7 Must-Have Apps for Van Life and Travel in Baja California, MX
Whether you’re traveling the Baja Peninsula in your van, overlanding vehicle, or AirBnB/Hotel hopping - the following apps are essential for your trip south.
1. Windy.com App
Cost: FREE
Baja is notoriously windy. With some days gusting at 30 mph or more, having an app that shows the wind forecast in great detail has saved the day more than once. Instead of being caught off guard by the wind and having to stay huddled up in our van on gusty days, we use this app to plan out our travels throughout Baja. For example, La Paz and Todos Santos are only a couple of hours from each other but can vary dramatically depending on the wind forecast. If La Paz is going to be windy, then we can plan to head south for a more pleasant day of enjoying the beaches. Navigating the app and learning to read the forecasts is easy.
2. PhotoPills App
Cost: $10.99 one-time fee
Finding sunset and sunrise times is pretty easy but knowing exactly when the sun is going to crest over the nearby mountains in Bahia de Conception or where it will set over the ocean in Todos Santos is more difficult - unless you use this app.
PhotoPills is a sun and moon position prediction app that lets you track what position and direction the sun will be by using its AR feature. For us, this app makes it much easier to plan things like the best time for sunset or sunrise photos based on where we are, it helps us calculate where the sun will be so we can position the van’s sliding door towards the sun (or away), and a lot more. This is just a little of what this app has to offer!
3. Unit Converter App
Cost: FREE
Admit it. Doing quick math in your head is hard. Having a unit conversion app is a must when traveling anywhere outside of the country. I like this one but there are tons of options in the app store.
4. iOverlander App
Cost: FREE
iOverlander is a non-profit volunteer-run user-fed app that helps overlanders find their next epic free camp spots to dump stations, water refill stations, laundromats, people’s favorite restaurants, and way more. If you’ve spent any amount of time living on the road then you probably already know about iOverlander. Surprisingly, we still meet people every so often who haven’t heard of it so it’s worth listing as a must-have app.
The app is very bare-bones - giving you only the information you need and want and nothing more. It’s not fancy or pretty but it serves its purpose well and often pre-loads so you can still search sites and reviews without needing a cell signal. After 3 years on the road, it’s still our primary tool for finding free campsites. Any user can add new locations or update statuses and reviews for existing locations, keeping you in the know on whether a place is still open or not. That’s especially helpful in Baja where the sandy roads to remote spots can often wash out and become impassable from one year to the next. Getting stuck in the sand out here is not fun. I speak from experience. Though it happens to almost everyone at least once.
5. WhatsApp
Many business in Mexico (especially tour companies) prefer to communicate over WhatsApp versus regular iMessage. This is pretty common in many countries outside of the US and Canada and an essential app to have if you’re every travelling outside of either of those countries. It’s super easy to set up and start using.
6. Google Translate
Cost: FREE
Did you know I (Melanny) speak fluent Spanish? I was born and raised in the US but my parents are Colombian and we exclusively speak in Spanish with each other. Even with my fluent Spanish advantage while traveling in Mexico, I still get tripped up on some words. Just like Americans have different words for things than say Australians - Colombians and Mexicans do too. A prime example is popcorn. Colombians say ‘crispetas’ while Mexicans say ‘palomitas’. Most recently I learned Mexicans say ‘comprobante’ instead of ‘recibo’ when referring to a receipt. Having google translate handy is always a good idea when you’re traveling to another country no matter how comfortable you feel with the language!
7. Google Maps
Cost: FREE
This is another obvious must-have but in addition to just having the app, be sure to pre-download offline maps. Reliable cell signal is hard to come by in Baja, even when you’re in a town. Having my maps saved offline has helped us keep moving without having to wait for the internet speed to catch up. To download offline maps on your phone navigate to the Google Maps app, click on your profile image in the top right corner, and select “Offline Maps”. At the top, click on “Select Your Own Map” and zoom in/out to the area you’d like downloaded offline. Sometimes it has trouble saving really large areas to one map so you may have to break it down into sections.
We hope this helps make traveling in Baja just a little easier. If you have any other apps you’ve found useful when traveling, be sure to leave a comment and we can add them to the list!
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