37 of the Best Web Designs from the Travel Industry

Published in Galleries

Travel websites often feature large, attractive photos because of their emphasis on visual appeal. This helps to get visitors thinking about traveling and visiting the particular destination. In this post we’ll look at 37 well-designed sites from the travel industry for your own design inspiration. Some are state or government tourism websites, and others are for hotels or business involved in the travel industry. If you’re working on a travel-related site of your own, I’m sure you’ll find some inspiration from these examples.

Experience Washington

A beautiful design for a site from the state of Washington. The site gives information for those who are interested in visiting Washington.

Experience Washington

Villa Bianca Hotel

This hotel site features a large background photo and a detailed header design.

Villa Bianca Hotel

Jacksonville Landing

A colorful website with an artistic background image, Jacksonville Landing makes a great first impression.

Jacksonville Landing

MacAllan Ridge

MacAllan Ridge’s site features a nice, big background photo. The content area uses textures and a nature-inspired color scheme.

MacAllan Ridge

Trapp Family Lodge

The website for Trapp Family Lodge features a large photo of the lodge, and links to all relevant content.

Trapp Family Lodge

Monterey, CA

This site will make you want to visit Monterey, CA! You can get info about top attractions, find accommodations, and do it all on a site with a great design.

Monterey, CA

Service Plus Inns and Suites

This site uses a large, but subtle, background image. The slider displays photos of the inns, and links to specific location information is provided.

Service Plus Inns and Suites

Club Manche Attractive

Club Manche Attractive’s site uses a lot of color, including the full-size background photo.

Club Manche Attractive

Visit Snowy Mountains

Visit Snowy Mountains naturally features a background photo of several skiers.

Visit Snowy Mountains

Hotel Paradiso

The site for Hotel Paradiso helps to set the mood of paradise by uses a bright blue sky as a background, and a large photo of the pool area and palm trees.

Hotel Paradiso

Trent Cruising

Trent Cruising uses a blue color scheme and attention to detail in the design. The home page features a large photo of a cruise ship on the river.

Trent Cruising

Lanyon Holiday Cottages

The background photo of Lanyon Holidy Cottages’ site shows a nice blue sky and a tree line. The sky serves as a background for the vertical navigation menu.

Lanyon Holiday Cottages

West City Hotel

The background photo is the main design element in West City Hotel’s site.

West City Hotel

Baja Vacations

Baja Vacations uses a colorful design, textures, and beautiful photos to get you itching to travel.

Baja Vacations

The Porches Inn

The Porches Inn uses a background pattern and a soft color scheme.

The Porches Inn

Vacation Rental Station

Vacation Rental Station’s site uses a colorful design. The vacation search function is highly prioritized on the home page.

Vacation Rental Station

Visit Idaho

The Idaho tourism site makes heavy uses of textures throughout its design.

Visit Idaho

GoHawaii.com

GoHawaii uses a light color scheme, which is a good fit for this island state.

GoHawaii.com

Bahamas.com

The home page for Bahamas.com features a large map showing all of the islands that are a part of the Bahamas.

Bahamas.com

Visit Maine

Visit Maine uses a background image with beach grass and a sunburst.

Visit Maine

Visit San Antonio

The site of Visit San Antonio features a large photo of the famed Riverwalk.

Visit San Antonio

Tennessee Vacation

Tennessee Vacation uses a colorful design with a lot of textures and a big background.

Tennessee Vacation

Signature Attractions

Signature Attractions uses a map as a background image which is of course fitting for a site in the travel industry.

Signature Attractions

Go Glamping

Go Glamping uses a green, nature-inspired color scheme and a wood background.

Go Glamping

Alpine Meadows

Textures are an important part of the Alpine Meadows site design. A large home page photo is also featured.

Alpine Meadows

Live Africa

Live Africa gets you excited to visit Africa by showing a photo of giraffes in nature. Since safari’s are a major draw for visitors this is an appropriate image to feature.

Live Africa

Ausmag

Ausmag uses a textured sunburst background image.

Ausmag

Fall for Tennessee

Like the other Tennessee travel sites, Fall for Tennessee is colorful and full of textures.

Fall for Tennessee

Summertime in Tennessee

Summertime in Tennessee uses brighter colors as compared to the fall design, with a large background image also playing a significant role in the design.

Summertime in Tennessee

Springtime in Tennessee

Springtime in Tennessee uses a lighter, spring-inspired color scheme and some hand-drawn design elements.

Springtime in Tennessee

Tennessee Winter

Tennessee Winter’s site makes extensive use of blue.

Tennessee Winter

Lanikai Properties

Lanikai Properties has a colorful, textured design.

Lanikai Properties

Visit Cascadia

Continuing on the trend of colorful sites, Visit Cascadia has one of the most vibrant color schemes of any site showcased in this post. The header is especially memorable.

Visit Cascadia

Lake Crackenback

Lake Crackenback’s home page consists mostly of a photo slider and navigation options.

Lake Crackenback

Adventure Trekking

Textures and warm colors are prominent in the Adventure Trekking design.

Adventure Trekking

Design Hotels

Design Hotels has one of the cleaner designs showcased here. Its mostly a black and white color scheme with a large photo.

Design Hotels

Assaroe Falls

Assaroe Falls uses an attractive design to promote their vacation apartments.

Assaroe Falls

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92 Responses

Evan Skuthorpe August 10th, 2009

Some great inspiration here. I work in the travel industry myself as a web designer. If only my company wasn’t so damn corporate I’d be able to acheive things like this! Thanks for the post!

john chen August 11th, 2009

I also liked this list of sites.

Toursim Australia also have some pretty impressive designs for their web sites and portals.

Vandelay Website Design August 11th, 2009

Daus,
Looks good. I like that one too.

Bradley Davis August 11th, 2009

Some great examples of tourism web design, fantastic to see some alpine sites getting a mention.

aledesign.it August 11th, 2009

Villa Bianca Hotel, Lanikai Properties, are my preferite! Are agood examples of tourism webdesign. And sometimes help those who must choose. Thanks for the sharing! Is in my bookmart!

James August 11th, 2009

Very nice, some great photography. American states have some awesome sites, wish English counties would follow their lead.

I’m a big fan of Go Glamping and it’s illustrated style, our site uses a similar look.

Dzinepress August 11th, 2009

i really like which looks as web 2.0 designs, hope you share more beautiful stuff in future thanks.

Dave Sparks August 11th, 2009

Very nice – like the summertime in Tenesse site

Kai Brach August 11th, 2009

Nice collection, thanks for including my site ausmag.de. Would have been nice to see my travel community http://www.globalzoo.de featured in here too ;-)
keep it up!

Sarah Lynn August 11th, 2009

Great collection! Here’s my smaller collection to add to that… http://shicksdesign.com/onlifeanddesign/index.php/19/top-10-designed-travel-websites/

Vandelay Website Design August 11th, 2009

Thanks everyone for the feedback and the additional suggestions for inclusion. There are a lot of great sites that you have pointed out. Maybe they will be used in a follow up post at some point.

Manuel August 11th, 2009

Nice collection!
I think one of the best travel-sites is tuifly. A cheap airline.
http://www.tuifly.com/

Andy August 11th, 2009

The majority of these show just how much of a difference a single, strong image can make to a design. Thanks, will bookmark in case I ever get any travel-related design work!

Sean Hurley August 11th, 2009

Great list, but is it just me or do you have the urge to travel now?

Noel Wiggins August 11th, 2009

fantastic!

once again…

Lucas Tadeu August 11th, 2009

Pretty good list. That ‘Monterey’ website looks fantastic! I also liked the ‘Design Hotels’ website.

Peter August 11th, 2009

Nice post, but the list is a little US-centric. Have a look at http://www.dopplr.com, http://www.joobili.com and http://www.tourdust.com for some cool european travel designs.

Nardyello August 11th, 2009

Villa Bianca Hotel is by far the best model there. Not that the others aren’t good, they are all beautiful, but Villa Bianca Hotel has the perfect blend of colors to make the site seem calm, refreshing, and the place you HAVE to go to if you want to relax.

But then again, that’s what good designs are supposed to do. They convince you that you’re at the right place even before you read anything.

Great selections! :D

Vandelay Website Design August 11th, 2009

Peter,
Agreed, it is mostly US sites. Thanks for the additional suggestions.

Garrison August 11th, 2009

Just want to say ‘thank you’ for including our Go Glamping site in your list, we’re really chuffed, especially given the fact our site originates from Europe ;-)

I love the Summertime in Tennessee site!

Bobby Mington August 12th, 2009

Killa web design bro, i’ll have to nick some ideas :)

Trevor Collins August 12th, 2009

I really do like the Villa Bianca Hotel web sight, especially the birds that fly across the screen when you open the sight. Full marks to the designers and thank you for bringing all there sight together.

Erina August 13th, 2009

how about A&K?? They have a gorgeous website, http://abercrombiekent.com

Shane August 13th, 2009

I really like this article. Gives a nice overview of the quality of tourism sites out there. Getting a great Website Development. company to develop a website that looks as good as any of these is essential.

Angie Lantoo August 13th, 2009

Shouldn’t Motel6 be on this list? =) Great job on putting together the list.

Kevin August 13th, 2009

what about http://www.masocorniolo.it, simple but good enough.

Michael August 19th, 2009

I’d like to add a new site we (the National Park Service) just launched about the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. The url is http://www.smithtrail.net. Check it out. I feel like it’s as good as some of the sites listed here.

Vandelay Website Design August 20th, 2009

Michael,
Wow, I really like that site. Thanks for leaving the link.

Bayrak August 21st, 2009

I agree with John Chen.

Teknoloji haberleri August 21st, 2009

I really do like the Villa Bianca Hotel web sight, especially the birds that fly across the screen when you open the sight. Full marks to the designers and thank you for bringing all there sight together.

Max August 28th, 2009

thanks for featuring our WestCity hotel website :-)

Jamie Vander Kooi August 31st, 2009

Great to see Signature Attractions on there for Atlantic Canada Tourism Destinations, and Headspace Design as the design firm.

Giles Crouch August 31st, 2009

These are great…in the same vain is the new Anne of Green Gables tourism website just launched:
http://www.foreveranne.com for Anne fans, as PEI is perhaps best known for that!

Lui September 6th, 2009

Hi Everyone
Is there any designer out there with time to design a travel website for me, only one city. Very inspiring sites.

James Whitby October 6th, 2009

Some excellent sites here, I particlarly like the http://www.campr.co.uk site – very clean, clear and easy to navigate. We are flying the flag for the UK in a small way right now – with our local tourist guides – offering comprehensive detailed info.

Olly November 3rd, 2009

Great article. Here’s one for your list:

Visit Telluride: http://www.visittelluride.com

Max Ottignon January 29th, 2010

In terms of pure design, http://www.themountaincompany.co.uk has to be up there. The site combines a custom typeface, designed specially for the brand, with stunning mountaineering imagery. Perhaps I’m biased though.

Goran January 29th, 2010

Great examples! I work with travel industry and I know how hard it is to design a good travel website, especially when it comes to conversions. Cheers!

suffi February 12th, 2010

I am looking for some full flash seite sample for my website ( http://www.irtouring.com )

James February 16th, 2010

@James Whitby – Thanks for bigging up Campr! Good work on the Whitby Guide too.

Jigme Tsring February 17th, 2010

Hi,

Here is a nice website on the Kingdom of Bhutan. The website is http://www.lhayul.com

I designed the website and would love to hear from you’ll on it.

Cheers,

Jigme

Ram Hari February 21st, 2010

Very inspiring website designs.
Full agrree that visual appeal is very important in travel websites.

stranger March 22nd, 2010

Really great collection! Especially I liked “Villa Bianca Hotel” and “Live Africa”

Luke March 26th, 2010

I dig Campr as well, and Glamping too, I think that was it’s predecessor? I designed and built http://www.africanbudgetsafaris.com/ which I think may have something different to add to this list.

Lu March 28th, 2010

Great collection I also like the Jordan Tourism Board website http://www.visitjordan.com it is a beautiful website for an amazingly magical country

Pat Vanden Bosche May 7th, 2010

I am so proud of what Tennessee has done with its web design work. I was the Chamber of Commerce’s executive director for Perry County, before I decided to take the plunge and go fulltime with my own design business, and was heavily involved with tourism for our area. And enjoyed the privilege of learning a lot from the folks I got to know across the state. Look for some exciting websites coming from them as they open the websites for the new Trails that are being developed throughout the state for tourists! Here’s a little shameless plug for Perry County: http://perrycountytennessee.com

marion May 28th, 2010

Hi,

LUKE, I’d love to be in touch with you and see more of your work. could you sen me your email?
thank you

Luke May 31st, 2010

@Marion

Hi, I have some portfolio bits up at my blog – http://newrelease.co.za/ – although to be honest I haven’t updated that in a while. Been super busy lately all kinds of development and UX design work.

You can reach me on designer [at] newrelease [dot] co [dot] za

Andrew Barbara June 3rd, 2010

Great post once again, these sites make me want to put the extra effort into my own… as time consuming as that is!

Brooke June 13th, 2010

Another wonderful post, and to have this information in one place sure makes it convenient. For anyone in travel they should be able to find something here that will be tremendously beneficial.

coco June 16th, 2010

Really beautiful collection of designs, It’s interesting they all seem to have natural, light colours like blues, greens and nude tones. These colours must evoke the traveller’s “itchy feet” emotion. Essentially the front page must be captivating but depending on the main function of the site, must be user friendly and be clear what the purpose of the site is. I find http://en.escapio.com/ does this well with striking colours and enticing pictures.

Tess July 2nd, 2010

Some of the designs are really creative. They really make you wanna book a vacation now ;) but that’s the point anyways. It is really nice to have made a roundup with travel industry sites. Thanks for sharing these.

Nik July 19th, 2010

Thanks for sharing this compilation of nice travel websites and, of course, your other categories!Truly it is very inpirational to browse through your sites. Great work!

Tigerchick August 6th, 2010

How about some more UK sites?! Check out:

http://www.yethouse.co.uk
http://www.edinburghcottages.com
http://www.eastsidecottages.co.uk

All from Scotland :)

Jhonatan August 10th, 2010

I invite you to visit the website of Tourism of Per
http://www.pusaq.com/

Blog Of Peru Travel
http://www.pusaq.com/blog/

Serge August 27th, 2010

Those are pretty amazing designs. I just recently got into the travel industry. I tried to focus more on the user interface design than pretty bells and whistles.
http://www.savontravelonline.com

What do you guys think?

Joel August 27th, 2010

Great collection! I usually check out SiteInspire, but they don’t have much hospitality/travel stuff, so very happy I stumbled upon this one!

Mike Fox August 27th, 2010

I’m a fan of the Nova Scotia site.

Fethiye August 30th, 2010

Those are pretty amazing designs. I just recently got into the travel industry. I tried to focus more on the user interface design than pretty bells and whistles.

http://www.fethiyede.com
http://www.gezgingozuyle.com
http://www.gezi.in

Shanes September 2nd, 2010

Great list and certainly enough to inspire me. I am designing a new layout for a hotel and hope to use some of these tips.

J Wilson September 7th, 2010

We have started a website at http://www.bestfrenchcampsites.com with our experiences of camping in France. These websites listed here are lovely too though ! Well done everyone !

Brad @ Maleny Accommodation September 16th, 2010

Some awesome travel sites! Has given me some inspiration for a few ideas. Thank you so much.

Dave September 25th, 2010

Thanks for sharing these amazingly crafted sites! My favorites are the Nepal, and Villa Bianca sites.

Dareen October 5th, 2010

Another wonderful post, and to have this information in one place sure makes it convenient. For anyone in travel they should be able to find something here that will be tremendously beneficial.

Düzce Haber October 9th, 2010

They have some really cool designs and navigation! thank so much.

Anna October 12th, 2010

Lovely small campsite on the Costa Brava with amazing De Waard tents for rent. Website is as cozy as the tent lodge.

Stephen Walker October 17th, 2010

Thanks for collection of inspirational sites. The best of them use great quality images to grab your attention. I especially like the design of Club Manche Attractive.

They have given me some great ideas to further improve my site.

John Miller November 24th, 2010

Lovely! I specialize in tourism and travel websites Hope it won’t hurt to share a few of what I’ve made:
http://www.traveler-to-kenyacom/
– diwakasafaris.com/
– penda-safaris.com/

Never-the-less keep up the good work. Will check from time to time to see what’s new.

tuz November 28th, 2010

Great list, but is it just me or do you have the urge to travel now?

levent işler December 30th, 2010

Nice collection, some great inspiration here.

alisha amatya January 9th, 2011

lovely collections. I would recommend http://www.tourismthamel.com, site on Nepal’s most sought after Tourist place called Thamel. Really cool one

bergamo January 9th, 2011

definitely have to bring it to my friends via facebook and twitter.

Mike January 27th, 2011

some great examples there,I would recommend http://paraiso-jardim.com

Varun March 8th, 2011

Excellent designs… We also created one for our clients, please check – http://www.thinkatrip.com

mersin emlak May 10th, 2011

Thanks for sharing these amazingly crafted sites! My favorites are the Nepal, and Villa Bianca sites..

John May 20th, 2011

this site I saw I think I like it hotel paradiso good job, take a look at this other one here http://www.tourismpotential.com

Jonathan August 24th, 2011

Great Designs, if you look at them well most of them are pretty similiar the diferences are in the photos and colors

Astoria September 1st, 2011

These are just great looking sites. It is nice to see them all at one place and give idea of how a hotel website should be.

smilegirl September 16th, 2011

Amazing design collection~ Thank you!

deepak January 4th, 2012

wow amazingly brilliant sites… master piece collection

Sergey February 10th, 2012

Immediately wanted to travel somewhere after seeing these sites and especially photos.

Stephane LePuy March 18th, 2012

great list – as Sergey said you really want to travel after seeing one of these sites

Has anyone come across this one? http://www.sunsetvisitor.com

Clearly one of my favorite!

Luke May 18th, 2012

Just to add to my comment above, we recently launched DiscoverAfrica.com which we’ve had great feedback on from a design point of view. The scope of the site is quite big, and it was a big challenge to get the interface right for such a content-rich interface.

http://www.discoverafrica.com/

Richie @ Diversified September 27th, 2012

Hi, great gallery of sites. We are looking at a complete revamp of our website and I’m looking for some kind of inspiration for a holiday / travel based website. Absolutely love the Italian Hotel Paradiso site.

Luke Hardiman October 7th, 2012

I’ve just launched Southern Africa Travel which has a luxury safari spin on the above list. We’ve used the latest design frameworks and have big plans for the site.

http://southernafricatravel.com

Marlena February 1st, 2013

You all should check out http://www.cabq.gov. The City of Albuquerque website design features rich graphics and topical navigation. No more visitor, government, business, citizen navigation!

Surekha Chaudhari May 19th, 2013

Great website designs, wanted to start bag packing after seeing this sites..

Craig Pavlus June 4th, 2013

Like the websites but most only feature one destination. For tour and cruise deals with a complete listing and prices check out http://www.cheapertravel.com The site may not win awards but sure will save clients money.

kontopro June 8th, 2013

have you ever checked any greek travel site ?
my work is Lefkada Hotels
waiting for your comments (my favorite is seemonterey.com)

fungus big toe June 17th, 2013

Great post, I’m looking forward to hear more from you!

!

Here is my web-site fungus big toe

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