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Must-Have Travel Tools: 75 Best Apps and Websites for Every Explorer

Written by Dan

Updated on August 17th, 2024

Here are some new ideas for the best and most useful websites, apps, tools and services that make your life easier during travel. Our top travel apps are subscriptions, free services and crowd-sourced data apps that provide cool travel hacks.

This article may contain affiliate links. We earn a small commissions when you purchase via those links — and it's free for you. It's only us (Becca & Dan) working on this website, so we value your support! Read our privacy policy and learn more about us .

Table of contents

• The best insurance: World Nomads Travel
• Priority Pass Airport Lounge Access
• The best travel VPN: ExpressVPN
• Venmo (or PayPal)
• Free ATM Debit Card like Fidelity or Schwab
• Currency Exchange by XE.com & XE App
• YouTube Premium
• Prime Video
• Google Flights
• Secret Flying
• Going (formally Scott’s Cheap Flights)
• Chase Ultimate Rewards
• City Mapper
• Google Maps

MyFitnessPal

• Google Translate
• How to book hostels on the go: Hostelworld

Booking.com

• Google Photos
• Adobe Lightroom
• Amazon Photos

Worldtimebuddy

• Traveling Mailbox
• OOTD: the Office of the Day App
• Authentic Jobs
• Hacker News: Who’s Hiring?
• BBC en Español

We’re learning about new apps and websites for travel, all the time. From working remotely while you travel, to finding your way around a new city, “there’s an app for that.”

Let’s see the apps that have helped us most and the ones we are currently using.

Useful Travel Apps for Convenience and Travel Hacks

Google Fi is one of my top-recommended services that you can get if you’re interested in traveling. Whether or not you’re about to go on a short trip or a long trip, Google Fi can help you. Actually, if you want an awesome cell phone plan for home, Google Fi works for you as well.

If you are already sold on Google Fi. You can sign up using this link !

The most useful feature of Google Fi is the ability to use the same phone and the same phone number in most countries. Every time I land in a new country, I take out my phone and I have service right away, with Google Fi. There’s no need for me to find local SIM cards or struggle to find WiFi.

When I’m not traveling full-time, I have a cellphone plan as part of a family plan, at home in the US. I keep that phone around when I’m home because there is more data attached to that plan. During these times, when I am not traveling, I pause my Google Fi plan and it saves me a little bit of money.

I used my Google Fi phone plan to tether local data when I was working from a small cabin in Argentina and needed to check something for work. The data can get expensive because you pay for your usage. The good news is that if you use a lot of data, Google caps how much you’ll pay. You’ll never be surprised with a $300 phone bill.

Now that Google is rolling out other phones to use with Google Fi (before now, it was only Google phones that you could use!), there’s no reason to not try it out for your next trip. It even works in most off-the-beaten-path destinations that you might be considering.

The best insurance: World Nomads Travel

Travel insurance is important to have when you’re on the road, whether for a short trip or during long-term travel. Outside of the United States, you can pay out-of-pocket for some medical expenses and it can equal the amount of a standard doctor co-pay; however, if there’s ever an emergency, hospital visits or emergency evacuation can be expensive.

Luckily, World Nomads is a well-trusted and an amazing travel insurance provider.

Outside of health coverage, World Nomads helps cover other travel-related struggles, like lost baggage, theft and injury.

Priority Pass Airport Lounge Access

Becca and I wouldn’t know what to do in an airport without Priority Pass . We intentionally show up to airports early in order to get to the Priority Pass lounge, whenever we have a travel day. We’re lucky enough to have received Priority Pass through our credit card, Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Every airport lounge is different, depending on where in the world it might be located or depending on which airline or company runs it. Airport lounges give you a nice place to sit and relax before your flight.

Some airport or airline lounges offer nap rooms, showers, full meals, drinks, WiFi and so much more. We’ve been to a lounge in Hong Kong that has a noodle bar!

Some airport lounges aren’t as luxurious as others, and might offer simple snacks and drinks, like nuts and water. We’re not luxury travelers, but our Priority Pass membership is one of our main luxuries that we have come to love.

If you’re interested in trying Priority Pass , you can take a look at the stand-alone version of membership, or check out the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, which includes a membership in the annual fee.

The best travel VPN: ExpressVPN

A VPN is a good tool to have if you’re visiting websites that aren’t encrypted (HTTP only) or if you’re in a country where there are firewalls that block many websites (like China). You can also use a VPN to get benefits, like spoofing your location and watching location-specific shows online.

I use my VPN for two major reasons:

• YouTube Premium is the only content that I watch. I don’t subscribe to Netflix, Hulu or any other service. Some countries don’t allow downloading YouTube videos, so you can download videos using a VPN!
• Some websites restrict functionality if you’re not located in your home country (for example, music sites, banking sites and some others). For those cases, I’ll connect to a VPN in order to proceed with my task.

Try ExpressVPN!

The Best Apps for Money Hacks While Traveling

Venmo (or paypal).

Venmo and PayPal are two useful things while you’re traveling with friends . Consider the typical situation of when you go out to eat: the bill is huge and the server is unable to split the bill.

If you’re traveling in a country and you only have big currency or no cash at all, it’s typical for someone to either cover you so that you can pay him or her back later, or pay for the entire bill.

Venmo and PayPal are the standard ways to pay a monetary amount from your bank account to other people’s bank accounts. It’s important to mention that Venmo is only supported in the USA. If you try and get Venmo in another country, you’ll probably run into issues. I suggest getting Venmo before you leave, if you don’t already have an account.

Free ATM Debit Card like Fidelity or Schwab

I use two bank accounts as my primary checking accounts when I travel. I have a checking account with Fidelity and Charles Schwab . These bank accounts don’t charge an ATM fee when you withdraw money. This is useful for taking out smaller amounts of money whenever I want to. I avoid trying to optimize each visit to an ATM and it eliminates this type of stress.

I automatically deposit a small amount of money into these two checking accounts every month. I do this so that I never have to worry about empty checking accounts!

I should mention that both of these accounts reimburse ATM fees 30 days after a fee is charged. So, while my ATM receipt shows that I got charged a foreign bank fee, this fee gets reimbursed by the bank within about a month. No pain here!

Currency Exchange by XE.com & XE App

I’ve used Currency by XE.com in the past, but Becca actually uses this currency service a lot (it’s free to use!).

You can track how your home currency is doing compared to the currency in the country where you are traveling. I usually use Google, so I’d input, for example, “200 COP to USD.” From here, I get the conversion for what 200 COP equals in USD. This is a great money and budgeting hack while on the go.

Another trick is to remember the simple math to convert a currency. For example, the Peruvian Sol is always approximately three per 1 USD. So, I try to remember which values equate to which values in my home currency.

Another example is the Colombian Peso. To convert Colombian Pesos to United States Dollars, you divide by 3000. This won’t give you exact results, but it will give you a good ballpark and you’ll start to understand the value of what things cost, instead of always using your phone’s calculator or free XE.com app.

Using Honey can help you save money when you buy anything online. It’s a browser extension that runs in the background and automatically applies coupon codes and notifies you when there is a deal or a sale. Super cool!

Entertainment Apps for Travelers (TV, videos, music, etc.)

Youtube premium.

I mentioned above that I watch a lot of YouTube videos . YouTube Premium enables ad-less playback of videos and supports downloading videos to your phone. Before a long flight, I’ll usually download some interesting videos to watch (sometimes I do this from the Priority Pass lounge).

I use YouTube instead of Netflix and I’ve never had any issues nor do I ever feel like I’m missing out on anything.

Netflix is great to have when you take long flights or have a rainy day where ever you are. You can download videos onto your phone when you don’t have access to the internet or cell service.

We’ve totally been on long bus rides in Colombia with nothing to do for 8 hours. If you’re traveling internationally, you can use a VPN to spoof your location to another region.

If you’re into new movies, a subscription to STARZ can help you be the first one of your friends to see what’s out.

If you get tired of the shows on Netflix, you can try Hulu ! Hulu will have different programming than some of the other streaming services. If you watch a lot of TV/shows/movies, check out Hulu.

Prime Video

Prime Video is great if you already pay for Amazon Prime. It’s great because it’s free. You don’t have to pay for Prime Video if you already pay for Amazon Prime . Check it out to see if you like the show and movie selection.

Keep an eye out for Prime Day to get the best Amazon Prime deals for travelers !

Spotify helps me get through repetitive tasks while I’m working. I’ll usually have Spotify open throughout my day of work. I’ll download a few songs to my phone and I will use that playlist when I go running or want to listen to music on a flight.

Do yourself a favor and get some bluetooth headphones like AirPods .

Best Apps for Travel Hacks During Flights and Transport

You can book a plane ticket or train ticket, or, you can do a lot of fun research beforehand to make sure you’re getting the best price, best connecting flight , best flight time and best airport.

Why not check out these apps and websites for flights and travel hacks while you’re on the go, or planning a trip? A single app can change a whole travel experience.

Before a flight, I’ll check my seat selection with SeatGuru . It will tell you things like, “the seat doesn’t recline.” Fun fact — I almost never recline my seat. I’m a good person to sit behind! These tips don’t work for every single airline and flight path, but they can save you from an uncomfortable experience.

Google Flights

When I do my flight research, I like to search via Google Flights . The search is fast and the site is really simple and easy to use. There’s not much of an upsell to rent a car or stay in a hotel, like with some other booking sites. Google Flights is a good way to get a benchmark of flights before you choose where or when to go.

Remember that if you’re aiming to use up an airline voucher , this has to be done through the airline website itself. Don’t worry though, because Google will always take you there when you click into a flight.

Secret Flying

Secret Flying is completely free and claims it will find you the cheapest deals online. This includes mistake fares or errors fares, and how to find these types of flight deals that come from mistakes made that are not yet corrected.

To browse error fares, head to the “Error Fares” section of the website, but the key is to get these fares while they’re hot and before they expire (or get corrected by the flight company or airline).

Going (formally Scott’s Cheap Flights)

Going is a membership-based website where by subscribing, the company claims you can save around $550 on average.

To get 20% off your first year of a Premium subscription to Going, use our exclusive code: HALFHALF20 , when purchasing.

You’ll get email alerts about cheap flights that depart from your favorite airports, and the flight deals you receive are vetted by Scott’s vetted flight experts. Two million people around the world use Going and many say that they’re able to take trips three times a year, for the price of one. This is cool to consider if you plan to fly frequently.

So, are you ready to have a new way to save money on flights and airfare? Sign up for Going here.

Rome2Rio was originally a very useful and popular website among the backpacker crowd, and now it’s an app. Rome2Rio shows you every mode of transport to get you from one city to another, or one place to another. In the app, you can see the prices and you can book transport if it’s in a service that exists online.

Up there with the legacy fame in the way that Rome2Rio has been an indispensable website for travelers over the years, Seat61 seems to be the original train travel hack website.

With a new focus on train travel as the eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to airplane travel, Seat61 helps you travel affordably by train (or ferry) in places where ‘you thought flying was the only option.’ Cool!

Kiwi.com is an excellent service if you want to get a general idea of how much it costs to fly to a certain region. I’ve used Kiwi to help determine how much it costs to go to Europe from New York City, for example. Most flight-booking engines give you price from city to city. Kiwi enables you to find the cheapest flight to “somewhere” South America from Chicago, for example.

Priceline can help you find the best deals for hotels, flights car rentals and vacation packages. It’s best to shop around when you’re pricing out your travel logistics. Priceline is a great tool to allow you to see prices from various vendors.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

I mentioned above that I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card to get Priority Pass .

The same credit card gives miles per every dollar spent. Those miles start to add up when you buy things that qualify as purchases in travel, food and other expense categories. You can redeem those miles for travel services like flights, cars and hotels.

You can also transfer those points to travel or airline partners, like United and JetBlue. Using Chase Ultimate Rewards has been helpful in saving money when taking long flights. I’ve used my points to book flights all the way from Europe to New York, and from New York to Vietnam .

Travel cards like the Chase Sapphire (and Freedom) credit cards are the best way to start travel hacking . You can really get hooked. Once you start accruing miles and points, you’ll never travel without thinking, “How many points will this flight cost me?” again.

Best and Most Useful Map, Transport and Location Apps

I like Maps.ME as an alternative mapping app. The app’s main focus is offline mobile maps, so this combo is perfect for getting to your destination without using any data.

I’ve found that the maps and directions are better in Maps.ME than in any other map app - the directions are easier to follow, in my opinion. Despite this helpful feature, I still find myself using Google Maps because it’s what I’m used to.

Maps.ME helped out during my hike in Iceland . One of my friends had the app installed and used it to find a hot spring in the middle of nowhere. Well, the hot spring was well-known, but it was an adventure for us to get there!

Maps.ME does a better job helping you get through trails and other places that don’t have roads.

Don’t fall into the same trap that I did! Give Maps.ME a try.

City Mapper

I’ve used City Mapper in the past when I was visiting London. The Tube stations and reliability was better than any other map app at the time. All of my friends in London used it and recommended that I use it, too.

Google Maps doesn’t always have to be the go-to mapping app. Sometimes a city has a general preference for another app based on what features it can offer.

Moovit is a popular app in Israel .

When I was in Israel, Google Maps had trouble with GPS and determining where addresses were in relation to where I was. Moovit fixed that problem! It made walking around and getting directions much easier.

Moovit “knows” everything about the buses in Israel, specifically. If you want to go anywhere in Israel by public transit, download Moovit in order to get there in the best way!

During my travels in South America, Uber has been one of the only taxi apps that I can use. Uber is much safer than regular taxis, specifically in Latin America.

Taking Uber is also easier if you’re not as comfortable speaking a language other than your own. Uber allows you to set your pickup and drop-off location, and everything else is taken care of.

I’ve heard from locals in Mexico and Colombia that using Uber has helped them go out at night and get to otherwise geographically-challenging locations. This means that the app has changed people’s lives, for the better!

When Lyft is available, I prefer to use Lyft. What can I say — I have a soft spot for pink mustaches.

Lyft, Uber and other ride-sharing apps generally do the same thing. They allow you to set your location and easily get to your destination. When I was in San Francisco, Lyft was often used in place of public transportation. A Lyft ride can be about the same cost as a one of their public transportation methods.

Also, in San Francisco, there are special Lyft programs for people that take Lyft to work. There’s a specific route that you can jump into with other passengers. This helps keep the cost down, and you can rely on the route in order to get to work efficiently. Seems more eco-friendly, right?

Taxify tends to exist in cities that do not typically have Lyft or Uber available. This isn’t always true, but I’ve found this to be the case most of the time.

I mainly have used Taxify in European cities. The same strategy for having a safe and easy ride is true here. The difference with Taxify is that regular cabs can use the app. This is because Taxify isn’t necessarily a “ride-sharing app” like Lyft and Uber are.

Grab is the equivalent of Uber in places like Vietnam . The difference is that you can pay by credit (set up the credit option from your home country before you leave, to be safe) or cash, upon the completion of the ride.

Google Maps

Google Maps is the most common app for getting around. It handles walking, biking, driving and public transportation options. I like to use Google Maps to create stars and labels for some of the places that I frequently visit. This makes it easier to get back to those locations easily.

One of my favorite features is the ease of download of offline maps. Downloading offline maps is helpful in saving data if you’re using Google Maps outside of WiFi. Also, if you don’t have any data, you can still use maps when you’ve downloaded the data.

I’ve been using Swarm since before it was Swarm. Swarm used to be a part of Foursquare by way of “Foursquare Check-ins.” They broke it off into a new app that creates a gamification layer to visiting new places. These places can be cafes, bars, hotels, cities, airports and more. You get stickers and points for the places that you check in to.

Your friends can also see where you visited and where you currently are, if they use the Swarm app as well.

My favorite feature is to be able to look at where I’ve been in the past. If you ask me, what’s that cool restaurant that you visited in Belgrade? I’ll be able to search through my Swarm history and tell you the name and location of the restaurant. I checked, and the restaurant that I was thinking about is called Smokvica .

Best Apps for Health for Digital Nomads and Travelers

We like to focus on health when we travel. During long-term travel, you may go through spurts of a high interest in health and activity, counteracted by periods of when you don’t care so much. Not everyone’s interested in health, but some people define their lives and progress by it.

Google Health now has metrics like active minutes per day, miles or km walked in a day, heart health and more.

The app tracks ‘Heart Points’ and ‘Move Minutes’ to help show how much activity you’ve had in a day, and then shows a bar graph of your steps over a week. This can be cool to see if for example you walked 7 miles a day like we did, in Barcelona, Spain .

This app is also on Google Play Store .

If you’re interested in what you consume in a day, MyFitnessPal helps you track calories and consumption activity through an app that helps total these metrics. It can be really interesting and can give some clarity to your habits.

If you’ve been indulging in lots of pizza and pasta in Italy, excessive empanadas in Colombia or too many bowls of pho in Vietnam, you might start with a resolution to get more fit and drop some pounds while traveling for a while.

WeightDrop helps track your weight, if you have a scale nearby. You can see over time how your weight changes, if you like to measure your progress in that way. This is not for everyone, but can be an interesting thing to track over a year.

Best Apps for International Communication While Traveling

Communicating across oceans used to cost a ton of money or take a while. Now, you’ve got either instant communication, or asynchronous communication , and there are tons of ways to do both.

If you’re going to be abroad and out of your home country, why not try a few different ways to communicate with friends and family back home, and with travelers you meet along the way?

Google Translate

English is becoming spoken and understood in many different cities and countries all over the world. I’m really grateful that English is my first language.

Whenever I am in a new place where people do not understand English, I try to learn my hellos, goodbyes and thank yous in the local language. I’ll usually have Google Translate open on my phone to help translate words from another language that I am not familiar with.

My favorite feature about Google Translate is its ability to translate text from an image. A perfect application of this is in translating a menu. You can take a picture of the text on a menu and then you can understand it!

WhatsApp has been forever useful in communicating with everyone. I use it every day to talk with friends and family, but I have also used it to communicate with locals that I meet.

It’s a universal text message application that almost everyone around the world uses. WhatsApp is incredible!

It’s amazing that once you leave the USA, many people use this instead of iMessage or regular text messaging.

Slack is how I keep in touch with more professional contacts. I am a member of several Slack communities that all offer different things.

Slack by itself is nothing. You need an invite from a specific group, organization or company to make something out of Slack. You’re able to join as many communities as you want, after you get that invite.

The workspaces and Slack communities that I belong to help me find work, stay in touch with other travelers, talk about photography and so much more.

Most meetings that you take for interviews and work calls with be on Zoom . A fun tip for Zoom, is to explore within the video settings and remove your background. Instead of superimposing a background of a beach, you may actually be at a beach.

Krisp can block out background noises for you and the person on the other end of the call. This is great if you are in a noisy cafe or airport.

Best Apps for Booking Accommodations While Traveling

If you want more information about how we book accommodations, feel free to check out our article that we wrote about finding accommodations .

Airbnb has been helpful when booking places to stay for a trip. Airbnb has one of the better filtering systems out there. You can choose a place to stay based on a number of different options. Do you want a kitchen? Do you want a single home? Do you a queen-sized bed? Cool. Airbnb can be how you find an optimal place to stay, whether that place is an apartment, a house, a room in a hostel or room in a guesthouse.

VRBO is a great tool when you’re looking for something more like a vacation. You’ll find some of the best vacation rentals when you’re looking to get away. You can also use this to connect with home-owners if you’re interested in doing any long terms stays somewhere.

How to book hostels on the go: Hostelworld

I use Hostelworld to get an idea of where the cool neighborhoods are in a city. This is sort of a flawed system because sometimes the hostels are in the party part of town. This is usually true in Europe, but it’s helpful in Central and South America, because hostels are usually also located in the safest parts of a city.

We also use Hostelworld to find out which cities in a country are best to stay in. Hostelworld helped a whole bunch when we went to Colombia, Argentina and Portugal.

I’ll use Booking.com if Hostelworld and Airbnb do not return quality results. When I was in Patagonia, I noticed that Booking.com had way better options than AirBnb did. Hostelworld and hostels were not as popular for the smaller towns. Booking.com helped us a lot in the coasts of Portugal during our road trip, and in Sri Lanka, where hostels are not yet a huge thing.

Trying to decide between all the types of accommodations? Check our guide for Hostels vs. Airbnb vs. Hotels .

Productivity and Data Management For Travelers On the Go

If you’re a digital nomad or remote worker on the go and you’re looking for travel apps to make your work life easier, check out these suggestions.

Dropbox is great for a professional setting. You can use it to collaborate with others by sharing files and keeping shared assets organized. I use Dropbox for sharing files with clients and keeping my own files organized and backed up. By the way, if you use this link to sign up for Dropbox, you’ll get 500MB of storage for free!

For traveling, I like to use Dropbox to keep a copy of important documents, like a copy of my passport and other banking records. It makes finding these items really easy if you’re like me and can’t remember your passport number. You can quickly open Dropbox and browse toward the location in which you’ve saved those documents.

I’ve been using 1Password for almost five years. I have over 400 logins saved. It’s incredible that I’ve even logged into 400 different websites. Nevertheless, each one of those websites uses a different password.

Because every website has a different password, if that website’s data were ever compromised, my password that the hacker would get is basically useless for logging into any other account that I have.

1Password is essentially a flexible database. You can store whatever you want inside of 1Password. At a high level, it’s a secure vault that can keep varied types of information. You can store credit card information, phone numbers, lists and more.

Storing your credit cards and other information is a good idea if your wallet ever gets lost or stolen. Having a record of your credit card numbers is incredibly useful if you need to call a bank and report the card as lost or stolen.

Over the years, I’ve bounced around using a few different to-do apps. I used Teuxdeux for a few years before switching to Todoist . The reason that I switched was because I wanted to have more control over my to-do items. I use to-do lists to plan my day and Todoist provides a lot of functionality.

When you’re traveling, you can plan on-the-fly itineraries of your trip using Todoist. Let’s say that you want to visit 10 interesting sites in total. You can spread them out throughout your stay and use a simple to-do app to track your progress or plan.

In my case, Trello is sort of like Todoist, except that it’s for more long-term, non-time-sensitive information. I put big ideas into Trello along with long-term goals.

You can use Trello to plan a list of things that require feedback from other people, and you can plan lists of items that include images and other attachments. Imagine that you’re planning to take a three-month trip. What are all of the steps that you need to take in order to leave? It’s different for everyone, but planning the steps in an app like Trello can help make that process easier.

Backblaze is my favorite product to talk about. Most days, I forget that I have it running in the background. It keeps all of my data safe and gives me peace of mind that I’ll never lose a file or a photo.

If you take a lot of travel photos or do a lot of writing when you travel, making sure that your data is backed up, especially if you’re saving everything to an external hard drive, is an important part of traveling. It’s easy to lose a hard drive or damage a hard drive. Backblaze has a simple interface that backs up all of your data in the background.

Best Apps for Photography for Travelers on the Go

Google photos.

Google Photos is an incredible tool for organizing, viewing and storing your photos. If you have an Android phone, like a Google Pixel or something else, photos automatically backup to Google Photos. iPhones require you to download the app before using the service.

My favorite uses for Google Photos are the search and the assistant. Being able to search for locations is so useful. I can search for something like, “Jamaica,” and easily find photos from my trip to Jamaica back in 2012. Even though I didn’t geo-tag those photos or even have cell data, Google can predict that I was there based on other factors and show me those photos.

Google Photos has an assistant that shows you cool information. It can make GIFs from your photo bursts and can make a collage of photos based on similar other ones. If you have a large volume of photos like I do, this type of information is fun to look back at!

As a tip, Google Photos is crucial to have for working out storage on your phone. Even if your iCloud is enabled, you might find that your photos have “filled up” your phone storage. If that happened to you recently, fix your iPhone’s photo storage with these tips.

Adobe Lightroom

Lightroom is my preferred tool for editing photos. Without a computer, I can take photos from my camera, edit them on Lightroom Mobile and then share them on social media. I don’t typically do this, but sometimes I do.

Lightroom is a good way to catalog all of the photos that you take when you travel. Lightroom CC has a similar search process to Google Photos. You can search for generic terms like “dog” and get a bunch of dog photos.

Amazon Photos

Amazon photos won’t let edit your photos, but you can use the service to help backup and view your photos. It comes free with Prime. Amazon Prime will also be useful if you want to watch Prime Video.

Virtual Remote Work and Digital Nomad Apps

The apps below make work possible when you’re away from home, or when your home is ‘away’ from home all the time.

Working remotely is a big part of how I am able to travel for long periods at a time. At any time when I need to sign a contract, DocHub can help. You can have your signature ready to go and you can easily drop it on a line that requires your signature. You can than export that document as a PDF and send it off to where it needs to go. So cool!

A big part of travel is understanding how to deal with time zones. It’s currently 10:45 pm here in Mexico, but in New York City, it’s 11:45 pm. In Dubai, it’s 8:45 am. Good morning, everyone!

When you have to set up a meeting with someone in another time zone or figure out what time it is back home, Worldtimebuddy can help. You can add a few different cities and easily see an overlap of what time it is everywhere.

Traveling Mailbox

When I was traveling full-time, I used Traveling Mailbox on a weekly basis - this service allowed me to receive physical mail while I was traveling. In the past, I sent mail to my parents’ house or let it pile up in the location where I was staying.

The Traveling Mailbox service was especially useful because I run my own business. I often get sent mail that is associated with my business, and I’m able to see a physical scan of my mail items online.

This has been helpful in permitting me to not rely on others to collect my physical mail.

OOTD: the Office of the Day App

This app knows where you are (if you give it your location), and it’ll find you a place to work, as recommended by other digital nomads .

Depending on where you are, you can search (for example) for a place to work in Los Angeles, or Bangkok, Thailand. Each entry comes with ratings for features like WiFi, outlets, ability to make/take phone calls, credit card usage and outdoor space.

Recommend it to a friend, as it gets better as more people use it!

Remote Work Job Boards for Digital Nomads

For a more comprehensive list of work from home websites , check out our full list on remote jobs!

RemoteOK is one of the more popular job sites for finding remote work. It has a simple interface for browsing and searching for different remote jobs. All of the jobs are remote, so there isn’t any remote or location filter like you’d see on other job sites.

Most of the jobs on this site are developer-focused, but you will find jobs for marketing, customer service and a few other types of industries.

Every year or two, I give Upwork a shot. I am curious as to which types of jobs you can apply for and which skills are in demand. It takes a lot of time for someone to become popular on the Upwork platform. You’ll get rewarded for the work that you do and how often you get hired.

I personally haven’t had too much success with Upwork. Most of the proposals that I submit as a developer often go unnoticed because there is a lot of competition. If you’re looking for work, give Upwork a try and let me know how it goes!

I’m on Fiverr . There, I said it. It took me a long time to create a gig and give the platform a shot because Fiverr has a reputation that I didn’t want to be associated with. However, times have changed and I’ve found the platform to be interesting.

There is a lot of competition for certain types of jobs or gigs, but it’s fun to play with the market and AB-test various different gigs to get a sense for what is popular.

The more and more that I played with Fiverr, the more I realized that you get rewarded for using the site more. The more your gigs get ordered, the more you appear in the search results. Depending on many 5-star ratings you have, the more you will rank higher for high-competition gigs. It makes sense: Fiverr wants to reward quality people because the company takes a cut of your income, per job.

Authentic Jobs

Authentic Jobs has been a place where I’ve searched for jobs for so many years. I can’t remember the first time that I heard about Authentic Jobs, but it’s been there with me for a few different career hires.

Authentic Jobs has a filter for remote positions. My favorite filter is actually displaying types of roles, like part-time, full-time and contract roles. There aren’t too many positions listed, but the ones that are listed are usually high-quality. The jobs that are posted are mostly design and development jobs.

For my entire career, I never took LinkedIn seriously. Until recently, my tag line was, “Hire me for pizza advice.” I mean, you can totally still hire me for pizza advice. When you visit my LinkedIn profile now, it paints a more professional picture. There’s a time to be playful, but I started to realize that LinkedIn wasn’t the place for that.

You can share your professional knowledge about travel through LinkedIn. After traveling with Remote Year, I realized that sharing specific travel-related advice on LinkedIn is an effective way to find a new travel community and a way to attract readers to your content.

Hacker News: Who’s Hiring?

I’ll admit that my consumption of Hacker News articles has dropped off significantly. I’ll still vouch for the quality that their monthly job posting has. The best part about this job board is that it’s crowd-validated. The posts get up-voted, so the most popular and interesting job posts bubble to the top.

If there’s a really obvious question about the posting, someone probably answered it in the thread below the post. There’s no filter for remote jobs because it’s a text-only service. However, good ole’ CMD + F “remote” always returns a few interesting positions to check out.

Helping You Work Remotely

Even if you think you have remote work down to a science, it’s never too late to add a new work hack to your work and travel life. While we list lots of tips for working remotely on our website, check out the tools that make it work for us below.

When I was living in New York City, I started working remotely from my neighborhood on days with bad weather. After doing this during a few snow storms, I quickly realized how effective I could be by not going into an office. I started working from home more frequently because of the productivity benefits that I saw.

I quickly got bored working from my living room. I started to look for more cafes to work from near my apartment in Park Slope. After stumbling on a few cafes with bad WiFi and limited power outlets, I found Workfrom .

Workfrom has crowd-sourced a global network of cafes that share helpful stats like how many power outlets exist, how fast the WiFi is and if the cafe has good food or coffee. I added a few of my favorite neighborhood stats to the Park Slope map!

I like how simple Nomad List is. It gives you a generalization for how it is to travel to and live in a city that might be really far away. If you’re going to Hanoi , you can see criteria about how safe it is there, how the internet is there and other helpful stats like air quality.

While it’s an average of a lot of different data points, you can get a good idea about what it’s like to be there.

If you subscribe to Nomad List, you can enter in all of the places that you’ve been to and also connect with other travelers with the Nomad List Slack community.

News Apps: How to stay in touch with what’s going on

Usually when we’re traveling, Becca refreshes the NYTimes app every morning. It pre-loads, at least in summary form, so if we’re on a train or bus without WiFi for the rest of the day, she can still skim through headlines in each section and get briefed on what’s going on.

There’s nothing worse than being out of the loop. With phones, apps and WiFi, you can now stay connected anywhere (even when you don’t feel like it - ugh!).

Also free, but with no limits on articles per month like the NYTimes app, the CNN app has tons of articles. It doesn’t pre-load as well, so expect to use it only when connected to WiFi.

BBC en Español

Maybe you read the BBC in English, but Becca reads it in Spanish. If you don’t read Spanish, and you’re not looking for a way to practice Spanish, what we do suggest is getting a news app in the language you ARE trying to learn. This helps with word recognition and key words, even if you skim for only a few minutes per day.

Apple News is one of the default apps that comes with the iPhone. It creates an aggregation of top stories drawn from many news sources, so you get variation. You can also choose which ‘beats’ you’d like to see, from travel to science to fashion.

Apps for selling stuff and downsizing before travel

When we decided to travel for 10 months on a remote work digital nomad trip , we sold all our furniture. And got rid of a lot of clothes (that we could have made money on if we had just taken the time to sell it all).

We also got rid of things like coffeemakers, bikes, electronics… you name it. We had to downsize, and because we had just decided to go on Remote Year , we had to do it fast.

It’s too bad that we didn’t discover Poshmark until we saw ads for it on the subway after we got back from our trip. The way we started selling on Poshmark was because we went through our belongings after getting back from our trip, and realized we (awkwardly) hadn’t missed some of it. So we started posting listings for our name-brand items on Poshmark.

Poshmark is an app that lets you create listings with photos and details for clothes, shoes, bags, accessories and jewelry. It’s mostly for people who want to buy (and sell) name-brand things at a discount if it’s gently used. We had the most luck with Poshmark after returning from travel, but that’s because we didn’t know about it beforehand.

We recommend Poshmark if you have a lot of name-brand or luxury items you can part with, and you’re downsizing your wardrobe before setting off on the road for a while.

Mercari is like Poshmark but it’s for “anything.” You can sell electronics, bags, luggage, household items and more, in a type of marketplace where buyers can barter. You can also set your settings to ‘eat up’ the mailing fee, or charge it to the buyer. There’s lots of options. We haven’t had luck on it yet, but we’re trying to get rid of a few things we’re done using.

While not an app (yet?), Craigslist was a way we sold our furniture before we ended our lease in order to travel-long term. We also used the ‘Free’ section to get rid of things we couldn’t sell and didn’t want to have when we returned (like the coffeemaker mentioned above!).

Craigslist works by setting up listings, adding photos and locations, and then waiting for buyers to contact you via email. Because we sold furniture over Craigslist, and the world is a big place, we recommend meeting buyers in public places if you can, if the item is small. If you’re selling furniture or something large, have someone else in your home with you when the buyer comes for pickup.

Best apps for learning a language for travel

Did you ever want to learn a new language for your trip ? We often do, and we often have picked up some basics in a very new language while traveling. We know how to say ‘carrot’ in Vietnamese, ‘thank you’ in Lithuanian and ‘tap water’ in Portuguese. These can be super important!

Drops came as a surprise, and we found it while looking up ways to learn some Vietnamese on the plane ride over to Hanoi . Drops is like a swipe-right swipe-left app, but with simple words in another language.

This makes learning a new language really fun!

Looking to learn a new language for your upcoming trip? Try Duo Lingo , which is a fun way to brush up on basics for a language or learn a new one.

As you’ll find in our article about tips for learning languages , there are lots of ways to learn languages, but doing it on the go is easy. With an app like Duo Lingo, you can get some vocab in during a flight, bus ride or taxi ride.

Pleco is the #1 easy dictionary for English-Chinese and Chines-English. It’s great for when you’re in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. It’s like a dictionary made fun again.

Mondly is a free app that comes in lots of languages. We downloaded it for some languages to learn before we went on trips!

We hope these apps helped improve your travel experience. Now that you’re ready to go, check out our checklist for what to do before going on a trip .

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35 Best Travel Planning Tools and Apps

Travel planning tools and apps are critical for a great trip. Knowing how to plan a trip will help you pull it off seamlessly.

First, put yourself in a “plan to travel mindset.” Next, research the best travel planning tools you can find to help you plan a trip that will be truly memorable.

From logging on to Google Maps to get directions anywhere to using booking.com for hotel bookings and rental cars to knowing where to go for cheap flights.

It pays to have the best apps and travel tools to ensure your best trip.

Here are some of the best travel planning tools and apps we’ve identified, contributed by frequent travelers to help you with your travel plans for your next trip. Most are available in the App store.

Best Travel Planning Tools and Apps

Table of Contents

Plan your foreign currency needs

One of my favorite travel planning tools is XE Currency .  With this app, you plug in an amount in whatever currency you want converted, then select the currency you want to convert to and voila!

It’s the best way to organize your foreign currency.

Say you think you’ll need abut US$100 every day while you’re in Spain. Insert US$100 into XE and select Euros.

This is a great tool for verifying the amount of money you need from an ATM abroad, converting restaurant bills, and so much more. 

It helps you keep a grasp on your spending while you travel.  Quotes are live and, it converts all currencies and, being an app, its ready when you are.

XE Currency Converter also has a handy tool to assist you in keeping tract of your business expenses.

Just fill it out as you go along and print out/ submit when you’re done.  It’s like having a private assistant. One of the best travel planning tools.

This travel planning tool will save you money and time and give you peace of mind. It’s one of the most useful tools I use regularly to plan travel.

Quickly identify best camping sites

Simply download the app, and search the area you want to camp. You select an area of the country (big or small!), national park or not, set your filters, and browse the campsites.

There’s something for every type of outdoorsy traveler: glamping, KOAs, national parks, and even dispersed camping in national forests.

The filters are great for finding spots to fit your preferences, as you can search by price (I often use it to find free camping), rating, hike-in vs car camping, and much more. 

The Dyrt is so fun and addicting to play around with, I’ve planned dozens of dream camping trips with it. A cool feature is the downloadable topo map option.

This allows you to find and plan travel to your campsite in those off-the-beaten-path areas where you might not have cell service.  One of the best travel planning tools for the outdoor lover.

Save your itinerary and tips to Google Sheets

Easy and free to use, Google Sheets, is the Google equivalent of Excel.

When planning a trip, we tend to use many sources to gather information, which can sometimes mean anything we’ve found has the possibility of being lost or forgotten about.

So inputting all of the information discovered into one sheet makes it simple to access and plan your travel itineraries.

If you’re going on the trip with others, you can also share the sheet and work on it together to help plan the trip of a lifetime!

Creating new sheets for every adventure I go on, I use the same layout each time, and it’s simple to create a new one for every trip you go on. I tend to split the sheet into three tabs; itinerary, things to do/see and sources.

Available as an app, it’s helpful on the go as you’re able to access the sheet wherever you are in the world, even if you have no WiFi.

If you couldn’t fit something into one of the days, for example, you can move your itinerary round, to ensure you’ve seen everything you wanted on your trip! How’s that for cool travel planning tools?

Kim blogs at The Adventure to Me

Shoot for cheaper airline tickets

The cost of your flight is pretty much guaranteed to be one of the most expensive parts of any trip abroad.

Having the free app Hopper up my sleeve has been a life-saver every time I’ve been planning a trip to South America , the region that I cover as a guidebook author and blogger.

Hopper works like a charm. It’s one of my favorite travel planning tools.

All you need to do is plug in the dates you intend to fly (or you can set up a few different options if they’re yet to be fixed) and it’ll tell you when it predicts flight tickets will be at their cheapest.

It does this by looking through years of historical flight pricing data and using this to determine whether buying now, three months in advance or even just three weeks out is likely to be the kindest to your pocket and score you the cheapest flight.

Sure, it can be a little bit of a gamble as it’s using historic data, not a crystal ball.

However, it has personally helped me score extraordinarily cheap flights to Easter Island, as well as some pretty sweet deals between the UK and Colombia, so it’s one of the travel planning tools that I now use on each and every trip. It’s a great travel planning app.

Map your city

One of the best travel planning tools for detailing a city break is the Citymapper App.

I use it almost every day for getting around my home town of London.

It’s equally useful for finding the easiest, quickest, cheapest or fastest way around in any one of 41 cities around the world, including Paris, Berlin, Rome, Istanbul, Vancouver, Tokyo, Sydney, Mexico City and Singapore and other popular destinations.

The app is so brilliant because it merges information on every available type of transport in that city.

Not sure if it’s quicker to get the bus, train, taxi or walk? Citymapper will give you every alternative and show you all possible routes so you can decide.

It tells you how much each type of transport costs and includes helpful hacks, like which exit to take from the station or where to stand on the platform.

It’s also connected into real-time travel updates so it will tell you how long you have to wait for the next bus or if your service is disrupted.

The best part is that you don’t have to BE in that city to use it. Just click the settings button and you can easily switch cities, allowing you to plan your trip in precise detail before you even get on the plane.

Staying loyal to a specific booking app pays off

For example, Hotels.com, a booking platform (which also comes with an app) where you can find accommodations all over the world offers a program that allows its customers to get a free night after 10 stays.

What’s great is that the value of your free night is based on the average price of 10 properties where you stayed, so if you stay at more expensive accommodations, your free night will cover the price of mid-range-to-expensive accommodation.

Likewise, if you stay at less expensive hotels, the value of your free night will be lower, and you might have to pay the difference if you want to use your free night for a stay at a more expensive property.

In addition, users also collect points which can boost their status over time and provide better prices on many accommodations. The app tells you about your status based on your bookings and overall history.

You should especially follow this advice if you are doing a road trip along the West Coast USA and need to watch your travel expenses.

However, it’s not just Hotels.com that rewards loyal customers. Many other platforms such as Booking.com offer free nights and perks for those users who stay with them for a while.

Use an itinerary planning app

GPSmyCity is an app that features self-guided city walks in 1,000+ cities worldwide – from Voodoo tours in New Orleans to the  best things to do in Moscow . Of course, this essential tool also provides travel inspiration.

The app includes detailed tour route maps and powerful navigation features, to guide you from one sight to the next. You can follow GPSmyCity’s expert guides or take their suggestions and create your own custom walking tours.

It’s a great way to plan and explore all of the best tourist attractions on your own and at your own pace. Another awesome thing about this app…you have the option to “upgrade” any walking tour and download it, so it will work offline.

No internet connection, no cellular data, no problem! (It costs $1.99 per tour to upgrade, or you can get a yearly subscription for $12.99 for unlimited upgrades.) This way you can access offline maps and offers a user-friendly interface.

I, personally, love this because any time we are on a trip and trying to navigate…finding a data connection can be tricky. Plus, having GPS running in the background drains your battery life, big time.

But these are problems you won’t have to worry about with GPSmyCity!

Compare flight prices with search engines

One of the most important things about traveling is finding the best flights possible.

The definition of a “good” flight really depends on your travel preferences. Some people want long layovers to skip out of the airport and do some quick explorations of the city.

While others just want to get there as fast as possible. But something we can all agree on is we want cheap flights!

The best way to do this is with online flight search programs like the popular Skyscanner .

By using both these websites you are able to find the absolute best and cheapest flights for your dates and destinations.

One great feature includes making multi-route plans like flying Amsterdam, to Singapore to Bali to Amsterdam.

Plus, you can see the prices per month and use this to find the absolute best time to fly.

Be sure to use these websites for planning your your leisure or business trip and enjoy great flights that make people look at you in shock when you state how much they were!

Score free resources

The free version of Touring Plans is great to use to plan out your family’s  Magic Kingdom  itinerary  as it is customizable to your needs. You can input things like the rides and attractions you’d like to visit and your desired break times.

It will also make suggestions about the best way to minimize wait times when it comes to the rides. The best thing about it though is that you can get an updated plan if you make changes to it throughout the day.

Websites and apps like these are very helpful, especially those with free versions, and should be used to make your trip planning easier – especially those travelling with young families.

Plan your train journeys

The Man in Seat 61 ( www.seat61.com ) offers a comprehensive guide on train travel around Europe and other continents and is an excellent travel planning tool.

The website was created by an independent traveler who shares information, his experience, as well as gives advice on best train routes all around the world.

If you plan on having a trip with a train anywhere, this is your best option for go-to travel resource, hands down.

You can find various information about timetables, prices, train station and the best train options for you depending on the country you plan on going to.

It goes as far as providing photos of different train cabins or even vending machines for train tickets at particular stations.

Also, you can get detailed instructions on how to book train tickets and where to find official vendors.

It is so detailed that yo most likely won’t even need to check any other resource page for the information you’re looking at.

Organize a hassle free-by-day itinerary

My all-time favorite app to use while traveling is Sygic Travel.

It’s completely free to use, and I actually stumbled upon it while trying to plan out my last-minute itinerary while I was visiting Vienna last spring! What’s so great about Sygic

Travel is that it will literally plan your whole day of travel for you. So, all you have to do is have a set plan of everything you want to do and see, and the app will do the rest!

An account is absolutely free to make. Once you make an account, you tell the app everything you want to do, and then you will get an itinerary that will reorganize your day in a way so you spend the least amount of time on transportation.

In addition, the app will give you directions from place to place, and you can let the app know whether you’d like to walk, use public transportation, or drive. It has saved my butt when I’ve been on a time crunch many times, and I can’t recommend it enough!

Use a guidebook as a journal

As much as I love technology to help with some travel planning tasks, I’m also old school. I LOVE travel books from Lonely Planet.

They are always my first stop when I’m planning a trip. They do have a decent website, however, I prefer the physicals guide books as these become working documents.

I start on their itineraries page, and them write notes and draw stars on other places I want to add into my own itinerary.

Throughout the book I highlight anything I think is really important as well as cover the pages with other helpful information I have found on notes.

Sometimes I will get a tip-off from a local or another traveler and rather than just write it on my phone, I find it much easier to write it on the margins of the location or note it on the map.

Another advantage is that the book doubles as a travel journal and travel guide. You always know what you did on what date. Here’s a tip. Put tickets in the relevant pages.

My shelves are full of old Lonely Planet guidebooks which also serve as a great mementos of my trips.

Plan around your travel highlights

Planning a trip is fun, but sometimes it can be stressful as well. What do I need to pack? What area should I stay? What are the main attractions I have to see in this city?

One of the best travel planning tools that has helped me seamlessly plan my trips is an app called Visit A City . The best part about the app is that it’s completely free to use. Visit A City features over 7000 detonations.

Just type in the destination you’re going to and you’ll be given an option of popular attractions in the city, day tours and trips you can take from that destination, things to do in that city, walking and biking tours, and customized itineraries.

My favorite feature about this app is that you can tell it how many days you plan on being in that city and it will create a custom suggested itinerary of the things to do and see for you.

You can even create your own itinerary based on their suggestions on the app as well.

All in all, Visit A City app helps you create a personal travel guide that’s packed with valuable information right on your phone.

Get from point A to point B many different ways

One of the most useful travel planning apps I have come across is Rome2Rio .

The app lets you find routes to some of the most remote places.

The app has additional local bus, train and ferry route details that even google maps doesn’t know about. With direct links to timetables of local transports, the app really lets you plan for the off-the-beaten path hidden gems.

Say you want to go from Havana to Hanoi, New York City to New Delhi or anywhere else. 

This cool little app will not only show you all the transportation options and alternative routes, it’ll tell you the itineraries, the cost and even the seasonality!  Just plug in the trip origin and destination and see all the different ways to get there.

Many times I’ve saved tons of cash by finding an alternative airport to fly into then taking local transportation to my final destination. 

Or, I found that I can get somewhere by a different option like a ferry making the trip that much more fun. I’ve even use the app to help me identify a brand new destination to visit that I would not have thought of before.

How cool is that!? This is definitely one of my favorite travel planning apps.

Planning your trip ahead of time can make all the difference between a hectic, stressful trip and a relaxing, fun-filled vacation. That’s where mobile travel apps come in.

We asked our fellow travel bloggers what their recommendations for the best travel apps for Europe, Asia, and the Americas are. Here’s what they had to say.

The Best Travel Apps for Europe, Asia, and the Americas

Find the perfect venue.

Drinkspal is the perfect mobile app for anyone visiting a new town and looking for the perfect venue.

You can filter down on what you’re specifically looking for, so it could be a pub that has WiFi within a 5 mile radius, but then you can further filter to find ones that are dog friendly, sell bottles of prosecco at under £15, sells Thai food and has a beer garden.

While many apps or sites list the different venues in a city you might visit, none have successfully allowed you to filter down until you reach the perfect option.

But the best little addition is the drink deals and highlighted bars that are offering happy hour, meaning you can pick the bar in your area that will save your pennies.

This means your money can go towards the important things in life, such as activities and experiences.

Obviously, this is a completely free app and doesn’t take up a huge amount of space on the phone.

Complete immigration forms on line

U.S. Customs and Border Protection created the Mobile Passport app so that passengers can complete immigration forms on their smartphone and use a shorter line when they arrive in the United States.

You will love the time that it will save you! It’s similar to the Global Entry program but it is free! Unfortunately, only US Citizens and visitors from Canada can use the app at select airports and ports, but they are looking to expand the program.

You can download the app and set up your profile before you travel.

Once you land, answer the standard questions inside the app. After you have WiFi or data on your phone, submit your answers.

Within a few seconds, you will receive a receipt with a barcode that is valid for four hours. Once in the immigration hall, find the designated mobile passport line.

When it is your turn, show your passport and the barcode to the customs officer. It’s that simple!

This travel search engine is available in the form of an app making finding cheap flights on the go pretty simple. All you have to do is entire your dates and destination and all the work is done for you.

The app isn’t unique to searching for just flights as you can use the app for hotels and rental cars. What I like about the app is the ability to search to anywhere from your chosen destination should you need some travel inspiration.

There is also the option to search by month, which comes in handy when doing some travel planning.

If you do know your exact travel dates however, the app’s easy interface makes it easy to see all pricing and flight details brought up from the search.

Skyscanner is one of the best tools to help you get great travel deals by finding the best routes, best flights and best time to score your best travel experience.

The app also provides recommendations for last-minute trips with pricing for a variety of destinations. Skyscanner is free to download.

Get accurate directions quickly

The best travel app that I love using is Google Maps. I’ve used it all over Europe and North America and think it’s the most reliable directions app.

My favourite and most used feature of Google Maps is the directions functionality.

Just input the address of wherever you want to go and it will give you directions in multiple formats: walking, cycling, driving, public transit and rideshare (if available).

The directions are different depending on your mode of transportation and are super easy to follow.

Google Maps is also great for planning a route and we use it this way all the time for planning our motorcycling trips.

You can add multiple destinations and stops in between and Google will tell you how many kilometers are between each stop as well as the elevation change. Very handy on a motorcycle!

I’ve even used Google Maps offline when traveling, which is great if you don’t want to use cellular data or don’t have an internet connection.

Download a map ahead of time and you’ll be able to use a map and track your location without using cellular data.

Keep your expenses in check on the road

Our recommendation for the best travel app for Europe, Asia, and the Americas is the travel budget app – Trail Wallet. It was created by travel bloggers Never Ending Voyage several years ago.

As bloggers on the road continuously, it is important for us to keep to a budget. Our first year we used an Excel spreadsheet and to be honest it was time consuming.

Trail Wallet has simplified our life on the road whilst keeping our expenses in check. We create a trip, which for us is a year, add in our daily budget, the categories and the currencies we will be using.

As soon as we have an expenditure we enter the cost into the app, into the category, add the amount, and press save and away we go.

The app calculates our daily spend, what is remaining, our average spend and our total for the trip. We can even add a note, e.g., the restaurant we had lunch in.

We can even view our expenditure in a graph. The app cheekily gives us a reminder if we blow the budget for the day.

Trail Wallet has been a time saver for us. It is available as a download from iTunes and is suitable for iPhones and iPads.

Listen to music on the go

In general, music is an essential part of my life. I like to listen to music in the background to match my mood and to motivate me to get things done.

When I first started using the Spotify app, I got hooked because it solved different problems for me. First, it’s pretty easy to create playlists and categorize my music accordingly.

Second, I have access to my music library with all my devices, and everything gets synchronized no matter if I’m using Android or iOS.

Third, Spotify offers me several ways to discover new music and keep growing my library, such as a personalized playlist created just for me or by showing me my friend’s public playlists.

Also, as you’ve probably already guessed, I pay for a Premium subscription so I get some extra perks, like no ads. Plus, I’m able to listen to my music offline as well.

The two playlists I always have on my phone are my Roadtrip and Running ones. The first one has songs that are fun to listen to while on a ride, and the second is mostly upbeat pumping music to drive my pace while jogging.

Also, sometimes when I travel, I search for music that relates to a destination to enhance my travel experience and even give me some insight into the local culture.

Converse in any language

Google Translate has been an absolute lifesaver on my travels and is my top recommendation for the best travel apps for Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

While I try to learn a few words or phrases in the local language of the country I’m visiting, there are situations that come up that just can’t be solved with “delicious” or “thank you very much”.

With Google Translate, you can type in the phrase you’d like to say in English (or your native language), and it will translate it into the language of your choice.

Say you want to be sure the meal you ordered is vegetarian, or you want to know what time the next bus arrives.

You can choose to either have your phrase spoken so the person you’re interacting with can hear it, or you can show them the translated text.

My husband and I have used this to flag down a local man in Vietnam and tell him, “Our motorbike has a flat tire,” to which he helped us back to his home where he fixed the tire and his wife served us noodle soup.

Sometimes you have the opposite problem: You want to know what something in another language means.

Perhaps you’re reading a menu and you want to know exactly what you’re ordering.

You can either type in what you see, or you can use the photo-to-text feature. Simply snap a shot of the text in question, highlight it, and it will be translated for you.

This is especially helpful when you’re traveling in a country, like Thailand, where the alphabet is totally different from what you’re used to and typing it would be extremely difficult.

One thing I’d recommend is when you’re planning a trip, be sure to download the language package for the country you’re visiting ahead of time.

That way, you can use the app even if you don’t have cell service or Wifi (aka you’re on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and desperately need directions!).

Plan trips and share details with others

Sometimes the most useful things are free and right front of us. One such thing is the Apple Notes app. It’s my favorite app for planning my trips. I start it with a list of blogs to read. Gradually I build it up to have all the information in one place, including:

• Airline, car and hotel booking numbers, timing and other notes.
• Lists of things to see and places of visit
• Restaurant recommendations

During the course of my planning, I shortlist the categories and end up with an itinerary, which I refer to during the entire trip.

Some of my favorite features are:

• The ability to share the notes doc with everyone on the trip so we can all use it simultaneously.
• Notes is easily accessible and everyone with an iPhone has the Notes app at their fingertips – no need to install or learn a new app.
• The app is simple to use and has all the features I’ll ever need in my planning – tables, pictures, formatting etc.
• Notes syncs to iCloud when a connection is available. All the notes are available on all my devices, seamlessly. It doesn’t need WiFi. It always just works online or offline.

It really makes staying organized when I travel a snap!

Hail a cab in China (there’s an English version)

If you are traveling to China, then you need to download the Didi app. In short, Didi is the Chinese version of Uber/ Lyft, and it’s the most popular ride-sharing app in China.

Similar to Uber/ Lyft, you can use Didi to book different types of cars and services. The major difference is that Didi also calls taxis for you in addition to regular drivers and some services provide a premium service.

Without Didi it’s virtually impossible to flag down a taxi on the streets in China now.

Once you download the Didi App (there is an English version) you can register with your non-Chinese phone number or Wechat, another very important app in China that’s similar to WhatsApp but much more.

There are four different categories on Didi, Luxe, Express, Premier and Taxi.

Taxi is pretty self-explanatory and actual fare is charged by meter. Luxe is when you want to schedule your ride with a luxury car and suited driver and it’s best for business purposes.

Express is similar to regular Uber and under Express there is “Express Pool” like Uber Pool, Express (like regular Uber/Lyft) and “Select”, which has newer cars and more experienced drivers.

Premier is a service with professional drivers and drivers with 5 stars and hence more expensive. Payment with Didi is simple, you can add a foreign credit card or simply use cash.

Most Chinese people use Ali pay or WeChat Payment but as a traveler, you may not have those set up, so cash or credit card works better.

T ranslate in China and elsewhere

Baidu Translate is a real lifesaver during your trip to China and is my recommendation for one of the best travel apps for Europe, Asia, or the Americas.

You don’t have to be worried about the language if you download this app before your trip. It’s a voice translation app that works for text-to-text translation.

There are many other popular languages you can translate from English by using this app. Baidu Translate is approved in China, so there’s no chance to be blocked.

You can download it for free on your iPhone or any Android phone. I loved most the voice translation feature of this app. Just turn on the speaker before speaking in English, and it will accurately translate in Chinese and vice versa.

This app also supports camera translation and can translate the text from the image. However, all features are only accessible when you’re online.

Baidu Translate doesn’t work in an offline mode; you must have a good Internet connection when using this most useful and best voice translation app based in China.

Count your daily steps and stay motivated

Everyone likes getting something for nothing, am I right? My current favourite travel app is the Sweatcoin app. Sweatcoin converts your daily outdoor steps into currency, which can then be traded in for goods, services and gift cards.

The reason I love this app for traveling is because that’s when I walk the most. Whether you are out exploring a city on foot or hiking in the mountains, every step you do is a little piece of gold.

To start earning things for steps you would be doing anyway download the Sweatcoin app and create an account.

The app will run in the background on your phone and use your phones GPS signal to track your steps. You don’t need to have mobile roaming turned on.

5,000 daily steps become 5.00 coins, 10,000 become 10.00 and so on. There are different monthly subscriptions that enable you to convert more steps per day.

Each subscription charges you a varying amount of coins each month (all made from your own steps – no real money is involved).

This app is a great app to motivate you to move even when you are at home and why not start earning something from your steps.

Plan your road trips

There’s nothing better than a good road trip.

Stock up on the snacks. Put together an awesome playlist. Gather a couple of friends, or go it solo, and hit the open road.

The key to a successful road trip is the planning, which makes Roadtrippers the perfect companion, especially since it’s web AND mobile friendly!

You don’t have to think about how to fit everything in because Roadtrippers takes all of your bucket list locations and creates the best possible route between them.

A huge bonus is the app also estimates how many miles you can expect to drive, AND about how much money you’ll spend on gas.

These are two factors that are very important when it comes to budgeting out a road trip, and two things you don’t need to worry as much about thanks to Roadtrippers.

Once you’ve planned out your trip you can then save it, share it with friends, and even edit it on the go if you have any last minute changes!

An additional perk, and probably one of the best features in my opinion, is the ability to find “hidden treasures” along your route, all thanks to the phone navigation synching which can help you find things in your own city, or in the locations you travel through, that you didn’t even know existed!

Get customer reviews before you commit

We’re full-time RV travelers and are always looking for tools that can help make our road trips easier to plan. One of my favorite apps is TripAdvisor. I love that I can use it on my phone or laptop to accomplish more than one task.

The first thing I use it for is to find campgrounds.

TripAdvisor has such a large collection of reviews that I always feel confident in the location before we show up.

Another terrific feature of the reviews functionality is that visitors can post their own photos.

This way you see what a resort looked like last week, not when it was first opened.

TripAdvisor also has a feature that allows you to message other users if you have questions on their reviews. I’ve actually used the feature a few times and have almost always received an answer.

Finally, TripAdvisor is great once we’ve arrived at a destination to help us find great activities and restaurants.

The other users always provide helpful tips for visiting different destinations.

I also really appreciate how the restaurants are sorted by type of food and price so I can find those that best fit our needs at the time.

One app that we always use on our trips and suggest everyone download is Maps.me. Maps.me is a free app that provides offline maps to users of Android, iOS, and Blackberry.

When we install the app, no map comes with it, but we only have to select the region and the country we want and download it. Being able to use all the maps information without needing to have mobile data is the biggest advantage of Maps.me.

And, it’s a crucial advantage if you don’t have a local sim card and with the steep prices of roaming data.

With Maps.me you can search and navigate to hotels, attractions, streets or whatever you are looking for.

One thing that I really like about Maps.me is how easy it is to search hotels within the app. The maps show the hotels that are on booking.com and gives information about rating and pricing.

This is great if you arrive at a town without a hotel booked.

Another thing Maps.me excels at (I believe it’s even better than Google Maps) is navigation on foot.

Maps.me has an incredible amount of trails marked and a remarkable detail, even in very remote locations.

When doing a hiking trail, I prefer to use maps.me, even if I have mobile data because it usually has the trail marked while google maps sometimes doesn’t.

Find off-the-beaten-path locations to include in your itinerary

Here is yet another Maps.me recommendation.

Whether I’m planning a trip from home or while I’m already on the road, my number one travel tool is the free app Maps.me.

As you probably already guessed, Maps.me is an app that provides a map. It’s comparable to Google Maps. Except, Maps.me is much more accurate when it comes to biking and hiking trails and navigating in lesser developed countries in general.

Seriously, anything from small street vendors, hidden waterfalls, local supermarkets, and unknown gas stations are marked on Maps.me. Are you looking for off-the-beaten-path hikes, deserted beaches, or viewpoints?

I guarantee you can find them on this app. I even use Maps.me to navigate hikes that normally require guides! How’s that for one of the coolest travel planning tools!

When I’m planning a trip I always mark all the places I would like to visit on the map to get a general idea of how far apart they are.

Next, I use Maps.me to make a rough itinerary, and lastly, I use Maps.me to navigate to all my destination without using data!

Because the best part about Maps.me is that you can download the map of your destination and use all of Maps.me’s features when you’re offline, making Maps.me the perfect app for both planning your trip and for navigating during your trip!

Organize your multi-city trips

Organizing a multi-city, multi-country trip can become really stressful really quickly.

I used to rely on emails, individual apps, and even printouts to try to keep everything organized, but inevitably things would get overlooked, or I’d be missing a crucial bit of information along the way.

Just before our last large overseas trip to the US and New Zealand, I heard about Tripit and it was an absolute game-changer!

We were organizing things at the last minute and it could have been a really complicated job – but Tripit made it easy.

As soon as you book anything – accommodation, flights, car, etc. – all you need to do is forward your confirmation email to Tripit and all the information uploads into the app automatically. Magic!

You can enter things manually too if you prefer, but when booking multiple flights, places to stay and cars, it was incredibly useful to just flick an email through and everything would be input automatically.

Having all the information in one place also helped spot any gaps in our itinerary – like nights that still needed to be booked!

And having all our booking references and flight times in one place while we were traveling was a real godsend.

You can even access it while offline! I still use the Tripit app now, even when booking short breaks, as it becomes a handy reference point of your past travels too!

Stay vegan while traveling

As a vegan world traveler, HappyCow is the app that I use the most when planning where I am going to eat during my travels. HappyCow is a global directory of vegan restaurants, vegetarian restaurants, and restaurants with vegan options all over the world.

It’s crowd-sourced, which means that users are adding new entries, photos and restaurant reviews every single day.

The HappyCow website has been around for nearly 20 years, but recently it has grown exponentially, thanks to the increased interest in veganism and plant-based eating.

And of course, now that there’s an app version, it’s even more convenient to use.

During the trip planning phase, one of the first things I do is take a look at HappyCow to see what kind of dining options there are in my destination.

But even if I don’t have time to do much pre-trip research, the app makes it really easy to find veggie food on the go.

Just click the “show everything nearby” button, and you’ll instantly see all the dining options that are closest to your current location, along with photos, user reviews and opening hours.

Even if you don’t identify as vegan or vegetarian, HappyCow is a great way to discover healthy alternatives to the fast food that it’s so easy to fall back on when traveling.

Locate vegetarian options beforehand

More Happy Cow raves! If you are a vegan or vegetarian traveller, then you might already know it’s not always easy to find hearty food.

The HappyCow app flags all the local vegan and vegetarian restaurants, along with places with great options and is one of the best travel planning tools for vegetarians.

Users can leave reviews to flag issues and give advice – for example, ‘ask for the veggie burger without mayo to make it vegan’, ‘best place for dairy-free ice cream’ and directions to hidden food stalls.

You can easily search for places in order of which is closest to your location and review the ratings, before bringing your restaurant of choice up on the map.

In challenging countries, this can save hours of researching meal times beforehand. This has been a lifesaver for me, particularly in countries known for their meaty diets.

For example, when travelling in Tokyo I discovered a whole network of amazing, vegan Buddhist restaurants through this app which I’d have never have found on foot.

I discovered Evernote about 5 years ago and fell in love with it instantly.

Evernote is a note-taking app with a free version and premium version with more functions and abilities. I like this app mostly because it’s simple and easy to use.

That’s the most important thing for me. I’m able to quickly bring up the app, jot down notes, and have all my notes sync across all my devices.

So something I type at home on my Evernote desktop app will show up on my phone when I’m out shopping or traveling.

Another big thing I love about Evernote is its ability to create folders for notes and be able to easily move them around when needed.

For example, when I travel to several cities/countries at a time, I like to create a new folder for each country, and within each folder, I can create separate notes that contain itinerary info, things to-do list, and a journal where I can document my trip!

Evernote is integral to keeping me organized while I’m traveling. If you have the premium version, you’re also able to upload pdf files, photos, itineraries, etc.

I can’t do without it in life! There are many note-taking apps nowadays but if you’re looking for simple and effective, Evernote is all that!

Did we miss any? Let us know what your recommendations are for the best travel planning tools and apps.

If you’re looking for more travel tips, you might like this post:

• Travel Safety Tips You Need to Know

Here is a list of great reference books on travel planning tools and apps. Real time and money savers.

JOIN MY FACEBOOK GROUP: OVER 50 WOMEN TRAVELERS COMMUNITY.

BTW, if you are getting ready for your trip, make sure to take advantage of these useful,  money-saving links  to book your trip:

• Research and  book your flight  with  Skyscanner . I have found them to be the best because they list all airlines including the budget ones. You are always sure of having researched all options.
• For  car rental around the world, Discover Cars has flexible pickup and drop-off options, I recommend   Discover Cars .
• Book your accommodation  with  Booking.com . I find they have a wide selection and a nice, user-friendly, transparent website.
• Protect your trip  and, more importantly, protect yourself with travel insurance. I use  Travelinsurance.com  and have been very happy with them.
• Looking for a  small group tour  to unforgettable destinations with top professionals?  Intrepid Trave l is your choice.
• For more  general tours  to any destination or attraction,  book with   Viator . Check them out.
• Need a visa?   Get your visa  for all countries with   Passport Visa Exp ress.
• Looking for a cool walking tour to explore a city? My favorite walking tours are offered by Take Walks.
• Food and drink tours are the best way to enjoy a city. And Devour Tours are my favorite.
• Looking for a good VPN to protect your security, privacy and freedom online while traveling? Nordvpn is your best option.
• The best and most economical way to stay connected while traveling is with an Airalo eSIM.

I personally use, and can recommend, all the companies listed here and elsewhere on my blog. By booking through these sites, the small commission we earn – at no cost to you – helps us maintain this site so we can continue to offer our readers valuable travel tips and advice.

Want more travel planning tools and tips? Check out these handy guides or this post on travel apps for your international trips .

Talek Nantes

7 responses.

Thank you for reading!

what a great list. Would also like to add ATM Fee Saver mobile app – it gives a list of ATMs in foreign countries with no fees or lower fees than others along with withdrawal limits etc., found it quite helpful while travelling. worth to add it to your list!

Thanks. I’m always learning looking for new tips.

Awesome Post… Like it.

Great post! I would perhaps add https://holiwise.com/ – they help you find travel destinations based on your preferences.

Thanks for the tip and for reading.

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41 Insanely Helpful Travel Planning Tools and Apps

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Traveling can be overwhelming. Whether it’s the planning process up front, figuring out the details when you’re actually in your destination, or even settling the finances after the fact. Luckily, there’s an app for that! Turns out the saying is true, and even when it comes to all the nitty gritty details of travel planning, there really is an app for everything. These are the best travel planning tools to help make the process easier and put the power of organization at your fingertips!

Best Apps for Finding Flights

1. skyscanner.

Airfare is usually the culprit for the most expensive part of a trip. Luckily, there are a number of useful travel apps that can help you find cheap flights.

SkyScanner is one of the absolute best free resources for this! On their app, select the “Explore” tab at the bottom, input your home airport, and set the destination to “Everywhere”. For the date of travel, you can select the Whole Month, Cheapest Month, or Anytime to get the most flexibility.

Now SkyScanner brings up all the destinations that are cheapest to travel to! Just like that.

If you select a Destination from the list, it will show you a rundown of the cheapest travel dates and costs.

Once you find a cheap flight, I do recommend booking directly through the airline or through your travel credit card portal. Sometimes SkyScanner will direct you to some shady websites for booking and they often have poor ratings. Avoid them if you can!

Recommended by me (Alanna) from this blog (Periodic Adventures)

Hopper is a great, free app if you know your travel destination and a ballpark of (or exact) dates. It watches flight prices for you then notifies you when the lowest prices come up. It can also predict when the lowest fare will arise.

You can set up notifications so you don’t miss the deal!

Hopper is also helpful because it shows a color-coded calendar that displays the best priced days in green with the highest priced days in red. This helps give you ranges of dates that are lower priced than others.

This helpful tool is great if you’re traveling on a budget .

Apps to Find Accommodation

3. booking.com.

The app from Booking.com is definitely one of the best and most useful apps for traveling. With it, you will find the best accommodations all over the world.

The great thing is, the app is completely free and on top of that, has a great Genius (loyalty) program. That pays off if you travel often! The more often you book accommodations, the better the discounts, and there are often free upgrades and sometimes a free breakfast is included in the room rates.

Under “bookings” you’ll find all your bookings summarized. Very handy if you are planning a round trip, for example, or want to check the past bookings.

In addition to the practical accommodation search, you can also find a search function for car rentals. There is also a booking program for taxis (eg pick up from the airport, or from the ferry) and you can now even book excursions and entrance tickets. In principle, you have almost everything you need to organize a trip in one app – it doesn’t get much more practical than that!

Recommended by PlacesofJuma

One of the best free apps that you should be using for all of your travel planning is Airbnb. Airbnb is a well-known and popular free app that provides travelers the opportunity to book unique accommodations around the world. The online platform connects people who want to list or rent their property for short-term use. 

How it works is you search the app by filtering your results with your desired dates and destination. From there, you can browse the selection of accommodations and select the one that is the best fit for you.

Airbnb is ideal for a group of people traveling together. Depending on the type of Airbnb, it typically can be cheaper than hotels, especially for a large group splitting the costs. It also is beneficial for longer stays since you usually have access to a kitchen and have more space than a hotel room. 

Another feature Airbnb offers is experiences. They provide memorable activities hosted by a local tour guide in the destination you are visiting, such as a street food tour in Sicily, Italy. On the tour, you explore the local markets and taste the delicious and authentic Sicilian cuisine as you discover the magical streets of Palermo.  

Airbnb has been a reliable and incredible resource for travel planning over the last ten years. It helps you plan an epic vacation by finding those hidden gem accommodations and booking a one-of-a-kind local experience.

Recommended by Alisha from  Travel Today Work Tomorrow 

5. HostelWorld

If you are looking to book the perfect hostel while travelling , then one app you should always have on your phone is Hostelworld . With this free app , you can find a huge selection of hostels all around the world, keep track of all hostels and countries you have stayed in, and there is even a function to chat to travelers staying at the same accommodation as you beforehand. 

Especially as a solo traveler, it is a great idea to book your hostels with Hostelworld, as you can find a lot of information about what to expect at the hostel. You can find out if there are social common areas, see which activities the hostel is offering, and filter hostels based on your preferences to find the best hostel for you. 

Hostelworld makes it very convenient to book your next hostel on the go and keep track of all your booking information in one place. Most hostels also offer free cancellation, so it is easy to cancel them as well if your travel plans change unexpectedly.

Recommended by Becky from Beckspore Travel

Maps Apps so You’re Never Lost

The app Maps.Me is free to use for iOS, Android and BlackBerry users and serves as a GPS navigation app that every traveler should have installed on their phone. It includes worldwide maps and is the perfect open-source alternative to Google Maps and Apple Maps. Once downloaded on your phone, there is no need for an internet connection, and you never have to worry about saving mobile data during your travels again. There is also the possibility to save your favorite locations within the app and to share them with other people.

Another amazing feature of Maps.Me is the great amount of predesigned travel guides you can find within the app. Whether you are traveling in the city or wanting to explore the outdoors, Maps.Me provides numerous travel guides for your specific destination and routes. To sum it up, the offline usage, appealing design, and user-friendliness make Maps.Me an absolute must-have on every trip.

Recommended by Carolin from  happywhenabroad

7. Google Maps

While it may seem basic, Google Maps is inarguably one of the most helpful (and free! ) travel planning apps. Most people think of Google Maps primarily as a GPS tool to navigate between destinations, but it’s so much more than that. You can search for and compare prices at gas stations or pick the coffee shop with the absolute best reviews on your route.

Given its integration with the public transit systems of countless cities around the globe, from Rome to Tokyo, you can effortlessly figure out how to get around, whether or not you have a car.

Another handy tool is the ability to save or “pin” destinations within the app, which can be super helpful whether you’re trying to save cool hikes around your hometown or plan out the best stops along a road trip to the Utah national parks . Plus, if you’re headed someplace with spotty cell service, there’s even a way to download maps so you can access them- and a ton of information, like businesses’ opening hours- while you’re offline.

Whether you’re headed to the streets of Bangkok or going on an epic road trip through the United States, Google Maps is every traveler’s best friend.

Recommended by Jessica from Uprooted Traveler

Apps to Stay on Top of Your Travel Budget

8. travelspend.

TravelSpend is the handiest and easiest app to use for recording all of your travel expenditure. All you have to do is plug in how much you spent in the local currency and the app does the rest by translating the expenditure into your home currency. The app also allows you to categorise your spending so you can keep track of what you’re spending your money on. 

However, the best feature is its ability to set an overall budget for a specific length of time. The app will then work out your average expenditure per day to prevent you from going over budget. 

Whilst the basic version of the app is free, a premium version is available for £15.99 for the year or £1.33 per month . This will allow you to edit multiple documents/trips and eliminate ads (amongst other benefits) which the free version does not. However, there are constantly offers of up to 50% so it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for these deals. 

Overall, this app is an absolutely god-send and allows you to keep track of all your spending no matter where you are in the world.

Recommended by Alex and Leah from Alex and Leah on Tour

9. XE Currency Converter

One of the most useful and free apps that you’ll (almost) always use when you’re planning a trip is a currency converter. 

Because especially in the planning phase, you are not familiar with the new currency yet.

An accommodation of, let’s say 2.319.000 Vietnamese Dong per night, doesn’t mean anything yet.

Can you afford that? Is it expensive? Or is it really cheap?

Sure, you can look up the exchange rate yourself, and you’ll find that one US dollar equals 23,190 Vietnamese Dong (meaning that your accommodation will cost 100 US dollars a night). But it’s so much easier if an app just does the calculation for you.

One of the most popular converter Apps is XE Currency Converter. It not only converts the number you put in straight away, but it also shows the exchange rates of the past. And this is information which you can use as soon as you arrive at your destination. When there is a good exchange rate with your home currency, it might be time to hit the ATM again and withdraw a large bulk.

Recommended by Lara from The Best Travel Gifts

Wise (previously called Transferwise) is a free app available on iOS and Android. Through the Wise app you can access a multicurrency travel card that can be loaded with multiple currencies and used around the world.

The app is particularly good for travelers who are visiting several different countries on their trips as it avoids the need to get cash out in different currencies. You can add the Wise card to your digital wallet and use Apply Pay or equivalent to purchase things while travelling. This means you don’t need to carry an extra physical card or cash so it’s great for security. However, you can order a physical card if you prefer to have that option too.

You can load up the card via bank transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay or a range of other methods and the conversion rates at Wise are usually much lower than the rates at major banks or travel exchange companies. Wise is ideal for expats as you can use the app to transfer between bank accounts in different currencies for low fees.

Recommended by Kate from Kate Abroad

11. SplitWise

Planning a group trip can be incredibly difficult as is, so when it comes to splitting the cost, it can get confusing. But don’t worry, there is an app for that!

SplitWise makes splitting any bill incredibly easy! When I planned my family vacation to Disney World , I used it to figure out how much each family group owed and how much individuals owed.

To use the free app , you’ll need to add the people in your group and each expense. For each expense you can select who it was paid by and how you want to split the expense.

For this you can split equally between each person, split by exact amounts (if different people owe different amounts of the expense), split by percentages, split by shares (if you need to split by family or by night), and split by adjustment if certain people owe more than others.

Overall, this is such a useful app when you’re traveling in a group!

Useful Apps for Road Trips and Camping

12. roadtrippers.

If you are thinking about taking a road trip, one of the best travel planning apps you can invest in, is  Roadtrippers . Specifically designed to help you plan a road trip anywhere in the world, the Roadtrippers app will assist you with routes, accommodations, restaurants, attractions, gas, and so much more.

And whether you are creating your own road trip routes, or using one of the app’s pre-made trip guides, planning your adventure couldn’t be easier. You can even collaborate with other users to create joint itineraries when creating your trip!

And the advantages of using this app don’t end in the planning stages. While you are on the road, Roadtrippers will give you live traffic or road closure updates, estimate your arrival time, and suggest new routes if needed.

Unfortunately, the free version of this app no longer gives you enough waypoints to really create a decent road trip. The free version , however, will allow you to take the app for a ‘test drive’ and see if it’s the right fit for you.

If you decide to take the plunge, the $29.99 per year subscription fee for Roadtrippers Plus will give you full access to all the app’s great features. If you love road trips, then this app is definitely worth the small fee.

Recommended by Marianne from Pasta Pretzels and Passports

13. GasBuddy

GasBuddy is a free travel app used to find the cheapest gas prices in your area or along a travel route.

The app uses your location to find the closest gas stations and then displays the prices of each one. You can search for specific types of gas, such as regular, premium, or diesel. The app also has a feature that allows you to see the prices of gas stations nearby on a map, and you can even enter your destination and see prices along your route.

GasBuddy is an excellent tool for finding the cheapest gas prices, and it makes route planning convenient if you’re taking a road trip or traveling in an RV. You can even refer to the app for gas station reviews when selecting where to fill up.

In addition, GasBuddy offers its Pay with GasBuddy program. It’s also a good way to save on fuel costs because you can apply for a debit card that links to your checking account, which allows you to save up to 25 cents per gallon at participating gas stations.

The app is available for free on iOS and Android devices and is the perfect tool for saving money at the pump.

Recommended by Morgan from The Home That Roams

14. iOverlander

iOverlander is a must-have app for anyone taking a road trip or  driving abroad . It is an extensive, crowd-sourced database of places to stay and gas stations as well as border crossings on international itineraries. From wild-camping and unofficial car-camping spots to campgrounds and quality hotels, it offers more information than any other resource that tries to compete with it. 

The best part is that  iOverlander   is free to use . It does ask for donations though, so anyone who finds it helpful should consider giving even a small amount to help the site stay running. 

There is an iOverlander app. However, it is a bit limited. Most of the helpful information is on their website, which is pretty mobile-friendly. This can be cumbersome if you’re accessing it while driving. Instead, it’s best to do research on the site ahead of time or have a passenger do research while the driver focuses on the road.

Recommended by Brodi from Our Off Beat Life

15. Park4Night

Van lifers, campers, and road trippers: the next time you’re looking for a safe spot to catch some Z’s, consult Park4Night to find the best hidden gems. 

Pop open the map feature to browse the best overnight spots near you and check out its reviews (often featuring photos from past campers) to make sure the location fits your vibe. Filter your search by free or paid spots, parking lots or nature escapes, rest and picnic areas, campgrounds, accommodations, day-to-night parking, off-road spots, and whether or not you require services like water, power, toilets, etc. The app also allows you to organize the list by distance, creation date, locality, country, number of comments, and their rating. If you stumble upon a sweet spot, add it to the app for other users to enjoy too! 

If you’re venturing off-grid, consider upgrading to the paid option to unlock advanced features like their off-line mode, which allows you to download maps and use the app without an internet connection. You’ll also get a satellite map option, advanced search filters, no advertisements, and more.

Recommended by Eva from Wander in Raw

16. Campermate

The Campermate app should be at the top of your camping checklist   if you are visiting New Zealand and Australia and are taking a road trip, camping or campervanning.  It is completely free to download and is packed with useful features.

If you are camping or driving a motorhome, you can find freedom campsites (free), local campgrounds, dumpsites, showers, access to water etc. You can even find good campervan day parking and filter by the type of campsite you are looking for. It is extremely easy to use and the search by map feature is fast and simple.

Even if you are just taking a road trip, the app is super handy.  You can find public toilets, fuel stations, rubbish bins, playgrounds, EV charging stations and even road warnings.  

It also has a great community where you can review and comment on the locations, for example if a dump station is often full, or a campsite is noisy, providing great extra information to make your road trip decisions.

Written by Jennifer Parkes from Backyard Travel Family: Active Family Travel Specialists in New Zealand

Recommended by Jennifer Parkes from Backyard Travel Family

17. WikiCamps

Wikicamps is an essential travel planning app for campers or campervanners.  The app is available for different regions, each technically with its own paid app .

Separate Wikicamps apps can be found for the USA, Canada, UK, New Zealand, and Australia, with the cost ranging from $1.99-4.99 .

It is an invaluable tool when  campervanning New Zealand , or on a US road trip, for example. It can help you discover free places for boon docking safely or find a campsite with full facilities if you’re in desperate need for a shower! As it has the option to work offline, you can research on the go without having to worry about cell service.

In addition to helping you find both paid and free campsites, it’ll also help you discover places you can find water taps, points of interest, cell service, showers, dump sites and more. As the content is user-generated, it provides one of the largest databases of camp-related amenities and it is regularly updated. You can read real-person reviews on each site, helping you to plan your travels effectively and find plenty of hidden-gems along the way.

Recommended by Sophie and Adam from We Dream of Travel

18. Campendium

Campendium is a helpful app for RVers and tent campers alike. It is most commonly used for finding campsites (both free and paid) but there are a lot of extra helpful features in the app as well. There is both a free and paid version . 

The free version of Campendium allows you to search for campsites with filters for price, distance and reviews. It primarily shows public land, RV parks, parking lots that allow overnight parking, and dump stations. Each campsite shows the amenities provided, the cost, and has detailed reviews from other campers letting you know everything about the location…both the good and the bad. 

The paid version which is available with a Roadpass Pro account provides extra features like smoke map overlays, cell coverage overlays, cell service reports, hiking trails, and more. It c osts $49.00/year but does have a 7-day free trial. 

If you are looking for  amazing boondocking locations  or just need a helpful app to find the best campsites, Campendium is an excellent option. 

Recommended by Janae from Adventures with TuckNae

19. The Dyrt

This is a very helpful app for road tripping and hiking. “The Dyrt,” as it’s called, is a camping app with thousands of campgrounds in the United States for tents, RVs, trailers, glamping, and more.

One of the most handy features of this app is the map and filter of all nearby campgrounds, making it easy to find somewhere to stay in the area where you’re traveling. It also has lots of campground pictures and reviews from other travelers, as well as a bunch of info and details about each campground’s amenities like showers, picnic tables, trash disposal, cell phone reception, WiFi, and more.

The  Dyrt app is free , but there’s also a paid version for $35.99 per year . The main difference in the paid version is a trip planner and offline search, plus discounts at more than a thousand campgrounds across the United States. If you’re not sure about the paid version, they also offer a 7 day free trial so you can check it out before buying!

Recommended by David & Intan at The World Travel Guy

Apps for the Outdoors

20. alltrails.

AllTrails is a hiking app that has various features that help you get the most out of your outdoor adventures! The app helps you discover new hiking trails, find information about trails, read reviews of trails, track your outdoor activities, and stay safe while in the outdoors. 

The best part about AllTrails is that it’s community based. Through the app you’re able to connect with other outdoor enthusiasts and share your experiences. This is a fantastic feature because it means you can access real-time information. For example, reading through the recent reviews will provide you feedback about the trail as well as helpful info about its current conditions. 

Another great feature of AllTrails is how easy the app makes it to find trails that are near you. When traveling, the app will show you trails that are close to your location, so you’re able to discover trails that you otherwise may not have known about. 

The free version of AllTrails is totally sufficient for most people. The paid version, AllTrails Pro, costs $29.99 per year . It’s ideal for people who spend time outdoors regularly, especially in regions that are remote, because AllTrails Pro provides many offline features.

Recommended by Erin from Pina Travels

Related read → How to plan foolproof hiking itineraries

21. Recreation.gov

Do you love spending time outdoors and taking trips in nature? If so, you’ll definitely want to check out the recreation.gov app to help you plan adventures on federally managed land in the U.S! This app is great for finding information about national parks, national forests, lakes, rivers, and other federally managed recreational areas. It’s really easy to use and can help you plan your next outdoor adventure.

You can use the recreation.gov app to find  camping in National Parks . You can also apply for permits and lotteries or buy tickets for tours. This handy app makes trip planning a breeze – you can book campsites, apply for backcountry permits, and more in no time.

So, if you love recreating on federal lands in the U.S., this app will help you plan fantastic outdoor adventures.

Plus, the app is totally free to download and easy to use. Get started planning your next adventure today— download the recreation.gov app!

Recommended by Ashlee from The Happiness Function

22. National Park Service

If you love exploring the  US National Parks , you absolutely need to download the NPS app! With this app you’ll have access to information about all the National Parks, National Monuments, and National Historic sites! There are more than 400 sites on the app, and it’s all completely FREE !  Its free to download the app, and there are no in-app purchases either! 

You can use the app in three different ways.  The first way is if you know where you want to go already.  Just type in the name of the Park, and all of the information will pop up. From this screen, you can see what the hours are, the fees and any important notifications like closures or permits. You can also see what there is to do at that park, such as hikes, or drives, and what services are offered there.  

The other way to use the app, is if you are exploring somewhere new, and just want to see if there are any sites nearby that may interest you.  You can open the app, turn on your location and ask the app to find parks near you.  This is a fun way to find National Park Hidden Gems when you are traveling! 

The final way to use the NPS app is to use it to learn more about the parks, plan trips and keep track of which parks you have visited. There are areas to add personal lists, like favorites, or places you want to visit. You can also watch webcams from different parks to help you learn more about them.  

The best feature of the app, and what makes it a must have, is the ability to download information.  Most often, while in a National Park, you will not have good cell service or wifi.  The NPS app lets you download all of the information you’ll need so you have access to it even when you don’t have service.  You will be able to locate hiking trails, services, visitors centers, and maps even when you don’t have service.  This is so much easier than taking screen shots of different things you need, and then trying to find them all later! 

Recommended by Chantelle from Flannels or Flip Flops

The Komoot maps, outdoor navigation, GPS tracking and trail & route guide helps you discover off the beaten path destinations and prevents you from potentially dangerous mistakes when traveling in Nature.

Komoot is a freemium model and you’ll get 1 free region to download to your phone so you can navigate even without mobile service.  With mobile service you can use all regions.

The user interface is phenomenal and you can also publish your routes to its social network to stay up to date with your friends’ adventures. 

It includes routes for hiking, bike touring, mountain biking, road cycling and running.  

If you want to download more regions they are $3.99 each or $29.99 for the entire world .  If you want full access to plan multi day bike or hiking trips, it costs $59.99 per year and it will also include the maps of the entire world. 

Recommended by Morgan Fielder from Crave the Planet

24. Tide Times

Going on a coastal journey of any sort, understanding your tide times is an absolute must! Many beaches can be impassable at high tide, or natural phenomena you’ve driven out of your way to see only possible to view when its low tide or vice versa. Whether you’re camping and on foot, making road-tripping stops, or seeking out the day’s biggest swell, My Tide Times is a simple but invaluable daily planning app for travelers.

The great part is, My Tide Times App is free and easy to use . With location services on it will automatically display the tide times at your nearest coastal location, or you can search over 30 countries using 9000 weather stations.

The app allows you complete control whether you use feet or meters, kilometers or miles, and 12 or 24-hour clock, as well as the ability to change the underlying map and contrast if you’re hard of sight.

Tide Times is great not just for the current day’s information but up to 2 months in advance if you’re a true planner! You additional get sunrise and sunset times along with moon information and swells to completely capture the most important points of every day while you travel.

Recommended by Family Road Trip

25. My Aurora Forecasts and Alerts

If you are planning to visit Norway or  Iceland during winter  to see some of the best Northern Lights, make sure to download this app. My Aurora Forecast & Alerts is perfect not only for professional Aurora watchers but also for those who would love to see this natural phenomenon for the first time.

This free app is simple to use and will notify you when there is a huge chance of seeing the Northern Lights in your current location. You can also check the long-term forecast to see which days are the best to watch the sky at night. 

In the My Aurora Forecast & Alerts app, you will see a few diagrams showing cloud coverage, solar wind, density, etc. It also shows the best Northern Light locations in real-time, so if you are planning a spontaneous trip to see Aurora Borealis, look no further than My Aurora Forecast & Alerts.

Recommended by Paulina from ukeveryday

Reliable Transportation Apps

26. citymapper.

When traveling to a new city, navigating the public transportation system can be daunting. However, there are now many apps that can help make transportation planning easier. One of the most popular is Citymapper.

Citymapper is a popular transportation planning app that is available for cities around the world. It provides information on public transportation options, including bus, train, and subway routes and schedules. Citymapper also offers walking directions to help users get to their destinations.

If you’re planning a trip to a new or unfamiliar city, consider downloading Citymapper. The app is free to download and use , and it is available for iOS and Android devices.

To use the app, simply enter your destination and the app will show you the best routes to take, with a recommended route. You can also view information on transit times such as when the bus or train will arrive, how much it’ll cost, and how long it’ll take you to get to your destination.

One con to the Citymapper app is that it’s only set up for medium to large cities mostly in Europe and the United States. So before you go, double-check that Citymapper has the information for your destination city for easy traveling and creating memorable experiences .

Recommended by Pafoua from Her Wanderful World

27. Ridesharing apps around the world

An essential part of travelling is getting around the place you are visiting.  For some destinations public transport or walking is suitable, but there’s no doubt you’ll find a time when you need to book a taxi or private driver.

In some destinations you can simply wave down a taxi, but in many places taxis can be less frequent, not to mention dishonest. Ridesharing apps remove the stress of negotiating and finding a driver by handling the entire process on your phone.

Ridesharing apps vary in prices and uptake all around the world.  Regions like Southeast Asia will be a lot cheaper with rides costing as low as $1 in places like Cambodia.

The global market leader in ridesharing apps is of course Uber .  Having this app installed on your phone is a must regardless of where you’re heading as it’s the most widely used app.  This should be the first app you check wherever you are.

Lyft is the main competitor to Uber and works in pretty much the same way, however, coverage is limited to only North America.

Grab is the market-leader in Southeast Asia and is a great alternative to Uber.  Being tailored to this region means you can also order food, scooter rides / rentals and hire a driver by the hour within the app. This makes getting to  activities in Singapore , Vietnam or Indonesia incredibly simple with Grab.

Gojek is Grab’s largest competitor in Southeast Asia and offers comparable services – it’s worth having both installed if you’re in this region.

Finally, Bolt is a major player in the ridesharing space throughout Africa and Europe .

Recommended by Delilah from Our Travel Mix

28. Rome2Rio

Rome2Rio is an essential travel planning app for helping you determine the best way to get from point A to point B for your schedule and budget.   It’s a huge time saver when doing travel planning.  Plus, it’s free !

Let’s say that you want to travel from London to  Paris .  You just enter your origin and destination cities and your desired travel date into the app.  Then Rome2Rio works its magic and provides you with a comprehensive list of all of your transit options. 

In this example, Rome2Rio came up with eleven different ways to get to Paris—everything from trains, to flights, to rideshare, to driving and using the car ferry.  The app lists the travel time and cost ranges for each option.  It also flags a recommended option (in this case, the train) and the cheapest option (in this case, the bus).

Once you’ve selected your preferred method of transit, drill down to learn more details (for example, to view the train schedules).  Continue to drill down and you will be transferred through to a sister site (Omio, Expedia, blablacar), where you can purchase your tickets.

Recommended by Lisa Garrett of Waves and Cobblestones

Related read >> 4 day Paris itinerary

29. Wanderu

Wanderu  is the easiest one-stop shop to find, compare, and book cheap bus or train tickets anywhere in the US and Europe. It’s the perfect, free app for planning cheap transportation between cities in advance, but also comes in handy when plans change unexpectedly. Instead of paying an arm and a leg for a last-minute flight, you can purchase a bus or plane ticket for a fraction of the price.

All the big names in ground travel, including Greyhound, Amtrak, MegaBus, VIA Rail Canada, and so many more partner with Wanderu to help make buying tickets simple. With so many different carriers, you’ll find that most routes have a variety of different schedules, amenities, and, most importantly, prices. When you book through Wanderu, you’ll get your ticket via the carrier’s website with the best possible price and no additional fees. 

Wanderu can also help find car rentals and cheap hotel rooms once you’ve got your trip.

All in all, Wanderu is the best app for last-minute adventures or planning your next trip on a budget. 

Recommended by Rachel from Bucket List Places

Essential Communication Tools for Traveling

Yolla is an app that I accidentally stumbled upon when I was frustrated in a foreign country and I have used it many times since then. It’s an app that helps you call a local number to any country for a lot more affordable price than using roaming services or calling from your local sim card in your current location.

It saved me so much money when I had to call my bank when my bank card was blocked in France. I was able to call airlines to fix my travel booking during the height of the pandemic.

After installing the free app , you can add credits using your bank cards or PayPal. Depending on the payment method, you can top up from $5, $10, and up without other extra fees and it doesn’t expire. Once it’s ready, simply type in the number you are calling including the country code. You have to be connected to the internet to use the app.

Recommended by Elizabeth of Three Week Traveller

31. Polar Steps

Family and friends, you gotta love ’em. And you do! But when travelling away from your loved ones it can be overwhelming attempting to keep everyone updated on your adventures. You want to share the fun things you’re doing and the magical places you are going, but when do you have the time? You are focusing on your adventure!

Enter Polar Steps, the best free travelling app for keeping the important people in your life apprised of your adventures, without having to inform them one by one!

Sure, social media can do the same, but not everyone’s grandmother or best friend is online anymore. By sharing your unique link, your friends can view the travels and photos you post in the app without being required to sign in to the app, have a Facebook account, or wade through any other information paywalls.

It also has a range of privacy settings, so you can limit who can see your link and whether they can see your future plans or just where you’ve visited so far. You are in full control of the information you share!

The added trip planning features and local guide info make Polar Steps one of the best travelling apps to take with you, wherever you go.

Recommended by Shev from Shev Strolls

32. Google Translate

One of the best travel apps is Google Translate. It’s extremely helpful when traveling to a country where you don’t speak the native language. Google Translate covers more than 50 languages, which is great for international travel.

Google Translate is a free app and you should definitely download it prior to leaving on your trip. When traveling internationally to a place where you don’t speak the language, learning a few key phrases are helpful. For everything else, there’s Google Translate.

The app can help you communicate directly from person to person by listening and translating via voice. You can also take photos in the app and it automatically downloads to your preferred language. This is helpful for street signs, menus and more!

Whether you’re enjoying the  best beaches in Manuel Antonio , Costa Rica, exploring the famous shrines in Kyoto, Japan or marveling at the incredible coast in Cinque Terre, Italy, you’ll want Google Translate on your phone!

Recommended by Nikki from She Saves She Travels

33. WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the go to communication app for millions around the world. What sets it apart is that it sends texts and makes calls solely through WiFi. This means you don’t need to worry about SIM cards or an international data plan when communicating between countries.

Another perk of WhatsApp is that it is fully encrypted so not even the app itself can see your messages. You can send your location securely through the chat as well as photos, videos, and voice messages.

The best part is that WhatsApp is completely free !

This app was essential for my Birthright group trip to Israel and I’ve used it to communicate with my family who were traveling in India and Thailand at the same time!

Other Helpful Travel Tools and Apps to Add to Your Arsenal

34. find me gluten free.

For some this may not be the most popular or important travel planning app you’ll read about in this list, but for those travelers with food sensitivities, it definitely is. The most critical and important part of travel planning for those with food sensitivities like celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity is, w here can we eat?

While some destinations clearly cater to food allergies and sensitivites (like   Topolino’s Character Breakfast at the Riviera Resort in Walt Disney World), it can be hard to know which places will be food allergy friendly. The Find Me Gluten Free app helps take the guesswork out of choosing celiac friendly restaurant locations.

They have both a free and a paid (premium) version . The premium subscription is $19.99 USD per year which allows for no ads, specialty filters, and more. The great thing about this app is that it’s mainly being used by a community of other celiac or gluten sensitive people. With this the reviews have more value and tackle pertinent questions. So, be sure to download this app. 

Recommended by Dr. Rachel from TheRxForTravel.com

35. Day One

Day One is an easy-to-use journal app. First created in 2011, this iOS app is also available for Android phone users on Google Play. Day One is a free app with a subscription for additional features called Day One Premium ($34.99/yr) . You can use it with iPhones (free version) and sync with iPads, Macs and Apple Watches (premium version). 

The best things about this app are its simplicity and versatility. You can write a long journal each day or simply take a photo with a short, descriptive sentence. 

The premium version bumps it up a notch. You can use the automatic location and weather logging, create multiple journals, incorporate video clips, add sounds, and use tags to categorize journal entries creating a powerful search tool. 

Day One Premium also provides unlimited encrypted storage to ensure all data and entries are kept private and secure. You can save or export your journal in a PDF file or order a printed book of all your journal entries (for an extra fee).

Start writing and add a photo from your camera roll. It’s as simple as that. You can easily revisit the journey via timeline, media grid, or calendar view.

Recommended by Megan from Time.Travel.Trek.

36. Get Your Guide

Get your Guide  is a fabulous traveling app that allows you to book day trips and excursions online. This means no more visiting an agent and negotiating the price and terms. You also don’t have to wait till you reach your destination, you can plan and pre-book before your trip.

Get your Guide is particularly helpful with  destinations in Europe  and North America, but also covers other popular tourist places around the globe. Apart from excursions, you can also book specialized guided tours by locals (e.g. food tours), airport transfers, admission tickets to attractions, and hop-on hop-off bus tickets. From browsing to booking, the whole user experience of the app is fluid and effortless.

Similar to TripAdvisor, in Get Your Guide you can see ratings and reviews for the tours, so even if you don’t book with the app, you will still get helpful insights to help you plan.

The app is available for free in the play store and the apple app store, you only have to pay for booking the tours.

Recommended by Vidyut from Triplyzer

37. TripCase

TripCase is a fantastic free app that is intended to take the pressure off organizing your next trip! This app is available on both iOS and Android and it helps organize all your travel details into one location.

Forget searching through your email account for your hotel confirmation or looking up your flight status on Google, TripCase manages all these details for you.

With TripCase, as soon as you book your flights, hotels or transportation, you can forward the confirmation email to [email protected] from the email linked to your account. The intelligent app then pulls your travel details into your account and consolidates these bookings into their corresponding trips.

In TripCase you can review your trip’s upcoming itinerary and easily ensure accommodation and transportation are booked for each leg of your trip by reviewing the ‘timeline view’ which provides a high-level overview of which activities or transportation you have booked on which date.

One of the best features is the flight status updates. The app will track your upcoming flight, letting you know which terminal and gate the departure is from and will send out notifications if there is a change to your flight.

This app is so handy in organizing all the small details of your upcoming trip that it is a must-have for all travel lovers!

Recommended by Roxanne from Wild About BC

38. PackPoint

Figuring out what to pack for your destination is always a challenge but packing just got a lot easier with PackPoint. PackPoint is a free mobile travel planning app for iPhones and Androids. 

The simple interface makes it user-friendly to create a custom packing list based on a multitude of factors, including the weather forecast of your destination, trip length, activities you’ll be doing, and even whether or not you will be doing laundry.

What makes PackPoint so helpful is the detail in which it can generate your custom packing list. Once you tap Begin Packing, you’ll have a complete packing list that takes into account all the variables you’ve inputted about your trip!

You can continue to customize the list by adding your own items or deleting suggestions provided by the app that don’t fit your personal needs, helping you maximize space in your suitcase . And you can stay organized by checking each item off within the app as you pack! 

To customize your trip even more and have access to integrations with the apps Tripit and Evernote, you can pay $2.99 for PackPoint Premium .

Recommended by Michela from She Goes the Distance

A helpful app that most travelers probably overlook is a period tracker app. While ‘time of the month’ apps tend to be used by those looking to track their ovulation calendar to help aid pregnancy, these apps can also be used by people who want to know when their period is due, so they can plan accordingly.

Women’s health apps, such as Flo, provide various options to track menstruation, predict cycles, and record symptoms. This allows you to get to know your body a little bit better.

Knowing when to expect symptoms such as cramps and tenderness can help you plan comfortable trips. In addition, some travelers may prefer to avoid certain activities while on their period, so they will find the predictions helpful.

For example, if you use a menstrual cup and are working out the best time to do a multi-day  East Coast road trip  in an RV with no running water, you might consider the road trip outside of your period window. 

Flo, and other health apps, are available on IOS and Android and tend to have a free tier with adverts and a premium option to remove ads. Flo has a 1-month subscription for $9.99, 3-month subscription for $19.99, 6-month subscription for $39.99, 1-year subscription for $49.99. 

Recommended by Amanda from Hey! East Coast USA

40. Wanderlog

The Wanderlog app is a fantastic app that allows you to cut down on the various travel apps you’re currently using by being a conclusive app. It manages your itinerary, lodging, flight overview, and route management to ensure you’re saving time on transportation.

This app is also great because you can see top-tier guides and itineraries related to the place you’re visiting; this is essential to make sure you’re not missing out on any crucial and unique excursions.

Another noteworthy helpful point is this app recommends places to explore, optimal routes, and highly rated restaurants of various styles.

Wanderlog is a free app that can be used for most of the planning portion. However, you’ll be missing out on valuable features such as using the app while offline, real-time flight deal notifications, optimization of travel routes, and importing of lodging, flights, and rentals via your Gmail. Access to these premium features will cost $49.99 annually and is well worth the price due to the well-rounded features that allow you to eliminate using multiple sources. All in all, this travel app is a must-have for planning your next trip. 

P.S. Make sure to tag a friend in your planning as it allows tripmates to be added.

Recommended by Sierra and Yesenia from The Sisters Who Voyage

41. Theme park apps

If you’re planning to visit a theme park during your travels you should absolutely add the park’s app to your phone before your trip.

For example, the Walt Disney World app allows you to manage your group’s plans, reserve Genie+, schedule dining reservations, and more!

You can even download the Play Disney Parks app to have interactive experiences around Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge (Batuu).

Another great perk of these apps is ride wait time monitoring.

When I visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando , I found it very helpful to set wait time notification so if the wait time for specific rides dropped below a certain time, the app would let me know. No more waiting in long lines, when the wait time will be shorter later!

Looking for more planning resources?

• How to plan a trip with a step-by-step walkthrough
• Tips for finding the best things to do on your vacation
• Useful tips for traveling cheap
• Ideas for how to travel as a college student
• How to plan out your vacation budget using Microsoft Excel
• Walkthrough on how to plan a local trip

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My Travel Essentials

• Travel Insurance  – Going on an international trip? Don’t forget travel and medical insurance with SafetyWing .
• Travel Card  – If you’re new to travel hacking, fear not! My favorite card for beginners gives you $750 in rewards when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months, plus lounge access, 10x points on hotel bookings, and free TSA pre-check!
• Get Your Guide  – Check out Get Your Guide for a one-stop-shop for booking travel activities.
• Booking.com  – This is my favorite hotel search aggregator, specifically for reading reviews. On Booking.com , the reviews can be searched for keywords like WiFi, breakfast, pool, amenities, etc.! So helpful!
• Anti-pickpocket bag – Worried about having your valuables swiped? PacSafe makes the best travel bags with zippers and straps that lock and with mesh steel enforced fabric.
• Give the Gift of Travel  – This is the perfect gift for travelers in your life! Tinggly allows you to gift experiences around the world, perfect for birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries.
• Staycation Idea  – Check out Resort Pass , which gives you day passes to resorts so you can use their pool, spa, and fitness center, a great staycation idea!

Recent PhD graduate and hyper-planner of Periodic Adventures. I share detailed travel itineraries and guides that you can use to plan your trips -- complete with practical tips, estimated costs, navigation info, and everything else you need to spend more time traveling, and less time worrying.

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10 Comments

I definitely need to check out some of these apps. Do you also have a find Veggie/Vegan restaurants app?

I’ve heard good things about HappyCow for finding vegan spots, but it does cost $3.99 to download. Probably worth it though!

Fabulous post! I’m familiar with many of them and was delighted to find some new ones I didn’t know about before.

I’m glad to hear that Heather!

Such a helpfull post, thank you for sharing it. I know some of these apps, but I found out that there are some other apps I have to download!

I’m glad to hear that! happy to help!

what a great list! Would also recommend ATM Fee Saver – it helps find fee free and lower fee ATms abroad along with withdrawal limits for foreign card holders, use it quite a bit, helps in saving up on those costs! Worth adding to your list!

Ooh yes, great addition! That’s certainly helpful!

Your blog is not just a guide; it’s a travel companion. The practical tips and advice make it clear you’ve been there and done that. I appreciate the insider insights that will undoubtedly enhance my travel experience.

I’m so glad to hear that!

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The 19 Best Travel Planning Apps for Every Type of Traveler

December 1, 2021 15 min read

Planning your next travel adventure can be both exciting and stressful. While searching for amazing destinations and attractions to visit is always fun, keeping track of all of the information relating to your trip isn’t the easiest task. 

If you’ve been using Google docs and sheets or simply storing travel inspiration, confirmations, bookings, and reservations in your email, there’s a better way: using a travel planning app! 

You can discover an array of travel itinerary apps on the market, such as Wanderlog , a free and easy-to-use travel itinerary planner. But deciding which is best for your needs can be challenging. To help, we’ve put together this list of the 19 best travel planner apps on the market. 

To create this guide, we started by searching for the top trip planners online and in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. We then tested these apps and looked at user reviews to create this ultimate list of the best travel planning apps. This extensive list includes a range of apps, from road trip planning apps to itinerary planning apps. No matter what type of traveler you are, we have you covered. 

If you’re looking for a way to simplify travel planning and organization, keep reading! 

Best Overall Travel Planner App: Wanderlog 

We truly believe that Wanderlog is the best overall travel itinerary planning app on the market. Wanderlog allows you to plan detailed day-by-day itineraries, import all of your trip information, and search activity suggestions. It’s also perfect for group travelers and those traveling via a range of transport methods, from flying to taking a road trip. 

You can use Wanderlog in-browser, or download the app for iOS and Android. Wanderlog is 100% free to use, and this free version offers access to almost all of the apps’ features. There is an upgrade option, Wanderlog Pro, that offers added benefits with a one-week free trial.

Wanderlog Features

Activity Suggestions and Access to Pre-Created Trips 

You can search third-party websites and add things to do to your itinerary from online guides, like Tripadvisor or Google Trips. Wanderlog also offers activity suggestions, and you can view trips created by other users for inspiration. 

Storage and Organization of Travel Information 

When using Wanderlog, you can manually add travel information or automatically import reservations, bookings, and other email confirmations by syncing with Gmail. This travel information includes flight info, bus or train reservations,  accommodation details, rental car confirmations, and more. You can also add expenses for places and items on your itinerary, and manage your total budget.

Itinerary Creation 

As you upload travel information and add activities you want to undertake on your trip, a day-by-day itinerary will be created. This itinerary is incredibly easy to edit, and you can add notes to each stop. 

If you don’t need a day-by-day itinerary and want more flexibility in your plans, you can simply create lists, for example, a list of things to do or restaurants to try. 

Access to Maps 

When you add stops to your itinerary or lists, they’ll be displayed on a map. The map feature makes it easy to see where all the attractions you wish to visit are located, allowing you to plan the most efficient itinerary. 

Road Trip Planning

Wanderlog now offers the ability to plan road trips! You can add start and end destinations, plus unlimited stops along the way, and your road trip route will be shown on interactive maps. 

It’s super easy to rearrange these plans, and you can even use our “Road Trip Optimizer” to generate the most efficient route. The total time and distance of your road trip journey will be displayed too.  

Group Collaboration 

Wanderlog makes collaborating with others in your travel group a breeze! You can easily collaborate with others traveling with you by simply adding their email to your trip. Alternatively, you can just share a link to the itinerary. Having done this, all members of your group can collaborate on the plans in real-time. 

Wanderlog Pro Added Features

• Offline access to itineraries and maps
• Exporting of maps to Google Maps
• Auto scanning of travel confirmations in Gmail
• Road trip route optimization  

Who Is Wanderlog For? 

Wanderlog is the best app to plan travel for every type of traveler. From solo travelers to groups, and from the highly organized traveler to those that simply need one place to store information and activity suggestions. Wanderlog also has a highly user-friendly interface, and best of all, it’s free to use! 

Who Is Wanderlog Not For? 

Wanderlog is great for all travelers! Whether you want to organize your travel details, search for an array of activities to enjoy on your trip, or collaborate with fellow travelers, the Wanderlog travel planning app won’t disappoint. 

Does Wanderlog sound like the travel itinerary planner for you? Download the app today ! 

Best Road Trip Planning App: Roadtrippers

If you’re looking for road trip planner apps, Roadtrippers is one of the best options out there! This app is created exclusively for those traveling via car. It not only maps out the best routes for you to follow but also offers suggestions of things to do along the way. 

Roadtrippers can be used online and via their iPhone and Android app. Roadtrippers offers a free Basic version and a paid-for version called RoadTrippers Plus, which costs $29.99 per year.  

Roadtrippers Features

Custom Route Maps

Roadtrippers calculate the best route for you. Simply enter your road trip start and end destination, plus stops along the way if applicable. You can choose the fastest route or ask Roadtrippers to suggest additional stops along the way. 

Activity and Attraction Suggestions 

As just mentioned, Roadtrippers offers suggestions on things to do along your road trip route. These suggestions include activities to try and attractions to visit, as well as dining and accommodation suggestions. 

Gas Cost Estimations 

Once you have a route mapped, Roadtrippers provides an estimation of the total gas cost. This feature is great for those operating on a budget. 

Navigation 

Roadtrippers also help guide you once you set out on the trip with in-app navigation. This feature allows you to stay within the app instead of switching to another navigation app, like Google Maps. 

Roadtrippers Plus Added Features 

• Offline maps
• Collaboration features, allowing multiple travelers to add to the road trip itinerary 
• Live traffic updates 
• Special promotions from Roadtrippers’ travel panthers, such as discounts on hotels 
• Dark mode 
• No in-app ads 

Who Is Roadtrippers For? 

As the name suggests, Roadtrippers is ideal for people planning road trips. The app is helpful for all types of road trip travelers, from those looking for a quick route from A to B to those wanting to visit an array of attractions along a multi-city route. 

Who Is RoadTrippers Not For? 

This app isn’t optimal for those planning different types of travel experiences. For example, if you’ll fly to one city and then want recommendations for tourist attractions, this isn’t the right app for you. You also miss out on features without a paid account, so if you want to benefit from all of a travel apps’ features for free, you may not be interested in RoadTrippers. 

Want to learn more about Roadtrippers? Read our in-depth Roadtrippers review ! 

Best Travel Planning App for Trip Information Organization: TripIt

TripIt is one of the relatively well-known itinerary planning apps that stores all your trip details, like transport and accommodation information, in one place. TripIt can be used via web browser or an app for iOS or Android. 

TripIt has both a free version of the app, with limited features, and a paid-for version called TripIt Pro. You can also purchase TripIt for Teams which is targeted at business travelers.

TripIt Pro: $49 per year with a 30-day free trial

TripIt Teams: Starts at $29 a month for one to ten users 

TripIt Features

TripIt allows you to upload your travel information to one place. Things you can upload include flight details, hotel bookings, and activity reservations. You can manually upload information or email it to TripIt. 

TripIt Pro Added Features 

• Transport fare trackers
• Check-in reminders
• Flight updates
• Seat upgrade information 
• Airport security wait time updates 
• Loyalty/rewards program points tracker 
• Baggage claim location notification 
• Interactive maps
• Ability to share plans with others 
• Features to add documents to your itinerary, such as photos or PDFs 

Who Is TripIt For? 

This is a great app for those that only want to store and organize all the information they already have relating to a trip in one place, and have access to this information on their phone. It’s also very easy to use. 

Those that also want notifications related to their trip all in one place will appreciate the features offered by TripIt Pro. 

Who Is TripIt Not For? 

TripIt is quite a basic itinerary planner. In addition, TripIt doesn’t offer suggestions on things to do in the city you’re visiting. These drawbacks mean that TripIt is best for those that only want to store all of their travel information in one place.

If you’re looking for an app that offers travel suggestions, such as activities to try or landmarks to visit, this isn’t the app for you. Travelers looking for a free travel itinerary app will probably not be interested in TripIt either (you should instead try Wanderlog that’s 100% free to use!) 

Unsure if TripIt is right for you? Read our detailed TripIt review to learn more about the app.

Best Travel Planning App for Documenting Your Trip: Polarsteps

Polarsteps allows you to document your entire trip, along with creating itineraries. This travel app can be used in-browser or via an app and is one of the best free travel planner apps, as you can access all features at no cost. You can pay for a printed travel book with pictures and notes relating to your trip. These books start at approximately $40 for a 24-page book.

Polarsteps Features

Trip Itinerary Creation 

You can create a trip itinerary and add as many stops as you like. These stops include different cities, countries, and landmarks/places of interest. A map showing each stop will also be generated. 

Addition of Images, Videos, and Notes 

For every stop added, you can also upload pictures, videos, and a description of the place. This feature is ideal for those looking to document their adventure and makes Polarsteps somewhat of a digital travel scrapbook. 

Access to Pre-Created Trips

You can follow other users (as you would on social media networks) and access their pre-created trips. This is the one discovery feature on the app to help you find additional places to visit. 

Sharing Features 

It’s easy to share trips with other people, like friends and family. You can add followers to your trip, which allows them to see everything you’re doing. Multiple people, however, can not edit and add to a trip from different accounts. 

Who Is Polarsteps For? 

Polarsteps is recommended for those that want to document their entire trip with images, notes, and the like. It’s also perfect for those taking long, multi-city trips, although can be used by those taking shorter trips too. 

Who Is Polarsteps Not For? 

This app isn’t recommended for those looking to create an itinerary that simply keeps all of their travel information in one place. If you don’t want to document your trip via images, notes, and videos, Polarsteps probably won’t be worth using. 

The app also isn’t great for those looking for activity suggestions, you can access the trips of others for ideas, but the Polarsteps will not offer streamlined activity suggestions itself. 

Read our detailed Polarsteps review to discover more about this app. 

Best Alternative to Print Travel Guides: Lonely Planet Guides

Lonely Planet is an extremely well-known travel guide brand. Recently, they launched an app, Lonely Planet Guides, that is quickly becoming one of the  best travel planner apps. Lonely Planet Guides offers attractions and landmark suggestions for over 1,000 cities. You can also access videos, curated collections, and phrasebooks. 

Lonely Planet Guides is accessible via an app for iOS and Android. There is a free version, but it’s very basic, so paying for a subscription is necessary in most cases. Lonely Planet Guides pricing is as follows: 

• One Month: $4.99
• Six Months: $21.99 (or $3.67 a month)
• One Year: $39.99 (or $3.33 a month) 

Lonely Planet Guides Features

Information on Places of Interest 

You have access to information on landmarks and attractions for the majority of cities on the app. This feature is great for discovery and allows you to find the best things to see and do in the city you’re visiting.

If you don’t have a paid subscription, you can only access info on four places of interest per month. 

Custom Maps and Bucket Lists 

If you discover places of interest that you want to visit, you can add them to a map and/or bucket list. Once in the city, you can open your map to easily see where all the attractions you want to visit are located. 

Without a paid plan, you can only add four locations to your map each month. 

Curated Collections

Access to pre-created collections of things to do is available. These are often categorized, for example, the best markets or restaurants to visit. 

Ability to Purchase Tours and Other Tickets 

If you discover an attraction you want to visit or a tour you want to try, you can purchase tickets via a third party directly in the app. 

Paid Subscription Added Features 

• Access to phrasebooks for 19 languages 
• 360-degree immersive experiences 

Who Is Lonely Planet Guides For? 

The Lonely Planet Guides app is ideal for those looking for a digital alternative to traditional print travel guidebooks. It’s also a good choice for those going on a multi-city trip as you have access to information for thousands of cities across the globe, all from your phone. 

Who Is Lonely Planet Guides Not For? 

Lonely Planet Guides isn’t recommended for travelers that are looking for free travel planner apps. It’s also not the best option for those looking to create complete itineraries that include transport and accommodation information as well as places they plan to visit. 

Get all the details on this travel planner app by reading our Lonely Planet Guides review . 

Best Travel Planning App for Those That Want to Explore Like a Local: ViaHero

ViaHero is a travel planning app with a difference. Instead of planning your itinerary yourself, locals to the area (called “Heroes”) will create an itinerary and personalized guidebook for you. Understandably, this comes at a cost. You’ll be charged $40 per day of itinerary planning, with the maximum paid for a guidebook usually being $125. 

Destinations covered include cities in North America, Central and South America, Asia, and Europe. 

ViaHero Features

Custom Guidebook Creation  

After highlighting the types of activities and attractions you’re interested in, your “Hero” will create an itinerary and guidebook. 

A Personalized Map

You’ll also get access to a custom map that features each location mentioned in your guidebook. 

Booking of Activities and Other Travel Arrangements 

If things on your itinerary need booking (and booking doesn’t require prepayment) your local “hero” will make these arrangements for you. 

Ability to Communicate with Your “Hero”  

You can get in touch with your local “hero” at any point before and during your trip. This feature allows you to request changes to your itinerary and ask questions if needed as you explore the city.  

Who Is ViaHero For? 

ViaHero is one of the best travel planner apps for those that have limited time to plan their own trip, plus a decent budget for someone else to do so for them. It’s also a great choice for those that like to explore off the beaten track and get recommendations from locals instead of visiting tourist hotspots. 

Who Is ViaHero Not For? 

Due to the cost, ViaHero isn’t a good option for those traveling on a budget. It also may not be a great choice for those that are visiting a city for the first time and want to see the most popular landmarks and attractions. 

Being a newer service, only “heroes” from a limited number of cities are available at this time. If you’re visiting an area without a local “hero,” you won’t be able to use the service. 

Best Travel Planning App for Those That Love Reviews: Tripadvisor 

Tripadvisor is another of the itinerary planning apps that’s well-known to the majority of travelers. Along with a browser version, Tripadvisor has a convenient app that can help with everything from booking accommodation to discovering places to visit. 

Tripadvisor is free to use and has information for almost every city across the globe. Tripadvisor will offer an overview of the city you search for, along with hotel, restaurant, and activity recommendations. Best of all, all suggestions include reviews from travelers who have visited. 

Tripadvisor Features 

Things to Do  

Tripadvisor suggests a range of places to visit and activities to try in the destination you’re visiting. Along with searching the “Things to Do” section, you can search for specific landmarks and attractions to get more information on them. Whichever way you search, you’ll also have access to reviews from travelers who have visited the landmark or attraction or tried the activity.  

Restaurants 

You can also access restaurant suggestions for the destinations you’re heading to. Again, reviews from those who have dined at each establishment are available. You can also select categories, such as types of cuisine, to narrow down your search. Many restaurants offer the option to reserve via Tripadvisor too. 

Hotels 

Looking for a place to stay? Tripadvisor has you covered! Simply input the dates you need accommodation for, number of guests, and other filters like budget, if applicable, to view hotel results. You can then go straight to the hotel website from Tripadvisor or view deals from hotel booking sites like Hotels.com. 

Itinerary Maps and Lists

When you find activities you want to try, landmarks you intend to visit, and restaurants you wish to dine at, you can add them to a map and list. By adding these things to a map, you can easily see where everything you want to do is located, and develop day-by-day plans. Unfortunately, you can’t create an actual day-to-day itinerary via Tripadvisor. 

Who Is Tripadvisor For? 

This app is great for learning more about attractions, landmarks, restaurants, and accommodation via reviews. If you like to hear opinions from real travelers before committing to plans, you’ll appreciate Tripadvisor. It also has amazing discovery features, making Tripadvisor ideal for travelers that are looking for suggestions on things to do in the locations they’re visiting. 

Who Is Tripadvisor Not For? 

Tripadvisor isn’t ideal for planning day-to-day itineraries. While you can create maps and lists of all the places you want to go, these can’t be separated into individual days. That can be frustrating for travelers, especially if going on a multi-day or week trip. 

Using Tripadvisor to access reviews and combining this research with a full travel itinerary planner, like Wanderlog , is recommended.  

Other Itinerary Planning Apps to Consider 

While we rank the above five as the best travel planner apps on the market, the following eight apps are worth checking out too!

GEOVEA allows you to plan trips, store details like flight and accommodation info, and search for activity suggestions. This travel planning software also has budgeting features. You can estimate the cost of the activities included in the itinerary to see the overall cost of your trip. 

While you can use the company’s website on your phone, there isn’t an app. The standard version of the software is free but comes with limitations. To have full access to the app, you must purchase a subscription which starts at $29.99/year.  

Hipherd is one of the best free travel planner apps for those looking for a place to store travel inspiration. It allows you to save a range of travel content that you find across the web, such as travel articles, videos, and other information on destinations you want to visit.  

As with Pinterest, you can create “boards” to organize content by destination or other categories. You can view the collections of other users too. You can also create maps that show all the attractions you want to visit. Best of all, Hipherd costs nothing to use. 

Inspirock is a free travel itinerary planning  software that creates day-to-day itineraries for you based on data you input. Once a list of suggested places to visit has been generated, you can edit the itinerary to remove and add activities. You can also access accommodation suggestions, car and flight deals, and booking links. 

Learn more about this travel planner by taking a look at our Inspirock review ! 

Jubel is one of the great itinerary planning apps for those that are looking to discover new destinations. You start by answering a questionnaire to highlight travel likes, dislikes, and other preferences. A customized itinerary for a surprise destination is then created for you. This service does come at a cost, with Jubel users needing a trip budget of at least $1,500 for a solo-traveler trip or $1,100/per traveler for multi-person trips. 

Pilot 

Pilot is one of the free travel planner apps that’s perfect for travelers wanting to create itineraries as a group. You can add travel information, like flight bookings, to your online account, along with adding the activities you’ll do each day to an itinerary. It’s also easy to collaborate on one trip itinerary as a group. As mentioned, Pilot is free to use, but there is not a mobile app, so you must use the software in-browser. 

Portico 

Portico is another recommended app for planning itineraries, organizing travel information, and searching for activity suggestions. Travel confirmation emails (transport bookings, accommodation reservations, etc.) can be added manually or simply email them to Portico to add to your account. You can also search for travel inspiration in-app and add places you want to visit to itineraries and lists. Portico is free and can be used in-browser or via an iOS app. 

Tripscout 

Tripscout is one of the best travel planner apps for trip inspiration and high-quality travel content. You can search an array of content in-app to learn about new destinations and attractions. If you discover things you’d like to do and places you’d like to go, you can add them to lists, itineraries, and maps to begin planning your next adventure! Tripscout is also always free to use. 

Tripsy 

Tripsy is another organization-focused itinerary planning app. This app stores travel information, such as flight confirmations and other transport info, restaurant reservations, and the like.  You can also get notifications, for example relating to your flight status, and can easily share your itinerary with friends and family. 

You can integrate your plans with third-party maps and calendars and can email confirmations as well as adding them manually. Tripsy has a free and paid-for Pro version that offers additional benefits, including unlimited itineraries. 

The Best Travel Apps for Flights and Hotels

Need transport or accommodation deals? These four travel planner apps are here to help! 

Snaptravel 

Snaptravel offers amazing deals on flights and hotels. Simply enter your travel dates and destination(s), and a selection of customized offers will be served to you. Customers benefit from rate and fare reductions of 30-50%, and Snaptravel is free to use. 

Discover more about saving on hotels and flights with this app by reading our Snaptravel review . 

Scott’s Cheap Flights 

Scott’s Cheap Flights provides users with incredible flight deals out of their local airport. You’ll receive deal emails each day with fare reductions of up 90% off applied. Scott’s Cheap Flights offers a free version and paid-for options, which allow you to receive business and first-class deals and add multiple departure airports. 

Read our Scott’s Cheap Flights review to learn more about this company! 

Dollar Flight Club 

Dollar Flight Club is another company offering steep discounts on flights. Enter your departure airport at sign-up and you’ll be emailed daily with great deals to an array of destinations. There is a free version, but this only offers access to 20% of deals. For the best results, upgrade to Premium ($69/year) or Premium Plus ($99/year.) Users can expect to save 60-90% on flights, however, you don’t have the option to get deals for specific destinations.  

Want to find out more? Read our Dollar Flight Club review . 

RometoRio 

Rome to Rio offers an array of transport options that work with your trip and are bookable through the app. This free app can show you flights, car rentals, buses, and trains that will allow you to get from point to point on your itinerary. While Rome2Rio isn’t a deal-based app, you can also benefit from cheaper transport rates when using the app. You can also find accommodation and activity suggestions via Rome2Rio, but cannot create itineraries.

Not sure which of these travel planner apps to choose? Give Wanderlog a try ! It costs nothing to do so, and we guarantee that you’ll love it.

The 8 Best Travel Budgeting Tools of 2024

You will never travel without this app again

Most popular inspiration

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60 Best travel websites for researching & planning a trip

Researching and planning a holiday is like decorating a room. It’s all about the preparation. (Yes, you can have a great spontaneous holiday, but there’s a lot of luck involved in that…).

In the good old days, before the internet, we relied on travel agents, but in today’s digital world, a wealth of online websites and apps are on-hand to help.

But too many. The choice is overwhelming and the quality and trustworthiness variable.

So which ones are the best? Which ones should you use and for what purpose?

Planning a holiday – even before you book it – involves several steps. We’ve broken down this process and recommended the best tools to use at each stage, to make your research and planning process as simple, painless, fast –and enjoyable – as possible.

Where to go & what to do

1.1 ideas & inspiration.

Discover new places you never thought of going to, wonderful things to see & do on your travels. Add them to your travel bucket list.

Bucket List Travels

Concept: This specialist travel inspiration site works with an impressive list of leading travel writers around the world to recommend the world’s greatest travel experiences. It also offers destination guides, simple itineraries that link the top attractions together, and recommends the best places to stay while you’re there. You can search and filter through the recommendations e.g. to find recommendations by price, or that are suitable for kids. You can also save your ‘finds’ to your travel bucket list.

Pros: the search and filtering is unique amongst travel inspiration sites, and it allows you to sort through the thousands of expert recommendations to find what you want quickly – a huge time saver. The destination guides have curated, not comprehensive recommendations, so they’re effectively handing you a list of great recommendations for when you visit a new destination, i.e. the ‘bucket list’ experiences not-to-be-missed. The adding to favourites is also unique – great for ‘saving for later’ those brilliant experiences or places to stay you come across.

Cons: coverage is limited to only 100 or so destinations, which mainly centres on the UK and western Europe. Non-Europe content is limited (but being added in the near future).

When to use: Use it before any other site to decide on where to go or what to do next, and to get an outline list/itinerary of what you want to do there. Then supplement that with tours & activities from other inspiration sites listed here, especially the ones with the local authentic experiences.

Website : https://www.bucketlisttravels.com/

Concept: Instagram is a social media platform that allows users to share photos and videos with their followers. It’s popular among individuals, influencers, and businesses for promoting their personal brands or products.

Pros: Insta is a great source of travel inspiration, as it allows you to discover new destinations, attractions, and experiences through visually appealing and engaging content. You can follow travel influencers and bloggers for tips and recommendations, discover lesser-known destinations and experiences, find out about local events and festivals, and see how others experience a particular destination, which can provide ideas for your own itinerary.

When to use it: Day-to-day inspiration and idea generation for your next trip. Bookmark your favourites, or save your ideas to your travel bucket list for the next time you do want to go somewhere special.

Website : https://www.instagram.com/

Concept: Pinterest is a social media platform that allows users to discover, collect and share images and videos on virtual pinboards. Users can create boards on any topic and save Pins from other users or external websites, as well as search for inspiration and ideas. The platform has over 400 million active users worldwide.

Pros: Like Instagram, it’s a great visual travel inspiration tool, for discovering what to do in the world and specific destinations.

When to use it: For visual searches of potential destinations, and saving ideas (pins) for future trips.

Website : https://www.pinterest.com

Travel & Leisure

This high-end, luxury travel magazine covers a range of topics including hotels and resorts, airlines, cruises, food and drink, and various travel destinations around the world. Being a magazine, it focuses on the new and topical, so it’s a showcase of the latest and greatest in travel if novelty is your thing.

Pros: It’s top-quality content and genuine expertise from leading journalists and travel writers, with selective, curated recommendations. They have tonnes of round-ups of the ‘world’s best’ too.

Cons: Recommendations can be a bit too curated, missing lots of smaller experiences, and are often outside of the budget of most travellers. It’s primarily a magazine with an online afterthought, so recommendations tend to get buried in long pages of text. The site search turns up articles/posts that you then have to read further, rather than specific recommendations, and you can’t filter anything which is the big time saver.

When to use it: Sign up for their social feeds and newsletters, which often feature great round-ups like: “Best place to…”. Great for day-to-day inspiration and idea generation for your next trip. Bookmark your favourites, or save your ideas to your travel bucket list for the next time you do want to go somewhere special.

Honourable mentions: other great magazines for this include Conde Nast Traveller (featured later) and Wanderlust .

Website : https://www.travelandleisure.com/

Travel blogs

Concept: Travel blogs (too many to mention, but pretty much all the same in format) feature personal experiences, advice, and recommendations, usually written by an individual traveller or group of travellers who share their travel stories, photos, and tips with their audience.

Pros: You can’t beat personal experience when it comes to travel recommendations, and often these experienced author-travellers offer good insights and tips. They’re also usually an interesting, engaging read.

Cons: for planning a trip, blogs are hit and miss. They are written from the perspective of the blogger i.e. where they have just been or what they have just done, so it’s pot luck if that coincides with where you want to go or do next. They are also flat, text articles – you can’t search or filter their recommendations.

When to use it: Follow the ones you like if you enjoy reading such things. Once you have your list itinerary roughly planned out, they’re worth a quick scan for additional tips and insights (if you can find something relevant).

1.2 Top attractions, activities, tours & events

If you’re ready to start planning your trip, and nothing on your travel bucket list fits the bill, take a look at one of these sites to decide:

Concept: See listing above.

When to use: Head to their search results that shows all 100+ destination they cover, then use the filters to select a destination based on cost (cheap v expensive), or theme  (e.g. Science & Nature, Art, History & Culture) etc. You can also handily filter the list according to the best month of the year to visit.

FlightsFrom

Concept: this handy website lists all of the destinations you can fly to from every airport, on what days and with what airline.

When to use it: great for identifying where you can fly to from your local airport, and planning multi-destination trips.

Website : https://www.flightsfrom.com/

Google Flights

Google’s flight aggregator and comparison service consolidates flight schedules from all of the world’s commercial airlines in one place. By entering your dates and departure/arrival airports, you can quickly see who flies there, on what dates and at what times, and the price of the fare. Prices and availability are updated in real-time, and you can sign up for price alerts.

How to use it: The ‘Explore’ function allows you to specify a departure airport and see the cheapest flights to any destination you can fly to from that airport, for certain dates and trip durations – so great if you don’t have a fixed destination in mind. You can also handily add more than one departure airport if you have more than one departure option. (NB FlightsFrom shows you all available flights; Google Flights shows you available flights and their prices). NB Skyscanner has a similar ‘Explore everywhere’ feature, however, it is only available on the app and you can only enter one departure destination).

Website : https://www.google.com/travel/flights

This travel inspiration website provides a wealth of travel content, including destination guides, hotel and restaurant recommendations.

Pros: there’s loads of decent quality content, and their network of experts worldwide have good credentials and specialise in the destinations they write about.

Cons: The recommendations feature in text-heavy pages, making it hard to use for planning. You can’t filter, or save your favourites, and if you site search, you then have to wade through lots and lots of article posts. The content can also be quite random – as if it’s what someone felt like writing at the time, rather than being structured.

When to use it: Once you have your main list drawn up from the other sites listed here, it’s worth a quick scan for additional tips and insights.

Website : https://www.tripsavvy.com/

This global deals site specialises in providing exclusive offers and one-of-a-kind experiences to its 30 million members worldwide (membership is free). They partner with over 5,000 travel suppliers to source cut-price inventory.

When to use it: Sign up for their newsletter, then sit back and let the deals roll in. If you’re price-conscious, or just love a deal, then use their offers to decide on where to go and what to do next. Works best if you’re flexible on dates – most deals will be for when demand is lower i.e. in winter and/or outside of school holidays.

Website : https://www.travelzoo.com

1.3 What to do when you get there: attractions

Now you’ve decided on a destination, what should you do there? What are the top attractions, the must-see-and-dos, and the ‘bucket list experiences not to be missed?

How to use it: Navigate to the destination guide webpage. Our expert writes not only curates the top travel experiences – attractions, activities, tours & events – for you, but also further splits them as either ‘bucket list’ i.e. the not-to-be-missed, or ‘other’ experiences – nice to know about, but only for if you have time/interest.

Also, be sure to scroll through the destination page photo gallery for a pictorial summary.

Google Travel

Concept: Google’s travel planning platform offers a range of tools to help users plan their trips. It includes Google Flights (see later), a hotel aggregator and holiday rentals

For deciding what to do when you go somewhere, type your destination into the search, then click on the ‘Things to do’ side icon for full listings. It tries to list in order of priority/popularity, which mostly works, though it is an auto-generated list. The written descriptions come from Wikipedia, so it lacks that human expertise and it all feels a bit soulless (to me anyway). The interface however is easy to use, and you can add favourites to a trip list.

How to use it: After you’ve been to Bucket List Travels for the curated, expert list, if you feel you need more in your itinerary, and/or you’re worried we may have missed something, then use Google Travel to check the full comprehensive listings and see if there is anything else you want to do.

Website : https://www.google.com/travel/

Lonely Planet

Concept: The original ‘guidebook’ company, they have destination guides for pretty much every place on the planet. Their expert writers, who must specialise in the destination, provide comprehensive listings and recommendations for sightseeing, accommodation and food & drink, plus very detailed logistical and practical information.

How to use it: They’re comprehensive, not curated. They include a lot of minor attractions that the majority of travellers would not want to bother with, and there’s not a lot of imagery, just text. I use them as a cross-check once I have outlined what you want to do. It’s too detailed/comprehensive for researching and planning – unless you’ve got days to spare. Handy to take the book with you, though, for the in-depth local tips when you’re there.

Honourable mentions: all of the guidebooks are broadly similar. Also try Rough Guides , Fodor’s , Frommers’ , Rick Steves (Europe only) and DK Eyewitness .

Website : https://www.lonelyplanet.com/

Tourism Associations

Concept: A local government body, tasked with promoting tourism to the destination, that will provide comprehensive information, advice and recommendations for visitors to both attract and facilitate their visit. Being the local specialist, they should know better than anyone what to see & do, and they often include many smaller, high quality attractions and tours that others will miss. However, the quality of websites is highly variable (best in the most developed, richer nations as you’d expect), and they have to be impartial so there is no curation and little opinion.

How to use it: A great resource when it’s done well. If you’re going to a developed nation, I would say they are a must-visit. Use them to start drafting up your list.

Concept: A video-sharing website where users can upload, share, and view videos on a variety of topics. It attracts billions of monthly active users. There’s a digital tonne of travel content on there, covering every aspect – from destination recommendations to videos on how to book flights.

When to use it: if you’re a visual person, YouTube is a great resource for travel inspiration. It’s jammed packed these days with ‘What to see in X’, with video and image slideshows showing you the top sights. It tends to be top sights only, but a good place to start drawing up your shortlist. It’s also great for travel advice and tips.

Website : https://youtube.com

1.4 What to do when you get there: local experiences

‘Authentic’ experiences enable you to experience the real destination, to experience its culture, to meet its people, and to live like a local. Indeed, many travellers prefer them to crowd-thronged, tourist-spoiled ‘big ticket’ attractions. Here are some resources I use to discover them in my chosen destination:

Air BnB experiences

Concept: This service allows individuals and small businesses to offer unique activities and tours to travellers in over 1,000 cities around the world. Experiences can range from food tours to pottery classes to wildlife safaris, and are designed and led by locals who have expertise in their field.

Pros: Coverage is extensive, and the experiences can be a more immersive and authentic way for travellers to connect with the local culture and community.

Cons: Some of the experiences listed I feel are more for locals than tourists, and it’s tours/classes, so not really attractions you visit like museums.

When to use it: If you’re a first-time visitor wanting to tick off the main attractions, use a site like Bucket List Travels first to find those out and make a preliminary list, then complement what they give you with these experiences to add some local flavour and insight to your itinerary.

Website : https://www.airbnb.com/experiences

Atlas Obscura

An online travel guide that features unique, offbeat and even bizarre travel experiences – be it unknown/obscure destinations or little-known experiences within well-known destinations. It also offers tours and experiences to some of the destinations featured on the website.

Pros: Once again, this is a site for those seeking off-the-beaten-track, authentic and unusual experiences.

Cons: It’s very niche, aimed at the truly intrepid traveller. If you’re a mainstream tourist, wanting to tick off the main sites, this is not the site for you.

When to use it: If you want to avoid the big tourist sites and experience something unique and different in a destination. If you’re a first-time visitor wanting to tick off the main attractions, use a site like Bucket List Travels first to find those out and make a preliminary list, then complement what they give you with the Atlas Obscura experiences to add some local flavour and insight to your itinerary.

Website : https://www.atlasobscura.com/

Spotted by Locals

Concept: A travel website/blog that provides insider city tips from locals. Each city ‘guide’ is curated by a team of handpicked city residents, featuring their favourite local spots for food, drinks, culture, and entertainment.

Pros: it’s a great source for finding those authentic local experiences, away from the tourist hoards.

Cons: Recommendations/articles are quite random in subject – and you have to scroll through pages and pages of blog posts. You can’t search or filter by interest for example. Coverage is also limited to only 80 cities.

When to use it: They also don’t cover the big-ticket attractions first-time visitors will want to see, so use this for filling gaps in your itinerary or for second visits once the big ones have been ticked off.

Website : https://www.spottedbylocals.com/

1.5 What to do when you get there: tickets & tours

Get Your Guide

Offers a very similar proposition to Viator (see below). GyG though is Europe-based, so it has much stronger tour options in Europe than the US-based Viator, which conversely has a better US inventory.

Website : https://www.getyourguide.com/

Concept: An online tour ‘aggregator’ combines and lists multi-day organised tours, both small and large group, from all the leading tour operator brands like Intrepid , G Adventures and Exodus. They are to guided tours what Booking.com is to hotels. Search is by destination, so you need to know where you want to go first.

Pros: Listings are comprehensive and up to date, giving you a window on all of the options available that you can search and filter to your specific need.

Cons: Always beware the pricing on aggregators. Operators have learned to use low pricing to get you to click through to them, then load that up with expensive extras and upgrades once you are on their site (or they lie about the price in the first place).

When to use: If you want to go on a guided tour, this is a great place to start. It will tell you who the best tour operators are, what are your tour options, and the prices.

Website : https://www.tourradar.com/

Concept: A ‘tour aggregator’ offers a wide range of tours and experiences in destinations worldwide, through local third-party tour operators. (Think of them as the Booking.com or Expedia of tours). Tours can be anything from 1-hour walking tours to 10-day organised tours. A US-based company (owned by TripAdvisor), it’s much more comprehensive in the US than in Europe.

Pros: They partner with the best local tour operators, so the tour quality is good, and you have someone to complain to if things go awry. The site search allows you to sort through the extensive catalogue quickly.

When to use it: Work out where you want to go, and get a feel for the top attractions, somewhere else, then come to Viator to book tickets and tours.

Website : https://www.viator.com/

1.6 Draft an outline itinerary

Now you know what you want to see & do in your destination, work out a rough day-by-day itinerary to ensure you get to do everything you want to do, with minimal travelling around.

Concept: see listing above.

How to use it: For most destination guides (where it makes sense to do so), our writers have set out simple itineraries of what to do and where to go on each day of a trip. For cities, they are usually 3- and 5-day itineraries (the 5-day version has the same first 3 days, then two additional days on top). They link all of the top attractions together in the most logistically convenient way, minimising travel, and including recommendations for lunch and dinner while you’re there.

Rick Steves Europe

Rick Steves is a travel guidebook author and television personality who specialises in European travel. His guidebooks offer practical advice and recommendations for budget travel, including tips on accommodations, dining, and sightseeing. His approach emphasises cultural immersion and connecting with locals, and his guides often include suggested walking tours and off-the-beaten-path destinations.

Pros: Rick’s guidebooks offer much more in-depth expertise than the others for Europe, with high-quality, well-researched recommendations based on experts with years of experience. The website has great travel forums for asking fellow travellers questions.

How to use it: It’s not a site for researching where to go and what to do. It’s better once you know where you want to go, and really want to drill into the fine detail. However, like Bucket List Travels , the site does have helpful itineraries that set out where to go and what to do day-to-day.

Website : https://www.ricksteves.com/

1.7 Specialist travel

Cruise Critic

The world’s leading online cruise review website and community provides comprehensive reviews, ratings and forums to help you assess cruise vacations. It’s the TripAdvisor of cruises (and not surprisingly, it’s owned by them), so just like with TripAdvisor, don’t believe everything you read.

When to use: We would personally recommend finding recommendations elsewhere e.g. from cruise travel journalists writing for newspapers, magazines or even Bucket List Travels. Then come to this site to check out the reviews of your shortlist.

Website : https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/

Euan’s Guide

Set up by wheelchair user Euan MacDonald MBE, this disabled access review website is the go-to tool for many disabled people wanting to travel in the UK and beyond. It shares accessibility information for venues and the experiences/reviews of other disabled users.

Pros: Helps to solve some of the challenges disabled people face, and gives them the confidence to travel.

Cons: the coverage is mainly UK and Europe, but thankfully is widening to the rest of the world at a pace.

Website : https://www.euansguide.com

We Love 2 Ski

This excellent online resource provides skiers and snowboarders with up-to-date and comprehensive information on ski resorts, conditions, accommodation, equipment, and more. The website features detailed reviews, insider tips, and expert advice on everything related to skiing, as well as an active forum for the ski community to share their experiences and knowledge.

It’s managed by 3 ski experts, with a wealth of expertise between them and who really know their stuff and take pride in keeping the information up-to-date. It’s one of those more genuine sites that care about their advice and is not trying to constantly do the hard sell.

When to use: if you want to go skiing, start here. If you’ve already found somewhere to go or stay, be sure to check what they say about it here before you go.

Website : https://welove2ski.com/

Getting there & around

2.1 flights.

Concept: a flight deal finder service that sends you price and deal alerts on flights. You enter your preferred departure airport and they send you notifications of great deals, and price movements. Tickets are discounted 40-90%, for flights 2-6 months out in Economy, Business and First classes.

How to use it: If you’ve got flexible travel dates, or have a bucket list destination in mind. Sign up and wait for a deal.

Website : https://www.going.com/

Google’s Flights is a flight aggregator that allows you to find and compare flights. It enables you to find the airlines that fly between your destinations, and available flight times.

Prices and availability are updated in real-time, and you can sign up for price alerts. The pricing can sometimes be inaccurate, however, and when you click through, it’s usually for a basic fare without any luggage.

When to use it: Start your flight search here. You may have to add in the extras, then compare prices, or you may not get the cheapest option.

Honourable mentions: Skyscanner and Kayak offer similar services. In my experience, they pretty much have the same inventory. It really comes down to which interface you prefer.

Hopper is one of the US’s most successful travel apps, selling over $4.5B of travel each year. It helps you find the best deals on flights, hotels, home rentals, and car hire by analysing trillions of data points to predict when prices will rise or fall. When you set your dates, you see a helpful calendar showing when prices are highest and lowest, and you can sign up for price alerts.

Their second big USP is their ‘price freeze’ option, where you pay a small fee (5%-15% of the price) to freeze the price for a limited duration (options range up to 3 weeks). If the price goes up, you pay no more; if it goes down, you pay the lower price (like insurance). They also offer Flight Disruption and Cancel for Any Reason Guarantees.

Pros: Simple to use, the most accurate predictor of prices, really helps you get the best deal (if your dates are flexible). The insurance options have been a godsend to many in the recent years of travel disruption and inflating prices. Unlike other flight aggregators like Kayak or Skyscanner they show the different airline fare options within the app, so you don’t get caught by the artificially low basic fare enticing you to click through (see Skyscanner summary).

Cons: None that we can see! It really is an excellent service.

When to use it: Once you know where you want to go, come to the site to get the best deal on flights, car hire and accommodation. Simple as that.

It works best if you’re dates are flexible, so you can pick the cheapest travel dates, and/or if you have time before you book – take out the freeze option and you can be assured that the price will only come down, or sign up for the price alert.

Website : https://hopper.com/

Concept: This flight aggregator, owned by Chinese-backed Trip.com and based in Edinburgh, does the same thing as Google Flights. . It enables you to find the airlines that fly between your destinations, and available flight times.

Prices and availability are updated in real-time, and you can sign up for price alerts.

When to use it: I’ve not found much difference in pricing to Google Flights, though I much prefer Skyscanner’s user interface. It really comes down to personal choice.

Honourable mentions: US-based Kayak , originating in the US, offers a similar service to Skyscanner.

Website : https://www.skyscanner.net/

The Points Guy

If you’re someone that loves to save on travel using reward points, check out this advisory site by Brian Kelly. As he puts it, it’s ‘your go-to source for all things travel, points, miles, credit cards and more’. His advice covers both where best to earn points, and how best to spend them. There’s both a US and a UK website , with custom advice based on where you reside.

He gives up-to-date advice and tips in this ever-changing, evolving space that cuts through all of the confusion, and helps you find the best deals in the market, and explains how to take advantage of them.

How to use it: Visit here first if you’ve got points to burn, or will have and want to know the best scheme to sign up for.

Website : https://thepointsguy.com/

2.2 Car hire & taxis

Rentalcars.com

A global car rental booking platform that provides customers with access to over 60,000 rental locations in more than 160 countries worldwide. The site enables you to compare prices and features from a wide range of rental companies. Customers can also benefit from 24/7 support and free cancellation on most bookings.

I’ve regularly rented cars via them, and never found a cheaper deal. The customer service and support are also very good. There’s not really a reason to start looking anywhere else.

Website : https://www.rentalcars.com/

It doesn’t really need any introduction… but just for completeness. Founded in 2009, Uber is a ride-hailing service that connects riders with drivers in most major cities around the world. Through the app, you can request and pay for rides, track your driver’s location, and rate the experience.

Uber’s meteoric rise to a global brand can be attributed to solving several customer issues with then-taxi firms: they would find you a ride tell you how long it would take to arrive, how much the fare would be upfront, and sort payment automatically through your account, thus avoiding the need to have enough cash on you.

Other leading ride-sharing apps include Lyft (US and Canada) and Cabify (Spain & Latin America).

2.3 Rail, Bus & Ferry

Concept: Omio is a comprehensive travel search and booking platform that helps users find and book the best deals on trains, buses, and flights across Europe. The website offers a user-friendly interface, with real-time price comparisons and flexible search options to suit individual needs and preferences.

When to use: It’s a great tool for planning and booking multi-modal trips.

Website : https://www.omio.co.uk/

Rail Europe

Concept: Rail Europe is a one-stop-shop for planning and booking train travel in 33 European countries. The website offers a wide range of tickets, passes, and packages for different destinations and budgets, as well as information on train schedules, routes, and stations. Note, they don’t cover local trams and metros, it’s intercity trains only (that includes Eurostar). Enter the destinations you want to go to and they’ll recommend the best value ticket/pass.

For multiple trips, you’ll likely be recommended a Eurail pass. This brilliant invention allows you to travel on over 30 European railway operators and some ferries too. Kids under 11 travel free with an adult.

Website : https://www.raileurope.com/

2.4 Route planning

Google Maps

Who hasn’t used google Maps? And for good reason. Its coverage is comprehensive, it’s simple to use, and it’s is invaluable when you’re trying to figure out how to get from A to B in an unfamiliar place. It shows travel times and distances in multiple transport modes: on foot, bike, by available public transport and by car.

How to use it: use it to help plan upfront your transportation from point to point in your itinerary.

Website : https://www.google.com/maps

Hands down the best service for planning and booking journeys within and between countries. It combines and compares transport options from over 5,000 transportation providers across 160 countries, then recommends the cheapest, fastest, and most convenient routes for different modes of transportation including flights, trains, buses, and car rentals. The website also provides comprehensive travel information. It will quote prices, distances, times, mileage, route numbers, and which companies to book.

Their slogan is “Discover how to get anywhere by plane, train, bus, ferry & car – and it does exactly what is says on the tin.

Website : https://www.rome2rio.com/

Where to stay

3.1 'best' hotels - curated selections.

Whatever you go, there are always thousands of hotel options. These sites do the research work for you and use experts to curate a list of the best, based on location, quality and quality.

How to use it: For all the destinations we cover, we provide you with a curated list of the best hotels – for all budgets, from the mainstream to the unusual.

The selections are made by our writers, who must not only be leading travel journalists, but also specialise in that destination (either living there or visiting frequently). The writers have at least inspected and usually stayed in the properties they recommend.

Conde Nast Traveller

Similar to Travel & Leisure above, this high-end, luxury global travel magazine covers a range of topics including hotels and resorts, airlines, cruises, food and drink, and various travel destinations around the world.

When to use it: They do great round-ups of the ‘best’ hotels to stay in a destination – but obviously at the top end. If you’re not that price sensitive, start with their shortlist.

Honourable mention: Travel & Leisure, their great rival, also does destination hotel round-ups.

Website : https://www.cntraveller.com/

In my view, it’s the best ‘guidebook’ website for researching and planning a trip online – once you know where you want to go. They simply and helpfully list out a reasonably long short list of things to see & do and places to stay, and rate them each from 1-3, depending on how good they are.

However, like all the guidebooks online, coverage is comprehensive at times, requiring a lot of time and effort to research through it. The website is also swamped with banner ads that are off-putting and annoying.

How to use it: A good place to start your hotel search. They generally do select good options, though it’s more aimed at budget travellers.

Website : https://www.frommers.com/

The Telegraph (Travel)

This long-standing British newspaper does a fine job of curating and rating (out of 10) the best hotels in destinations around the world, for all budgets. The reviews tell you what you want to know – style, location, key amenities – without being overwhelming.

As for Bucket List Travels , selections and reviews are written by top travel writers who have inspected and usually stayed in the property. The number of hotels they recommend is a lot more than Bucket List Travels – and includes ones we certainly wouldn’t include – but it does give you a longer list to start with.

When to use it: if you care about where you stay, and really want one of the best places, this is a great place to start your start for somewhere to stay.

Website : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/

TripAdvisor

The original hotel review site, it has since expanded to become the global platform for reviews (and information) on hotels, restaurants, attractions, and other travel-related businesses. It also offers a variety of travel-related content and resources, including travel guides and forums.

Over the years it has, sadly become increasingly corrupted with fake reviews, but they can’t fake all of them and as long as there are at least several hundred reviews, the score should be reasonably reflective.

When to use it: I personally like to start drawing up a shortlist of places to stay on other sites listed here, then do a quick check of the reviews of each on TripAdvisor. I also filter to see only the negative comments, then look at 1) how recent they are 2) if it is a one-off complaint i.e. someone had a refund request refused and 3) if it is something that can and probably has been fixed e.g. a rude receptionist. Small room sizes, traffic noise from road proximity, and so on – these issues are not easily fixed.

Website : https://www.tripadvisor.com

3.2 Boutique hotel collections

If it’s a boutique hotel you’re after, try one of these specialist sites. They only list high-quality properties that meet their individual criteria.

Design Hotels

As the name suggests, this website offers a curated selection of over 300 independently owned and operated hotels and resorts around the world, each chosen for its unique design and aesthetic. The site emphasizes design and architecture and offers a range of luxury and boutique properties.

Pros: It’s a brilliant resource for finding unique and interesting stays, especially with modern and/or minimalist interiors.

Cons: if you’re not that worried about hotel design, then it doesn’t offer a lot of value other than a list of interesting hotels.

When to use: if you’re interested in design, and prioritise that in your accommodation, then this is a great resource. If it’s not that important, you’re better off elsewhere with a greater selection and better prices.

Website : https://www.designhotels.com/

This boutique hotel booking website offers a carefully curated selection of stylish, unique and independently-run hotels and vacation rentals around the world. They offer in-depth reviews of each property, personalised recommendations, and a friendly, 24/7 booking service.

Pros: The curated selection of unique and stylish properties is exceptional and of a consistently high quality that you can rely on. Each property has been personally inspected by staff. The reviews, from both customers and staff, are honest and in-depth and tell you who it is and isn’t for, rather than pretend everyone’s going to love it.

Cons: There’s a limited number of properties in many destinations, and it is property, not destination, led – meaning is easier to find the place, then decide on the destination rather than the reverse (which may suit).

When to use: if their style of property i.e. unique, high quality, small and independent, is what you like/are looking for, there’s no better resource to use. If they don’t have something in your preferred destination, then look elsewhere, but check first.

Honourable mention: Sawdays offers a similar service, but they’re UK & Europe only.

Website : https://www.i-escape.com/

Mr & Mrs Smith

This first-rate, UK-based hotel booking website curates handpicked, boutique hotels around the world, each personally inspected to meet their high standards of facilities, service and location. The website has in-depth reviews of each property, with insider tips like what are the best rooms to book, without being overwhelming.

There are also exclusive benefits for members like gifts on arrival, or late checkouts, and a 24/7 booking service.

Pros: The standard of hotels is consistently high, so much so that the brand has become a trusted stamp of quality. The booking service and post-sales support is efficient yet very personable, and hotel staff genuinely care about ‘Smith’ customers so you feel very welcome when you arrive.

Cons: They have limited or no options in many destinations. They also can’t match the benefits of the OTA reward schemes like Booking.com .

When to use: The site is great if this is your style of hotel, and you want to be looked after at every step. Limited coverage is only an issue if you are dead set on a destination. If you’re not really that bothered where you go, or at least are open to suggestions, check this excellent site first.

Website : https://www.mrandmrssmith.com/

Secret Escapes

A members-only hotel booking website that offers exclusive deals and discounts on luxury hotels and vacations around the world. The site negotiates special rates with hotels and resorts, available to their members only.

Pros: There some great deals and genuine exclusive discounts to be had, though max discount tends to be 30% (and average of 15%-20%), but still not to be sniffed at. They also do a good job of curation, so you know you’re getting a decent hotel.

Cons: You still need to compare prices to other sites like Booking.com and the hotel’s own website, as there are lots of sneaky tricks and breaking of agreements that going on behind the scenes and you never really know where the best deal is until you check.

When to use: if you know where you want to go, it’s well worth checking in for a deal.

Website : https://www.secretescapes.com/

Small Luxury Hotels of the World

This website has personally visited, verified and vetted every single one of its 520 hotels in more than 90 countries. The criteria for inclusions I small (<50 rooms, non-chain and offering the highest standards of luxury and service.

Pros: it’s an exceptional collection of outstanding hotels, and the brand guarantees a high-quality, luxury stay. Members get 10% off and extra (tiered) benefits like upgrades and late checkouts. Hotels welcome their members with open arms, as they usually spend well, and SMH look after their customers.

Cons: things this good come with a price tag. Many hotels are out of reach of most travellers’ budgets.

When to use: if you’re a discerning, occasionally demanding, traveller, that specifically wants a smaller hotel, this is a great place to start your search. Check other websites though for better prices – even with the 10% off – but if you’re not that price sensitive, it’s nice to book with someone who cares, as opposed to a hotel production line like Booking.com.

Website : https://slh.com/

Tablet Hotels

This New York-based brand, founded in 2000 and well-known across the US, has curated over 3,500 boutique & luxury properties around the world. In 2018, it was purchased by and merged with Michelin.

Similar to Mr & Mrs Smith, they curate a selection based on criteria, offer a full booking service, and exclusive benefits for ‘Tablet Plus’ members like VIP upgrades and free valet parking.

Pros: the curated selection guarantees a measure of quality, and some of the VIP benefits are really nice ones to have and make you feel a bit special.

Cons: You inevitably will pay more than on other sites, and sometimes they overpromise and underdeliver on the VIP experience – much depends on the attitude of the hotel. The criteria for selection is much broader than a Mr & Mrs Smith, so you’re not getting that real consistency of accommodation, and the personal relationship that Smith has with its properties.

When to use: If you want to feel like a VIP and value those benefits over saving a few pennies or cents, then they are worth a look.

Website : https://www.tablethotels.com/

3.3 Home rentals & stays

Launched in 2008 and needing no introduction, this global accommodation powerhouse forever altered the holiday market. Now with more than 300,000 listings in over 190 countries, it has expanded from its original core offering of ‘spare rooms to rent’ to include apartments, treehouses, villas – whatever you can stay in, it’s likely to be on AirBnB.

Pros: the sheer number of options and global coverage means you’re highly likely to find something you want. The site is simple and easy to use, with lots of photographs, user reviews and star ratings.

Cons: The product and website is great, but they don’t really care about customers, and customer service if something goes wrong can be challenging to find.

When to use: whenever you’re looking for something other than a hotel, and/or something more authentic or with a local feel. It’s especially good for families and groups wanting to stay together in one place.

Website : https://www.airbnb.com

Couchsurfing

This global hospitality exchange enables you to stay with a host for free for a few nights – be it sofa or, if you’re lucky, a bed. You simply create a profile, search for hosts, and request to stay with them. Surprisingly, perhaps, it works, and over the years the site has built a loyal following and a strong community of ‘couchsurfers’ who help and support each other, and even organise events around the world.

When to use it: When budget is tight and you just really want somewhere to crash, and/or you’re looking to connect with other travellers and the local community.

Website : https://www.couchsurfing.com/

This upscale holiday home and apartment rental specialist has a large catalogue of privately-owned places to stay, which you can filter by key criteria like price, location, number of bedrooms etc. Each listing is vetted by their team to ensure it meet minimum standards. It’s owned by the Expedia Group.

The quality of homes for rent is exceptional and varied, from lake houses to treehouses, and the search and filtering makes it quick and simple to find something that suits. Customer service is good, much better than AirBnB for example.

Website : https://www.vrbo.com/

Villas of Distinction

Villas of Distinction is a luxury villa rental company that offers an extensive portfolio of properties in over 50 destinations worldwide. They provide personalized service to help clients select the perfect villa for their vacation, and offer a range of amenities such as private pools, chefs, and concierge services to enhance the guest experience.

When to use it: When you’re looking for an independent, self-catering stay in an uber-luxurious villa. It’s top-end, with a price tag to match.

Honourable mention: One Fine Stay offers a similar service.

Website : https://www.villasofdistinction.com/

3.4 Campsites & Hostels

HostelWorld

The hostel specialist is the go-to place for booking budget accommodation in over 170 countries – both dormitory beds and private rooms. The website and mobile app allow you to browse and book from a wide range of hostels, hotels, and guesthouses, with a focus on affordable and social options. There are also offers travel guides, reviews, and a loyalty program for frequent users.

Pros: The UX is really smooth, the inventory (number of options) is much is larger than on the major hotel search engines (OTAs), and it does a much better job of setting out dormitory bed pricing and deal options. There are a number of ‘community’ features that encourage you to connect with fellow travellers.

When to use it: If you’re on a budget or want to meet people when you’re travelling, start here with your accommodation search.

Website : https://www.hostelworld.com/

If you’re looking for something off-grid, preferably unique and unusual – but don’t want to compromise too much on luxury, this website is for you. It’s a directory of for luxury campsites and stays, with various accommodation options ranging from tents to tipis, log cabins to vintage caravans. Coverage is mainly Europe & UK, though they have plans to expand beyond.

Website : https://campaglam.com/

3.5 Price comparison

Concept: This Expedia-owned hotel search engine allows you to compare prices from various booking sites for over 1.8 million hotels in more than 190 countries. You can search & filter to discover hotels matching your criteria, then each hotel listing shows the price of a room on the various OTA sites. The site also offers user reviews, ratings, and filters to help you decide.

For all aggregators, the prices are often inaccurate, and not the cheapest option when you click through. The OTAs (like Expedia, Booking.com) have learned over the years how to manipulate them to ensure their listing comes up first with the cheapest price.

When to use it: It’s a good place to start your hotel search, especially when you have specific requirements such that you can use the on-site filters to narrow down the options quickly. If you discover a hotel you want somewhere else, always come and check the prices here before booking.

Note – it doesn’t always include the hotel direct price (so make sure you check separately), and sometimes the prices are inaccurate when you click through.

Honourable mentions: HotelsCombined , owned by Booking.com and the main rival to Trivago, is known for having better deals as they search lesser-known booking sites (though that can come with risks). Both I suspect of bias, however, in pushing Booking.com and Expedia products. Skyscanner also now offers accommodation price comparison, and they have the advantage of being independent and unbiased of the leading OTAs. Kayak also offers price comparison – but they are owned by Booking.com too. I prefer Trvago above the rest purely because they also helpfully show you show the lowest price depending on the ‘deal’ type i.e. cancellable or non, including breakfast etc. which obviously makes a big difference to the ‘cheapest’ price.

Website : https://www.trivago.com

3.6 Accommodation booking

Booking.com

The world’s largest accommodation online booking service that lists over 28 million hotels (and now rentals, B&Bs and hostels) from around the world. They offer a tiered loyalty program called ‘Genius’ The three levels offer 10%, 15%, and 20% discounts (respectively) on bookings at hundreds of thousands of participating locations. They also include priority customer service help, and free breakfast packages or room upgrades when possible.

Pros: The website is easy to use, with excellent filter options, and once you have created an account, you can book within a few clicks. Their inventory is phenomenal, with most hotels in the world signed up. The loyalty program is accessible and with great benefits.

Cons: The loyalty program only applies for a limited number of participating hotels, so you won’t always get the benefits. Hotel websites often still have a better deal, and some don’t release all of their room types to Booking.com so you can’t see these rooms.

Booking.com may also confusingly say ‘sold out’ when there are rooms available still on the hotel website. So always check the hotel website before booking.

When to use it: Start your accommodation search here, and then once you’ve narrowed down the options with the filters, check other sites and the hotel website for a better deal.

Honourable mention: Agoda is essentially a carbon copy of Booking.com – they are owned by the Bookings Holdings Group. Agoda has it’s roots in Asia, and is based in Singapore, so it has more comprehensive Asian content. If that’s where you’re going, it’s worth using.

Website : https://www.booking.com

Concept: same as for Booking.com, with a similar tiered loyalty program, though at time of writing, the tiered benefits are not lifetime like they are with Booking.com. You need to be a regular customer to benefit from the higher tiers – not the case with Booking.com.

Their famous loyalty program of stay 10 times, earn one free reward night – now the basic tier – requires you to book at least once every 12 months or your reward night expires.

Honourable mention: Expedia is essentially a carbon copy of Hotels.com. They’re owned by the same group, and effectively have the same hotel inventory and pricing. There are slight differences in the reward program – I think Hotels.com’s one is better, hence why they got the nudge.

Website : https://hotels.com

HotelTonight

Owned by AirBnB , this mobile app and website offers last-minute hotel rooms at discounted rates. Inventory ranges from budget to luxury, and you can use the filters to specify your location and preferences. There’s also a ‘Rate Drop’ feature that discounts same-day prices after 3pm.

When to use: if you need a last-minute room, it’s definitely worth checking for a deal. However, in my experience, their deals weren’t especially good compared to other standard booking sites – though the ‘Rate Drop’ does deliver discounts.

Website : https://www.hoteltonight.com/

Food, drink & entertainment

4.1 food & drink.

A food and dining news website that provides reviews, guides, and information on restaurants and food trends in various cities across the world. The site offers articles on topics such as dining culture, chefs, industry news, and more. They also feature videos and podcasts related to food and restaurants. The quality of content and recommendations is excellent, and they’ve regularly won awards to their food & wine journalism.

When to use it: Officially it only spans 23 US cities, and if that’s where you’re headed, it’s a good place to check. However, that’s for detailed coverage. For most cities, however, they have a round-up of ‘the best restaurants in X’, covering all price ranges. Just search for it on their site.

Website : https://eater.com

Foodie blogs

Local foodies blog about anything from food trucks to Michelin-starred restaurants. In any destination, especially cities, the food scene changes so fast that almost any corporate website will not keep up. Local foodies are out testing daily, and take pride in keeping their blogs up to date with the latest and greatest. They also cover the smaller, more niche places that only a local would know about.

There are too many to mention, but search for ‘food blogs in X’ by Googling (or Binging) and see who you can find.

When to use: When you want to discover some insider foodie experiences in a destination, and get some good restaurant tips that are not Michelin-starred.

Concept: Increasingly the go-to resource for vegan and vegetarian dining around the world, run by vegans, as the popularity of the movement continues to gather a welcome pace and momentum. The site is also becoming a thriving community hub, with active forums and listings of fellow vegans in local cities that you can message for tips.

When to use it: to discover the best vegan and vegetarian dining options in your destination, or to get tips/advice from the local community.

Website : https://www.happycow.net/

This stalwart former magazine is still the place to go in the digital era for local listings of ‘what’s on’. It provides comprehensive listings, information and reviews on cultural events, concerts, theatre performances, film screenings, and other entertainment in cities around the world.

When to use it: If you’re wanting to book in some entertainment on your trip, this is the best place to start looking.

Website : https://www.timeout.com/

Yelp is a platform that allows you to search for and review local businesses, including restaurants, bars, shops, and other services in 220 cities in 32 countries . It’s best known for restaurant reviews, however – some of the other business listings can be fairly light. As with all review sites, it suffers from fake reviews,  but the volume is sufficient to give you an overall sense of what’s worth a try.

How to use it: I use it to draft a short list of places to try, then cross-check that with other sources and/or my hotel if I’m staying in one. Concierges will give good restaurant tips, but in my experience, the options they give are limited.

Website : https://www.yelp.com

Before you go

Centre for Disease Control

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a national public health institute in the United States. The website provides comprehensive information and resources on health and safety topics, including infectious diseases, vaccines, travel health, environmental health, emergency preparedness, and more.

When to use it: before you go to a new destination, stop here to check any disease risks and vaccination requirements (you can search by country from the home page). It also has helpful advice for people with special health conditions , and/or doing specialist activities.

Website : https://www.cdc.gov/

5.2 What to take

This global online store is a specialist in all things travel accessories, with over 200 products covering everything from adapters, to travel pillows and luggage security.

How to use it: have a skim before you go. I always end up seeing/buying things I never even knew I needed!

Website : https://go.travel

Packing List Checklist App

A handy app to create packing checklists – a godsend for people like me who always forget their sunglasses. A plethora of packing list apps, I like and use this one before it’s simple, quick – and free. No upgrades needed.

You manually create your own list(s) – you can create multiple different ones, for different holiday types for example – then select from a list of a fairly comprehensive list of suggested items to start you off. Most of the time that will do it, though you can add your own if needed. When it comes to packing, you can tick things off as and when they’re in the case.

How to use it: Next time you get a few free moments, create a packing list. Add to it as and when things pop into your head. Tick them off when you pack.

Website : https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/packing-list-checklist/id1235121075

5.3 Travel planning

TripIt is another travel organising app that allows you to store all of your travel plans in one place. Users can forward their confirmation emails for flights, hotels, and rental cars to the app, which will then create a master itinerary for their trip. The app also provides real-time flight alerts, directions, and travel recommendations.

Website : https://www.tripit.com/web

Plan Your Perfect Trip!

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Planapple's mobile app puts your plans right in your pocket. Access your entire trip: itinerary, bookmarks, addresses, phone numbers, emails, even discussions with your co-travelers. (And Planapple can download it all to your phone before you go, avoiding scary international data charges.)

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Planapple makes it easy to share what you did, where you went, and what you liked (or didn't!). Offer up your entire itinerary or just a few highlights — either way your friends will marvel at your travel-planning prowess. After all, what good is finding something wonderful if you can't scream it from the tippy top of the World Wide Web?

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The Best Travel Websites: Super Useful Sites You’ll Use All The Time

Last Updated: June 18, 2024

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The internet is packed with travel websites to help you with every aspect of the game, and since I started traveling full-time in 2007, that landscape has changed dramatically.

Below, I list my favourite travel websites – and I keep updating this article because sites come and go. Some of these travel websites are newer to my repertoire, and others, old trustworthy friends that have stood the test of time.

In all cases, these travel websites are a part of my regular routine of travel; be it managing finances , booking travel, saving money , finding volunteer opportunities , and more. They are bookmarked and visited regularly , and I know you’ll use them all the time too.

Enjoy this collection of useful travel websites that will help you make your own travels a smooth ride.

See also:  46 Hidden Travel Costs You Can Avoid to Save Money

Table of Contents:

Best Travel Websites for Flights

Best websites for booking overland travel.

Best Travel Websites for Booking Accommodation (Without Overpaying)

Best Travel Websites for Finding Tours & Activities

Best Websites for Doing Stuff Online While Traveling

How to Use These Sites to Research, Book, & Save on Flights

Researching and booking flights is one of my least favourite travel tasks. But I’m pretty good at it, since I can often save up to 70% of the cost of airfare with some hard-earned leg-work – often resulting in long-haul business class flights for less than the price of an equivalent economy ticket.

(See also: A Beginner’s Guide to Frequent Flyer Miles and How to Start Travel Hacking Like a Pro)

While I don’t tend to do a lot of research or booking of flights with my smartphone (I prefer to dedicate my time and concentration to the task with my laptop), it’s worth noting that I love using the smartphone app Hopper to monitor flights over time and determine the best time to buy (ie: when the flight is at its lowest predictable price). I even found in one case that I got a cheaper price by booking my flight through the Hopper app rather than directly with the airline.

(See also:   25 of the Best, Must-Have Travel Apps)

Having said that, I have generally learned (the hard way) that booking flights directly with the airline is best. I do this for a few reasons, including the after-service (eg: if there are problems at the airport) being much easier than going through an internet portal with minimal customer service and likely extra booking fees. Also, more than once I discovered a too-good-to-be-true itinerary on one of the many (reputable!) flight aggregators was just that: too good to be true, and it resulted in my itinerary being changed in torturous ways only after I’d laid down my credit card .

It’s also worth noting that regardless of which site you use to search flights with, it’s best to cross-reference that search on another site. This article on Business Insider demonstrates the difference between Google Flights and Kayak, including criteria/options displayed and some pretty significant price discrepancies.

Oh, I could write a novel about booking flights, if I didn’t detest the task (booking flights, that is) so much. Instead, I’ll get out of my own way and suggest the best travel websites I use for researching flights (with the knowledge that I generally proceed directly to the airline to book the actual ticket):

ITA Matrix – Best Search Engine for Flights (for Advanced Searches)

The ITA Matrix site o ffers sophisticated search functions such as setting the sales city and currency (which can affect pricing). Other bells and whistles include a beefy multi-city search function, a cost-per-mile filter, and an interactive calendar.

However smartphone warriors will know that the app for this site was discontinued in December of 2017, which makes me wonder if this travel website is also on its way out.

Frankly ITA Matrix is a bit of a dinosaur, and Google Flights (below) is actually built on the ITA Matrix database! But, if you want to do some of the more sophisticated searches as mentioned above, then ITA Matrix offers this higher level of functionality. Google Flights is prettier and a bit more user friendly.

Google Flights – Best Travel Website to Search Flexible Dates Flights

Google Flights is great for searching broader criteria if you’re open to flying into a different airport to save money.

You can also see at a glance when selecting your search dates what the prices look like across the month so you can kick off your search with the cheapest dates.

And if you’re just searching for a giggle, the Explore Destinations feature is great for discovering where in the world is open to you with some very broad criteria.

Kayak – Best Travel Site for Cheap Flights

Aside from the Business Insider article discovering that Kayak revealed cheaper flights than Google Flights, Kayak is also known for their price alerts and hacker fares (combining flights with different airlines to give you the best overall price).

You can also see at a glance in the search results whether there are extra luggage fees .

Kiwi – Best for Travel Hacker Flight Searches

Kiwi combines many aspects from the flight search engines above including exploring regions instead of destinations, revealing hacker fares , searching budget airlines, showing you if a round-trip fare is cheaper than one-way, hidden city ticketing, self-transfers, and their Nomad feature which finds the cheapest way for you to explore a multi-destination itinerary.

They also take hacker fares to another level, providing a guarantee that if you book a hacker fare with them, and miss a connecting flight with a different airline (something for which there normally is no recourse), they’ll take care of you. However taking advantage of this feature does break my cardinal rule of booking directly with the airline.

At one point rumour had it that they were a bit sneaky with checked baggage fees, which tend to be more expensive than if you paid the airline directly. Then again if Kiwi saves you as much money as their raving fans out there indicate, perhaps an inflated checked luggage fee isn’t so bad.

Bonus Flights Site:

Seatguru – best travel website for seat selection.

Nothing can ruin a long-haul (or even a short-haul) flight more than a truly crappy seat. Likewise, your flight could be a dream if you had the right seat.

SeatGuru will show you the exact airplane you’re flying in based on the airline/route/date, and will alert you to the good seats, the bad seats, and the seats with cautionary notes.

I use this site every single time when selecting seats for flights, so I can choose the best available seat.

Whenever I can, I like to travel overland instead of in the air. It ’s not only more environmentally friendly, but it’s often more cost-effective, and a much more “organic” way of traveling.

Overland travel gives you a better perspective on the distance you’re traveling and the terrain along the way.

My vehicle of preference (by far) is the train ( I did write a book about some seriously epic train journeys after all, and later experienced the most luxurious train journey in the world , in India). It’s so easy to lose hours just watching the world go by.

But there are also buses, cars, bicycles, and feet to get you from A to B.

Here are some websites that help me make the most of booking overland travel :

The Man in Seat Sixty-One – For Train Lovers

As a train travel evangelist , this site is a dream come true.

While train routes are the main attraction, this site is dedicated to overland travel; you’ll find out how to navigate the rails, buses, and even ferry networks around the world.

There are detailed descriptions on how to book the most cost-effective travel, and lots of information about what to expect of the journey.

Rome2Rio – Best for Finding ALL the Ways to Get from A to B

Enter in your point of origin and destination – be the distance local or international – and Rome2Rio will show you all the various modes (and combinations) of transportation (including flights) that will get you there, along with price and time estimates.

Without leaving the site, you can see schedules for each leg of the journey, with an easy click through to the transportation carrier in question for booking.

Best Websites for Car Rentals

I almost never rent cars. In general it’s not cost-effective, and given my style of slow travel and staying in a destination for a few months at a time, I rarely find myself in a situation where renting a car is practical or useful.

Having said that, whenever I DO need to rent a car or if I’m planning a road trip, I consult vehicle relocation services to see what’s possible.

This is a fabulous way to rent a car (or campervan) for almost-free!

For more information on this unique and cost-effective way to rent cars, check out Almost-Free Road Trips With Vehicle Relocation .

Best Travel Websites for Booking Hotels & Accommodation (Without Overpaying)

It’s worth noting that my favourite form of accommodation is the free kind. Since I started traveling full-time in 2006, I’ve saved over $100,000 in accommodation expenses alone, using a variety of different techniques and websites; it ’s one of my claims to fame . 

There are many different websites to help you find different kinds of free accommodation, so instead of recreating them all here, I’m going to direct you to this article which will give you everything you need to know: The Creative Guide to Free or Cheap Accommodation .

But sometimes, you’ll want to pay for accommodation. Free accommodation isn ’t ever really truly free; it comes with obligations such as taking care of pets (as in house-sitting) or other tasks (as in volunteering). Sometimes the location isn’t ideal depending on what you want to do at your destination, or how long you wish to stay.

And even if you’re on your way to a free accommodation gig, you’ll probably need a few nights at a hotel or hostel on your way in or out of the country. There will always come a time when you need to book some accommodation, even if you’re a full-time house-sitter!

Click here if you are resolute on accumulating frequent flyer miles for hotel stays . 

And if you’re booking monthly accommodation as a digital nomad, check out this resource – it’s my #1 go-to for finding longer term places! How to Book Monthly Accommodation (Alternatives to AirBnB) .

Here are my various strategies and the travel websites that will help you book accommodation most effectively :

Booking.com

Whenever I’m booking a hotel or hostel, I start with Booking.com to get a sense of what is out there and how much it costs. I appreciate the site ’s extensive search filters, and the information about how far various conveniences are (so I know I won’t be stuck in the boonies with no way to get around).

I also rely heavily on the user reviews and photos so I know what I’m getting.

There are no reservation fees, and with their price guarantee you can rest assured you’re not getting fleeced. Many properties allow you to pay them directly (you only use Booking.com for the reservation), and in many cases you can cancel the reservation for free up to 24 hours prior to checking in.

After making five bookings through Booking.com, you will qualify for “.Genius” status which affords you perks like 10% off, early check-in, late check-out, WiFi, free breakfast, etc.

(Please note that if you use the link or search widget above to make a booking, I will earn a wee commission, which doesn’t affect your price, but does certainly help me to keep The Professional Hobo running as a free travel resource for you. Thank you in advance!)

Rooms for Change

I have become increasingly committed to ensuring the money I spend abroad goes to the right places.

Did you know that 90% of the money you spend to stay at an all-inclusive resort trickles back to foreign company owners?

Instead of padding a foreign conglomerate’s pockets, I’d rather support the local community. Rooms for Change helps to do this by allowing you to search for smaller locally-owned hotels and businesses. A portion of their profits also go to charity.

For more eco-friendly ways to book your travel, check this out: Eco-Friendly Travel Companies and Booking Tools .

Worldpackers

Worldpackers is a great website to search for accommodation for a few reasons.

First of all, if you’re on a budget and want a creative immersive travel experience, you’ll find all kinds of cool work-exchange opportunities that offer free accommodation in trade for a few hours of work per day.

But WorldPackers goes beyond traditional work exchange websites because they also have Social Impact and Eco Program volunteer opportunities that allow you to give back (and still get free accommodation – win win)! 

Not only that, but you can filter your searches for hosts who have recently approved applications and are looking for volunteers (so you don’t waste time reaching out to hosts who haven’t been active on the platform).

Even better, they’ve just developed the WorldPackers Academy with over 800 video lessons and online courses. There’s a free track ( Traveling With WorldPackers ), and two paid tracks (one is Planning and Budgeting for Travel , the other is Making a Living While Traveling as a Lifestyle ). Both include content made by dozens of travel content creators – and if you use the discount code PROFESSIONALHOBO, you’ll get $10 off.

Using the link above will get you $10 off membership, normally priced at $49 (and I will also earn a small referral fee).

Longer Stays (Facebook Groups, Local Search)

While AirBnB is a popular choice for people who want to rent accommodations suitable for longer stays, I tend to avoid it. Partly because I have some beefs with AirBnB as a platform (and how it is negatively affecting local economies and living situations for locals since it evolved from its original roots in the sharing economy), and partly because it’s just plain overpriced.

You will pay a premium to book a long stay through AirBnB in advance, even with the long-stay discounts offered. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Now sometimes, it’s worth it, because the alternative can be nerve-wracking. Or sometimes (as I recently did), you can contact the owner directly through the platform and negotiate a different price.

The alternative? Arrive at your destination and from there, begin the search for a privately-owned apartment. Your success with this strategy will depend heavily on the destination, but I have done this in both Southeast Asia and South America. Local Facebook groups are a great place to start in such a search.

Here’s a more in-depth breakdown of this strategy: How to Find an Apartment in Chiang Mai.

If that kind of travel accommodation search doesn’t float your boat (or if you’re not visiting a place conducive to such searches, check out this entire list of resources to help you find monthly accommodation without ever using AirBnB!

Best Travel Websites to Find Local Tours & Activities

When I arrive at a destination, I tend to ask around for good places to go and things to do.

If I’m looking for a place to eat or drink nearby, I also use the “Explore” function in my Google Maps app. (Here are a bunch of other apps I swear by ).

But when I’m looking for activities or tours or ways to immerse in the local culture, I try to find things where my money can support the local community.

H ere are a few great go-to websites to find fun, socially-responsible things to do while traveling:

I’ve written about Withlocals a couple of times already, including in my gigantic guide about  How to Travel on a Budget .

But it bears mentioning again here , since it’s a great way to find tours that are both cost-effective and offered by locals, ensuring your money is being funnelled into the local economy rather than a foreign conglomerate.

Their list of destinations is increasing, but for the most part they are in Europe and Asia.

If I can’t find what I’m looking for on the above site, I head over to Viator. It’s a gigantic aggregator of tours and travel services around the world. You’ll find a bit of anything and everything. Just by browsing what’s available, you’ll get a great sense of what activities are popular in certain destinations.

(Please note if you click on the link or widget and book a tour through Viator, I’ll receive a wee commission, which doesn’t affect your price, and allows me to keep The Professional Hobo running smoothly. Thank you for your support!)

When I was in Hong Kong , I discovered how awesome free walking tours are.

You meet up with a local who gives you their take on their town; be it historical, food-related, architecture, etc. You get to see your destination through a local’s eyes, get great suggestions for things to do and places to eat, and you often get to experience a few things that most travelers wouldn’t know about nor get the chance to do.

Guruwalk is a database of free walking tours around the world.

Now don’t be like me and assume that the walking tour is actually free. While there is no price to attend, your local guide isn’t there entirely out of the goodness of their heart; they are there to earn your tips. You pay according to the value you feel you received – so don’t be stingy, because again, this is a fabulous way to get your money into local hands and directly contribute to the local economy.

Are you intrigued by my dedication to responsible travel with many of the recommendations in this article? It’s because I recently wrote an article about responsible travel – and was horrified during the research process at the unexpected pitfalls and ways travelers unwittingly harm rather than help local economies and cultures. Check it out here: How to be a Responsible Traveller: 5 Unexpected Pitfalls

Best Resources for Doing Stuff Online While Traveling

These days, almost everybody travels with some form of indispensable technology. Be it a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or some combination of the three – these devices perform a variety of tasks that make life on (and off) the road easier, help us to earn a location independent living , and much more.

In fact, I’ve created an entire new section on my website called Travel Lifestyle Guides – chock full of resources for Digital Nomads and people who like long-term travel.

In my original inca ntation of this article I outlined a few of the websites I use to back up my stuff, surf securely, and manage my website on the go.

I have since written separate entire guides for each of these (and many more) topics! So instead of reiterating this content, I’ll direct you to the relevant resources here:

How to Protect Your Information by Backing Everything Up

How to Get Paid, Pay for Goods and Services, and Transfer Money to Others

How to Surf Securely and Protect Your Data with a VPN

How to Create and Manage a Travel Blog

How to Manage and Track Your Frequent Flyer Miles

What are your favourite travel websites? Please share in the comments!

48 thoughts on “The Best Travel Websites: Super Useful Sites You’ll Use All The Time”

Excellent collection of websites. A few of these I’m not familiar with so I’ll have to go check them out!

@Laura – Great! Let me know what you think!

really useful for travelers. thanks for this!

A few of these I’m not familiar with so I’ll have to go check them out!

I believe my life just shifted finding your blog. Thank you.

@Libby – Woohoo! Sounds pretty fantastic. Let me know how I can help!

I would add http://www.helpx.net to your list for volunteer accommodation. Home stays with full room and board in exchange for labour around the property is a great way to travel and live like a local on a shoestring.

@Rich – That’s a great addition. I haven’t used it myself, but it seems to be a fabulous resource. Have you any experience with it?

Whoo hoo! What a role model you are! I have been a long time lover of travel. I recently discovered some resources and have been doing research on volunteer tourism. This is the best I have seen so far! Not to mention how inspiring your story is. I’ve had this itch the last year, wondering why I am not doing what I love most…traveling. I’ve got a fantastic finance who is at my side ready for our next adventure. I hope a storage unit will hold my belongings 🙂 Any words of wisdom for first-timers?

@Chelsea – If you’re researching volunteer tourism, have you checked out the International Guide to Volunteering? Here’s a rundown: http://www.wisebread.com/the-underground-guide-to-international-volunteering-review

As for words of wisdom, ah so many, and so few! Take a deep breath, relax, and don’t be afraid to be afraid from time to time – it means you’re doing something good! 🙂

These are excellent resources. I’m in the planning stages of a six month trip to Europe and these will be exceptionally useful. Thank you!!

@Lisa – I’m glad this will help! Sounds like an exciting trip! When do you leave, and where do you hope to go?

I LOVE your website! Being a fellow gal with no fixed address, I have a few adds that your readers may find useful:

http://www.volunteersouthamerica.net/ – The best website out there for “free” volunteer opportunities in South America.

http://www.mindmyhouse.com and http://www.trustedhousesitters.com – While house carers has the most listings, I find their site very hard to use. I’ve gotten two jobs off of mindmyhouse already. The other one is new, but looks to have great functionality.

If you don’t mind, I may pick your brain on some other separate matters. I am a writer as well, and your website has given me some really great ideas.

@Dalene – I’m so glad you’ve found me! Thanks for the great resources on house-sitting; I had been looking for alternatives to House Carers without much avail. Let’s touch base about writing and such. I hope your recuperation is going well…

Nora – I will send you a separate msg soon, once we get settled in Honduras and I get my thoughts collected. Thanks! =)

Interesting list. I don’t know many of them but will check them out soon. I would also add Airlikes website which is an original and participatory website that reviews airlines and airports.

@Nipe – Thanks for the resource! It’s good to know what you’re in for before you arrive at an airport, especially if you have a long layover to contend with…

Thanks for this list Nora! This is exactly what I was hoping to find as I prepare to embark on my latest adventure 🙂

Hi this a great list. I would like to add http://volunteerstays.com/ in the category of volunteer accommodations. The site offers great opportunities for couch surfing around the world. Also a great resource if you are looking for a travel partner. Do check it out.

This is a great list. Too bad, it’s just now that I was able to read this. Anyway, I’ll take a look at some of the apps that you recommended in here. I would just like to add 25 things to do in Amsterdam. It’s a travel app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch that features a map of Amsterdam that works offline. It also lists 25 of the best POIs in the city, making it easier for me to locate the spots that I have to visit when I get there. The app is also available for Boston and Milan, but I think the developers are adding new key cities. Keep on posting! 🙂

Hi! What great resources (though it’s now 1.5 yrs later!) and explanation for each. I just signed up for HelpX so will let you know how it goes. Also about to sign up for eco-teer. You mentioned that you’d just downloaded the iTravelFree app and the jury was out — any feedback on that now? I’m considering it … Thanks again!!

@Tracy – Although I haven’t used the iTravelFree app a massive amount, I really like downloading all the info for a city/country I’m about to arrive to, and it arms me with general information, ideas for things to do and places to go, and certain customs and policies (like tipping) that are good to know going in. So yes – I do like it!

I second Trusted Housesitters. It’s been our biggest source of housesits in Europe. MindMyHouse second best. Housecarers seems to be more US/Aus-focused.

@James – Since writing this post, I too have successfully used and become a fan of TrustedHousesitters. Here’s an article that includes a link for a discounted membership with TrustedHousesitters: http://www.wisebread.com/10-tips-for-landing-the-perfect-house-sitting-gig

Thanks so much for all your advice – it has been very useful in our 9 months around Europe that is now coming to an end. Apps I would recommend include Hipmunk (flights bookings presented in a wonderfully easy to understand graphic interface). I use it as a first flight search engine. Note it always have the el cheapo airlines so I use it with Whichbudget. Also used Google Translate App and a World Clock App a lot. Agree that XE App is brilliant, as is The Man in Seat 61 – amazing resource and specific hints for train travel.

Hey Rebecca – Glad these tools were useful on your trip! Thanks for the app recommendations. I’ve yet to find a translation app that works well without needing a wifi/data connection…does Google Translate operate offline?

typo – I meant to say that Hipmunk DOESNT always have the el-cheapo airlines. Re Google App – no, it doesnt work offline. It does keep a list of everything you ask it to translate which is then available offline which is only semi-useful. You can also delete/clear all your translation requests, but agree an App that can translate offline would be the ultimate. Otherwise, it’s a little paperback dictionery – almost like something from the Dark Ages!

Rebecca – Paper-what? I don’t understand? Do actual books still exist? 🙂

Hi, I’ve been reading your website and links for hours now. Me and my other half did the same….sold everything after most of our immediate family passed away. We’ve been travelling now for almost 2 years and have no plans to return to the UK. Here’s a link to our travels –

Another website which we have found very useful is workaway.info, we’ve only done one so far and it wasn’t the best experience, but we’ve heard of lots of people of who have had great hosts.

Maybe our paths will cross someday 🙂 Debs

Hi Debs – So glad you found my site and that you’re enjoying it! I’ve heard good things about workaway.info – as with any service the quality of the gig is subjective; I’ve found good and not-so-good gigs on many platforms. Indeed – you never know when (and where) our paths might cross… 🙂

AMAZING ARTICLE, Nora!!! Loaded with useful info, thank you!

Glad you enjoyed this post Claudia! This is an old post that I haven’t looked at in a while, but I still use many – if not most – of these apps and websites.

People need to check the visa restrictions regarding volunteering in the country they plan to stay in. For example, I know that in Ireland you are not allowed to volunteer at all if you are an American. They think people use it to get past the “Americans can’t work here” rule.

Good observation, Marcie! Always check visa rules, and make sure you’re doing the right thing. I will say that many people do go ahead and volunteer despite such restrictions; some countries are more lenient than others in enforcing it – it’s certainly a negligible “crime” in comparison to working (for money) without a visa…

Here are some travel visa FAQs: https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/things-before-traveling-abroad/

Excellent collection of websites. A few of these I’m not familiar with so I’ll have to go check them out!thanks

Brilliant, John – happy surfing!

Thanks for the list, I’m checking the new ones out!

Awesome, EH! Here’s a more recent list of smartphone apps you may want to check out: https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/best-travel-apps/

Hey, I read your lovely post and I decided I’d use some of your tips especially the volunteer services. However I was looking over the site for trusted outfitters. Are there any sites where aspiring house sitters can join and not have to pay a membership fee? I’ve visited a few sites where sitters seeking work had to pay but home owners were free.

Hi Marie, I don’t know of any sites that are free for house-sitters to join (nor am I familiar with ones where homeowners can list for free – I’ve been led to believe that they must generally pay to join and list as well). The reality is, one night of free accommodation more than covers the annual membership. Remember also, you can usually browse listings of most house-sitting sites before joining, so you can see if it’s worth your while to join. Here’s some more information (and resources) on house-sitting: https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/the-creative-guide-to-free-or-cheap-accommodation/

This is a stunning website, can I add the above website to the collection, they deal in volunteers (fair trade swop for accomodation) also they do various projects… Im an avid backpacker who has hot the road in his mid forties..

Many thanks

Excellent tips! Included more than one or two I hadn’t even heard of too. Thanks!

Nora this is an excellent list. My wife found more than a few rocking flight deals on Kayak. Knowing where to look and how to find flights is a skill honed over time. She has it down cold.

Hey Ryan, Awesome that she has booking flights down pat! It definitely is a learned skill.

Thank you Nora! GURUWALK is really wonderful! I recommend the free walking tours in Havana, Cuba 🙂

Hey Yan, Yes, I’m so glad I discovered free walking tours. They’re great!

Thank you for compiling such a great list of travel resources. I particularly like The Man in Seat 61. This is such a great example of a website where you you know you are being advised by an expert who has actually experienced the travel he is talking about and the resources there are so useful.

I agree! I like the personal edge that Seat61 offers in addition to being a killer resource. This guy knows his trains!

Comments are closed.

• GENERAL TRAVEL

12 Best Apps & Websites for Booking Travel Online

Liz is a collector of grand adventures. She first discovered her passion for meaningful travel wh...

• Travel Apps
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If there’s anything better than traveling, it’s the build up. Daydreaming of the perfect destination, scrolling through unique places to stay, and browsing travel guides for the best hole-in-the-wall restaurants and local must-sees are all opportunities to start wanderlusting before you’ve even packed your bags.

Be honest—how many Airbnb Stays do you have bookmarked?

True, it can be overwhelming to map out the nitty gritty flights, connections, accommodation, and pit stops when there are endless options available, but having something exciting to look forward to is one of the keys to happiness after all.

Lucky for you, there are countless apps and websites to help you with booking travel online, so you don’t have to feel overwhelmed when planning the travel adventure of your dreams.

Whether you’re an Apple or Android fan, you’ll have the time of your life in the lead up to your trip with the best travel booking apps and trip planners around!

What to look for in the best travel booking apps

You’re scrolling the app store wondering, what is the best trip planner app? There are hundreds of apps out there—how do you choose? The struggle is real. The truth is, many of them will be more useless than helpful. So how do you weed out the junk that’s clogging up your phone?

The best travel booking apps have these essential features.

1. They’re available offline.

If you’re traveling overseas, there’s no guarantee that you’ll have easy access to WiFi. Unless you have an international phone plan, a local SIM card, or don’t mind roaming charges, limited WiFi can be a killer if you want to access your travel apps in-country. The best travel booking apps have an offline version, so you can access them anywhere, anytime.

2. They include a booking service.

If you’re looking for the best travel booking app, it will definitely have a booking service included. Whether you’re looking for accommodation options or are wanting to book tickets and tours, the ability to book from the app makes everything easier. Let’s call it your one-stop-shop.

3. They have reviews.

The best way to find authentic experiences is to look for recommendations from other people, whether they’re locals or tourists who have stumbled upon hidden gems. Reviews can really make or break your travel plans. The best travel booking apps will definitely have you covered with experienced travelers’ tips and recommendations.

4. They have a translation function.

When you’re traveling between countries, it can be helpful to have a translation function on your travel apps, so you don’t have to switch between apps to get what you’re looking for. With a translation option, you can move about without language barriers, making travel easy even if you don’t speak the native tongue.

5. They have social media integration.

As simple as it sounds, the time it takes to sign up and register for a new app can be a deciding factor for many. In a world where we want information at our fingertips, it can be a turn off when it takes too much time to create a profile before you can use an app.

The best travel booking apps allow you to link your social media accounts—not only for easy access, but so you can share the highlights of your trip directly to your social accounts!

6. They have a travel planner feature.

We want more than just a place to book a bed for the night. We want an app to help us organize our itineraries, bookmark our favorite travel destinations, create schedules, and make travel easy. If you’re wondering what the best trip planner app is, you’ll know you’ve found it when you can plan your travel all in one place.

READ MORE: How to Plan a Trip When You’re Short on Time—And Cash

What is the best trip planner app 6 top contenders.

Searching for the best travel booking apps around? Here are the top apps to download before your next big trip.

1. LikeALocal

• Why it’s the best: If you’re into hole-in-the-wall restaurants and hidden spots that only the most seasoned travelers frequent, LikeALocal is the best travel booking app for you. With guides, tips, and tricks, all the content is created by true locals who have lived in the destination for years.
• The app allows you to browse destination guides, book tours, and even connect with residents through their Q&A feature—and it’s all available 100% offline.

• Why it’s the best: There’s no better way to settle into a new destination than staying in a local’s home. Airbnb is rising as one of the best travel booking apps for accommodation, offering an excellent in-between for hostels and hotels.
• Whether you want to book individual rooms or entire houses from local residents, there are options to suit most budgets. Through the app, you can easily communicate with your host, making it easy to check-in, out, and get the best tips on local hot spots.
• Available for iOS and Android.

3. HotelTonight

• Why it’s the best: While some travelers plan out every detail before leaving home, others live for spontaneity. Luckily, there’s an app for that, too. HotelTonight helps you find last-minute deals on nearby hotels, making it perfect for spur of the moment holidays or road trips with unplanned stops along the way.
• It’s easy to use, with filter options to help you find the right place to suit your needs, and booking a room for the night is just one click away.

• Why it’s the best: Are you a travel junkie? Love multi-destination travel? If you answered ‘ yes’ and you’re still wondering what the best trip planner app is, look no further than TripIt. All you have to do is forward your travel confirmation details to [email protected], and the app creates a master document for all of your travels so you can stay organized!
• You can access it any time, WiFi or dead zone. Upgrade to their paid version to receive real-time flight alerts, a currency converter, socket requirements for your destination, tipping advice, alternative routes for canceled flights, and even track your reward points.

5. Skyscanner

• Why it’s the best: If you’re looking for flights, Skyscanner is where it’s at! The app gives you access to flights from over 1,200 different sources so you can find the best options out there, whether you’re looking for the cheapest options, the fastest routes, or the most affordable days to fly.
• If you’re in the daydreaming stages and open to new possibilities, Skyscanner also has an “anywhere” option to help you find affordable flights you never knew were possible. You can even set up alerts for price dips to find the best airfare rates around.
• Available for IOS.

6. PackPoint

• Why it’s the best: For some travelers, packing can be the biggest headache when preparing for a trip. PackPoint will keep you organized and do the hard work for you. The app creates a custom packing list based on your gender, travel destination, dates and duration of travel, and the type of trip you’re planning. It even checks the weather for you!
• You can add or remove items to make it more personal and check them off as you go, making the packing experience quick and easy.

6 best travel booking websites

Prefer to sit down in front of a computer to do some brainstorming for your next trip? Then you’re probably wondering what the best travel booking website is. Here’s a round-up of the best places for booking travel online.

1. Tripadvisor

No trip is complete without a visit to Tripadvisor. Whether you’re looking for tours, hotels, transportation, restaurants, or just a little travel inspo, Tripadvisor is one of the best websites for browsing and booking travel online.

You can read reviews, save your favorites, get organized using the map features, and book travel all in one place. This site is a must when planning your next trip.

2. Intrepid

Adventure junkies love Intrepid. With small group tours to more than 100 countries, Intrepid is one of the top tour companies for solo travelers who want an adrenaline rush and connection to like-minded people. While most tours attract young travelers under 30, there is no age limit for tours through Intrepid.

Search for unique, niche experiences, from cycling the Middle East to trekking the world’s tallest mountains. With great deals all year round, you can score discounts of up to 50% and reserve your next tour for as low as $1.

3. Hostelworld

Who doesn’t love a good hostel? Backpackers on a budget can find some of the most affordable accommodation options through Hostelworld. Search for your destination, filter by price range or ratings, and find accommodation descriptions, reviews, and booking policies for hostels in over 170 countries worldwide.

The full-screen interactive map makes it easy to see if the hostel is near where you want to be—whether that’s down the street from night clubs or nature.

4. Couchsurfing

If you want a truly unique travel experience at the absolute lowest cost, why not try couch surfing? Through Couchsurfing, you can connect to locals and stay in their homes for free, saving you money and giving you access to true local experiences.

If you don’t feel comfortable staying in someone’s home, Couchsurfing also has a Hangouts feature for you to use to meet and socialize with other travelers—perfect for solo travelers!

If you’re booking travel online, Momondo is worth a browse. This flight search engine is unique to other sites, showing prices of smaller airlines and travel companies that are often overlooked by other popular search engines.

With Momondo, you can find the best times to fly using their monthly matrix, featuring the best prices and routes, no matter where you want to go. Check out the flight insights page for trends and analytics, which will give you insight into how far in advance you need to book your flights to save the most money.

6. GoAbroad

Last, but certainly not least on the list of best sites for booking travel online, is the one and only GoAbroad (that’s us!). Find your perfect program for meaningful travel abroad, with over 15,000 programs, destinations worldwide, scholarships, and insider tips.

If you want to travel abroad with purpose, GoAbroad can undoubtedly help you discover the program to help you smash your goals and make your wildest dreams come true! You can browse our Travel Resource Hub right now to get a jump start on your travel planning.

Booking travel online is fast and easy!

If you’ve been bitten by the travel bug, there’s really no excuse not to start planning your next getaway. Check out the best travel booking apps and websites to stay organized, score great deals, and quench your wanderlust. Booking travel online has never been easier! You’re just a click away from your next big adventure abroad.

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Save money on airfare by searching for cheap flight tickets on KAYAK. KAYAK searches for flight deals on hundreds of airline tickets sites to help you find the cheapest flights. Whether you are looking for a last minute flight or a cheap plane ticket for a later date, you can find the best deals faster at KAYAK.

Las Vegas Flights

• Flight Seattle - Las Vegas (SEA - LAS) $21+
• Flight San Diego - Las Vegas (SAN - LAS) $25+
• Flight Ontario - Las Vegas (ONT - LAS) $31+
• Flight Portland - Las Vegas (PDX - LAS) $31+
• Flight Los Angeles - Las Vegas (LAX - LAS) $33+
• Flight Phoenix - Las Vegas (PHX - LAS) $35+
• Flight San Jose - Las Vegas (SJC - LAS) $39+
• Flight San Francisco - Las Vegas (SFO - LAS) $46+
• Flight Burbank - Las Vegas (BUR - LAS) $47+
• Flight Oakland - Las Vegas (OAK - LAS) $48+

Los Angeles Flights

• Flight Las Vegas - Los Angeles (LAS - LAX) $29+
• Flight San Jose - Los Angeles (SJC - LAX) $32+
• Flight San Francisco - Los Angeles (SFO - LAX) $41+
• Flight Dallas - Los Angeles (DFW - LAX) $46+
• Flight Phoenix - Los Angeles (PHX - LAX) $47+
• Flight Seattle - Los Angeles (SEA - LAX) $51+
• Flight Philadelphia - Los Angeles (PHL - LAX) $54+
• Flight Oakland - Los Angeles (OAK - LAX) $55+
• Flight Portland - Los Angeles (PDX - LAX) $61+
• Flight Salt Lake City - Los Angeles (SLC - LAX) $63+

Orlando Flights

• Flight Dallas - Orlando (DFW - ORL) $41+
• Flight Boston - Orlando (BOS - ORL) $42+
• Flight Atlanta - Orlando (ATL - ORL) $49+
• Flight Charlotte - Orlando (CLT - ORL) $49+
• Flight Baltimore - Orlando (BWI - ORL) $54+
• Flight Pittsburgh - Orlando (PIT - ORL) $55+
• Flight Syracuse - Orlando (SYR - ORL) $56+
• Flight New York - Orlando (NYC - ORL) $58+
• Flight Richmond - Orlando (RIC - ORL) $58+
• Flight Philadelphia - Orlando (PHL - ORL) $66+

Cancun Flights

• Flight Fort Lauderdale - Cancún (FLL - CUN) $137+
• Flight Orlando - Cancún (ORL - CUN) $152+
• Flight Philadelphia - Cancún (PHL - CUN) $196+
• Flight Dallas - Cancún (DFW - CUN) $212+
• Flight Atlanta - Cancún (ATL - CUN) $213+
• Flight San Antonio - Cancún (SAT - CUN) $223+
• Flight Denver - Cancún (DEN - CUN) $224+
• Flight Chicago - Cancún (CHI - CUN) $225+
• Flight Las Vegas - Cancún (LAS - CUN) $251+
• Flight Houston - Cancún (HOU - CUN) $252+

Tokyo Flights

• Flight Honolulu - Tokyo (HNL - TYO) $346+
• Flight Los Angeles - Tokyo (LAX - TYO) $394+
• Flight San Jose - Tokyo (SJC - TYO) $512+
• Flight San Francisco - Tokyo (SFO - TYO) $559+
• Flight Las Vegas - Tokyo (LAS - TYO) $595+
• Flight San Diego - Tokyo (SAN - TYO) $607+
• Flight Atlanta - Tokyo (ATL - TYO) $665+
• Flight Seattle - Tokyo (SEA - TYO) $666+
• Flight Portland - Tokyo (PDX - TYO) $670+
• Flight Phoenix - Tokyo (PHX - TYO) $671+

Chicago Flights

• Flight Dallas - Chicago (DFW - CHI) $41+
• Flight Atlanta - Chicago (ATL - CHI) $47+
• Flight Miami - Chicago (MIA - CHI) $52+
• Flight Denver - Chicago (DEN - CHI) $56+
• Flight Philadelphia - Chicago (PHL - CHI) $57+
• Flight Houston - Chicago (IAH - CHI) $62+
• Flight Las Vegas - Chicago (LAS - CHI) $67+
• Flight Phoenix - Chicago (PHX - CHI) $67+
• Flight Fort Myers - Chicago (RSW - CHI) $68+
• Flight New York - Chicago (NYC - CHI) $69+

Phoenix Flights

• Flight Las Vegas - Phoenix (LAS - PHX) $35+
• Flight Dallas - Phoenix (DFW - PHX) $54+
• Flight San Diego - Phoenix (SAN - PHX) $55+
• Flight Ontario - Phoenix (ONT - PHX) $56+
• Flight Salt Lake City - Phoenix (SLC - PHX) $57+
• Flight San Francisco - Phoenix (SFO - PHX) $66+
• Flight Santa Ana - Phoenix (SNA - PHX) $67+
• Flight Los Angeles - Phoenix (LAX - PHX) $68+
• Flight Seattle - Phoenix (SEA - PHX) $71+
• Flight Portland - Phoenix (PDX - PHX) $76+

India Flights

• Flight Chicago - New Delhi (CHI - DEL) $605+
• Flight Boston - New Delhi (BOS - DEL) $649+
• Flight New York - New Delhi (NYC - DEL) $655+
• Flight Boston - Mumbai (BOS - BOM) $658+
• Flight New York - Mumbai (NYC - BOM) $659+
• Flight San Francisco - Mumbai (SFO - BOM) $676+
• Flight New York - Ahmedabad (NYC - AMD) $685+
• Flight San Francisco - Bengaluru (SFO - BLR) $686+
• Flight Washington, D.C. - Hyderabad (WAS - HYD) $693+
• Flight Dallas - New Delhi (DFW - DEL) $701+

Japan Flights

• Flight Denver - Tokyo (DEN - TYO) $651+
• Flight Dallas - Tokyo (DFW - TYO) $664+
• Flight Los Angeles - Osaka (LAX - OSA) $674+
• Flight Houston - Tokyo (IAH - TYO) $680+
• Flight San Francisco - Osaka (SFO - OSA) $681+
• Flight New York - Tokyo (NYC - TYO) $739+
• Flight Los Angeles - Okinawa (LAX - OKA) $798+
• Flight Boston - Tokyo (BOS - TYO) $900+
• Flight Chicago - Tokyo (CHI - TYO) $919+

New York Flights

• Flight Atlanta - New York (ATL - NYC) $37+
• Flight Boston - Newark (BOS - NYC) $37+
• Flight Charlotte - New York (CLT - NYC) $46+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - New York (FLL - NYC) $46+
• Flight Indianapolis - Newark (IND - NYC) $55+
• Flight Miami - Newark (MIA - NYC) $55+
• Flight Raleigh - New York (RDU - NYC) $55+
• Flight Tampa - New York (TPA - NYC) $56+
• Flight Orlando - New York (ORL - NYC) $64+
• Flight Chicago - New York (CHI - NYC) $74+

Miami Flights

• Flight Dallas - Miami (DFW - MIA) $50+
• Flight Houston - Miami (IAH - MIA) $51+
• Flight New York - Miami (NYC - MIA) $51+
• Flight Chicago - Miami (CHI - MIA) $52+
• Flight Boston - Miami (BOS - MIA) $53+
• Flight Baltimore - Miami (BWI - MIA) $56+
• Flight Raleigh - Miami (RDU - MIA) $56+
• Flight Cleveland - Miami (CLE - MIA) $66+
• Flight Nashville - Miami (BNA - MIA) $69+
• Flight Philadelphia - Miami (PHL - MIA) $75+

Rome Flights

• Flight New York - Rome (NYC - ROM) $288+
• Flight Boston - Rome (BOS - ROM) $371+
• Flight Miami - Rome (MIA - ROM) $380+
• Flight Minneapolis - Rome (MSP - ROM) $422+
• Flight Los Angeles - Rome (LAX - ROM) $453+
• Flight San Francisco - Rome (SFO - ROM) $456+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - Rome (FLL - ROM) $457+
• Flight Tampa - Rome (TPA - ROM) $481+
• Flight Baltimore - Rome (BWI - ROM) $486+
• Flight Seattle - Rome (SEA - ROM) $490+

Seattle Flights

• Flight Las Vegas - Seattle (LAS - SEA) $23+
• Flight Los Angeles - Seattle (LAX - SEA) $51+
• Flight San Jose - Seattle (SJC - SEA) $66+
• Flight Phoenix - Seattle (PHX - SEA) $69+
• Flight Ontario - Seattle (ONT - SEA) $71+
• Flight San Diego - Seattle (SAN - SEA) $71+
• Flight Sacramento - Seattle (SMF - SEA) $74+
• Flight Denver - Seattle (DEN - SEA) $81+
• Flight Dallas - Seattle (DFW - SEA) $87+
• Flight Salt Lake City - Seattle (SLC - SEA) $87+

Fort Lauderdale Flights

• Flight New York - Fort Lauderdale (NYC - FLL) $45+
• Flight Raleigh - Fort Lauderdale (RDU - FLL) $47+
• Flight Dallas - Fort Lauderdale (DFW - FLL) $50+
• Flight Atlanta - Fort Lauderdale (ATL - FLL) $51+
• Flight Nashville - Fort Lauderdale (BNA - FLL) $51+
• Flight Hartford - Fort Lauderdale (BDL - FLL) $52+
• Flight Tampa - Fort Lauderdale (TPA - FLL) $57+
• Flight Boston - Fort Lauderdale (BOS - FLL) $69+
• Flight Cleveland - Fort Lauderdale (CLE - FLL) $69+
• Flight Baltimore - Fort Lauderdale (BWI - FLL) $70+

Atlanta Flights

• Flight Orlando - Atlanta (ORL - ATL) $27+
• Flight Philadelphia - Atlanta (PHL - ATL) $30+
• Flight New York - Atlanta (NYC - ATL) $36+
• Flight Tampa - Atlanta (TPA - ATL) $37+
• Flight Boston - Atlanta (BOS - ATL) $40+
• Flight Houston - Atlanta (IAH - ATL) $46+
• Flight Dallas - Atlanta (DFW - ATL) $49+
• Flight Baltimore - Atlanta (BWI - ATL) $50+
• Flight Minneapolis - Atlanta (MSP - ATL) $50+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - Atlanta (FLL - ATL) $52+

Boston Flights

• Flight Atlanta - Boston (ATL - BOS) $44+
• Flight Baltimore - Boston (BWI - BOS) $47+
• Flight Orlando - Boston (ORL - BOS) $54+
• Flight Houston - Boston (IAH - BOS) $61+
• Flight Miami - Boston (MIA - BOS) $64+
• Flight Raleigh - Boston (RDU - BOS) $66+
• Flight Nashville - Boston (BNA - BOS) $67+
• Flight Dallas - Boston (DFW - BOS) $68+
• Flight Tampa - Boston (TPA - BOS) $69+
• Flight Fort Lauderdale - Boston (FLL - BOS) $71+

United States Flights

• Flight Dallas - Las Vegas (DFW - LAS) $46+
• Flight Atlanta - Miami (ATL - MIA) $50+
• Flight Minneapolis - Phoenix (MSP - PH1) $67+
• Flight Denver - Las Vegas (DEN - LAS) $73+
• Flight Atlanta - Los Angeles (ATL - LAX) $80+
• Flight Atlanta - Las Vegas (ATL - LAS) $95+
• Flight Minneapolis - Las Vegas (MSP - LAS) $110+
• Flight Los Angeles - Honolulu (LAX - HNL) $183+

Hawaii Flights

• Flight San Francisco - Hawaii (SFO - USHI) $157+
• Flight San Jose - Hawaii (SJC - USHI) $171+
• Flight Los Angeles - Hawaii (LAX - USHI) $183+
• Flight Oakland - Hawaii (OAK - USHI) $209+
• Flight Seattle - Hawaii (SEA - USHI) $210+
• Flight Portland - Hawaii (PDX - USHI) $236+
• Flight Sacramento - Hawaii (SMF - USHI) $236+
• Flight San Diego - Hawaii (SAN - USHI) $236+
• Flight Ontario - Hawaii (ONT - USHI) $276+
• Flight Las Vegas - Hawaii (LAS - USHI) $315+

London Flights

• Flight New York - London (NYC - LON) $283+
• Flight Miami - London (MIA - LON) $325+
• Flight Boston - London (BOS - LON) $356+
• Flight Las Vegas - London (LAS - LON) $420+
• Flight Chicago - London (CHI - LON) $439+
• Flight Los Angeles - London (LAX - LON) $452+
• Flight Baltimore - London (BWI - LON) $460+
• Flight Washington, D.C. - London (WAS - LON) $475+
• Flight Pittsburgh - London (PIT - LON) $476+
• Flight Portland - London (PDX - LON) $478+

Paris Flights

• Flight New York - Paris (NYC - PAR) $301+
• Flight Washington, D.C. - Paris (WAS - PAR) $307+
• Flight New Windsor - Paris (SWF - PAR) $318+
• Flight Baltimore - Paris (BWI - PAR) $325+
• Flight Boston - Paris (BOS - PAR) $328+
• Flight Chicago - Paris (CHI - PAR) $372+
• Flight Miami - Paris (MIA - PAR) $393+
• Flight Orlando - Paris (ORL - PAR) $401+
• Flight Los Angeles - Paris (LAX - PAR) $405+
• Flight Portland - Paris (PDX - PAR) $421+

Manila Flights

• Flight Los Angeles - Manila (LAX - MNL) $535+
• Flight San Francisco - Manila (SFO - MNL) $713+
• Flight Ontario - Manila (ONT - MNL) $743+
• Flight Chicago - Manila (CHI - MNL) $753+
• Flight Seattle - Manila (SEA - MNL) $753+
• Flight Miami - Manila (MIA - MNL) $761+
• Flight New York - Manila (NYC - MNL) $761+
• Flight Honolulu - Manila (HNL - MNL) $777+
• Flight Phoenix - Manila (PHX - MNL) $805+
• Flight Boston - Manila (BOS - MNL) $809+

Denver Flights

• Flight Kansas City - Denver (MCI - DEN) $48+
• Flight Los Angeles - Denver (LAX - DEN) $56+
• Flight Ontario - Denver (ONT - DEN) $57+
• Flight San Francisco - Denver (SFO - DEN) $58+
• Flight Phoenix - Denver (PHX - DEN) $73+
• Flight Minneapolis - Denver (MSP - DEN) $75+
• Flight Atlanta - Denver (ATL - DEN) $82+
• Flight San Diego - Denver (SAN - DEN) $82+
• Flight Seattle - Denver (SEA - DEN) $82+
• Flight Houston - Denver (IAH - DEN) $83+

San Francisco Flights

• Flight Las Vegas - San Francisco (LAS - SFO) $37+
• Flight Los Angeles - San Francisco (LAX - SFO) $42+
• Flight Ontario - San Francisco (ONT - SFO) $42+
• Flight San Diego - San Francisco (SAN - SFO) $47+
• Flight Santa Ana - San Francisco (SNA - SFO) $47+
• Flight Denver - San Francisco (DEN - SFO) $56+
• Flight Portland - San Francisco (PDX - SFO) $57+
• Flight Salt Lake City - San Francisco (SLC - SFO) $61+
• Flight Phoenix - San Francisco (PHX - SFO) $67+
• Flight Dallas - San Francisco (DFW - SFO) $106+

San Diego Flights

• Flight Las Vegas - San Diego (LAS - SAN) $30+
• Flight San Jose - San Diego (SJC - SAN) $35+
• Flight San Francisco - San Diego (SFO - SAN) $46+
• Flight Portland - San Diego (PDX - SAN) $48+
• Flight Sacramento - San Diego (SMF - SAN) $53+
• Flight Phoenix - San Diego (PHX - SAN) $55+
• Flight Oakland - San Diego (OAK - SAN) $61+
• Flight Salt Lake City - San Diego (SLC - SAN) $61+
• Flight Seattle - San Diego (SEA - SAN) $71+
• Flight Dallas - San Diego (DFW - SAN) $76+

Punta Cana Flights

• Flight Fort Lauderdale - Punta Cana (FLL - PUJ) $177+
• Flight Miami - Punta Cana (MIA - PUJ) $216+
• Flight Atlanta - Punta Cana (ATL - PUJ) $226+
• Flight Boston - Punta Cana (BOS - PUJ) $240+
• Flight Tampa - Punta Cana (TPA - PUJ) $241+
• Flight Baltimore - Punta Cana (BWI - PUJ) $246+
• Flight Philadelphia - Punta Cana (PHL - PUJ) $253+
• Flight New York - Punta Cana (NYC - PUJ) $256+
• Flight Charlotte - Punta Cana (CLT - PUJ) $262+
• Flight Raleigh - Punta Cana (RDU - PUJ) $262+

Europe Flights

• Flight Miami - Madrid (MIA - MAD) $316+
• Flight Boston - Dublin (BOS - DUB) $323+
• Flight Boston - Madrid (BOS - MAD) $328+
• Flight New York - Athens (NYC - ATH) $335+
• Flight Boston - Lisbon (BOS - LIS) $354+
• Flight Los Angeles - Madrid (LAX - MAD) $413+
• Flight Boston - Athens (BOS - ATH) $419+
• Flight Los Angeles - Lisbon (LAX - LIS) $446+
• Flight San Francisco - London (SFO - LON) $456+
• Flight Los Angeles - Athens (LAX - ATH) $460+

Florida Flights

• Flight Boston - Florida (BOS - USFL) $40+
• Flight Dallas - Florida (DFW - USFL) $42+
• Flight Hartford - Florida (BDL - USFL) $45+
• Flight Philadelphia - Florida (PHL - USFL) $46+
• Flight Atlanta - Florida (ATL - USFL) $50+
• Flight Baltimore - Florida (BWI - USFL) $53+
• Flight New York - Florida (NYC - USFL) $56+
• Flight Minneapolis - Florida (MSP - USFL) $74+
• Flight Charlotte - Florida (CLT - USFL) $76+
• Flight Los Angeles - Florida (LAX - USFL) $107+

Frequently asked questions

What do i need to know before booking a flight.

There are various factors to consider when booking a flight including cost, fare classes, baggage policies, the complications of flying long haul, and complying with airport regulations. To make your booking journey smoother KAYAK has developed a comprehensive flight guide including insights on finding affordable flights, packing efficiently, and utilizing the best travel tools.

What is the cheapest day of the week to book a flight?

The best day to book your flight depends on a number of factors, but there are general trends that you can follow to increase your chances of cheaper plane tickets. Based on an analysis of KAYAK data for all flights departing from inside United States over the last 12 months, the cheapest day to fly for domestic flights is Wednesday. For international flights, Tuesday had the cheapest tickets on average.

Which month of the year are flight prices lowest?

It’s well established that flights in the low season are generally cheaper than ticket prices during the high season. That means that knowing which month to find the lowest priced plane tickets will depend heavily on seasonality and your destination. While avoiding peak travel times can help you keep costs down, our data shows that the month with the lowest priced plane tickets for domestic flights based on all searches made on KAYAK in the last 12 months was January, while the most expensive was October. If you’re booking an international flight, then January is the cheapest month to fly and June the most expensive.

When is the best time to buy plane tickets - Last minute or in advance?

Last minute flight deals are definitely up for grabs but when exactly to purchase your plane tickets will depend on where you’re traveling to and from. Based on all data for flight searches made on KAYAK over the last 12 months, prices for domestic flights remained below the average price up to 1 weeks before departure. For international flights, deals could still be had up to 1 weeks prior to the departure date, with prices remaining below average. If you’re flexible, KAYAK brings you both advance and last minute one-way and round-trip flight deals.

Can flying international flights with a layover save money on airfare?

For many long-haul international flights, flying non-stop is not possible and you will have to fly with a layover. Some routes will offer both and you could consider flying with a layover for a number of reasons. Firstly, breaking up what would otherwise be a long-haul flight, taking a rest and then completing the journey might make the flight more manageable. Secondly, prices can also be lower than non-stop flights, so while it might take longer for you to reach your destination, you could save money. We’ve looked at prices over the last 12 months for the 100 most popular international destinations for KAYAK users and on average, prices for non-stop flights were cheaper than flights with a layover.

How does KAYAK find such low flight prices?

KAYAK processes over 2 billion flight queries annually and displays results from hundreds of airlines and third party sites, allowing it to find a variety of flight prices and options. It also displays results from 2M+ properties along with rental cars, vacation packages, activities and millions of verified reviews so users can see as many available travel options as possible.

How do I find the best flight deals on KAYAK?

A simple flight search at https://www.kayak.com/flights scans for prices on hundreds of travel sites in seconds. We gather flight deals from across the web and put them in one place. Then on the search results page you can use various filters to compare options for the same flight and easily choose the best flight deal from all of the deals coming straight from the travel sites to your screen, with no extra fee from KAYAK.

How can Hacker Fares save me money?

Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets on different airlines when it can save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket.

Does KAYAK query more flight providers than competitors?

Yes, KAYAK has access to more data and information than online travel agencies and consistently outperforms the competition in accuracy, globally.

How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy?

KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a given destination and date is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care?

Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you flights up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. That way, you can see if leaving a day or two earlier will find you a better deal. You can also select the flexible "weekend" or "month" search options to widen your search range and find the cheapest price that works for you.

Search cheap flights with KAYAK. Search for the cheapest airline tickets for all the top airlines around the world, airports around the world and the top international flight routes . KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites to help you find cheap airfare and book a flight that suits you best. Since KAYAK searches many plane tickets sites at once, you can find cheap tickets from cheap airlines and for trains and buses quickly.

KAYAK also helps you find the right hotels for your needs.

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I-131F, Application for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens

ALERT: On Aug. 26, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, in Texas v. Department of Homeland Security,  Case Number 24-cv-306, administratively stayed DHS from granting parole in place under Keeping Families Together for 14 days. Subsequently, the court issued another order and the administrative stay remains in effect through Sept. 23, 2024.

To comply with the district court’s administrative stay, USCIS will:

• Not grant any pending parole in place requests under Keeping Families Together.
• Continue to accept filings of Form I-131F, Application for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens.
• Continue to schedule biometric appointments and capture biometrics at Application Support Centers (ASCs).

The district court’s administrative stay order does not affect any applications that were approved before the administrative stay order was issued at 6:46 p.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 26, 2024.

Use this form to request a discretionary grant of parole in place under  Keeping Families Together .

What This Form Can Help You Do

• Keeping Families Together

Frequently Asked Questions About Keeping Families Together

Form Details

Form I-131F must be filed online.

File Online

You can find the filing fee for Form I-131F by visiting our  Fee Schedule  page. There is no fee waiver available for Form I-131F.

Starting Aug. 19, 2024, you may file Form I-131F, Application for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens, online with the applicable filing fee. There is no fee waiver available for Form I-131F.

Each requestor, including noncitizen stepchildren, must file a separate Form I-131F requesting parole in place, and each requestor must have their own USCIS online account. A parent or legal guardian may create an online account for their minor child if the purpose is to submit a form on behalf of the minor. If a parent or legal guardian is not available, a primary caregiver or legal assistance provider may also help a child create their own USCIS online account. Information on creating a USCIS online account is available on the  How to Create a USCIS Online Account page.

• Frequently Asked Questions About the Keeping Families Together Process
• Form I-131F Filing Guide (PDF, 8.95 MB)

Filing Online

• How to Create a USCIS Online Account
• Tips for Filing Forms Online
• Online Filing for Attorneys and Accredited Representatives