In Your Pocket City Guides

In Your Pocket (IYP) is a European city guide publisher and online tourist information provider. As of April 2008 it publishes city guides to 40 destinations and provides free online information to over 50 cities in Europe from Athens to Zagreb, Ljubljana, Belfast to Bucharest, Tallinn to Tirana and St. Petersburg to Sofia.

Distributed locally mainly in hotels and newsstands the entire content of the entire guides can also be downloaded from their website free of charge.

The first In Your Pocket city guide, "Vilnius In Your Pocket" was written in late 1991 by German journalist Matthias Lüfkens and Belgian brothers George, Oliver and Nicolas Ortiz in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Since then the four founders have franchised the "In Your Pocket" guides in 20 countries covering key tourist capitals as well as obscure off-beat destinations such as Athens, Belfast, Berlin, Braşov, Bucharest, Budapest, Český Krumlov, Derry, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Frankfurt, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Haapsalu, Kaliningrad, Kaunas, Kiev, Klaipėda, Kraków, Leipzig, Liepaja, Ljubljana, Łódź, Lviv, Minsk, Munich, Narva, Odessa, Palanga, Pärnu, Peć, Poiana Braşov, Poznan, Prague, Priština, Prizren, Riga, Rijeka, Shkodra, Siauliai, Sofia, Sopot, Saint Petersburg, Tallinn, Tarnów, Tartu, Tirana, Vilnius, Warsaw, Wrocław, Zadar and Zagreb.

In June 2006 In Your Pocket published print and online city guides to all the Football World Cup venues in Germany such as Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Kaiserslautern and Gelsenkirchen.

In November 2006 In Your Pocket published the first English-language guide to Kosovo's capital Priština and Macedonia's capital Skopje. The guides do not have the aim to increase tourism but merely to provide honest, critical information that makes getting around the city easier for newcomers.

The guidebooks - updated every two months - have received much praise in the international media. The International Herald Tribune described them as "“an Eastern European publishing phenomenon”" [http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/05/travel/trguides.php] and The Times claimed there are "“The best guides to Eastern Europe”" [http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/essentials/article2361511.ece] , adding that "“the website is a (literally) priceless first stop before your holiday”" [http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/essentials/article1538454.ece] . The New York Times notes it is "“a good all-around information site”" [http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/travel/16riga.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1190329468-3dLvp8Zj+/biqZh4F2s2GQ] and The Independent lists their website among the "“ten best travel websites”" because "“the writers/compilers live locally and the guides are frequently updated”" [http://travel.independent.co.uk/news_and_advice/article14616.ece] . The Guardian observes that "“InYourPocket.com was the first online travel guide to come up with the idea of offering free downloadable city guides in printable (PDF) format.”" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2005/may/14/travelwebsites.internet.guardiansaturdaytravelsection] noting that it "“is a brilliant resource written by excellent writers whose slant is always 'off the trail'.”" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/feb/28/blogbyblogguide.europe.art] and The Observer says it is "“the most reliable source”" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/may/20/escape.budapest] . The guides are frequently mentioned in traditional guidesbooks such as Lonely Planet, Let’s Go Travel Guides or Rough Guides [http://www.roughguides.com/website/travel/destination/content/default.aspx?titleid=95&xid=idh227940400_0042] [http://www.roughguides.com/website/travel/destination/content/default.aspx?titleid=109&xid=idh127388600_0049]

References

* [http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/05/travel/trguides.php"A pocketful of tips on Eastern Europe"] , "International Herald Tribune", May 6 2005. Accessed March 20 2008.
* [http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/essentials/article2361511.ece"Alternative city guidebooks and websites"] , "The Times", September 1 2007. Accessed March 20 2008.
* [http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/essentials/article1538454.ece"Inside information"] , "The Times", July 17 2007. Accessed March 20 2008.
* [http://travel.independent.co.uk/news_and_advice/article14616.ece"The Ten Best: Travel websites"] , "The Independent", January 13 2005. Accessed March 20 2008.
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2005/may/14/travelwebsites.internet.guardiansaturdaytravelsection"Best of the net: Essential sites"] , "The Guardian", May 14 2005. Accessed March 20 2008.
* [http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/travel/16riga.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1190329468-3dLvp8Zj+/biqZh4F2s2GQ"Cultured Traveler"] , "The New York Times", July 16 2006. Accessed March 20 2008.
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/may/20/escape.budapest"What is... a kert?"] , "The Observer", May 20 2007. Accessed March 20 2008.
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/feb/28/blogbyblogguide.europe.art"Blog by blog guide to … art in Europe"] , "The Guardian", February 28 2008. Accessed March 20 2008.

*cite book
last = Bousfield
first = Jonathan
authorlink = Jonathan Bousfield
coauthors = Mark Salter
title = The Rough Guide to Poland
publisher = Rough Guides
month = July | year = 2005
url = http://www.roughguides.com/website/travel/destination/content/default.aspx?titleid=95&xid=idh227940400_0042
isbn = 1843534886

*cite book
last = Bousfield
first = Jonathan
title = The Rough Guide to Croatia
publisher = Rough Guides
month = May | year = 2007
url = http://www.roughguides.com/website/travel/destination/content/default.aspx?titleid=109&xid=idh127388600_0049
isbn = 9781843537830

External links

* "In Your Pocket" website - [http://www.inyourpocket.com In Your Pocket Guides] .
* "In Your Pocket" PDF Guides to 50 destinations - [http://www.inyourpocket.com/static/download/downloads_main.html Full PDF & Instant Guides] .