Travel Apps That Won't Bust Your Bill

Skype, Google Translate and other mobile programs have made international travel smoother and easier—but they're useless if you aren't near a wireless Internet connection or don't feel like racking up another $800 data bill. Enter "local data" apps, which work offline—in other words, anywhere you can take your charged-up smartphone, no extra fees involved.

City Maps 2Go
With 3,100 locations, this is one of the best offline maps apps available. You have to download each map to use it without a connection, but then have unlimited access. Deleting and adding maps is simple, and helps keep memory usage to a minimum.$1.99, available for iPhone

Converter (unit conversions)
An all-purpose converter that can help you through the Celsius-Fahrenheit shift as well as 63 different currency conversions. Open the app before departing to update exchange rates and, barring any major market fluctuations while you're away, you're good to go. It also does weight and volume conversions. $.99, available for iPhone

Jibbigo Translator
Seamlessly translates your English into spoken French (or seven other languages) and the response back into spoken English, with written translations for clarity. There are better Spanish apps out there, but Jibbigo's range of language options (Mandarin, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog and Iraqi Arabic), is leaps ahead of the rest. From $4.99, available for iPhone and Android

Wi-Fi Finder
How are you supposed to search for a WiFi spot when you don't have Internet access in the first place? This crowd-sourced offline app tells you where to find nearby paid and free access points. Caveat: It's more complete in major cities than in rural areas. Free, available for iPhone and Android

MetrO
Contains information on 400 transit systems worldwide. Enter a starting point and destination and this app plots out a step-by-step route on local public transportation. It lacks transit maps and sometimes tells you to walk with nary a directional cue, but can get you where you need to go on nothing but bus fare. Like City Maps 2Go, MetrO requires a predeparture download. Free, available for iPhone and soon for Android.

By: Jasmine Moy, The Wall Street Journal