The best apps to download for travelling in Europe

Whether you’re taking a smartphone or a tablet on your trip around Europe, there are plenty of apps available on iOS and Android to make your life easier

The beauty of today’s technology is that it makes our travels far easier than ever before. Whether you’re taking a slick smartphone or a trusty tablet on your trip around Europe, there are plenty of apps available on iOS and Android to enhance your European experience. The days of grappling with an over-sized map whilst walking along a street are long gone. Mobile apps arm us with more information and local knowledge than you could glean from sitting down to dinner with a local resident for an entire evening. If you’re planning a summer break across Europe, either as a solo traveller or as part of a group, make sure the following apps are downloaded beforehand to turn your mobile device into a veritable Swiss army knife on the go.

1 – Language

We know how embarrassing it can be when you are trying to have a two-way conversation with a stranger abroad. However, Google Translate’s free app makes it easy to carry out two-way speech translations as well as detailed photo translations – perfect for ironing out any misconstrued comments at your accommodation or perhaps at a local restaurant. There are language packs that you can download separately for use offline when you don’t have Wi-Fi signal or 4G when exploring the streets of your next European country.

2 – Security

The last thing you want when heading out on an exciting trip around Europe is to experience any emergencies. It’s important you remain street-wise and take sufficient care of your belongings, especially your mobile devices. Prey is a handy app that can track multiple electronic devices using GPS to help you recover any lost or stolen smartphones, tablets or laptops. Further still, if you cannot retrieve your devices, you can also ask Prey to wipe all sensitive data saved on the device remotely.

3 – Food

For some people, food is a huge part of understanding and experiencing local cultures. The last thing you want to do is make a bad restaurant choice and waste some of your hard-earned holiday money on an average, bland meal. TheFork is an excellent mobile app that works on both iOS and Android devices. You can find over 40,000 restaurants dotted around Europe, combined with detailed reviews from TheFork’s foodie community to guide you. Some restaurants listed also offer exclusive discounts to TheFork’s users. If you’re thinking of popping across the Channel to the UK, Deliveroo is also a handy service that delivers takeaways, from fresh pepperoni pizza and chow meins to ice cream desserts and cakes, to your accommodation, allowing you to put your feet up after a busy day of sight-seeing.

4 – Currency conversion

Finally, the easiest method to avoid businesses overcharging you abroad is to make sure you have the up-to-the-minute exchange rates to hand. XE Currency is a handy app that doesn’t require you to be connected to Wi-Fi or 4G connectivity to work.

What’s great about the majority of these apps is that they are absolutely free and can make a huge difference to creating your perfect European vacation. With a little research and forward-planning, you can be prepared for absolutely any scenario when you’re out on the open road.

Image credits: Pixabay.com CC0 Creative Commons