Where can I get food, which drinks are vegan? Where do I take my omnis and make everyone happy, including me? How do I order despite the language barrier or read ingredients in a foreign language? Where can I take a local cooking class suitable for vegans?
These apps offer a lot of solutions. Traveling as a vegan doesn’t have to be exhausting, in fact, with these apps, it’s fun!
App for finding vegan food
HAPPYCOW (free at the moment/ 3,99 $, iPhone + Android)
Let’s start with the most important: the best app to find vegan restaurants. HappyCow has been around since 1999 and has an extensive worldwide collection of food sources. Users can add and rate places and save favourites. There also is a free website version, a facebook page, a YouTube channel and a cookbook.
The app isn’t free, but totally worth the cost in my opinion. Whether I went out on my own and checked out vegan places or took my omnis to a vegan-friendly omni-place that everyone enjoyed, we often ended up discovering more alternative areas with interesting shops, nice people and cool nightlife away from the usual tourist paths.
If you hit “directions” and “open in apple maps”, the map opens, works offline as well and makes it easy to find places.
You can enter the address of your accommodation into the app and use filters to have a look at what’s available nearby, and you can also send the restaurant information to your travel partners.
You can also create a trip in the app by clicking on the little plane symbol and collect restaurants there.
It is a good idea to check in advance if the place still exists, the opening hours are still correct, you can make a reservation, if there actually is vegan food at any time etc. Unfortunately these things can change very suddenly. There were times when I found the places to be closed for various reasons, or I couldn’t find them at all or they only offer a vegan option in the evening (in countries with non-existent breakfast culture) and wondered why I didn’t just ask the hotel concierge to call the place?
It can also be a good idea to read other users’ reviews before – or write one yourself to help keep the information up to date.
This app is good and keeps getting better.
App for ordering vegan beverages
BeVeg (free, iPhone + android)
A searchable app with more than 1 million listed beverages that allows you to check if the beverage you want to order is vegan.
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Apps for communicating
VEGAN PASSPORT (2,29 € iPhone + Android + Windows)
This app created by the vegan society shows an explanation what a vegan eats in 78 languages, professionally translated. Very useful in countries where you can’t communicate very well.
GOOGLE TRANSLATE (free, iPhone + Android)
One of the most useful apps to have on your phone, not just checking ingredients. Wondering what that important looking sign with the exclamation mark says? Might be interesting and google translate can often be helpful! Just type in the text, take a picture or ask the person to speak into your phone and the translation appears. Of course it’s not always a perfect translation, but it usually gets you further.
You can also download a language and use the app offline.
Like I did in Tokyo: and it told me all I needed to know when looking for onigiri. I found a good and quick tutorial how to use it here.
App for vegan cooking classes
COOKLY (free, iPhone + Android)
One of the things I like best about traveling is discovering the local cuisine. And a great way to do that is taking a cooking class. With this app, you can type “vegan” in the search bar and even sign up for classes right away. Should you offer cooking classes in your city you can put them up in this app, too.
Regional Apps
BERLIN-VEGAN (free, iPhone +Android), VEGAN NORWAY (free, iPhone + Android) TUTTO VEGAN (for Italy, free), THE FUSSY VEGAN (for Australia, New Zealand and more, iPhone + Android 2,29 €)
Sometimes you just want to know the nearest place to get a coffee with plant milk. That is why these apps are gold. If you stay somewhere for longer, look for an app for that city or country. If there is no such app, you could join a facebook group. In most places there is a vegan community interested in exchange and happy to assist. Thanks to google translate the language barrier doesn’t have to be an obstacle anymore.
And it’s not an app (yet?) but the website airKitchen is perfect for Japan visitors to find cooking classes.
Internet on the go
By the way, I highly recommend getting a prepaid eSIM with roaming before traveling to another continent. It can be very frustrating to always search for WiFi just to scan a QR code. That’s why my colleagues and I love Flexiroam! It works really well and there are different plans available, for individual continents or worldwide, with varying data volumes and valid for either half or a whole year. As a flight attendant, I use the worldwide 5GB plan for 180 days and so far it has worked out very well for me.
You’ll get a welcome discount when using code IAMNEW at Checkout with Flexiroam*. There often are big discount promotions, and here’s a YouTube video with a short tutorial.
You might also like:
Travel like a pro – a flight attendant’s 12 tips for your next trip
Flying as a vegan: how to make sure you get food
Traveling as a vegan – do you know these apps?
Do you already have my free checklist for traveling vegans? Subscribe to my newsletter and get it now 🙂
You might also want to check out this vegan travel guide by loveholidays.
Nina, this is such a handy & informative blogpost 😃 Thank you for adding in The Fussy Vegan (Vegan Food Finder app) to the regional apps 🌱
Thank you 🙂