25 Ultimate Apps for Business Travel and Vacations

July 9, 2015 Alana Ross

Travel and technology are two of our favorite passions - and both offer so many choices. Traveling for business these days can be very stressful and planning a vacation takes time, research and energy. There are so many great travel apps available that can help you find everything from the best deals on airfare, accommodations, attractions and sightseeing tours to keeping tabs on your flight - and discovering where the locals go to eat, drink and play.

We put together 25 of our favorite travel apps that can help you before and during your next business trip or vacation. Just click on a link to download any of the apps to your smartphone or tablet. The best part is... most of them are free. Happy travels!

Hotel Tonight - get great last-minute deals on hotels around the world. Beautiful user interface.
Trip Advisor - find travel reviews and get advice on hotels, resorts, flights, vacation rentals and travel packages in worldwide destinations. Very popular.
Kayak - searches hundreds of travel sites for the best prices in airfare, hotels, car rentals and vacation packages
Priceline - get great deals on flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises and special vacation packages
Airbnb - find vacation and business accommodations from locals in 190+ countries
TripIt - popular travel mobile app makes it easy to organize your itinerary and get real-time alerts
FlightAware or FlightView - track real-time flight status and tracking map of any flight
Google Maps - must have app when traveling. Get directions on the fly whether you’re traveling by car, bike or on foot. See real-time traffic before you go on a drive. Apple Maps is installed on Apple devices and is not available on Android devices.
Waze (Google company) - world’s largest community-based traffic and GPS naviagation app; share real-time traffic and road info with other drivers
The Weather Channel - keep track of the weather (10-day forecast, day-by-day and hour-to-hour) so you can plan your itinerary accordingly
WhatsApp - free messaging app available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone and Nokia (any of these phones can message each other); it’s one of our favorite apps that we use for international communications. Apple iMessage (texting) is installed on all Apple devices and is also free. All texts are secure and encrypted on both apps.
Google Translate - translations at your fingertips in 90+ languages
Uber - taxi, private car or rideshare; fast and easy way to get around town in cities around the world. Other options include Lyft and Sidecar
Starbucks - so convenient to just swipe your phone when purchasing coffee and snacks at Starbucks locations around the world
Yelp - find the best local restaurants and read foodie reviews
OpenTable - search for popular restaurants and make online reservations
Apple Pay - Use your iPhone 6, iPad Air 2 and/or Apple watch to make payments in retail stores or online stores in an easy and secure way
XE Currency - currency conversion; it's the most downloaded foreign exchange app Available on iPhone, Android, iPad, Blackberry, Windows Phone… and more
Apple Photo or Dropbox - share your photos and albums with family and friends. Apple photo app only works on apple devices
Foursquare - connect with friends and get recommendations on where the locals go to eat, drink and play
GuidePal City Guides or TripAdvisor City Guides - get in-depth tourist info (attractions, restaurants, nightclubs, bars, shopping and more) on worldwide destinations
Viator Tours, Activities & Things To Do - find fun sightseeing tours (including small group and private tours) in cities around the world. Skip the line at top tourist attractions and get the latest deals and discounts in the city you are visiting
Evernote - handy free note-taking app is easy to use and a great way to keep track of everything. Keep all your notes in one place and synchronize them across all devices (desktop, laptop, smartphone and watch)
Social apps - connect with friends, family and business associates on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube)
White Noise - pick your favorite sound to relax during the day, meditate at any time and sleep better at night. Choose from 40 different sounds, including rain, beach waves, stream water, Tibetan singing bowl, thunder, ocean waves… and more! You can also choose from 20+ alarm sounds

Helpful Tips:

Unless noted, all apps listed should be available on both Apple and Android devices
Don't stress out and be overwhelmed by the number of travel applications. Just select a few that you think are interesting or helpful and test them out. Over time you will find the ones you like and use. Since most are free to test and use.... just delete the ones you don't need or like and move on to the others over time.
Please do NOT get a minimum configured smartphone if you plan to keep it for 3 to 4 years. As you enjoy more and more applications, you will use up the storage on the smartphone, it will slow down and eventually be so slow that it isn't very useable. You cannot upgrade smartphone or tablet storage once you buy them.