19 of the best holiday apps you need right now!

Whilst many smartphones have great cameras allowing you to take photos of your travels, the use of phones is now much broader. Your phones application store is home to many of the best holiday apps out there that can help in all of your adventures.

These apps can impact your whole travel experience. We’ve created a list of all the best holiday apps that you need on your phones. They range from ones that help you at the airport, during a flight and also when you explore your destination!

Holiday Planning Apps

#1 Hopper

Hopper is great! It allows travellers to find the cheapest flights possible. This is great if your dates are flexible and are looking to save some cash. Once you put in your home city and destination, Hooper shows you a calendar of the coming year with dates colour-coded to reflect historical price averages.

#2 Service

Service will help you save money for your travels – automatically! For example, if your flight is delayed the app will recognise this, inform you about the delay and also file for compensation! Think of it as your own personal travel butler that takes care of everything. Also, it will update you in case there are any price changes that can save you money. An example? Say the price of your accommodation had reduced, it would go about rebooking it for you at the cheaper rate. Now that’s handy!

#3 FlightAware

The FlightAware app allows you to track flights online to check on delays, cancellations and gate changes. This app is especially helpful if you have a tight connection or when picking friends and family up at the airport. You can track their flight and see updated landing times or delays.

#4 Roadtrippers

Perfect for organizing that epic road trip you’ve always dreamed of! Roadtrippers will be able to plan out the best driving route and also shows you the best activities along the way. You can find some really cool off-the-beaten-path roadside attractions as well as cool restaurants and can’t-miss landmarks you can bookmark.

#5 PackPoint

Imagine all the stress of packing gone. Well introducing PackPoint, the app shows you what to bring based on the length of your trip, the weather in your destination and the activities you’re planning along the way. It even allows you to account for washing your clothes and wearing them multiple times. We’ve also created a blog on How to travel with only a backpack!

Holiday Apps for the Airport

#6 Loungebuddy

Loungebuddy is a great app that helps you find & pay for airport lounges around the world. Also, if you find a lower price for the lounge, the app will refund you the difference.

#7 Grab

Searching an airport for food isn’t fun. With Grab, you can easily see restaurants at the airport. You can simply search for the item and order it from the app and walk right up to grab it and go. No waiting in a queue, no trying to weave in and out of people to get your food. It’s all done.

In Flight Holiday Apps

#8 Timeshifter

Want to cure your jetlag? Timeshifter is perfect actually starts helping you to avoid jet lag long before your flight takes off. It also suggestions on what to do during the flight and post-flight. The app uses a heavy dose of science to provide personalized recommendations for each traveller whilst considering your age, gender and normal sleep patterns — as well as specifics about your trip and travel plans. Timeshifter maps out when you should avoid or seek light, take a nap or stay awake. It even tells you if you should consider supplementing with melatonin or caffeine.

#9 Netflix

OK, so Netflix isn’t really a travel app, but it can be a lifesaver during a long flight on an aircraft without seatback inflight entertainment, or at the airport during an unexpected flight delay or boring layover. If you have a Netflix account, the app allows you to download your favourite shows onto your device to watch offline. Just make sure to download your shows while connected to Wi-Fi before flying and check them again pre-flight to make sure they haven’t expired (you can usually renew any expired downloads but you must be connected to Wi-Fi or data to do so).

#10 Sky Guru

SkyGuru is an app actually designed by pilots to help people who are not comfortable with flying. It provides weather and turbulence forecasts for the route you’re flying. And whilst there is nothing really you can do it does eliminate the element of shock and allows you to be mentally prepared.

Holiday Apps to help you get around

#11 TripLingo

This app will help you sound like a local and help you adapt to a new culture. You can learn essential phrases, instantly translate your voice or connect to a live translator, get a crash course on the local culture and so much more. Perfect to avoid accidentally offending someone. Speaking about mistakes, have you seen our blog on the WORST mistakes to make when planning a holiday?

#12 GlobeTips

In some countries, if you get this wrong it not only can look bad but can sometimes get you in trouble. The app will detect the country you are in automatically, and help you split the bill with your companions, rounds up calculation results, excludes sales tax, and provides complete tipping guidance based on the local culture and traditions.

#13 Tricount

Travelling in a group can be fun but can also be quite hard to organise, especially when it comes to finances. At the end of the trip, you’re spending a few days working out who owes who. Tricount calculates shared costs and splits bills so you don’t have to think twice about who owes what. Enter your trip and currency and invite your travel mates to join your trip. Each time someone pays for something, you enter the amount in Tricount and the app splits everything evenly.

#14 Google Translate

The Google Translate app is amazing. You can translate anything into 103 languages by typing and access nearly 60 languages offline. You can also use the camera translation function where you simply take a picture of a sign in a different language and the app will translate it!

Holiday Apps to meet people

#15 Meetup

Meetup is an app designed for interacting with locals and other travellers who you share mutual interests with. Whether you’re travelling or at home, take what you love and do more of it with Meetup. The app shows you groups that are formed around particular interests in the city you are in and you can join these groups to get updates on particular events you may want to participate in.

#16 TheFork

TheFork is one of the most useful apps for making restaurant reservations in Europe. Browse different restaurants by category and make reservations. It is available in over 4,000 cities within 11 countries. The added benefit is that with this app you can get great discounts. In some instances, you can get 50% off!

Holiday Safety Apps

#17 TripWhistle

This is a great app to keep you safe in another country. The app maps your location and easily allows you to text and call emergency services without remembering the number.

#18 Sitata

Sitata monitors the world for safety threats, disease outbreaks, violent protests and anything else that might be dangerous for your trip. It ranks locations based on safety ratings and highlights regions with increased levels of risk. If something dangerous occurs while you’re travelling, the app will send an alert to your phone to keep you updated.

#19 NordVPN

NordVPN a Virtual Private Network (VPN) when travelling abroad is necessary if you want to stay safe when using the internet, especially if you’re using an overseas public Wi-Fi spot. A VPN takes your internet traffic and reroutes it through an independent server so whatever you do online stays hidden from anyone trying to access your browsing data via your I.P. address.