The 18 Best Travel Apps to Take with You on Your Next Trip

It goes without saying that holidays in themselves are often pure happiness. Break away from your 9-5, read copious amounts of books and eat it all. the. food. However, sometimes things can get a little stressful. Whether that's because your spreadsheet program isn't working, you're having trouble budgeting, or you can't find a decent place to have dinner.

That's where the best travel apps come into play. Because yes, there is an app for that. Products like Packing Pro, Zagat and Hopper are all made to make your vacation easier. This is our top pick of the bunch.

TripIt

Cost: Free, or $48.99 (£38.91) per year for the pro version

Take the stress out of creating your own complicated itinerary with TripIt: the trip planning app that does all the hard stuff for you. Before your holiday, the app will give you an email address to which you can send all your booking confirmations. Whether it's flights, hotels, dinners or even excursions, TripIt then organizes them in chronological order so you know what you're doing each day. This is a game-changer if you're going on a road trip or have a lot of different things planned on the same days.

Packaging Pro

Free

Do you ever feel like you've forgotten something? You don't do that if you use Packing Pro, the handy app that takes away all the stress during your holiday thanks to its handy lists and packing reminders. It divides your luggage into essentials, clothing, accessories and more, and even has an 'Expert List', which suggests items for you based on the weather in your location, the duration of the trip, and so on.

Revolution

Okay, so this is an app you've probably heard of, but it's still worth mentioning. In a similar way to Monzo, Revolut allows you to transfer money abroad in 150 currencies, with a real-time rate, without any fees on all currencies. This means you can compare what your money is worth in real time in different currencies, so you can transfer your money when you think the exchange rate is best.

Free

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Free

Free WiFi Finder

Whether you're short on data or in a distant time zone, the Free WiFi Finder app does exactly what it says on the tin. You don't even need an internet connection for it to work (convenient), because all hotspots are stored locally on your device. Whether it is a Starbucks or an Apple Store, whether it can offer you a free WiFi connection? We are interested.

Free

One of the best things about experiencing another culture is undoubtedly the food. The Raved app gives you clear and concise reviews of local restaurants, without having to scroll through hundreds of options. They also offer lists curated by their food editors and give you the option to set price limits depending on what you're looking for.

Hopper

Cost: Free, or $6.99 (£5.55) per month for Duolingo Plus

So we've all heard of Skyscanner and Kayak, and while Hopper is indeed a flight and hotel booking platform, it has a clever piece of technology that sets it apart. The app predicts when prices will be lowest and uses this prediction to advise you when is the right time to book your flights and hotels, sometimes saving customers up to 40%. All you have to do is show interest in the booking you're looking for, and the app uses push notifications to notify you of price drops.

Duolingo

Freeor $24.99 (£19.84) per year for Unlimited Jetlag plans

The Duolingo app can be a useful download before you go on holiday, as it aims to be a handy guide to learning another language. Once you've chosen the language you want to learn, the app creates games aimed at teaching you words, phrases and grammar techniques. Users earn points for correct answers, racing against the clock and eventually progressing to more difficult phrases and words.

Time shifter

Freeor $3 (£2.38) per month for Splitwise Pro

Don't let jet lag ruin your vacation - or make coming back from a trip even worse. Timeshifter creates personalized plans for you to beat delays and promises to help you "be your best." Developed by world-renowned scientists and based on the latest sleep and circadian neuroscience, they say it is even used by astronauts and elite athletes.

Split

Free

If you're traveling with a group of friends, you need Splitwise. Whether it's for accommodation, a meal out or even drinks to fill the fridge, Splitwise allows the person who originally paid the full amount to upload the receipt and choose who else in the group owes them money is. The app then calculates how much money you all owe each other at any given time.

HotelTonight

Cost: Free, or $3.99 (£3.17) for Travel Spend Pro

HotelTonight promises "incredible last-minute hotel deals" on rooms for that night, the day after and beyond. The app offers discounts on empty rooms, and while we're all used to hotel marketplaces, they claim to take the hassle out of the endless scrolling to find the perfect hotel at the best price. All it takes is three taps, one swipe, and you're booked!

Travel expenses

Cost: free, or $3 (£2.38) per month for Couchsurfing Pro

By the time you've paid for a few drinks, dinner, and ice cream, it's easy to lose track of how your budget is faring. Step forward: travel expenses. The app promises a quick and intuitive way to keep an eye on your money while you're away, comparing your daily budget with your actual spending, as well as your average daily spend and your total spend.

Free

Couchsurfing

The Couchsurfing app is self-explanatory and ideal for holidays on a budget. The goal is to connect travelers with other travelers by finding them a place to stay or giving them the opportunity to share their home with other travelers. No money changes hands. There are over 6 million landlords in Britain, and it's not just about free rooms to stay in; Hosts can mark themselves as 'available' to provide advice and guidance.

Cost: Free, or $29.99 (£23.81) for Photo Translator Pro

PolarSteps

If you're going on a journey and want to share every step with family and friends, this is the app for you. Enter your route with locations and stops so that anyone following you can see where you are at any time. You can then upload photos to each destination to provide even more insight. Perfect for sharing with extended family who may not be on Instagram, but might want to sneak a peek at your, um, late nights in Cancun.

Free

Photo translator

Have you ever been to a foreign museum and had no idea what the exhibits were about? Because the same. The Photo Translator app is here to change all that. Simply hold your camera up to a sign/poster/paragraph of text in another language and marvel at how it easily translates it into something you recognize in seconds. Sightseeing will never be the same again.

Free

City mapper

Free

Don't underestimate the old-fashioned power of Citymapper. The app, which started in London in 2011, allows you to enter the location you hope to reach, and your starting point (whether it's your current location or somewhere you'll be later), and offers you plenty of different options for how to do that. get there. It's great for decoding local public transport, offering peaceful cycle routes or even giving a rough estimate of how much a taxi will cost. It is now available in more than 100 cities around the world.

Wheel map

Cost: Free, £40 per year for Wanderlog Pro

Created by a non-profit organization in Germany, this app is ideal for wheelchair users, people traveling with strollers or heavy suitcases, or if you have mobility issues. The app is available in more than 30 countries and uses a traffic light system to indicate whether restaurants, shops, stations or tourist attractions are fully accessible (green), partially accessible (yellow) or inaccessible (red). The interactive map is created based on information entered by the user and is therefore dependent on the advice of fellow travelers.

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If you haven't seen Lime bikes and scooters all over your city yet, it won't be long before you head somewhere where they are. Electric public transportation options are popping up in Paris, Los Angeles and the like, offering a quick and easy way to see the sights - without going underground. The app works on WiFi or mobile data, giving you a map of all scooters and bicycles in the area. You scan the scooter to unlock it, read the safety instructions and then pay the equivalent of £1.00 and 15 p/m to ride it. Brilliant.

Hiking log

While there are other trip planning apps on this list, Wanderlog has a ton of USPs that make it an essential download. Once you've entered all your activities and bookings, they'll be mapped out so you can see how they all compare in terms of location. It also offers collaborative editing, meaning you and your vacationing friends can make live updates at the same time, a checklist function, and even help with budgeting and cost allocation. Perfect.