It was only going to be a matter of time – although it’s felt like forever – that Lonely Planet was going to launch a city-guide app.
Aptly named Guides, the new mobile app aims to get you to the heart of a destination with the help of your phone. No need to lug around your guidebook on your next trip or, perhaps worse, photocopy all the pages you need prior to leaving. Now you can simply download the free app and have instant access to Lonely Planet’s expert content for the best possible on-the-ground experience you’ve come to expect from their guides.
Its initial release features 38 cities across six continents. If you’re travelling to any of the following, you’re in luck:
- Amsterdam
- Bangkok
- Barcelona
- Beijing
- Berlin
- Boston
- Budapest
- Buenos Aires
- Cape Town
- Chicago
- Dubai
- Dublin
- Hong Kong
- Istanbul
- Kyoto
- Las Vegas
- London
- Madrid
- Montreal
- Moscow
- New Orleans
- New York City
- Paris
- Prague
- Rio de Janeiro City
- Rome
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Seoul
- Shanghai
- Singapore
- St Petersburg
- Sydney
- Tokyo
- Vancouver
- Venice
- Vienna
- Washington, DC.
With an average of 1000 points of interest per city, Guides allows travellers to navigate using offline maps, save places with simple bookmarking, and even has a ‘near-me’ functionality that shows sights that are within a close distance to where you are or an area you plan on visiting.
Guides includes all the usual sections you’re used to, such as sights, highlights, details on where to eat, drink, shop and stay. Here’s hoping the app experience lives up to the reputation Lonely Planet has earned from its physical guidebooks.
There are plans to add more cities soon and you can also request to have a city added. So before you race out and buy the guidebook for your next destination, why not download the app version and road test it for us instead?
RRP: Free from the App Store and Google Play.
You can find out more at Lonely Planet Guides.
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