10 Essential Travel Apps For Short European Breaks
Key Takeaway
For a stress-free travel experience, using essential travel apps for booking, planning and navigating during your trip is key. Mobile apps can help find cheap flights, book hotels, manage an itinerary and navigate local transport in new cities.
Recommended apps include: Skyscanner, Booking.com, Wanderlog, Omio, Get Your Guide, Trip Advisor, aloSim, Monzo and the iPhone calculator app for currency conversions.
Planning a short European break but don’t want to waste a single moment on logistics?
If you’re a solo traveller like me, squeezing in a weekend escape from your 9-to-5, the right travel apps can make your trip smoother, smarter and way more fun.
Over the past few years, I’ve taken countless European weekend getaways, often travelling alone and usually on a budget. And with experience I’ve come to rely on a handful of essential travel apps that save me time, money, and stress. From booking last-minute flights to navigating unfamiliar train stations (and yes, even finding public toilets when I’m lost in a new city), these tools have saved me more times than I can count.
In this post, I’m sharing the best travel apps for European weekend breaks – the ones I actually use on every trip. If you want to skip the planning overwhelm and travel like a pro, start with these.
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Why Use Essential Travel Apps?
A 2025 survey by Business of Apps found over 925 million people used a travel app last year. While a separate study by Hilton shows 76% of global travellers look for essential travel apps that reduce the friction and stress of travel.
With the world at your fingertips, there are many apps that can help plan, navigate and stay safe while you’re taking a break from the office and finding adventure out in the world.
Here are my top picks:
Planning Your Trip with Ease
Best App For Booking Flights – Skyscanner
Skyscanner is my go-to essential travel app for finding cheap flights. I love that I can search by destination, or just pop in my available dates and choose ‘Everywhere’ to find the cheapest deals.
Best features:
- Flexible search options (by date or location)
- Alerts for price drops
- Easy to compare airlines and times
I’ve booked several return flights for under £30 this way. If you’re flexible on where and when to go, Skyscanner is a total game-changer.
Top tip: Check out this post for additional tips on finding cheap flights.
Best App for Booking Hotels – Booking.com
When it comes to accommodation, I nearly always use Booking.com to find my preferred hotel, hostel or apartment.
Best features:
- Useful filters to find the accommodation type you’re looking for
- Results can be sorted by price, guest rating and distance from the city centre
- Handy map view for finding hidden gems in great locations
It’s also useful for sending and receiving messages to and from your hotel, which I’ve needed to do a few times when my flight has been delayed. Just remember never to send any payment this way, if asked.
Top tip: Always check the recent reviews and photos before booking. I’ve dodged some very sketchy places thanks to those!
Navigating Cities Smartly
Best App for Itinerary Management – Wanderlog
Wanderlog is amazing for organising your whole trip in one place. I use this for every single trip I take.
I create a trip, add my flights and hotel info by forwarding the confirmation emails, then plan out the sights I want to see each day. It even links to Google Maps for directions between locations.
Best features:
- It imports transport and accommodation details to save you time
- You can create a daily itinerary of activities and map out a route between points of interest for efficiency
- Additional sights and food spots can be added to separate categories, with the map customisable to show only what you want to see
Wanderlog saves me so much time by helping me plan out points of interest and map out the easiest route. And for me, it reduces the confusion of “erm, what am I doing next?!” on those tiring travel days.
Top tip: This is the only free app I’ve found that allows friends to collaborate on shared trips. It’s much easier and fairer when everyone can contribute to group plans.
Check out my tips on how to plan a travel itinerary when life is busy.
Best App for Local Transport – Omio
If you’re travelling by bus or train in Europe, Omio is a must. It shows the best routes and lets you buy tickets in the app.
Best features:
- Competitive prices
- Accurate timetables and live tracking
- Helps avoids fines by allowing you to activate digital tickets on your phone before boarding (especially important in countries like Italy!)
I’ve booked last-minute buses in Moldova and trains in Italy through Omio. It’s so much easier to check times and purchase tickets online when you don’t speak the language or don’t have any local currency.
Top tip: Download tickets to your digital wallet as well, in case of loss of data signal.
Best App for Experiences – Get Your Guide
For tours, day trips and fun experiences, Get Your Guide is brilliant. I’ve used it to book everything from sunset river cruises to cross-border day trips.
Best features:
- Shows trusted reviews and detailed listings
- Stores digital mobile tickets
- Offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before (handy if plans change)
Some of my best travel memories have come from GYG experiences, including a fantastic day tour to the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania. You’ll usually find loads to choose from in most major cities.
Top tip: Be sure to check the app (or switch on notifications) for details of your meeting point, and for any important messages or updates from your experience provider.
Finding Food & Drinks
Best App for Restaurants – TripAdvisor
I always check TripAdvisor before picking a place to eat. It’s one of my most essential travel apps for finding delicious local cuisine, because the photos and reviews give a real feel for what you’ll get.
Best features:
- It shows recent traveller reviews
- I can see unedited food photos
- Menu prices are often shown, so I can stay within my budget
I’ve avoided tourist traps (you know the type, where a staff member stands outside and tries to draw you in – they are rarely any good) and found incredible authentic local spots thanks to this app.
Top tip: Click the heart in the top right-hand corner on any restaurant or location page to save it for later, and for more similar suggestions in the app.
Staying Safe & Connected
Best App for Data Abroad – aloSIM
Staying online is key when you’re navigating new places. If you’re travelling outside the EU, aloSIM offers affordable eSIM data packages.
Having tested a few eSIM apps, this is by far the quickest and easiest to use when visiting countries not covered by EU data roaming.
Best features:
- Buy and install the eSIM you need before you travel, and activate it before take off
- Use it for maps, messages and safety via location sharing
- Check your usage and remaining allowance quickly in the app
Over 70% of travellers use messaging apps abroad, but data roaming outside the EU can be pricey. If I used data as I normally do with my usual provider, it would cost hundreds. With aloSIM, I can stay connected without a huge shock bill.
Top tip: You can buy, download and activate the eSIM while abroad, you’ll just need to be connected to a good WiFi signal to do it.
Unsure on whether this eSIM is right for you? My full aloSIM review post has all the information you need to decide.
Currency & Budgeting
Best App for Money Management – Monzo
Monzo is brilliant for travellers, I’m a long-time fan having joined when it was still in beta phase. I use it for fee-free spending abroad and real-time exchange rates.
Best features:
- Expense tracking, with instant notifications
- Includes physical, digital and virtual cards
- Offers easy trip budget splitting with friends
When I lost my debit card in Moldova (yes, that is the second time I have sacrificed a debit card to the ATM Gods while abroad!), I simply froze it and ordered a new one in the app. I could add the digital version of the new one to my digital wallet straight away to continue spending. Without this feature, I would have been stuck and pretty stressed out. But I was able to just shrug it off as it simply wasn’t an issue. That alone makes it worth it.
And if you’re travelling with other Monzo users, the new split tool is fantastic! You all add any shared transactions to the split as you go, and Monzo keeps a running tally of what each person owes – and it’s just one click to settle up with everyone at the end. I used it for the first time recently, and it was so much easier than using a pen, paper and calculator! My brain just can’t handle that!
💰 Join Monzo using my link and get free money to kick-start your travel spending!
Best Currency Conversion Tool – iPhone Calculator / XE
If you’ve got an iPhone, there’s a new, hidden feature that’s made it one of my most essential travel apps when abroad.
In the native calculator app, just click on the little calculator icon in the bottom left corner and toggle the switch to turn it into a currency converter. For Android users, the XE Currency app is a great alternative.
Best features:
- Quick conversions while shopping
- Helps avoid overspending or getting ripped off
I use this constantly on every trip. It’s surprisingly handy at supermarkets or checking if that souvenir fridge magnet is actually a good price!
Top tip: Simply select your ‘from’ and ‘to’ currencies once, and then it’s quick to open and continue using during your trip.
Other Useful Apps
Here are a few bonus apps I use regularly on short UK and European trips:
- Flush – Finds nearby public toilets (especially useful after a cocktail or two!)
- Refill – Shows free water refill points (mainly UK, but a few other cities worldwide)
- Google Translate – Translates speech and text (I often use the camera tool to scan menus or signs)
- Flighty – Real-time flight updates and notifications of delays (currently only available on iOS)
- Pangea – Meet travellers nearby (great for solo trips)
- Been – Track countries, cities and airports you’ve visited on a world map
- DaySoon – Countdown app with widgets for upcoming trips (currently only available on iOS)
Additional Tips
- Always download offline maps before you go – you can do this in Google Maps to continue navigating even without data. You just won’t get real-time traffic updates and public transport schedules.
- Use in-app reviews and forums for authentic travel tips and feedback on locations and experiences.
The right travel apps can totally transform your trip, and remove a lot of the uncertainty and stress. Let’s face it, we get enough of that at work, and we travel to escape it, right?!
Whether you’re heading to Rome or Reykjavik, using some essential travel apps will help you plan better, spend smarter and enjoy your trip more.
So download these apps and give them a try before your next flight, and feel relaxed and prepared as you pack your bags and head for the airport!
Ready to get planning? Check out more of my favourite trip resources here.
