Planning a road trip can be a huge pain. There are so many moving parts to consider—from timing, to mapping out your route, to finding the best places to stop along the way—that it’s sometimes hard to know where to even begin. That’s exactly why we put together this list of the best apps for planning road trips.
A road trip is an amazing experience. It can be an adventure with family, a chance to get away with friends, or a time to explore on your own. But in order for it to really be enjoyable and stress-free, you need a plan that takes into account all the little things. You don’t want to spend your whole trip wondering if you’re going in the right direction or end up miles from any restaurants or gas stations at night!
So whether you’re planning the next big family vacation or just need some ideas for fun weekend adventures, check out these 11 apps for planning your next big road trip. We’ve included everything from how long it will take you by car versus plane (so you can decide which mode of transportation works best) to what kind of food options there are along the way (so you can find new favorites while exploring).
Best apps For Planning Road Trips
In a fast-paced world where the stress of work and school is overwhelming, we all need a break to de-stress the mind. Traveling is one good way to take your mind off of stressful things – a breather. And a scheduled vacation gives you something to look forward to.
Whether it’s a local trip alone, a family holiday, a getaway with your best friends, it just excites you wishing the day would come faster.
Although planning the perfect trip is fun, sometimes, it is just too much. There are many apps that would help us with that burden and more from joyofandroid.com.
Best Travel Planning Apps for 2022
Wanderlog
Skratch – Build your own Skratch map
Hopper – Flight & Hotel Deals
TripIt: Travel Planner
Sygic Travel Maps Trip Planner
Packing Pro
Skyscanner
Roadtrippers: Trip Planner
Loungebuddy
HotelTonight: Hotel Deals
Airbnb
TripAdvisor
TravelSpend: Track Travel Expense & Trip Budget
best travel websites
Check out: Best Travel Websites 2020
13 Best Travel Planning Apps for Your Trip in 2022
- Wanderlog
wanderlog – best travel planning app
Wanderlog is your all-in-one destination for planning future trips, sharing travel guides, and blogging past trips.
Its trip planning features are incredibly flexible: you can research destinations and activities, organize reservations by connecting your email, and map out a day itinerary with start/end times. You can also add notes and links all throughout.
Everything is stored offline so you can access your itinerary when traveling abroad. For road trips, it calculates the time and distance between places and exports them to Google Maps (and there are no limits to the number of stops you have on a trip!).
Plus, there’s a fun social component: collaborate with friends on itineraries, write your own travel guide, and blog about past trips. Wanderlog is available on the web and on your smartphone, so you can seamlessly plan while at home and on-the-go.
iOS / Android
- Skratch – Build your own Skratch map
Skratch is the ultimate way to track your travel life. Simply create your Skratch map and the app will instantly show you all the countries you’ve been in the world. You can then also mark where you’ve lived or want to go on your bucket list.
Ever wonder what you did in all these places? Skratch lets you pin all your travel photos & videos directly to the map. This is a great way to relive your best memories by country.
As you visit new places, Skratch will either mark it automatically with a notification or let you mark your map offline. There’s also an achievements section that tracks your stats and progress towards unlocking world regions, as well as allowing you to share your map on social media. This is a great companion app for any traveler, and you can upgrade your map to mark over 18,000 regions & cities or set custom themes (iOS only for now).
iOS / Android
- Hopper – Flight & Hotel Deals
Hopper – Travel Planning App
Hopper is one of the best travel apps to have on your phone. The app predicts airfares up to 1 year in advance, with 95% accuracy. It analyzes over billions of flight prices and hotels within the day – telling you whether to book your trip now or wait for just a little longer.
Here’s how it works: Key in your destination and a color-coded calendar will display the cheapest and most expensive date to fly. The app will then recommend you to either book the flight now or sit it out and wait for airfare to get cheaper. Also, you can filter predictions to custom-fit your trip – remove long layovers, extra fees, restrictions, and more.
And if you worry about missing out the cheap flights, don’t be! Hopper will send you a notification when fares have dropped to its lowest point.
iOS / Android
- TripIt: Travel Planner
TripIt – Travel Planning App
If you need any help organizing the dozens of itineraries, TripIt is the app for you. Users simply need to forward your flight, hotel, restaurant, and car rental confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and the app will create a free master doc for each of your trips. The best thing about this app is that you can get access to your itinerary anywhere, even without an internet connection.
In addition, the Pro version will find you alternative routes for canceled flights and send out notifications for delayed flights, cancellations, and more from the airlines.
iOS / Android
- SYGIC Travel Maps Trip Planner
Sygic Travel Maps, the new version of Sygic Trip Planner, is the first travel app to display all of the attractions and places a traveler needs to see and visit on a single map.
Sync your trips with the Sygic Travel app and find hidden gems in all cities you visit. The app boast a large database that allows you to find the best hotels, tourist attractions, museums, restaurants, bars, and stores wherever you go.
This mobile app also let you download offline maps and guides, which come in helpful when traveling to remote locations with poor or non-existing Wi-Fi.
It also has a dedicated section to worldwide places of interest for travel business. Get location information for individual cities, countries, continents, or the entire planet.
The app is available in 18 languages.
iOS / Android
- Packing Pro
We can all agree that packing is the least liked activity pre and post-trip. Let Packing Pro help you with that. The app lets you create a customizable list of essential things to pack that considers important factors like the trip duration, weather conditions, destination, and many more.
Don’t know where to start? Packing Pro’s sample packing list provides a good starting point if you don’t want to create your own.
Packing Pro has a plethora of item catalog that ensures that everything and everyone is accounted for. The app allows for seamless syncing and sharing to make sure that no one in the family leaves behind essential stuff.
iOS
- Skyscanner
Used by over 90 million people worldwide, Skyscanner gives you great deals for flights, hotels, and car rentals. Its “everywhere” feature allows you to look at destinations that would fit right into your budget and timeframe.
Is your Europe your dream destination? Take it off your dream board and make it a reality – Skyscanner will make it possible for you. Like Hopper, Skyscanner sends you alerts when airfares hit their lowest points too.
iOS / Android
- Roadtrippers: Trip Planner
Roadtrippers – Travel Planning Mobile App
Planning on a cross country road trip? Roadtrippers is the app for you! Not everyone is fond of waiting long hours at the airport while sitting through your red-eye flight. Hit the road with your friends instead.
Roadtrippers provides everything you need to know on your road trip. Just enter your starting point, destination, and let the app do its work for you! From camping sites to rest stops, outdoor activities, exciting adventures along the way that you didn’t know existed. This app is the perfect buddy for your road trip regardless of your mode of transportation – a sedan, a rental car, or a huge family RV.
iOS / Android
- Loungebuddy
Let’s face it, waiting around at the airport for your flight, which turns out to be delayed, is not the nicest experience at all. You wait around in uncomfortable seats, with bad Wi-Fi, and inedible food choices. Wouldn’t it be nice though to wait around in pleasant lounges?
But without membership or business-class tickets then there is no way for you to get in. Good thing Loungebuddy makes it possible for travelers to get access to airport lounges across the globe in just seconds.
Even with an economy ticket, the app lets you elevate your flying experience – in style.
iOS
- HotelTonight: Hotel Deals
Booked a spontaneous flight out and need a nice place to stay for the night? Or exhausted from the hundreds of mile-long trip and need to get a place to rest ASAP? HotelTonight provides you with surprising last-minute deals on hotels near you.
Regardless of your budget, this app has something to offer. From luxury to budget-friendly hotels, and unique boutiques, all available in just a few clicks!
iOS / Android
- Airbnb
Not a big fan of hotel rooms? Perhaps you want to rent a room, a house, or a whole apartment for that homey feeling while being far away from home! Airbnb provides you with different spaces, from rooms, couches, to a whole apartment from locals in your desired place.
You can filter through the photos, reviews, and available amenities – such as pool, washing machines/dryers, iron, and more! The app also serves as a medium for seamless communication with your hosts who are always so willing to give you the best stay possible. Plus, locals give you tips on where to find the best dining spots!
iOS / Android
- TripAdvisor
Most of us dream of going to places! But planning an amazing trip to places we have not been to is pretty hard as you don’t know where to stay, what to do, places to eat, and adventures to try. We mostly rely on recommendations, most of which are not even right, that we find online.
TripAdvisor has over millions of travel recommendations on hotels, top dining spots, must-do experiences, and treasured gems to over 8 million destinations at your perusal. It is an all-in-one app that lets you book tables at restaurants and compares low prices on hotels and flights.
You can also follow friends and travel experts for advice that match your interests, watch videos, and read articles. In return, you can share your experiences, reviews, and helpful guides for other users too!
iOS / Android
- TravelSpend: Track Travel Expense & Trip Budget
Setting up a budget for your trip is easy, however, sticking to it is hard. TravelSpend will help you with that. It starts with entering your budget and expenses over multiple days so you don’t go overboard. The app helps you in sticking to your budget effectively.
Being in another country is not a problem at all: enter your expenses in any currency and the app will automatically convert it to your home currency.
Track your travel expenses whether going on a solo around-the-world trip or backpacking holiday with your best friends. The app allows you to share your trip with your friends and track your expenses together. Pay debts, split bills, and check your balances – all in the app!
iOS / Android
Most of the apps are free to download. Although, some may need in-app purchases to use its premium features. But that is just a small price to pay for a well-planned trip that’s ahead of your way.
Let this list of apps be your useful companion to your next travel adventure. Leave your worries behind, even for a short while, take lots of pictures, and don’t forget to live in the moment!
travel planning app for groups
Planning a trip among friends or family can be tricky. Help keep everyone on the same page with these group travel planning apps that organize itineraries, expenses and photos.
Prava
Available on iOS and Android
Prava is an itinerary manager that offers in-app messaging, a to do list and notepad, perfect for planning group trips. Additional features make this app a great travel companion as well. From the app, you can share your location with other group members, perfect if you’re arriving in a destination from many different locations. You can also share trip photos and calculate expenses through the app.
At the conclusion of your vacation, your group can choose to share part or all of your itinerary with other Prava users, inspiring other groups to follow in your footsteps.
Splittr
Available on iOS only; Android coming soon
No matter where you are, what currency you paid in or who paid, figure out who owes what with group travel app Splittr. Divide hotel, grocery, attraction and transportation costs between friends or family. The app converts any expense to your preferred currency and allows you to split bills unevenly between group members. After your vacation, export PDF or CSV reports to let everyone know how much they owe other travelers. You unfortunately aren’t able to pay your balance using the app.
For an app that includes all the same functions and works on both iOS and Android, choose Splid.
Splitwise
Available on iOS and Android
This is another app the manages expenses within a group. It shares many of the same features as Splittr and Splid, with two exceptions.
Splitwise integrates with Venmo, making it ideal for groups who already share money via the app.
There is no option to change currencies in the app, so it’s more appropriate for groups traveling domestically.
Travefy
Available on iOS and Android
Whether you’re planning a spring break trip, bachelorette party or family reunion, keep all the details in a single place with Travefy. Use the chat and polling function to discuss details, collect money (there is a fee to use a credit card) and start building your sharable itinerary. Forward confirmation emails to the app and your flight, rental car, accommodation, activities and restaurant reservations will appear in one place.
You can view your itinerary on a map and search nearby for other attractions, sorted by hotels, activities and food. Whether you imported an activity or Travefy suggested it, your group will be able to see Trip Advisor reviews for the attraction. During the trip, track your expenses (multiple popular currencies are available) in the app so your group can see who owes who what and pay via credit card or PayPal after heading home.
Tripline
Available on iOS and Android
This app is a less robust group vacation planning tool, but if you’re looking for something simple, Tripline may be for you. Multiple group members can map out your accommodations and the attractions you’re planning to explore, then share the map with other people who may be interested in following your trip.
Your group members can upload photos and add text for any location on your Tripline map. The app takes these photos and creates a simple animation outlining your trip, which is available for other Tripline users and can be shared on social media.
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