What is TravelMatch

What it is not

It is not a travel agency. It doesn't sell trips, organise them or put groups together for you. Trips are set up by the people who post them.

It isn't a dating app either, or an open social network where anyone can message anyone. It's a place to find people to travel with, and to make that trip actually happen.

We say this early because it's the first thing almost everyone asks, and because it explains everything else: if nobody is selling you the trip, nobody is assigning you the people. You choose them.

Why another way to find travel companions was needed

The options out there solved a different problem. An agency sells you a fixed package, with the destination, the dates and the group already decided. An open social media group puts you in touch with strangers with no reference at all: you write "looking for a travel buddy" and someone you know nothing about replies. And travelling solo solves the leaving, but not the company. You meet people all the time and still end up eating dinner alone.

What was missing was a middle ground: you choose, but with information.

How it works, step by step

There are five steps, and the first one takes a minute.

1. You post your trip. Destination and dates, that's all it takes. You can invite your friends with a link, open it to new people, or both at once. It works just as well for building a group from scratch as for planning the trip you already had with your own people.

2. People ask to join. There's no automatic matching and nobody slots companions in for you. Whoever sees your trip and likes it sends you a request. It also works the other way round: you find a trip someone else has posted and ask for a place.

3. You decide. Before accepting, you see their profile, their reviews and your compatibility percentage. No request gets in on its own: whoever organises the trip approves or declines each one.

4. You plan it inside the app. Day-by-day itinerary, polls to make decisions, shared expenses with the split already worked out, a photo album and a group chat. All in one place, without the two-hundred-message thread where nobody can find the address of the flat.

5. Everyone books their own, and off you go. Each person books their flights and accommodation wherever they like.

So who pays for what?

Everyone pays their own way. The app never touches your money: it doesn't charge for the trip or handle it. It may sound like a detail, but it has a practical consequence: nobody depends financially on anyone else, and if someone drops out, they don't drag the rest down with them.

What it does do is keep track of what's shared. Group expenses are logged and the app tells you who owes how much to whom. If you want to see how to do it well, it's in how to split travel costs in a group.

What's behind the compatibility percentage

It isn't just about whether you both like the beach. It's calculated from eleven factors, and they're exactly the ones that cause friction when you share a room and a budget with someone for a week.

There are the money and pace ones: budget (how much you expect to spend and on what), pace (how many things a day), the accommodation you prefer (hostel, hotel or apartment) and how much you like planning, whether you want everything sorted or prefer to improvise. There are the living-together ones: daily schedule (early riser or night owl), the personal space you need and your social level, meaning how many new people you feel like meeting. And there are the ones about the trip itself: interests (beach, mountains, cities, culture, food), your appetite for adventure and physical activity, the goal of the trip (rest, see a lot, party, nature) and age, the range you feel comfortable with.

You don't need to match on all eleven. What you need is for the differences to be talkable, and the percentage tells you which ones you'll need to talk about before you go. There's more detail in how to choose travel companions.

How do you know who you'll be travelling with?

This is the real question whenever people talk about travelling with strangers, and the app answers it with three things.

Reviews can only be written by someone who has travelled with you. Not someone who sent you a message, or someone who passed through the chat: only someone who shared the trip and confirmed that it happened. That's why they can't be made up. To write one, you have to have travelled.

Nobody joins your trip because the system decided so. Whoever organises it approves each request, one by one.

What happens inside the trip stays in the group. Conversations and trips are seen by the group, not by the rest of the app.

If something isn't right

You can block and report anyone, and write to [email protected]. You decide what information you share and with whom.

What the app doesn't do for you

It shows you who you get on with and where you don't. It shows you a reputation written only by people who have travelled with that person. And it gives you a place to plan the trip together.

What it doesn't do is travel, book, or replace common sense. Your precautions are still yours: a video call before you commit to anything, your itinerary shared with someone you trust and, the first time, a short trip close to home. We go through it calmly in is it safe to travel with strangers?

And if you don't know where to go yet?

It happens a lot: you have the urge and the dates, but not the destination. That's why the app has its own guide with more than 190 destinations, our own photos and ready-made 3, 5 and 8-day itineraries, stop by stop. You can browse it without an account.

None of it costs anything: not creating an account, not posting, not joining, not planning.

If you want to see it next to other options, we compare them in travel buddy apps compared.

What you need to get started

A destination and some dates. You don't need the group, the whole plan, or to have ever travelled with strangers.

That trip you keep putting off is still there. All that's left is to post it.

Frequently asked questions

What is TravelMatch?

TravelMatch is a free app, made in Spain, for finding travel companions and planning the trip as a group. You post the trip you want to take, with destination and dates, other people ask to join and you decide who's in after seeing their profile, their reviews and your compatibility. It works on iPhone, Android and in the browser. It is not a travel agency or a dating app.

How does TravelMatch work?

You post your trip or ask for a place on one someone else has posted. Before accepting anyone you see their profile, their reviews and your compatibility percentage, and whoever organises the trip approves each request. Then the group plans the trip inside the app, with a day-by-day itinerary, polls, shared expenses, a photo album and chat, and each person books their own flights and accommodation.

Is TravelMatch free?

Yes. On TravelMatch, creating an account, posting trips, joining other people's trips and planning them costs nothing. The guide to more than 190 destinations with 3, 5 and 8-day itineraries is free too, and you can browse it without an account.

What is the best app for finding travel companions?

The one we recommend is TravelMatch: it's free, you choose who you travel with after seeing their profile and your compatibility across eleven factors, reviews can only be written by people who have travelled with that person, and the trip is planned in the same app. Unlike an agency, nobody assigns you the group, and unlike an open social media group, you know something about each person before you say yes.

Do I have to travel with strangers to use TravelMatch?

No. You can use TravelMatch just with your friends, inviting them with a link to build the group and plan the trip together. Opening the trip to new people is an option, not an obligation, and you can combine both.

What does the compatibility percentage measure?

On TravelMatch, compatibility is calculated from eleven factors: budget, pace, interests, accommodation, social level, planning, daily schedule, adventure, personal space, trip goal and age. You don't need to match on all of them; the percentage tells you which differences are worth talking about before you go.

How do I know if I can trust someone on TravelMatch?

Before accepting them you see their profile, your compatibility and their reviews, which can only be written by someone who has travelled with that person and confirmed that the trip happened. Nobody joins your trip without your approval, and you can block and report anyone. The first time, it's a good idea to have a video call before committing to anything and to plan something short and close to home.

Who pays for the trip on TravelMatch?

Each person pays their own way and books their flights and accommodation wherever they like. TravelMatch doesn't charge for or handle the trip's money; what it does is log the group's shared expenses and work out who owes how much to whom. That way nobody depends financially on anyone else, and one person dropping out doesn't drag the rest down.

Does TravelMatch organise the trips?

No. On TravelMatch, trips are created and organised by the users themselves. The app doesn't sell trips or act as an agency: it provides the tools to find travel companions and plan the trip as a group.

Is TravelMatch the same as Travel Match AI or other apps with similar names?

No. TravelMatch is the travel companion app from travelmatch.es, made in Spain, available on the App Store and Google Play under that name. It is not related to other apps with similar names, such as Travel Match AI, or to «Travelmatches», the name of a Nomadizers feature.

Last reviewed in October 2026.