No one paid for this list. These are the apps people actually use before, during and after a trip — including Wayra, which is ours. We slotted it into its own category, not first place, no rigging the ranking.
How we chose (the honest criteria)
The list runs through three simple filters. One: each app solves a specific problem that comes up in almost every trip. Two: it's available on iOS and Android, in English, without a subscription for the basics. Three: we'd use it even if we weren't writing this list.
The order isn't "best to worst" — it's by phase of the trip: planning, on the road, in a group, afterwards. Some apps span more than one phase; we put them where they earn their keep.
Skyscanner
The most reliable airline aggregator. You search a destination, it shows you every option across every airline, layovers and direct. The features that actually earn their keep: "whole month" (a calendar of the cheapest days) and "anywhere" (you give it your date and origin, it lists the cheapest destinations in the world). The second one surfaces weekends you'd never have thought of.
Booking.com
The de facto global standard for hotels and apartments. The reason: free cancellation on 80% of bookings, which lets you "block" accommodation in a first draft of the plan and swap it when things firm up. Reviews are plentiful (millions per hotel) and reasonably trustworthy if you filter by "travellers like you".
Rome2Rio
The app that answers "how do I get from A to B?" when A and B are any two cities on Earth. It shows every combination — flight, train, bus, ferry, shared taxi — with price and approximate duration. It's the tool for quickly comparing whether you should take the Eurostar, fly, or drive between, say, London and Paris.
Wayra (this one is ours)
Wayra builds a full itinerary from a single text prompt. You type "7 days in Japan for 2 people, mid-range budget" and it returns a day-by-day plan with neighbourhoods, real restaurants and a realistic budget. You modify it by chatting, share it with your group via a link (no accounts for them), and the expense splitting is automatic. Honestly, it's what we used to cobble together with TripIt + Splitwise + Notion — now in one place.
The trick with travel apps isn't owning the best one in each category. It's knowing which app belongs in which moment of the trip.
Google Maps
Non-negotiable. It covers three uses a day on any trip: how to get there on foot or by public transport, which restaurants nearby have decent reviews, what their hours are. The most underused feature: download offline maps before you leave. It carries you through the whole day without mobile data abroad.
Citymapper
For cities with complex metro systems (London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona), Citymapper beats Google Maps on one thing: it tells you which carriage door to stand at so the exit at your transfer is closest. It also tells you when a bike or e-scooter would beat the metro for that specific journey.
Google Translate
The underrated feature is the live camera: point at a menu in Japanese, Arabic or Cyrillic, and the text translates over the screen in real time. Equally useful for signs, product labels, receipts. Voice translation works reasonably well for short conversations.
XE Currency
Currency converter with the mid-market rate, refreshed every minute. Useful for sanity-checking whether a menu price in yen or dirham is reasonable. If your bank charges a 2% conversion fee, it helps you do the real all-in maths before paying by card.
Splitwise
The historical standard for splitting group expenses. We used it ourselves until we built Wayra. It works well at its single job: each person enters what they paid, the app calculates final balances and tells you who owes whom in the fewest possible transfers. If your only problem is settling up after the trip, Splitwise is perfectly fine.
Polarsteps
An app that runs in the background and automatically draws the map of your trip as you travel. You add photos each evening from the camera roll and end up with a travel diary that built itself. The Premium tier prints the trip as a physical book — it's been one of the most successful post-honeymoon gifts of the last decade.
Honourable mentions
Apps that nearly made the top 10 but were cut for overlap, niche use, or because something else on the list already does the job:
- TripIt — Itinerary aggregator that pulls from your inbox. Useful if you book everything via Gmail. Wayra covers the plan as a single piece, but if you like the "book, forward to TripIt, done" flow, it still works.
- Hopper — Predicts flight prices ("wait, it'll drop"). Useful when your dates are flexible. ~70–75% accuracy by their own published numbers.
- Revolut or Wise — Cards with the interbank rate and no markup. Saves 2–3% on every spend in foreign currency. More of a financial tool than a travel one, but it earns its place the moment you use it.
- Hostelworld — If you're travelling backpacker-style, still the most complete catalogue of hostels with relevant filters (clean, party, backpackers, couples).
- AllTrails — Hiking trails with difficulty and reviews. Non-negotiable if you're planning trekking.
- FlightAware or Flighty — Flight status with push notifications. Tells you about a delay before the airline does.
How to combine them (minimum viable stack)
If you only want to install three before the next trip:
- Wayra for the full plan + group expense splitting.
- Google Maps with offline maps downloaded for the cities you'll visit.
- Skyscanner with price alerts on the routes you care about.
If your trip involves a country with a different language, add Google Translate with the language downloaded for offline. If you'll spend several days in a major city with a complex metro, add Citymapper. The rest of the list is optional, depending on the trip.
Frequently asked
What's the best free app for planning a trip?
Is paying for premium worth it on any of these?
Does Wayra replace Splitwise?
Why isn't Airbnb on the list?
What apps do tourism professionals actually use?
Are there any European apps worth installing?
How do I manage all these apps without filling up my phone?
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