Be Your Own Tour Guide With These 7 Self-Guided City Apps
May 19, 2017
Going on solo adventures around town is one of the great pleasures of city living. And with these self-guided tour apps in hand, it’s about to get even better.
Download these seven apps, and you won’t just be taken on a perfunctory sightseeing trip. Instead, you can tune into little-known anecdotes, listen to stories from your city’s local legends, discover hidden-away restaurants, and even go for offline adventures on your next international city break. Skip the cheesy, open-top bus tours…and discover an entirely different way to get your urban adventure on.
1. GEOTOURIST: Beyond the professionals, your fellow city dwellers are an excellent resource for finding interesting spots around town. That’s the premise behind GeoTourist, which hosts hundreds of user-designed tour itineraries in cities around the world. Using GPS autoplay, the app pinpoints your location and triggers its audio guides when you’re in the vicinity of local points of interest. Have a tour idea of your own? Pay it forward by creating your own itinerary and spotlighting your favorite urban finds.
2. GPSMYCITY: Like to indulge in some flâneur-style walking trips around town? Complement your wanderings with the GPSMyCity app, which contains self-guided walks in more than 100 cities in the US alone. But it’s also a good buddy to have when embarking on trips abroad. The combination of resources like offline maps and a database of over 750 cities worldwide means you’ve got a lot of exploring to do. (Best get a move on.)
3. CITIES TALKING: If your city could speak, what would it say? If the examples on Cities Talking are anything to go by, you can expect inspiring travel ideas, surprising anecdotes, eyebrow-raising tales, and little-known facts (all communicated with the help of engaging voice artists, naturally). This GPS-based (but roaming-free) app is the perfectly chatty companion for solo urban adventuring.
4. DETOUR: “Immerse yourself in the story of a place,” reads Detour’s tagline. For those after a self-guided tour app that tends towards evocative details and hidden corners, Detour more than lives up to its name. Instead of leading you directly to a city’s A-list attractions, Detour points out magical, often-overlooked details and locations. Its impressive audio editing and personality-filled narratives make it a perfect option for podcast fans, and its roster of cities includes San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and beyond.
5. ROADSIDE AMERICA: Not all self-guided tour apps require explorations on foot. Roadside America is a delightfully kitschy resource that compiles all of the weirdest and most wonderful roadside attractions in the country. From giant balls of twine to buildings shaped like ice cream cones, it’s a killer resource for road trip entertainment—just make sure you leave it to your co-pilot to handle the navigation duties.
6. SOUNDWALK: Soundwalk’s beguiling tours are so rich and multi-sensory that they’re akin to short stories in audio form. Unique urban soundscapes, from the noise of rattling subway cars to street music, provide a backdrop to a range of specialist itineraries. In New York, author Teju Cole contributes to a guide to the city’s Museum Mile, while Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow gives you his personal take on San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood (in a tour produced in partnership with Detour, coincidentally). Plug in your headphones, and prepare to be transported.
7. FIELD TRIP: Reality is good…but when it comes to exploring your city, augmented reality might be even better. The Field Trip app (made by Niantic Labs—i.e., the people who brought you Pokémon Go) runs in the background of your phone, allowing you to receive notifications when you stroll past places of interest, from historic landmarks to cool neighborhood restaurants. The app also works in tandem with Google Maps, so you can embark on an impromptu sightseeing mission whenever, wherever.
1. GEOTOURIST: Beyond the professionals, your fellow city dwellers are an excellent resource for finding interesting spots around town. That’s the premise behind GeoTourist, which hosts hundreds of user-designed tour itineraries in cities around the world. Using GPS autoplay, the app pinpoints your location and triggers its audio guides when you’re in the vicinity of local points of interest. Have a tour idea of your own? Pay it forward by creating your own itinerary and spotlighting your favorite urban finds.
2. GPSMYCITY: Like to indulge in some flâneur-style walking trips around town? Complement your wanderings with the GPSMyCity app, which contains self-guided walks in more than 100 cities in the US alone. But it’s also a good buddy to have when embarking on trips abroad. The combination of resources like offline maps and a database of over 750 cities worldwide means you’ve got a lot of exploring to do. (Best get a move on.)
3. CITIES TALKING: If your city could speak, what would it say? If the examples on Cities Talking are anything to go by, you can expect inspiring travel ideas, surprising anecdotes, eyebrow-raising tales, and little-known facts (all communicated with the help of engaging voice artists, naturally). This GPS-based (but roaming-free) app is the perfectly chatty companion for solo urban adventuring.
4. DETOUR: “Immerse yourself in the story of a place,” reads Detour’s tagline. For those after a self-guided tour app that tends towards evocative details and hidden corners, Detour more than lives up to its name. Instead of leading you directly to a city’s A-list attractions, Detour points out magical, often-overlooked details and locations. Its impressive audio editing and personality-filled narratives make it a perfect option for podcast fans, and its roster of cities includes San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and beyond.
5. ROADSIDE AMERICA: Not all self-guided tour apps require explorations on foot. Roadside America is a delightfully kitschy resource that compiles all of the weirdest and most wonderful roadside attractions in the country. From giant balls of twine to buildings shaped like ice cream cones, it’s a killer resource for road trip entertainment—just make sure you leave it to your co-pilot to handle the navigation duties.
6. SOUNDWALK: Soundwalk’s beguiling tours are so rich and multi-sensory that they’re akin to short stories in audio form. Unique urban soundscapes, from the noise of rattling subway cars to street music, provide a backdrop to a range of specialist itineraries. In New York, author Teju Cole contributes to a guide to the city’s Museum Mile, while Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow gives you his personal take on San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood (in a tour produced in partnership with Detour, coincidentally). Plug in your headphones, and prepare to be transported.
7. FIELD TRIP: Reality is good…but when it comes to exploring your city, augmented reality might be even better. The Field Trip app (made by Niantic Labs—i.e., the people who brought you Pokémon Go) runs in the background of your phone, allowing you to receive notifications when you stroll past places of interest, from historic landmarks to cool neighborhood restaurants. The app also works in tandem with Google Maps, so you can embark on an impromptu sightseeing mission whenever, wherever.
