If you’re the designated trip planner in your friend group, it’s easy to feel underappreciated and overwhelmed. You probably wish planning was easier and a little more fun. Well, here’s some good news for anyone planning a trip, whether expert or novice: You have a new planning buddy—and its name is Wanderlog.
Wanderlog is a travel app. It’s a place to create itineraries, explore guides, and manage bookings while interacting with your tripmates and experienced travelers at the same time. Collaboration is its best feature—once you make an account, you select a destination, choose dates, and invite tripmates, which allows your fellow travelers to build the itinerary and split expenses right along with you.
Wanderlog’s planning platform has four tabs: Overview, Itinerary, Explore, and Expenses. The Overview tab holds your notes, reservations, and places to visit, but the Itinerary tab is where the real magic happens. The app automatically creates a page for you to add must-sees, notes, and transportation plans for each day of your trip. If you click “Auto-fill day,” you get a ready-made plan for that day, complete with recommended activities and suggestions for transit. The recommendations are pretty solid, and you can customize the suggested itinerary as much as you’d like.
The Explore tab lets you browse through categories like cafes, museums, romantic spots, and kid-friendly restaurants in your selected destination. You’ll also find guides by fellow travelers (some verified by the Wanderlog team), plus YouTube and TikTok recommendations. It gives Pinterest-meets-travel-blog nostalgia. Browse these community-created guides on the home page to discover itineraries by locals and guides for niche interests.
Lastly, in the Budget tab, you can track spending and split costs. You can also import flights and other expenses. This puts an end to the “who owes who” game by making budgeting easier than ever.
Wanderlog is available in both desktop and mobile versions. It also offers a paid version of the app, which includes features like offline access, route optimization, and more, but both versions are sure to improve your travel planning experience.
Wanderlog is all about crowdsourcing, collaboration, and helping ease your mental load. Although it doesn’t replace the thrill of the trip, it definitely makes getting there easier.
—Kara Haack