App icon
Saraya
Discover Page
Discover Page
Destination Card
Destination Card
Generated Itinerary
Generated Itinerary
My Journey
Bucket List
Bucket List
Events
Events
Events
Profile Page

Inspiration

Saraya was inspired by “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” and our appreciation for the country’s beautiful destinations, colorful festivals, and diverse cultures. We wanted to help travelers not only find places to visit, but experience the Philippines more meaningfully.

What it does

Saraya is a personalized travel companion for the Philippines. It helps users discover destinations, build bucket lists, record travel memories, explore cultural guides and festivals, receive weather and safety information, earn achievements, and generate personalized itineraries. RevenueCat powers Lifetime Premium and additional itinerary-generation credits.

How we built it

We built Saraya with React Native, Expo, and TypeScript, supported by a Node.js/Express API and PostgreSQL/PostGIS database. We integrated services for authentication, weather and safety information, notifications, AI itinerary generation, and RevenueCat purchases.

Challenges we ran into

Our biggest challenge was bringing many mobile and backend technologies together—from Android development builds and OAuth to native modules, external APIs, database migrations, and cloud deployment—while keeping travel and cultural information reliable and transparent.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of bringing destination discovery, bucket lists, travel journaling, gamified achievements, cultural guides, 151 Philippine festivals, weather and safety features, personalized itineraries, and RevenueCat monetization into one Philippine-focused travel experience.

What we learned

Saraya was our first experience developing with React Native and working deeply with Android development. We learned how mobile apps, APIs, databases, native services, authentication, cloud infrastructure, and third-party integrations work together in a real full-stack project.

What's next for Saraya

We hope to introduce Group Trips, expand our destination and cultural content, make recommendations even more personalized, improve offline travel support, and build smarter multi-destination planning. Our goal is for Saraya to become a companion for every stage of exploring the Philippines.