The 25 Best Travel Apps

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These travel applications will make your travels even better by providing useful features to use for booking, making an itinerary, and even camera optimization. So pull out the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and get to downloading.

1. AroundMe
See what’s near you. Choose from anything ranging from a hotel to parking Cost: Free.

2. Kayak
Search for flights, hotels and car rentals all in one place. It’s Apple’s most popular travel iPhone app. Make a packing list, convert currency, track your flight and check out cool attractions. Cost: Free.

3. FlightAware
Provide your airline and flight number and FlightAware will trach your flight. Cost: Free.

4. Instagram
If you haven’t heard of this one then you’ve probably been living under a rock the past few years. Nevertheless, this app is much easier to figure out than Photoshop, as Instagram is a simplistic photo editing app that allows you to add beautiful filtered effects to your images and post them for all your friends to see. Facebook recently acquired Instagram for 1 billion, so we expect for it to get even bigger over the next few years. Cost: Free.

Be sure to follow me on Instagram (@uscitytraveler), here’s a few of my most recent pictures with filtered effects:

5. Photosynth
This app stitches your photos together to create panoramic pictures that you can send to family and friends. Cost: Free.

6. iTip
Those of you that dislike math as much as I do will love the simplicity of iTip, where you can easily calculate what tip to leave at a restaurant. Cost: Free.

7. Hotel Tonight
Get discounted rates on last minute hotel bookings in major cities with this incredible app. Cost: Free.

8. Jetsetter
This inspiring, invitation only provides high quality photography of a wide variety of destinations. You can get discounts up to 50% off your favorite hotels.  Cost: Free.

9. TripIt 
Tired of printing and carrying around all of those paper itineraries? This app links to your email inbox and picks up every confirmation number (for a flight, hotel, or dinner reservation) that comes to your inbox. Cost: Free.

10. TripAdvisor
You can instantly see reviews written by fellow travelers, while you are on the go. Get inspired. You can even see what is near you or book your flights from their app. Cost: Free.

11. Postagram
Tired of buying those cheap, out of style post cards from your favorite destinations? Then you should take a photo with the Postagram app and send your own postcard to family and friends. Just provide your address and they will print and send your postcard for just 99 cents. Cost: Free to download app but it costs 99 cents to send a postcard.

12. Urbanspoon
See what’s near you and discover the hottest local dining joints. Cost: Free.

13. GasBuddy
Stop letting gas stations rip you off just because they are in a prime location. Tourist can visit GasBuddy to see which gas station near them has the cheapest gas. Cost: Free.

14. Frommer’s Travel Tools
This app comes with a tip calculator, time translator, flashlight, money converter, a packing list, postcards and even trivia games. Cost: Free.

15. TouristEye
Tourist Eye learns from you and your friends fearing a trip planner, transport maps, personalized recommendations, trip journal, maps, offline, and information for over 10,000 destinations. Cost: free.

16. Lonely Planet
Those of you looking to purchase a guidebook from a mojor city will find this app very useful. Cost: Free but guidebooks cost.

17. Wi-Fi Finder
Find a location near you that offers wi-fi. Cost: free.

18. Hipmunk
This app compiles flight and hotel information, including layovers and pricing, from top travel sites to save vacationers the hassle of hopping all over the web to compare rates and deals. Travelers can sort to get the best comparison of flight or hotel price, hotel location, number of stopovers, etc., which makes looking for a flight or a place to sleep practically painless. Cost: free.

19. Skyscanner
This app aggregates fares from airlines and all the well-known travel sites to get users the absolute best deal on plane fares. Skyscanner also does the service of pinning a search to a phone’s start screen and updating price fluctuations. Hotel and rental car comparisons are also aggregated. Cost: free.

20. Foodspotting
This app makes finding favorite dishes or new flavors while traveling easier than ever. It’s like Yelp but incredibly specific. Travelers can fly into any major city, and some smaller ones, too, and do a search for whatever they’re craving. Cost: free.
Duolingo

21. Duolingo
Duolingo helps you learn a new language easily and on the go. Duo Lingo won iPhone App of the Year in 2013 by Apple. Written lessons and games help users master a new language as they progress through Spanish, French, German, Brazilian, Portuguese or Italian units. Over sixteen million people use Duo Lingo because it rocks. Cost: free.

22. GateGuru
GateGuru catalogues airport amenities making any flyer’s needs easily findable. Last-minute gifts are no longer a challenge. This app also warns flyers if there are delays and keeps itineraries updated and organized. GateGuru is helpful with rental cars as well. Cost: free.

23. HopStop
HopStop provides public transportation information in the world’s biggest and busiest cities. Subways are no longer unintelligible underground mazes for the uninitiated tourist. The app figures travel times, too, making it easy to determine whether it’s best to take a train, bus or cab to a destination. Cost: free.

24. Onavo
This app helps reduce the amount of data required to perform regular tasks, like sending photos or browsing the web on a phone. For those without computer access abroad and relying heavily on their phones for web purposes, Onavo will save you big. Cost: free.

25. Uber
Connecting riders with drivers in 50 cities in 26 countries, Uber acts as a great alternative to flagging cabs and public transportation. All of Uber’s drivers are certified and users can request a ride in real time, or make a reservation in advance. Cost: free.

 

BONUS: 8 Other Must-Have Apps

These are my other favorite apps that aren’t necessarily travel related.

1. Pandora
This is my favorite place to listen to music when I am on the go or even at home (I’m actually listening to it right now!). Pandora allows you to pick a radio station based on nearly any artist or music genre, with a minimal amount of ads. If you’re tired of paying for iTunes then you will love this app! Cost: Free

2. Evernote
Sure, you can take notes in the notes app that comes with your devide but I prefer Evernote because it allows you take notes on any device and view them on any device too, regardless of which device it was written on. It’s great for keeping all of your travel information in one place, such as your iPhone, which you take everywhere, so you will never forget to bring your notes or itinerary. Cost: Free

3. Facebook
Tell all of your friends what a good time you’re having, share photos, videos or reviews of the sights your seeing. Cost: Free

4. Twitter
Tweet everyone a picture of your current location and tell them what you’re up to straight from the Twitter app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

5. Words With Friends
Ever get bored on the go? You need Words With Friends, a fun little game you can play with your friends. Beware: it’s very addicting! Cost: Free

6. Zillow
Do you ever happen to go through a neighborhood on the go and see a house you’d love to live in? Or a mansion that you’d like to be nosy about and see what it’s worth? Zillow is the app for you because it allows you to see home estimated values for free. Don’t forget to cheack out the estimated value of your frinds homes.  Cost: Free

7. Amazon Price Check
Find a product in a store, scan it with your iPhone, and then look on Amazon to see if you can get the product cheaper online. Cost: Free

8. Flashlight
It can be very convenient to have a flashlight app on your phone (note: there is a flashlight within the Frommers app), especially when the power goes out. Cost: Free

 

Thanks for reading. Hopefully you just found some great new apps, I’m working on launching a US City Traveler app but it may be a while before I decide to launch it. So what are your favorite apps? Did I leave any important apps off? I’d love to hear from you!

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Taylor Goldblatt

After years of research, travel, and dreams, I have created this website for people like you who want to experience the things that only America can offer. My passion is to explore and share America's greatest destinations and attractions. Follow me on Twitter @USCityTraveler for additional travel tips and ideas.

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