With the recent unleashing of Apple’s iPad tablet, and the public’s accidental discovery of their new iPhone 4 model (left at a bar by an Apple engineer), it seems that Apple’s unique technology has been gaining immense popularity.
For those who already own an iPhone, (or an iPad), there are many applications (apps) you can download to enhance your travels. There are even locale-specific applications available for use. Let’s say you are planning a trip to Rome—there are quite a few apps that are specific to making your travels in Rome even more exciting. Here are a few:
- Rick Steves Ancient Rome Tour
This app just seems so cool! If you are not familiar with Rick Steves, he is known for his travel guidebooks, mainly on European cities and countries. With this app, you can have Steves as your own multimedia (merges text, audio, and video) tour guide through ancient Rome. It provides you with a map showing tour sites, which allows you to tap on the sites and find out detailed information about their history (especially the Colosseum and the Forum). This app also allows you to find out more information about hotels and restaurants, and allows you to zoom in for closer looks at the locations. It costs $2.99 for this ancient Rome tour—a bargain when you compare it to other more expensive tours available in Rome. It is actually on sale right now!
- Leonardo Da Vinci Airport Guide
If you fly into Rome, you will most likely arrive at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport; and if you are familiar with how confusing airports can be, especially in countries where you don’t speak the native language, it can become tricky to get through it all efficiently. Luckily, for Rome-goers, there is an iPhone app guide to the Da Vinci airport. With this gem, you can access transportation information, airline numbers and terminal information (complete with maps), and airport pictures. You even get a Rome Metro map! On top of all of this, this app. only costs $1.99 and there is no internet connection required.
- Free Rome
Although the Free Rome app itself is not free, it helps you save money by providing information about free things you can do in Rome. It has over 80 listings of free activities, including entries about free Roman museums, monuments, and festivals. The information is updated periodically and continually adds new entries for your travels. Since the price is $0.99, you can get a wealth of information for less than a dollar.
- ItalyGuides Vatican Museum Tour
Often, when I explore large museums, I tend to get lost—not in the exhibits and ideas of history and art—but actually physically lost. A museum tour app then, is certainly useful, especially for a place like the Vatican. It features interactive maps, a navigation menu, suggested routes, a photo gallery, audio, soundtrack; all of these make the Vatican Museum experience easy and gratifying. The full version of this app costs $4.99, but there is also a “Lite” version available for free. The free guide still gives you the maps and navigation menu, but does not provide interactive media, and only gives information on a few of the rooms. I’d say both apps are pretty desirable.
- DK Top 10 Rome
This app is an exact replica of the DK Eyewitness Top 10 guidebook for Rome. It presents maps that cover central Rome and the historic centre, bus routes, and areas of interest. With this app you also get a currency converter, insider knowledge about Rome’s ancient sites, historical buildings/locations, Roman artists, great places for children, hotels, shopping, and restaurants. If you don’t like the idea of carrying around a guidebook every day, then this app is perfect for you! Cost $7.99.
When travelling, everyone tries to keep themselves on some kind of budget. Even if we tend to get caught up in the moment and spend extravagantly while on vacation, we can still get in touch with our technological sides and take advantage of these extremely affordable and fascinating apps.
What are your favorite iPhone apps for Rome? Share in the comments.
