TripAdvisor Vacation Planner MCP server

The TripAdvisor Vacation Planner MCP Server integrates with Claude Desktop to help you plan vacations using TripAdvisor data. It enables searching for locations, attractions, restaurants, and hotels while providing access to photos, reviews, and interactive vacation planning capabilities.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher
• uv - Fast Python package installer and resolver
• TripAdvisor API key from the TripAdvisor Developer Portal
• Claude Desktop
• Google Maps MCP Server

Installation

Setting Up Your Environment

1. Clone the repository
2. Create and activate a virtual environment:

uv venv

# On Windows
.venv\Scripts\activate

# On macOS/Linux
source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install the required dependencies:

uv add "mcp[cli]"

Running the Server

You can run the server directly with:

# Set your API key as an environment variable
export TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY=your_api_key_here  # Linux/macOS
set TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY=your_api_key_here     # Windows Command Prompt
$env:TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"  # Windows PowerShell

# Run the server
mcp run server.py

Alternatively, install the server for Claude Desktop:

mcp install server.py

Integration with Claude Desktop

Configuring Claude Desktop

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Navigate to Settings > MCP Servers
3. Add a new server with the following configuration:

{
  "tripadvisor": {
    "command": "uv",
    "args": [
      "run",
      "--with",
      "mcp[cli]",
      "mcp",
      "run",
      "PATH_TO_YOUR_PROJECT\\server.py"
    ],
    "env": {
      "TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
    }
  }
}

4. Replace PATH_TO_YOUR_PROJECT with the absolute path to your project directory
5. Replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual TripAdvisor API key

Using the Vacation Planner

1. Start a new conversation in Claude
2. Enter any prompt containing "Vacation Planner"
3. Follow the interactive prompts to plan your vacation

Troubleshooting

• 401 Unauthorized errors: Verify your API key is correct and your IP is whitelisted in the TripAdvisor Developer Portal
• Claude Desktop integration issues: Check your configuration settings and ensure the path to server.py is correct
• Claude failing to complete: You may be using too many input tokens. The get_location_details_tool function is often the cause of this issue

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "tripadvisor" '{"command":"uv","args":["run","--with","mcp[cli]","mcp","run","PATH_TO_YOUR_PROJECT\\server.py"],"env":{"TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY":"YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "tripadvisor": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "--with",
                "mcp[cli]",
                "mcp",
                "run",
                "PATH_TO_YOUR_PROJECT\\server.py"
            ],
            "env": {
                "TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "tripadvisor": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "--with",
                "mcp[cli]",
                "mcp",
                "run",
                "PATH_TO_YOUR_PROJECT\\server.py"
            ],
            "env": {
                "TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect