Planning your trip by app

Now the holiday season is upon us, we’re all thinking of summer holidays, right? Or maybe a weekend away or an upcoming business trip. Or maybe your kids are planning to interrail in Europe during the summer, or maybe they’re even off to far-flung places on a gap year.

Technology can really help with planning a trip so I thought I’d have a look at what apps are available right now.

Apps to plan your mode of transport:

Skyscanner (free on iOS and Android): This app is great for finding the best flight deals.

Rome2Rio (free on iOS and Android): This app’s superpower is to make cross-country travel easy by showing all available travel options not only within and but also across various countries. It also sells tickets for some routes and has a wealth of other useful information.

Eurail/Interrail (free on iOS and Android): The must-have app for interrail travel across Europe as it shows more cross-country connections than other apps and websites. You can search for free but you’ll need an Eurail/Interrail pass to book your tickets on here.

12Go (free on iOS and Android): If you’re off to Asia, this app will be very useful to book flights, trains, buses and ferries. According to reports, iPhone users may find the website more useful than the app.

FlixBus (free): If you’re on a budget, taking a Flixbus across the UK and Europe may be your thing. There are some routes in the US too and look out for the app’s expansion into the rest of the world this year. (Flixbus used to be Megabus in the UK.)

Roadtrippers (free on iOS and Android): If you’re off on a road trip in the US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, this app lets you plan the route, add rest and refuelling stops, and points out places of interest like sights, shops and restaurants too.

Next you’ll need to book accommodation, however, it’s always best to find out the price from the hotel as well as it can be cheaper to book directly:

CozyCozy (free on iOS and Android): Very helpfully, this app searches all accommodation options, including AirBnB and VRBO, so you don’t have to search separately and can compare easily. It also features a search for unusual places if you fancy staying somewhere more exciting than just a hotel.

Booking.com (free): This app doesn’t just include hotels but also hostels and apartments. You may get a better price on the app than the website and you can collect ‘genius benefits’ such as late checkouts and upgrades after booking a certain number of nights.

You may want to book sights and attractions ahead of your trip as some can get busy in the main season. When we visited Barcelona last July, I booked the main attractions weeks before we left. Many of them, like the Sagrada Familia, have their own apps or it’s cheapest to book directly on their website:

Viator (free): Probably the best-known app for booking tours, activities and excursions.

GetYourGuide (free): The app lets you buy tickets for attractions and tours and collects the tickets too, without the need to print them.

TourRadar (free): This app allows you to book multi-day tours in advance, whether you’re travelling alone or in a group. It lists small as well as big tour operators.

With your research and planning done, you can organise your trip with these apps:

Tripit (free): Send all your flight, hotel, rental car and other confirmation emails to the app and it will create a master itinerary for you. The paid version even sends you alternatives if anything on your itinerary gets cancelled.

Packpoint (free on iOS and Android): Take the stress out of packing by letting this app create a packing list for you. It considers your travel dates, destination, activities and the local weather to make sure you don’t forget anything.

And if you’ve got time, you can learn some of the native language of your destination:

Duolingo: Making language learning easy, this app uses a gamified approach. Some of the phrases may be less useful though (‘The bear eats the banana.’)

Babble: A more structured approach to learning the language with a focus on speaking and listening.

GoogleTranslate: You can just learn a few useful phrases before you go, and make sure you have this downloaded before your trip to avoid becoming lost in translation.

These are just a selection of the available apps and I’m not recommending any. Happy planning! Next week, I’ll have a look at the apps that come in useful on a trip.

*The following blogs have helped with collating the information above, all accessed on 11/6/25:

https://www.danflyingsolo.com/best-apps-for-travel/

https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/best-new-travel-apps

https://pievat.com/blog/the-15-best-travel-apps-to-enhance-your-journey