10 BEST TOUR GUIDE APPS

This is a guest post from one of my readers, Lenny Marlina.

10 Best Tour Guide Apps
By Lenny Marlina (Nina Lia), 24 September 2013.

Nothing beats the feeling of anticipation that comes as you gaze at photos or books for your tours and accommodations for an upcoming trip. Imagine, instead of a booked 10-day trip to China from a travel agency that might cost you around RM3,000, you could spend just RM1,799 (Blackberry Z10 price) as well as having the smartphone as your private tour guide to access all information you need. There are plenty of tools available these days to help you prepare for your travels and most importantly you could save hundreds of ringgits! These are the best 10 apps for smartphones (in no particular order) and are the ones I’ve found to be most useful:

1. PressReader

Image: PressReader

I like getting to know as much as I can about a place before I travel there, and that’s where the PressReader app comes in handy. With PressReader, you gain access to over 2,300 full content newspapers worldwide, so you can get up-to-date information on current affairs courtesy of The Bangkok Post, Hamburger Morgenpost, or the Vancouver Sun before you depart.

2. TripAdvisor City Guides

Image via Rapid Berry

The TripAdvisor in Augmented Reality is an excellent app once you arrive at your destination, but in the planning stages, be sure to utilise one of its many free city guides for BlackBerry. Current locations include Berlin, Buenos Aires, Dubai, New York City, Paris, and Shanghai, among others.

3. App for Tumblr

Need a bit of travel inspiration? Download the compatible app for Tumblr. There, you’ll be able to easily browse Tumblr photo accounts to give you a window into what the world has to offer.

4. HotelsCombined

Image: iTunes

There’s no need to spend hours of your time searching for the best hotel deal. The HotelsCombined app does all the work for you by searching more than 2 million hotels worldwide. The best part is that it includes guest ratings, photos, and details to help you make a more informed decision before you book.

5. Skyscanner

Image via BBC

For flights, CNN Travel recommends the Skyscanner app. This free app compares over 1,000 airlines and millions of routes worldwide to help you find the best deal for your upcoming trip.

6. BlackBerry Travel

Image: BlackBerry Blog

For Blackberry users, this free app should be your go-to trip organiser. I love it because you can book anything from airline tickets to hotel rooms and car rentals straight from the app, or book elsewhere and pull the details into the app afterwards. Once your trip is stored, the app will send you updates and notifications about your upcoming trip.

7. Smart Layover

Image: Smart Layover

We’ve all found ourselves stuck with a half- or full-day layover at some point in our lives, bored out of our minds and wishing we could get out and explore the world outside those glass windows. With Smart Layover, you can. Use the app to book a day-use hotel room or a sightseeing tour in your layover city. You can also use the app to find airport terminal maps and estimate security wait time.

8. Wi-Fi Finder

Image: iTunes

Worried about where you’ll be able to connect to Wi-Fi? The Wi-Fi Finder app (iPhone/iPad, Android, BlackBerry 10) puts your mind at ease by tracking down Wi-Fi locations for you. Save the locations for later so you’ll know where they are when you arrive.

9. Currency Converter

If you’re working on a budget for your upcoming trip expenses, get a better idea of how far your money will go with Currency Converter. The app uses live exchange rates to ensure you’re getting the most accurate conversion.

10. BeWeather 10

Image: BlackBerry

Want to know what the weather will be like during your trip? Download BeWeather 10 (Blackberry, Android). The app is a must-have for the packing stages, as it provides detailed 7-day and 24-hour forecasts for locations all over the world, including “feels like” temperature, wind pressure, dew point, and humidity. What’s even more impressive is that it tracks your location via GPS and delivers updates and advisories to you wherever you are.

Lenny Marlina’s dream is to become a journalist working for one of the top news companies. She is a journalism student from Indonesia and planning to continue her study in London or New York (still deciding) perhaps next year. She enjoy reading so much and travelling. Follow her at her blog Mighty Tech News or on Twitter. She can be contacted at her email: ninokikira@gmail.com.