Last weekend, I visited Amsterdam for the first time. I know, I know, after nearly three decades, it’s hard to believe I’ve never made it there before – especially during those university years. But there you have it.
I didn’t have much time to plan and I knew our houseboat wouldn’t have WiFi – something that always makes the little control freak hiding in my belly feel unduly edgy – and I hate to pay roaming charges. So I downloaded the TripAdvisor City Guide onto my iPhone. And I tell you what, I’m very pleased that I did.
What’s awesome about it
- Once downloaded, the content is all available off-line – ideal for when you’re wandering the streets
- The map had a good enough level of detail to navigate around (easier and less discreet than carrying a map or guidebook)
- You can save places and ‘check ins’ on the map to navigate to places you’ve already been more easily
- You can add the locations of any type of attraction onto the map to immediately see what’s around you
- All the TripAdvisor reviews are loaded up so you can quickly get an idea of the ‘best places’ to go
- The 10 self-guided tours were really interesting and helpful, integrated with the map, and with a little bit of guidebook-style content with thumbnails of each place to help you find your way
- If you check in, the app will record a journal-style list of the places you went and when – handy for looking back over your trip. The journal is then shareable via email or Facebook
- There’s a decent-sized introduction to the city, covering key aspects of the history, culture, weather, transportation and so on
- Er, it’s free!
What’s not so hot
- I didn’t find the metro map much use. You can search for stations and see what lines they are on, but the zoom-able map could have been more user-friendly – by the time you zoom in to read the names of the stations, you’ve already lost track of which area of the map you’re looking at!
- The ‘point me there’ is a nice idea for lazy navigators like me: once you’ve selected a place of interest, a compass arrow appears on the screen with a countdown of how far away it is and in which direction you should be moving to get there. Largely good, but I soon realised it often didn’t work properly in the narrow streets.
- It’s still very Western destination-oriented: City Guide downloads are currently available for 31 cities in Europe, 26 cities in North America, 14 cities in Asia and Australia, 6 cities in Central and South America, and 4 cities in the Middle East and Africa.
Like most sensible people, I believe that TripAdvisor should be taken with a good pinch of salt. However, I’ll definitely be using this app again the next time I’m on a city break. And here’s a few of the places that I found through the guide and loved:
- Bourbon Street, live music venue: Great local venue, intimate and atmospheric, amazing music, party central!
- Bagels & Beans, cafe: A small local chain of cafes perfect for lunch or a late breakfast. Huge selection of amazingly good value and delicious bagels, friendly service, and a chai latte to kill for.
- De Bakkerswinke Amsterdam, bakery: Amazing chocolate scones, popular with locals, buzzing and a warm interlude from the cold!
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