9 Best Food Apps for Travelers

HappyCow

Eating vegetarian while traveling can be tough, especially if you're in a country or city that's more known for its beef than its beets. HappyCow is the world's premier restaurant-guide app for vegan, vegetarian, and vegetarian-friendly restaurants. The app features restaurants in more than 150 countries. You'll never have to pack emergency peanut butter or energy bars again!

$3.99 on Apple; $3.99 on Google Play

GateGuru

Simply upload your itinerary to GateGuru and the app will list nearby food options. The app also features restaurant ratings from other flyers, so you'll know where to spend your dining dollars. (Full disclosure: GateGuru and SmarterTravel are both in the TripAdvisor Media Group.)

Free; available on Android, Apple, and Windows

MyFitnessPal

As we've learned, it's easy to fall victim to a nutritional disaster while traveling. Avoid the trap by downloading MyFitnessPal, a free calorie-counting app. The app's database has nutritional facts for more than 3 million food items, including many fast-food and restaurant options. You can also track your exercise to see if you're eating more calories on vacation than you're burning!

Free; available on Android, Apple, BlackBerry, and Windows

OpenTable

Want to eat at the hottest local restaurants in the city you're visiting but don't want to deal with language barriers or waste time calling in reservations? Get the OpenTable app, which lets you make instantly confirmed restaurant reservations at more than 27,000 restaurants in the U.S. and abroad—without any service fees. And every time you make a reservation using OpenTable, you'll earn Dining Points, which can be redeemed for Dining Cheques, good at any OpenTable restaurant.

Free; available on Android, Apple, and Windows

LocalEats

Here's a solution to the age-old problem of finding good food while in an unfamiliar city: LocalEats. The app's editors scour local food blogs, papers, and online ratings to determine which restaurants are good in a number of cities across the U.S. and list the best of the bunch. Search for a place based on your GPS location (or by city and state) and type of cuisine, and the app will give you a list of curated options so you won't have to sift through endless conflicting anonymous reviews to figure out where to eat. Foodies will love that no national chain restaurants are listed in the app.

$0.99; available on Android and Apple

IExit

If you or your road-trip passengers are hungry right now, it'll be helpful to have iExit downloaded on your phone. This app shows you the food (and gas and lodging) options that are available at upcoming exits. Want to plan further ahead? You can display what's nearby at up to 100 exits ahead. The app also has coupons that you can use to get cheap eats.

Available on Android for free and Apple for $2.99.

Yelp

There are more than 42 million reviews on Yelp, so chances are you'll find something written about the dining options in wherever you're traveling. The app lets you search for restaurants sorted by type of cuisine, price range, and location and then shows you user reviews for the results. Users can also upload photos, so you can see what the food really looks like before you order. It also handily displays the hours of operation, so you won't decide on a closed restaurant. Even better, it shows deals and coupons at nearby restaurants.

Free; available on Android, Apple, and Windows

Airport Maps

The Airport Maps app aims to be the Google Maps for airport terminals. It features detailed gate maps (in which you can zoom in and scroll around) and a directory of dining options. The good: It works without a data connection. The bad: It has only 61 North American airports in its database at the moment.

$2.99 on Apple and $1.99 on Android

Foodspotting

Pretty much every destination worth a visit has a local dish for which it's famous. But how do you know which restaurant is serving the best version of that dish? Download the Foodspotting app and never wonder again. Foodspotting lets users recommend great dishes (rather than restaurants), so you can search for "deep-dish pizza" in Chicago and see photos and reviews of the best pizzas in the city.

Free; available on Android, Apple, BlackBerry, and Windows

More from SmarterTravel:

• 10 Airport Foods You Should Never Eat
• 10 Roadside Foods You Should Never Eat
• 10 Healthy Snacks You Can Buy at the Airport

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