Free mTrip guides to New York, Rome, Barcelona and other cities

Let the downloading begin! The mTrip Travel Guides allow users to create itineraries or access ready-made ones, map walking distances to landmarks, peruse hotel and restaurants, and more. On Thursday and Friday, mTrip is giving away five city guides a day for free toiPhone users and for 99 cents to Android users.

The deal: The mTrip guides usually cost $5.99 each, so best to stock up during this sale. The free/discounted guides available Thursday include New York, Rome, Istanbul, Singapore and Prague, Czech Republic. On Friday, it’s Barcelona; Venice, Italy; Hong Kong; Munich, Germany; and Stockholm. Download apps at Android Market or the App Store.

When: Guides are available for the indicated cities on Thursday and/or Friday only.

Tested: I downloaded the San Francisco guide (among the freebies offered Wednesday) onto myiPad and started creating some walking itineraries. Once you download the guide, you can share your trip plans and can get free updates too. It’s also a good way to sample a mobile guide if you’ve never used one.

Info: mTrip Travel Guides