If your idea of travel planning involves 47 open tabs, three half-finished packing lists and a spreadsheet called FINAL_FINAL_V2_REALLY_THIS_TIME.xlsx, you're not alone.
Planning a trip is a bit like assembling IKEA flat-pack furniture. Doable, but a time-suck and an emotional rollercoaster without the right tools.
Luckily, there's an app for that. Actually, there are several.
Whether you're planning a romantic break in Rome, a wild European road trip with a group of pals or an epic solo trek, the right travel planner app can turn a logistical nightmare into a well-organised dream.
Why Use a Travel Planner App?
Planning a trip used to involve spreadsheets, notebooks and maybe even a trip to the travel agent.
Now, you can sort your itinerary, track flights, collaborate with friends and even find hidden gems from the comfort of your own phone.
The best travel planner apps in this post will help you find and organise:
- Flights
- Hotels
- Maps
- Activities
- Road trips
- Group trips
- Mobile data
So let's get to it - save yourself a tonne of time and effort with my list of the best apps for planning travel in 2025.
The Best Apps for Planning Travel
1. TripIt
Ideal for: Quickly and conveniently putting together itineraries for general travel, business trips and Bleisure travel.
Price: Free or TripIt Pro - £38.99 a year*
What does it do?: The TripIt app is a free travel planning app that organises your trips. It can easily and quickly create an itinerary using your confirmation emails - who knew?
It also keeps all your travel details in one place, where you can access them anytime.
Forward your flight, hotel, car, or other reservation confirmation emails to TripIt. It'll then automatically add them to your trip itinerary.
Tripit is compatible with a long list of travel providers, including most major airlines. This means it can easily pull confirmations from them into the app.
Other cool features of this useful travel planning app are alternative flight suggestions, check-in reminders, sharing your itinerary with friends and family, pinging you notifications of itinerary changes, e.g. a pre-flight gate change and tallying up your travel stats.
This includes the total number of miles you travelled and how many cities and countries you visited - always satisfying to see in writing.
And now that one of its main competitors, Tripcase, has been retired, Tripit remains a heavyweight in the best apps for planning travel arena.
- Pros: Syncs with a long list of travel providers, offers useful auto reminders.
- Cons: Dated UX, possibly not ideal for spontaneous trips.
2. Wanderlog
Ideal for: Group travel planning, road trippers.
Price: Free version or Wanderlog Pro plans available from £4.99 a month.
What does it do?: Wanderlog is like having a digital clipboard for your entire trip. You can map your full itinerary, add hotel and flight details, plot attractions on a custom map and share all your plans with family and pals.
It's especially handy for group travel. You can all collaborate in real time, leave notes, track budgets and keep everything in one place.
The ability to access it offline is also a big win when you're struggling to get online abroad.
Note: Pop over to the Airalo store for a solution to that particular problem.
- Pros: Real-time collaboration, offline access
- Cons: Slightly overwhelming interface
3. Roadtrippers
Ideal for: Driving trips, vanlifers
Price: Free and Basic/Pro/Premium plans from £34.99/year*
What does it do?: If you love the wind in your hair, the open road and the independence of self-driving, Roadtrippers is the travel planning app for you.
Pop in your starting point and destination and it'll help you discover quirky stops, natural wonders, diners and roadside attractions along the way.
More than this, it estimates fuel costs, helps with route planning and even lets you share your whole trip plan with travel buddies.
It shines in the US and parts of Europe, making it great for that big vanlife adventure or driving holiday.
- Pros: Identifies unique and interesting stop-offs, estimates costs
- Cons: Narrow focus on driving holidays
4. Pilot
Ideal for: Group trips
Price: Free
What does it do?: Pilot is part travel planner, part social platform.
You can build a full itinerary with flights, activities and restaurants.
And you can see what others are planning and the things other travellers have done and would recommend at your next destination.
Pilot is also collaborative, so your group can vote on decisions, split expenses and message other users directly in the app.
It's ideal for contributing ideas to your travel group and providing a central digital space to organise the chaos.
- Pros: Voting system, shared chats, expenses visibility
- Cons: Everyone has to be a user to take full advantage of the group features
5. Travaa
Ideal for: Families, personal and group travel.
Price: Free or Lite/Standard/Adventurer plans from US$9 (£6.68) a year.
What does it do?: Travaa is perfect for travellers who love to plan down to the minute.
You can create a detailed timeline of your entire trip, broken down by days and hours, with maps, links and notes included.
It's a great tool for families, complex itineraries or anyone who doesn't want to miss a thing.
You can share your itinerary with others too, so everyone knows where they need to be and when.
- Pros: Detailed timelines, shareable plans
- Cons: Initial setup requires some time and effort
Bonus: Apps for Smooth Travel Preparation
I'd like to make an honourable mention of a couple of other helpful apps.
While not travel planning apps per se, these truly complement the travel planning process by helping you nail the important details.
Airalo
Ideal for: Staying connected to the internet wherever you are
Price: Data packages start from 1 GB for free in some countries - see individual locations for detailed costs
What does it do?: Airalo lets you buy and install an eSIM straight onto your phone, giving you instant mobile data in 200+ destinations.
No looking for plastic SIM cards right after you land, or crying over shock roaming bills once you get back.
It also allows you to stay independent as you go. You choose how much data you buy, whether you want to top up and enjoy instant internet connection when you land in a new destination.
Airalo is a lifesaver for getting online quickly, staying connected and aware when you travel.
Not to mention allowing you to check maps, access your bookings and tickets and message friends and family while you're away from home.
What's the Best Travel Planner App for You?
There's no one-size-fits-all answer – but whichever app suits you best, don't forget about data.
Because even the best app is useless if you're stuck desperately hunting for free Wi-Fi in a petrol station car park.
Packpoint
It doesn't create itineraries or design your trip. But I've mentioned Packpoint here because getting your stuff ready ahead of a trip is almost as important as the trip itself.
PackPoint is a brilliant packing checklist companion for travellers. It organises what to pack based on your trip length, the weather forecast at your destination and whatever activities you have planned.
You definitely won't be forgetting those reef shoes on your next trip. It even syncs with TripIt to build lists from itineraries.
Packpoint is available for free or on a premium tier for £2.49 a year.
Travel Planning Sorted? Don't Forget Your eSIM
The best travel planner apps help you stay organised, but a great trip also requires you to stay connected.
That's where Airalo comes in. With a travel eSIM, you can:
- Avoid sky-high roaming fees
- Stay online in 200+ destinations
- Access your itinerary, bookings and maps on the go
- Download and install from home before you go
Just visit the Airalo store, choose your destination and how much data you need, install your eSIM and go.
