Smartphones have completely redesigned the travel lifestyle! Whilst it’s great to be able to disconnect when travelling, there are times when you might need a bit of a helping hand finding flights, checking train times, or finding your way to that hostel in the middle of a crowded city! Instead of carrying round maps of each city and a bulky laptop, you can now find apps to help with almost any situation when you’re on the road!
If you’re like me, space for apps on my iPhone is a bit of an issue! Which is why I’ve only listed the most essential free travel apps that I use on a regular basis.
Press PLAY below or scroll down for the list!
Accommodation
1. Hostelworld & Hostelbookers
Okay, so technically I’m counting these guys as one app, as their functions are extremely similar! I always use both to find hostels and compare reviews on each. If you’re looking to stay in hostels then it’s a great idea to have both to hand!
2. AirBNB
If you’re looking for a step up from hostels, but you’re not quite ready to pay hotel prices, then definitely check out AirBNB for short term rentals! It’s a great app for group travel; I was recently stuck in a city with two others and the few hostels that were there were booked up, but we found a whole apartment for £90 a night – just £30 each!
3. Kayak
One of the go-to travel booking sites, the Kayak App is extremely easy to use if you’re looking for a hotel or a B&B. It also offers a great map function to see exactly where hotels are located in the city you’re going to, plus it’s very easy to list from lowest price to highest for budget travellers. I wouldn’t suggest booking hostels from this app though, as there a far fewer reviews than on hostel specific apps such as hostelworld and hostelbookers!
Transport
4. SkyScanner
I absolutely LOVE SkyScanner!! A lot of people will also use the Kayak App for flight bookings, but in my opinion the features on SkyScanner make it the ultimate winner when it comes to finding cheap flights for budget travel! Whereas many flight booking apps allow you to see flexible dates 1 or 2 days outside your specified fly date, SkyScanner allows you to view prices over a long list of companies for a whole month in a simple bar chart – so you can pick the cheapest date for your flight!
5. Rail Planner
If experience has taught me anything, it’s that it is far easier in Europe to buy train tickets at the actual station that online. Which is why I don’t actually have a preferred app for booking trains, but I do love Rail Planner for finding train timetables and routes! This app is extremely useful to know times of trains, and also how long the journey will take, and you can also use it offline! This app also offers information on almost every country, so you can get the basic country notes and a brief overview on what to expect when you arrive!
6. TripIt
TripIt is the daddy of travel planning! It is an app that can hold all your itinerary information in one place, such as flight confirmations, route maps, accommodation booking and so much more! You can organise different trips seperately, or if you’re planning one long RTW it’s great for keeping all the essential information together where you can easily access it! My favourite feature is it’s ability to log locations of accommodations and train stations, offering maps to find them from wherever you are in the city!
City Guides
7. Trip Advisor & Trip Advisor City Guides
Again, I’m giving you two apps in one! That’s because the Trip Advisor app needs Wifi and can give you coverage on almost any destination in the world – so it’s great for research back at the hostel or at the airport! The Trip Advisor City Guides is an offline app that has a more limited coverage, but can offer great offline information on the main destinations, as well as great offline map which you can use without Wifi!
General Travel Apps
8. WiFi Finder
One of the most useful apps out there, especially if you are using your smartphone to get around or find great places to see or sleep! The WiFi Finder has a really useful offline feature which shows you all free and paid WiFi options in your vicinity, as well as around the world. Look out for the green dots if you want free WiFi!
9. XE Currency
The ultimate currency exchange app, which lists almost all the main currencies world wide. Just pop in the price you see for milk in the random supermarket in Israel and it will convert it to as many currencies as you’d like! Great for Eastern Europe and Asia if you’re a regular in the Euro Zone!
10. Google Translate
I cannot get enough of Google’s free translation app! Not only can you type in a phrase in your own language and have it converted to any of the main languages worldwide, you can also ask it to translate spoken speech! Which is great if you’re stuck at a ticket office somewhere and you have no idea what the person behind the counter is trying to explain to you! An offline app with a huge range of features – an absolute must for any traveller!
Let me know what apps you can’t live without when travelling!
Lots of love,
