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Best Travel Apps for Family Road Trips

7/18/12 - By Anna Fader

This is part of a series of posts on the best family travel apps. See other posts in this series on the Best Hotel and Flight Booking Apps and Tools and Apps for Road Trips.

If the romance of road trips hasn't worn off even though you've got kids in the back seat, I get it. The idea of just jumping in the car and driving to see what types of adventures await is definitely appealing, and with a little planning and the right tools road trips can be great family vacations with kids of all ages.

There's no question that the smart phone and tablets have revolutionized long car drives for families if only because their unlimited access to games and videos can keep the backseaters quiet almost indefinitely. But there's a lot more that your digital devices could be doing to make your road trip vacation better in ways that will get everyone in the family engaged in the adventure rather than in their screens.

Here are the best apps for making your family road trip vacation better:

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Roadside America - This is a great app with lots of data pointing out interesting landmarks and unusual oddities along your route. Use it when planning your trip by searching for destinations by city or themes like dinosaurs or ghost towns. Or once you are on the road it can tell you things near you for impromptu stops. Use it to help you plan a road trip or just make yours more interesting. $2.99

Family Car Games -This app has instructions for games the whole family or just the back-seaters can play to stay entertained in the car or anytime kids get bored during travel. You don't play the games in the app. The app is just rules for tons of games that you can play off-screen. Search by difficulty, length of time and number of players to find a game that you then play off the screen. $1.99

Family Matters - This app provides conversation starters for the family on a road trip, at the dinner table or any time you need to fill some time. $1.99

US Geography by Discovery Education - Kids can get oriented on the map and learn about the region your driving through with this app from the people at Discovery Channel. I like that you can focus on a region, which compliments road trips or other travel. The app has lots of information on states, history, climate, and archaeology. Kids will learn with games, quizzes and videos. $4.99 for iPhone/$6.99 for iPad