Top 5 travel apps to enjoy this summer

Eva Triantafillopoulou

Summer is upon the Northern Hemisphere and the long warm uplifting days are motivating people to explore the outdoors. Inspired by the great amount of vacation plans murmuring around, Wikitude decided to gather a selection of augmented reality travel apps, ranging from powerful free Wifi finders to detailed park guides, that could potentially take your traveling to the next level.

There are various types of travelers in the world. Some are meticulous researchers that plan ahead to make the best of their time and interests while others are more adventurous and prefer the thrill of surprise when exploring new territory. Within this diversity, however, there is one common ground: every traveler can benefit from using augmented reality travel apps!

Here are five awesome travel apps powered by Wikitude to use this summer. Ps. unbelievable bonus app in the end of the post!

1) eTips Travel Apps

The eTips Travel Apps are arranged by categories: Landmarks, Cities, National Parks and Museums. Apart from providing high-quality travel guides, tailored itineraries and interactive zoomable offline maps, eTips incorporated AR technology in order to bring their content to consumers in an innovative, fun and practical way.

With the location-based AR feature, iOS users can find the advice they search for by simply holding their phone up to get a quick scan of immediate surroundings for an instant interactive augmented reality view of hotels, restaurants, attractions and more. With numerous registered reviews and opinions, this app could definitely come in handy when deciding on accommodation, transportation, activities, eating and more. Explore all eTips destinations by downloading the app.

2) Osmino Free Wi-Fi Finder

Not having frequent access to the Internet, in modern days, seems uncommon and overall awkward, however, many people still struggle with this situation when traveling abroad. To dribble this setback, the Osmino Wi-Fi app offers a great solution to find free internet hotspots around the globe.

With this app, users can scan an area to view augmented reality pinpoints representing the location of free WiFi networks. The app settings include automatic internet connection upon availability, password sharing, and direction pointer for navigating closer to the desired free internet source. A very useful tool for travelers who wish to be connected on the go. Download the app on iOS or Android.

3) National Parks by Chimani

Targeted for those planning to visit one of USA’s national parks, monuments, historic sites or seashores, the National Parks by Chimani app offers detailed information, key features, historical facts, interactive maps and hundreds of photos of over 400 destinations.

Thanks to the use of AR technology, users can easily understand and explore their destination through digitally layered highlighted points of interest that can be accessible even without internet. Apart from innovatively providing info related to hiking trails, attractions, restrooms, parking, events and news, users can also use a trip-planning tool and collect a badge for every visited park.

4) Hermes Virtual Tour

Many of those who have visited ancient Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Mayan and other prominent ruins report feeling a strong inexplicable energy when on-site. To better understand what has made these places so remarkable and to have a realistic view of the fully constructed structures during their glory days, the Hermes Virtual Tour app allows users to bring the past to the present through immersive augmented reality projections paired with rich historical content.

The good news is that this tool does not only assist history-inclined travelers heading to these ancient destinations but also people that wish to virtually visit these places from anywhere in the world. Users can simply select one of the available ancient destinations to browse the world’s artistic heritage from the comfort of their sofa. What a time to be alive!

5) Northern France Experience

France is, inarguably, a top tourist destination. If you are planning on visiting its magnificent upper regions make sure to download the Northern France Experience app for tailor-made specialized guidance. Users can set their own preferences to get customizable feedback on places and subjects of interest, explore through themed tours and share their experience on social media.

The app includes augmented reality content layered on monuments, streets, sculptures and many historical places to enrich the overall experience. Users may explore a wide selection of over 200 locations and receive tips on where to go depending on how much time they have available. The app is available on iOS and Android.

Bonus: Augmented Reality Drinks by City Social

Even though it is technically not a Travel App, it is definitely worthy of mention. After all, what would summer be like without ice cold drinks on lovely hot days? So, for those of you planning on visiting London, make sure to order from the world’s first augmented reality cocktail menu for an out of the ordinary experience.
The innovative City Social bar incorporated augmented reality technology to their Mirage app so that customers can see their cocktails come to life. When pointing their phones at their drinks, vivid interactive art, ranging from Michelangelo to Banksy, is prompted with the intention of showing how art has been expressed throughout history. A true jaw dropper!

With so many innovative augmented reality travel apps being developed to improve how we travel and discover our surroundings, we want to know from you: what is your favorite travel destination in the whole wide world?

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