- Traveling can be overwhelming, only if there were apps that can help in such situations.
- Here's a guide on 15 best travel apps that you can use on your iPhone and Android devices that captures every aspect of travel.
- Whether you want an eSIM or find the best route to destination or split expenses between friends, here are 15 best travel apps you must have on your phone.
Looking for the best travel apps for your phone? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Traveling has always been an essential part of human life, allowing us to explore new civilizations, diverse cultures, and breathtaking landscapes across the globe. It opens the door to nature’s wonders—majestic mountain ranges, tranquil tropical jungles, and vast, endless oceans.
However, travel comes with its challenges. Navigating different cultures, finding the best accommodations, planning routes, and discovering must-visit spots can be overwhelming, especially for avid travelers constantly moving from one country to another.
Fortunately, travel apps can make the journey smoother. Whether you need to convert currencies, book budget-friendly accommodations, discover top dining spots, or even stargaze, the right travel app can be a game-changer. To help you travel smarter and with ease, we’ve compiled a list of the best travel apps available on iOS and Android.
15 Best Travel Apps Every Travelers Should Know
FlightAware
Category: Flight Tracker
Heading out to catch a flight or want to know where your connecting flight is? FlightAware is an app made just for this purpose. Free to use, FlightAware lets you track the status of your current or upcoming flights, check for delays, weather radar, and more in real-time.
It is perfect for travelers as you get actionable intelligence when you are heading out to travel to XYZ places.
Google Maps
Category: Maps / Navigation / Travel Planner
I get it, Google Maps doesn’t need any introduction. It has been my go-to app whenever I am traveling to a new place, whether in a new part of the city or an entirely different country. All you need is an internet connection (doesn’t if you have downloaded an offline map), and you are good to go. The app tells you how to navigate with visual and audio cues, there’s a feature to track traffic, multiple routes to the destination, and even the various types of transport available from A to B such as by car, bike, train, bus, ride-sharing, etc.
No doubt it is one of the best travel apps every traveler should have, not that people don’t have it but hey, we are counting the best travel apps and thus, it is one of them.
Download: iOS \ Android (Pre-installed anyways)
HotelTonight
Category: Hotel Booking | Deals
Last-minute hotel booking can rip off your bank balance which is an absolute NO-NO when traveling abroad. With Hotel Tonight, you get last-minute deals and discounts from nearby (or farther) hotels without losing track of your expenses. The app offers 24/7 customer support which is a good thing. It has listings of hotels that you would prefer rather than any random hotels popping up on a hotel booking aggregator website. It has everything from hip to basic to luxury hotels to suit your taste. Whether you want a bnb a resort or anything in-between, Hotel Tonight has your back.
Rome2Rio
Category: Travel Planner
An average traveler spends 100 minutes a day calling their friends to know how to navigate through a new city or country. Well, although the statement above came out of nowhere (and may be completely untrue), finding public and other modes of transport is a critical thing when you are venturing into the never-have-I-ever-seen place.
With Rome2Rio, unlike the same, the app offers you access to schedules and route connections from Point A to B (that you enter). It connects you to all possible forms of transport – bus, train, ferry, car, plane, etc., etc. It doesn’t just tell you to take a bus from A to B but also the exact bus number/route and their alternatives and the same with any other form of transportation available. In fact, it does the same for over 240 countries and counting so that you don’t have to burn your brain cells scouring the internet to find the same.
Priority Pass
Category: Lounge Access
If you have a credit card and you are an air traveler, Priority Pass is an app for you. It offers access to 1,000+ lounges across 140+ countries that you can hop on using its pay-per-use or a bunch of lounge visits at once. The app covers lounges both pre-flight and layovers that help you unwind as you wait for your flight to start boarding. The app also stores your credit cards and priority passes notifying you of all the offers and discounts available when you visit eligible lounges.
Google Translate
Category: Translator
Venturing into a new city or country is overwhelming, however, you might have to struggle a bit if you don’t know their local language or if there’s no common language between two or more people. With Google Translate, the app listens to the voice coming from one user and translates it into another, such as Japanese to English and vice versa.
Google Translate currently supports 243 languages which is more than what you can get in other translator apps. There’s also support for 37 languages and their camera translation allowing users to translate what’s written or mentioned in a photo if the speaker is not around.
Splitwise
Category: Income/ Expenses Tracker
Whether you are traveling solo or with a group, managing expenses and income records is crucial for your bank. With Splitwise, you can actually account for every penny to spend, lend, or borrow from your friends and relatives. At the end of the journey, you can check out the sheet carrying information on what you owe and what is owed to settle it with your friends.
The app supports multiple logic when it comes to distributing money between two or more people. It also supports multiple currencies allowing you to record every transaction in its actual currency for convenience. No doubt I can record transactions made in INR and AED simultaneously without mixing the two.
AllTrails
Category: Outdoor Hiking / Activities / Trails
Being a traveler also means you might wander off the beaten track be it just for a walk, a hike, a run, or say, for biking. With AllTrials, you get access to 450,000 trials across the globe each with varying skill levels, interests, and locations. Monitor your GPS location and activity with AllTrails. Plan your route based on reviews from others in the hiking community to get the best adventurous experience available out there. Above all, this is completely off the beaten track.
Xe Currency
Category: Currency Converter / Transfer
When it comes to currency exchange, I go crazy as the ‘math doesn’t always maths’. Well, I switched to Xe Currency, your to-go application that helps in currency conversion and transfer supported by 200+ countries. The app tips you on currency rates in real-time and offers unbeatable transfer rates compared to banks and beyond.
The currency conversion works offline too although you need to add the currency when you have Wi-Fi access but that’s all taken care of. You might have a lot on your mind when traveling, at least currency conversion and transfer are sorted with Xe Currency.
ExpressVPN
Category: VPN
When you are traveling, there are hundreds of things to track and look out for but at least, your internet security can be promised. ExpressVPN is a leading VPN service provider that offers blazing-fast internet access with coverage of thousands of services across 105 countries. Having a VPN installed allows you to bypass any impending restrictions the destination country might have. However, the primary goal is to stay secure when connected to the internet and that is where ExpressVPN can be a goldmine.
Available in 17 languages, ExpressVPN has an exclusive VPN protocol, built-in passport manager, iron-tight security, threat manager, and other features giving you all-around protection on the internet.
Couchsurfing
Category: Local Guide \ Travel
You are visiting a new city or a country but you don’t know anything about it. Of course, the internet has a vast trove of information but do you think it will be able to do justice compared to a local living in the destination place? What if you get to stay with locals, eat what they eat, and do anything they are willing to as a traveler?
Couchsurfing is an app for more than 12 million travel enthusiasts covering more than 230,000 cities. Discover fun events in the location you are visiting. With Couchsurfing, you get to ask permission from locals hoping you can get to stay with them, document their experience, and cherish lively adventures that no travel guide might be able to provide.
Stellarium
Category: Star Gazing
Traveling unlocks your ability to appreciate what nature has to offer. From serene beauty to endless mountain ranges and large stretches of desert going edge-to-edge to urban landscape, traveling gives you access to all these based on where you are. Stargazing is often one of the most talked about activities when you are traveling, especially when there’s an auspicious alignment of planets often unseen over tens of years.
Stellarium gives you access to stars and planets often visible to human eyes (of course, highlighted with a bright dot at best unless you are using any telescope or a high-zoom DSLR camera). Track both artificial and natural satellites, and check out where the planets are including their location, elevation, and other details. Perhaps, you can use the app to give your star-gazing habit a boost.
HappyCow
Category: Veg Restaurant Finder
Different people have different eating preferences but when you are traveling, it becomes a task finding the right kind of restaurants you want. Try HappyCow, a robust vegetarian restaurants and dining options finder app with coverage of more than 185+ countries. The app has 220K+ listings with 1.5 million plus unique reviews allowing travelers to find veg/gluten-free/vegan dining options nearby.
SkyScanner
Category: Flights / Hotels / Car Rental Finder
One of my preferred travel apps for finding flights is Skyscanner. When you put the source and destination airport followed by the date of travel, Skyscanner literally scours through the internet comparing dozens of sites to find the best flights and their current prices. There’s also a ‘Price Alerts’ feature that tracks fares for your route and alerts you when it drops. But it’s not just for flights; it also lets you compare hotels and car rental services onboard.
Airalo
Category: eSIM Service Provider
Good luck if you want to travel the world without an active internet and mobile plan on your phone. But on the flip side, it is also true that you can’t just go out and purchase a new SIM card in every country you visit, especially, when the SIM card may stop working as soon as you leave the country.
Presenting Airalo, a premium eSIM service that has access to 200+ countries around the globe. All you gotta do is install the app, find the eSIM that works for your destination, install it, and ingo. Since it is the eSIM that we are talking about, you don’t need to visit a telecom operator of that destination country to get a physical SIM. You can get mobile data, text, and call or combo services with Airalo.
Download: iOS \ Android [Removed]
Wrapping Up
We understand that traveling involves a lot of planning. You need to keep track of your location, map out routes, know where to embark and disembark, convert currencies, and find a place to stay for the night. The goal of this listicle on the 15 best travel apps is to make your journey smoother and less overwhelming. That’s why we’ve covered various aspects of travel, from accommodation and transportation to dining and beyond. We hope this helps in your adventures to explore the ‘less visited.’
