Travel Planner

You can run a Travel Planner MCP Server that lets large language models perform travel queries by talking to Google Maps and related services. It enables place search, place details, route calculations, and time zone lookups, making travel planning tasks more automated and accurate within your chat or assistant flows.

How to use

You will connect an MCP-enabled client to the Travel Planner MCP Server to perform location-based tasks. Use the server to search for places, retrieve place details, calculate routes, and obtain time zone information for coordinates and times. Provide your client with the server’s MCP configuration, including the command you run and any required environment variables. Use the Google Maps API key you obtain to enable the underlying services.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before installing: Node.js and npm (or an equivalent Node runtime). Ensure you have an API key for Google Maps with the necessary APIs enabled (Places API, Directions API, Geocoding API, Time Zone API).

Install via Smithery (recommended for Claude Desktop users):

npx -y @smithery/cli install @GongRzhe/TRAVEL-PLANNER-MCP-Server --client claude

Install manually using npx (quick start):

npx @gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp

Or run with an API key for Google Maps (explicitly set via environment variable):

GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=your_api_key npx @gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp

If you prefer a global install, you can install the package and run it after installation:

# Install globally
npm install -g @gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp

# Run after global installation
GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=your_api_key @gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp

Alternatively, you can run a local node-based start if you have the package built or compiled to a dist entry point:

node path/to/dist/index.js

Configuration

Configure your MCP client (Claude Desktop) to load the Travel Planner MCP Server by adding the following entry to the mcpServers section of your configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "travel-planner": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY": "your_google_maps_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment variables

You must provide a Google Maps API key with the appropriate permissions. The Travel Planner MCP Server requires this key to access Places, Directions, Geocoding, and Time Zone data.

Example environment variable for the server runtime:

GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=your_google_maps_api_key

Notes and troubleshooting

If you encounter authentication or quota issues with the Google Maps API, verify that your API key is valid and that the required APIs are enabled in the Google Cloud Console. Ensure the key is correctly passed to the server as GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY in your environment. Restart the MCP server after updating environment variables.

Available tools

searchPlaces

Search for places using Google Places API. Requires query and optional location bias and radius.

getPlaceDetails

Retrieve detailed information for a specific Google Place ID.

calculateRoute

Compute a route between origin and destination with optional travel mode (driving, walking, bicycling, transit).

getTimeZone

Fetch timezone information for given coordinates and optional timestamp.