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The apps that accompany La Route de Ben every day, to find good places, travel, edit photos and create videos.
Finding Good Places
Before every outing, a few apps help spot the restaurants, cafés and shops worth the detour.
Atlas Obscura
Thousands of unusual places around the world: curiosities, odd museums, forgotten ruins or hidden gems, each with its story and its spot on the map. Ideal for getting off the beaten track.
Distiller
For spirits: whisky, gin, rum, tequila or cognac. Look up a bottle to read its rating, tasting notes and reviews, and keep a list of the ones you’ve tried.
European Coffee Trip
To find a specialty coffee wherever you are in Europe. Essential when travelling, and a great source of ideas for new places.
Ginventory
A gin and tonic guide: thousands of gins, each with the tonic and garnishes that suit it best. Rate your bottles and keep a wish list.
Mapstr
The blog’s pocket address book. Every restaurant, café or shop spotted is saved here before being tried, with a tag to find it easily.
TheFork
To book a table in a few clicks, read reviews and regularly enjoy discounts in participating restaurants, in Switzerland and abroad.
Too Good To Go
To rescue unsold food nearby: bakeries, cafés, restaurants and grocery shops offer surprise bags at a small price at the end of the day. Good for your wallet and against food waste.
Untappd
Scan a beer’s barcode or search by name to see its rating, style and reviews. Keep a list of the ones you’ve tried and find bars and breweries nearby.
Vivino
Snap a wine label and the app shows the wine, its average rating, reviews and a price range. Handy at a restaurant or in a wine shop.
Travelling and Hiking
On the trails as on the road, good preparation makes all the difference.
AllTrails
To prepare a hike: route, elevation, duration and walkers’ reviews. The blog’s walks are prepared with it.
Booking.com
For booking hotels, apartments and B&Bs, often with free cancellation. Bookings, addresses and confirmations stay at hand in the app during the trip.
Brave
A browser that blocks ads and trackers by default: pages load faster and use less data, handy when roaming or on public Wi-Fi.
Citymapper
For getting around big cities such as London, Paris or Berlin: tube, bus, train, bike and walking combined, with real-time times and the best station exit.
FAIRTIQ
Swipe a button just before boarding the train, bus or boat and again once you arrive: the app automatically works out the best fare. No need to buy a ticket in advance, anywhere in Switzerland.
Google Translate
Point the camera at a menu, a sign or a label and the translation appears right on the image. Also works offline if you download the languages in advance.
Hourrail
To explore Europe by train: every destination reachable from your city, travel times and trip ideas, night trains included. A lovely invitation to travel without flying.
park4night
A community map of places to park and spend the night in a van or motorhome, with photos, comments and nearby services (water, waste disposal, showers).
PeakVisor
Point your phone at the mountains and the app shows the name and altitude of every peak. It also offers 3D maps and hiking routes.
PostCard Creator
The Swiss Post app to send a real printed postcard with your own photos. A lovely, old-fashioned way to share your travels.
SBB Mobile
Timetables for all Swiss public transport, tickets, travel passes and real-time delays. Essential for getting around Switzerland by train, bus, boat or cable car.
Skyscanner
Compares flights from many airlines and agencies, with a price calendar to find the cheapest days and alerts when a fare drops. Also compares hotels and car hire.
swisstopo
The official Swiss national maps in your pocket. Hiking trails, relief and offline maps: the ideal app to never get lost in the mountains.
Transit
Real-time public transport timetables, in Switzerland and abroad. Very handy to get around an unfamiliar city.
WiFi Map
To find a free Wi-Fi network and its password almost anywhere in the world. A real lifesaver when travelling and mobile data fails.
Paying While Travelling
To pay for purchases in Switzerland and abroad, a few apps come in very handy.
neon
A Swiss banking app that lives entirely on the phone. Handy every day and when travelling, with a card to pay anywhere and real-time spending tracking.
PimPay
A Swiss app for paying in shops by scanning a QR code and sending money to friends for free. You can also follow your favourite local shops and enjoy their deals and loyalty programmes.
Revolut
To pay and withdraw cash in many currencies, with clearly displayed exchange rates and a notification for every payment. A practical companion for trips outside Switzerland.
Splitwise
Keeps track of shared expenses on a trip or a meal with friends and shows who owes what to whom, with no maths at the end of the stay.
TWINT
The Swiss payment app: pay in shops, restaurants, car parks or between friends with your phone. Each major Swiss bank has its own version of the app.
Yuh
The Swiss banking app from Swissquote and PostFinance: an account and a card to pay in Switzerland and abroad in several currencies, with savings and investing in the same app.
Editing Photos
Most of the blog’s photos go through the phone before being published.
ColorWander
It extracts the colours of a photo to turn them into a pretty colour card, styled like a ticket, a postcard or a Polaroid. Perfect for keeping a graphic memory of a place.
Film(ish)
Over 100 simulated film stocks (Kodak, Fuji, Agfa, slide, cinema, instant, black and white) with their grain, halation around highlights and colours. Also works on videos.
Foodie
A camera designed for food: filters that bring out dishes and desserts, and a guide to shoot perfectly flat from above the table. Perfect at the restaurant or the café.
Lightly
Over 500 looks sorted by mood (film, golden hour, night, black and white), background blur, an eraser for unwanted details and grain or light-leak effects. Everything happens on the phone and the original stays untouched.
Lightroom
Adobe’s photo editor: light, colour, curves, local adjustments and presets. The essential tools are free, the advanced ones are paid.
Pocket Finish
A colour grading app designed by a professional colourist: apply your favourite LUTs, fine-tune the image and export, without complicated projects.
Snapseed
Google’s free photo editor, simple and precise. Light, colours, sharpness or perspective: everything is adjusted with a fingertip, right on the phone.
TouchRetouch
To erase whatever spoils a photo in one gesture: a passer-by, a cable, a bin or a sign. Ideal for travel photos and restaurant façades.
VSCO
Elegant film-like filters to give a consistent mood to a series of photos, with fine adjustments to go further.
Filming and Editing Videos
For YouTube videos, Reels and stories, a few apps make all the difference.
Blackmagic Camera
A free professional camera inside the phone. Manual settings, frame rates and cinema-quality formats for much more polished videos.
Edits
Instagram’s video editing app. Trimming, captions, music and effects: everything needed to prepare clean Reels, right on the phone.
Unroll
To create seamless Instagram carousels and photo or video collages, from easy-to-customise templates.
To Unwind
Between two train or plane journeys, a few games to escape for a while.
Alto’s Adventure
A snowboarding game through snowy mountains, villages and forests, as day, night and weather change. Gentle music and a zen mode with no score for a quiet moment.
Alto’s Odyssey
A calm sandboarding game through dunes, canyons and temples, with soothing music and a zen mode with no score. Perfect for a train journey.
Apple Podcasts
For listening to podcasts on the go, streamed or downloaded in advance. It’s also where you’ll find La Route de Ben, the Swiss podcast.
Audible
Audiobooks and podcasts to listen to on the train, in the car or on a walk, downloadable for offline listening.
Calm
Guided meditations, breathing exercises, music and sleep stories. Handy for unwinding after a long day or sleeping somewhere new.
Monument Valley
A poetic puzzle game: you guide Princess Ida through impossible architecture inspired by optical illusions. Short, beautiful and soothing.
Monument Valley 2
The sequel, with a mother and her daughter, even more stunning visually. Gentle puzzles and a captivating soundtrack, perfect for a journey.
Monument Valley 3
The third chapter, played at sea aboard a small boat, with new settings that are just as magical.
Spotify
The soundtrack of every trip: playlists for the road, podcasts for long train journeys and music to download and listen to offline.
