20 Eco-Friendly Apps For Sustainable Travel
Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
Two of my biggest passions are sustainability and travel. Socially responsible and eco-friendly travel can be made easier with sustainable travel apps. Green travel apps can help us choose sustainable accommodation, find local restaurants and businesses to support, and can even save us money!
Typically, when one thinks of travelling, eco-friendlessness doesn’t come to mind because of the costs to the environment due to transportation. With the right eco-conscious travel tools, and conscious choices about how and where we travel, as well as the activities and businesses we support while abroad, we can travel sustainably.
Read on to discover some of the best eco-friendly apps for sustainable travel.
key takeaways
- Eco-friendly travel is possible with the right tools, knowledge, and dedication.
- Green apps can help you lead a more sustainable lifestyle at home and abroad.
- Green travel apps can help you choose sustainable restaurants, accommodations, transportation, activities, tours and much more.
- More and more destinations are focusing on sustainable tourism – take advantage!
Jump Ahead:
Green Apps to Help You Find Accommodation & Flights
All Around Low-Impact Travel Apps
Best Responsible Tourism Apps for Finding Restaurants & Food
Best Sustainable Travel Apps to Save & Track Money
Eco Apps for Sustainable Transportation
Sustainable Adventure Planning Apps
Best Travel Safety App for Solo Travelers
Other Fantastic Sustainable Tourism Apps to Check Out
Green Apps to Help You Find Accommodation & Flights
Book Different
Destinations covered: Worldwide
Book Different does the work of a sustainability check for you! They have a database of more than two million hotels, gathered from Booking.com that have been assessed based on credentials as part of their staygreencheck. Each accommodation is assessed based on four pillars of sustainability: management, fair & local, cultural friendly and nature & environment. Book Different works with renowned organizations that certify accommodations for sustainability to provide you with a score for each hotel. You can also see each accommodations’ CO2 footprint in kg per guest night. Choose one that has several green hearts with a low carbon footprint for the lowest impact stay!
This eco-friendly accommodation app has also partnered with Green Destinations to showcase the most sustainable destinations in the world, and also to highlight ideas of responsible things to do once you’re there. Talk about all-in-one eco travel!
Hopper
Destinations covered: Worldwide
Although the app itself doesn’t discern the sustainability of flights, car rentals, or accommodations for you, they do plant four trees for every booking in the app to help offset carbon emissions. So far over 20 million trees have been planted with their partner Eden Reforestation Projects in Tana Delta, Kenya, and Montahane, Madagascar.
They offer trillions of flight, hotel, and car rental prices and can notify customers when prices are at their predicted lowest so you can book at the right time to save money.
Couchsurfing
What could be more authentic and socially sustainable than staying with a local? I have used this app to couchsurf in New Zealand, the UK, and Canada, and each time I had an amazing experience! As a member, you can offer a space for travelers to “couchsurf”, or you can search for a place to stay (for free.)
Note that the app does not provide security like background or ID checks on members, so make sure to read people’s profiles, reviews, and other information closely before accepting to stay or host someone. Trust your instincts, and if something seems off go with your gut (in the opposite direction!) Another great thing about this travel app is you can use it to meet travel friends through the “Hangouts” feature!
All Around apps for Sustainable travel & tourism
FairTrip
Destinations covered: Worldwide, with few in Australia & New Zealand and lacking Northern Africa & Russia.
FairTrip is an sustainable travel app that acts as a collaborative travel guide with more than 3000 places selected by FairTrippers. You can search for homestays, local restaurants, and authentic experiences, like a sustainable wine tasting tour. When a FairTripper adds a new place, it is validated by the FairTrip team if it promotes fair, social, and sustainable tourism, meeting the set of guidelines pictured here.
You can get personalized recommendations based on your location, your search, or other FairTrippers you follow. It’s like having this eco-conscious itinerary app do the planning for you. The best part of this green app? All places and the map are available offline – eco travel made easy!
“With FairTrip, we are reinventing the travel guide with a unique application that is more than just a travel guide, but also a social network to help people find authentic places away from mass tourism. ” – Brian Corierri CEO de FairTrip.
Ecosia
Even though this isn’t uniquely for travel, you may want to consider switching your search engine to Ecosia. They use 100% of the ad revenue from your searches to plant trees! It super simple to set up as your primary search engine on all of your devices, works just as well as Google, and it takes literally ZERO effort from you. The coolest part? At the top of your screen, you’ll see how many trees your time online has planted so far!
Best Apps for Finding Restaurants & Food While Traveling Sustainably
Happy Cow
Destinations covered: Worldwide
Whether you’re looking for strictly vegan or vegetarian options, Happy Cow can help you find your way! With options listed in over 180 countries, you can enjoy a plant-based diet during your eco-friendly travel easily. You can save places for offline, filter for places that suit everyone in your group, and navigate there using the app. You can even get notifications for fresh listings in any city you like to help you discover new animal-friendly restaurants, bakeries, shops, etc!
With over one million reviews from vegans around the world, this ethical dining app is a must for your plant-based needs.
Localvore Passport
Destinations covered: U.S.A.
This social and eco app connects conscientious consumers to real food, local markets, public farms, and small businesses that make local economies thrive. When you invest money locally while travelling, the money is recirculated within the community, creating a more sustainable local economy. The directory and newsfeed are free in the Localvore app, and if you subscribe you can get access to exclusive offers and giveaways from local businesses.
Best Sustainable Travel Apps to Save & Track Money
Gas Buddy
Destinations covered: North America
If you’re planning a road trip rather than flying (yay!), this is a fantastic family travel app to help save you money along the way. GasBuddy has helped North American drivers save more than $3 billion and provides you with a trip cost calculator, gas price map, fuel outages and more! This super travel app provides real time gas price information at more than 150,000 stations in North America.
Tricount
Destinations covered: Use this app anywhere!
I’ve been using Tricount for several years now and I love it! Whether you’re travelling with your bff, family, or a group, this cost-sharing and sustainable shopping app takes all the mathwork out for you. You can create groups to share with all members that have the app installed, and enter costs like shared hotels or tours when they arise. The app will tell you who owes how much to whom and how to balance at the end of your trip. Genius!
Couchsurfing
Found in the “Green Apps to help you find accommodation & Flights” section above.
Eco Apps for Sustainable Transportation
Lime Bike
Destinations covered: mostly North America and Europe, with few in other countries – you can see a map on their website.
Lime is the world’s largest shared electric vehicle company, and if you like cycling or scooting it’s maybe the best sustainable transportation app for your travels! Lime provides affordable short-term rentals of electric bikes and scooters in more than 200 cities on five continents. You can save 75% of the emissions by taking an e-bike or scooter – now that’s eco-friendly travel!
Two of my favourite things about Lime are that it was the first shared electric vehicle company to power all e-bikes, e-scooters, warehouses and offices on renewable energy. And, they have a first of its kind program called Lime Assist that is aimed at granting access to electric vehicles to persons with varying abilities! Available in select U.S. cities.
Bike Map
DESTINATIONS COVERED: Worldwide
Once you’ve acquired your e-bike from Lime. why not check out Bike Map to help you plan your route? With 12 million unique cycling routes in more than 100 countries, you’ll be sure to find one that suits your style. You can plan, record, and navigate your ride with turn-by-turn voice instructions and check out relevant points of interest indicated on the map. If you’re planning on cycling while you travel, this is one of the best sustainability apps you could have on your device!
Google Maps
DESTINATIONS COVERED: Worldwide, except bans in these countries, plus Kosovo (which I learned the hard way!)
Although not necessarily looked at as an eco-app, Google Maps can help you find more sustainable transportation as well! If you’re not familiar already, when entering a destination into the map and choosing Get Directions, you can select either driving, walking, cycling, or public transportation as your means of transport. The app will then show you bus or train times, schedules, and stops, and also the best cycling and walking routes to your destination, making it one of the handiest green navigation apps!
*Pro tip – before your trip, download an offline map of the area you’ll be in and you can use Google maps as a navigation tool without data! Note that only the “driving” option will work for navigation offline though.
BlaBlaCar
DESTINATIONS COVERED: 21 countries including Mexico, Brazil, India, and many in Europe
This green transporation app is community-based and has 26 million active members per year. Whether you’re a driver with an empty seat, or in need of a ride, you can find your match here! BlablaCar does all the safety checks on reviews, profiles and IDs so you know you’re secure in your travels. The driver will decide on the cost of your ride, with deciding factors like distance, time, demand, etc. Carpooling with someone already going your way is certainly more economical and environmentally friendly than renting a car! Another bonus? You may even meet some travel friends using this app!
Eco-Friendly Apps for Outdoors & Adventurous Travel
All Trails
DESTINATIONS COVERED: Worldwide
As an outdoor enthusiast, I’ve had a subscription to this sustainable adventure planning app for several years. With over 200,000 trail maps for hiking, riding, trail running, my only complaint is that it makes it hard to decide which one to tackle! I love that I can read recent trail reviews, check out photos uploaded by users, and create lists in the app.
You can also use filters for distance, difficulty, type, and more to find the trail perfectly suited to what you’re looking for. You can create custom maps and record, navigate, and share all your adventures with others on the app. AllTrails has gotten me out of a few situations on trail after getting turned around before, which makes it a great travel safety app too. If you love hitting the trail while travelling (or in general), you need this app to help you recreate sustainably!
Komoot
DESTINATIONS COVERED: Mainly Europe, with New Zealand and the U.S.
I haven’t personally used this green app, but after checking it out for this article I am definitely going to try it! Much like All Trails, you can filter through ready built hiking and (all kinds of) biking routes by distance, difficulty, and public transport links. Komoot makes it easy to create and customize your own adventure by generating sport-specific topographic routing to suit your desires. You can download routes or maps so you can navigate offline no matter how off-grid your adventures take you!
Best travel safety app for solo travelers
Travel Smart
DESTINATIONS COVERED: Worldwide
Although not specifically about sustainability, traveling alone can be scary and it can’t hurt to have a little peace of mind with this safe travel app. Travel Smart is a fantastic way to find out things to a avoid and dangerous places, making it a great app to use for traveling alone (or not!) The app will also provide you with cultural advice (a social sustainability tool!), currency converter, weather outlook feature, tipping calculator and must-see attractions for your destination!
Other fantastic eco-friendly apps for sustainable travel
Refill My Bottle & Tap Hydration & Water Stations
Eco-friendly travel means you definitely brought your reusable water bottle along! I wish I had known about these apps sooner, as my partner and I always carried ours with out while sightseeing, but sometimes couldn’t find a safe place to fill up.
RefillMyBottle mainly services Southeast Asia, with 4,373 refill stations in over 4,000 locations. This eco-app provides the user with a map that identifies places where you can fill up with clean drinkable water for free or a minimum fee. How’s that for saving disposable plastic water bottles from winding up in the ocean and saving you money? Did you know that over six millions plastic bottles are discarded every month in Bali alone?
You can also say no to single-use plastics with Tap, which works similarly to RefillMyBottle. Tap has over 250,000 locations in more than 100 countries to help you avoid adding to the heaps of water bottles in landfills. Tap also has a hydration tracking feature to help you ensure you’re drinking enough water each day!
iRecycle
DESTINATIONS COVERED: Only in the U.S.
Although iRecycle hopes to expand soon, it is currently only available in the U.S. This sustainable app will tell you how and where you can recycle virtually anything. Did you know that you can recycle anything from paint cans to old CDs? Use this eco-app to help you make sure all of your items are recycled properly!
Google Translate
Nothing shouts social sustainability like learning to communicate with the local people! Unless you’re already fluent in the local language of your destination, you may need a little help. The Google Translate app has a ton of features to help you speak with locals and learn as you do. You can use if offline to translate conversations on the fly, by typing in text, pointing your camera at an image of text, or importing photos of text. You can also star and save translated words and phrases in your phrasebook for future reference. This makes this one of the best eco-friendly language translation apps out there!
there you have it! the best apps for sustainable travel!
Next time you’re planning some eco-friendly travel, download the eco-apps that are applicable to your destination or travel style and you’re all set!
Happy (sustainable) travels!
