You’ve got your packing list ready, but are you prepared to hit the ground running in Europe with the proper apps and technology? Make your trip as seamless as possible with these apps to download before your Christmas market trip. From currency helpers to communication tools, each of these apps will help make your trip smoother from touchdown to the markets to the time you return home.
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Calculator for Currency Conversion
That Danish souvenir might seem like a good deal in Krone, but it could cost more than you expect in USD or AUD! If you have an updated iPhone, the calculator app doubles as an easy currency conversion calculator. It updates regularly, works flawlessly, and doesn’t require data. It especially came in handy at the Christmas markets in Budapest, where the Hungarian Forint was very different from the Euro or USD!
While Americans don't use it much, people worldwide do. As a messaging and phone app, WhatsApp lets you communicate with Airbnb or tour hosts, call restaurants to make reservations, meet up with friends, or stay in touch even after your trip. When we say everyone else uses it, we mean EVERYONE else uses it, so download it soon and start getting used to it!
Ridesharing Apps
If you need a quick ride between train journeys, to or from the airport, or from one side of the city to another, rideshare makes it easy to get around! There are many ride sharing apps across the continent, but Lyft, Uber, and Bolt are what we’ve found that work in most European countries.
Train Travel Apps
While we love a road trip or a Christmas market cruise, one of the easiest ways to travel through Europe is by train. If it’s your first time in traveling to multiple destinations in Europe, train travel, tickets, apps, and timing can be a little overwhelming and confusing! While we know experienced travelers all have their different preferences, we’ve found a few different apps and ways of train travel that work best for us and hope you might find this helpful as well.
For country specific train travel:
If you’re exclusively or primarily staying in and around…
Germany: download the DB app to purchase and reference German train tickets.
Austria, download the ÖBB app to purchase and reference Austrian train tickets.
Italy: download the Trenitalia app to purchase and reference Italian train tickets.
France: download the SNCF Connect app to purchase and reference French train tickets.
Switzerland: download the SBB Mobile app to purchase and reference Swiss train tickets.
And so on.
If you’re hopping between different countries:
While you can download multiple different train company apps even if you’re hopping from one country to the next on your epic Christmas market world tour, we’ve found that the time, effort, currency conversion, and confusion of “which app was that?" Where are my tickets? " How much did that cost?” isn’t worth the hassle for a trip you’ve had to do so much research about and plan for.
When you’re in the destination, you want something easy to reference that you can count on to stay easy to find and up-to-date! This is why we love and recommend both the Trainline and Omio apps for train travel in multiple countries. You can buy train tickets quickly and easily through both apps. In either app, you can track train times, buy tickets, and select seats. As a bonus, you never have to worry about validating paper tickets in countries like Italy, as the ticket and QR code are right on your phone.
Your Airline’s App
We’ve found that we often get app updates about flights or gate changes before we get text, email, or airport announcements. You can also find extra in-flight entertainment in your airline’s app to help pass the time on long overseas flights. Want to know our in-flight go-to items to help the flight go smoothly? Check out our long-flight life savers here!
Surfshark VPN
Protect your personal data online while you travel and use foreign wifi connections. Public Wi-Fi is always risky and could let hackers steal your private information. Often, international phone plans or SIM cards come with less data than you’re used to, so you’ll likely find yourself connecting to public Wi-Fi more. Don’t let your guard down just because you’re on vacation! Surfshark is super affordable and worth every penny, thanks to its identity theft protection.
In addition to protecting yourself online, you can also use it to still watch all of your favorite shows on your streaming platform of choice. It’s always nice to warm up and wind down with your favorite cozy show after a long, cold day of market hopping!
Flush Toilet Finder App & Map
You’re going to be spending a lot of time out and about, hopping from Market to market, and after all that mulled wine and cider, you’re surely going to need a toilet- and fast! Like most places in the world, toilets inside of shops and restaurants are for paying customers only. However, European shops and restaurants are not required to have toilets accessible to customers.
So what do you do when you’re wandering the streets and ya gotta go? Check the Flush Toilet Finder & Map: It’s free and has over 200,000 public toilets in its database. What’s not free? Unfortunately, many of the toilets on the app aren’t. Make sure to keep some change on you, as public toilets can cost anywhere from approximately 50 cents to 2 dollars.
Google Maps
Google Maps is the perfect app for planning and taking trips to Europe. Save places such as restaurant recommendations or must-visit attractions to your map while you’re in planning your trip, then use it as directions and references to your next stops while you travel! We’ve found that Google Maps typically works better than Apple Maps in Europe, but we use both frequently.
Google Translate
Need to convey a message to someone at a booth who doesn’t speak your language? Download the Google Translate app, type your message, and the app will read the translation aloud in the selected language. Our favorite hack is using the Google Translate app to translate menus we can’t read. All you have to do is take a photo through the app, which will translate the text on the screen into your language! It’s nearly flawless and so helpful. It can also give you pronunciations if you’re unsure how to say common Christmas market words like “gluhwein!”
Google (for Google Lens) or AI
If you’re not on a guided tour yet but are curious about the monuments, icons, or foods around you, use the camera in your Google app to search your surroundings with Google Lens or AI. You can quickly find out “Who’s this statue of?” or “What is this food called?” with a Google Lens search. For a longer answer, you can also upload a photo to preferred AI to ask what you’re looking at or even translate the text or menus for you.