trip to take over the long Easter weekend (Fri 29th March - Sun 7th April). Google shows me the flight prices for different destinations all over the world.

Google will list all the prices to different destinations on your map. The list in the left-hand tab is organised by destination popularity, so this may not be the best section to look at if you’re looking for cheap flights. Instead, maneuver your way around the map, or set different search filters to help narrow down which areas of the world you want to travel, and how much you are willing to spend.

I’ve now filtered the search to flights under £350, and with no more than one change. This has narrowed down available destinations to a more manageable selection.

Once you have selected your destination, click “flights” and a new Google Flights window will pop open. From here it will provide you with different flight options for the dates it has suggested. At first, it will display “Best departing flights” at the top, sort by price to see the cheapest flights at the top, this will display the be price you would have seen on the map previously.

On the “explore” map I select Cairo as my destination. I then clicked Cairo flights and was directed to this Google Flights page with flight options and details. From here I can filter flights, compare prices using the “date grid” and “price graph”, and turn on “Track prices” for notifications of price changes.

You can then play around a bit here, filtering the flights and checking the date/price matrix if you have some flexibility around dates to select the flights that best work for you. (I would suggest reading the section above if you missed out to see the various ways you can compare prices using the calendar, date grid, and price graph features). Once you have selected your flights you will be directed to the website where these prices came from and where you can book.

If you are not ready to book flights yet, you can switch the toggle under the search bar to “track prices”. If you track prices you will get an email notification whenever the flight prices change so you can keep an eye on it.

Let me know how you find using Google Travel. Even better, let me know what amazing travel destinations you manage to book using Google Travel!

I have no affiliation to Google or Google Travel, this blog was written as a genuine piece for information sharing. Google ranks and displays flights based on their price, convenience, and popularity.