Apps that you need to download for your summer road trips

With the sun out and Britain experiencing one of the hottest summers in recent memory, outings and road trips with family and friends are becoming a weekly tradition. Escapes to the coast, national parks and attractions are synonymous with summer and thanks to apps, they’re more enjoyable than ever.

In years gone by, a road trip involved nothing more than an old paper map and a car full of CDs. This inevitably led to travellers getting lost with a continuous Robbie Williams loop doing nothing to help.

But in the modern day, there are apps that can make life much less stressful. A long car journey can, of course, be daunting. We’ve previously talked about how you can prepare for long car journeys with children and this post will look at phone apps that will make the car journey more enjoyable, easier and fun.

Field trip

Field Trip runs in the background on your phone and notifies you when you drive close to an interesting location. The app is perfect for a flexible road trip where you’re happy to stop off and enjoy the sites along the way to your end destination. Who knows what you will pass by on your route?

Spotify

Everyone needs a good singalong on their road trip. With millions of songs on the music streaming app, you’ll never be short of a soundtrack to mark your journey with. You’ll even find dozens of premade road trip playlists. If these don’t suit, get pass the phone around and create your own playlist of songs you like.

Flush

“I should have gone before we left” is an all too familiar unwanted phrase when on a road trip. There isn’t much worse than being trapped in the confines of your car when you desperately need to use the loo. Thankfully a handy app named Flush has solved all that. This app will find the one closest to you and with a database of close to 200,000 public restrooms, you’ll never be too far away from one.

Hotel tonight

Hotel Tonight allows users to find discounted last minute accommodation. If you haven’t booked accommodation in advance and are unsure where you will end the day’s drive, Hotel Tonight has unsold rooms from approved hotels. Perfect for a bargain. Be aware that the app is currently only available in the UK’s major cities. The Booking app is also a good choice when looking for a night’s accommodation.

MAPS.ME

This app provides offline map-navigation meaning that you don’t need to use up any of your data allowances. Whichever part of the world you’re travelling, whether it be the UK or Spain, users can pre-download that country’s map. After, the maps and all the built-in features work offline and do not require an internet connection. If you don’t mind using your internet connection, there are real-time car traffic updates available too.

Low-emission car hire

For those who like to travel from place to place whilst on holiday, car hire is a great option. It provides flexibility, savings on other transport and control to your holiday.

Whether you want to pick up your car hire and drive to your holiday destination or pick up a car when you arrive at your location, Green Motion can help. With 20 locations around the UK, you’re never too far from one of our branches and we have car hire available in many of the most popular tourist destinations.

For more information about the range of vehicles available, browse our online booking platform.