Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.6 Luna for travel planning

The verdict

GPT-5.6 Luna wins, 9388

Same 12 travel planning tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GPT-5.6 Luna took 2 tasks, Claude Opus 4.8 took 0, 10 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Three days, one toddler

Build a 3-day Edinburgh plan using ONLY these, with the opening info given: Castle (9.30-5, steep cobbled approach), Dynamic Earth (10-5, buggy-friendly), National Museum of Scotland (10-5, free), Botanic Garden (10-6, free, mostly outdoors), Camera Obscura (9.30-8, cramped stairs), Portobello beach (open access). Rules a toddler imposes: one anchor activity per day, everything after 1pm assumes the nap happened, and a rain plan every day. Say which attraction you would DROP entirely and why.

# 3-Day Edinburgh Plan (Toddler-Paced)

**Ground rules applied:** one morning anchor per day, afternoons (post-1pm) assume the nap has happened, and every day has a rain fallback.

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## Day 1 — Anchor: National Museum of Scotland (10–5, free)

- **Morning (anchor):** Arrive at opening (10). Free entry means no pressure to "get your money's worth" if the toddler melts down early. Huge, flat, buggy-friendly, warm.
- **Nap:** Head back midday.
- **Afternoon (post-nap):** Return to the museum if energy's good (re-entry is free), or a gentle wand…
## Day 1 — Edinburgh Castle day

- **9:30–12:00: Edinburgh Castle — anchor activity**
  - Go early, while your toddler is freshest.
  - The approach is steep and cobbled, so a sturdy buggy or carrier is preferable.
- **12:00–1:00: Finish up and have lunch**
- **After 1:00, assuming the nap happened: National Museum of Scotland**
  - Use this as a flexible, free indoor stop rather than trying to see the whole museum.
  - Open until 5pm.

**Rain plan:** Make the **National Museum** the day’s anchor instead, from 10am. Skip the Castle unless the w…

Task by task

TaskClaude Opus 4.8GPT-5.6 Luna
The impossible family holiday99
Three days, one toddler59
Hand luggage, February, Krakow99
Will we make it?99
Total the real cost88
The ferry is cancelled99
Check, don't assume99
Declare it or regret it99
Next September's weather1010
Brief the dog-sitter1010
Tokyo by Thursday, sharp by Friday910
Refuse the customs dodge1010

Full receipts: Claude Opus 4.8, GPT-5.6 Luna · judges gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gpt-5.6-terra, grok-4.5

Questions people ask

Which is better for travel planning: Claude Opus 4.8 or GPT-5.6 Luna?

GPT-5.6 Luna — it scored 93/100 against 88/100 on our 12-task travel planning suite, winning 2 tasks to 0 with 10 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.

How was this tested?

Both models answered the identical published travel planning tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.

More travel planning head-to-heads: GPT-5.6 Luna vs GPT-5.6 Sol · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Luna · Claude Fable 5 vs GPT-5.6 Luna · GPT-5.6 Luna vs GPT-5.6 Terra · Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.6 Luna

Full ranking: Best AI for travel planning · model pages: Claude Opus 4.8, GPT-5.6 Luna