Best Travel Apps You Need on Your Phone

Best for: Travel plans, itinerary alerts

Price: Free

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android

Skyscanner is a flight comparison app that does all the hard work for you, trawling hundreds of airlines and travel companies, to find the very best flight deals available.  Travel can be very expensive, but there are a few tricks and tips that make it less so. There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing a flight you’d booked being sold for a cheaper price just weeks later. With Skyscanner, users can input their travel plans, and the app will tell them when is the best time to book their flight.

Best for: Trip Planning

Price: Free

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android

Airports can sap the energy out of you, and there’s nothing more envy-inducing than watching people swan into the executive lounges, knowing they’ll be enjoying complimentary food and drink, showers, comfy chairs, and more. But with LoungeBuddy, you can be the person attracting the envious looks, and without paying a fortune. You can book entrance into almost any lounge for a one-time fee, with no subscription charges. Simply select your airport, the day you’re traveling, and pick a lounge. After you’ve bought your pass just show it to the staff at the entrance to the lounge and enjoy the comforts of premium travel, without having to be a member of the club.

Best for: Food, Travel

Price: Free

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android

Before you head to a new country, it’s wise to at least try and learn some of the language. Nobody’s expecting you to become fluent, but in non-English speaking places, a basic understanding of signs and phrases will make your time there much more rewarding. Duolingo helps people learn new languages in a entertaining game-like fashion. The app is extremely easy to use and keeps users hooked on the language of their choice. The company recently unveiled its new Japanese language course, and also covers Spanish, French, German, Russian, and many more.

Best for: Language learning and translating

Price: Free

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android

If you are brave enough to take on an unfamiliar public transport system, there’s help at hand. Citymapper is aimed at commuters, so you know you’re only getting the best travel advice within a city. The app gives you all the options to get around a city, from car sharing to buses or trains.

Features include offline maps, prices, live departure times, disruption alerts and even a calorie counter! Citymapper is available in 41 cities around the world.

Best for: City Travel

Price: Free

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android

No matter how you choose to navigate a new country, you’re going to need a map at some point. Thankfully, the days of awkwardly unfolding a gigantic map while the locals laugh at the clueless tourist are over. MAPS.ME does something most other map apps don’t—it lets you view your maps offline. That’s crucial when you’re on roaming data tariffs and don’t want to be charged a fortune to check where you are every now and then.

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android

Airbnb is the holiday app you need on your phone if you're looking to book accommodation that's more home away from home than hotel, and for inspiration on what to do while you're away.

Airbnb lets you rent individual rooms, couches, or an entire apartment from locals. I love Airbnb, as it’s a happy medium between hostels and hotels. Plus, if you stay with local hosts, you’ll still get the social aspect of a hostel. The app does everything the website does but at the tip of your fingers. I find it a lot more effective way to communicate with your host.

Best for: Trip Planning

Price: Free

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android

TripIt is an all-in-one travel planner. TripIt helps organize your upcoming travel itinerary. All you have to do is forward your hotel, restaurant, flight, and car rental confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and it automatically transfers all the information to your master itinerary, so that you can easily view all your upcoming plans at once. There is also an alerts system for reminders about those flights and hotel reservations. 

If you upgrade to the pro version, the company will find you alternative routes for when your flights get canceled, as well as send you automatic notifications from airlines about flight delays, cancellations, and more. If you travel a lot and have a lot of bookings you need to organize, this is the best app to have.

Best for: Trip Planning

Price: Free

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android

Tripadvisor is a must-have when it comes to trip planning. Get inspiration, read reviews, organise your trip and book excursions all within this awesome travel planner app. We particularly love the 'Trip' feature, where you can save all the places that take your fancy and view them on a map.

For many travellers, Tripadvisor is the go-to app for checking out the best places to eat and drink.

Best for: Trip Planning and Food

Price: Free

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android

Google Translate is another excellent app for travelers. Even the most prepared traveler can hit language difficulties on a trip. There are a few different translation apps and other hardware solutions, but for a traveler, it’s hard to beat Google’s Translate app.

Perhaps the most useful feature is the conversation mode. You simply choose the languages you want and speak into the app. The app uses speech-to-text to translate what you said so the other party can read it.

Users can listen to conversations and provide translated text, but it also works on inputted text as well, and via your smartphone’s camera, it can look at a sign and translate its meaning.

Best for: Language learning and translating

Price: Free

Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android