Below you will find a description of each of the 21 ultimate travel apps I use while being on the road. Apps can make your life nowadays much easier. Especially all the offline functionalities are very helpful.
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21 Ultimate Travel Apps
MAPS.ME
What’s worse than arriving late at night in a new country, new city or new place and you have no idea where you are exactly? You might open google maps and figure out you forgot to open the area you are in when you had last time internet connection. How can you find your accommodation now for example? (without taking an expensive taxi).
MAPS.ME is the perfect solution. Simply download all the country maps to your phone before you start your travel and you are never lost again. You can even use it as navigation system to go from place A to B. That’s perfect if you are renting a scooter. MAPS.ME will give you all the directions.
Google Maps
Google Maps is the number one map and app to use while you are connected to the internet. You can find literally everything on Google Maps. Almost all the places are available on Google Maps. You can use it for directions or to figure out opening hours from a store or restaurant. If you open a specific area on Google Maps while you have internet, it will be stored in your cache from your phone and also available when you are offline. Therefore you can use it to navigate around with the GPS even when you are offline.
Citymapper
Citymapper is the new trending app to use in big cities to figure out how to get from A to B. Bus, train, subway or walking, it will show you the many different possibilities to get to your destination with time and prices.
Google Translator
Speaking with hands and feet in a foreign country can be interesting, that’s as well a reason why we travel as it makes it exciting. But sometimes it can be important that you know the word or phrase in the foreign language (without having internet connection) or use the google translate app to learn a little bit of the foreign language, to expand your vocabulary.
Google translator app is the best choice for that, as you can download as many languages as you want, so you will have it offline available all the time!
XE Currency Converter
Being in many countries (in a short time) it can get very confusing with the conversion of the local currency. Therefore the XE currency converter helps you easily to convert the local currency into your own currency or any one you would like. You can add up to 10 different currencies and you will see the conversions for all of them at the same time.
Couchsurfing
The Couchsurfing (CS) app is one of my favorite apps while travelling. The Couchsurfing app and webpage is an amazing and easy opportunity to meet a lot of local people, expats or other travellers. It is as well a good way for shy or introvert people to meet others. You can use it to find a host if you are looking for a couch to crash on. Or you can search for weekly Couchsurfing meetups which take place in most bigger cities (Seoul, South Korea has one of the biggest and best CS community I know).
The best thing about the CS app is the “hangout” function. Simply set your hangout status to available, enter a short description of what you want to do (go for dinner, sightseeing, …) and the app will show you all the couchsurfers which are available in your area (you will see their description what they want to do and how far they are away from your location).
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is the all in one travel page for general information. It can be used for reviews of hotels or tours. You can used it to find the most popular sightseeing spots in a city or specific region and to see hotel rankings and even compare hotel prices through TripAdvisor.
KAYAK
Nowadays there are many flight apps to search for the cheapest flights. Personally, I prefer the KAYAK app (or webpage) to compare flight prices. You also see the flight price index over a certain timeframe. With that functionality you can see if the prices are going up or down and when the right time is to book the flight.
Additional information: After I have found the cheapest flight and airline I always go to the airline webpage to see if it is the same price there. Sometimes it’s cheaper on the airline page (be because of additional baggage fees or so) and sometimes it’s cheaper via the KAYAK app as you can get some KAYAK booking discounts. Check as well the How to find cheap flights post.
Uber
Sometimes you are not in the mood for a local bus or taxi or its late at night. With Uber you have a cheaper way to get your private transportation.
In some countries (e.g. Vietnam) you can use Uber as well for ordering a Motorbike Taxi. That’s the cheapest and fastest way to get around in the cities.
Use my UBER code and you will get $10 off your first ride (if you use it within 90 days after you have signed up).
Uber Eats
Are you tired of eating outside or just want to chill at home? You can use Uber Eats for ordering food. Uber Eats will pick up the food from a restaurant of your choice (if they participate in it) and will deliver it to your place.
For example in Singapore Uber Eats is very common and you will have a big choice of all kind of food and restaurants.
Grab
In some countries, especially Southeast Asia, GRAB is the cheapest way for private transportation. You can use it for Car Taxis or Motorbike Taxis.
GO-JEK
GO-JEK is similar as Uber regarding transportation. It’s just basically for Indonesia. You can order a Car Taxi or Motorbike Taxi.
But GO-JEK is much more! There are several other services you can use with it: order food, paying bills, do shopping, order a cleaner or buy tickets for an event.
FlixBus
FlixBus is getting big in Germany and the surrounding countries. It’s the cheapest and easiest way to travel around by bus in central Europe. Search for a connection, select the date and time (different times have different prices and duration) enter your credit card information and there you go. Simple and easy.
Turbo VPN
You can use Turbo VPN app to surf public Wi-Fi with more security. The VPN app can get you around firewalls and most important it will let you view Facebook, use Google services, WhatsApp or watch Netflix in ways you normally can’t if it is blocked in a country. It can be used to overcome regional restrictions for all kind of purposes. In China you are able to use your loved apps which are normally blocked. In other countries you can watch TV shows from your home country.
Facebook and Instagram are perfect to keep in touch with all the amazing people you meet while being on the road and even after. They can follow your travel/life and vice versa.
Pinterest is a super-fast growing source of any advice/information you are looking for. Simply enter the keywords from the information you are looking for in the search field and many so called pins (images with a short description) will be shown. You can click on the most appealing pin and you will be guided to the webpage with the source of information.
KakaoTalk
If you travel to South Korea, KakaoTalk is the must have app. Literally everybody uses KakaoTalk in South Korea. Basically it’s for communicating with each other like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
WeChat is the must have app if you are visiting or living in China. It can be used for messaging and many other things.
Many webpages and apps are blocked in China (Google, Google Play, Facebook, WhatsApp.). Therefore it’s very important that you download the app BEFORE you travel to China.
Duolingo
Duolingo is the perfect travel app to learn a foreign language and it is completely free. Check it out and improve your foreign language skills that you are able to communicate with the local people.
Shazam
Good memories are often connected with good music. It can happen that you have the moment of your life in a bar, club or even in a public bus where they play an amazing song, but you don’t know who’s the singer.
Just start Shazam, record a few seconds of the song and as soon as you are connected back to the internet Shazam will tell you the artist and song title. Happy listening to music 😉
Hope my 21 ultimate travel apps were useful. Now do you need more help for preparing your travel?
- Don’t forget to have a look at my Travel Resources to see all other helpful and practical information for planning your trip.
