What Furkot is good for

May 14, 2019

Furkot is a trip planner. It can help you plan your trip to the tiniest detail including attractions, meals and pit stops. Or it can quickly give you an idea whether that impromptu trip that you are dreaming of is feasible. Perfectionists and procrastinators both can find it useful.

Below is the list of all things you can do with Furkot. It's meant to be comprehensive but if you discover something we missed here don't be alarmed. We are working on making Furkot better every day. Just make sure to let us know.

  • Plan trips (duh!) - all kind of trips - road trips taken by both car drivers and motorcycle riders but Furkot is not a slouch when planning bike trips and walking trips - we adjust your speed and preferences accordingly. We won't send you pedaling down the interstate.

  • Add stops by clicking on the map. Yup, no typing required. If you know where to go, drop a pin and see how Furkot finds a route to it. No need to be exact: drop some stops roughly in in the area where you want to travel, zoom in, add attractions and hotels. You can drag added stops. And you can always remove things you don't need later on.

  • Add stops by entering the address (i.e. 120 Main St., Watertown, MA), or the name of the place (i.e. Yosemite National Park)

  • Drag your route until it snaps to the road you want to take. Tell Furkot to avoid highways and tolls to make sure we don't take you where you don't want to go. Adjust your highway and toll preferences for the entire trip or for each leg separately.

  • Planning to drive around the Baltic Sea? Or just need to get back to the airport from which you started? We got you covered with Furkot's loop trips. We recommend you plan your trip first and then just click a button to make it a round trip.

  • Export and import your trip data in multiple formats. We are great fans of playing well with other applications. Maybe you want to start planning with Furkot and later find that other website is better: we won't keep you - export your trip and take your data with you. And vice versa - if you already started with let's say Google Maps or Google Earth, or even a spreadsheet application we will do our best to import your data so that you don't have to type twice.

  • Find attractions - and by attractions we mean museums, buildings, dive sites, hiking trails, parks, curiosities, beaches, ski resorts, scenic byways, off-road tracks etc.

  • Eat, drink and be merry - from fancy restaurants through chains to farmers markets. Also breweries and wineries but only if you have a teetotaler as a designated driver. Take turns. Be responsible.

  • Schedule as much or as little time in each place as you want. If you want to stay somewhere for 5 hours and you arrive there in the late afternoon Furkot will automatically suggest an overnight stop. If you change your mind later and change visit time to 5 minutes, the overnight stop will disappear and you will be on your way earlier.

  • Multiday stops are great for places that are too big to be seen in one day. You'll be able to schedule additional stops on each day of your multiday stay.

  • Play with several variants of your trip. Change your mind as often as you want to: add more stops, mark them as skipped to keep them in your trip and re-add them with a click of a button to see how it changes your itinerary and travel times. You can also put a few routes on a back burner and create Plan B. Did we mention you can reverse the entire trip if you need to?

  • Find accommodations - we are using your preferences (fancy vs. inexpensive) to find places on your way. But these are just suggestions. We encourage you to use our Sleep drawer to find a place that suits you best. We will show you the current price if we have it, or the average price at the hotel of your choice. You still should double check before booking but at least you have an idea if what you are looking for is in your price range.

  • Booking assistance - we are filling out those pesky forms so you don't have to worry about reserving hotel on the wrong night in the wrong place. And we leave you in charge - you decide which booking service you want to use.

  • You can reserve hotels one at a time or you can use our Book button which will take you on a short tour of the websites stopping at each of your chosen destinations and displaying prepared web page on which you can complete your reservation. It's the easiest way of reserving multiple hotels that we have ever seen in our completely biased opinion.

  • We will warn you if your plan doesn't meet your timing constraints and, if you want, we can also bring to your attention stops that fall on weekends so you can reserve lodging in advance or avoid crowds at attractions.

  • Looking for a trip itinerary to customize? We curate an ever growing library of interesting trips at Furkot Folio. If you think your trip deserves to be there publish it and let us know.

  • Check the stats - we'll tell you the total driving time and mileage and we will also show your daily averages so you know what you are signing up for.

  • Use miles or kilometers - we don't take sides here. Plan in whatever units you are used to. You can switch to destination country units when you are ready to leave. Depending on your preferences you can use either 12 hour (am/pm) or 24 hour time format.

  • Speed up or slow down your trip - if think Furkot estimates are too aggressive for your leisurely style change the average speed by entering either a percentage of Furkot estimates or a set value.

  • Find fuel stations - you can either add them one by one or just enter your vehicle range and let Furkot find them for you.

  • Recalculate the time properly if your trip passes several time zones - even in tricky places like Indiana or Arizona.

  • Check the sunrise and sunset every day of your trip - judging by our extensive traveling experience things look nicer when you can actually see them. And since Furkot is using real dates and is time zone aware you don't need to worry about recalculating those times - they are real.

  • Check the average weather condition at the place you want to visit on the day you will be there - past performance is not a guarantee of future results but in most cases our 10 year average temperatures can be trusted to at least give you a vague idea if this is a fur parka or a tank top day.

  • Check the current weather forecast - once your trip if about to start you can get to the weather forecast for each stop on your trip.

  • Find flights from your home to where your trip starts, reserve the rental car for the duration of your trip - this is yet another feature where Furkot using real dates comes handy. We know when you are going to travel and we can help you get there.

  • Automatically plan overnight stops - just tell Furkot how long you want to drive every day and it will tell you where you need to stop for the night. You can specify your default Start a Day and End a Day times, Travel Time and Daily Mileage limits for the trip, and you can also vary them for each day independently.

  • Check the trip on your phone - even if you don't have coverage you can see what your next stop is supposed to be or check the address of your hotel. We make navigating your trip easier with the help of apps already on your phone.

  • Print your trip - yup, we are paranoid just as you are - paper does not need batteries. So print your itinerary just in case. And, if you promise to recycle, you can print the driving directions as well.

  • Share your trip - either before or after the fact. You can ask others for advice, plan with your traveling companions or just publish the itinerary to make your Facebook friends jealous. We usually do all three.

  • Plan mixed driving-biking-hiking trips - you can choose the mode of transportation for each leg separately: for example schedule drive to the trail head followed by the hike up to the summit. It works great if you look for the hiking trails using the Find drawer.

  • Experiment with your itinerary - add stops and drag routes to see how changes affect your schedule. You can always Undo your changes, and Redo them if you change your mind about it.

Do you have an idea of the feature you would use? Send an e-mail or contact us on Twitter or Facebook to let us know. Most of what we do is based on your feedback.