By Emily King
There is a lot of information out there for the vagabond--travel guides, books, and the all-knowing internet--but it is still difficult to find unique spots uncrowded by other travelers. Local dives and cheap hostels turn into over-crowded tourist magnets after being highlighted in popular guides like Lonely Planet. Once local secrets, shops featured on travel sites and in books loose their local charm and often raise their prices, and it is difficult to know what information is kept up-to-date.
One travel-loving couple set out to offer a better option for adventure-seekers. Spotted by Locals is a powerful assortment of blogs, apps, and city guides created by locals in each city that speak the local language. Created by Sanne & Bart van Poll, Spotted by Locals is unbiased, cheap, and kept totally up-to-date. The internet site has downloadable PDFs for about $4 a guide with offerings for 41 European cities.
The guides include tips on cheap flights, hotels, apartments, hostels, local travel, city life, art, local events, trends, and more. While the website offers lots of free advice, the real shining star of Spotted by Locals is the new iPhone app. Each guide within the app is $4, and after purchasing the guide is fully available offline--imagine wandering the streets of Paris guided to the best hidden cafe with a detailed map on your phone. Information is constantly being updated--even just passing through a city, visitors can catch spontaneous local events.
Spotted by Locals is useful for short and extended trips in Europe, so on your next trip leave the heavy guidebook behind and check out the city as the locals do!
