I finally found the perfect travel planning app

Planning a vacation is the next best thing to really go on that vacation. I like to open hundreds of tabs, read dozens of “musts”, bookmark, add bookmarks to fun and weird things to do, and prepare a half-way route from scheduled activities with room for on-site quirks. What I do not like is that there is no way to really connect all this research together. Chrome bookmarks, notes Keep notes, Gmail and maps are just that – I always end up going against each other, fighting this fragmented approach. Then, a few weeks ago, I fell across Wanderlog and let me tell you one thing: If I were making my ideal trip planning app from scratch, it would be very dirty near Wanderlog. Actually no, I’m scratching it, I would build something similar, but I could not think of at least twelve awesome extra features that the service already offers.

The web interface is beautifully designed and offers the same range of functions.

First things first: Wanderlog is free and has no ads (this is its own Privacy Policy). It is available on Android, iOS and web, so I can start drawing on my computer, continue on my iPad, review my Pixel and jump between all platforms without a problem. It also lets you share travel plans with your friends or associates for viewing or editing rights only, and stays updated when someone makes a change, such as Google Docs. It is also a smooth application with neat animation, beautiful iconography and typography and some layers and gestures.

These are my most basic requirements for a travel app and, believe it or not, many services I tried earlier did not choose all of these frameworks. Either sharing was impossible or they did not have PC or iOS clients, and those that showed more ads than a Google Discover feed or had an outdated user interface. Apart from these requirements, the application has almost everything I wanted in a trip, road trip and route planning … and much more. Let me guide you.

First, I create a journey. It could be something as specific as the previous weekend in Reims with exact start and end times, or a vague plan like a general list of things I want to do in France. With my trip created, Wanderlog opens three tabs for me: Overview, Itinerary and Explore.

Let’s be a little unorthodox and start with the last one. You know these lists of 10 things to look for [city-name] who has any travel blog? Wanderlog collects some of them (for larger cities), but does the extra mile to analyze the list and find places on a map for me. Mind. Open. Crushed. No more copying and pasting foreign domain names, no more flipping and flipping between each article and Google Maps to see if a site can fit my schedule. Each place has a photo, tags, a brief description, details of Google Maps (star rating, opening hours, website, phone number). I can immediately see if it is open on Sunday or go to its website, add it to my trip in general or on a specific day of the route, see it on the map or get directions for it.

I know I will always do my own research later and find other unique and less general places to visit, but these broken lists are fantastic a silly way to get started with any travel planning.

Now, let’s go back to the first tab. Here, I can link my reservations: flight, accommodation and car rental. These can be imported automatically from Gmail (which, frankly, I would not recommend – do not let any application read all emails, period) or be forwarded manually from your mailbox (preferably). You can also enter the details manually if you prefer. For accommodation, Wanderlog can also search for you on Airbnb and Hotels.com, helping you plan it as well. There is no flight or car search, though. If I were to make a change to Wanderlog, I would also add support for importing train / bus bookings. These travel methods are widely used here in Europe and it would be nice to have them fully integrated into the application.

Below this is a box for personal notes. This can be what I want it to be, and like all note boxes in the application, it supports bold, italics, underline, dots, and numbered lists. On the web, you can also make indentations and add links. So neat.

Then we get to the lists. The things I have saved from the Explorer tab are shown here, but I can also create more lists and type in the site name manually. The data comes from Google Maps, so whatever you find there is available here. In my experience, only a few characters are needed to locate any place and Wanderlog is smart enough to search the city you are looking at instead of the whole world.

I could spend hours lyrically about how powerful these lists are, but let’s summarize it in a few things: pre-filled short descriptions, Google Maps data, custom photos, personal notes (in all formatting), Google search links, Trip Advisor and Maps. But most of all, the list icons can be customized to have a green mountain for lists of parks and outdoors, then a blue shopping bag for shops and a red cup for cafes. Compared to Google Maps, which give a blue icon for everything, this visual variation makes Wanderlog so much better, so much better.

And finally, it is my path. If I know I’m going to visit a place on a particular day or if I have booked somewhere, I can move it from the regular lists and assign it to a day. Even better, I can add a specific time and a personal note. This gives me the flexibility I always wanted when planning a trip: two separate sections for things that are reserved and unchanged (itinerary) plus other interesting places to visit or not (lists).

Route, map view with different colors and icons and map layers.

On top of all that, Wanderlog has a map view that shows hotels, lists and route places with the corresponding color and icon coding. And I can export it as a Google Maps list and follow it from my main account there. The shapes and colors of the icons return to the blue pins on Google, but this is Google’s fault, not Wanderlog’s. Then, when I’m done with the trip, I just uncheck the list and it disappears from the Maps and I no longer cram it visually.

The trip was exported to Google Maps.

With every travel planning app I have tried in the past, I have always come to the same conclusion: “Just use Google Maps, Rita, not worth it.” But as I roamed Reims last weekend, I was surprised to find that I was still jumping between Wanderlog and Maps because everything was much better in the first one and I needed directions from the second. I really enjoyed seeing my design so neatly and it was my pleasure to use such a simple look but also a very powerful application.

A few years ago, I gave up on the fact that the perfect travel planning app for me does not exist, but well, here we are. If I was very picky, I would love to book train / bus reservations, have a schedule synced or exported to a Google Calendar, and see weather information and currency conversions for the city I am going to. It would also be nice to be able to share parts from Maps or other applications on Wanderlog. But all this is extra that would be the cherry on top of a very tasty cake.

My only real wish is for Wanderlog to stay as awesome as it is. I’ve seen so many services go up and down, and it would be a heartbreaking shame if they did.

Alternative title: The perfect travel planning application does not exist