The Ultimate App Roundup For Holiday Travellers

Whether you’re headed home for the holidays or jetting off on a festive winter escape, these are the season’s must-have apps for holiday travellers.

Get the best travel deals (so you can spend more on presents)

From flights and hotels through to holiday homes, luxury hotels and weekend breaks, HolidayPirates provides deals no matter your budget. Using the ‘Travel Alert’ function, you can even set up alerts to be sent straight to WhatsApp when deals match your criteria.

Free to download on iOS and Android.

Optimise your naughty and nice list

Use Evernote to create, share and optimise your holiday planning. The app forwards gift lists from your email, lets you snap a photo or scan in paper lists, helps you to create a checklist associated with gifts you plan to purchase and syncs everything between your phone, tablet, and computer automatically – meaning your notes stay with you when you’re on the go, as long as you’ve got your mobile.

Free to download on iOS and Android.

Book a beautiful chalet (or a peaceful escape from family time)

Make the most of your holiday by booking a beautiful, homey accommodation on Airbnb. At the very least, keep the app on hand to ensure you’ve got a respite if family time becomes a little too much to handle. Get inspired now by checking out the world’s most popular Airbnb.

Free to download on iOS and Android.

Check the slopes

If you’re lucky enough to be spending the holidays in the mountains, use the Ski & Snow Report to find out if it’ll be a white Christmas on the slopes. This app delivers daily snow reports and current conditions from the slopes of more than 2,000 ski areas globally. Compare snow reports from your favourite ski resorts, view and upload firsthand reports and photos, and check out the webcams and weather forecast for ski resorts you’re planning to visit. You can even set a powder alert to a custom tolerance to receive a notification when your favourite resorts get that amount of new snow.

Free to download on iOS and Android.

Impress with a home-cooked meal

We all have an idea of the perfect Christmas dinner – a magical time spent with family and friends enjoying succulent turkey with all the trimmings. The reality is that cooking a complex, multi-component meal like this can be quite a challenge. The Perfect Christmas Dinner app brings you the expert guidance of professional chef tutors.

If you’re visiting relatives for Hanukkah impress them with your chocolate orange challah or cranberry latke recipe courtesy of The Manischewitz Recipe & Holiday Guide, offering hundreds of Kosher recipes as well as Hanukkah facts.

Both free to download on iOS and Android.

Prepare the perfect Christmas dinner this holiday / Pexels

Take tradition wherever you go

The ultimate Hanukkah 101 app, the Chanukah Guide has the prayers in six languages (Hebrew, English, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and French), a menorah timer and even a digital dreidel. If you’re celebrating Christmas, get the Christmas Carols Music and Lyrics app to sing along with the 22 most popular Christmas carols.

Free to download on iOS and Android.

Searching for the perfect holiday present? Check out our 2017 gift guide.

About the author

Claire Lancaster

Tech & Entrepreneurship Editor

English-American, Claire has lived and worked in the U.S., South America, Europe and the UK. As Culture Trip’s tech and entrepreneurship editor she covers the European startup scene and issues ranging from Internet privacy to the intersection of the web with civil society, journalism, public policy and art. Claire holds a master’s in international journalism from City University, London and has contributed to outlets including Monocle, NPR, Public Radio International and the BBC World Service. When not writing or travelling, she can be found searching for London's best brunch spot or playing with her cat, Diana Ross.