Best travel apps: five top apps to help you plan your holiday

Predictions for more snow and sub-zero temperatures will have many people longing for a sunny summer holiday. The beginning of the year is peak time for travellers to start booking trips and now there are hundreds of apps to help plan the perfect holiday. Here are five of the best:

Unesco World Heritage

Travellers seeking inspiration for their ultimate travel bucket list need look no further. This app provides a guide to all 911 Unesco World Heritage sites, from the rainforests of Madagascar and the Canadian Rockies to the Acropolis in Athens and Timbuktu. It includes maps of all sites, over 650 images and a function to plot specific sites on Google Maps.

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Available on: iOS

Kayak

Whether you're booking hotels, flights or cars, Kayak allows you to search the best deals on one handy app. If you're still deciding where to go, its "explore" function shows you a map of the world with the prices of travel to various locations. Once booked, you can also manage your itinerary and track your flight status.

Available on: iOS and Android

Packing Pro

Love travelling but hate packing? This app allows you to create unlimited packing lists, offers suggestions on what you might need to take, allows you to check off items once they are packed and will even work out the weight of your luggage. You can also share your list with fellow travellers via email or app-to-app. Amateur Traveller calls it "the king of all packing list apps".

Available on: iOS

WorldMate

Once all your flight, hotel, hire car, tour and restaurant bookings have been made, WorldMate is on hand to simplify your holiday plans. Email your various confirmation emails to trips@worldmate.com and the app instantly generates an itemised itinerary for your whole trip. If you upgrade to the premium version, you can also receive real-time alerts about your journey, such as flight delays or gate changes.

Available on: iOS and Android

City Maps 2Go

This offline map and travel guide offers 6,700 interactive maps, including millions of points of interest, and 500,000 Wikipedia abstracts about sites and attractions. With no need to go online to search for addresses and places, travellers won't face large roaming charges on their return. The app also offers insider tips from other travellers and allows you to attach personal notes to map locations.

Available on: iOS and Android