Our Top Ten Travel Apps for Van Life

I love to make lists. I love travel apps. Here are both for you.

In this day and age, traveling with the help of technology is a must. For us, it is anyway. There are so many helpful online tools that can make travel a little easier and I can’t imagine life without some of these at this point!

Even though I wrote a post a couple of years ago about helpful apps while traveling, that was a generalized idea of things that can be helpful, and it was also before we started van life. I thought I’d write a little update and share specific ones that I use all the time now. (Each is linked so you can check them out - some to the App Store, some are referral links, and some are just the website.)

And if you have recommendations, I’m all ears. Or eyes. 😆

Photo by Timo Müller on Unsplash

1. Google Maps

While I do have a paper atlas and love to use it to mark the roads we’ve traveled and the places we’ve been, hands down our most used app is Google Maps. We have a navigation system in our van, but we quickly discovered we didn’t like it, and we switched to using Google Maps from our phone. One of the things we love is the ability to see traffic conditions in real time. If our route turns red, we know it might be worth considering an alternate route. We also love to drive back roads and avoid interstates, so it helps us see what the time difference is if we choose the slower option. Sometimes it’s worth it, other times it’s not.

2. Gas Buddy

We have always paid attention to gas prices, and we try to look for the best deal, but with gas prices what they are today, we definitely use this app. We not only look for what gas station has the best deal around us, but we’ll also look ahead to the next town and beyond to see where the best place will be to fill up. Sometimes there’s a considerable difference in price between cities and especially between states.

3. Reminders

This one might be a surprise, but I am the queen of making lists, and I have lists for all kinds of things. If we’re heading to take a shower - I have a list of items I need to take with me, if we’re sleeping away from the van - I have a list of items to pack up and take in, if we’re going for a hike - I have a list to check to make sure we don’t forget something we need. I truly have lists for everything. 😂 I couldn’t live without my Reminders app!

4. iOverlander

This is mostly what we’ve been using to find where we want to camp for the night. It’s great at listing parking lots, dispersed camping, and even campgrounds if we want one. You can also find dump stations and water stations. Very useful for all of these necessities.

5. Harvest Hosts

We have a membership with HH, so in addition to iOverlander, we also use the HH app to find great places to stay. We try to find Boondockers Welcome spots as much as possible, as those are completely free to use, and we almost always meet really fun people who are hosting, but we also choose spots like breweries, farms, and museums and give our business to the establishment in trade for them allowing us to stay. It’s a fun way to travel, and we feel like we get a little more for our money than paying for a campground.

6. Planet Fitness

We recently purchased a PF Black Card membership so we can visit any PF and enjoy the amenities. We enjoy going in to ride a bike, take a walk, or even lift some weights for a while. We can use the showers and then enjoy a nice massage in the chairs or on the hydrobed before we leave.

7. Seek

Because we love to hike and enjoy nature, I love using the Seek app to identify plants, animals, flowers, birds….all the things! Every once in a while it doesn’t tell me what something is, but most of the time I can learn exactly what I’m looking at and save it in my observations even. It’s such a fun app to use! 🦢 🌺

8. AllTrails

Speaking of hiking, finding trails to hike on the AllTrails app is a must! I try to always plan out the route we’ll hike by selecting a hike and following the map. This way we don’t get lost and we know what to expect on the trail. And having the version that allows you to download the maps for use offline is a must for most areas because you can’t usually get a signal with your phone.

9. The Weather Channel

Paying attention to the weather is very important and I have notifications turned on with this app so if there’s anything we need to be aware of as we’re traveling through, it will tell us.

10. RoadTrippers

This is an app I enjoy using because it makes it fun to map out an itinerary. It will give you suggested things to see along the way and show you popular attractions so you can decide if something is worth stopping for or not. I also like to have this to show a map of what we’ve done for each leg of our travels. I haven’t used this since the beginning but since I started using it I’ve really enjoyed it!

Now we’d love to hear what your favorite travel apps are! Share in the comments what you like to use or recommend.

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