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(Credit: René Ramos)
From the time you start thinking about your next destination to the moment your feet hit the welcome mat back home, having the right travel apps makes the whole experience smoother and less stressful. They help you know where to find a reliable ATM while on a road trip and which restaurants are tourist traps. They keep your itinerary organized, alert you of good deals on flights, and even help you find a last-minute hotel room. Should You Use Aggregator Apps to Book Travel?In this list of the best travel apps are several aggregator apps, such as Expedia, Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz, and a few others. An aggregator is a website or app that searches across many providers to help you compare prices and details for flights, hotels, car rentals, and sometimes even train and bus tickets. Aggregators are very good at helping you research options, but I don’t recommend booking travel through them, especially for flights. Yes, you can sometimes get a good price, but having a middleman makes it much harder—if not impossible—to deal directly with the airline, hotel, or car rental company if something goes wrong. Instead, use the aggregator to compare your options and then book directly with the provider. It’s much easier that way to add a cancellation policy, purchase a changeable ticket, and discuss solutions (including getting reimbursed) if any problems come up. Only book through an aggregator app if you’re comfortable not talking directly to the provider if a problem arises.With that in mind, here are the best travel apps to pack before your next trip.
How to Get Your Phone Ready for Travel
Travel Apps for Planning and Organizing
Under the umbrella name Google Travel are a few great resources. Take, for example, Google Flights. There’s no mobile app, but the website flights.google.com helps you research and compare flight options. It doesn’t let you buy tickets directly, however—that’s why we classify it as a planning app and not one for booking. In any event, these search tools are the best for getting a quick estimate of what a flight might cost or how long it will take. Google Travel has other tools for researching destinations, too, such as recommended things to do and hotel reviews.
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Hopper is an app you definitely want to use while you’re planning a trip and before you buy any tickets. The mobile-only app tracks flight prices and gives you clear advice on the best time to buy—including through notifications when the price drops. What makes this travel app valuable is its level of detail. It doesn’t just tell you to wait to buy your ticket, but gives you a date when the price will likely rise. You can book through Hopper, too, with a commission fee of a few dollars.
Find interesting places to stop during a road trip with the appropriately named Roadtrippers. With this app and website, you can explore a map of the US and Canada (with some coverage for Mexico, too) that has unusual roadside attractions, museums, amusement parks, campsites, restaurants, and more. When you find a site you like, just add it to your trip, and Roadtrippers draws your route accordingly. A free Roadtrippers account limits you to having one saved trip at a time with only three stops. The price for paid memberships also went up recently, and there are new tiers of service to choose from, too, starting at Basic for $35.99 per year (3 saved trips, 20 stops per trip, and a few other perks). For all features, you need a Premium membership, which costs $59.99 per year and lets you create unlimited trips with up to 150 stops, save offline maps, and use a few features specific to RV travel.
TripCase is a free app that helps you organize your trip by making an itinerary for you. The itinerary can include flights, accommodations, rental cars, restaurant reservations, and more. To make an itinerary, you forward travel confirmation emails to TripCase, and the app does the rest. The next time you launch the app or log into the website, a complete chronological lineup of your trip is waiting for you. You can manually add details, too. The result is similar to what you get from TripIt (see below), but the method of collecting the information is different.
TripIt is similar to TripCase in creating an organized itinerary for you, but TripIt builds your travel plans by sniffing out confirmation emails in your inbox and pulling out the most important information. If you don’t want to give TripIt access to your email, you can use the app by forwarding emails to it instead or manually entering details, but that’s not the point of the app. If you are disorganized and haphazard with your travel details, TripIt might do you a lot of good.
Travel Apps for Search and Booking
Airbnb helps you find a place to crash, whether it’s a simple room in someone’s home or a luxurious beachfront property. The site also offers other kinds of bookings for travelers, such as tours, classes, and workshops. Whether you use Airbnb to find a place to sleep or for inspiration about what to do on your next trip, you’re guaranteed to see big, beautiful photographs of it all.
Booking.com is a site for booking accommodations, flights, car rentals, airport taxis, tours, and attractions. It’s best known for helping you find great hotel rooms around the world that fit all your needs at the right price. Booking.com is part of Booking Holdings, Inc., which also owns Kayak, Priceline.com, Agoda.com, Rentalcars.com, and Opentable.com, so you may notice some similarities among these services.
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Culture Trip was once an app and site for reading about travel destinations, but it has expanded to now primarily offer package tours. Search for the country or region you want to explore, and Culture Trip dishes up multiday trips to your destination of choice, like an eight-day trekking adventure through Patagonia or a safari through Kenya and Tanzania. You book these packaged tours directly through the app or website. Culture Trip also has plenty of recommendations and magazine-like articles, too.
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Expedia is an all-in-one travel aggregator search and purchase site, also sometimes called a fare aggregator site. In other words, you can search for flights, accommodations, and car rentals across many providers to get the best options. You purchase or reserve your travel details right from Expedia, not the airline, hotel, or other provider. Expedia is part of Expedia Group, which also owns Hotwire.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, Trivago, among other travel aggregators. You may notice similarities among these services, too.
As the name suggests, Hotels.com is a search and booking site for accommodations, though it isn’t just for hotel rooms. The site also has vacation homes, bed and breakfasts, motels, and apartments you can explore and book. Hotels.com is part of Expedia Group and shares similarities with some of its sister brands, such as Hotwire.com, Orbitz, and others. Warning that the mobile app for Hotels.com can be fickle when a US user accesses it from abroad. You may end up in a localized version of the site that doesn’t price things in dollars or isn’t even in English.
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Some people, myself included, panic at the notion of having to book a hotel room at the last minute. For travelers ready to fly by the seat of their pants, there’s Hotel Tonight. This travel app specializes in selling same-day hotel reservations, often at steep discounts. It has options to book in advance, too, but the best deals are same-day bookings.
Hotwire, one of the brands owned by Expedia Group, is a travel aggregator search and purchase site (much like Expedia itself). The web version is a one-stop-shop for finding flights, hotels, and car rentals on the website, though the mobile app does only hotels and rental cars (no flights). You can search for one, two, or all three of those travel needs, and reserve or purchase them directly from the site.
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Kayak is another all-in-one travel search site, though it doesn’t let you book anything directly. Instead, Kayak sends you off to other places where you finalize your travel deals, whether that’s another aggregator, an airline, or a rental car agency. Kayak covers hotel stays, rental cars, train and bus tickets, and travel experiences. It has some handy tools for exploring destinations based on flight prices for the dates you want to travel. Kayak is part of Booking Holdings Inc., which also includes Booking.com, Priceline.com, Agoda.com, and Rentalcars.com. Kayak also operates other metasearch brands, including Swoodoo, checkfelix, momondo, Cheapflights, HotelsCombined, and Mundi.
Orbitz is a search aggregator for flights, hotels, rental cars, as well as cruises. When you bundle more than one purchase together, such as a flight and hotel stay, you may be able to get a discount, or at least a good price, by booking directly through Orbitz. Orbitz is part of Expedia Group, Inc., which also owns Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Travelocity, trivago, among other travel sites.
Priceline is another mega travel search app for flights, hotels, rental cars, and (like Orbitz), cruises. When you bundle more than one purchase together, such as a flight and hotel stay, you may be able to get a discount. Priceline is part of Booking Holdings Inc., which also owns Booking.com, Kayak, Agoda.com, and Rentalcars.com. Don’t be surprised if you noticed similarities among them.
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What should you do when you’ve prepaid for a hotel and you suddenly have to cancel your trip? Download Roomer or go to roomertravel.com/sell. This app and website is a marketplace for prepaid hotel stays. Roomer can help you recoup money that might otherwise be lost to the travel gods, and it can save you money if you buy a hotel reservation at a discount from someone who can’t use it. You can explore hotel stays that people are trying to sell by location or date.
Viator specializes in helping you book tours. When you travel to a destination where having a guide or daily itineraries would be ideal, take a look at what Viator has to offer. You’ll find tours that include daily excursions as well as weeklong adventures with transfers included. Note that the quantity and quality of the deals varies dramatically by destination.
Vrbo, which apparently stands for “vacation rentals by owners,” started out as a booking site for vacation homes. It has expanded a little and now includes not only houses, but also apartments, cabins, cottages, and villas. Vrbo’s closest competitor is probably Airbnb, though Vrbo doesn’t offer rooms within someone’s private home or BnBs. The site is owned by Expedia Group, Inc., but it’s quite different from any other travel sites in that catalog.
Do you want to search for, compare, and buy tickets for buses and trains with the same ease that you do flights? Wanderu is the app you need. This aggregator and comparison app includes methods of transportation that other sites skip, namely trains and buses. You can also use it for flights, car rentals, and hotels, but it got its start with buses and trains, and that’s still what sets it apart from competitors. Use it for journeys serviced by Amtrak, Megabus, BoltBus, and other ground services.
Travel Apps for Camping and Glamping
Find yourself a furnished yurt, an outfitted safari cabin, or a simple bell tent for your next getaway on Glamping Hub. This site lets you book “unique outdoor accommodations,” and it’s ideal for people who love the great outdoors but don’t own any of the gear.
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Harvest Hosts is an app and online membership program that connects people with self-contained RVs to scenic places where they can park the night for free, such as farms, breweries, and distilleries. The hitch is you won’t have access to any hookups, so it’s only for RVs that have their own water and sewage systems. Memberships start at $99 per year for unlimited stays, but each stay is one night only. Plan rates go up to $179 per year for All Access, which adds access to golf courses where you can park for the night and other perks.
MSRP $99.00
With Hipcamp, you can find public parks as well as private land where you can pitch a tent or sleep the night in one that’s already set up for you. The site lets you find and book tent camping spots, RV parks, cabins, treehouses, and glamping. It works in the US as well as Australia, Canada, France, and the UK.
MSRP Free
At Pitchup, you can find and book campgrounds, RV parks, and other tenting and glamping accommodations. Filters help you find a location based on whether you’re bringing your own equipment or want more of a full-service experience. Pitchup also has lodges and cabins to book for those who aren’t quite ready to sleep in the great outdoors. The site covers North and South America, plus Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and a few spots in Africa.
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The name may seem like a play on Tinder or perhaps Grindr, but Tentrr is for tenting, not dating. Similar to Airbnb but for camp sites and outdoors accommodations, Tentrr covers much of the lower 48 states and Puerto Rico.
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Like other camping and glamping apps, The Dyrt helps you find places to camp for the night, whether it’s an RV park or a campsite. What makes The Dyrt a little different is it offers a Pro membership ($35.99 per year) that adds offline maps for finding cell service, free campgrounds, and other necessities.
MSRP Free
Travel Apps for Recommendations
Vegetarians, vegans, and anyone looking for a healthy meal option after eating out for several days in a row will appreciate Happy Cow. This app and website helps you find restaurants, cafes, health food stores, and other places to get a meat-free meal. The recommended places are not exclusively vegan or vegetarian, but they should all have at least few options non-carnivores.
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Lonely Planet, known as a publisher of travel guidebooks, also has a great website and app where you can explore your next travel destination. You can expect gorgeous photos alongside these recommendations for an inspiring experience.
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Travel writer (and, unrelatedly, longtime marijuana legalization advocate) Rick Steves has an app for European travels with dozens of audio files. Some give you background information on a particular city or region while others are audio guides for navigating popular sites. I listened to some of his Rome content while viewing the Sistine Chapel and again when walking around the Roman Colosseum. If you’re traveling to any of the top destinations in Europe, download this free app and consider listening to some of the segments while planning what to see and do, or for a guided walking tour while you’re there.
Sometimes people have to go to unexpected places that they didn’t choose, like for a wedding or a business trip. When I don’t know anything about my destination, I turn to Tripadvisor. It’s one of the most comprehensive online sources for travelers, with background information about different cities and regions, plus highlights of what to see and do. You can read reviews of hotels, restaurants, and activities, written by members of the Tripadvisor community, as well as seeing photos they’ve uploaded so you know what to expect before you arrive. Tripadvisor has relationships with various booking sites, too, which means once you finish researching hotels or restaurants, you can usually reserve them.
When you’re in a new location and need a quick recommendation, Yelp comes in handy. It gives insight into the quality of businesses and services, from restaurants to mechanics, based on user reviews. The reviews can certainly be biased at times, but Yelp often at least lets you get a sense of what to expect, as people will often contribute photos, menus, prices, and other key information about businesses you may need while you’re traveling. In some locations, Yelp also lets you make reservations for restaurants and other services directly through the site and app.
If you live in the US, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Zomato. In some countries, however, it’s more popular than Yelp, and it covers the same ground. Zomato is a crowd-sourced review site, mostly for restaurants. In some regions, you can order delivery food through Zomato, too.
Travel Apps for Navigating on the Ground
AllTrails is a mobile app and website that helps you get outdoors. It has lists of trails for hiking and walking around the world with pictures, maps, and directions to trailheads. You can download trail maps offline if you sign up for the Pro version of the service for $35.99 per year. It’s a great resource for quickly finding the best places to be outside when you’re in an unfamiliar area.
The free Convertr+ app is fantastic for converting currencies. It has a clear interface and lets you save multiple currencies in one view. Convertr+ offers other types of conversions that travelers sometimes need too, such as Celsius to Fahrenheit, kilometers to miles, liters to ounces, and vice versa.
MSRP Free
On driving road trips, GasBuddy helps you find gas by location and price, but be careful of it collecting and selling information about you. It works in real time on your phone, but that’s where you will run into privacy issues, so we recommend using GasBuddy’s website instead, which takes a tiny bit of planning ahead. It’s available in the US, Canada, and Australia.
MSRP Free
My number one go-to travel app is Google Maps. On the ground, it shows you where you are and how to get to where you need to go, whether by foot, public transit, car, or bicycle. Google Maps is equally helpful when you want to explore what’s around, including hotels, restaurants, and gas stations. Often, the listing for sites and businesses include hours of operation, photos, and other details. You can save places on your map by adding icons (stars, hearts, and so on). Best of all, Google Maps lets you save maps offline so that you won’t get lost even when you don’t have service.
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iExit is a travel app for driving trips across the US, including in Alaska and Hawaii. It tells you exactly what’s near every highway exit, from gas stations to ATMs. If there’s a particular restaurant chain or other service you love, you can mark it as a favorite and the app tells you if it’s coming up on your route.
Uber operates around the world, and while the in-app options vary from place to place, the general concept is the same everywhere. There are a few reasons that ride-on-demand apps work so well for travelers. First, it eliminates the need to carry local currency. Second, you don’t have to speak the same language as your driver to get to where you need to go. Third, there’s no haggling. If you don’t want to give Uber your business for one reason or another, do a search for other ride hailing apps or taxi apps that operate in your destination.
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While Google Maps tells you about officially reported problems on the road and whether there’s traffic, Waze knows the nitty-gritty details, like the location of police traps and potholes. This free community-driven app for traffic and road conditions is popular among taxi and car service drivers, although it’s equally useful for everyday drivers. Waze can also tell you the best time to leave for a particular journey to avoid regular traffic.
MSRP Free
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