iPhone app review: ‘Spotted By Locals’ European city guides

On a recent extended trip to Phnom Penh, I decided to bring along my trusty five-pound Southeast Asia on a Shoestring guide from Lonely Planet. Big mistake. In a city changing as quickly as Cambodia‘s capital, I found that nearly all of the information had become dated and irrelevant. Nearly half of the recommended restaurants had gone out of business, and the budget guesthouses, experiencing the “Lonely Planet effect“, were now half as nice, twice as expensive, and filled with people who, well, kinda sucked.

Spotted By Locals aims to be a different kind of travel guide by providing up-to-date travel advice from urban residents through blogs, PDF city guides, and a newly redesigned iPhone app. After road-testing the app, I’d say they’re well on their way.

The Spotted By Locals app is, to put it simply, awesome. Launched in December, the mobile application is 100 percent off-line, which means you don’t need to go bankrupt with data roaming or search endlessly for WiFi hotspots in order to access its wealth of information. And wealth it is. Since the app is currently only available for select European cities, I downloaded the Paris guide, clicked on the map, zoomed into my old street in the Marais, clicked on some of the map markers, and was able to access insider information written by residents about my two favorite vintage shops (Free ‘P’ Star and Vintage Desir, if you must know).


Spotted’s strength lies in its roster of local bloggers, who live in the cities they represent, speak the local language, and volunteer their services for free. The locals are hand-picked by owners Sanne and Bart van Poll, avid travelers based in Amsterdam. Plus, since the locals are active residents of their cities, they’re able to keep the guides’ information current and provide updates nearly in real-time, so you can stay ahead of the Lonely Planet pack.

[images via Spotted By Locals]

Get Lonely Planet’s 2012 travel guide free this week at Starbucks

Planning a trip for 2012? We’d suggest you do it over a Starbucks coffee this week. The chain’s weekly iTunes’ “Pick of the Week” cards are featuring a redemption code to download Lonely Planet‘s Best in Travel 2012 from the iBookstore for free.

Featuring Lonely Planet’s top places to visit and experiences for 2012, this full-color eBook can only help guide your travel planning for the upcoming year.

Win the trip of a lifetime from Lonely Planet and Bing

Your dream vacation could become a reality through a new holiday sweepstakes hosted by Bing and sponsored by Lonely Planet.

The Grand Prize winner and a guest will work with Lonely Planet staff and authors to devise a customized 15 day/14 night itinerary exploring up to four destinations around the world, up to a value of $30,000.

The sweepstakes kicks off on December 29th at midnight PT/3 am ET and lasts for 24 hours. To enter, just log onto Bing’s Magical Holiday Calendar, which is offering sweepstakes and giveaways throughout the month of December.Not sure where you’d go if you won? To spark your imagination, LP’s U.S. Travel Editor Robert Reid put together five dream itineraries based on specific interests.



Music:

  • Memphis and the Mississippi Delta, home of Graceland and the blues
  • Havana, Cuba, for a taste of the son music scene
  • Liverpool, England, birthplace of the Beatles
  • Berlin, Germany, for underground cabaret
  • Yakutsk, Russia, home to Ysyakh, a surreal festival filled with teepee-like structures and throat-singing contests



Outdoors:

  • Rocky Mountains, Canada, for a two-day tour of the Canadian Rockies by train
  • Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, for out-of-this-world landscapes
  • Coastal Wales, to walk the new All Wales Coast Path, opening May 2012
  • Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, to stay in an upscale salt hotel 3656m above sea level
  • Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef, Australia, Lonely Planet’s #1 ‘glamping’ spot for 2012



Movies:



Art:

  • Arles, France, to step into a post-impressionist Van Gogh painting
  • Barcelona, Spain, to take in Gaudi’s whimsical genius
  • Bristol, England, where Banksy has left his mark and is rumored to live
  • Mexico City, where Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived and worked
  • French Polynesia, for a glimpse of Paul Gauguin’s tropics



Food:

And that’s just a taste of the possibilities! Mark your calendars for December 29th and don’t miss out.

[image via Colin Grey on Flickr]

Lonely Planet launches Wenzani travel app for iPhone and iPod touch

Travel guide favorite Lonely Planet has joined the app game with the launch today of Wenzani, a free app for for the iPhone and iPod touch. Wenzani – a Zulu greeting which means “what are you doing?”- brings together recommendations from Lonely Planet and other top travel publishers along with local experts, and users’ social networks.

“It’s creating a personalized guide on-the-go,” said Jenny Fielding, Wenzani’s CEO. “Wenzani is designed for the social generation, allowing users to tap into leading content from multiple expert sources with socially curated recommendations.”

The app contains three main features. The first? Recommendations drawn from Lonely Planet, Frommer’s Travel and DK Eyewitness, along with other expert sources including BBC Travel, Time Out, and Hearst. It’s the first time we’ve seen competitors come together to form one broad-based app, something we’re excited to explore. Wenzani also promises “content according to context and relevancy, taking into consideration the user’s location and their social network, so that the information is constantly updated while on the go.” Soon, Wenzani will filter by other factors such as weather, time of day, and whether the user is a local or visitor, so it becomes even more tailored and relevant to the users’ needs in real time.

This is something we’ve always wanted to see- I don’t want to go on a walking tour by the lake if it’s 30 degrees and rainy! The third portion is the social media integration which allows users to connect with their friends and other travelers in order to share their own personal experiences and recommendations. Users can browse their friends’ entries and recommendations, create their own listing to add into the guide, or ask a question to the community (e.g. “Where should I get sushi in midtown Manhattan?”) to get immediate answers pushed onto their mobile device. Wenzani also has a Facebook web app to allow users to integrate recommendations from Facebook into the guide.This seems like it will be the most or least useful portion of the tool, depending on how connected and active your social network is in the area where you’re traveling.

From what we can tell, this app promises to be a powerful addition to the suite of travel tools we already have handy on our iPhones. Apps for Android and other platforms will launch in early 2012.

Introducing Wenzani from Wenzani on Vimeo.

Lonely Planet names top 10 cities for 2012

Earlier this week popular travel guide publisher Lonely Planet announced their selections for the top 10 cities to visit in 2012, with a few obvious choices making the list. For example, London, which will host the 2012 Olympic Games, was unsurprisingly given a nod, while Hong Kong and Orlando, two perennially popular destinations, earned the distinction as well. Other cities making their way into the Lonely Planet spotlight include Santiago, Chile; Muscat, Oman; and Cádiz, Spain, each of which is lauded for their cosmopolitan flair, cultural diversions, and vibrant nightlife.

Adventure travelers looking for a great base of operations will want to take particular note of the inclusion of Darwin, Australia on the LP list. Located in that country’s Northern Territory, the city of 125,000 is praised for its buzzing art scene, great cuisine, and laid back atmosphere. What was once a remote frontier town has grown into a fantastic urban destination that remains below the radar for many travelers. At least for now.

Outdoor enthusiasts will find a lot to love in Darwin and the Northern Territory in general. The place is well known for its fantastic fishing, with anglers visiting from around the globe to try their hand at landing the famed barramundi. Near by Litchfield National Park offers fantastic hiking and camping, not to mention some of the most amazing waterfalls and freshwater pools around, while a visit to the Tiwi Islands immerses travelers in Aboriginal culture. Other featured activities include sailing, backpacking, and swimming, with plenty of great outdoor destinations available to indulge the whims of even the most adventurous travelers.

And once they’ve finished exploring the Northern Territory’s wild side, visitors can return to Darwin and take a stroll through an art museum or wander the popular Mindil Beach Sunset Market. Afterwards they can sit waterside and enjoy a world-class meal, complete with fresh seafood and smooth wines, before taking in the city’s eclectic nightlife or retiring to a comfortable hotel for the evening. Who says that adventure travel doesn’t allow you to spoil yourself too?

Joining Darwin, and the other cities already mentioned, on the Lonely Planet list are Bangalore, India; Stockholm, Sweden; and Guimarães, Portugal. To view the complete list and read why the cities were chosen, click here.

[Photo courtesy Tourism NT]