Travelling to Europe? Here are the essential travel apps you need to download | Euronews

## Summary
From booking trains and finding your way around a new city to translating menus, splitting costs, and handling digital border formalities, apps have become a much bigger part of how people travel, especially in Europe. Top tip: Make sure you download the EU’s official Travel to Europe app and do not confuse it with ETIAS – the European Travel Information and Authorisation System – which is scheduled to launch in late 2026. Plan a day out hiking the great outdoors Eddy Billard via Unsplash Flights and accommodation Skyscanner: This remains one of the most useful apps for finding flights around Europe, especially if your dates are flexible and your budget is not limitless. Money and exchange rates Wise: Wise is a very useful app for travellers moving between currencies, especially on longer Europe trips.

## Article Content
By&nbsp
Mohammad Shayan Ahmad
Published on
05/04/2026 - 8:00 GMT+2
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From trains and translation to booking stays and splitting costs, these are the apps that can make travelling around Europe much easier.
From booking trains and finding your way around a new city to translating menus, splitting costs, and handling digital border formalities, apps have become a much bigger part of how people travel, especially in Europe.
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The best ones save time, cut stress, and help things run more smoothly when you are moving between countries.
Here’s the pick of the apps most worth downloading before your next trip to Europe.
Border entry and travel formalities
Travel to Europe:
If your trip involves the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES), this is one app worth having ready. It helps travellers complete part of the process before arrival by walking them through passport scanning, face capture, and pre-trip details. No border app is going to make immigration fun, but this one can at least make it more efficient.
Top tip: Make sure you download the EU’s official
Travel to Europe
app and do not confuse it with
ETIAS
– the European Travel Information and Authorisation System – which is scheduled to launch in late 2026.
UK ETA:
Heading to the UK and need an electronic travel authorisation (ETA)? This is the official app for it. It takes travellers through the required identity and passport checks in one place, which is much easier than scrambling through websites or trying to sort it out too close to departure. It is not glamorous, but it does the job cleanly.
Top tip: Complete the ETA well before your flight rather than dealing with it at the last minute.
Holiday planning can be a chore
Anete Lūsiņa via Unsplash
Planning and itinerary building
Wanderlog:
This is a good choice for travellers who like seeing their whole trip laid out clearly. You can map out each day, move stops around, and keep bookings, notes, and routes together in one place. It is especially useful for multi-city trips or group travel, where a little structure can save a lot of back-and-forth later.
Top tip: Screenshot or export your daily plan before travelling so poor signal does not disrupt your trip.
TripIt:
If your inbox becomes a mess the second you start booking a trip, TripIt can help bring some order back. Forward your confirmations and it turns them into one tidy itinerary, with flights, hotels, train tickets, and reservations all stored together. It is simple, practical, and very useful when you need details fast while on the move.
Top tip: Create a travel folder in your email and forward confirmations there as soon as they arrive.
PackPoint:
Packing for Europe is rarely as simple as it sounds, especially if one trip includes several cities, changing weather, and a few long train rides. PackPoint helps by building a list based on your destination, trip length, and activities. It takes some of the guesswork out of packing and helps stop you from bringing half your wardrobe just in case.
Top tip: Turn on the laundry option if you are travelling with only cabin baggage.
Plan a day out hiking the great outdoors
Eddy Billard via Unsplash
Flights and accommodation
Skyscanner:
This remains one of the most useful apps for finding flights around Europe, especially if your dates are flexible and your budget is not limitless. Skyscanner makes comparing routes quick and easy, and it also lets you browse hotels and car hire. It is the kind of app that can save you money before the trip has even begun.
Top tip: Search one-way flights separately because mixed low-cost combinations can sometimes beat a standard return fare.
Flightly:
For travellers who fly often, Flighty is a polished iPhone app built for tracking flights rather than booking them. Its design is simple with fast alerts, live tracking, and early warning when your incoming aircraft is already running late. The app can track inbound aircraft up to 25 hours before departure, while its newer Airport Intelligence tools add live airport boards and explain likely causes of delays.
Top tip: Flighty works best only as as a flight-monitoring companion, but keep your airline’s own app as well just to be sure.
Booking.com:
This is still one of the most dependable apps for finding somewhere to stay, whether that is a city hotel, apartment, or guesthouse. Travellers keep coming back to it because the filters are strong, confirmations are clear, and messaging with properties is built in, making the overall process seamless and easy.
Top tip: Sort by review score, then read the newest bad reviews before booking.
Expedia:
The group’s app works well for travellers who like keeping the moving parts of a trip in one place. Flights, hotels, car hire, activities, and packages all sit inside the same app, which makes it especially useful for bigger trips. It is also worth checking i

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- Travellers keep coming back to it because the filters are strong, confirmations are clear, and messaging with properties is built in, making the overall process seamless and easy.
- Rail Europe: A strong option for travellers planning train journeys across several countries is Rail Europe.
- It is especially strong in places where public transport is the main way around, and it breaks routes down into steps that are genuinely easy to follow.
- Its biggest advantage is familiarity.

### Areas for Consideration
N/A

### Implications
- It may not be the most glamorous option, but it is often practical, affordable, and available when train fares feel wildly optimistic.
- It may not feel exciting, but when you are standing in a new city trying to find your hotel, tram stop, or dinner spot, it rarely disappoints.
- Top tip: Set a rate alert if you know you will need to move money soon.
- Tripadvisor: It may be regarded as a veteran in the digital travel age, but Tripadvisor still has real value for those day-to-day decisions: where to eat, what to visit, and whether a place is actually worth the time.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers top, tip, app topics. Notable strengths include discussion of top. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 2122.