There are a lot of variables and details to juggle when taking a trip. Thankfully there are about 100K travel apps out there to help make the process easier for you. But which ones are really useful? There are countless offerings to assist in planning, booking, tracking, executing and otherwise enhancing experiences at home and abroad. With a smartphone, tablet or other device in hand, you have more power and information at your fingertips than a team of travel agents and volumes of guidebooks did a decade ago. Here are the best travel apps to help you get there efficiently, comfortably, confidently and/or cheaply, and to know what to do once you arrive. Most of them are free and available on iOS, Android and other platforms.
1. Pick a Stress-Free Flight with Routehappy
Want to find the best flight value for your money? Price and schedule are not the only factors to consider. The overall flight quality and passenger experience should also be taken into account. Routehappy has developed an unbiased “Happiness Score” rating system to give you a more complete picture of each flight so you can make an informed decision. Criteria includes the type of aircraft, seat comfort, entertainment options, power and WiFi availability, baggage fees and fresh food offerings on board. It also looks at things like ease of connections and number of stops, as these kinds of logistics can often make a cheap flight not worth it. They’ve got info for every cabin on every flight in the world, and user-added feedback is encouraged so you can read what a community of real people think of the flight.
2. Get a Good Fare with Trip Watcher
For some, price is the main factor for deciding which flight to book. But fares seem to fluctuate so erratically it can be hard to know when to swoop in for the best deal. Enter Trip Watcher. Just tell them where you’re going, and they’ll track the ever-changing prices for you. The app lets you know when there’s a price drop for flights, hotels, cars and vacation packages, so you can be confident you won’t miss a lower fare. Trip Watcher used to be a widget on Hotwire, but it’s such a useful tool, it’s now a standalone and one of the best travel apps to use.
3. Know Where You’re Sitting with SeatGuru
With many airlines cramming in extra rows and charging more for legroom seats, it can be valuable to have a little inside intel on a cabin’s comfort offering before booking a particular seat. SeatGuru gives you an airplane seating chart and the advantage of knowing what seats best suit your needs on a given aircraft before you book it. You can search for seats in terms of legroom, width, pitch, recline, access to power ports, entertainment and other in-flight amenities. Seat Guru has recently launched a flight comparison search engine to provide information on cheapest flights as well as a “G-factor” – a straightforward “love it, like it or live with it” recommendation for each option. Comparison charts and user-feedback help you make the most comfortable decision.
4. Get a Good Room with Room77
What Seat Guru is to particular aircraft seats, Room 77 is to specific hotel rooms. There are a lot of hotel search engines out there, but this one aggregates data on rates and availability from all the biggies including Expedia, Priceline, Booking.com, Orbitz, Hotels.com and hundreds of thousands of hotel sites directly so you get all the necessary research at one go. If you’re looking at 4 or 5 star accommodation or stays more than $400 you can access their Room Concierge feature to find the best room in the hotel. Room 77’s goal is to help you find the best hotel deals with the least amount of legwork.
5. Make Yourself at Home with Airbnb
If you think Airbnb is just for budget travelers looking for a cheap couch to crash on, think again. Established in 2008, it’s a way of bypassing standard sterile hotels to stay in the homes and apartments of real people, peer to peer. Sometimes the host stays there, offering a spare room and a local’s insider perspective on the destination, but often guests have the place to themselves. Airbnb has now grown into a worldwide community for listing, discovering or booking unique accommodations in over 34,000 cities and 190 countries. You can still find plenty of economical options, but the listings also include some incredible dwellings – castles, penthouse suites, historical villas, tree houses, yurts, yachts, private islands and more. It requires an element of trust between host and guest, but the concept is catching on. Airbnb is becoming a global home sharing and hospitality brand that is revolutionizing the travel industry.
6. Skip the Usual Rental with Relay Rides
Consider Relay Rides like the Airbnb for peer-to-peer carsharing. Sure, you can always rent a car, but this may be a better option depending on what kind of vehicle you’re looking for – perhaps a minivan, sportscar, RV, hybrid, Tesla or truck. Whether you need short term or long term wheels, costs can be up to 40% lower than standard rental options. Its a great way for those with an idle car to make some extra cash on the side. Screenings, insurance, road-side assistance, user reviews and the like keep this business model working smoothly for both parties. Relay Rides vehicles are at airports and in communities of major cities in the US, except New York (for now).
7. Plan your Route with Rome2Rio
It can be challenging to figure out which is the best option to get door to door from A to B, whether it’s a long journey between countries or just across town. This travel planning search engine works it out for you, considering planes, trains, automobiles, ferries, buses and taxis. Even walking is evaluated. Time and cost estimates help you make an informed decision. Rome2Rio has extensive coverage in Europe, North America, South America and Asia/Pacific, and are expanding all the time.
8. Find an Airport Haven with LoungeBuddy
You never know when a delay, cancellation, missed connection or long layover is going to impact your flying itinerary. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a quite place to go to relax, be productive, take a nap or grab a shower in that downtime? Business travelers, frequent fliers and elite status credit card holders often take advantage of airport lounges as a tranquil oasis away from the hustle and bustle. However, these lounges aren’t necessarily the exclusive domain of these privileged few anymore. Many of them are open to one-time-fee users or may be a hidden offering of other loyalty programs you may belong to, but it can be challenging to figure this out on the fly. That’s where LoungeBuddy comes in. Fill in a profile and itinerary and it will let you know which airport lounges you can visit, what the amenities are and how much it will cost you. Many of these lounges have free cocktails, showers, conference rooms, WiFi, kids rooms and more, which may help you justify the expense.
9. Get the Latest Updates with GateGuru
Airline travel can be a stressful, frustrating experience. Flights are delayed, gates are changed and connections are missed all too frequently, it’s hard to keep up with all the ever-changing information. That’s where GateGuru comes in. It’s a door-to-door solution for your travel day, tracking all those pesky details with an up-to-the-minute status. It also includes useful info like estimated TSA wait times, local weather, maps to airport amenities, user ratings on restaurants, rental car deals and more. Definitely one of the best travel apps out there you’ll use all the time.
10. Move Around the City with Transit App
Once you arrive at your travel destination, you need know how to get around. Public transit may be the way to go, especially if you have all the details on your smartphone in this handy Transit App. Comprehensive subway, train and bus information for 85+ metropolitan areas in Europe and North America are provided, complete with timetables, maps and directions to help you know when and where to catch the next one. It automatically pinpoints where you are as a starting point. This urban mobility app is useful to both locals and travelers alike, and hopes to ease traffic congestion by encouraging more city folks to use public transit. This is one of the best travel apps to use at home or away.
11. Go on a Field Trip
Now that you’ve arrived, what are you going to do with your time? Static guidebooks are so passé. Tap into this Field Trip app and discover cool, hidden, and unusual landmarks, restaurants, neighborhoods and points of interest that align with your personal preferences. It mines information from many sources including Zagat, Spotted by Locals and Atlas Obscura and pushes relevant tidbits to you as you pass by them. Tell the app the kind of things you love to see, do and eat, and it will tailor its suggestions specifically to you.
12. Understand with Jibbigo
There are lots of smartphone translators out there, but Jibbigo is one of the better speech-to-speech translator offerings. It can be used online or offline, which is significant because it does not need phone or data connectivity to function – very handy when you’re traveling to areas outside your plan’s coverage. Type or speak a short phrase into the app and it will translate it into 20-odd languages. You get both a text and audio response. It covers the popular tongues like Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Japanese, but also offers Hebrew, Tagalog, Catalan and Esperanto. It’s like having your own personal interpreter in your pocket so you can understand and be understood with confidence when you travel.
