These days, planning travel is not so much about booking flights and calling tour agencies as it is about finding the right tools and apps to assist with that (typically tedious) process.
From veteran travel companies, such as SkyScanner and TripAdvisor, to emerging startups, such as GoEuro and trip.me – there's just so many of them right at our fingertips. And plenty of new ones cropping up at the same time.
In case you're planning a trip and on the hunt for some European-grown apps to use, here's a list of travel startups to check out that focus on either multi-modal transport or creating an itinerary (or both).
Don't miss: our list of 25 transportation startups from Europe
1) GoEuro
Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
Gist: Founded in 2012 by Naren Shaam, GoEuro's platform lets users search and compare travel route options between European cities across various methods of transport (trains, planes, buses). The startup, which operates in seven countries, announced a $27 million investment last month.
2) GetYourGuide
Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland
Gist: From a paint workshop in Amsterdam to a champagne tour in Paris, GetYourGuide compiles and categorizes activities from all over the world aiming to make it easy for users to book on its platform. Founded in 2009, it has raised approximately $45 million in funding to date.
3) fromAtoB
Headquarters: Munich, Germany
Gist: Founded by Veit Blumschein and Daniel Nolte six years ago, fromAtoB dubs itself as "Europe's advanced travel search engine". Similar to GoEuro, the aim is to compare various means of transportation in order to help users find the most convenient solution to get from A toB.
4) Stay
Headquarters: Oslo, Norway
Gist: Stay.com Founder and CEO Joachim Paasche started the company in 2009 when he "got tired of handling bulky guidebooks". The idea is simple: to offers users a platform to create personalized itineraries for a trip. In May of this year, Stay released the newest version of its app.
5) Wanderio
Headquarters: Rome, Italy
Gist: Founded in 2013, Wanderio is a web application that allows users to enter two addresses anywhere in the world and compare travel route options, prices, times and Co2 emissions. The startup said it differs from GoEuro with its "focus on transfers" and getting user from door to door.
6) Tripomatic
Headquarters: Brno, Czech Republic
Gist: Trip planner app Tripomatic, founded in 2011, lets you research activities and build your own travel guide for over 400 destinations worldwide. The service – available on the web and mobile – recently launched a new version in May and reportedly has 200,000 app downloads.
7) Nezasa
Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland
Gist: Founded in 2012, Nezasa (the name of a sub-species of bamboo) aims to simplify the process of creating and booking a personalized travel itinerary for users. In June of this year, the startup closed an $800,000 second round of financing.
8) CreateTrips
Headquarters: Helsinki, Finland
Gist: iOS app CreateTrips allows users to plan travel and share trip tips with others in their network. In June, the Finnish startup raised $600,000 in seed funding to expand beyond the 18 markets it's currently in and to strengthen presence particularly in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia.
9) Waymate
Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
Gist: Founded in 2010 by Tom Kirschbaum and Maxim Nohroudi, Waymate is also tackling travel planning in the realm of multi-modal transport. The online platform, available in English and German, aggregates and compares potential travel route options between two places for users.
10) Ulmon
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eadquarters: Vienna, Austria
Gist: Ulmon is the maker behind the CityMaps2Go apps, which feature guides, tips and offline maps. Founded in 2010, the travel app developer received an undisclosed seed investment in March this year. In 2013, Ulmon claimed six million iOS and Android app downloads.
11) ZapTravel
Headquarters: Paris, France / London, UK
Gist: ZapTravel is an online platform that lets users search and book travel package deals (focusing on air travel and hotels) based on the destination entered. It could come in handy if you want to go on vacation but don't know where to go.
12) GuidePal
Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
Gist: Founded in 2009, GuidePal provides mobile travel guide apps for various cities. The guides work offline and are currently available on iPhone and Android. The startup claims its mobile apps have been downloaded six million times to date.
13) trip.me
Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
Gist: Founded in 2013 by Andre Kiwitz, trip.me is an online platform connecting travellers directly with local tour agencies around the world in order to book activities. In August of this year, the startup received an undisclosed Series A investment to fuel growth.
14) tripwolf
Headquarters: Vienna, Austria
Gist: Founded in 2008, tripwolf is a mobile and web platform that offers travel guides for more than 500 destinations in five languages. The startup has reportedly garnered six million app downloads and reached its first annual profit in 2012.
15) Triposo
Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
Gist: Started by ex-Googlers in 2010, Triposo generates interactive travel guides (and maps) that work offline using algorithms. The apps cover more than 25,000 destinations around the world and have reportedly been downloaded six million times.
16) Travellution
Headquarters: Paris, France
Gist: Founded in 2011, Travellution wants to be an efficient solution for travel planning with friends or co-workers. The platform lets you create customized itineraries collaboratively as well as a service so a travel agency can help you with planning.
17) Excursiopedia
Headquarters: Munich, Germany
Gist: Another player in the travel activity-booking space is Excursiopedia (and another one that hails from Deutschland), which was founded at the end of 2010. The startup offers a marketplace of tours and activities from around the world in seven languages.
18) Darjeelin
Headquarters: Paris, France
Gist: In addition to offering a service that lets users plan trips with its 'travel coaches', Darjeelin's online platform also offers a search engine for comparing prices on flights. Obviously named after the town in West Bengal (India), famous for its tea industry.
19) Trip4real
Headquarters: Barcelona, Spain
Gist: Trip4real offers travelers unique activities created by local experts so that they enjoy the most authentic part of a country as marvellous as Spain (and soon, more countries). Identified as one of Airbnb's European partners and backed by 1 million euros in funding.
Any major ones we missed? Let us know.
Featured image credit: everything possible / Shutterstock
