I love how easy it has become to travel thanks to the technology that is now available to us. You can plan, book, and travel just by using your smartphone! I would not consider myself super tech-savvy, but I rely heavily on my iPhone while doing all of these things, especially when I am at my destination. So, here are my most used travel apps for planning, booking, and enjoying my vacation!
For Planning:
Apple Maps
If you have an iPhone, it came with Apple Maps installed. Any time I am planning any type of trip, one of the first things I do is hop on Apple Maps to scroll around the area. But Apple Maps is more than just a navigation app. I use it when I am trying to get around in a new place, but I use it so much before my trip, too – this is why I’ve included it in the planning section! There are all kinds of guides available to browse through on the app. And, you can create your own guide, which is probably my favorite feature! When you do this, it will show every location you have saved in your guide all on the map. It is so convenient when I am planning and researching a place to have all of the restaurants and attractions I’m interested in mapped out for me when I arrive for my vacation.
I will say, my husband swears by Google Maps, which he uses a lot for work. I’ve also read about a couple of other travel bloggers who prefer Google Maps as well. I’ve never really had any issues with Apple Maps, so I’m going to stick with it for now!
Helpful Tip: Add your hotel or Airbnb to your guide so you can see how close everything will be to your stay while you are there!
Tripadvisor
This is another super helpful app for planning your vacation. You can research nearly every town in the world! It will show you things to do, places to eat, where to stay, and more! There are so many categories to search through, and I especially like how they rank things according to user ratings. They also highlight businesses that are in the top 1% of their area and their category based on reviews, ratings, and saves. These are the Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best, and you can spot them on the app by the golden owl in the corner.
Duolingo
Okay, so this isn’t specifically a travel app, but anytime I am going to visit a place where the native or first language isn’t English, I will hop on Duolingo a month or two out and learn some words and phrases that will help me get along while I’m there. I am a huge advocate of blending in a bit when you’re in a different place. One of the reasons for this is that the locals will be much more likely to help you if you put in an effort to learn a bit of their language and culture. Don’t be that tourist that just shows up and expects everyone to understand you. I’ve tried multiple language learning apps, and some of them I believe to be better at teaching a language to fluency if that is your goal. But if you just need to freshen up on some words or learn how to say things like, “s’il vous plaît” and “comment ça va,” Duolingo will work perfectly!
For Booking:
Viator
Viator is owned by TripAdvisor, so you will sometimes see that they are connected. I have booked on Viator many times and have almost always had good experiences. The one time I didn’t, I (knowingly) booked a nonrefundable tour and then COVID happened, so we couldn’t travel and we didn’t get our money back. This was before all of the leniency was introduced with travel companies surrounding COVID. Honestly, I view this as my fault. That is why I always book refundable now! Every other time I’ve used Viator, I’ve had great experiences! Of course, I always look at the ratings and read the reviews for everything I book. If you’re wanting to take a look online, click on the banner below!
Helpful Tip: Take every rating and review you read with a grain of salt. Sometimes people are just having a bad day and they take it out on the restaurant/tour company/tour guide/etc.
Turo
Turo is like AirBnB for cars. I talk about my experience with Turo a little more in depth in this post. I really do love it and have switched to it completely instead of booking through the traditional car rental outlets. The fact that I can do this from an app on my phone makes it so stinkin’ convenient! Any time we are in a place where we’ll need to rent a car, this is the app use!
Helpful Tip: Even though you can book a car on this platform right before your travels, when you book early out, you can often get a small discount!
Airbnb/VRBO
In case you haven’t heard of these, both are apps you can use to book a short term rental. I use these two apps interchangeably. I really love booking out an entire house which, thanks to Airbnb and VRBO, is pretty well priced most of the time. I also love that I can chat with the owner of the house right from the app and get notifications to my phone if anything changes. I often save rentals that I think are unique or cool to my wishlist on Airbnb, or my Boards on VRBO. And, you can share these lists with others who might be in your traveling group.
OpenTable
With this app, you can make reservations for restaurants all across the world. I don’t book out every meal for a trip, but I’ll do one or two dinners and maybe a brunch, depending on how long we’ll be in a place and what our plans are. Or, if there is an extremely popular restaurant I’ve been dying to try, one of the first things I’ll do is hop on OpenTable to see if I there are any openings! Obviously not every restaurant is on the app, but you’ll find plenty of options no matter where you are in the world!
Google Flights
Okay, I’m technically cheating with this one. Google Flights does not have an actual app, but you can create an app icon on your phone to take you directly to Google Flights through Safari. So one click, and you’re there! If you’re using an iPhone, just go to www.google.com/travel/flights, click the “upload” icon at the bottom center of your screen, scroll down a bit, and press “Add to Home Screen” – and that’s it! I use this constantly when researching flights. One thing to keep in mind is that some airlines do not show up on on Google Flights.
There are other flight planning apps you can actually download, like Skyscanner and Hopper, and I have used them both. They are both great tools to research flights, but I personally feel like Google Flights is a little more user-friendly. I catch myself consistently going back to it even when I try other options.
Helpful Tip: Follow Scott’s Cheap Flights to get great deals through Google Flights. No, I’m not sponsored by them in any way, I just really love them!
For During my Trip:
AllTrails
Sterling and I love to hike, but I use this app for much more than that. Not only can you find and download maps of trails through the woods like you would with your typical hike, but you can do the same within cities as well! The information on each “trail” is extremely descriptive, explaining everything from length to waypoints to difficulty. And of course, users of AllTrails can rate and review each hike. It really is one of my favorite apps.
CityMapper
This is another map style app that I use frequently when in large cities where there are multiple modes of transportation to choose from. I go back and forth between using this and Apple Maps. My favorite feature is that it shows the price of each option and where the best place to sit is (although, I’ve noticed that sometimes it doesn’t really make a difference where you sit). There are a ton more features than I typically use as well.
Google Translate
For everything that you can’t say coherently in another language, there is always Google Translate. Again, there are other translation apps you can use, and we all know that Google translate doesn’t always work perfectly, but it works great for the small amount of time I need it! My absolute favorite feature is using Google Lens to translate something written. This will be a life saver when I am in Paris next month and don’t understand what the menu says!
There are so many travel apps out there, and I’ve downloaded tons of them over the years, but these are the ones I consistently use every time I plan a trip! And FYI, so many of these apps have many more features than I talk about – this is just how I personally use them! What are your favorites?
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