Best Travel Apps

Best Travel Apps for 2025: Plan, Explore & Travel Safer

Whether you're jet-setting across the world or road-tripping to hidden gems, having the right tools in your pocket can make all the difference. In 2025, technology is redefining how we book, explore, and experience travel. From AI-powered assistants to last-minute hotel deals, the best travel apps help keep you safe, streamline your plans, save money, and uncover unforgettable experiences.

I’ve rounded up the ultimate collection of travel apps - each grouped by function - so you can build your perfect travel toolkit, whether you’re traveling with food allergies, celiac disease or other dietary restrictions, booking accommodation, managing itineraries, or navigating unfamiliar streets.

1. Best Language & Translation Apps

These language and translation apps are incredibly helpful either before or during traveling because they break down communication barriers, allowing you to navigate, order food, or ask for help with confidence. They also help you connect more authentically with locals, making your travel experience smoother and more culturally immersive.

Equal Eats

Our very own app helps keep you safer by enabling you to communicate your dietary restrictions with confidence. You can create custom translation cards across 50 different languages tailored to your specific dietary needs, including allergies, intolerances, or celiac disease. 

“This app is just one of my many tech projects but I cherish it the most because it helps people to feel free from their dietary restrictions and be safe"

Anatoly, Equal Eats app developer

Duolingo

Learn useful phrases and basic language skills through fun, bite-sized lessons. It’s perfect for travelers who want to build confidence speaking the local language before they go.

Google Translate

Translate text, audio, and images in real-time across 100+ languages. Offline mode and instant camera translation make it extremely helpful in foreign environments.

2. Best Dining Out Apps 

These top-rated platforms offer comprehensive restaurant guides to help you discover restaurants that match your taste, budget and ambience. 

TheFork

Available in Europe, Australia, Latin America. Book restaurants instantly and get discounts up to 50% at partner spots.

OpenTable

Browse menus, read reviews, and reserve tables at over 50,000 restaurants worldwide. Earn dining points with every reservation and manage all your bookings in one place.

World of Mouth

World of Mouth is an independent restaurant guide powered by global experts, featuring 20,000 local recommendations across 5,000 destinations - from New York pizza spots to street food gems in Singapore.

3. Best Dining Out With Dietary Restrictions Apps 

These dining out apps are especially brilliant if you have dietary restrictions, making it easy to find safe and delicious meals that meet your needs whether you have food allergies, celiac disease or intolerances. 

Equal Eats

(Also listed under Best Language & Translation) Our app helps chefs and wait staff understand your dietary needs. Create and save cards to your phone, share cards via text and email, print cards and access saved cards without data (offline mode).

Spokin

Discover your next food allergy-friendly find with Spokin - browse products filtered by your allergens, read reviews from fellow users, and explore Verified Brand partners who share detailed facility info through their 24-question allergen FAQ.

Find Me Gluten Free

Find great gluten-free friendly restaurants wherever you are - plan ahead by entering your destination or discover spots near your current location. With new listings added daily, you can easily locate dedicated gluten-free and celiac-safe places with just one tap.

4. Best Accommodation Apps

Finding the right place to stay can make or break your trip. These top apps help you book everything from boutique hotels to unique local stays, with options for every budget and style.

Airbnb

Book unique homes, apartments, and local stays in cities or off-the-grid. Easily filter for amenities, experiences, and stays hosted by locals for a more personal trip.

Booking.com

Find hotels, guesthouses, and vacation rentals with flexible booking. With 24/7 customer support and millions of reviews, it’s a trusted choice for travelers worldwide.

Hotel Tonight

Snag great last-minute hotel deals in just a few taps. Ideal for spontaneous getaways or unexpected layovers, with deals often up to 50% off.

5. Best Flights & Travel Booking Apps

Scoring the best deal on flights and travel packages is easier than ever with these powerful search tools. They compare prices, track fare drops, and simplify booking all in one place.

Skyscanner

Search and compare flights, hotels, and car rentals globally. Its flexible search lets you find the cheapest destinations and best times to travel.

KAYAK

Track prices and search deals across multiple booking sites in one app. You can also set fare alerts and explore flexible date options to save more.

Google Flights

Explore flight options and monitor fares with smart filters and insights. It’s especially useful for spotting price trends and predicting future fare drops.

6. Best Navigation & Transit Apps

Whether you're on foot, riding the metro, or planning a cross-country route, these apps help you get around like a local. From real-time updates to offline maps, they make navigating new places stress-free.

Google Maps 

Navigate, discover restaurants, and save offline maps for any destination. Offline access, helps ensure you never get lost - even without a data connection.

Citymapper

Get real-time transit routes, walking, biking, and rideshare options in major cities. The standout feature is its multi-modal routing, combining transport types for the fastest and most efficient journey.

Rome2Rio

Instantly see how to get from one place to another by air, rail, bus, ferry, or driving. The door-to-door journey planner gives you a full picture of your travel options across different countries.

7. Best Trip Planning & Organization Apps

Keep your itinerary, bookings, maps, and notes in one place with these handy travel planners. They make organizing trips easier, whether you're traveling solo or planning with friends.

TripIt

Organize all your travel details into a master itinerary synced from your emails. Reviewers love the automatic syncing from confirmation emails, which saves time and keeps everything in one place.

Wanderlog

Collaboratively plan trips with maps, lists, notes, and day-by-day schedules. Users love the seamless integration of itinerary and mapping, which makes planning visually intuitive and easy to share.

Plandora

A 2025 newcomer that turns social media travel inspiration into personalized itineraries. Early users love how it pulls ideas directly from Instagram and TikTok to create real, bookable plans with minimal effort.

8. Best Travel Guides & Inspiration Apps

Looking for your next must-visit destination or local hidden gem? These apps deliver expert recommendations, beautiful visuals, and insider tips to help you travel smarter and deeper.

Lonely Planet

Access trusted destination guides, curated lists, and travel tips from experts. Reviewers love the practical, no-fluff recommendations from experienced travelers that help them explore like a local.

CNTraveller (Condé Nast Traveller)

Discover stylish travel inspiration, hotels, and insider experiences. The beautifully curated content and photography helps users uncover luxurious and lesser-known destinations.

Culture Trip

Find offbeat attractions, cultural experiences, and trend-forward travel content. The local insider articles and unique recommendations go beyond the typical tourist trail.

9. Best Activities & Tours Apps

Explore the world with curated tours, experiences, and skip-the-line tickets. These apps make it easy to book top attractions and uncover unique things to do wherever you go.

Tripadvisor

Browse millions of reviews and book attractions, restaurants, and tours. Reviewers love the detailed user photos and first-hand tips that help them choose the best experiences.

GetYourGuide

Book skip-the-line tickets, local tours, and immersive experiences. The easy cancellation policies and last-minute booking options that make travel more flexible.

Viator

Book thousands of expert-led excursions and guided trips in top destinations. Reviewers love the wide variety of activities, especially the trusted local tour guides who enhance the overall experience.

10. Best Currency & Money Apps

Managing your money while traveling can be tricky but these apps help keep you on top of your finances and restaurant bills. 

XE Currency

Convert currencies on the go with live rates and offline functionality. The simple, clutter-free interface makes quick conversions fast and easy, even when you're mid-transaction abroad.

Splitwise

Helps you track shared expenses, split bills, and settle up without awkward or confusing money conversations. It’s great for travelers, especially for group trips, where tracking who paid for what can get complicated. 

Daily Drop Pro

Track and redeem travel rewards, miles, and points across airlines and hotels efficiently. This app centralizes all your loyalty programs and uncovers points you didn’t know you could use.

11. Best AI Travel Assistants

AI-powered apps are changing how we travel by offering instant recommendations, custom itineraries, and real-time answers. These smart tools do the heavy lifting so you can focus on enjoying the journey.

GuideGeek

An AI-powered assistant that delivers real-time travel tips, itineraries, and recommendations via WhatsApp and social apps. Reviewers love how fast and personalized the suggestions are, especially when planning on the go without having to download a separate app.

Plandora

(Also listed under Planning) Converts social content into actual travel plans using AI. It transforms saved Instagram and TikTok content into actionable travel plans with suggested dates and bookings.

Wanderlog

(Also listed under Planning) Offers intelligent itinerary building and collaborative trip editing. You can visualize and rearrange your whole trip with drag-and-drop stops on a live map.

 

Travel App Reviews 

To write up this blog post, I interviewed some experienced travelers in London to get their reviews on the apps they use to travel the world. Here's what they had to say about some of the apps:

Airbnb: "It's unique. Most other companies who offer house rentals are very limited in stock or are only for a certain location (eg Cotswolds). Airbnb covers the whole world so its super handy. They also have good customer service."

Olivia

 

Airbnb: "Good for cheaper travel. Great to be able to use the map to focus on a specific area at a specific price. Peace of mind when paying.  It's important to me to have the previous users reviews. I would prefer they do their own rating too, or use AI to summarise the best and worst points in the reviews"

Sarina

 

Booking.com: "Great for looking at all the hotels and if you use it enough, they give you “genius discounts”. It also stores all my details so it's super easy to use. I usually start here when booking a hotel and then go on to Trip Advisor to check additional reviews. You can also message the hotel companies through it. It's also easy to cancel bookings through it. I like that you can filter by date and price range too."  

Camila

 

Citymapper: "Just the best way to get around any city in Europe. It shows lots of different forms of transport and even includes cost estimates for each. It's especially helpful when on a holiday in another city."

Olivia

Citymapper: "I use Citymapper almost daily.  I like that the different options walk/ride/public transport are shown on the top of the app. I also like that it tells me which carriage to choose on the train, which exit to use, and especially appreciate that it provides the travel time and expected arrival time. Love this app!"

Sarina

CNTraveller: "I use Conde Nast Traveller if I'm looking for something a bit more fancy and I visit the hotels website directly sometimes to check the price difference."

Sam

 

Equal Eats: "I love this app. I had a change in flights once going to Copenhagen instead of Paris, and didn't have allergy cards for Denmark. I was able to use the app instead and it helped so much!"

Tammi, US

 

Get Your Guide: "Very good for booking excursions. Usually you find things link from trip advisor to here. I like that you can filter for dates - it’s super helpful then when I book last minute as I can just focus on what’s available."

Camila

 

Google maps: "Generally super easy to use. I'm sure most people know all the good things about it. However, a not so well-known feature I love is that you can search for a restaurant you want to go to or liked and save it. And then it shows up as a little flag on the map. So now when I'm in an area like Marylebone, for example, and want to have dinner, I can see all the places I saved on the map. I do this for holidays too." 

Olivia

⁠KAYAK: "It's quite user friendly. I think its similar to Skyscanner but I just prefer KAYAK. They give you the best deals for flights and check different airlines etc"

Olivia

 

Trip Advisor:  "I usually go on this for everything! Hotels and activities (both booking things but also tips on what areas to visit). I don’t usually book through it though but use it to compare options. Occasionally if a hotel isn’t available on booking, then I check there and see what they offer, but they can send u to quite a few different companies which I don’t always know."

Camila

Travel Safer and Smarter with the Best Travel Apps

With so many travel apps, planning a trip has never been easier or more fun. These best travel apps of 2025 cover everything from communicating your food allergies and other dietary restrictions, finding great accommodation and affordable flights to speaking the local language and making the most of your reward points.

Whether you're a spontaneous backpacker or a meticulous planner, these apps are your new best travel companions. Pack your bags, charge your phone, and start your journey – safer and smarter travel begins here.

 

Author Bio

Karina Montagni 
Chartered Marketer & Food Allergy Mum
Karina Montagni is a Chartered Marketer and holds a Master's degree in Tourism from Strathclyde University. She is Marketing Manager for Equal Eats and has 12 years experience in managing multiple food allergies in her family. Karina is passionate about creating helpful content and resources which supports those living and traveling with food allergies and other dietary needs.