Summer is coming (take that Starks!) along with one of the busiest travel seasons of the year. The best vacations are the ones in which you can relax and focus on having a good time, instead of worrying about annoying little details every step you take.

Luckily, there are plenty of apps that can assist you with pretty much anything travel related – from booking hotels and flights to packing your bags and getting navigation instructions. While it’s great to be spontaneous every once in a while, there are also apps that let you find great restaurants, sights, monuments, museums and other interesting places in the locations you plan to visit so you won’t wander around aimlessly unless you really want to.

Here’s a selection of free travel apps that can be of great help, regardless what kind of trip you’re planning.

GPS & Navigation

MapFactor: GPS Navigation – Download

Price: Free (with IAPs)

Google Maps is great and all, but it lacks offline navigation, something which MapFactor does offer. The app is using OffStreetMap data and it offers free, offline maps, which you can store on your phone’s SD card. It also comes with voice guidance, automated check for map updates, and lets you create and save your own routes, which is perfect for road trips.

The app is free, but you do have the possibility to purchase detailed navigator maps, if you don’t want to use the free OSM maps.

HERE Maps – Download

Price: Free

This one is rather obvious, but useful nonetheless. Nokia’s HERE Maps were relaunched last year and the app comes with an impressive amount of features, considering it’s absolutely free. HERE Maps has a beautiful and functional design, and offers those badly needed offline maps and voice guided navigation.

Among some of its best features are the built-in route planner suitable for driving, walking and public transportation, indoor maps for airports and shopping centers and real-time incident and traffic information for more than 40 countries.

Sygic: GPS Navigation and Maps – Download

Price: Free (with IAPs)

Sygic is one of the most popular navigation apps at the moment, and it comes with all the features you’d expect like offline TomTom maps, voice navigation with multilingual support, POIs and fixed speed cameras, community based police trap information and pedestrian navigation.

While the free features set is pretty solid, and I’m not easily impressed by IAPs, Sygic has some great paid add-ons like traffic service, mobile speedcam locations and Head Up Display so you can project navigation on your windshield.

Waze Social GPS Maps & Traffic- Download

Price: Free

Traffic information is often a premium feature in navigation apps – if you’re not willing to pay for it, Waze offers a community based solution. The app collects user-submitted information about traffic, accidents, road closures, police traps, gas prices information and other road-related data.

Waze also provides GPS maps, the ability to send your ETA and real-time location as you’re driving to your friends and see their ETA as well among other features. Even if it’s not your go-to navigation app, the traffic information provided by Waze can definitely be a life saver – and not just during vacations, but also for daily commuting.

Planning & Booking

Hipmunk Hotels & Flights – Download

Price: Free

Hipmunk lets you easily find and book flights and hotels, but it also lets you discover the best prices and features, last minute deals for hotel rooms, offering a simple way to save money, even if you weren’t able to make reservations in advance or spontaneously decided to go on a vacation.

The app features TripAdvisor information on hotels so you can make informed choices, and locations marked as ‘Verified by Hipmunk’ show exactly what you get for your money and if there are any extra fees involved.