A road trip, like that in Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, is an experience most of us have at least once dreamed of. Long stretches of roads, spontaneous detours, and music blasting in the background – there’s something exciting about a road trip more than the destination you’re heading to.
If you too are planning a road trip, good news is that planning has become quite easy and convenient thanks to our smartphones. There are several apps on the internet that are made to make travel planning easier. From apps that help you chalk out the entire road trip route to apps that help plan expenses, here are the best road trip apps in India!
Best Travel Apps For Road Trips In India
1. Google Maps
Best for: Navigation, routes, fuel stops and finding places
When it comes to road trips, Google Maps is undeniably one of the most essential apps to have on your phone. The app is loaded with almost all the essential features you might need
When it comes to road trips, Google Maps is probably the most essential app on your phone. From providing turn-by-turn directions to all the information on nearby cafes, restaurants, petrol pumps, EV and charging stations, and petrol pumps, Google Maps is a useful app for most travelers.
One of its biggest advantages is that you can search for places while you’re already on the road and add stops to your journey. Downloading an offline map before entering an area with poor connectivity can be particularly useful on remote highways and mountain roads.
Highlights:
- Turn-by-turn navigation
- Real-time traffic information
- Information on restaurants, fuel stations and attractions
- Offline maps
- Multiple stops on a route
- Estimated travel time and distance
- Useful for both pre-trip planning and on-road navigation
2. Wanderlog
Best for: Building a complete road-trip itinerary
Planning a road trip and looking for an app that can help you plan your entire itinerary? You must definitely use Wanderlog. As one of the best road trip apps, it helps you plan the entire journey, from adding destinations to a map to organizing stops and even collaborating with your travel pals.
If Google Maps helps you navigate, Wanderlog is useful in planning your itinerary over the duration of your trip. The app also allows users to add reservations, notes, restaurants and attractions to their plans. Its road-trip features include adding multiple stops, viewing distances and travel times and, with applicable features, optimizing routes.
Highlights:
- Day-by-day itinerary planning
- Road-trip route mapping
- Collaborative trip planning
- Hotel and reservation organization
- Budget and expense tracking
- Offline access to plans with applicable premium features
Also Read: 5 Best Car Accessories For Long Drives And Road Trips
3. Splitwise
Best for: Splitting road-trip expenses
Money can get surprisingly complicated on a group road trip. Fuel, tolls, food costs, parking, and other miscellaneous expenses can quickly become complicated to track, and Splitwise helps you track your expenses.
Splitwise helps you create trips, add fellow travelers, and record expenses as you go. If one person pays for fuel, another books hotels, and someone else takes care of food expenses, you can simply keep a track of everyone’s contributions and calculate the trip expense.
This means you don’t have to sit around at the end of a five-day road trip calculating who owes whom. Definitely one of the best road trip apps for budgeting.
Highlights:
- Track shared expenses
- Split bills among multiple travelers
- Maintain running balances
- Useful for fuel, tolls, food and accommodation
- Reduces the hassle of manual calculations
4. Tripadvisor
Best for: Restaurant and attraction discovery
When you’re driving through an unfamiliar destination, Tripadvisor can act as a useful research tool. The app is useful for finding restaurant and hotel reviews, letting you see a vast user-driven database. You can browse restaurants, attractions and hotels while checking reviews from other travelers.
For food stops, you can check the latest reviews and pay attention to comments about service, food quality, and cleanliness. This can help you avoid making a random stop when you’re hungry and instead pick a place that fits your preferences. Tripadvisor is also useful during the planning stage when you’re deciding which attractions deserve a place on your route.
Highlights:
- Restaurant discovery and reviews
- Attractions and sightseeing reviews and recommendations
- Useful for researching stops before arrival
- Helps compare different options in a destination
5. HappyCow
Best for: Vegetarian and vegan food stops
People can have different dietary preferences, and some people prefer eating vegetarian or vegan food. However, during a road trip, finding restaurants that offer vegan or vegetarian food can be challenging. Especially if you’re driving through unfamiliar places.
HappyCow is particularly useful for finding vegetarian and vegan restaurants. It helps users find restaurants, cafes, and other food establishments that cater to meat-free, dairy-free, and plant-based diets. While the app is not free to use, it can be a good one-time investment for vegans and vegetarians for future travel as well.
Highlights:
- Vegetarian & vegan restaurant discovery
- Useful for planning meal stops
- Reviews and information about food establishments
Also Read: 5 Best Vegan Cafes In Delhi That Are Worth A Visit!
6. District / BookMyShow
Best for: Entertainment and things to do
Landing in a new city and looking for local experiences, shows, performances, and events? District and BookMyShow are two apps that can certainly be useful in doing so. These apps contain up-to-date information on the latest events happening in a particular city or region. From stand-up shows, game nights, and social mixers to concerts, workshops, and more, District and BookMyShow can help you plan new experiences in the place you’re visiting.
This can also come in handy when your plans change. If you unexpectedly have an extra evening in a city, checking these platforms can help you find something to do without spending hours researching online.
Highlights:
- Latest events, live performances, and local experiences
- Useful for spontaneous plans
- Advance booking for selected activities and events
7. Klook
Best for: Booking activities and experiences
If your road trip includes sightseeing, attractions, and activities, Klook can be a useful app for planning your road trip. The app contains information about the best experiences and attractions in the specific area you’re visiting.
For popular attractions or experiences that require advance reservations, booking ahead can also help you make better use of your time. Klook can be useful if you’re visiting a big city or a popular destination but its usefulness in remote areas can be limited.
Highlights:
- Attractions and activities
- Tours and experiences
- Helps plan activities before reaching your destination
8. Airbnb
Best for: Accommodation and unique stays
Road trips don’t always have to involve staying in conventional hotels. Airbnb is useful in booking homestays, villas, apartments, cottages, or any other distinctive property.
Airbnb can be useful when you’re looking for accommodation that offers a more local or residential experience. For groups, villas and larger properties can also make sense because they may offer multiple bedrooms and shared living spaces.
Highlights:
- Apartments, villas, homestays, and other distinctive properties
- Options for couples, families, solo travelers, and groups
- Search by location and dates
Also Read: Best Airbnb Stays To Book Near Mumbai For A Rainy Weekend
9. Google Translate
Best for: Language translation
India is linguistically diverse, with the dialect or language changing every 100 km or so. And this can make communication tricky, especially during a road trip. Luckily, Google Translate can become your savior, helping you translate signs, phrases, menus, and conversations when For remote areas where connectivity can be unreliable, downloading the relevant language packs before leaving can make the app more useful. Definitely one of the best road trip apps for long road journeys!
Highlights:
- Text translation
- Camera-based translation
- Helpful when travelling across different linguistic regions
- Offline functionality with downloaded language support
10. Waze
Best for: Real-time, community-driven driving information
While Google Maps is an obvious choice for navigation, Waze offers a slightly different approach. The app places considerable emphasis on information contributed by its user community, including reports about traffic, incidents and road hazards.
For drivers, having a user-driven, real-time database can be especially useful in knowing what may be happening ahead on the road. Waze can also provide route guidance and estimated arrival times.
While Waze is more popular in urban areas, it may not be very reliable in remote areas as it relies on active user communities.
Highlights:
- Real-time navigation
- Community-reported traffic information
- Road and hazard alerts
- Alternative route suggestions
- Estimated arrival times
Read our story on which app is better: Waze vs Google Maps
Author’s Note
Waze, HappyCow, and Klook can have limited functionality when traveling to remote or less explored places in India. However, I think using Google Maps, Airbnb, and Tripadvisor for travel routes, bookings, and reviews respectively can be quite helpful. I’d also suggest using apps like District and BookMyShow to look for local experiences and events.
Summing Up
When planning a road trip, it is essential to know your travel route and all the experiences you’re planning on the way. Luckily these are some of the best road trip apps that can help you plan your travel better. From Google Maps and Google Translate to Tripadvisor, Klook, and Splitwise, each aspect of your trip can be taken care of by one of these apps.
