With traveling becoming an increasingly accessible experience and with European destination tick lists being in continual growth, it is paramount to be well prepared for your European trip. With so many travel apps easily accessible and available on the market, as the famous saying goes there really is ‘an app for everything’, it is important you download apps aimed at facilitating your visit. With that said we’ve compiled a selection of apps ranging from navigation to accommodation to suitable tourist attractions, creating the conditions for a smooth trip whether traveling for business or leisure (and believe me coming from someone who finds traveling to work difficult, they really are useful!).
EU Rail: What better way to get from A to B than by rail. The railway provides an exciting way to travel across Europe in between exploring destinations. Often cheaper and far more scenic than booking an continental connecting flight, rail travel allows you to unearth some of Europe’s hidden gems , whilst witnessing a wide array of breath-taking views – allowing for sightseeing on-the-go (what more could you ask for!). The benefits of the EU Rail app don’t stop there; the app is designed to find a route that caters for your preferences, with many Bicycle Carriage requirements being a popular selection. EU Rail is also ideal for last minute plans and the spontaneous traveler, with the app showing also showing a range of routes without compulsory reservations- enabling you to hop on board! From Basel to Budapest, London to Lisbon, EU Rail provides the perfect solution for travelers touring the continent!
BlaBlaCar: Traveling on a budget? Tired of expensive public transport costs? Navigate your way around Europe with the lift sharing, transportation phenomena Bla Bla Car! The Bla Bla Car app, enables focuses on two major types of users; drivers and passengers (simple really, isn’t it!). Drivers traveling around the continent of Europe will detail their departure date and point and the destination they are traveling to- they can even throw in a stopover- meaning passengers can be picked up en route. Passengers are able to search for trips through the app, with a vast range of fares available for less than $20. What’s more, most drivers offering lifts advertise their journeys 2/3 days before departure- helping you tick off new destinations whilst in Europe and making spontaneous travel easy.
Evernote: Excited for your trip to Rome in May? Remember that article you stumbled across in January? You surely can’t remember it! Using the Evernote app enables you to clip text you have found whilst researching a destination and save it for future reference (unbelievably useful when you visit the said destination!). The clipping feature ensures you remember to visit everything you had planned to, creating the pre requisites for a memorable trip. The Evernote app also doubles up as a personal planner ensuring everything is completed before and during your trip, from a packing tick list to flight reminders to cancelling the dentist whilst you’re away.
Culture Trip: Tired of traveling half way across the world only to miss out on vital experiences and attractions due to tight time constraints? (We’ve all been there!) If only we could travel all day every day! Despite yearning for non-stop travel, it is unfortunately impractical and almost impossible! With that said, the Culture Trip app strives to enable you to make the most out of a visit to a certain country or city. By simply categorizing your preferences ranging from art and culture to eateries and places to socialize, a range of suitable venues or activities will be identified. Once you’ve refined your activity preferences you will also find these recommendations are provided with additional information from Local experts (a tour guide from you’re smartphone, who would have thought it!). Culture Trip really is an essential app to identify a wide range of tourist attractions and unmissable sights, whilst avoiding unnecessary time wasting!
Airbnb: Airbnb provides an alternative to accommodation booking to contacting a hotel. This app enables sourcing accommodation that provides you with more freedom and flexibility, with over 600,000 options available. Opposing the traditional hotel or bed and breakfast facility, Airbnb allows you to house share or rent a house for the duration of your stay. This creates a greater degree when it comes to checking in or out and mealtimes- after all a home cooked meal (whilst traveling!), always beats a hotel set menu! Additionally, house sharing also allows you to interact with other people who are also tourists in your destination!
WiFi Finder: Fed up of searching tirelessly for a hotspot to connect to when traveling in Europe? Downloading the WiFi Finder app before you travel made this problem a whole lot easier. The app comes inclusive with a map highlighting WiFi hotspots, (all of which have been speed tested!) the map is available both online and more importantly offline! The offline map, allows for instant connection upon arrival in your European travel destination and unlike many other WiFi hotspot apps, WiFi Finder focuses predominantly on public hotspots, avoiding outdated private WiFi connections wherever possible! With Europe wide WiFi availability, it would be rude not to download WiFi Finder before you travel!
Maps: Maps is an essential tool when traveling and is perfect for navigating in unfamiliar surroundings. Maps is designed to carefully analyses roads and footpaths for pedestrians and motorists alike, to facilitate verbally and visually guiding you through the quickest route from A to B- making the act of being lost a thing of the past (after all no one misses the annual family argument over the road map!) The app even has a public transport option identifying bus or metro routes and detailing their departure times- the perfect solution for getting around when time is of the essence! With all these perks, could navigating Europe really be made any easier