Our pick of travel apps

Thinking of an international break? These digital tools will help to make your trip a lot easier

FLIGHTS to book, accommodation to organise, a strange new place to navigate and about a million things to pack . . . You’re going to need a holiday when you’ve got through all this. Arranging a getaway can be stressful but these days there are lots of nifty tools to help you manage all your holiday planning so you can focus on what really matters – making memories with your loved ones.

As the countdown to the holiday season has started in earnest, we went looking for the best digital tools to help you tootle through your travels.

AIRBNB

This is one service that lives up to the hype. Whether you’re looking to travel on the cheap or splash out, Airbnb has something for you – and it’s a great way to book something nearby on the fly.

There’s accommodation of every kind on offer in most cities and many towns around the world, from quaint B&Bs to lavish 10-bedroom mansions. You can even rent a dinky room in someone’s flat if all you’re looking for is a crash pad.

The app and website have a relatively new Experience feature too, which allows users to book one-of-a-kind adventures with a local – think city walks, scuba-diving or cooking classes, all rated by users who’ve been there, done that and got the T-shirt, as is the case with accommodation.

Certain cities also have a Restaurant function now, which includes reviews of local hotspots by Airbnb hosts. App free to download from the Apple App and Google Play stores. Also accessible via airbnb.com.

GOOGLE TRANSLATE

If you haven’t had the time to brush up on the language of the country you’re visiting, Google Translate could be your saving grace. You can input words or phrases into the app to help you with conversational basics, and a little sound clip even teaches you how to pronounce the words. The app allows you to download language packs ahead of time, so you don’t need an internet connection on your phone to use the translation services. Easily the best part though is the in-camera translation function – perfect for reading signs, menus and the like. Just hold your phone over the text and it translates it into your language of choice right on your screen. App free to download from the Apple App and Google Play stores. Also accessible via translate.google.com.