Cool Places Travel Guides FAQ

What are Cool Places guides all about?

Cool Places is a new, stylish travel guide series specifically created for your iPhone and iPad. They focus on cool British destinations such as the buzzing seaside resorts of St Ives, Padstow and St Davids or the interesting historic towns of Cambridge, Bath and York. They’re designed to guide you to the best places around – sights, activities, restaurants, cafés, bars, hotels, campsites, shops or anything else – so you don’t have to waste time looking yourself! They have been designed exclusively as apps – which means the content is focussed on what app users expect – inspiring photos, punchy reviews, integrated map and phone functions and easy navigation. Think of them as guidebooks – but much better!

How are they cool?

Well, we think these guides look pretty cool, but the cool factor is really all about the places we recommend. Alongside the Essentials, See & Do, Eat & Drink and Sleep features, we provide our Cool Picks so that even if you’re on limited time, you can still see the best of each town.

Try gliding through your desired destination image galleries with ease for every individual feature of each town. Can’t decide which restaurant to go to? Check out the Random, which will spin through the choices on your behalf and add a bit of spontaneity to your trip. Of course we wouldn’t tell you to go to a cool place without letting you know how to get there. Google Maps for every entry within each guide means getting lost on your hols will be a thing of the past.

Where does this content come from and why should I trust it?

The folk at Punk Publishing have always stood by a certain “rule” when it comes to supplying travel guides. It’s not about hotels or restaurants paying us to be featured, it’s about getting our authors out there and being absolutely sure that our recommendations are the best. For every app, we commissioned expert authors – people who really know the places that they are writing about. And because of this, the information we provide is valid, accurate and honest.

When would I need them?

Perhaps you forgot about the looming school holidays and didn’t organise anything for the kids – they’d probably love a trip to Brighton. Maybe you might feel like grabbing your partner and sneaking off to the stunning and unbelievably peaceful retreat of Fowey. Or you might want to muster a few friends and pop into the chilled lush lands of Newquay – do a spot of surfing, soak up the sun and check out the array of funky bars and restaurants. You don’t need an excuse – this is Britain on your doorstep and it deserves to be explored at every available opportunity.

Why an app? What’s wrong with the more traditional travel guidebook?

There’s nothing wrong with guidebooks – we should know because our books mean a great deal to us. But apps open up an extra dimension for today’s travellers. They allow you to do so much more. With a book, you can read a review of a restaurant or hotel. And, er… that’s it. With the Cool Places guides, you can read that review, then browse a photo gallery of the place, see where it is on the map, see how far it is from where you currently are, then just click to call them and make a reservation or to visit their website.

You could search for restaurants by name or cuisine, see which ones are closest to you, or just press a button to see all the budget places or top-range places. If you’re looking for something to do, you could scroll through a list or a photo gallery to help you decide, or just click to get directly to all the family places or shops. Simple! Plus, apps allow us to update content quickly and easily if things change.

How regular will the updates be and will they cost me?

The updates will not cost a thing; and the beauty of these apps is that we can update them whenever we need to, so they’ll never go out of date like a guidebook.

Who created them?

The series is published by Punk Publishing and has been co-created by directors Mark Ellingham and Jonathan Knight. Mark Ellingham founded Rough Guides in 1982 and continued to edit and manage the series for 25 years. Jonathan Knight wrote and published Cool Camping England in 2006, which is now part of the biggest-selling camping guidebook series in the UK. Punk Publishing also publishes the acclaimed Wild Swimming series and food guide Taste Britain. Cool Places is Punk Publishing’s first digital project.

What’s next?

We have big plans for the future! We hope to release Cool Places on Android phones later this year, plus we’ll be publishing guides to many more destinations in the UK – and beyond! Watch this space…