The 10 essential services for smart travel

It’s felt like summer for weeks now, but you haven’t quite planned your vacation—or maybe you have, but there’s still a lot to sort out. No worries, the Welkeys team has selected their 10 favorite sites to help you save time (and money)!

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Travel smart: choosing your mode of transport‍

By train: Capitaine Train

THE go-to for booking train tickets, Capitaine Train offers the same prices as SNCF but saves you time with an extremely well-designed app that lets you book your train journey in just a few clicks!

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By carpooling: BlaBlaCar

Think the train is too expensive? Join the BlaBlaCar community, choose your destination, and head off on a trip where you’ll have the chance to meet new people! Pretty cool, right?

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By plane: Skyscanner/Algofly

To easily compare different flight prices for international travel without jumping from site to site, Skyscanner is essential. This site gives you a truly comprehensive view of available flights, with precise information on travel times and layovers (if any) every time. Want to monitor price fluctuations to make sure you book the cheapest flight possible? We suggest keeping an eye on another service: Algofly!

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Finding accommodation easily

So, you’ve picked where you want to go but haven’t started looking for a place to stay yet. Here are a few services that should help.

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Staying with locals

We could have mentioned Airbnb, Wimdu, or HouseTrip, but there are now comparison sites like likibu that let you compare prices offered by different owners in the city of your choice (regardless of which site they are listed on). You can also create wishlists and share your finds with the friends you’re traveling with!

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Last-minute hotels

Couldn’t find anything and forced to fall back on a last-minute hotel? The Hotel Tonight app lets you book nights up to 7 days in advance at the hotel of your choice at unbeatable prices. Once the booking is made, you’ll have all the important information for your stay at the selected hotel right in the app.

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Great deals

I don’t have any local contacts and I really don’t want to go through a tour operator—what do I do? There are a multitude of services that can help you plan your trip as effectively as possible; here are our favorites!

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Going away for a weekend

Instead of buying a guidebook, head over to the New York Times website, which offers a list of great tips via its 36 Hours section for when you have a very limited amount of time to discover a city!

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Where to eat and where to go out?

A classic that still works just as well: Yelp. Yelp is an app that serves as the gold standard when you’re looking for a place to eat and want to see what other customers thought of a particular bar or restaurant.

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Tips from other travelers

Check out the favorite spots of other travelers with Fivemarks. Fivemarks is a new site for discovering local hangouts (restaurants, bars, clubs, museums, etc.) uncovered by fellow travelers. When creating their Black Book (or mini-guide), each traveler is limited to 5 spots, which saves you from getting lost in a mountain of addresses that you might not even need.

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Renting out your apartment while you're away?

We couldn't resist the urge to introduce our service! Welkeys is the only French solution that lets you hire private concierges for your apartment rental. No more time wasted on check-ins, check-outs, and cleaning! Our concierges handle it all for you.