Porcelain tile is definitely the lower maintenance of the two. It's essentially no-maintenance (other than cleaning) while travertine needs to be sealed. You also need better (i.e., lower) deflection in your floors to install travertine than to install porcelain.

Do yourself a favor go with a porcelain tile. There are many on the market that are a great travertine-look. You don't seal porcelain. It's the most maintenance free flooring you can use. Travertine can still stain even being sealed. I love it and wanted so badly to use it in my master bath but after many sleepless nights worrying about my decision, I went with the lower maintenance porcelain. Do have some tumbled travertine on the walls as part of my border. Below is a link if you'd like to see what I used.

Here is a link that might be useful: Master Bathroom

I've chosen travertine for our bathroom. I looked high and low for porcelain that would give me the real look of travertine and I didn't find any. To my eye, porcelain always looks like an imitation of the real thing. That said, if you can find a porcelain tile that you really like I would definitely go with porcelain over travertine. good luck and let us know what you decide!

We also chose travertine over porcelain. I looked everywhere possible to find a porcelain that I loved because I wanted the low maintenance. But, hubby and I kept coming back to the travertine. We're still in construction phase, so can't tell you whether I'll regret my decision later.

We did everything we could to make sure that the install goes correctly, including Kerdi in our shower, and Redguard everywhere else in the bathroom under tile, and have sealed the travertine twice before using.

I have to agree that if you find a porcelain that you love just as much as the stone you love, I'd choose it hands down to be maintenance-free.

Yes the travertine will need to be sealed and be more maint but the look is worth it. We stay at a rental which has travertine showers and after three years they still look great. And you know that care and upkeep in a rental will be a little iffy. We have marble and I just did the yearly clean and seal last week.(I do clean more than once a year:) Wipe down with stone cleaner,wipe on sealer,done.

monikakm- your bath is beautiful! What is your vanity color? it is so pretty. I really like your porcelain floor!

I'll keep looking at porcelain, I am not the most organized person, and I could see myself not keeping the travertine up like I should :).

What about costs? are the two pretty comparable, or is travertine pretty expensive?

Travertine was out of the question for me, due to budget. I used a porcelain tile that I am told has a travertine look. It was from a big box store and was fairly inexpensive. I am surprosed it ended up looking good.
Including a link.

Here is a link that might be useful: girlcat's bathroom

Girlcat36, so bath is fabulous! I really like the curved frame by your shower/tub.

do you remember the name and color of your tile? I really like it!

I used porcelain in my master bath and wish I'd used travertine. The darker mosaic is quartzite (sealed & enhanced) which I like a lot. The shower floor is porcelain.

Thank you rtorgy1. The vanity is a custom color. I told my painter what I wanted. He brought back two samples before it was dark enough. The porcelain is (20")Marazzi's Eclipse, color is Moonlight. I know it doesn't look just like Travertine. I doubt any of the porcelains do but for me and my back the look is good enough :)
Monica

annkathryn- This is off topic but what color did you use for the walls in your bathroom. It's beautiful and I think it is the sort of color I'm after. Tahnks!

Thank you! I am really enjoying my long overdue remodel!
The tile is Home Depot Montana Lugano.
I am including a link to a much more detailed thread regarding my bathroom, in case you were wondering about any other products I used.

Here is a link that might be useful: Girlcat's more informative bathroom thread

andreadeg the paint color is Benjamin Moore Adobe Beige. The first picture is more true than the 2nd. It has a bit of a peachy tone to it.

I tried and tried to find a porcelain tile that I would like in my master shower, but finally went with a polished travertine with epoxy grout. It's been in about 6 months now. I love it!

As far as budget goes, the travertine was a stretch for us. The 18 x 18 tiles were a little over $7 each and the 1x2's running vertically were over $10 per sheet (12"). That doesn't sound expensive, but it added up, especially with waste. Our shower is 39" wide x 66" long with a knee wall and the tile goes to the ceiling. The travertine for the shower, 2 knee walls, and the bathroom floor totaled around $1,900. It's a 5'6" wide x 13'4" long bathroom.

Would have been nice to have the porcelain price tag.

I looked for porcelain but everything I saw was an imitation - there is such a big difference between the real thing and porcelain! I am doing travertine in my bathroom - a very light color. Its a risk but I love the tile! Regarding sealing, honestly all you do is spray and wipe it down - its not such a big deal. I was concerned about sealing and my contractor was like its so simple and takes only a few minutes. Also the tiles don't need to be sealed that often - maybe once or twice a year which is not much.

Our entire master bath in our last house was tumbled travertine and it actually looked a lot like annkathryn's photo above. I will never, never do that again! Since you can't use things like Clorox wipes, or Tilex, I never felt the bathroom was really clean. And that is one room where you want to be able to sterilize everything. Especially the floor around the toilet. UGH.

I am too hooked on the convenience of spraying the shower with Shower Fresh and quickly running a Clorox wipe around the toilet area instead of getting on my hands and knees and using 'stone safe' products. I think we spent close to $10,000 on that tile and it's been a sore subject ever since.