About HipTrip

HipTrip started from a simple frustration: every travel tool recommends the same twenty places. The top of Google, the top of TripAdvisor, the spots that paid to be there. Ask a chatbot to plan your trip and you get the average of the internet — and the average is exactly what a good trip isn't.

HipTrip is built by Rick, a traveler before he was a founder — more than twenty countries across six continents over two decades of trips. Road trips through the high desert of New Mexico and the cliffs of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Winters spent region by region in Costa Rica, from the Osa Peninsula to Nicoya. Lisbon and Lagos, Seoul and Istanbul, Buenos Aires and Banff. Home base: the dunes and trails of Lake Michigan's southern shore.

All of that travel taught one durable lesson: the difference between a fine trip and an unforgettable one is almost never the landmarks. It's the bakery with a line of locals at 7am, the trailhead nobody posts about, the bar where the design of the room tells you someone cared. The place the masses wouldn't get.

How we choose places

Every destination's recommendations pass through a real curation pipeline — not a popularity sort:

• Taste first. We look for authenticity, vibe, design, creativity, and quality — something memorable, something special. If a place could be anywhere, it doesn't make the cut.
• Scored, not sorted. Our HipScore system reads deeply into what people actually say about a place — locals vs. tour buses, character vs. polish — and scores it on the dimensions that predict a memorable visit. Places that read like tourist traps get killed, whatever their star rating.
• Vetted in person. Rick travels to the places we curate and applies the verification no review feed can: walking in the door. Is the vibe real? Who's actually there? Does it have taste?
• Never pay-to-play. No place can buy its way into HipTrip. Nothing we recommend is sponsored, and nothing ever will be.

Then our planning engine takes that curated foundation and shapes it around you — your pace, your interests, your dates — into a day-by-day plan with real places, mapped routes, and the logistics handled. Editorial taste decides what's worth your time. The engine makes it yours.

What we believe

• Taste can't be crowdsourced. The most-reviewed place is rarely the most memorable one.
• Adventure is personal. Your perfect trip won't look like anyone else's.
• Planning should be exciting. Not a chore that drains the anticipation.
• The best trips include surprises. But the logistics shouldn't be one of them.