The Pros And Cons Of Planning Your Next Vacation Using TikTok

Travel is one of TikTok's most popular categories, with the hashtag #TravelTikTok rounding up 39.3 billion views by August 2023, according to CNN Travel. So it's no wonder users are turning to the app to help them plan their trips and discover of-the-moment spots that Google and guidebooks have missed. While Instagram and Pinterest can inspire visual wanderlust and get travelers in the mood to set off somewhere new, TikTok also offers the authenticity of commentary on the good, the bad, and the ugly of a destination.

There can be downsides to this kind of unverified advice, too, giving you reason to think twice before participating in a viral TikTok travel trend. Sometimes, a viral "travel hack," like the Airbnb scam that purports to earn free stays for travelers, is anything but legitimate. So take along your discretion, and don't forget to check on expertise from fact-based journalism and travel experts like Rick Steves before you scrap them for #TravelTok. We've gathered information from journalists at CNN, Condé Nast, and Euronews who have traveled with TikTok and compiled some of their best tips and cautionary tales.

So, you've seen a three-second clip of a stunning location and you're ready to go! The strength of this type of recommendation is that a real person is filming it from the location itself, and their clip gives you just enough to know you want more without spoiling the entire experience for you. For Journalist Amarachi Orie, the "aesthetic masterpieces" are where TikTok recommendations score some of the best wins.

With countless restaurants and events to choose from, sometimes a visual can make a decision easier. TikTok offers recommendations for the indecisive with the authenticity of a trusted friend, sharing both the highlights and the downsides of dinner at a certain restaurant, or a visit to popular attractions. When considering a visit to a much-hyped destination, TikTokers can expose the real costs and downsides of a vacation paradise that looks stunning on Instagram.

And finally, the quick pace of app-based clickbait can reveal hidden gems that guidebooks haven't yet published, or showcase venues beyond those that pay for sponsored ads that get them to the top of a Google search. Social media manager Gilleesa Gillen told Euronews this is how she discovered a speakeasy while visiting a local friend in Paris. "She couldn't believe she'd been walking past this bar for so long because it looks like a grocery shop from the outside," Gillen told the news outlet.

Using TikTok for travel is like using a search engine. Type in your desired destination along with "travel" or "itinerary" or "best things to do" and, chances are, an intrepid TikToker will have beat you to your destination. According to a survey by Adobe published in January 2024, 64% of Gen Z already use it as a search engine. By seeing how many videos recommend the same places, you can also gauge the popularity of the destination and whether or not it's been overrun by travelers before you go.

But TikTok helps you get more granular, too. Within the #travel category, there's the #PlanMyTrip videos, which give guidance about the best apps and travel planners, as well as hacks and best practices from frequent travelers and influencers. Travel influencers @rileejsmith @phoebemoonx both have videos citing how they use the app Wanderlog to pin their inspiration and research destinations to a map while they prep. For your perfect prep advice, search out the travel planning mavens of TikTok and find a kind of specificity and detail you never knew was out there!

While all of the above may be reasons to consult TikTok for your next travel plan, be sure it's not your only source of advice. In many cases, information like opening hours, transportation limitations, and seasonal drawbacks won't be included on TikTok. This is where Google Maps, guidebook advice and trusted travel websites can flesh out the details of your trip. CNN Travel's Amarachi Orie learned that the hard way when she visited a "lost pirate village" in a valley between mountains in Tenerife and couldn't find a bus, cab or public excursion tour to take her back down the mountain. She ended up waiting 90 minutes for a bus to the next town.

Annita Katee, a travel writer for Matador Network who used TikTok to help her plan a two-week vacation to the Greek islands, agrees: "Don't skimp on a little Googling and review reading... Some research would have shown me that public transport was very basic on Greek islands and that buses only took cash on board, which I was not prepared for," she admits. These are the unsexy details that TikTokers often forget to mention.

While visual destinations can deliver big time on TikTok, it's also easy to preview those gorgeous, binge-able places again and again on the platform, which can minimize your enjoyment and exploration of them in real life and leave you struggling just to find a new angle for your own photos. As Condé Nast Traveler writer Layla Quaedvlieg recommends, "Don't pre-visit your trip... leave yourself some surprises on the day."

And just as crucially, be sure the visual hype doesn't overshadow some of the other features of the destination. If it's a beautiful restaurant, be sure the food gets good reviews, too. On the contrary, if the food, experience, or destination has something special to offer, don't worry too much if it doesn't look as "epic" as it did on the app. And crucially, if it's advertised as "off-the-beaten path," make sure you won't have to beat yourself up getting there and back. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, but most of them are expletives.

Of course, the most classic problem with viral travel suggestions is exactly what makes them viral: lots of other people are seeing them, too. Many destinations that TikTokers have discovered become quickly overrun with the type of tourist who's spent as much time scrolling as you, strengthening the algorithmic intensity of one location after another.

At the start of 2024, AFAR reported TikTok's five most popular travel destinations, according to most country hashtags: Mexico (180 billion global views), France (72.6 billion), Japan (53.7 billion), Canada (47.9 billion) and Italy (43.7 billion). As for cities, Dubia's views grew by 50% in 2023, and New York's grew by 100%. With this many eyeballs, don't be surprised to find floods of tourists packing some of these destinations when you plan your dream trip. Or perhaps when your TikTok world appears in front of you with the frenzy of the online hype, you may find it's better to leave the viral vacation dreaming to the digital scroll and your real-life vacation dreams to the idiosyncratic whims of chance.