When we visit a new city, we can get help from our faithful smartphone as if it were a real "tourist guide", using the navigation apps to reach the places of interest and the places of rest (hotels, B & Bs etc.). If we have not included lunch and dinner in the overnight service, we can rely on some specific apps to find the best restaurants in the area with your smartphone and eat only in the best places, avoiding those that are not suitable for our portfolio or with problems reported by various users. In this guide we will therefore focus on the best apps that we can use, on Android smartphones and on iPhones, to easily find the best places to eat, whatever the city or the place visited (mountain, countryside, sea etc.).
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App to find the best restaurants
The apps that we are going to indicate work both as navigators (also indicating how to reach the places reviewed) and as real review apps on customers who have already visited the place in the past, leaving a comment and a rating (sometimes more votes on various parameters) once the drink is finished.TripAdvisor
One of the best services to find restaurants is definitely TripAdvisor, available for free for Android and iOS.
Using this app we can quickly discover the best restaurants in the area (those with the highest number of positive votes will be shown immediately) or discover some less known restaurants, where you can eat according to specific criteria (less crowded, cheaper, with dedicated services etc.).
Just start the search based on the place and city, then filter the contents: by pressing on one of the activities indicated by the app we will access detailed information on it, with information on prices, the type of dishes offered, opening hours and on the reviews left by other users who have already had the honor of being served in the business. One of the most appreciated features is the possibility to book online in some selected restaurants, paying with PayPal, Google Pay or Apple Pay (always if the restaurant offers this type of service).
In addition to restaurants, it allows you to access reviews for hotels, B & Bs and any other tourism-related activity, so that we can cover our holiday or our trip at 360 degrees!
TheFork
Another very useful app to find the best restaurants in the area with your smartphone is TheFork, available for free for Android and iOS.
Using geolocation, the app will immediately show the best restaurants in the area, also offering an overview of the discounted prices applied thanks to affiliation with the app. In fact, one of the best features of TheFork lies in the discounts that we can get immediately at the cashier (even up to 50%): just present the discount code offered by the app itself to eat well and save, even in the most renamed places. The rest of the features are similar to TripAdvisor, with user reviews and tourist guides on each activity, photos of the interior of the venue and general information on the timetable and fast route to reach it.
Michelin Italy guide
Among the official restaurant guides, the Michelin Italy Guide certainly stands out, available for Android and iOS.
With this app we will be able to view all the catering activities on the Italian territory, with professional evaluations on all the services offered and detailed information on price, opening hours, telephone numbers and the path to follow in order to reach the destination.
The peculiarity of this app are the restaurants marked with the famous " Michelin Stars ": the more stars a restaurant has, the more exclusive the menu and the service offered (and consequently the price will go up on the final bill).
Yelp
Another good service to find the best restaurants in the area with your smartphone (especially when we are abroad) is Yelp, available free for Android and iOS.
With this app we can quickly access restaurants, pizzerias, pubs and anything else in a simple and fast way, using the geolocation system (which will immediately show the restaurants in the area) or by launching a specific search by city or by location. The catering activities will be shown on a map: simply tap on one of the indicated activities to immediately know the reviews of other customers, view the route to be taken to reach it and also know the prices and times.
The app works very well in Italy, but it is in the United States that it has become the only real alternative to TripAdvisor.
Google Maps
If we don't want to use other apps to get to know the restaurants in the area, we can simply rely on Google Maps, available for Android and iOS.
To make the best use of the app, simply open it and type in the Restaurants search bar: the best restaurants in the area will be immediately displayed, with information obtained directly from Google (times, average price, number of people present, itinerary and reviews of the customers). In addition to the specific search, we can use one of the buttons in the app (Bars, Restaurants, Agritourisms, etc.), activated dynamically according to our location: we will thus be able to make real gastronomic tours during our travels, so as to visit only the best restaurants !
If we are looking for other navigation apps with points of interest, we recommend you read our two articles on GPS Navigators with free offline maps for Android, alternatives to Google Maps and the Best GPS navigators apps for iPhone alternative to Apple Maps .
Conclusions
While in the past we had to rely on the map and the paper guides before visiting a new city, today it is enough to have a smartphone connected to the Internet to be able to find the best activities immediately. In this guide we have shown you how to find the best restaurants in the area quickly and effectively, so you can eat for lunch or dinner by choosing the best activity based on our needs and financial availability.If we need to plan every aspect of our future trip, we recommend you read our guides on how to plan itineraries and guided tours in each city and on the best travel sites with tips, photos and guides to organize your holidays .
