Best Apps to Help You Hack Your Holiday Travel

Traveling is hard; doing it during the holiday season can feel impossible. Long lines, inflated prices, and weather-related delays will squeeze the joy from the season, leaving you with little more than a depleted bank account. We can’t solve all of your holiday problems (hey: your family, your issue) but we can suggest some apps that will make getting to your destination a little less stressful.

In this guide, we’ll break down the best apps for traveling and saving money this Thanksgiving and Christmas, with recommendations on cheap flights, discounted hotels, low gas prices, and mindfulness routines.

Read on to learn all about the best apps to hack your holiday travel.

Best apps for
travel deals

Hopper—Best for budget travel

Free from Apple and Google

We know most people defer to Google Flights when comparing airfare and we get why: the site is easy to navigate, allowing you to see real-time prices, which you can track for weeks until you find the right rate. Hopper looks a lot like Google Flights, but the app’s crucial difference is its algorithm, which relies on historical data to predict the best time to purchase a flight.

You can search for a flight just like you would on Google Flights, Kayak, Travelocity, or any of the other thousands of travel deals sites. When you do, Hopper will show you a calendar around your dates, illustrating the best deals. Even better, you’ll get a detailed breakdown of their predictions for the coming weeks.

We don’t love the many cash-grabs Hopper will then throw your way (like buying a seat in advance, securing trip insurance, and tipping the app itself) but they’re easy to ignore. The use of the algorithm itself is free and that alone is worth the download.

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Skyscanner—Best for price tracking

Free from Apple and Google

Skyscanner looks similar to Hopper, but it scours deals from third-party travel sites (like Booking.com and StudentUniverse) in addition to rates from the airlines. Once you search for a flight, you can filter by Best, Cheapest, Fastest, and Direct, allowing you to find the best flight for your needs. Anecdotally, we saw some cross-country flights for under $100, which we previously believed was mathematically impossible.

We also appreciate that it highlights potentially troubling details, like long layovers or soul-crushing redeyes. This extra step may seem small, but it ensures customers know what they're purchasing before they go to pay, which is the sort of transparency we appreciate.

Generally, We’re wary of search engines that direct to third-party sites, which often jack up pricetags with fees until they’re unrecognizable. In fairness, though, Skyscanner presents those third-party deals alongside prices from the airlines, allowing users to choose their own adventure. If you’re on the hunt for a deal, it’s a great resource.

Best app for
hotel deals

HotelTonight

Free from Apple and Google

If you’re looking to avoid staying with family or (bravely) decided to sneak away for the holidays, we recommend avoiding Airbnb: in recent years, the app has become plagued by exorbitant “cleaning fees,” turning what used to be a cheap alternative into just another lodging search engine.

Ironically, some of the best deals are now available at hotels, the places Airbnb was supposedly going to put out of business. HotelTonight puts all of these deals in one convenient interface, allowing you to search all of the one-night price drops in any given area.

There’s some risk in using the app, considering you won’t have the security of booking in advance or securing a room in a particular part of town. But if those things don’t bother you, it’s a great way to score some low prices, especially on weeknights.

Best holiday
road trip app

Wanderlog

Free from Apple and Google; optional paid Pro subscription

After our previous road-tripping pick, iOverlander, got an overhaul for the worse, we went back to the testing grounds and discovered Wanderlog. At its best, Wanderlog can replace at least three popular road trip and travel planning apps (like Roadtrippers, TripAdvisor, and TripIt), all in one powerful little tool.

I've been using Wanderlog to plan a national parks road trip, and it's been a game changer. I can add unlimited destinations to my itinerary, and the app suggests popular places and sights at each stop. I can leave notes, add restaurants, and even see suggested packing lists and budgets to keep my trip organized. Wangerlog also lets you share your trip with any fellow travelers so you can each modify and collaborate on your adventure. There's even a feature that helps you split bills among your entire party.

With the Pro subscription, you have even more efficiency at your fingertips. Wanderlog can access and scan your GMail account, helping you link reservations like hotels, rental cars, and tickets directly into your itinerary. You can also export your entire trip to Google Maps, making it extremely easy to simply plug in your phone and use your GPS to get where you're going. To that end, Pro includes access to Wanderlog's route optimizer, which will evaluate your travel times and route and suggest any changes that could save you time along your trip. If you're traveling in more remote areas with spotty cell service (like I will be), the Pro version gets you offline access to your maps, addresses, and plans, so you won't be stranded.

Best meditation app

Pause

Free from Apple

Our primary focus with this list was saving you money, but we also know vacations can be mentally taxing by themselves. We figured you could also use an app that might help to save your sanity. 

Pause is similar to the popular Calm app in that it’s focused on mindfulness, but it does not sell guided meditations or sleep soundtracks. Instead, Pause allows you to focus on the subtleties of movement through its “Finger Tai Chi,” which allows you to slow down while you follow a slowly expanding orb across the screen while ambient music plays.

Sound trippy? It is! It’s also oddly soothing and a great way to tune out the otherwise hectic distractions around you. Whether it’s during liftoff or in between family meals, we’re certain it’ll be a great way to disarm potential stressors. The app, which is only available from Apple, has some features, like “Mindful Walking” and “Resonance,” that cost money, but we find the free version to be more than good enough.

Best Canada-US cell phone plans

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If you’re heading south for the holidays, we recommend snagging a Canada-US phone plan. While pay-per-day programs might be your best option for short-term international trips, plans that allow you to cross the border without any disruptions is best for those with family in the States.

Freedom Mobile | 5G Unlimited 50GB CA-US plan

Freedom Mobile recently launched its own 5G network, meaning the best alternative to the Big Three just got even better. This plan provides 50GB of 5G data plus unlimited talk and text for a price well below Bell, Rogers, or Telus and offers discounts for customers who bring their own phone.

Rogers | Infinite Premium Canada+US

Rogers Canada+US plan is similar to the Freedom CA-US plan in many ways: it offers 5G data, unlimited talk and text, and the ability to use your phone in the US without any drops in service. The major difference between the two is service within Canada: Rogers’ 5G and 4G LTE networks cover nearly 40 times more ground than Freedom’s, so you’ll never have to worry about venturing out-of-network.

The above price is reserved for Quebec, though Rogers offers a Canada+US plan in every other province, though it comes with significantly more data and a higher pricetag.