Applications on smartphones are so familiar to us in this 4.0 technology era. They help us a lot on an independent trip such as itinerary planning, hotel booking, flight booking, or private car renting. Let’s take a look at 15 useful apps for independent travel lovers below!

1. Trip planning and travel supporting apps

• Tripadvisor

Tripadvisor is considered the world’s largest travel application/website today for travel guides, flight and accommodation booking. Moreover, Tripadvisor is also well-known for its reliable advice from other travelers from the travel community.

You can easily find reviews and experiences from other travelers about most tourist attractions in the world and Vietnam. When searching for a destination, the app will suggest interesting activities or small tours in that place. This makes it easier for you to plan your trip right from the website/app.

• Klook

If you are a solo traveler and want to control your own itinerary, Klook might be right for you. Guided tours generally put you on a packed schedule with tourist sites you don’t like or even shopping markets. With Klook, you can avoid those places. Choose your favorite travel activities to add to your itinerary, arrange your plan and services according to your desired timeline.

Booking tickets at Klook can estimate total expense as the price of each tour or sightseeing ticket is clearly displayed. Furthermore, Klook also attracts millions of independent travelers thanks to numerous compelling promotions.

• Google Maps

Google Maps is a popular application not only to travel lovers but also to everyone using smartphones. Google Maps is a navigation app based on your real-time location. This application gives very specific and quick instructions to your destination, so it is extremely suitable for independent travel to move from one place to another in brand new cities. All you need to do is enter the address where you want to go.

• Note/Notion

Making a plan for a trip not only requires booking in advance the necessary services but also needs to save those specific schedules and information. That’s why we need to use Note or Notion. Note is an inbuilt application and user-friendly with a few basic functions. You can save trip information such as homestay address, private driver phone number, places to eat, or create a luggage checklist on it.

Notion, for some newbies, might be a bit more difficult to use, but very useful if you know the way. When saving trip information with Notion, you can create a specific schedule and activities for each day, with a specific timeline for each activity. The multi types of view allow you to overview your schedule by timeline to organize your day in the most effective way.

2. Weather check apps

• Weather/Accuweather

This is a familiar inbuilt application if you are using an Apple or Samsung smartphone. Checking the weather forecast at your destination is important before starting the trip. This app helps you know the weather condition in the future so that you can pack proper clothes and accessories. However, you can only check the weather forecast for 7 days. For a longer period of time (14 days or more) you can install the Accuweather app (paid app).

• Windy

In case your itinerary includes outdoor physical activities, the Windy application might be useful for you. Windy provides you specific information about wind strength and wind direction so you can determine if an activity would be affected or not, such as windsurfing.

3. Flight booking apps

• Traveloka

You must be quite familiar with Traveloka – a popular flight booking application in Southeast Asia with more than 70 domestic and international airlines. This application provides and compares flights of different airlines for the same schedule by displaying flight information such as price, baggage weight, or the refund/cancel policy. Traveloka accepts payment by bank card and transfer, so it is very convenient for customers.

• Agoda

Similar to Traveloka, Agoda is famous for reliable flight and accommodation booking. User-friendly interface and transparent policies are the reasons why this application is popular and used by numerous tourists.

• Vietnambooking

If you are eager for a preference for a domestic travel agency, Vietnambooking may be a reasonable choice. This is a reliable ticket booking website in Vietnam, specializing in assisting travelers with flight booking and related services such as buying more checked baggage, exchanging tickets or refunds, and delivering tickets to home. And especially, you can find cheap flights here even if they are sold out on the airline’s homepage.

4. Accommodation booking apps

• Booking

With the ability to support more than 43 languages ​​and provide more than 28 million accommodations, the Booking application has become a companion of travel lovers around the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. Being built with the mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, Booking offers you diverse options at low prices, 24/7 support, quick confirmation, and guaranteed travel privacy for travelers.

• Airbnb

Developed based on the model of connecting people who need to rent rooms and people who have rooms to rent, Airbnb is quite popular with tourists these days because of its friendliness. You can use this app to find a room in a local’s home, and also become the local offers rooms for other travelers. Thanks to advantages such as cheap renting fare and high service quality, Airbnb is available in more than 190 countries and is increasingly chosen by tourists.

• Luxstay

Luxstay is one of the online booking sites that provide good service at competitive prices today. Luxstay operates quite similarly to Airbnb but focuses on the Vietnamese tourism market to serve independent travelers domestically. In comparison to Airbnb, Luxstay is more competitive with lower fees. Plus, you can find genuine reviews from other travelers to choose the right room for your needs and budget. However, because of its small scale and new appearance on the market at the end of 2016, Luxstay can only offer limited types of room for customers.

• Trivago

Trivago is another free platform where you can find reliable accommodation information. Trivago allows you to compare hotel room fares and other criteria to find the best place. With a wide range of rooms, quick and efficient booking process, this platform is quite suitable to be used in Vietnam.

5. Rental cal app

Gobooyaa – a reliable private car booking platform in Vietnam.

In spite of its recent launch, Gobooyaa has shown its potential as an extremely useful platform for independent travelers. Gobooyaa provides tourists with a variety of vehicles that almost no other car rental service can. Apart from motorbikes and cars, this platform also has options for yachts and 16-seater vans, which are suitable for large groups.

During the pandemic, you can feel more secure when traveling with Gobooyaa because the vehicle is always disinfected and cleaned before being delivered to you. Additionally, the driver is also fully equipped with face masks and a face shield to ensure the safety of passengers. This car rental booking platform is available not only in most famous tourist destinations but also in small towns and islands, which is especially suitable when opting for local travel. Moreover, the extremely professional 24/7 support team will help you throughout your trip.

6. Tourism supporting apps during the COVID-19 pandemic

PC-COVID is an application that combines vaccination information and medical declaration, which is commonly used in all tourist destinations in Vietnam. Some previous Vietnamese pandemic prevention and control applications such as Bluezone or NCOVI are now redesigned and integrated into PC-COVID for users’ convenience. You should register personal information and medical declaration before starting the trip so as not to waste time at tourist attractions.

Taking advantage of technology while traveling, especially through mobile apps, saves you a lot of time and effort. Out of the 15 Vietnam travel apps listed above, which is your liking? Leave a comment to let us know!