We travel more and live more mobile lives than ever before. I have been traveling for a long time and I always have my iPhone with me, which allows me to easily plan all my trips without needing another device. There is an app that will solve almost every problem you may encounter while traveling. During my travels, I have had plenty of opportunities to try out many of the smartphone apps that make my travels easier.
To be honest, I find that many apps that claim to solve a problem, especially when it comes to travel, are actually useless or impractical to use. That’s why I tried to be very selective about the apps I listed in this blog post. I also added apps that I think you will like, even though I use them less, and that offer different solutions. If you write the apps you use and recommend in the comments section at the end of the page, you can give readers an idea.
travel apps
Thanks to travel apps, we can easily do our jobs from wherever we are, whether we are in heavy traffic, on the subway or on the bus. While traveling on the Bangkok-Malaysia night train, I can make hotel reservations for Langkawi Island , which I have never seen before , mark places to visit, plan where to eat and more. I can even make reservations for activities I can do.
While sitting in a shopping mall café in Singapore, I can catch the opportunity of a cheap flight ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Tehran , buy a cheap ticket and evaluate the campaigns. Again, without doing any research, I went to Sandakan, Borneo, and for information about what to do, what to eat and where to stay, all I had to do was pick up my smartphone or tablet.
Travel applications, which make your life much easier, provide you with the opportunity to plan and manage your trip not only for last minute planning, but also anytime, anywhere. It also helps you save money. I have brought together all the applications you should have on your phone to find your dream holiday, research about activities in the destination, and find cheap flight tickets .
In the list of travel apps below, I have listed the best travel apps that offer opportunities that will contribute to your budget and help you make your travels more effective and easier. Some of them may not be very functional or may be paid. Although everyone has their own list of ‘best travel apps’, I found the following apps useful.
BEST TRAVEL APPS
CONTENTS GUIDE ▽ hide
BEST TRAVEL APPS
Travel Planning Apps
Travel Wayfinding Apps
Flight Ticket Purchase Applications
Hotel Finding Applications
Travel Planning Apps
● GOOGLE TRANSLATE ★– One of the best apps that every traveler should have on their smartphone. Supporting 103 languages, the Google Translate app also offers offline support in 52 languages. It is so useful that it will instantly eliminate the excuses of those who say they don’t know a foreign language and are afraid to travel. It gains extraordinary features with each new update.
In short, you write in Turkish and it will give you the answer in the language you want. You speak in Turkish and it will say and write the answer in English. Hold it over a text whose language you don’t understand and it will show you the translation on the screen simultaneously. You can directly translate voice conversations, handwritings and texts in photos into different languages, save the translations you like and transfer the translations to the computer using the synchronization feature between devices.
● TRIPADVISOR ★– I think there is no one who does not know this application. The application of TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, also serves as a guide for places to visit and activities to do in the destination. It is an application that I use as a source other than blogs and Google Maps to get information about places to visit and see in the cities I will visit.
When I type the city I want to go to in the search box of the application, it guides me on the places I need to see. I get up-to-date information and ideas by reading other users’ comments about places to visit. The same method applies to finding the best hotels and venues in the city.
● CURRENCY CONVERTER CALCULATOR ★– It is one of the applications I use most frequently while traveling, on the home page of my smartphone. You can choose the currency of the countries you will visit and convert to other currencies. The app uses average market exchange rates. The interface is so easy to use that I use it instead of a calculator.
● AWESOME NOTE 2 ★– A very useful application for those who take notes while traveling. It is useful not only for traveling, but also for everything from keeping a diary to a to-do list in business and daily life. You can keep notes with photos of what you do, and I also record things I need to write down somewhere urgently. You can also synchronize these with Google Docs or Evernote.
You can open a title for your travel plan and save notes about places to visit, important points to see, what to eat at which restaurant and transportation to the application. I use it the most to take notes while preparing a guide for my blog. I also note down the expenses I make on every trip, and I did this even before I became a blogger.
● ACCUWEATHER – A successful travel application that shares the weather conditions of the places you will go with you with in-depth information. You can get information about the temperature, humidity, ultraviolet ray index, sunset and sunrise of the cities. Detailed weather forecasts offer you daily and monthly forecasts updated every 15 minutes.
Type the city you are going to in the search box, prepare your suitcase according to the information you receive, dress according to the destination, plan your activities. Honestly, the iPhone Weather app is enough for me. But when planning a trip for a longer period, I use this app to get information about what the weather will be like at the destination on the date you plan to go.
Travel Wayfinding Apps
● GOOGLE MAPS ★– An application that everyone knows best and uses frequently, and should be your hand and foot. A gem that provides information on many subjects, from choosing a route, planning a route, finding directions, getting information about transportation, and information about nearby ATMs to cafes and restaurants. An application that you should learn/use every feature of, no matter what.
The biggest advantage of the application is that it allows you to save maps for offline use. To do this, log in to your Google account, open the Google Maps application, view the region you want, and use the ‘save map offline’ option from the menu icon on the top right.
- ENUYGUN ★– Even though it is Turkey’s best-known flight ticket site, it is an application that makes a difference with the other services it offers. While you can buy flight tickets, the airport also offers utransfer car arrangement or car rental options. If you wish, you can even buy a bus ticket. You can also book your hotel through the application. In addition to all these services, it also includes travel guides that provide extensive information about the places to visit in your destination.
As you can see, there is nothing! The application also includes 24/7 live support, travel insurance consultancy, instant online ticket cancellation and change opportunities. Since it is not just a flight ticket application but a comprehensive travel application, I included it in the travel planning list. It should be on your phone as one of the most comprehensive and powerful travel applications released in our country.
● UBER ★– One of the most comfortable and economical ways to go from one place to another by car. It was a life-saving transportation option for me during my South Africa trip. You call a car to your location with the Uber application, and the vehicle takes you to the place you marked on the map. You can also see the route you will take and the fee you will pay on the screen in advance.
● OMIO ★– It was the transportation application I used on my last trip to Italy. I bought all train and bus tickets within Europe with this application. The interface is easy to use, search and find tickets. You choose your location and the destination you want to go to. It allows you to buy the ticket online that will take you there.
● FLIXBUS ★– A German app operating in Europe and the US that provides intercity bus travel services. It is a budget-friendly bus travel company that connects cities and towns in Europe. I use it for intercity transportation within Europe. Their app is very easy to use.
Don’t expect a spotless bus that is at the stop on time, with super comfortable seats. But if you buy your tickets early, you can get from one place to another in Europe very cheaply. The buses also have toilets and electrical outlets. An alternative to traveling by car, plane or train.
● ROME2RIO – Discover how to get anywhere by plane, train, bus, ship or car. A door-to-door travel search engine that shows you how long it will take to get there, prices and even carbon emissions. Type in where you want to go and see transportation alternatives.
● CITYMAPS2GO – An app that allows you to find the best places in your location, see your friends’ recommendations and create your own list of places you’ve been to. You can see where you are and find the address you’re looking for even if you don’t have an internet connection. When you download all the information about the cities you will visit to your phone, you will have a comprehensive guide about places to visit, museums, entertainment venues, cafes and restaurants at your fingertips.
Malta
Flight Ticket Purchase Applications
● TURNA ★– One of the most successful online flight ticket platforms in Turkey. It sells tickets of thousands of airlines from all over the world at the most affordable prices. Comparing prices and finding the cheapest deals helped me a lot to save time and money. You can spend these points whenever you want on the platform that gives Turna Points to every member who buys a ticket. It is also possible to collect points from the shopping of users who become members through your invitation.
● SKYSCANNER ★– It lists the lowest ticket prices in seconds with its iPhone and Android application, and helps you find the cheapest ticket by comparing more than 1000 airlines. Otherwise, going to the pages of individual airlines or hotels, researching and comparing prices is something that requires a lot of patience and time. It also helped me a lot in planning my travels by plane.
● PEGASUS ★– The airline application that I have used 52 times so far and flown to 13 different destinations. It has the youngest fleet in Turkey. It is an airline company that flies to 125 destinations in 47 countries, 36 of which are domestic and 89 of which are international. It brought the low-cost logic to our country, created a competitive environment and allowed other airlines to enter the market and lower prices.
That is why it has a special place in my heart. Although there are many who criticize the company for what it does not promise and have expectations, it is a must to have an application on your smartphone as an airline company that has introduced our people to flying today. Don’t miss the big discount days organized several times a year.
● KIWI – One of the best airline ticket applications where you can book cheap flights. Whenever I am curious about flights, prices, and connections, the first thing I do is open the Kiwi application to get an idea. Of course, it comes with extra features that improve the research and reservation process.
Kiwi is an online travel agency. It can arrange tickets, finalize reservations on its own website, and if you encounter a problem, it offers customer service support. While Skyscanner is a search engine, Kiwi both finds the cheapest ticket and makes the sale itself. All the rules of the airline you bought the ticket from apply, but it also provides its own guarantee.
The biggest difference from other search engines is that it calculates connections between very different airlines, other than the same airline or partner airlines, and presents you with the absolute cheapest option. Of course, this is perfect for travelers with low budgets and who don’t care about the time between connections.
● eDREAMS – One of the largest online travel agencies in Europe. It offers flight tickets for more than 60 thousand different routes on more than 100 airlines, and more than 150 thousand hotel options in 30 thousand locations around the world. The company, which also offers car rental options, also has an office in Turkey. It scans the timetables of all airlines flying to the destination and ranks them according to price alternatives.
Hotel Finding Applications
● BOOKING ★– One of the world’s largest and best travel apps. It allows you to find the most suitable options among more than 800 thousand hotels and 20 million rooms in the world. Its interface is great and very easy to use. If you have defined your credit card in advance, you can make transactions very quickly. The travel app I use the most during my travels.
● AIRBNB ★– One of the most iconic initiatives in the world created by the sharing economy, Airbnb is an application that has fundamentally changed travel habits. With Airbnb, which has more than 600 thousand accommodation options in more than 34 thousand cities, you can rent a room or the entire house of a local in the country you are visiting. Become a member, seriously complete your profile. You also have the opportunity to earn extra income by renting out your own house or a room for a day.
● COUCHSURFING ★– It offers accommodation in people’s homes in the countries and cities you travel to. I don’t use it as often as I used to. I shared my detailed experiences in my article What is Couchsurfing? I definitely recommend everyone to try it at least once. Even if you are not traveling, you can host local and foreign guests at your home by signing up to the system yourself.
● HOSTEL WORLD – The best hostel application that helps me reduce my accommodation costs during my travels. An application where you can find affordable hostels around the world. I have made my hostel reservations through this application many times. More affordable hostels and guest houses than hotels are listed in the application.
An indispensable app for low-budget backpackers. While reviewing the listed hostels, I take into account the scores given by people who have stayed in the hostel before and the evaluation comments written about the hostel. If you still don’t know what a hostel is , take 5 minutes to find out. You will not regret.
● TRIVAGO – The world’s largest hotel search engine, it is possible to compare the prices of more than 600 thousand hotels through more than 160 booking sites such as Lastminute.com, Expedia and Hotels.com. Many filters such as price, number of stars, distance and features can be applied. User reviews, hotel photos and an integrated map view make it easy to choose.
Technology-product tablets or smartphones not only make our lives easier, but also our travels. Hundreds of new travel applications are added to old ones every year, making travel easier and more practical. Also, if you have a smartphone in your pocket, it means you are not dependent on the computer. You can make travel plans whenever and wherever you want.
What are your best practices that you use?
