It’s no secret that Instagram is a favorite platform of travelers. More people share traveling photos on Instagram than any other platform. But did you know you can also use it to hack your best trip ever? Here are some ways to use Instagram while traveling that you may not have considered!

Not sure what to wear while traveling to a certain destination?

It can be confusing to figure out what to pack for your vacation, even if you’ve done extensive research into best season to visit and what the weather feels like.

Here’s a simple hack. Search the location of your destination on Instagram and quickly gage what people are wearing. It’s useful to get specific, when you use a broad search term, you may get pictures that aren’t relevant. Search for a tourist destination in a city and go to “places” tab. Pick a location and scroll down to “most recent” photos. You’ll see photos that are mostly likely taken by tourists the same day, so you can easily figure out what people are wearing and pack accordingly!

I’ve used this hack when traveling to Poland last spring. I searched for popular tourist attractions and was able to figure out what I needed to pack.

Don’t want to visit the tourist traps? Use Instagram to discover interesting spots that you won’t find in guide books.

Search by hashtags, type in the city that you’re visiting and scroll down to what pictures other people are posting. See a picture of a cute café? Check location to figure out where it is and perhaps go see it for yourself.

This technique has helped me discover many attractions, parks, cafes and other sports that weren’t listed on popular travel sites.

If you’re traveling long term through a specific area, you often find that other travelers are doing something similar. When Chris and I traveled across Eastern Europe, we found that we saw some other same people on busses and excursions that we were going on.

You can use Instagram to find these travelers and meet up with them along the way. Search by location and look for profiles that are posting lots of travel photos along the same path where you are. If someone seems like an interesting person, you can message them to ask questions about different locations they’ve visited to help you navigate your trip!

These are the three surprising ways I’ve used Instagram while traveling. Share the ways you’ve used Instagram to hack travel in the comments below! Also, check back for a post about how I use Instagram to capture my trips coming soon!