Top apps to plan, explore and enjoy your December holidays

As South Africa enters the Christmas holiday period, many people are still unsure whether to get some rest or if they want to take a break at all.

If you haven’t planned your holiday yet, travel apps can come to your rescue and help you plan that much need break away from the rat race, albeit for a short while.

Travel apps are your companions for exploring the world, from the moment you start planning your trip until you return home.

Whether you’re travelling in South Africa or going on an international adventure over the summer holidays, TCL has recommended some great Android apps to help make your trip smooth, memorable, and stress-free.

Try these Android apps for the December holidays.

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Accommodation

Airbnb

With the Airbnb app, you can find accommodation at more than seven million holiday homes across more than 220 countries and regions.

Whether you’re looking for a pool, a kitchen or accessibility features like step-free entry, you can review every home’s details at a glance – and see what other guests who’ve stayed there think about it, too.

Booking.com

Booking.com is another useful tool to find accommodation for your holiday. You can choose from 1.5 million properties, including hotels and apartments. Search by city, attraction, landmark or hotel name with just one tap, and filter by price, review score, Wi-Fi quality and other aspects that are important to you.

Navigation

Google Maps

Google Maps helps you find your way in South Africa and more than 220 other countries. Get real-time GPS navigation, traffic and public transport info, save time with automatic rerouting based on live traffic and explore local areas by knowing where to eat, drink and go – no matter what part of the world you’re in.

Waze

Waze is a live map that harnesses the local knowledge of tens of millions of drivers around the world. It helps you safely and confidently reach your destination with live traffic updates, real-time safety alerts (including roadworks, accidents, crashes, police, potholes and more), and accurate ETAs.

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Translation

Google Translate

Don’t let the fact you don’t know Mandarin or French stop you from making the most of your holiday. With Google Translate, you can get text translations between 108 languages by typing or copying text. You can also translate text in images instantly by just pointing your camera across 94 languages.

Microsoft Translator

Microsoft Translator is a free, personal translation app for more than 70 languages, to translate text, voice, conversations, camera photos and screenshots. You can also download languages for offline translation for free to use when you travel.

Itinerary management and planning

Tripadvisor

Take your travel planning on the go with the Tripadvisor app. Discover many things to do, places to stay, and spots to eat, whether you’re mapping out your trip from your hotel room or looking for a quick coffee between tours.

TripIt

As soon as you book a flight, hotel, rental car or other travel plan, simply forward it to plans@tripit.com and this app will automatically add it to your comprehensive itinerary. This makes it easy to sync travel plans to your calendar or share them with anyone you choose. You can also upload PDFs, photos, boarding passes, digital passport QR codes and more to your travel itinerary so you can track everything in one place.

Wanderlog

Wanderlog is an easy-to-use, free travel app for planning every kind of trip, including road trips and group travel, create a trip itinerary, organise flight, hotel, and car reservations, view places to visit on a map, and collaborate with friends. After your trip, you can share a travel guide to inspire other travellers.

Tours and recreation

Komoot

Turn your next ride, hike, or run into an adventure with Komoot. Get inspired by tapping into shared community knowledge and recommendations, then bring your adventures to life with the easy route planner. Get your first region for free and say hello to your next adventure!

Rome2Rio

The super-handy Rome2Rio travel app makes trip planning quick, easy, and hassle-free. Use it to research, compare, and coordinate your transport options across 240 countries and territories around the world. Whether you prefer to travel by train, ferry, bus, plane, or car, you’re sure to find the option that suits your needs.

Viator

Whether you need inspiration for things to do on your trip or want to access your tickets on the go, the Viator app has you covered. You can browse an amazing selection of tours and activities before and during your trip, easily access tickets offline, and modify, edit, or cancel your bookings from wherever you are.

VoiceMap

Experience the magic of GPS audio walks, cycles, drives and even boat rides with VoiceMap’s self-guided tours in over 400 destinations worldwide. They’re like podcasts that move with you, to tell stories about what you’re seeing right now. They’re produced by local storytellers, including journalists, filmmakers, novelists, podcasters, and tour guides.

Other useful travel apps

PackPoint

PackPoint is a travel packing list organiser and packing planner. It helps you organise what you need to pack in your luggage and suitcase based on length of travel, weather at your destination, and any activities planned during your trip. Once your packing list is built and organised, PackPoint will save it for you, and you can share it with others.

TravelSpend

TravelSpend is an app to track your spending while traveling the world. It’s perfect for you if you are planning your next trip or are already on vacation. If you travel in a group, you can share expenses with friends and family to see “who owes who”.

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