I had three days in Rio de Janeiro and an impossible wish list: Christ the Redeemer at dawn, a morning in Ipanema, an afternoon in the historic center of Lapa, and maybe an evening in an authentic boteco away from tourists. Anyone who has visited Rio knows that the city is huge, public transport is not always reliable for those who do not know the area, and the distances between neighborhoods can be surprising. I decided to rely on Secret World, an AI Trip Planner that in 2026 is making waves in the travel industry. Here’s what I really discovered.
Before leaving, I had already tried other similar tools with disappointing results: copy-paste itineraries, overly generic suggestions, no consideration for real travel times. With Secret World, I made a different bet, and I must say that the experience surprised me in a concrete way. Let’s see in detail how it went.
How Secret World Works: My First Session with AI
I opened the platform and entered my request in Italian, specifying that I wanted three days in Rio de Janeiro, a medium budget (about 80-120 euros per day excluding accommodation), interest in local culture and gastronomy, and zero desire to wait in line for hours. The AI responded in less than thirty seconds with a structured itinerary day by day, with precise times, names of attractions, and logistical notes. For example, for the first day, it suggested visiting Cristo Redentor by 8:30 in the morning to avoid the worst lines, with an estimated visit time of about 90 minutes and a ticket price of approximately 85 Brazilian reais. It then linked the visit to a walk in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, about a 20-minute taxi ride from the Corcovado train station.
I then requested a modification: I wanted to add a visit to the Museu do Amanhã in Porto Maravilha without completely overhauling everything. The AI reworked the itinerary for the second day in a few seconds, moving the visit to the Feira de São Cristóvão to the morning (open from Thursday to Sunday) and including the museum in the afternoon, with the note that it is only a 10-minute walk from the VLT tram station. This level of contextual adaptation is rare among the competitors I have tried.
For concretes: what Secret World does better than others
The main strength is the logistical consistency. Unlike ChatGPT used in a raw way or Google Trips (now defunct), Secret World truly considers distances and travel times. In my itinerary for Rio, it never placed two attractions at opposite ends of the city in the same morning slot. It also suggested avoiding certain walking routes after sunset in areas like Lapa, with practical alternatives. Another thing I appreciated: the indicative prices were updated and realistic for 2026, not outdated data from three years ago as often happens with other tools.
Personalization really works. I specified that I don't like tourist restaurants and the AI suggested places like Confeitaria Colombo in the historic center for breakfast (historic, not a tourist trap) and some botecos in the Botafogo neighborhood for the evening, with a brief description of why they were authentic. Not all suggestions were perfect, but the logic was solid and verifiable.
Honest criticisms: what still doesn't convince
Secret World is not infallible. In one case, the AI suggested a surfing activity at Barra da Tijuca without considering that it was almost an hour away by taxi from my accommodation in Ipanema, making the logistics inconvenient. I had to explicitly ask to review that point. Furthermore, the platform still lacks direct integration with booking systems: you can have the perfect itinerary, but to buy tickets you have to exit and go to other sites. It's not a major flaw, but in a tool from 2026, one would expect something more integrated.
Another limitation concerns real-time information: Secret World does not know if an exhibition is closed for restoration or if a special event is occupying a square. For this type of verification, manual checking is still required. But honestly, even the best human travel agents have this problem if they are not on-site.
Comparison with competitors and final vote
I also used Wanderlog and Tripnotes for the same trip to Rio de Janeiro. Wanderlog is great for map visualization, but the AI component is still superficial. Tripnotes is faster but produces less coherent itineraries from a logistical point of view. Secret World clearly ranks above both for depth of reasoning and ability to adapt to specific requests. It’s not perfect, but it’s the most useful I found in 2026 for a complex trip like the one to Rio.
My vote is 9/10: I take off one point for the lack of integration with bookings and for some logistical inaccuracies that require manual review. But for those who want a serious, personalized, and logistically sensible itinerary, Secret World is today the most reliable tool available. If you are planning a trip to Rio de Janeiro or any other complex city, I recommend trying it directly at secretworld.ai: the first session is free and in ten minutes you’ll already know if it’s right for you.
