Free Travel API with JSON Examples (Flights, Hotels, Places & More)

If you are building a trip planner, a student project, or a prototype of a travel booking site, you do not need to pay for data on day one. Several travel APIs offer a free tier, a free sandbox, or open data that returns clean JSON.

The catch: "free" means different things. Some APIs are free forever but limited to places, maps or weather. Others give you a free test environment for flights and hotels, but real bookable inventory needs a paid or approved production account.

This guide lists the most useful free travel APIs, shows real request and response JSON for each, and is honest about the limits so you can pick the right one before writing code.

Quick Comparison of Free Travel APIs

Free Flight APIs with JSON Examples

curl "https://test.api.amadeus.com/v1/security/oauth2/token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
  -d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=YOUR_API_KEY&client_secret=YOUR_API_SECRET"

{
  "type": "amadeusOAuth2Token",
  "access_token": "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN",
  "expires_in": 1799,
  "state": "approved",
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

curl "https://test.api.amadeus.com/v2/shopping/flight-offers?originLocationCode=BOM&destinationLocationCode=DXB&departureDate=2026-12-10&adults=1&max=2" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"

{
  "meta": { "count": 2 },
  "data": [
    {
      "type": "flight-offer",
      "id": "1",
      "itineraries": [
        {
          "duration": "PT3H15M",
          "segments": [
            {
              "departure": { "iataCode": "BOM", "at": "2026-12-10T08:05:00" },
              "arrival":   { "iataCode": "DXB", "at": "2026-12-10T09:50:00" },
              "carrierCode": "EK",
              "number": "501"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "price": { "currency": "EUR", "grandTotal": "212.40" }
    }
  ]
}

import requests

BASE = "https://test.api.amadeus.com"

token = requests.post(
    f"{BASE}/v1/security/oauth2/token",
    data={
        "grant_type": "client_credentials",
        "client_id": "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "client_secret": "YOUR_API_SECRET",
    },
).json()["access_token"]

resp = requests.get(
    f"{BASE}/v2/shopping/flight-offers",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
    params={
        "originLocationCode": "BOM",
        "destinationLocationCode": "DXB",
        "departureDate": "2026-12-10",
        "adults": 1,
        "max": 2,
    },
)

for offer in resp.json().get("data", []):
    price = offer["price"]
    print(price["currency"], price["grandTotal"])

curl "https://api.travelpayouts.com/aviasales/v3/prices_for_dates?origin=BOM&destination=DXB&departure_at=2026-12&currency=inr&limit=2&token=YOUR_TOKEN"

{
  "success": true,
  "currency": "inr",
  "data": [
    {
      "origin": "BOM",
      "destination": "DXB",
      "price": 18450,
      "airline": "EK",
      "departure_at": "2026-12-10T08:05:00+05:30",
      "transfers": 0,
      "duration": 200,
      "link": "/search/..."
    }
  ]
}

curl -X POST "https://api.duffel.com/air/offer_requests?return_offers=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TEST_TOKEN" \
  -H "Duffel-Version: v2" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "data": {
      "slices": [
        { "origin": "BOM", "destination": "DXB", "departure_date": "2026-12-10" }
      ],
      "passengers": [ { "type": "adult" } ],
      "cabin_class": "economy"
    }
  }'

Hotel APIs: What's Actually Free?

This is where most "free travel API" lists mislead. Bookable hotel inventory is rarely free. Suppliers such as Hotelbeds typically give developers a free test or evaluation environment so you can build and certify your integration, but going live requires an approved commercial account.

If you only need hotel discovery (not booking), you can build it from free building blocks:

• Geocoding with Nominatim to turn "Manali" into coordinates
• Places data from OpenTripMap or OpenStreetMap to show nearby attractions
• Affiliate hotel data (for example via Travelpayouts) that links out to a booking partner

Places and Attractions API (OpenTripMap)

OpenTripMap returns points of interest around a coordinate. It is useful for "things to do" sections and itinerary builders. You need a free API key.

curl "https://api.opentripmap.com/0.1/en/places/radius?radius=2000&lon=55.2744&lat=25.1972&kinds=interesting_places&limit=2&apikey=YOUR_KEY"

{
  "type": "FeatureCollection",
  "features": [
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [55.2744, 25.1972] },
      "properties": {
        "xid": "PLACE_ID",
        "name": "Burj Khalifa",
        "dist": 120.5,
        "rate": 7,
        "kinds": "interesting_places,architecture"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Geocoding API (Nominatim / OpenStreetMap)

Nominatim converts place names to latitude and longitude with no key. Follow the usage policy: no more than about one request per second, send a descriptive User-Agent, and cache results. For heavy traffic, host your own instance or use a commercial geocoder.

curl "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=Dubai&format=json&limit=1" \
  -H "User-Agent: my-travel-app/1.0 ([email protected])"

[
  {
    "lat": "25.2048",
    "lon": "55.2708",
    "display_name": "Dubai, United Arab Emirates",
    "type": "administrative"
  }
]

Weather API (Open-Meteo)

Weather is a great free add-on for destination pages. Open-Meteo needs no key and is free for non-commercial use; check their terms if your site is commercial.

const url = "https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast" +
  "?latitude=25.2048&longitude=55.2708" +
  "&current=temperature_2m,weather_code";

const res = await fetch(url);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data.current.temperature_2m);

{
  "latitude": 25.2,
  "longitude": 55.27,
  "timezone": "GMT",
  "current_units": { "temperature_2m": "°C" },
  "current": {
    "time": "2026-12-10T12:00",
    "temperature_2m": 28.4,
    "weather_code": 1
  }
}

Country, Currency and Language Data (REST Countries)

Useful for destination pages: currency, capital, languages. No key required.

curl "https://restcountries.com/v3.1/name/united%20arab%20emirates?fields=name,capital,currencies,languages"

[
  {
    "name": { "common": "United Arab Emirates" },
    "capital": ["Abu Dhabi"],
    "currencies": { "AED": { "name": "United Arab Emirates dirham" } },
    "languages": { "ara": "Arabic" }
  }
]

Combining Free APIs into a Mini Trip Planner

A practical free stack for a destination page looks like this:

1. Geocode the city name with Nominatim.
2. Fetch attractions near those coordinates with OpenTripMap.
3. Fetch weather for the same coordinates with Open-Meteo.
4. Show currency and language from REST Countries.
5. Show fare ideas from Travelpayouts or test flights from Amadeus.

async function destinationSnapshot(city) {
  // 1. Geocode
  const geo = await fetch(
    `https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(city)}&format=json&limit=1`
  ).then(r => r.json());
  const { lat, lon } = geo[0];

  // 2. Weather
  const weather = await fetch(
    `https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=${lat}&longitude=${lon}&current=temperature_2m`
  ).then(r => r.json());

  return {
    city,
    lat: Number(lat),
    lon: Number(lon),
    temperatureC: weather.current.temperature_2m
  };
}

destinationSnapshot("Dubai").then(console.log);

{
  "city": "Dubai",
  "lat": 25.2048,
  "lon": 55.2708,
  "temperatureC": 28.4
}

Limits of Free APIs for a Real Travel Business

If you plan to take real bookings, here is where free options usually stop:

Building the rest yourself (markup engine, wallet, B2B agent panel, vouchers, admin panel, multi-supplier search) is what makes custom travel portals slow and expensive. If you want to skip that and launch with flights, hotels and buses already integrated, see our white label travel portal and the cost breakdown. If you are weighing your options, read why most travel portals fail first.

How to Choose the Right Free Travel API

• Decide what you need: booking, price discovery, or content (places, weather)
• Check whether the free tier is sandbox-only or production-usable
• Read the rate limits and the commercial-use clause
• Confirm the response format is JSON and the docs include examples
• Look for attribution requirements (for example OpenStreetMap credit)
• Cache responses to stay inside quotas and speed up your pages
• Keep API keys on the server, never in front-end JavaScript

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Articles

• Why Most Travel Portals Fail (And How to Avoid It in 2026)
• What is a White Label Travel Portal? Complete Guide
• Travel Portal Development Cost Breakdown
• Travel Portal Development Services by Rayds