After 10+ years of almost constant travel, I’ve used a lot of different travel apps. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. Over time I figured out which apps are actually worth a permanent place on my phone: The ones that make trips smoother, cheaper, and way less stressful.
I’m talking about apps that help me find cheap flights, navigate hiking trails, communicate when I don’t speak the language, and track my trip. Some of them you’ve probably heard of. Others might be completely new to you, but trust me: they’re worth the download.
Just to be clear: this isn’t a sponsored list, although some do offer affiliate programs. These are simply the apps I use over and over again when traveling, the ones that have proven themselves over and over again. Whether you’re planning a weekend city break or a months-long backpacking adventure, these are the travel apps I rely on.
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission when you click on them, at no additional cost to you. It just helps to keep this site running. I only promote products and services I really recommend and always give my honest opinion about them.
Table of Contents - My Top 10 Travel Apps After a Decade of Budget Travel
Why this top 10 Travel Apps
I made this selection of travel apps, because I think they are the 10 most helpful apps there are when traveling. Some I use for every trip, and others are more for specific types of trips, some are very well-known (but do you know all their features?), others you might not have heard of before. But I wanted to make a list of the most useful, helpful travel apps and share it for you. So here you go!
| App | What It's For |
|---|---|
| Wise | 💳 Best exchange rates and low fees for international payments (Revolut is a good alternative) |
| Google Maps | 🗺️ Navigation and directions with offline capability |
| Mapy.com | 🥾 Detailed offline maps perfect for hiking and remote areas |
| Google Translate | 🗣️ Instant translation with camera lens feature for signs and menus |
| Skyscanner | ✈️ Compare and find the best flight deals |
| Booking.com | 🏨 Book accommodation worldwide (Hostelworld and Agoda are also great options) |
| 📱 Essential for communication outside the US - stay connected anywhere | |
| Polarsteps | 📸 Track your journey and create beautiful travel memories automatically |
| Tricount | 💰 Split expenses easily when traveling with friends or groups |
| Komoot | 🥾 Discover and follow hiking routes created by other hikers |
1. Wise
Wise↗ (formerly TransferWise) is an online international bank, which makes managing your money abroad super easy! With Wise you can open a free multi-currency bank account, so you can receive several different currencies on your account. You can order a debit card (which also has a number similar to a credit card with which you can pay online) and you will automatically receive the best exchange rates when using your card abroad (chose the valuta of the country to get them). They have very low fees, much lower than normal banks have, for international payments, ATM withdrawals and for just having an account.
Ready to open a Wise account? Create your account through this link↗ and you can order your card for free, or choose to get zero fees on a transfer up to € 500.
Revolut↗ is a popular alternative for Wise. I started with Wise, which is a little more straightforward for USD, and never made a change since I’m super happy with how they work. I did create a Revolut account, since it’s always good to have a backup, but I don’t use it as actively as I use Wise. But my boyfriend uses his Revolut account much more actively and has his Wise account only as a backup, so I guess it’s all about personal preferences.
2. Google Maps
Google Maps is probably already on your phone, but are you using it to its full potential? The offline maps feature is a game-changer that I discovered way too late.
On Google Maps, you can download an area and use it for offline navigation. It won’t tell you public transport routes, or walking or biking options, nor information about places on the map like restaurants, but it’s great for driving in areas with little to no coverage.
Before I found out about this feature, I used Mapy.cz (now Mapy.com), my favorite hiking app, but it would sometimes send us down “roads” which were closer to a hiking path, so not very reliable when driving a car. Google Maps’ offline feature is much better for car navigation. To download an area, you just click on your profile icon > offline maps > select your own map. Easy as that!
I also use Google Maps to mark places I want to visit so I can easily plan our trip, and to mark places I’ve been and/or favorites in a different color. In most countries, I also use it for navigating public transport.
3. Mapy.com
Those of you who have read some of my hiking articles will already know how much I love mapy.com↗ (formerly mapy.cz). It’s such a great, clear and complete app showing main hiking trails, alternatives, and even biking routes. Different trails often have different colors, similar to the color of the trail marks, making it super easy to know which route to follow.
You can also download areas or countries for offline use. This has become a bit restricted now for the free version, and you can only download one map at the time, but it’s still a great app. You just have to remember to change the map when traveling to a new area, whereas before I’d just download all areas I would visit, or the whole country directly.
Maps.me↗ is another popular offline hiking map, but I never really got into using it. I find Mapy.com much clearer.
4. Google Translate
You probably already know about Google Translate, but do you know about the lens feature? It’s honestly a lifesaver. This feature will automatically translate any text that it’s reading, live!
A friend showed this to me when I lived in the Czech Republic and struggled to even read a menu (I know, shame on me for not learning the language when I lived there). You just grab your phone, open the app, click on the lens and point your phone at the menu (or any other text you want to translate) and it will just translate it for you! How amazing is that! I suddenly had a lot more time to actually enjoy my lunch instead of trying to translate the menu as quickly as possible.
The lens isn’t just good for menus though, but also things like signs, bus schedules and instructions. I told you, a life-saver! The only catch is that it only works with internet access. You can download languages in the app which you can then use to translate even when you don’t have internet, but it only works for typed text, conversation mode or photo’s you’ve already taken.
5. Skyscanner
Skyscanner↗ is my go-to app for finding cheap flights. There are many other options, like Google flights for example, and you can even book flights on Booking.com nowadays, but I like how it works. Skyscanner compares everything including budget airlines, airline combinations, and route options you probably haven’t thought about. They even have a “flights to everywhere” option if you’re just looking for inspiration for a next trip.
When I find a good deal on Skyscanner, I do tend to book through the airline though. Skyscanner will show deals from third-party websites as well as the airline, and I would only ever book through a third party if it is genuinely a lot cheaper and I trust the third-party. Otherwise I stick to the airline itself. If you use a third-party, your payment goes through them, and they will be the point of contact of the airline, so any communication needs to go through them. No problem when there is nothing to talk about, but when there are any changes, I’d rather talk with the airline directly than depend on a third party.
6. Booking.com
Booking.com is another app you’re probably using already. But I couldn’t create a list of the top 10 travel apps and not include Booking.com of course.
When I started to travel, I used many different apps, and compared prices of different kinds of accommodation on different apps. So I had Booking for hotels, hostelworld for hostels and AirBnB for apartments. But Booking has it all nowadays. You can find hostels, hotels, apartments and even campsites on Booking.com. A lot of their accommodations on offer will let you cancel for free until a certain time before traveling, and if you regularly book through booking you’ll get a discount (called the genius-discount) on selected accommodation and you can sometimes get an extra discount simply for booking through the app.
I do have some other apps on my phone which I use, but they are more of a backup in case I don’t find anything on Booking. Agoda↗ is probably the alternative I most use, since some accommodation is actually cheaper there compared to Booking and Agoda is owned by Booking.com, so it’s just as reliable of a company. Another alternative I use with some frequency is AirBnB↗, although I find accommodation is generally more expensive there compared to Booking. Sometimes I find good deals here though.
7. WhatsApp
You might wonder what WhatsApp is doing on a list of travel apps, but trust me: it’s a must for certain destinations like South America and Europe. Most Europeans will have this app installed already and might not realize that you actually needed this. And many Americans don’t actually use WhatsApp in their home country, so if that’s you, you’re about to go on a trip abroad and you don’t have Whatsapp downloaded yet, do it now↗.
Especially in South America, but also in Europe, a lot of communication goes via Whatsapp. Tours, guides, and accommodation, they all tend to communicate through Whatsapp. And if you ask for recommendations for a driver or a guide, they will most likely give you their WhatsApp number too. Booked an AirBnB? It’s not uncommon for hosts to prefer communication and send instructions through WhatsApp. Or requesting you to call them when you’re near.
We first noticed the need for WhatsApp while traveling in Mexico, where AirBnB’s often didn’t have a doorbell, but expected us to call them. While we did have WhatsApp, we didn’t always have data and then ended up needing to find wifi somewhere to call the host to get in. So trust me, WhatsApp is a must on many trips.
A bonus is that if you make friends along the way, they will likely communicate through WhatsApp too, so it’s easy to stay in touch, make plans to meet again, share your location and make international phone calls, since they are over mobile data, so they don’t involve international fees.
8. Polarsteps
Polarsteps↗ is a great app to log your journey and share it with people at home, or fellow travelers you meet on the road.
You can create your trip and switch on the automatic tracker which will show the exact route you’ve been traveling on a visual map. You can also add your steps (stops) manually if you prefer not showing every move you made, just the line from A to B. In each “step”, you can write a little bit about what you’ve been doing, add your photos, and even mark your favorite places, a great way to log your trip and not only share your trip with friends and family, but also look back at it yourself. You can even choose to print a photobook of your trip.
I love looking back at trips, seeing where I was when, and how far I’ve actually traveled and the amazing things I’ve done. For me, it really puts my travels in perspective.
9. Tricount
Tricount↗ is a very helpful app for splitting bills when traveling in a group. In this app you can register everything every group member spent, and the app will automatically count how much each person in the group owes/is owed.
So you can take turns paying for things and register them in the app. The app will work out the difference, no manual calculations or splitting every bill as it comes anymore and no awkward money conversations either. You just pay the difference at the end of the trip! It’s even possible to add costs for only part of the group, so say only 2 people of a group of 4 wanted an ice cream, then you can split that amount between just those two.
10. Komoot
Komoot↗ is another very helpful hiking app, which I often use next to Mapy.com. I love Mapy.com for navigating trails in areas which I know and for hikes I know I want to do. But sometimes I arrive somewhere and I feel like a hike but I don’t really know where to start planning one. This is where Komoot comes in. On Komoot you can look for hikes that others have tracked and published and are often rated as well. You can select the route and follow it as it is, or make adjustments and create your own.
You can also plan a hike from scratch here, just like you can with Mapy.com, so if you only want one hiking app, you can use Komoot. But I think Mapy.com is easier to use when planning a hike from scratch. Another plus is that you can download an area for offline use (very helpful when hiking in remote areas!) on Mapy.com, Komoot only offers offline access with a paid account.
Other helpful travel apps
Of course there are many other very useful travel apps available. But to not make an endless list and really stick to the ones I find the most useful during my travels, I decided to stick to a list of 10. But here are some other honorable mentions of travel apps I also often use.
Rome2Rio & Moovit are lifesavers when Google Maps fails you for public transport. Rome2Rio shows creative route combinations you might not think of, while Moovit often has bus schedules that Google doesn’t. We used Moovit in Ouro Preto, Brazil when Google showed no public transport at all. Turned out there were buses running, and Moovit had all the correct schedules.
Travelspend is a very helpful app when traveling on a budget, for example if you’ve quit your job to travel. I actually used to track my travel spendings with an excel sheet when I left for South America, but you can track your spendings much easier with this app, or similar ones.
Facebook might seem outdated, but the travel groups are gold for real-time information. There is one for Argentina for example, where people are constantly talking about the money-situation. Since exchanges for different payment methods change rapidly, it’s very useful to get current and updated information from.