Essential travel apps and tools you really need on the road

On the road your phone is your Swiss army knife. With the right apps you navigate effortlessly, find transport, convert easily and keep your whole trip organised. But you don't need to fill your screen. A handful of good tools is enough.

Travel apps you really need

For almost every trip it comes down to the same categories: navigation, transport, money and planning. If you sort those four well, you're prepared for most situations. Everything on top of that is a nice bonus, not a necessity.

What matters is that you install and try the apps before you leave. Learning to use an app while standing lost at a station is not a pleasant moment.

Navigate and find offline

A good maps app is indispensable. The option to save maps offline is handy, so you find your way even without internet. Prepare the areas you're going to before you leave.

• Save offline maps of your destinations.
• Mark your stay, stations and sights in advance.
• Use a translation app with an offline language pack for on the road.
• Set up an app for local public transport per city.

Transport and tickets

For trains, buses and flights there are handy apps that track travel times, delays and platforms live. That way you see straight away whether your connection is still feasible. Preferably keep your tickets offline too, because a QR code that won't load doesn't help you at the check.

Travelling in the city, a local transport app is worth gold. It often shows which line you need and how to buy a ticket, something that's sometimes tricky at a machine in a foreign language.

Money and budget

A simple currency app stops you overpaying or getting muddled with exchange rates. Many people also loosely track their spending, even if just in a note. That way you know at the end of the trip where your money went and keep a grip on your budget.

Also watch the costs of paying and withdrawing money abroad. A card with favourable terms can easily save you a tidy sum on the road.

Keep everything together

The biggest annoyance on the road is fragmentation. Your flight is in one email, your hotel in another, your train ticket somewhere else again. The moment you need something quickly, you're searching.

The solution isn't yet another separate app, but one place where your trip comes together. Bring your bookings, addresses and daily schedule together, then you only have to look in one place on the road.

With a travel planner like Zuvy you keep exactly that overview: your route, bookings and times clearly in one place, so your phone helps you instead of distracting you.