Some travelers mourn the days of paper maps, travel books, and film canisters. Not us! That’s why we two travel-lovers have compiled a recommended list of best apps when traveling. (Full disclosure: Susan still enjoys curling up on a sofa, paging through her local library’s guidebooks.) 

These tech tools can help you navigate, explore, and enjoy your journeys even more with just a few clicks.

NextTribe takes small groups of women ages 45+ on fun, immersive journeys all around the globe. Learn more here.

Getting Your Apps in a Row

But first, quick cautions. Overseas data plans are expensive, so connect to wifi whenever possible.

Rethink going entirely paperless. Apps don’t work in every country or in no-signal spots. Devices get lost or lose their charge. Download maps and essential trip information. And don’t forget to download favorite books (we like no-cost Libby), playlists, podcasts, and games.

“I like to bring paper copies of important information mainly because I’m concerned I’ll have unexpected problems with my phone or service while traveling,” said frequent voyager Judy Steenstra, who lives in the D.C. area.

Indeed. Ai-Gek Beh, a retired banking consultant based in Vancouver, couldn’t access Google in China unless she bought a VPN subscription. Even then, service and the apps themselves weren’t reliable. She estimated that Google Maps was five years out of date. Paper maps to the rescue!

And do immerse yourself in the sights, sounds, smells, tastes (and people) of your destination. After all, why travel if you stay glued to your screen, just like at home?

Some apps are as essential as your toothbrush: They belong in your “apps-to-go” bag. Other apps enrich a trip. We think both kinds are indispensable. Here’s a list of our favorites, gleaned from traveling in the U.S. and to various continents.

Apps for Logistics

Do I owe you money?

You’re dining with your travel buddies. The check arrives. How do you track who owes what to whom? In the pre-app days, Diane would tally the paper receipts nightly in a notebook. Then she discovered Splitwise. It lets everyone in your group enter expenses, then calculates a running total of who borrowed and who owes. And you can enter each expense in the local or U.S. currency. Genius!

As Deb Binder, a frequent world explorer who recently returned from a trip to the Azores with three girlfriends, explains: “Gone are the days of putting cash into an envelope and then withdrawing from that envelope for shared expenses.” 

We’re lost, now what? 

Google Maps needs no explanation. But Susan’s sister, Debby, swears by Citymapper. It displays transport options with live timing between two locations (walking, cycling, driving, public transport) in many cities in and outside the U.S. It also provides wheelchair-accessible routes in 17 regions, and counting. 

While Google Maps may need no explanation, many world travelers like Citymapper and Maps.me for their navigation features.

Laura Brunson, an international development specialist, based in Northern Virginia, travels frequently for work and pleasure. When she goes abroad, she turns to the free version of maps.me. In Kigali, Rwanda, she downloaded the city map to the app. She then accessed it while disconnected from local cell service or wifi. “I love the safety aspect of navigating on foot or being in a cab and generally knowing where I am,” she stated, “and without an expensive international phone package.” She qualified that using Google Maps with wifi can be more accurate and that the free version of maps.me limits the number of maps you can download at a time.

What does that sign say? 

Susan remembers her father flipping through his pocket-size French and Dutch Berlitz phrasebooks in 1965 while she and her siblings stared blankly at menus. Today, there’s Google Translate. It’s free, user-friendly, and generally reliable for translating more than 100 languages. It can be a real life-saver as you face menus, road signs, and other bits of writing that aren’t in your native language.

How do I get a ride?

Each of us hitchhiked in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. We still get in cars with strangers, but those strangers are our drivers since we use ride-sharing apps. Keep in mind that Uber and Lyft aren’t available everywhere overseas or even in the U.S., plus you may need a different app for different countries. (For instance, in Singapore, Grab is a popular ride-share service.) Then again, you may need to get an assist when traveling: After waiting over an hour for Uber on Île d’Orléans outside Quebec City, Diane and her son asked a shop owner to call a cab. 

How can I organize my itinerary?

Keeping track of all your travel information can be overwhelming. Use TripIt. Presto! It converts everything into an accessible itinerary.

Deb Binder adopted TripIt back in 2012 and has been a loyal fan ever since.  She travels everywhere (Alaska, African safaris, you name it, and she’s probably been there, done that) and embraces adventures. “I still love it. It’s easy to use. I forward my car rental, hotel information, and plane information, and TripIt organizes everything. I can click on parts of my itinerary, and it will show the address, and then when I click on the address it gives me directions. I don’t have to worry about losing stuff. And I can manually add a local tour to it.”

How do I stay updated about travel alerts?

Even the U.S. government has jumped onboard the app bandwagon. While we delight in the serendipity of travel, we also want to stay aware. That’s why we use the free Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). The U.S. State Department gives health, weather, and safety alerts for your chosen destinations.

Signing up for the U.S. State Department’s STEP program can keep you updated on health, weather, and safety alerts while traveling.

And when you’re returning stateside, the Mobile Passport Control app sometimes whisks you through security faster than the Global Entry pass and at no cost. We compared the options coming back from New Zealand…and got through security at the same time! Other overseas destinations have something similar, such as Canada’s ArriveCAN.

How will I find a parking place?

You can turn to SpotHero to find and reserve parking spaces in about 300 cities in the United States and Canada.

Apps for Fun

What’s that bird?

Toward the end of our New Zealand trip, Susan lamented aloud that Merlin couldn’t identify the chirps and trills she’d heard on hills and shorelines. A fellow birder responded, “Did you download the pack for New Zealand?” ”Uh, no.”

It turns out that Merlin’s library of more than 10,000 bird species is divided into region-specific bird “packs.” Get the ones you need since the U.S.-East Coast pack won’t recognize the kea and weka you encounter in New Zealand! 

What’s that plant? 

On that same trip, Seek showed Susan that the tree with red berries silhouetted against the blue sky atop a Queenstown hill was a rowan tree (mountain ash). Who’d have guessed?

What’s that distant mountain?

Use PeakLens to easily identify those peaks jutting up on the horizon.

How do I book a cool experience?

Susan Kim, who travels internationally at least twice a year, turns to Facebook groups and Klook to find and book specialized activities, such as cooking classes in Bali or snorkeling tours through underwater ruins off Naples’ coast. She filters the voluminous options to see if the same places come up multiple times, and then balances popular ideas with under-the-radar ones. Or, under the fountain in the case of an archeological site below the Trevi Fountain in Rome!

Where should I jog?

From the bottom to the top of Montreal’s Mt. Royal, of course! But let’s say you want to explore a different neighborhood. Then what? Susan’s daughter appreciates Strava, which shows running routes shared by other users.

Strava can help you find fun running routes wherever you may journey.

How can I save and share my travel highlights?

One of the best parts of traveling is sharing your highlights with friends and family. WhatsApp and Marco Polo make that possible through messaging and video chats.

And to capture special time, book a photo shoot with a local freelance photographer through Flytographer.

How about also producing an of-the-moment travelogue? During a recent trip to Germany, Judy Steenstra’s friends used Journi Blog to generate a timeline integrating maps, notes, and trip photos. You can create separate albums and tag your exact location. The app works across devices and offline, and you can invite others to collaborate.

So, whether you’re planning a trip to Zion National Park or Zimbabwe, don’t leave home without some apps. “App-y trails!”