THE MOST USEFUL SITES AND APPLICATIONS THAT WILL HELP YOU PLANNING YOUR TRAVELS
Travel apps improve travel planning and help travelers save time and money. I have put together a list of the most useful applications and websites, which can be useful to a traveler. Whether it's about organizing a vacation, or whether it's about finding the best restaurants, or booking accommodations at the last minute, I'm sure it's worth taking a look at them and deciding if they're useful for you or not. Many of them are probably known to you, and some you will just find out about.
I thought of putting them in categories, depending on what each site/application offers. The list is long, so if you want to have this information at hand, for when you need it, save this article on Pinterest (Pin the image below).
CELE MAI FOLOSITOARE APLICATII PENTRU CALATORII:
SEARCHING FOR THE BEST PRICE FOR AIRLINE TICKETS AND FLIGHT OPTIONS:
To search for the best prices, but also flight connections for certain segments:
Google Flights - website to compare flights to certain destinations;
Skyscanner- application and website, where you can compare prices for flights, hotels, car rentals. Reservations can be made directly from the Skyscanner website, which sends you directly to the website that posted the offer;
Hopper - mobile application; prices can be compared both for flights and for hotels or car rentals;
Kayak - application and website; prices can be compared both for flights and for hotels or car rentals;
Expedia- application and website; you can compare prices for flights and hotels or car rentals. Also, from this site, you can buy local excursions and activities, or even cruises;
Momondo - application and website; prices can be compared for flights and for hotels or car rentals;
I recommend that you buy the plane tickets directly from the website of the flight operators, not from third-party websites. In this way, it is easier to manage the various problems that may arise (especially those related to refunds, in case of flight cancellation) and at the same time you avoid paying some commissions. You can use search engines, like the ones above, just to see prices and compare offers, then go directly to the company's website and buy the ticket there. Of the ones presented above, only Skyscanner and Google Flights take you directly to the airline website to buy the flight, the rest either sell the flight themselves or send you to resellers, such as Kiwi, Booking, etc.
LOCAL TRANSPORT
Free Now- taxi application, valid in 9 European countries, such as: UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, Spain, Greece, France, Austria and Italy. Also, with this application you can book two-wheeled vehicles, such as e-scooter or e-bike;
Taxi.eu - taxi application for the countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Turkey and Serbia;
Ecabs - taxi application for Malta;
Omio - application for train, bus, plane and ferry tickets, valid for Europe, USA and Canada. Here you can compare ticket prices from several companies, for certain routes;
Trainline - application for buying train tickets in 45 countries in Europe. I want to mention: train tickets must be bought a few weeks in advance to find them at the best prices;
NAVIGATION
Maps.me - sat. nav application, which can be used offline;
Moovit - application to compare public transport options between destinations;
Rome2rio - website that compares public transport options between destinations;
Citymaper - application to compare public transport options between destinations;
Google Maps, one of the most used applications, very useful for any type of travel. For the public transport option, don't forget to select the departure time to get the best results, otherwise it will offer you the options from the time you are looking for;
ORGANIZING HOLIDAYS AND LOCAL EXCURSIONS:
Visit a city - application with routing and activities from 3000 destinations. You can access itineraries for free, buy various trips and activities, or entrance tickets to tourist attractions;
Get your guide - app and website where you can book activities and excursions from certain destinations, transfers to the airport, or various passes for public transport. I recommend this site for when you choose to not rent a car and want to visit remote areas, but you don't want to stress yourself with public transport. The best part is that you can read reviews before buying a particular activity;
Viator- application and website where you can book activities and excursions from certain destinations;
Pinterest- search engine with travel blogs (and not only). It is the ideal application for planning a vacation on your own and to "get rid" of the ads that appear in the first results of Google searches;
ACCOMODATION UNITS:
Booking - application and website, both for hotels and for other types of accommodation; I personally use it most often;
Airbnb - website application for apartments or houses, less for hotels;
Hotel Tonight - application and website for last-minute reservations;
Hostel World - application for finding offers at hostels all over the world;
+ Kayak, Hopper, Expedia, Agoda, Skyscanner, Momondo (also mentioned above, at searching for flights);
RENTING A CAR
Rentalcars com - application and website. It is a search engine for car offers;
Economy car rentals - website, search engine for car offers;
+ Momondo, Kayak, Expedia, Booking, Skyscanner (mentioned above)
I talked more about renting a car in this article, at the end of which you can also find the sites where you can compare the offers to find the best price.
MONEY EXCHANGE AND LOCAL CURRENCIES:
Revolut, which is more than a simple application, it is an online bank. Payments can be made abroad without commission;
Valuta EX, currency converter, is a currency converter type application.
RESTAURANTS
The fork - application and website for restaurant reservations;
Toogoodtogo - application through which you can order very cheap food in certain locations. The purpose of the application is to help restaurants sell food that is about to expire, thus avoiding food waste;
Find me gluten free - application for restaurants that have gluten-free dishes on the menu;
Google - local guide - for finding the best restaurants, based on reviews left by customers;
Note: Lately, Trip Advisor, the most popular website, is no longer as useful in finding the best restaurants, so I don't recommend it. One of the big problems of this application is the fact that it cannot recommend restaurants only from the selected location, so that, after long searches and after choosing the restaurant, you realize that it is a few hours away from the chosen location. Let's hope that it is a passing problem and they will fix it soon.
OTHER USEFUL APPS AND WEBSITES:
Google translate - application and website, ideal for translating conversations, messages, or labels, by directly scanning the text. It can also be used for verbal translation;
Toilet finder - application to find the nearest toilet. It can be used both for long roads and for cities;
My kind of cruise - application and website to search for offers on cruise packages, both in Europe and in the Americas;
Rick Steves audio Europe - application with audio guide for the most important tourist attractions in Europe. Various tourist packages or tours can be purchased from here;
Lounge Buddy - application for airports, more precisely for the lounges available in the airports. It is ideal for people who have connecting flights and want to enjoy more facilities. This application helps both to reserve a seat in the lounge and to see what it offers;
Packr - application that makes a list of the things you might need on your vacation. The estimate is made according to the itinerary and is ideal, especially if you have small baggage;
Been - somewhat less useful application in travel, I would say, but which still helps with something. More specifically, it helps you put together all the places you've visited. It is a map on which the visited destinations can be ticked;
This is the short list of the most important and some of the most useful travel apps. Obviously, there are hundreds, or even thousands, of websites and applications that are related to travel, but not all of them deserve our attention, many of them being useless. I'm curious, what applications do you use? Leave the answer in the comments, it might help someone.
Read also about other things that can make a trip easier: how to travel on a low budget, how to take good photos while traveling, how to prepare for a long plane flight, or about destinations that can inspire you in future vacations: Inverness , Scotland, Oslo or Paris.
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