Why use apps for travel? If you’re like me, you want your trip to go smoothly and efficiently. I want the info I need to be at my fingertips so I don’t waste time, and so that I find the great food and sights to see, without getting lost, and keeping in my budget. Traveling with 5 kids, I am always looking for the best ways to achieve that sweet spot. I asked the best travel bloggers for their favorite apps for travel and they came up with over 70 of the BEST apps for travel!!! I divided them up into neat little categories, with short descriptions: first link is in the iTunes app store, the 2nd link is the Google play (android) link.
Map Apps for Travel: Where are you?
HERE WeGo – City navigation (for android)– “great offline map” – Arzo Travels. “for both walking and driving for off line maps.” – TravelTalesOfLife.com
MAPS.ME – Offline Map & Nav (for android)– “more offline maps” for when you don’t have internet – TikiTouringKiwi.com. “Maps.Me for offline maps of every country. It includes all the sights, cafes, bars…” www.paulinaontheroad.com
Google Maps – GPS Navigation (for android)– maps with real time traffic – www.GoBeyondBounds.com, TheWorldPursuit.com, and ShortHolidaysAndGetaways.com
MapFactor Navigator (only available in android)– “We use off-line navigation almost every day, driving & walking. My favorite is MapFactor Navigator… I wouldn’t want to be without!” – Dare2Go.com
My Maps for Google Maps™ and Uber (for android)– “I love Google My Maps (which works in conjunction with Google Maps) to create custom travel maps for planning my itinerary.” – RoamingTheAmericas.com
CityMaps2Go Travel Guide (for android)– Design your trip with CityMaps2Go, the ultimate app for travelers who want to be prepared wherever they go. Discover amazing places, save and organize them in lists & share them with your friends. – RetiredAndTravelling.com
AccuWeather: Weather for Life (for android)– “Weather maps that not only provides you the daily weather updates, it also has hourly forecast too” – www.travelvoila.com
Gaia GPS: Hiking, Hunting Maps – TrailBehind (for android)– “great for hiking, biking, kayaking anything you need a map for. Has saved us on a few trips so far!” –RoarLoud.net
Transportation Apps: How do you get there?
Uber (for android)– “of all the apps for travel, I can’t live without it. Thanks to Uber, I haven’t been scammed by a taxi driver in a long time” – Portugalist.com
FlightStats – FlightStats, Inc. (for android)– real-time flight status and airport tracking application – SafariJunkie.com
Kiwi.com: Cheap Flight Tickets (for android)– “Lets you mix and match flight carriers. Also lets you set up price alerts.” – InternationalHotdish.com
Hopper – Watch & Book Flights (for android)– “Can do predictive pricing. Lets you know when to book a flight because prices will go up.” –InternationalHotdish.com
Waze Navigation & Live Traffic (for android) “the most incredible app for road trips, giving real-time feedback to tell you the best route, avoid traffic/accidents/speed traps, and find back roads you would NEVER know about otherwise. We use it pretty much anytime we drive.” – GreenGlobalTravel.com
Moovit: Bus, Train & Subway (for android)– “Very useful as a guide for local public transport” – SolitaryWanderer.com
Wikiloc Outdoor Navigation GPS (for android)– millions of trails for hiking, running, cycling, mountain biking, kayaking; “great for hiking with off-line Maps and useful GPS when exploring cities” – Travelsauro.com
Rome2rio: find out how to get from a to b (for android)– “the best for finding local transport and budget airlines you might otherwise not know about” – FoodieFlashPacker.com and TheTravellingPinoys.com and Travels with Talek
GateGuru, Airport Info & Flight Status (for android)– “to find what amenities, restaurants etc. an airport offers” – TheSavvyGlobetrotter.com
GasBuddy (only for iOS)- “For road trips definitely need Gasbuddy (finds cheap gas/diesel near you!). Of my apps for travel, I used this daily on my three month USA road trip!” – ThatAdventurer.co.uk
Flightview – Flight Tracker (for android)– “For keeping track of flights, gates, etc. I do not (air) travel without it because it alerts me even before the airline when there is a gate change, delay, etc.” – aCorkForkAndPassport.com
Skyscanner Flights Hotels Cars (for android)– comparing and booking cheap flights, hotels and car rentals anytime, anywhere – travelinghoneybird.com and ImVoyager.com
Lodging Apps: Where to stay?
Airbnb – Airbnb, Inc. (for android) and Booking.com Hotel Reservations (for android)– “For booking rooms each night on a road trip this summer, we used Airbnb and Booking.com’s apps.” – RachelsRuminations.com
Couchsurfing Travel App (for android)– get to know a new city and stay with locals, for free- ArimoTravels.com
HotelTonight (for android)– “for finding and booking last minute hotel deals” – TheTravelSisters.com
WikiCamps USA (for android)– “to find free/ cheap campsites when road tripping!” – ClairesFootsteps.com. “Lists free camp sites as well as paid ones and free parking spots. I have the Australian one but they are made for other countries too!” – www.budgettraveltalk.com
iOverlander (for android)– “a life saver for car campers/vanlifers who want to camp for free (also features paying campsites, showers etc).” – ThatAdventurer.co.uk
Agoda – Great Prices on Hotels (for android)– “Best hotel app for booking rooms in Southeast Asia!” – VagabondDisposition.com
Eating Apps: What to eat and where to eat it?
Yelp: Discover Local Favorites (for android)- great to find local restaurants and read tons of reviews – McCoolTravel.com
RoarApp (only in iOS)- “to find bars and restaurants near you” – LikeRidingaBicycle.com
HappyCow Find Vegan Food (for android)– “is a must for me as a vegan. It’s sometimes the only way I know if there’s something I can eat.” – aSouthernGypsy.com
Dine Gluten Free (for android)– thousands of “gluten free friendly” businesses in the U.S and around the world.
Beanhunter – Find and share great coffee. (for android)– “It helps you find great coffee shops in each destination. A must for the digital nomad or the traveler looking for a spot of caffeine.” – TwoDrifters.us
WHA by Work Hard Anywhere – WiFi Cafes and Spaces (only in iOS)- “perfect for digital nomads and people who need internet when they travel. It ranks coffee shops near you by internet, seating, parking etc.! Has saved my sanity on numerous occasions.” – eternalarrival.com
Untappd – Discover Beer (for android) and Vivino Wine Scanner (for android)– “for keeping track of libations. Snap a pic of the label, and voila! Everything you need to know.” – http://passingthru.com
Sightseeing Apps for Travel: Must-See and Must-Do Activities
TripAdvisor (for android)– “for things to do and restaurants nearby as well as forums to answer questions you can’t find the answer to.” –HappinessTravelsHere.com. “When you take photos on your phone it creates a map of where you have been and what you have seen.” – https://www.contentedtraveller.com
AllTrails – Hiking & Running (for android)– “For those who enjoy outdoor adventures and hiking AllTrails is the perfect app to use! It has over 50,000 trail maps that are categorized by length, difficulty, and rating by other users. It also tells you which trails are dog-friendly, good for kids, and what views/sights to expect on the trails.” – PagesOfTravel.org
My Aurora Forecast & Alerts (for android)– “for perfect prediction and aurora alerts while traveling to places where aurora shows up. Helped us catch aurora at play in Iceland” – HoppingMiles.com
Communication & Language Apps: Talk to me!
Duolingo (for android)– “for learning languages” – MindOfaHitchhiker.com
Google Translate (for android)– “I love the picture translation feature and I use it for signboards.” – DrifterPlanet.com
Microsoft Translator (for android)– “With options to talk, take a picture, write and get a direct translation, this app has been the best when trying to pick food in a restaurant or when getting in a taxi. You can also download languages to use offline. – OrientExcess.com
Skype for iPhone (for android)– easy international calls + video chat” – TheNewTravelBlog.com. “I love Skype to call family” – MyAdventuresAcrossTheWorld.com
WhatsApp Messenger (for android)– “for calling and staying in touch with everyone.” – DrifterPlanet.com
Messenger – Facebook (for android)– “good for calling the grandparents since they already know how to use it.” – FamilyWithLatitude.com
Organization Apps for Travel: Money, Documents & More!
Dropbox (for android)– “for holding copies of important documents.” – NicoleLaBarge.com
TripIt: Travel Organizer (for android)– “is our travel organizer. We upload all of our flights, hotels and activities into it and are able to access the info even when we are offline.” – ChristineKnight.me
Google Trips (for android)– “brilliant travel organiser plus it has travel guides included” – WandererOfTheWorld.co.uk
Countdown‼(for android)– “for creating countdowns for upcoming trips” – TheTrustedTraveller.com
Evernote (for android)– “I keep all my itinerary details in it. Love that I can view it on my phone, plus I can share with my husband.” – Travelnuity.co
NordVPN – Private & Secure VPN (for android)– “It brings the full power of VPN to your phone. You can access blocked websites (like media services) while overseas, plus you have the added security of a VPN.” – TravelAddicts.net
TraveLibro – Travel Stories (for android)– “It records your local life, gives recommendations, and you can jot down your travel memories on the go! – www.quirkywanderer.com
Currency & Budget Apps: How to pay?
XE Currency (for android)– live exchange rates from around the world – TheSweetWanderlust.com. “Perfect for keeping track of your budget when travelling. Can’t live without it.” – ExploreWitherin.com
Trail Wallet Travel Budget App (only in iOS)- easy expense tracker for travelers – VengaValeVamos.com. “To keep track of your expenses in multiple currencies” – BroganAbroad.com. “keeps us on budget, and lets us know how much we have to spend for the day. We can upload all the currencies we need, our daily budget and produces graphs of our spend.” – ToTravelToo.com. “To keep the budget in perspective.” – www.travelfarenough.com
Tripsget – trip cost and travel price finder (only in iOS)- trip cost and travel price finder, so you can find how expensive your next trip will be based on your own travel preferences and habits – TripsGet.com
Revolut – Beyond Banking (for android)– “Banking app for UK citizens that allows us to withdraw foreign currency with no fees” – WeeGypsyGirl.com. “For money related things. It’s an app for a pre paid credit card where you can freely exchange money at great rates. I basically use it as a bank account! It has saved me hundreds of USD.” – CoupleRTW.com
Mint: Personal Finance & Money (only in iOS)- “for budget and money tracking. Syncs to all our major credit cards and accounts so very easy to see spending across all accounts.” – FamilyWithLatitude.com
Photo Apps: Take and edit pictures!
Snapseed (for android)– “for photo editing!” –NoBackHome.com and PlanSaveTravel.com
Instagram (for android)– “Not for looking just at pretty photos, but I often discover new places I want to go to researching through the hashtags and locations.” – EverySteph.com. “Instagram is the most helpful travel app for figuring out current weather trends, best places to see and visit, what the location looks like within minutes, best views and more!” FollowMeAway.com
Snapchat (for android)– “perfect for documenting daily travels through photos and videos.” – The Traveller’s Guide
Mextures (for android)– “the gradient filters in the Mextures photo editing app is my go-to for landscape images. I can’t find filters like this in any other app.” – NotWithoutMyPassport.com
Apps for Travel in Specific Locations!
That’s (for android)– “That’s (+city name) includes all the big cities in China, including Beijing and Guangzhou. I for example use That’s Shanghai – it has English interfaces for searching news, events, bars, restaurants etc; you can book tickets, and it stores location information in both English and Chinese (handy to show to taxi drivers)” – Downbubble.com
My Blue Bird Taxi (for android)– “taxi app in Indonesia for honest taxis with a meter!” – AdventureTravelFamily.co.uk
Rick Steves’ Audio Europe™ (for android)– “When traveling Europe, we love using Rick Steve’s Audio Europe App.” – DishOurTown.com
Grab – Ride Hailing App (for android)– “Specifically in Southeast Asia: it is similar to Uber, but Grab tends to be cheaper and I find the drivers to be a bit more knowledgeable of where they are going!” – AroundTheWorldInKTdays.com
Traveloka Book Flight & Hotel (for android)– “a booking app for hotels and flights in Asia. I know there are gazillions of booking apps out there but this one in my own experience has given me so much big savings by giving jaw-dropping discounts in some occasions. The customer service via chat and email replies every few minutes.” – MariaRonaBeltran.com
For FUN! Apps for Travel that Make you Smile
Heads Up! (for android)– “A hilarious game for old and young during travel delays or after dinner. We’ve made new friends and cemented old family relationships with this game while travelling” – Zigazag.com
MyFitnessPal (for android)– “it helps me track exercise, steps taken, distance and calories burned so I can eat that cake with no guilt!” – OnceInaLifetimeJourney.com.
Smiling Mind (for android)– “for those times when the kids (or you) are having trouble settling for sleep or are feeling anxious. A great way to add calm.” – TravelWithBoys.com
The Podcast App (for android)– “It’s free and you can download an endless number of episodes to play when you have no wifi. Even better if you have a splitter because then multiple people can listen at the same time. Works with Bluetooth too for road trips.” – TheGlobetrottingTeacher.com
Looking for more entertainment or educational apps for travel? Don’t miss out on these geography apps and games for kids:
AND our best apps for kids to learn geography and maps:
This list is AMAZING!!!! Thank you!
Do you mind if I share?
Of course you can share! 🙂
Awesome post for anyone travelling with kids! Seriously amazing and so helpful. Thanks! 🙂
i use many of these apps! Google Maps is really useful as well as hotel booking apps.