To the paper guides: the good addresses for accommodation and eating out. But how to get there? How to move in a city of which you know nothing and in particular not the local means of transport?
The first app I recommend is called Citymapper (iOS and Android). It’s the app that tells you all the ways to get from point A to point B in town, by comparing prices and journey times. And the range is really wide: metro, bus, taxi, VTC, tram, train, bicycles, scooters, scooters and shared cars and of course, also by walking.
This wealth is the result of a partnership with the big names in the sector: G7, Uber, Share Now, Dott, Tier, CityScoot, etc. The app is therefore formidable in Paris, but also in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, New York and Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid: in all, 71 cities in Europe, 27 in North America, 7 in Asia plus Sao Paulo and Mexico. And so, Citymapper has this universal side that allows you to find the same interface, in all major cities around the world. A must have app.
Moovit (iOS and Android), one of its competitors, claims maps and routes for more than 1,400 cities but without the richness of Citymapper, even if consulting the maps, without a mobile network connection, is a “plus“.
On a larger scale, rome2rio, in other words “From Rome to Rio“ (iOS and Android) offers all the means to connect two points on the globe: plane, train, bus, ferry, carpooling and rental car. Interesting alternative to Google Maps or Plans which focus on the car and the two-wheeler, if only to move in a region, or between two countries.
Getting around a city without asking for your SIM card and risking paying a fortune in roaming charges: this is also one of the advantages of the maps.me app (iOS and Android). This offline consultation nevertheless presupposes having anticipated and having downloaded the plans, thanks to the hotel’s wifi: maps of 345 countries obtained thanks to OpenStreetMap, the collaborative online mapping service launched in 2004.
Same source for the OsmAnd app (iOS and Android), much less intuitive and a limit of five maps to download for free. For unlimited downloads of maps updated every month, count 19.99 €.
Finding good plans… good addresses… places that move: this is the creed of Culture Trip (iOS and Android), in English only, just like Visit a city (iOS and Android) which gives good ideas on stays of 1 to 4 days, even if the goal is often to sell you excursions and tickets for shows.
Finally, a Bluetooth headset in one ear and presto: the world or almost is yours with the izi.TRAVEL app (iOS and Android). It offers audioguides of museums and cities for more than 1,300 destinations, in French and English in particular, for free, except that the app forces the hand of the user to share his personal data, unless you pay 1.49 € per month and €10.99 per year to upgrade to the paid version, without ads.