The travel industry has changed immensely in just a few years time. Nowadays, you don’t just rock up at the airport and start stalking the check-in staff to get that one cheap last-minute ticket. There’s an app for that! You don’t go to the hostel anymore without booking in the hope to get a good price. There’s an app for that! You don’t need to carry around expensive paper maps. Yes, there’s an app for that. Everyone has a smartphone right now, and travel apps help you save money, and make your trip easier!
The smartphone has become an essential object when traveling. Everyone is using it, whether it’s to make the best travel pictures or to use travel apps to make the trip planning easier. Open your app store to download these best free travel apps for iOS & Android of 2018 that will help you save a lot of money!
BEST FREE TRAVEL APPS THAT SAVE MONEY
FLIGHTS
SKYSCANNER
Skyscanner finds you the cheapest flight there is, whether you want to go to a particular destination on a specific date or get travel inspiration by using the ‘Everywhere’ feature. We love this app because you can quickly search for the cheapest airfares in a certain month, which is very helpful if you’re free in your planning! Never miss out on a deal by setting up automatic price alerts for your dates. Besides searching for the cheapest flight, you can search for the cheapest and best car rentals and hotels too!
SKIPLAGGED
Skiplagged is a bit like Skyscanner, but they provide something that other similar apps don’t do. They find all the cheap flights, including hidden-city flights. These are flights where you get off at the layover instead at the final destination. For example, a flight from New York to San Francisco might be $300, but a similar flight from New York to Seattle with a layover in San Francisco might be $200. This makes it a very smart way to travel cheap! We do like their tagline ‘Our flights are so cheap, United sued us… but we won.’
HOPPER
Hopper also searches the cheapest flight there is, but it has the awesome feature of predicting the future of the airfare. If you see a flight that you like, just click ‘watch this trip’ and the bunny will let you know when it is the perfect time to book your flight! It also lets you book your flights in-app instead of sending you through a third-party booking website.
ACCOMMODATION
BOOKING.COM
This is probably our most used app on our phones. Every time we need to change hotels during our trip, we’re checking which hotel/hostel has the best value compared with others in the neighborhood. You can find some really sweet travel deals through the booking.com app!
AIRBNB
Get access to unique places and experiences around the world. Airbnb helps you to make the saying ‘living like a local’ reality. Hosts make it available to stay in their own homes, whether it’s for a weekend or a longer period. We love this concept and use it almost all the time! With Airbnb, you won’t stay in a resort or big hotel. It lets you go deep into the local neighborhoods and gives the opportunity to eat and sleep between the locals. It’s often much nicer and cheaper than staying in a hotel. You can earn some extra money too if you become a host.
HOTEL TONIGHT
Doing a last-minute trip? Hotel Tonight can help you with your last-minute accommodation! If a hotel has some unbooked rooms for the night, then they’ll give big discounts off the regular room price. Hotel Tonight lists all the good hotels in your neighborhood that have some great deals going. The booking process is straightforward and they even provide an in-app concierge to make the most out of your trip.
Travel Tip: In your profile, click on ‘Promotions’ and fill in ‘TDEMEYER2’ to get a $25 discount.
ROOMER
Did you ever had to cancel your trip and lost a lot of money on an unused hotel room? List it on Roomer next time and get your money back! On Roomer, you can find big discounted deals on hotel rooms that someone else won’t be using anymore. It’s a win-win for everyone!
TRANSPORTATION
ROME 2 RIO
This is a handy app for backpackers. If you don’t have your own car and need to rely on public transportation, then Rome 2 Rio can help you! It finds you the best and cheapest way possible to get from A to B. It gives you all the possible options you can take and show you how much it approximately should cost. It’s a really helpful app if you want to go sightseeing out of the touristic places but want to see what your options are in getting there.
UBER
If you’re a budget traveler, then you probably hate to take taxis. They are just way too expensive, and you always need to go to a crowdy place to find them. Uber is a ridesharing app which makes it possible to request a ride, and let you safely pay with a credit card beforehand. Taking an Uber is hassle-free, safe and often much cheaper than ordinary taxis.
FUEL MAP
Fuel Map is currently only available in Australia, but we wanted to add this one because it has been a real money saver during our road trip around Australia! Find the lowest fuel prices in your surroundings by using the useful crowd-sourced fuel map.
CITYMAPPER
Probably the best app on your phone if you’re traveling to a city. Citymapper acts a bit the same as Rome 2 Rio, as it shows you different suggestions how you get from A to B. But what’s so cool about this app is that it shows you bus routes, subway maps, notifies you of changes in the timetable, and even which subway car is the best! It also integrates with Uber.
TRAVEL EXPENSES
SPENTABLE
Track your travel expenses easily with Spentable! We use this app all the time. It’s easy to lose track of your expenses during traveling and end up with an empty bank account. For those that take budget travel seriously, Spentable is a must have. Write down how much you paid for your hotel, restaurant, transportation and don’t end up with surprises.
Unfortunately, the Android version hasn’t been updated for a while.
iOS
XE CURRENCY
Traveling to a foreign country and having difficulties to know how much something is worth? Open the XE Currency app and convert any currency you want, even the new cryptocurrencies are available in the app! The app is great to know exact prices if you’re not familiar with a new currency or want to be sure you’re not getting scammed.
TRAVEL GUIDES
COOL COUSIN
Everyone wants to travel like a local, isn’t it? Cool Cousin helps you with this by connecting you with a local and his/her recommendations about all the things to do, restaurants, shops, in their city. You can message them instantly for questions and advice and save places into your wishlist.
*Currently only available on iOS, the Android version is coming soon.
iOS
TRIPADVISOR
Aahh, the good ol’ Tripadvisor. Everyone knows this one already, but we wanted to add this because it’s great to find restaurants that fit your budget. You arrive in that new place late and have no idea where you can eat. Stop wandering around and check which restaurants are in your area. We use this app almost daily to help us in our search for good food at a good price.
NAVIGATION
MAPS.ME
We love this app! It’s so useful that we use it all the time. You just download the map you need, and after that, you can access it whenever you want, even if you don’t have data coverage. It shows you where some places of interest are, restaurants, places to sleep, ATM’s, … really everything. Pin interesting things before or during your trip and you can easily navigate to it. We use it as a GPS, to search places to sleep, during hikes, etc.
Now, make some space on that phone of yours and start downloading these best free travel apps of 2018 that will save you a bunch of money! Is there an app that you think we really need to add to this list? Let us know in the comments!
Related articles you might like:
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- How We Saved € 20.000 In 1 Year To Travel The World
- How To Spend Only $10/Day In Thailand
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