If you are planning a trip to London and splashing out on one of the many fancy London Hotels then you will want your stay to be smooth and problem free. Smart phones such as Apple’s iPhone have a great selection of apps available to help make your life easier and this is especially true for the travel market. In this blog post, we will look at five of the best for any visitor to London.

London Tube Status
This free app is great for checking up to the minute details on the various tube lines and services in London. This app is probably most useful for London residents who are trying to beat the rush and get to work on time, but can be very useful for tourists who don’t want to be stuck waiting when trying to get to one of their activities on time.

London Tube
Another tube app, this comprehensive guide to the London underground features official maps that are licensed by the Transport for London and costs just 59p.

Using the latest up to date maps, this app works with Google maps to help plan your journey through London, always find the quickest route using this cheap app which also works while on the underground as it doesn’t need a data connection.

Urban Spoon
Have you ever been stuck in a large city like London and wondered what to eat and more importantly where these places to eat are? Well using Urban Spoon, you can enter where you are, what type of food you want to eat and what price range you want to pay. Or you could go wild and let the app choose all three options.

When the free app has randomly chosen somewhere for you, you can read reviews and see ratings to work out if the place is for you.

Things to do: London
Want to get the latest information on gigs, bars, clubs, films and restaurants in London? Well now you can using the free app from Time Out magazine. This app will help you plan your trip before you get to London and also if you are stuck for something to do while there.

London Taxi
We have looked at apps for the Tube, but here is a great app for travelling via a London Taxi/Black cab. Your pocket pal will work out how much your fare should be, how long the journey should last and the route your taxi should take. The rates are based on the taxi tariff provided by the Transport for London and times are worked out based on the time of day you are travelling. At just 59p again, this app is bound to save you a headache when getting around London on your city break.

There will be many similar apps for the Android and Blackberry RIM platforms, so make sure you check out the relevant app stores if you have one of their phones and are heading to London.