City Guide Books are big business and an almost essential purchase for those visiting a new place on vacation.
However like all paper based products they have one major downside, in that they are only as up to date as on the day that they were printed. Therefore they can’t give provide information on the latest events or shows, provide information on which restaurants are currently popular, weather forecasts or provide directions from your current location.
This is where Smartphones come in handy, all this information can be presented to you on your trusted companion and through the wonders of the Internet the information can always be kept right up to date.
Enter Seasonal Cities on iOS, a ‘Dynamic Guide to the best places to eat, drink and stay in the worlds top cities’ and founded by popular Travel Journalist Marcus Waring.
Currently Covering Barcelona, Berlin, Istanbul, London, Moscow, New York, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Sydney & Tokyo, Seasonal Cities provides information on tourists hotspots, what’s currently on there to entertain you and where to wine and dine.
Some of the information is context sensitive so, for example, Seasonal Cities will provide you with appropriate activities depending on the weather, which is a great idea.
Weather Sensitive Suggestions
Seasonal Cities releases content updates every season, each containing the latest event and city location information, and whilst the app and initial content may be free, each seasonal update for each city costs £0.69.
The idea of a SmartPhone based travel guide is a great one and Seasonal Cities is a promising implementation, however there are a couple of areas where it could improve.
Sometimes events that aren’t available on that day are shown as recommendations e.g. a big football match is recommended even though it’s weeks away, and I would really like to see more content for each city.
Whilst I appreciate that the app recommends high quality options, a traditional paper guide may highlight many options, whereas Seasonal Cities suggests only 5 for each topic.
A Stylish and Solid starting point for what may become a trusted and popular App Seasonal Cities still has a little way to go before it replaces paper guides completely.
Seasonal Cities is available on iOS and can be downloaded from the App Store by clicking here.