Eight Very Cool Travel Apps You Haven’t Heard Of/Will Love

Who has the time to research these apps? These days, I do. Here are a few of my favorites:

Atlas Obscura: Atlasobscura.com online and Free app format

I’ve spent hours on this site researching places to visit, reading their daily newsletter, listen to podcasts, watching videos. It’s a completely immersive travel experience. They specialize in the offbeat story, the never heard of destination, the hard to believe facts that make me want to book my next flight. Like 21st century National Geographic on steroids. Visit and tool around before you download the app.

Sublime, ethereal, thrilling.

New York Times

Yes, they really said this. It’s amazing. Take a look.

Rome2Rio: Rome2Rio Online and Free app format

An aggregator of a different breed. I am not a TripAdvisor fan. The site and app are overburdened with useless, lackluster reviews. In fact most review-driven travel sites are pretty useless. But I do use and enjoy this app when I’m looking for interesting destinations, regional and city highlights and a variety of ways to get there. It’s a robust site and an easy to use app.

Converter+ : Free app format

Converter+ is a unit converter with an extensive list of currencies and units in hundreds of categories. I use the ones for currencies and a quick read on pricing. Not a life-changer but convenient at those times your brain refuses to recompute from dollars, euros, dinars, shekels, lira (insert currency of choice here.)

Rick Steves Audio Europe: ricksteves.com online, Podcast and Free app format

Every traveler knows Rick. His published travel guides have near biblical status in the budget travel genre. But they’re also cumbersome and the print is really tiny. And who needs paper maps? The app, (with maps) online product and podcasts are a better option. The app is free, you can research the european city of interest, pop in your ear buds and check out his guide. Great online as well. Curated reviews.

If you’d prefer informative entertainment, there’s an endless list of guest authors and titles: David Sedaris in Paris, Frances Mayes in Tuscany, Coffee in Europe, Ken Burns, Steve Inskeep’s Foreign Intelligence and on and on.

With Locals: withlocals.com online and Free app format

This is an interesting app that allows you to customize solo (or couples or group) travel by activity using the guidance and expertise from the locals. While protecting your privacy and safety. Put in a destination city and explore things to do based on your customized profile. It has a comprehensive build-out of destinations and the app is easy to use. You can also chat online with one of their panel of local hosts, ask specific travel, restaurant, cultural-event related questions or book a customized tour with one of their certified well-reviewed guides.

Visiting Marrakech as a solo adult? What should you see? What are the Highlights and Hidden Gems? Where can I book a Djemaa El Fna Square Market Tour and Food Tasting? This is your app for local knowledge worldwide. Read detailed descriptions and if you decide to book a guide, you have pricing and the option to chat personally with your local host.

Check it out online and then load the app.

Packtor Packing List Creator: Packtor.com Online an Free App format

Of all the travel packing list generating apps, I prefer Packtor. It’s the ideal for a multi-destination trip but excellent for single city/country trips as well. The trip qualifiers ( destination, dates, transport, activities ) are great guidelines for curating the types of things you may want to include in your suitcase. And it also offers a nice “fail-safe” for those moments when you are certain you’ve forgotten something essential. Review, relax, edit and pack. It’s intuitive, simple. And you can sync with your online lists. And reuse lists from earlier trips. Note: the ads are annoying so if you like it, pay the $2.99 upgrade and use it ad-free forever.

Flush Toilet Finder: Free App format

This is as basic as it gets. Download it, enable location services or type in your location and voila! Mapped for you are the closest bathrooms with some information on the facilities offered. It’s not always foolproof but it’s a great travel tool and will make you a lot of friends on a tour.

Tip Calculator % Gold: Free App format

Here’s the thing, tipping is culturally based. You need to research this before you travel to wherever you’re going. THEN, use this app to compute your share of the bill and the appropriate tip percentage you decide upon. Why is this useful? Often, if traveling with a group or sharing a meal with new friends it’s easier to divide the ticket by the number of diners and add a tip. This, I find, is an acceptable way to arrive at your share and add your tip. End of awkward conversations. Try it. I’m betting you like it more than you think you will. Did I mention it’s free?

Side note, I do not receive any compensation for these shares. They are my own finds and preferences. I use all of these apps.

Have a favorite app? I’d love to hear about it and share!