Traveling, even if you’re just headed off on a short, much-needed vacation inevitably requires some research. You’ll need to figure out where to go, where to stay, how to get around, how to communicate once you’ve arrived, and the best options for storing all your precious travel info. Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered with this list of travel websites & apps to help you plan your next adventure. After you’ve finished here you can get a jumpstart on packing! Plus, check out why we think minimalism is the best option for traveling 🙂

10 Useful Travel Websites & Apps You Might Not Know About

The Man in Seat 61

Whether you love to travel by train or are simply looking for a cheap alternative to flying, The Man in Seat 61 is the guy you should turn to for advice. This site is by far the most complete and up to date train travel directory on the web.

Whether you are embarking on the Orient Express, Trans Siberian Railway, The Ghan, or anywhere in between this website will help you plan your journey from start to finish with expert advice that will have you sighing with relief from all the time and stress you avoid.

To research your next great train journey be sure to check out The Man in Seat 61!

https://www.seat61.com/

Rome2Rio

Ever wondered what all the options are to get from point A to point B? Of course you have! The answers to that question regardless of where you are in the world, have never been easier to find thanks to Rome2Rio. Simply enter your destination and starting point and “Snap”, all of the options including departure times, cost comparisons, and everything else you may want to know will pop up on your screen. Pure magic.

To discover how to get anywhere by plane, train, bus, ferry, and automobile (or perhaps Tuk Tuk? 😉 ) check out: https://www.rome2rio.com/

Roadtrippers

Planning your next big road trip across the US? Or just curious what places of interest there are in a certain area? Roadtrippers is a web and mobile database that helps people find “off the beaten path” places and “contains millions of the worlds most interesting destinations”.

When you visit the site, you will be prompted to enter a destination and a Google Map with all of the notable locations and things to do will appear clearly labeled and easy to navigate via a visual search bar on the left side. Even in our hometown, we were able to use this site to discover something totally new and awesome.

Try it yourself at: https://roadtrippers.com/

Airhelp

Have you ever been in a frustrating situation at the airport? Flights canceled? Denied boarding? Lost luggage perhaps?

We’ve all been there, but most of the time we are not fully aware of our rights as passengers when these sticky situations occur. Luckily, you never have to doubt your rights or options as a passenger again with Airhelp by your side. You can look up your legal situation using their ‘Know Your Rights” option as well as use their legal services to seek compensation from an airline.

Definitely worth a second opinion when you’re facing the loss of hundreds (or even thousands) of $$$: https://www.airhelp.com/en/know-your-rights/

Skiplagged

Coined the “Smart Way to Find Cheap Flights”, Skiplagged is a valuable resource to anyone looking to purchase flights. They specialize in finding ridiculous travel deals that you won’t find anywhere else… at least not without spending hours picking through different flight paths, which is no fun (trust us). The secret behind this site is that it extensively searches for what the industry calls “hidden city tickets”.

Not sure what this means?

Let’s say you want to fly from San Francisco, CA to Portland, OR, which could cost $253 direct. A less popular flight from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, however, with a layover in Portland might only cost $149. By skipping out on the additional flight you save over $100… and these types of scenarios can be found all around the world.

Find your next adventure by taking a look here: https://skiplagged.com/

Viator

One of the biggest questions we have, when we arrive at a new destination, is what exciting local adventures we can join in on while we are there. We hate having to pour through blog after blog doing research beforehand and we don’t really like visiting tour agencies until we absolutely know what we want to do. This is where Viator comes in.

This site allows you to search through their extensive database of tours, tickets, activities & things to do. Let’s say you want to find some adventurous activities to do while you are in Bali (which happens to be where we are writing this from 😉 ), you can just type in Ubud, Bali and within a second you will have a list of the top reviewed things to do on the island like white water rafting, quad bike adventures, coral reef cruises, and so much more!

If you want to save a little bit of money, you can opt to use this site just as a means of finding what you want to do and book the activity yourself from a local tour agency. Otherwise, in just a few clicks you can book directly from the Viator site: https://www.viator.com/

Tripit

Sometimes we go way overboard planning and booking things in advance which can lead to a major hassle when it comes time to access all of our booking emails and tickets. Tripit solves this problem by taking all of your confirmation emails and neatly categorizing the data (bookings, tickets, reminders., etc.) into a super user-friendly database that you can easily access from anywhere. If you’re not yet sure how to plan your travel path, check out these 7 things to consider!

The app will sync to your calendar, send you notifications for things like flight changes, send you alternative flight options, and allows you to share your itinerary with friends and family. Basically, your all in one travel planner!

A super useful service for any frequent traveler: https://www.tripit.com/

Accuweather

Not as glamorous as some of the other websites on this list, but no less useful. Accuweather allows you to search real-time weather conditions around the world down to the hour. No more blindly heading out for the day hoping the storm will pass you by.

A quick check on Accuweather will give you peace of mind that today will be a good day (weather wise anyway): https://www.accuweather.com/

Google Translate

Translating software has become astonishingly sophisticated, and Google leads the way in terms of free and easy to use translation services (shocker we know). You can use Google Translate to communicate more effectively while traveling, to translate entire web pages with one click, signage with the snap of a photo, and now you can even use the app to translate someone speaking another language to you in real time…

An incredible tool, especially for those of us who only speak English: https://translate.google.com/

Couchsurfing

On this site, you can create a profile and search for people willing to open up their homes and let you stay on their couches or spare rooms for free. For people out there who are currently unable to travel, but want to bring the world to their homes Couchsurfing has one of the best communities of travelers from around the world who would love to stay with you and teach you about their culture and experiences while sharing in yours.

Talk about a great way to save money while meeting locals and getting to experience how they live: https://www.couchsurfing.com/

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