One of the things I see asked all the time, both by people who are moving here to Germany and by visitors, is what apps do I use! Many of the same U.S. apps still work here of course, but there are a few new ones that do the job a bit better! Here are my must-have apps for travel planning!

Navigation

Google Maps. Essentially the do-it-all for travel planning! It of course has accurate navigation for Europe, but I also use it for scouting attractions, looking for hotels, navigating metro systems, looking for restaurants. Really this is the app I use the most! I save pins of locations I read about and want to remember. It’s great for finding parking (which is essential in Europe!) and planning multi-stop roadtrips. If I could only have one app to plan travel, it would be this one!

Waze Navigation & Live Traffic. You want this app if you plan to do any driving! Europe, and Germany in particular, is known for their speed cameras! You will rarely see a Polizei performing speed checks, but you will almost certainly drive past a speed camera! Waze is the best app for databasing speed cameras. It gives you a vocal warning for speed cameras, police, cars on the shoulder, debris in the road, etc. It utilizes crowd-sourcing to give real-time traffic updates, and alternate routes which can save you a lot of time!

Airfare Booking

Google Flights is not an app, but this is what I use almost exclusively to look for flights. I especially like the “Anywhere” option when we just have a long weekend and don’t know where to go.

Ryanair. I’m sure you have heard of the super cheap flights in Europe. Ryanair is one of the more popular of these discount airlines. Ryanair is known to have seasonal sales for prices as low as €9.99 each way! These do not include a bag or a seat reservation though. And it is important to know that Ryanair, and all other discount airlines for that matter, do not fly into or out of every airport. There are a handful of airports in Germany that Ryanair flys to, and the closest one to us is 1.5 hour drive away.

Skyscanner. In lieu of downloading every discount airline app to your phone, just use Skyscanner. It is great at including the discount airlines in it’s search. It also has the “Explore Everywhere” feature, and helpfully lists the prices on the calendar so you can pick a cheaper fare if your dates are flexible.

Train Booking

Tainline. I use Trainline almost exclusively. There are instances where another app is more helpful, but they are few and far between (usually in a small regional area like the Cinque Terre in Italy.) This app is easy to navigate and almost always has the best prices!

DB Navigator. This is a German train app. Deutsche Bahn. It’s a great app for timelines, but is not always the most user friendly. Even when the app setting is in English, it still shows the tickets in German. Which makes it more difficult to navigate to your track, train car, and seat. It does tend to have more possible routes than Trainline though, which is why I still think it is necessary to have.

Lodging Booking

Booking.com. Nine times out of ten, I use Booking for hotel reservations. The price across all hotel booking apps is generally pretty comparable, but I have the added Genius discount and a 10% rebate from linking my Amazon Prime account, which tends to make their rate more competitive. I never use only Booking for hotel research though. I always comparison shop— everything!

Google Travel– again not an app, but I always use the hotels feature on Google to look for hotels. You can do this in Google Maps app as well. I love that Google will list the price against multiple websites, ensuring that I can get the best price! And sometimes the best rate is from the hotel website, so always check those as well!

Airbnb. I seem to be using Airbnb less and less, especially now that Google and Booking have begun including vacation rentals in their searches. However, Airbnb is still a very popular app in Europe, so I think it’s still important to have.

Attractions

GetYourGuide. I use various apps to research attractions and purchase entry. GetYourGuide is what I use the most often, but again, I always price check with other apps. I also find other apps sometimes have different offers, so I like to check multiple.

Viator is my second go to for booking tours and activities. I have found some guided tours through this app that were not available in others, so I think its important to have.

Tripadvisor is the most used app by Europeans. You will see the Tripadvisor sign on restaurants, at attractions, in hotels, etc, asking you to leave them a rating. I don’t use it much to book attractions, but I do use it to look for restaurants sometimes, and to look at ratings.

Visitacity. This is another great app for researching and booking travel attractions, but it has the added feature of providing some pre-planned itineraries. If you get overwhelmed with planning 4 days in Paris for instance, you can use the “Plans” feature in this app as your guide. It provides full itineraries for anywhere from 1-7 days, and arranges them in an efficient way. It also provides the opening hours and options to purchase tickets within the app. The itineraries are also customizable to your preferences. These really take a lot of work out of trip planning!

Atlas Obscura is a great app for finding the off-the-beaten path attractions. Maybe you want to see a water tower painted like R2D2, or a whimsical house with a working volcano, or to find all of the Giant trolls in the woods around Copenhagen. This is the app for that!

World of Castles. If you are a castle hunter, you will want this app! It divides by country first, then gives you an interactive map to show all of the castles and some castle ruins. It also includes some Abbeys. The app includes a brief history, the opening hours, and cost of entrance.

Rick Steves Audio Europe. If you are a fan of Rick Steves and would like a personal tour, try this app! Organized by city, this app offers audio you can use to do a self-paced walking tour. The audio is available for download, so you don’t need a wifi connection or cell service to use it. This is a great resource for learning about the city if you don’t want to do a traditional walking tour.

Freetour.com. If you prefer a group tour, Freetour offers free walking tours in small groups. This is a great option if you feel more comfortable with a guide but are also on a budget. These tours are technically free, but tipping the guide is expected.

Transportation

Google Maps. Again, this is my go to for most things. And for metro and bus trips, it cannot be beat! Simply add your destination and get directions. Select the bus icon and all the possible public transportation options will populate. Google takes all the guess work out of it! it tells you how far to walk to the metro stop, which line to get on and in which direction, how many stops to ride to, where to switch lines and which line to switch to. It literally gives you itemized instructions to get to your destination. Could not be easier!

Another feature on Google maps when you are looking for directions, is the taxi option. From this screen Google will show you which Ride-sharing providers are located in your city. Uber, Bolt, FreeNow, and Lyft are common. I like to use these over a taxi for two reasons; I don’t have to worry about the language barrier when the location and payment is done through the app, and the set price over the time price of a taxi is more economical in most cases.

Other Helpful Apps

Google Translate is the translation app I use most often. It is especially helpful for it’s real-time picture function for translating menus and signs.

DeepL Translate. Another translator app. DeepL gives a more accurate translation of meaning, rather than a word-for-word translation. It’s great for trying to have a conversation, or translating news from the radio.

Flush Toilet Finder & Map. So helpful! Toilets in Europe are rarely free, and are often hard to find. I use this app regularly. Hot tip: if you are in a pinch and the app is failing you, stop at any cafe and order any drink to use their bathroom. This happens a lot in Amsterdam when the noted bathroom is really just a men’s pissoir.

If you happen to want to rent a car, Sixt is the leading car rental company. Europcar is another popular option. Both have apps, or you can use a search engine to book. Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, and Thrifty are also still used here, and a good option if your pickup/drop-off points are in larger cities.

And that concludes my app roundup! Did you find this helpful? I am planning another post for the most common questions I get from people coming to visit. So if you have any questions you want answered, send me an email or post them in the comments!