I am developing a travel website, and I am wondering if I should use a CMS or code everything myself? I want to have everything in a specific order, and then have a blog as well, so certain sections will always stay the same, and others will update with my blog. Would a CMS like Wordpress be my best option?
go with wordpress.. definately the easiest, and you can do almost anything with plugins etc... the days of not using a cms are over.
You could various other ones such as CodeIgnite as well, however from my experience I would also suggest wordpress due to its simplicity. Coding everything manually will just be timeconsuming and probably not worth it.
I also recommend Wordpress since you can do any kind of site with it from Classifieds to and e-commerce site not just a simple blog. Also, development time is short and with that you can deploy your site immediately without the need of extensive beta testing as compared to a custom built site.
This is the correct way to look at web design using these two tools. Wordpress is not a CMS yet, it is a blogging platform.
Use a CMS. WordPress is easy to get started. If you have the time to invest learning Drupal, do that. If you have the money to spend, give ExpressionEngine a try.
I forgot to add, if you want to import Wordpress into Joomla, you can use both at the same time. LINK