Discovering a city with GPSmyCITY

When it comes to discovering a new city and what makes it tick I am very much a walker and always have been. As long as time allows I rather walk everywhere to get a real sense of the city and culture as well as spotting all those interesting things you may overlook if your whizzing around on the metro, underground or buses. I have walked pretty much the length and breadth of Amsterdam, London and Paris to name a few and it's just the best way to really get to know a place. What would of made these experiences even better is having a guide in your pocket and that is where GPSmyCity comes in. I just love the concept of this app and is a fantastic way for locals to put together self-guided and easy to follow walks through a city, usually with a theme such as a historical walk or sightseeing one it fits all your needs. There are plenty of self-guided free tours but there is also the option of connecting with other like-minded travellers and doing a paid guided tour with a highly knowledgeable local, the choice is yours.

I have to say I didn't have much hope that the guide would offer much in terms of self-guided walks for Cardiff as even though it's the Capital of Wales it's a pretty small city in comparison to Bristol or London but I was very pleasantly surprised to see a decent selection for Cardiff as well as Swansea and thought I would try one out first hand.

What I love about these self-guided tours is you can start at any point and take your time, it's up to you how much you want to see and do but it still gives you a good plan for the day. I opted to do the Orientation walk and even though I had seen all these landmarks before I never get bored of learning more about the city we live in as with each sight there is an information blurb telling you all about the history of the place. So I parked up right next to the first stop, City Hall before popping into The National Museum of Cardiff which my kids love. Then you take a stroll up to the vibrant Queen Street past the beautiful New Theatre building towards the iconic Cardiff Castle. Of course I took advantage of stopping for a cup of coffee on Queen Street as this area of Cardiff offers some great places to sit down, relax and watch the city go by.

The app is also always changing and updating as it offers easy ways for users to leave feedback about the walks provided and you could even create your own custom city walk or put a guide together to share with other visitors.

This walk also covered Cardiff Bay which is somewhere I love to explore especially on a warm and sunny day as it's view across the water is so beautiful. As I know the city pretty well I ended up just having a gentle stroll through the Bay but I think the Orientation walk on GPSmyCity is a great way for first-time visitors to explore Cardiff and it's an app that is definitely staying on my phone as we do a lot of city breaks and I am really impressed with how easy it is to use and how much information it offers.

I tried all the free features of GPSmyCity and was really impressed with all the guides you can access completely free of charge in all the major (and minor) cities in the world. You can of course also opt to upgrade at less than £10 for the year to have full access to higher res maps, travel articles and no ads, there is also a 3 day free trial of the upgraded version so you can see for yourself although either way the free features are fantastic and I would say this is a great app for those who love travel.

Review - 100% my own thoughts