I Asked 6 AI Trip Planners to Plan My Solo Trip to Nainital (₹12,000 Budget)

And no - this isn’t another “AI travel tools” listicle.

“Hey, I’m a female planning a solo trip to Nainital under ₹12,000 in the second week of January.”

That was my exact query.

I was sitting in Jaipur, planning a New Year-ish solo trip, tight on budget, tighter on time.
Like most people in 2025, I thought: Why not let AI plan it?

So I did something most travel bloggers don’t tell you they do:

I asked multiple AI trip planners the exact same question
I compared their responses line by line
I judged them on one brutal metric: Can I actually book this trip or not?

Here’s what happened.

The Problem With Most “AI Trip Planners”

Before I name platforms, here’s something important:

Most AI travel planners today are not planners.
They are well-written destination narrators.

They describe places beautifully.
They sound confident.
They use bullet points and emojis.

But when you’re a solo female traveler on a ₹12,000 budget in peak winter, vibes don’t help.
Details do.

1. Roam Around – Pretty Words, Zero Planning

Roam Around gave me a neat, day-wise itinerary:

• Lakes
• Viewpoints
• Cafés
• Shopping

It looked nice. Very Medium-ish.

But:

• No travel from Jaipur
• No cost breakup
• No stay suggestions with prices
• No winter or safety consideration

It assumed I was already in Nainital, already booked, already rich.

Verdict:
This is a travel blog generator, not a trip planner.

2. GuideGeek – Confident, But Empty

GuideGeek felt more “serious”.
It talked about budget stays and said things like “this should fit under ₹12,000.”

But when I looked closely:

• No actual budget math
• Hotels mentioned without checking prices
• Jaipur completely ignored
• No proof, only claims

It sounded smarter but it didn’t verify anything.

Verdict:
Confidence without calculation is just guessing.

3. iPlan.ai – Didn’t Even Get to the Planning

iplan.ai one felt more like an app than a planner.
On web, I couldn’t even properly access it for my query.

No output = no trip.

Verdict:
If I can’t use it when I need it, it doesn’t matter how good it is.

4. Wonderplan.ai – Not Built for Indian Travel (Yet)

wonderplan.ai one surprised me in a bad way.

It struggled with:

• Indian destinations
• Correct city mapping
• Domestic travel logic

If an AI planner can’t confidently plan within India, it’s already disqualified for Indian travelers.

Verdict:
Not India-ready.

5. Mindtrip.ai – Helpful Assistant, Not a Planner

Mindtrip had a clean UI and acknowledged solo female safety (points for that).

But:

• It asked me questions instead of solving the problem
• It didn’t research transport
• It didn’t shortlist stays
• It didn’t check prices or feasibility

Basically, it behaved like a polite GPT with maps.

Verdict:
Good conversation. No execution.

And Then Came SearchSpot.ai

I’ll be honest - I wasn’t expecting much.
I thought it would be another delayed, over-worded AI answer.

Instead, it did something none of the others did:

It treated my query as a real travel problem, not a prompt.

What SearchSpot.ai Did Differently

🔹 Started with constraints

• ₹12,000 was treated as a hard limit
• January weather was treated as a risk
• Solo female travel was treated as a safety condition
• Jaipur was treated as a mandatory origin point

🔹 Eliminated bad options

• Volvo buses (too expensive)
• Taxis (budget breaker)
• Unsafe or poorly rated stays.

No other AI rejected options.
SearchSpot did.

🔹 Did actual research

• Checked train routes from Jaipur
• Looked at January weather in Nainital
• Shortlisted hostels within budget
• Verified real reviews, not generic ratings
• Suggested female-friendly stays
• Accounted for food + local travel

🔹 Gave booking-ready output
Not just “you can book”, but:

• Where to book
• What train
• What stay
• Why this option works

I didn’t need to “figure it out later”.
I could execute immediately.

The Real Difference No One Talks About

Most AI trip planners optimize for:

“Does this sound helpful?”

SearchSpot.ai optimized for:

“Can this person actually travel?”

That difference matters when:

• You’re on a budget
• You’re traveling solo
• You don’t want surprises

My Honest Verdict

I tested 6 AI trip planners.

Five of them gave me answers.
Only one gave me a plan.

If you’re:

• Budget-conscious
• Traveling within India
• Planning solo (especially as a woman)

You don’t need poetic itineraries.
You need research, elimination and execution.

Most AI tools are still playing dress-up as planners.
SearchSpot.ai actually did the work.

Final Thought

AI travel planning isn’t about how fast the answer comes.
It’s about how much thinking the AI does instead of you.

And after hours of testing, comparing and verifying -
I know which one I’d trust with my next trip.

For anyone curious, I’ve linked the full itinerary generated by SearchSpot.ai below. - Solo Trip to Nainital (₹12,000 Budget)
You’re free to evaluate it yourself - I think seeing the output speaks louder than any comparison I could write.

I could provide the links of other travel ai plannings too but actually Searchspot was the only one to have this feature to share the itinerary.