Spotted by Locals is a set of city guides written by people who live there, called Spotters, covering more than 85 cities across Europe and North America. There are no chain restaurants, no obvious landmarks and no paid-for reviews from the writers: just the bakery a Spotter goes to on Saturdays, the bar they take friends to and the park bench with the best view.
We like it for two reasons. The rules are strict and sensible, since Spotters are hand-picked, live locally, speak the language and accept no payment from the places they write about. And the guides cover cities most apps treat as an afterthought, from Ghent to Rijeka. Here is our Spotted by Locals review: what the free trial gives you, what the paid plans cost and how it compares with Atlas Obscura and Google Maps.
Spotted by Locals Promo Code: None needed
Best deal: free 24-hour trial with no card, then Full Access at €19.99 a year (usually €29.99)
| Offer detail | What you get |
|---|---|
| Promo Code | None needed. No official promo codes are published |
| Welcome offer | 24 hours of full access to every guide, free, with no payment details |
| Who qualifies | New users signing up on the website or in the app |
| Key terms | Full Access and Travel Pack renew automatically; single city guides last a year and do not renew |
| How to claim | Tap Try for Free on the website or in the app and register with an email address |
Spotted by Locals: key facts
- Official website: spottedbylocals.com
- Owner: Spotted B.V. (founders Sanne and Bart van Poll)
- Headquarters: Netherlands
- Founded: 2008
- Ratings: App Store 4.1 (29 ratings, UK App Store); Google Play 4.1 (560 reviews, Google Play)
- Headline offer: Free 24-hour trial with no card; Full Access €19.99 a year (usually €29.99)
- Promo Code: None needed
- Price from: €9.99 single city guide for a year; €19.99 a year for all cities
- Free plan or trial: No permanent free plan; 24-hour free trial
- Payment methods: Website checkout, Apple App Store, Google Play
- Best features: 85+ city guides by 500+ hand-picked, unpaid local Spotters; No chains or obvious tourist sights; Map, interest filters and saved favourites
Spotted by Locals at a glance
- Owner: Spotted B.V., the Netherlands, founded by Sanne and Bart van Poll
- Launched: 2008, as a blog of insider tips for Amsterdam; apps since 2011
- Platforms: iOS, Android, web
- Free plan: a 24-hour free trial; no permanent free tier
- Paid from: €9.99 for a single city guide for a year; Full Access €19.99 a year
- Offline use: not advertised for the current app
- Ratings: App Store (UK) 4.1/5 from 29 ratings; Google Play 4.1/5 from 560 reviews
Our verdict
Spotted by Locals is the nearest thing to a friend in every city. The writing is personal, the picks are independent and the strict no-chains rule means you are not sent to the same five brunch places as everyone else. It is less polished as an app than as a set of guides, the store ratings come from a small pool and offline use is no longer a selling point. If you take three or more city breaks a year, Full Access is cheap. For one weekend, buy the single city.
Pros
- Tips from more than 500 hand-picked locals who accept no payment from the places they recommend
- No chains and no obvious tourist sights, so the picks feel genuinely different
- Covers smaller cities such as Ghent, Bern, Malmö and Rijeka, not only the usual capitals
- A free 24-hour trial with no card details
- Full Access at €19.99 a year costs about the same as one printed guidebook
Cons
- No permanent free version; the website teases more than it shows
- The current app does not advertise offline use
- Coverage is mainly Europe and North America
- Small number of app store ratings, and several reviews are years old
- Older per-city purchases and newer subscriptions sit side by side in the app stores, which is confusing
What Spotted by Locals does and who it is for
Each city guide is a collection of short articles, one per place, written by a named Spotter with a photo and a line about who they are. London alone has more than 330 spots. You browse by map or by category, such as food, art and culture, or relaxing, save favourites and build a rough itinerary. With location switched on, the app suggests places nearby and estimates the walk.
The founders, Sanne and Bart van Poll, meet every Spotter in person or online before they join. Spotters must live in the city, speak the language and write only about places they love. Obvious tourist spots and (inter)national franchises are off limits.
It suits curious city-breakers, people who have already ticked off the big sights and anyone tired of review apps full of the same top ten. Some moments when it earns its keep:
- The Sunday problem. Half of Lisbon’s shops are shut and the tram queue is round the block. A Spotter’s tip for a neighbourhood café in Campo de Ourique saves the morning.
- The second visit. You have done the Rijksmuseum. Now you want the Amsterdam that Amsterdammers use, and a Spotter’s favourite brown café is a ten-minute cycle away.
- The wet afternoon. Rain in Porto, and you need somewhere indoors that is not a souvenir shop. The art and culture filter finds a small gallery a Spotter swears by.
Is Spotted by Locals free? The trial and what you see without paying
There is no permanent free tier. You can browse city pages and read snippets on the website, but full tips, maps and favourites need a plan. The free trial gives 24 hours of full access to the website and app, with no payment details, and it simply expires after a day without charging you. That is long enough to plan a weekend: save your favourites on the Thursday evening and decide whether to pay before you leave.
Spotted by Locals price: plans and the cheapest way to pay
Spotted by Locals prices its plans in euros on its own website. Pound and dollar figures below are conversions, not official prices.
| Plan | € (official) | UK £ | US$ | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | €0 | £0 | $0 | 24 hours of full access |
| Single City Guide (one-off) | €9.99 | £8.42 | $11.22 | One city for a year, no renewal |
| Travel Pack (monthly) | €14.99 a month | £12.63 | $16.83 | All cities, renews monthly |
| Full Access (yearly) | €19.99 a year (usually €29.99) | £16.84 | $22.45 | All 85+ cities for a year, renews yearly |
The UK App Store also lists city guides as in-app purchases in pounds, at £3.99 for older single-city guides and £8.99 to £9.99 for city subscriptions such as London, Paris or Berlin. Check the price on the screen you are buying from.
The cheapest way to pay. For one trip, the €9.99 single city guide. Two single cities cost €19.98, a cent less than Full Access, so the yearly plan pays off from the third city. When DailyStoke looked at the pricing, the monthly Travel Pack at €14.99 only made sense for a single month of hopping round Europe. Buying on the website rather than through the app stores keeps you on the official euro price.
Features that matter
Maps and filters. Every spot sits on a map, filterable by interest. Walking times appear when location is on.
Favourites and itineraries. Save spots across several cities and order them into a loose plan.
Spotter profiles. Each tip carries the writer’s name and photo, so you can follow a Spotter whose taste matches yours.
Updates. Spotters are expected to keep their tips current, and the company says guides are updated frequently. Still check opening hours before crossing a city for a single bar.
Offline. The original 2011 apps worked fully offline, a big selling point at the time. The current app, launched in 2023, does not mention offline access in its listing or pricing, so plan on needing data or a travel eSIM.
Privacy and safety
The UK App Store privacy label says usage data may be used to track you, and that analytics and diagnostic data are collected but not linked to your identity. On Google Play, Spotted B.V. says data is encrypted in transit and you can ask for it to be deleted. There is a help page on deleting your account. DailyStoke found no regulator action against the company.
On independence: Spotters are not paid by the places they cover, and the company says its city content is editorially independent. It does earn money from tourist board partnerships, including launching guides with cities such as Ghent, Bern and Malmö, as well as display advertising and branded content.
What users say about Spotted by Locals
Spotted by Locals scores 4.1 out of 5 on the UK App Store from just 29 ratings, and 4.1 on Google Play from about 560 reviews, with more than 100,000 Android downloads. The sample is small and several reviews predate the 2023 app, but the pattern is clear: people love the tips and have argued about the pricing.
On Google Play, Mark B called it “the best travel app ever!” in November 2023, while asking for more cities.
Mandy J, also on Google Play, felt the old pay-per-city model added up in June 2022: “it can get very expensive having to pay £3.49 for each place.” The company replied that a subscription was on its roadmap, and Full Access now exists.
On the UK App Store, Rtbrighton wrote in October 2019: “Always find delightful gems through this app.”
And Travelling Wilby, after an update caused a scare over lost purchases in August 2023, reported: “Received a very prompt reply to my query. All working fine within a few hours.”
How to get started and how to cancel
Getting started
- Download Spotted by Locals from the App Store or Google Play, or go to spottedbylocals.com.
- Tap Try for Free and register with your email address for 24 hours of full access.
- Pick your city, browse by map or category, and save favourites.
- Before the trial ends, choose a single city guide, the Travel Pack or Full Access.
Cancelling
- Bought on the website: turn off automatic renewal in your account settings before the renewal date.
- iPhone: Settings, your name, Subscriptions, Spotted by Locals, Cancel Subscription.
- Android: Google Play, profile icon, Payments and subscriptions, Subscriptions, Spotted by Locals, Cancel.
- Single city guides do not renew, so there is nothing to cancel. The terms do not set out a general refund policy, so contact the team if something goes wrong; App Store and Google Play refunds go through Apple or Google.
Spotted by Locals vs Atlas Obscura vs Google Maps
| Spotted by Locals | Atlas Obscura | Google Maps | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 24-hour trial only | Yes | Yes |
| Paid from | €9.99 per city, €19.99 a year for all | Free app | Free |
| Best for | Independent cafés, bars and everyday local places | Oddities, curiosities and unusual sights | Hours, directions and reviews of everything |
| Offline | Not advertised | No | Downloadable offline maps |
| App Store rating (UK) | 4.1 (29) | 4.8 (644) | 4.7 (978k) |
Pick Spotted by Locals if you want to eat, drink and wander like a resident, and you trust a named person over a star rating.
Pick Atlas Obscura if you would rather find a medieval plague pit or a museum of broken relationships than a good flat white.
Pick Google Maps for logistics. Use it alongside either of the others to check hours and get there.
Spotted by Locals alternatives
- Atlas Obscura: a free guide to strange and wonderful places worldwide, from hidden chapels to abandoned railways.
- Google Maps: free, huge and up to date, but rankings favour popularity over personality.
- Local city blogs and newsletters: many cities have a writer doing a version of this for free, though quality varies and nobody checks them.
- Time Out city guides: free online guides to eating, drinking and events in big cities, written by professional editors rather than residents.
Spotted by Locals FAQs
Is Spotted by Locals free?
Not permanently. There is a free 24-hour trial with full access and no card details, then paid plans from €9.99 for a single city.
How much does Spotted by Locals cost?
On its website, Full Access to every city costs €19.99 a year (usually €29.99), the monthly Travel Pack €14.99 and a single city guide €9.99 for a year.
Are Spotters paid?
Spotted by Locals says its Spotters accept no compensation from the places they write about. They are hand-picked locals who live in the city.
Does Spotted by Locals work offline?
The original apps did. The current app does not advertise offline access, so plan to use data or a travel eSIM.
How many cities does Spotted by Locals cover?
More than 85, mainly in Europe and North America, written by over 500 Spotters.
Is there a Spotted by Locals promo code?
No official promo codes are published. The best saving is the yearly Full Access plan, discounted from €29.99 to €19.99.
How do I cancel Spotted by Locals?
Turn off automatic renewal in your account settings, or cancel through Apple or Google if you subscribed in the app.
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