Top 10 Family Travel Apps for the iPhone
If you’re the lucky owner of an iPhone or an iPod touch, then you already know there are a lot of great apps for entertaining kids. But have you used it for travel? There are a handful of apps that make family travel easier. Much, much easier.
Whether you need a hotel, a bathroom, or a cup of coffee, there’s an app for that. Here are a few to consider.
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1. Hotel Negotiator
Price: Free
Priceline.com’s Hotel Negotiator app can connect spontaneous families with last-minute hotel rooms at nice prices, even when they don’t have access to a PC. It’s not much use to planners though.
2. iCarPark
Price: $0.99
If I had a nickel for every time my husband and I misplaced our parked car on vacation, I’d have a lot of nickels. This app saves your parking spot with one tap (not to mention your marriage), and can also help you find your car in a garage and remind you when to feed the meter.
3. Kids Eat For
Price: $2.99
Is there anything more infuriating than buying a restaurant meal that your kids don’t eat? This handy app that uses GPS to tell you the nearest places where kids eat free or cheap. It works best in cities or larger suburbs, and can pay for itself in one meal. Cost: $2.99.
4. Coffee Spot
Price: $1.99
When you really, really, really need coffee right now and don’t want the bother of navigating through several pages on a restaurant app, launch this app and choose from among big name and mom and pop shops nearest to you.
5. Park Maps
Price: $0.99
A collection of GPS-enabled maps of over 250 U.S. National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas. Be sure to download them ahead of time since internet connectivity isn’t exactly what I’d call robust in the wilderness.
6. FlightTrack
Price: $4.99
A convenient app for finding out if your flight is on time when you don’t have access to a PC. Its detractors claim it’s not 100% accurate 100% of the time, but then what is?
7. Postino
Price: Free
Quickly turn an iPhone vacation photo into an email or real life postcard with this fun timesaving app. Address your postcard, then add a message, signature, and stamp (which cost $1.99 through PayPal with volume discounts).
8. Yelp
Price: Free
Yelp’s mobile app uses your current location to serve up listings for restaurants, bars, coffee shops, banks, gas stations, and drugstores, and connects you to the internet for more information and reviews as needed.
9. Rest Area Finder
Price: Free
Plan your roadside bathroom breaks with this useful app which constantly updates your location and lets you know what other facilities are available (gas, food, vending machines, and pet area to name a few).
10. Snow and Ski Report by REI
Price: Free
Winter sports nuts can access up to the minute snow reports and weather conditions for their 12 favorite resorts, view trail maps, and see which lifts and trails are open or closed.
Want more? Read Top 10 iPhone Apps for Kids or Wait, There’s More! Another 10 iPhone Apps for Kids. For even more iPhone apps for kids and iPad apps for kids, jump over to Best Kids Apps.
December 3rd, 2009 | by Jamie Pearson 8 comments
1. Amy @ The Q Family on December 3rd, 2009
In our recent trip, I swore by TripIt. It’s a great app that you can sync up all your trip plan with the online version. It helped save us so many times to find the reservation #, address or phone number of places we want to visit. Plus I can share with my husband on our itinerary. The best part, it’s free. :)
2. Colleen Lanin at Travel Mamas on December 3rd, 2009
I’m printing this out for the hubs. He’s in charge of technology. Thanks for the tips!
3. Whitney Trujillo on December 3rd, 2009
Great tips! Thanks for sharing! I love the idea of Kids Eat For and Postino.
4. Lorraine on December 3rd, 2009
Oh, I wish I had loaded Coffee Spot last weekend, I was in search of coffee in Santa Cruz and took my kids on a long, loney scooter ride to find one! Another location-based app to consider is MomMaps (www.mommaps.com) which helps you find kid-friendly spots on the go.
5. Sarah O'Donnelol on December 5th, 2009
Hi Jamie,
I love your list of Top 10 Family Apps for Travel. I publish a magazine, Our Family Magazine, and would like to run your article in our Jan/Feb 2010 issue. Can you please email with your approval to run your article. We are at deadline and would need to know asap.
6. Ann Marie on December 8th, 2009
I really think you should check out Family Matters. We took a long car trip from NJ to FL and we actually had fun, not just in the car but in restaurants. It didn’t keep the kids busy, it kept all of us laughing and learning about each other.
Just search for Family Matters on the App Store or go to their website http://www.weinerfamilystudios.com
7. Tom Lasater on December 26th, 2009
Dear Jamie,
Great suggestions ! Your readers might also be interested in LocoTrivia, the worlds first location based trivia game. Launch LocoTrivia and start testing your knowledge with trivia games about the world nearby. They can also spread their knowledge to the world by creating their own trivia questions on LocoTrivia.
8. Elliot on January 8th, 2010
Great list Jamie.
One thought though, for moms, I might also suggest the Yellow Pages app for the iPhone. It allows users to search their needs (Gas, Bank, any kind of food, or create a custom search) based on their location. The app then gives you search results based on geographical relevance. It has user reviews, GPS directions to your destination and allows you to add contact information to your contact list. It is everything that Yelp is, but with the strength of the Yellow Pages directory and without all the snarky business reviews left by college age 20-somethings.
Can’t beat the price either – free!
Check it out
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