The assignment was clear: test how well an artificial intelligence could plan a trip to Norway, a place I’d never been to. So rather than doing my usual combo online, I asked three AI planners to create a four-day itinerary for me. Unfortunately, none of them mentioned saunas or salmon.
But two of the assistants wanted to know more about me to customize the initial general recommendations they spit out within seconds: Vacay, the personalized trip-planning tool, offered a list of questions, and Mindtrip, the new AI travel assistant, encouraged me to take a quiz (the third assistant, ChatGPT, didn’t ask any questions).
Vacay and Mindtrip asked similar questions: Are you traveling solo? What’s your budget? Do you prefer hotels or Airbnb? Do you want to explore the great outdoors or have a cultural experience?
Eventually, our chat session led us to come up with a well-balanced itinerary that included a day in Oslo and a trip into the fjord region. Finally, combining the assistant’s input, we finalized a trip that went beyond the expected tourist attractions list.
The virtual planner I used this time was much more sophisticated than the simple ChatGPT interface I used on my trip to Milan last year, and while it did offer more detailed suggestions for Norway, it crashed so many times that I ended up ditching ChatGPT during the trip-planning stage.
Vacay’s premium service, which starts at $9.99 per month, includes detailed suggestions and booking links, while Mindtrip, which is currently free, offers photos, Google Reviews, and maps. During the trip, both provided instant information via text and constantly asked if I wanted more specific details. Unfortunately, only ChatGPT offered a phone app, but I found its information to be out of date (the $20 per month premium version is more up-to-date).
I’m not alone in turning to AI for help: According to a recent Harris Poll conducted for personal finance app Moneylion, nearly 70% of Americans have used or plan to use AI for travel planning, and 71% say using AI would be easier than planning a trip themselves.
I decided to go to Norway and see for myself.
A busy day in Oslo
After landing at Oslo airport, all three assistants guided me to the Flytoget Airport Express Train, which took me 20 minutes to get into the city, which I was very happy about as my hotel was next to the central station.
Choosing a place to stay wasn’t easy. I was looking for a mid-range boutique hotel, and the AI assistant presented me with a number of options with little overlap. I chose Hotel Amerikalinjen, recommended by Vacay and described as a “vibrant, unique boutique hotel in the heart of Oslo.” Its location was its biggest draw, but overall the hotel exceeded my expectations, combining comfort and style with the 20th century charm of the building that was once the headquarters of the Norwegian America Line shipping company.
For a one-day itinerary in Oslo, the assistants unanimously agreed to pack in the city’s top sights, including Vigeland Sculpture Park, the Royal Palace, the Nobel Peace Center, Akershus Castle, and the Munch Museum. I told them where I was and asked each assistant to reorganize the itinerary to start from my hotel. But when I succumbed to my research instinct and opened Google Maps, I realized that the order they suggested didn’t make sense, so I planned the route myself.
By the time I arrived at Frogner Park at midday, I’d already seen half the sights and, after walking past more than 200 sculptures by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland, was happy to be able to sit and admire a granite monolith depicting entwined human figures.
For lunch, my assistant recommended a fine-dining restaurant in the bustling waterfront district of Aker Brygge. But I wanted a quick meal in a more relaxed atmosphere, so I ditched the AI and walked to the end of the promenade, where I stumbled upon a cozy restaurant called Salmon. I started off with melt-in-the-mouth salmon sashimi and finished with a perfectly grilled filet. Why hadn’t my assistant mentioned this place?
Next, I wanted to visit the Nobel Peace Center, the Opera House, and the Munch Museum. The staff did not recommend that I pre-book tickets. Fortunately, I had pre-booked, and in the process, I learned that the Peace Center was closed. This is important information that the AI did not tell me.
It was chilly for mid-June, and as I walked along the harbor promenade to the Munch Museum, I spotted a small floating sauna that my assistant hadn’t mentioned. I went back to ChatGPT’s mobile app to look for recommendations. I wanted to try a floating sauna, where you warm up before jumping into the cold waters of the Oslofjord, but I followed ChatGPT’s suggestion and booked the salt sauna instead. After spending a few hours at the Munch Museum, which features a vast collection of works by Norwegian artists and amazing views of Oslo harbor, I headed to the salt sauna.
I was relieved to see that swimsuits were mandatory at the Salto cultural complex, a giant pyramid-shaped structure built over the water. In Scandinavia, saunas are usually entered nude. I previously asked ChatGPT about Salto etiquette but got no clear answer. After sweating it out with about 30 strangers in Salto’s main sauna, I soaked in a cold barrel tub and then tried the hotter, quieter smaller sauna. It was the perfect end to a long day.
Waterfalls, lush valleys and raging waters
Each assistant had a different idea of how to get to the fjord region. ChatGPT suggested a 7-hour train ride followed immediately by a 2-hour fjord cruise, which sounded exhausting. Mindtrip suggested taking a short flight to Bergen, known as the “gateway to the fjords,” and departing on the cruise the next day. This would likely be more efficient, but would mean missing out on one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world. Vacay also recommended a train trip.
After discussing it with my assistant, I decided on a shorter train trip (six hours) that would take me to the Naeroyfjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with its lush valleys and thundering waterfalls. But to make transportation and accommodation arrangements, I needed up-to-date train timetables, which I found myself, and hotel availability information that none of the assistants had.
At this point I was desperate to find someone to guide me through the expensive and limited accommodation in the area, and this is where Mindtrip’s photos and reviews came in handy and helped me realise that I would be paying a high price for a great setting in a mediocre hotel.
The train journey from Oslo to Myrdal was breathtakingly beautiful – rolling hills, mountain villages, fjords, waterfalls – but nothing could have prepared me for the epic hour-long journey on the Flåm Railway that followed. Vakaj described the train as an “engineering marvel”, taking in breathtakingly steep descents, past picturesque villages, dramatic mountains, raging rivers, thundering waterfalls, and even a dance performance featuring mythical spirits called Huldras.
The next morning, I boarded the Nærøyfjord cruise that Vacay recommended. It was a 400-seat motorized boat. I was surprised at how quiet the fjord was. I later learned from the tour guide that I was lucky to be able to visit this place because there were no big cruise ships at the time. It was hard to imagine big passenger ships sailing through the narrow and windy fjord, but when I asked ChatGPT, I was told that 150 to 220 cruise ships pass through the fjord every year. I felt that travel agents should warn travelers about this.
The cruise ended in the village of Gudvangen. Due to rain, I decided to cancel the hike to the waterfall and try my hand at axe throwing at the Viking village of Njardalheim instead. The assistant told me there was a bus leaving from town every 4 hours. That time frame worked with my original hiking plans, but now I was stuck. Thankfully, I checked all the information, heeding the AI disclaimer, and found a replacement shuttle bus.
On the way to Bergen, we decided to stop in the town of Voss, famous for its spectacular nature and extreme sports like skydiving. All the hotels AI suggested were already booked, but a Google search found the lakeside Elva Hotel, which served delicious farm-to-table food. I think it wasn’t on AI’s shortlist because it was a new hotel.
I ended my trip in Bergen, Norway’s second-largest city, but which has retained its small-town charm with colorful wooden houses and cobblestone streets. As I only had half a day to explore, I followed Mind Trip’s short itinerary, starting with a hearty fish and chips lunch at the bustling waterfront fish market, then taking the cable car up Mount Fløyen for panoramic views over the city and fjord. Dinner at Kolonialen, suggested by AI, was perfect: cozy atmosphere, live jazz and food made with locally sourced ingredients.
Conclusion
While none of the AI programs were perfect, they complemented each other to streamline travel decisions.
Overall, Mindtrip was my favorite, with a sleek, dynamic interface that lets you cross-check details with maps, links, and reviews. Mindtrip provided some good suggestions, but I needed more prompting from it than Vacay, which provided more detailed and extensive suggestions. Unfortunately, Vacay doesn’t save chat history, which I noticed after closing the website tab in my browser mid-planning.
The biggest drawback was that Mindtrip and Vacay didn’t have smartphone apps, so I had to rely on ChatGPT’s basic AI assistant when I needed on-the-spot guidance.Then I learned that Mindtrip was planning to launch an app in September.
Still, there were times when I craved human contact. Before leaving on a trip, I always reach out to friends and colleagues to ask for recommendations. This time, as part of my AI experiment, I held off on reaching out to my Norwegian friend until after my trip, when I discovered we were both in Oslo at the same time.
That’s one element of travel that AI will likely never master: serendipity.
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