The internet revolutionized the way that we take vacations. It’s nice to be able to compare so many different airlines and agencies, but the real reason Google excels is this: The search engine can tell the difference between a cheap flight and a good flight. They offer a wide arrange of accommodations for travelers who are interested in seeing the world for less.

This was its sole raison d’etre until it was gobbled up by Expedia to become a front-end for a vast cash-crunching booking machine. The deals tab displays the best flight and hotel deals at airports near you and popular travel destinations. The research also looks at the number of sites consulted when booking a leisure vacation.

There’s now about a dozen well-established travel websites that will gladly take your coins to arrange your trip. Many online travel sites are actually aggregators-they simply collect the deals offered on other third-party booking websites and display them all to you in one easy-to-browse location.

Our top picks all consistently found us the best prices for the cheapest flights and rentals – though won top crown for finding the cheapest price overall and Priceline’s unique tool helped us luck into getting a great deal. It’s sometimes even easy to find super cheap vacation packages to international destinations.

If you’re trying to figure out how best to search for cheap hotels: First, scan this quick list of the best hotel search sites, in no particular order. Some companies, like Priceline , pick hotels and flights for you, to get you to your destination for the lowest price.