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6 Best Free Apps for Planning Multi-Stop Trips

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Sylvia Paige
04/12/2022

Your travel team is assembled so it’s time to plan a trip with many stops you will remember for a very long time!

You are a planner who will give Dave his chilled-out moment on the golf course. Do not forget Jen who is looking forward to picking up some beads while in New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

You have put your heads together around the kitchen table to come up with the best vacation of a lifetime when suddenly you realize there is a lot to consider in planning this trip. You might be asking yourself how this is all going to come together? You have always had the highest respect for professional travel planners and wonder how you will bring everything together including getting with local specialists. Then it occurred to you, that there is probably an app for this!

And you’d be right!

You can get the best deals and create the ultimate personalized getaway by designing your trip yourself using our professional team of travel apps. If this is the first time you have planned an amazing road trip, please check out this streamlined guide.

Now it’s time to put these apps to work and get the best dream multi-destination planned trip on the road!

TripIt Is The Multiple Destination Route Planner

Your biggest challenge might be collecting the details about all your many stops and storing them all in a safe place for you to refer back to.

Planning a trip can be very confusing when you have flights to keep track of, 300 messages left in your email inbox, all your dinner reservations stored in SMS across three cell phones, and the tickets for various attractions along with screenshots stored in your photo library.

Download TripIt And Save Everything In One Place

One of the best features of TripIt is the ability to forward your booking confirmation emails to your dedicated email account and then place that information into your trip.

Their app is perfect when you are on the move by giving you reminders and alerts so you can just enjoy your trip without any stress. You will receive valuable information such as the gate you will fly out of. If you are looking for a decent restaurant nearby, TripIt will give you so many recommendations!

Passero Is The Best Social Planner For Group Trips

Passero is the ideal multiple destination trip planner whether you are planning a romantic getaway or a group vacation with your rowdy group of friends!

The app functions as a social collaboration so everyone can get involved in trip planning. Inviting everyone to become involved in the trip is the number one feature for a smooth and fun vacation and Passero will make it seamless!

You can invite your friends to create a group itinerary within the app with shared idea boards and group surveys to help you plan the very best vacation in one, neat shared environment.

Don’t bounce around from one email to another when WhatsApp and sticky notes will grab your account on Passero so everyone can throw their best ideas into the mix.

Another really useful feature on Passero is their budget tracker. You can calculate the costs so you can plan a trip within your budget and avoid any surprises while on the road.

Passero will give you professionally created itineraries as well. Check out this three-day trip to Seattle for inspiration from the best in the business.

Steller For Travel Inspiration For Your Next Trip

Planning a trip with multiple stops can be exciting and fun when choosing your destinations. Right now, you might be sitting on a beanbag in your apartment but when you open Steller, your imagination will carry you off to the next adventure.

Steller is the chosen place for travelers to share their stories with the world. Check out MatAndMarti’s view from their lakeside home in Guatemala, then view melloemillie’s aerial shots that would look incredible in a photo gallery.

Steller is considered the Instagram for travelers. It’s not just about the perfect shot, influencers share maps and expert tips to help you get the most out of your destination once you get there.

Just when you thought you didn’t need another app, along came Steller!

Sherpa – Know The Rules Before You Go

COVID-19 has dealt a painful left hook to travelers, with rules changing more times that most road trippers change their underwear.

Sherpa is the app we never knew we needed until March 2020 hit us square in the jaw.

This is a fantastic but simple app to give you the latest health-related travel restrictions to let you know exactly what to expect.

Let the app know if you are vaccinated and give it your destination is, and it will take care of it. 

If you are not sure where to travel, explore Sherpa’s interactive travel rules to discover which destinations are welcoming tourists and what tests (if any) are required.

The world is definitely opening up to travelers once again and Sherpa is the tool to get your head around all the various COVID rules once and for all!

Find More From Research

It’s not all about the apps, while the latest technology can help smooth out the planning process of a complex multiple-stop itinerary, more research will give you a great deal of info before setting off to your destination.

You can connect to the local culture by watching movies from places you want to visit and start to understand the local mindset and values. Netflix is great for international movies and television shows, so this is a great place to start.

Reading books about the history of a place also weaves a rich tapestry of the cultural and social customs, so you’ll experience the destination in a sphere far beyond the everyday tourist.

Pick up a phrase book, if you’re heading somewhere with a different language. Locals really appreciate visitors who try to speak the language.

Contact other people who have traveled there and ask for their opinions. Other travelers are usually more than happy to share their thoughts – after all, travel is their passion, and who doesn’t like talking about their passions?

The best chance of a timely response, DM an under-the-radar influencer with a few thousand followers instead of mega influencers who are inundated with messages and probably employ an assistant to deal with the “fan mail”.

Hotel Tonight – Treat Yourself to Some Last-minute Luxury

Hotel Tonight is an excellent tool for getting the very best deals on hotels without having to plan 6 months in advance. 

Go to the app and tell it where you want to stay and when, so you don’t have to wait until the last minute. You will be provided a range of hotel deals giving you the best options to stay in some of the top-ranking places in town for a fraction of the cost.

Budget options are included in the search and all the listed hotels have reviews written by fellow travelers who have stayed in these places before and booked their reservations through Hotel Tonight.

Hotel Tonight is an excellent app to have in your pocket so you never have to worry about changes in plans.

If you decide you want to stay an extra night, Hotel Tonight will take care of it for you.

If you met other travelers along the way and decided to go along with them to the next destination, Hotel Tonight will book a place for you to stay with just a few simple clicks.

You can stay flexible when on the go while treating yourself to nights in great hotels that would normally cost you well beyond your budget.

Splitwise – Share The Cost In A Stress-Free Way

Never worry again about chasing after people to pay you back for the split costs of a shared travel adventure.

Having a list of people who owe for a trip is a thing of the past. Splitwise is a great app that will keep track of your expenses throughout the trip and keep everyone along for the ride on equal terms.

Because money conversions can be frustrating and awkward, get everyone in the group to download Splitwise before heading off on your trip.

You can all monitor the group’s spending along the way, keeping everyone within the agreed budget.  You do not have to put pressure on anyone else in the group.

This terrific tracker will make sure you all just go and have fun! Everyone will settle up as you travel on.

This app can also be used for other reasons such as sharing an apartment. Splitwise can save you all the headaches over the shared costs.

Apps are the best way to travel between multiple places on your vacation. You can store all this information on a cell phone which is very convenient for everyone.  But if you are going to be relying on your phone, make sure the phone is always charged during the trip.

Check out this summary of must-have gadgets for travelers and other tips such as what to pack for your trip.

Sylvia Paige
04/12/2022

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