If you have plans to visit a national park soon, do not head into the parks without GuideAlong (formerly known as GyPSy guides). My entire family is hooked on these national park guides, and we’ve started planning our vacations around where the GuideAlong is offered. The concept might be unfamiliar to you, but this GuideAlong review will fill you in on everything you need to know before getting a Guide yourself.
Whenever you’re traveling somewhere new, have you ever felt like you were looking at the extremely famous place or landmark and just thinking “well, cool! What is it though?,” or have you been driving along in a National Park scouring so intensely for a parking lot that you miss what you should be looking for entirely? GuideAlong literally solves this problem!
I’m so excited for more adventurous people to discover this game changing National Park guide. We first fell in love with the guide on our family’s first visit to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, and I can confidently say it changed the entire trajectory of our trip, and I have the confidence in this product to say it will do the same for you. We had a group of all different ages and interests on our excursion into Wyoming, and each person was extremely invested in what the guide (we named him Steve!) had to say about each stop along the way.
Most of the trip planning fell to me, and I was SO anxious about how our time in the actual parks would go. It’s really hard to feel prepared going into trips like this, and I didn’t want to spend the entire ride looking down at the map but still feeling like we weren’t really seeing it all.
GuideAlong provides context to the beauty of America’s National Parks that would take you years to study up on otherwise. We listened to the guide in the car between each destination, and once we were out looking around, we knew exactly what we were looking at, which sites we absolutely had to see and just how much appreciation the unique geography deserved.
If you can’t tell, you need this app in your life before venturing out to your next National Park! If you aren’t already convinced, here are some answers to popular questions you might find yourself currently asking.
Guide Along Review
What is the GuideAlong?
GuideAlong Guides are essentially GPS-based audio guides that help you discover more and plan less at your destination. These guides play over the speaker in your car and activate a specific audio guide soundbite when your GPS location crosses over a certain point, making the audio guide almost specifically tailored to you and your trip. The guide helps you find hidden gems, plan your trip with a lot less hassle and hear behind the scenes information that would be hard to find otherwise.
Does the GuideAlong work without Cellphone Service?
This is one of the best parts of Guide Along- you don’t need cellular or internet to play the guide! Many people know that national parks are notorious for having zero cell service or internet, so this is another really handy aspect of the guides.
Even if you don’t download the tour before losing service, you will still be good to go to start and stop the tour at any point afterwards. Even apple maps and google maps don’t really work if you start the directions after losing service, so this is a huge perk! GyPSy guides work using satellite coverage, and we have never had a single issue in our many hours using the guides in many places without cell service.
Just make sure you download the app and purchase your tour before losing service- after that you’re good to go.
Do I need a GuideAlong if I’m Planning to Walk Most of the Time?
Yes! Unless you are walking literally from your house into the park and back, GuideAlong is perfect even if you’re planning to be hiking most of the day. The guide will give you directions to popular trailheads, helpful tips and tricks that you might not have known and will help once you’re out of the car, as well as information about what to skip or not skip in and out of the car during your visit. So even if you’re going to walk for the majority of the time, I still recommend getting a guide!
Do I wish the GuideAlong followed you out into the wilderness? Yes! Haha maybe someday they will make that addition!
What Else is There to Love about GuideAlong Guides?
After you’ve purchased the tour for your next National Park destination, I always recommend checking out their extremely detailed trip planners on the GuideAlong website!
These audio guides give you off-the-beaten-path tips, how to beat crowds, insider information, historical tidbits, interesting wildlife statistics and totally set the tone for your entire drive and trip. I promise they are worth far more than the already affordable price.
GuideAlong Review: Which Guides Have We Tried?
I have absolutely no doubt that all the GuideAlong Guides are amazing, but here are the ones we have personally tried and LOVED. I cannot wait to head off to more parts of the country and use these guides to explore as many National Parks as possible!
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Big Sur – PCH Hwy 1 Guide
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Yellowstone + Grand Teton National Park Bundle Guide
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park Guide
View all the available guides here (there are a lot!)
Heading to Yellowstone? Check out my full guide for Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons HERE!
Other GuideAlong Review / Tips / What To Know
- Try testing out your audio system beforehand. If it’s a rental car, maybe just check it out before leaving your accommodation so you can purchase a connector or anything you need before leaving civilization.
- Bring a car compatible phone charger. You don’t want to run into a dead battery and miss out on this amazing tour!
- The Guide Works forward and backward. Depending on the National Park, some popular routes are loops (like Yellowstone) and some are a one direction, there and back (like Big Sur / PCH Hwy 1). The neat thing about the GuideAlong Guide is it works both forward and backward for your route, so you never have to worry about following a specific itinerary or path. The GPS will just pick up on your position and trigger the audio.
Please let me know if you have any other questions I can help answer about these incredible GuideAlong Guides. They are life changing, and I want as many people as possible to take advantage of this resource!
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By clicking on any links above and purchasing a GuideAlong guide, I may receive a small commission through my work as a GuideAlong affiliate. As always, all opinions are my own!
[…] one item on your Big Sur prep is to buy the Big Sur GyPSy Guide. If you need to know more, I have a full GyPSy Guide review on my blog, but take my word for it, you need […]