Whether it’s a hot and sunny getaway like the beach, where you can sink your toes in the hot sand and feel the sharp contrast with the cool sea breeze, or experience the peace and quiet of nature as you trek through a forest and bask into the richness of life. Every single one of us needs to recharge and relax (RnR).

But there’s a catch. It’s not an instant RnR moment just because you thought of going on a vacation. You still have to deal with real life, meaning you’ll have to go through the arduous and stressful process of booking your tickets—whether you’re travelling via aeroplane or a bus along the countryside—as well as reserve your accommodation and plan your itinerary. It’s such a hassle that you’ll think twice if you need the vacation.

Luckily there’s another stress-free way to plan your next weekend getaway with the help of these top travel apps.

Airbnb

If you’re searching for accommodations aside from the traditional hotels, that could rack up your expenses, or if you’re simply looking for a more eccentric but home-like lodging experience, then Airbnb is the travel app for you.

With the touch of a button, Airbnb helps connect travellers to cheaper alternatives while economically empowering millions of people from all over the world to monetise their spaces and become small hospitality entrepreneurs. They are an accommodation marketplace in the convenient form of an app that curates the lodgings and their locations for short or long term options. You have a wide variety to choose from such as leases or vacation rentals, apartments, homestays, hostels and hotels from all around the world.

Skyscanner

For most of us, a good budgeted trip to your vacation destination without sacrificing any of your conveniences or creature comforts is already considered a major win. That’s how it is with Skyscanner, one of the best travel apps for budget travellers and weekend adventurers.

A cult favourite for seasoned flyers, Skyscanner helps travellers by offering a special feature called the metasearch. It essentially shows all the flights, hotels, car rental options available to you in a curated list from their global partners and online travel re-sellers. From there, they compare the prices from all the given options, and you choose the best choice for your trip.

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Viator

Not everyone enjoys going with the flow and following wherever their feet may take them. In fact, some vacationers enjoy a little hand-holding or a tour from local guides. If you’re one of those people, then Viator is the travel app for you.

Viator is a TripAdvisor company that is known as the best travel app for finding unforgettable tours, activities and amazing experiences that you can enjoy with your family and friends. Or maybe even by yourself, if you enjoy exploring and relaxing at your own pace. Viator is free to access and easy to use. It makes booking your tours and day or night trips hassle-free giving you more time to enjoy your vacation as you snap a few selfies for the gram.

TripIt

One of the major stressors, when you should be enjoying your vacation, is having all your travel documents—like the confirmation emails for your hotel accommodations, or for your rental car—accessible when you’re already on the move. Not everyone is organised, so a lot of us hassle ourselves by going through our emails or rustling through our bags for these travel documents. It’s simply awful, and you can easily save yourself from this common vacationer woes with the help of a great travel app called TripIt.

TripIt organises everything. It connects automatically and compiles your travel information into one neat and organised itinerary, all from the confirmation messages you receive via your email. TripIt finds the important details for your flights, hotels, rental reservations, and even your restaurant booking and curates an organised interface that can easily be viewed. It’s just the best travel app organiser from the frequent flyer to the weekend adventurer.

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Hopper

It’s common knowledge among seasoned travellers that the best way to buy your plane tickets cheaply is to book it on an earlier date. Not days but months. For example, if you want to fly off to the beach for some sunshine, or off to another country to experience a different culture. For frequent flyers that book months prior, they are able a ton of money. There is a great travel app that does that and more, and it’s called Hopper.

Hopper helps you track flight prices to your dream destinations and even gives you periodic updates on the app and on your email letting you know when exactly you should book your flight. What makes this the best travel app for budget travellers is in the details. It just doesn’t tell you to wait when you should buy, but it also gives you a system prediction of when the price will likely rise or drop.

Agoda

Wherever you are in the world, finding a place to unwind and rest your tired head is so important. But sometimes you don’t simply get clean sheets and good food. You end up booking bad accommodations because what looked promising on some booking sites turns out to be a sad lie that just cost you money. Worry not, there are wonderful travel apps like Agoda that makes sure that the accommodation you booked is clean, good, and simply perfect for you to relax and have fun.

Agoda is a travel app that shows you thousands of accommodations from all over the globe. They showcase a variety of lodging accommodations from hotel rooms, apartments, homes, and even bed and breakfast. With a wide array to choose from it’s hard to decide, but with the help of reviews from other Agoda users, you can wisely choose which is best for you.

TripAdvisor

When scrolling through the internet and searching for the best places to check out and stay for your next weekend getaway. You come across an advertisement with a picture on it, that appeals to you and so you book it. Blindly trusting advertisements is never a wise decision, especially if you’re planning your vacation. But no worries, there is a travel app for that, it’s called TripAdvisor.

TripAdvisor has the best online sources for travellers all at the palm of your hand. It gives you in-depth reviews of hotels, restaurants and sites, and fellow users upload photos that give you a glimpse of the places you’ve been dying to see. TripAdvisor has the richest resources for you to search from. With a large and active user community, say 'no' to blind booking to hotel accommodations or even restaurant reservations.

Waze

There are days when all you want to do is pack up your car and go on a road trip with your friends. With the windows rolled down the wind in your hair and jamming to the tunes of your favourite music. But then you meet the traffic and get stuck in it, or worse, your car gets stuck because of the awful road condition. Worry not though, you can avoid that with the help of an app called Waze.

Waze is not a traditional travel app; it’s popular among taxi drivers and car service drivers. But for the road warriors and weekend road trippers, this app is still a huge help. Waze is a free community-driven app that reports traffic and road conditions. While it does have similarities to its counterpart, Google Maps, Waze gives more detailed information. So avoiding that pothole would have been easy and no more traffic woes.

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Every day you wake up, go to work and go back home. Its eat, sleep, work, and repeat. This vicious cycle that we call our work life is good because it’s our bread and butter, but even the best of us tire from our daily routine. That’s why we need to have vacations! So go on and try out these top travel apps and watch yourself enjoy your weekend getaway stress-free!

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