Useful Travel Apps for Your Smartphone

In the past, travelers used heavy guidebooks while backpacking. They would ask around, book spontaneously, and sometimes visit several accommodations before finding the right one. Or they would book everything in advance through a traditional travel agency. Many of you might not be familiar with this way of booking travel anymore. But I grew up before the era of smartphones.

Today, everything is more convenient: there are useful travel apps for packing lists, travel planning, navigation, flight booking, or currency conversion. It doesn't matter if you own an iPhone or an Android device. All information is available quickly on the go.

Within seconds, we can find out if our train or flight is delayed or if there's a travel advisory. Most of these useful travel apps are free and can even be used offline!

There are just a few exceptions: trips to Africa, for example. For road trips to Namibia, Botswana, or Uganda, printed maps and detailed guidebooks were indispensable.

'Oh my God, you can't even go on vacation without your iPhone,' some say. I can't imagine traveling without these apps. In Japan, apps like Google Translate were essential for communication. Without navigation apps like Google Maps, we would have had real difficulties getting from point A to point B. Apps show the shortest routes, know operating hours, and translate how to ask for the nearest restroom in Japanese.

Here is a list of our practical travel apps. We have selected the best travel apps for you!

Are you planning your annual vacation or a short trip? We particularly enjoy travel planning! Here are our best tips for travel planner apps:

Want to stay where the locals live? You can't do better than Fewo Direct or Airbnb. Here you can find private houses, apartments, and rooms in all price ranges and locations worldwide. We use Fewo Direct more frequently lately as Airbnb has been getting more negative headlines. For Europe, we'd prefer to use Fewo Direct.

The apps are free.

For hotel bookings, we always check Booking.com. There are often last-minute savings. Still, it's worth comparing prices.

Alternative: Agoda. Especially for trips to Asia, you should include Agoda when searching for accommodation. The listings here often do not appear on booking.com. When they do, they are usually much cheaper on Agoda.

The apps are free.

Looking for a flight on the go? I prefer to use the Kayak App. It's simple, fast, and straightforward. You can directly indicate whether you want to book carry-on or checked luggage, so you receive a realistic price right away. Unlike other flight search engines where you can specify later that you want to add luggage.

The app is free.

The Google Translate app is the most important app in Arabic and Asian countries where English is rarely spoken. The app translates offline and in real time. You can save offline dictionaries, scan photos that contain incomprehensible languages (bus schedules, menus, etc.) and it's truly the most vital app for traveling.

Essential for Japan, Russia, or China.

Alternatively, you can use DeepL, which comes from a German company. I sometimes find it to be of better quality. Just try out what works best for you.

The practical app for converting current currency rates. Over 100 currencies and countries are available. I always use it in non-Euro countries.

The app is free (with ads).

With this app, you can calculate every exchange rate worldwide. An alternative to Currency and also available for Android.

The app is free (there's a free and a Pro version).

Splitwise is fantastic. You can easily split shared bills while traveling (or even at home) through the app. No matter how many people are involved. You can view everything in detail in the browser and download as an Excel file.

You can photograph bills and save them as expenses. Perfect and ideal.

The basic version of the app is free. We use the Splitwise Pro version, which allows us to access additional features. Scanning the bills becomes possible then.

On the well-known platform, you can book your ride through the app. On the integrated map, you can see if drivers are nearby, what car they are driving, and how much the ride costs. UBER is the cheaper alternative to taxis or public transportation. Alternatives include LYFT. For New York, you should always check both apps and book the cheaper ride.

Alternatives by the travel destination: Lyft, Bolt, ShareNow.

The ultimate app that knows almost all connections worldwide. Since Google Maps doesn't know everything, Rom2Rio is a great alternative.

We have a bit of a love-hate relationship with our trains. Still, we prefer trains when it comes to traveling in Germany. Thanks to DB Navigator, we can easily search for and book train connections.

In more and more cities, you can also purchase tickets for suburban trains through the app. You can also find schedules for buses and trams in the app more frequently. Essential for us!

Find restaurants or cafes nearby. While not utilized enough in Germany, it helps find the best restaurants and cafes when traveling through the USA (especially on our trips to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Hawaii). In the USA, you can often reserve a table with Yelp, saving you the Open Table app. Also useful in the USA are Resy and Beli (especially in New York). Useful in South Africa: Dineplan.

The app is free.

Looking for the best hotel or sightseeing tour? With Tripadvisor, based on 100 million reviews and opinions from travelers, you can find the best hotels, the coolest restaurants, and the most exciting activities around.

This app shows you restaurants and cafes that offer vegetarian or vegan dishes. This way, you can find the right place and check out photos of meals from others and read reviews.

The Happy Cow app is free.

A weather app is essential. I've tested several and found the WeatherPro app to be the most reliable. The nearly 3 euros are well worth the investment. Many claim YR is better, but I can't confirm that.

Do you sometimes wonder what constellations you're seeing while traveling? With SkyGuide (Alternative: SkyView), it's really simple. Turn on the app, hold your smartphone or tablet up to the sky, and read which planets and constellations are above (or below) you. If you want to find out where the Milky Way is, this app is fantastic.

Aurora is the app that keeps you informed about the Northern Lights. Check the app to see when the chances are good and get notified when there's an Aurora alert in your location. I use the Pro version.

In most countries (except Africa), Google Maps works great for navigation. You can now save maps offline, which simplifies navigation. The app also shows the best public transport connections and pricing in many countries (USA and Japan).

What many users don't know: You can also save places and select maps you want to store offline in Google Maps.

The app is free. Check out my handy Google Maps for your next trips. I've shared my personal lists for certain locations so you can find the best restaurants near the attractions directly on your phone.

With maps.me, you can use free maps that allow you to navigate offline at your destination. Select the countries or regions you want to visit and download the corresponding map before your trip. Within the map, you can search for places, streets, or special destinations, create routes, or save places.

A good alternative to Google Maps.

The Tracks4Africa maps (printed) are really good. Finally, they are also available as an app for smartphones. The great thing is that you can see exactly where you are located thanks to GPS. In Botswana (Moremi and Savuti), it's a great help when the signposting is again missing and several tracks diverge!

My favorite app for recording and researching hikes is Komoot. Through my use of a smartwatch (Garmin Femin7S), I can display my routes directly on my watch.

The basic version is free; I have the Pro version to plan hikes myself.

The alternative to Komoot is especially useful for the USA. We found a lot of hiking trails in Hawaii thanks to AllTrails.

I recently discovered Fatmap in Norway. This app recognizes paths on a 3D model. Really brilliant for finding trails and navigating. The app is free.

Do you have any more tips for useful travel apps?

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