Google Travel Explore API | Destination Discovery for AI Travel Agents

Discover where you can travel from any airport and get destination ideas with prices and dates as structured JSON. For one or more departure airports, this API returns a ranked list of destinations, each with an estimated round-trip flight price, nightly hotel price, suggested trip dates, flight duration, number of stops, and a link. It is the missing piece for travel content sites, agencies, and AI travel agents that currently stitch this together by hand from flights and hotels.

What you get

One row per destination:

• name and country of the destination, plus destination_airport and gps_coordinates
• flight_price (estimated round trip) and hotel_price (estimated nightly)
• start_date and end_date of the suggested trip
• flight_duration (minutes) and number_of_stops
• airline / airline_code for the suggested itinerary
• link to the destination on Google Travel, and a thumbnail

Use cases

• Feed an AI travel agent a list of destinations a traveler might love, with prices, in one call
• Power a "where can I go on a budget?" feature on a travel content site
• Build seasonal destination roundups with real prices and dates
• Compare reachable destinations and prices across several home airports
• Seed trip-planning workflows with ranked, priced destination ideas

Input

Field	Type	Description
departureId	string	A single departure airport code, e.g. JFK, LAX, LHR. Provide this, departureIds, or both.
departureIds	array of strings	A batch of departure airport codes to explore in one run. Merged with departureId and de-duplicated.
gl	string	Optional two-letter country code for pricing and localization. Default us.
hl	string	Optional two-letter language code. Default en.
maxResultsPerDeparture	integer	Destinations per departure airport. Default 50, maximum 200.

Example input

{
  "departureId": "JFK",
  "gl": "us",
  "hl": "en",
  "maxResultsPerDeparture": 50
}

Sample output

{
  "result_type": "destination",
  "departure_id": "JFK",
  "position": 1,
  "name": "Los Angeles",
  "country": "United States",
  "destination_airport": { "code": "LAX", "location": "Los Angeles" },
  "gps_coordinates": { "latitude": 34.0549, "longitude": -118.2426 },
  "flight_price": 318,
  "hotel_price": 199,
  "flight_duration": 350,
  "number_of_stops": 0,
  "airline": "American and JetBlue",
  "airline_code": "multi",
  "start_date": "2026-06-21",
  "end_date": "2026-06-30",
  "link": "https://www.google.com/travel/explore?..."
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: a small actor_start fee plus a per-destination charge. The per-destination price scales down with your Apify plan.

Plan	Per destination	Start fee
Free	$0.005	$0.001
Bronze	$0.0042	$0.001
Silver	$0.0035	$0.001
Gold	$0.003	$0.001

You only pay for the destinations you receive. No monthly minimum.

How to get started

1. Open Google Travel Explore API on the Apify Store.
2. Enter a departureId (or a departureIds list of airport codes).
3. Set maxResultsPerDeparture, then run the Actor.
4. Export the dataset as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or pull it from the API.

Prefer code? See johnvc's GitHub for setup guides and code examples.

Run from the API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/johnvc~google-travel-explore-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"departureId":"JFK","maxResultsPerDeparture":25}'

🔌 Use this API from Claude (MCP)

This Actor is compatible with the Model Context Protocol (MCP), so AI agents can call it as a tool. Add it through the hosted Apify MCP server using this Actor-specific URL:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,johnvc/google-travel-explore-api

If you run agents from Claude Code (free trial) or Claude Cowork (free trial), add the Apify MCP server and ask it to "find budget destinations from JFK this summer."

Setup walkthrough:

Apify MCP integration docs: https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp

MCP setup, step by step

Visual setup guides for each client (source and more assets: ApifyPublicData on GitHub):

Claude Cowork Desktop (free trial)

Claude Code (free trial)

Claude (website)

Cursor

ChatGPT

FAQ

What is a departure ID? It is the airport you are flying from, given as an IATA code like JFK, LAX, or LHR. You can pass several at once with departureIds.

Are the prices live? They are Google Travel's current estimated round-trip flight and nightly hotel prices for the suggested dates, in the currency for your gl country.

How many destinations come back? Up to maxResultsPerDeparture (default 50). A departure point typically surfaces dozens of destination ideas.

Can I explore from several airports at once? Yes. Pass a departureIds list; each is explored independently and tagged with its departure code.

Last Updated: 2026.06.10