Are you new in town and looking for a great restaurant, shops, or things to do? This list of apps features a collection of local advice that will help you find your way around town and get the information you need. Even if you’re a resident of the city/town there’s a good chance you’ll still find useful information here. Whether you are new or looking to spice up a weekend, these apps have you covered.
The best local advice apps for the iPhone and iPad
2 May 2021, by Christine Pamintuan
FIND A LOCAL FOR A TAILOR-MADE CITY TOUR with this Showaround app for iPhone.
Where’s your next trip? With the Showaround app, a local advice app for iPhone, you can book a local for a private tour whilst on-the-go and take traveling to a completely different level – meet locals from all around the world and discover the true beauty of any city from an insider’s perspective. Choose the perfect buddy to explore a new place with based on their personality, hobbies, or experience.
- Create your own personalised tour
- Plan activities in advance, and communicate with locals
- Skip the tourist traps and spend time visiting the sights that truly interest you
- Become a Showaround local, give tours in your city, and get a chance to meet visitors from other places
- Specify the languages you can speak and write a bit about yourself;
Mapstr lets you keep track of all your favorite places around the world, tag them, and share them with who you want! Always remember your best spots (restaurants, bars, museums...), your friends recommendations, and to plan your next trip. Simply download Mapstr and build the map of YOUR world! For all those who love exploring the world, this is the perfect app.
- Create you own places, even in the middle of the sea!
- Access the places opening hours, pictures, website, phone number, etc.
- Compare route options by Uber, Lift, Citymapper, Waze, etc.
- Free download, free of adverts!
Travelers can have a difficult task ahead of them once they arrive in a destination such as where to eat, the best hotel to stay at, where to find cool things to do, and many other questions. The TripAdvisor Hotels Flights Restaurants app aims at answering all your questions plus ensures you get the best deals out there on your flight, accommodation, and more. You'll be able to flip through millions of reviews that have been submitted by travelers just like yourself regarding all aspects of the destination. The Near Me Now feature will find all the places of interest near you, you can reserve a table at a great sounding restaurant right through the app, download maps, and so much more.
TripAdvisor Hotels Flights Restaurants for iPad app review
- The app acts as a travel guide
- Read through millions of reviews on restaurants, hotels, attractions, and more
- Download maps through the app
- The app helps you find the best prices on your flights and accommodation
- Post your own reviews
No-one enjoys getting lost, driving around in circles, or wandering around as you get more annoyed trying to find the location you're looking for. The Google Maps app ensures that you make it from point A to point B with ease and without getting lost along the way. As well this one will help you find some of the best spots in town for you to visit. The app features maps for more than 220 territories and countries around the world and transit maps and directions for more than 15,000 towns and cities. Make use of the voice-guided GPS navigation, indoor imagery and street view, traffic conditions that are provided live, and of course in-depth information about over 100 million cool places to check out.
- The app features maps for more than 220 territories and countries
- Read in-depth information on more than 100 million cool places to check out
- There is voice-guided GPS navigation
- Check out the street view
- Get live traffic information
Tip n’ Tag is a location based question and answer network designed to address the needs of locals one question at a time. Get specific answers to questions from other locals nearby. This is a wonderful opportunity to get feedback, advice or suggestions by locals who know your area and not by others who look things up on the Internet. The app will pinpoint your location and suggest places to check out based on your preferences, take photos of where you are and tag love or hate, sign up to become a tipster and help out other locals, rise up the ranks in the Tipster community and more.
- A location based question and answer network
- Get answers to your questions from real locals
- Pinpoint your location and get suggestions
- Tag your photos with Love or Hate
- Become a Tipster and help others out
Eventland is a travel based platform where locals share their travel advice for others to learn the best places to see or experience. Join the community and help others get the most out of their visit to your local area. The app has a map that displays points of interest near your location. You can then ask for more advice and suggestions like discounts on events, purchase tickets and more. Add events to your My List, add the best spots to an area for others to experience, discover trendy places, hidden gems and much more.
- Location based advice for travelers
- Great for other locals and people visiting new areas
- View points of interest on a map
- Ask for more info on these places, Purchase tickets to events
- Become an expert and share places, hidden gems and trendy events
Rather than heading out to that hot spot to eat only to find you're in a massive line waiting for a table why not book ahead with the OpenTable app. This one makes it possible to first explore and discover fabulous places to eat but then you can also reserve a table at thousands of different restaurants. Through the app you can search by time, date, cuisine, distance, price, and party size. While looking at the different locations you can view their menu, photos of the restaurant, and reviews to help you make up your mind. There are mobile exclusive benefits to take advantage of and you can send a rather cool OpenTable invitation to friends right through the app.
- Reserve a table at that hot new restaurant
- Search for restaurants using the filters
- View menus, photos, and reviews of the restaurant
- The app is user-friendly
Before settling in for another boring evening or a weekend that is filled with mundane tasks and chores you may want to check out the Eventbrite app. This app can be used to find all the events happening near you giving you a chance to get out and explore. You can view events happening over the weekend and the upcoming week giving you a chance to plan out your time. Events include such things as festivals, fairs, concerts, conferences, and more. You can purchase tickets for events through the app, see what events your friends are attending, share your events with others, and get directions and maps to the various events.
- Find out what is happening in the upcoming week and weekend
- Buy tickets through the app
- Share events with others and see what they are attending
- Get directions and maps through the app
Are you looking for something to do or you’re busy searching for a service or necessity and aren’t exactly sure of the nearest location? The AroundMe app is a great place to try as this one provides you with instant information based on your surroundings. While this information can include restaurants, stores, and movie theatres nearby it can also give you details on the nearest bank, gas station, hospital, hotel, grocery store, and more. It acts as your own little concierge that is filled with useful information whenever you need it. Listings can be plotted on the map so you can then get seamless directions.
AroundMe app review: find all kinds of amenities around you, anywhere!
- This app acts as a concierge
- Find out what is near you instantly
- View the locations plotted on a map
- Plan out your route with ease
- Perfect for your own hometown, while traveling, and when new in town
If you've decided it's time to step out of your comfort zone and try new places to visit, eat, stay, and drink then it's time to turn to the Foursquare app. This app offers more than 60 million brief reviews on the best places to eat, the best experiences, the best places to shop, and visit. These reviews have been written by local experts. This is a great way to peel back the layers of your own town or to get the most out of a travel experience anywhere in the world. Any of the places you read about can be saved so you don't forget about them.
- Broaden your knowledge of your own hometown or places in the world you are visiting
- Find places to eat, shop, stay, and things to do
- There are more than 60 million short reviews submitted by local experts
- You can save locations so you don’t forget about them
