Over the years I have come up with my favorite travel apps that all stay in a nice little folder on my iPhone! I have spent so much time downloading and deleting different travel apps that do not work well so I figured this would be handy for people looking for the best right away! To help make finding them in the app store easier, I added the links each one on the title of the app :)
Booking Accommodation-
- HostelWorld– Perfect app to find hostel accommodation! Truly when booking hostels this is the only thing I use! You can search a city, and see all the available hostels. I often go to map view to see where the hostels are located when deciding between two hostels.
- Booking.com– Great resource for finding hotel accommodation. If I’m looking to not stay in a hostel this is what I will normally use to book my accommodation. I will use the filter options within the app to search within in my desired price range and location.
Getting Around-
- Student Universe– For students this is super helpful to search flights, I almost alway booked with them for flights! And if you subscribe to their emails they often send out promo codes you can use to get a discount on particular flights. Oh, and they have a 24 hour risk free booking! So if you’re super spontanious and book a trip then 12 hours later decide it actually is not a good idea (but really what trip isn’t a good idea) you can cancel the ticket risk free!
- FlixBus- When traveling in Europe an easy and (really) cheap way to get around is by bus. FlixBus is probably the best company to do this with. I almost always book with them for bus travel! I love booking on their app because there is no need to print out a paper ticket, the bus driver can just scan the ticket’s QR code on your phone. Their busses also offer free wifi which can really come in handy! Tip: subscribe to their emails for promo codes to get discounts on bookings.
- DB Navigator (for travel in Germany)– When in Germany this is a must have for train travel. This app lets you book trains and see if there are any delays. Also, if you made a booking anywhere online you can load the ticket onto the app and they scan the ticket from there. So no need to print out a paper ticket! (Yay! Go Earth!)
- Maps.me– I love this for offline maps! Once you get to a city and have wifi this app can see where you are and then it will ask you do download a map of that region. Once you have downloaded it with wifi, you can go explore without internet connection and have a city map in your pocket!
- CityMaps2Go– Another offline map app, I have a love for maps. This app only lets you have a few cities downloaded for the free version, but it is super useful. You can create lists before you get somewhere and mark the location of your hotel, things you want to see and more.
Planning Activities –
- TripAdvisor– This app can be so useful to check for things to do, and places to eat when already in a city. So if I did not have time to research a city before I got there I’ll pull up TripAdvisor and look through to see which things I need to see and where the best restaurants are to eat at! I highly recommend using the filter option on this too! For example when looking for a restaurant to eat at, filter the search to best suit your price range, taste preferences and location!
To Make Traveling Easier –
- Splitwise– This app is amazing and a must have for traveling with friends. You can put in an expense, and add your friends to it and divide up the costs! It’s so handy when everyone owes each other different amounts, it just sums it all up and shows balances between each other. So no more forgetting who owes who what! Oh and bonus, you can change the currency of the expenses which is super convenient!
- GoogleTranslate– Honestly, another must have! I found this really useful when I was in Japan and couldn’t guess on what words were. My favorite part of the app is being able to download different languages; so if I am in a new country I can download the language and always have access (even without wifi or data) to
translations. There is also a neat feature that lets you hover over words and it will translate it for you automatically which is pretty cool! - Units Plus– While there are most likely many different unit converter apps this one is my favorite! I used to only have a currency converter, but I switched this app because this allows you to not only convert all types of currency but also distance,temperature, weight, speed and so much more! This app can really be a lifesaver!
Also when I travel, I do a quick search in the app store for any metro map apps that might be available for a particular city. I find these really helpful for when trying to figure out local transportation. There are normally many for bigger cities, I just tend to delete them after my visit there has ended.
Hope you enjoyed my favorite travel apps! Let me know if you like them or if I’m missing any you love below!
Travel Tarrah 