Harrisonburg residents and visitors now have a handy new tool to help make sure they don’t miss out on all The Friendly City has to offer.
Harrisonburg Tourism has recently launched the Visit Harrisonburg Trip Planner – a new mobile app and website program that offers a free, interactive way to discover area attractions, restaurants, events, self-guided tours and more.
Even if you think you know Harrisonburg well, the Trip Planner can help you discover things to do and places to see that you may have never come across before.
Designed by Visit Widget, the program provides a new way to explore what the area has to offer, including hotels, popular restaurants, activities, shopping, and more. Users can view all listings at once or search by categories like Things to Do, Dining, or Lodging. There are also sub-categories to help narrow the search.
“Once you download the app on your phone you can use it over and over again to plan your weekend or an excursion,” Harrisonburg Tourism Manager Jennifer Bell said. “I especially love the feature that allows you to sort by interests to save time.”
The Visit Harrisonburg Trip Planner offers the option of making a personal plan or itinerary by simply selecting items of interest. This allows a visitor to easily highlight attractions and events to be recalled at a later time.
The plan can be saved and easily modified. It also allows the user to search for area hotels and lodging to plan where they want to stay and easily contact them to make reservations.
The program is both on the tourism website at www.VisitHarrisonburgVA.com and an app that can be downloaded to a mobile device.
How it works
Download the app or click on the Harrisonburg “Plan Your Visit” icon on the VisitHarrisonburgVA.com website and explore. See a concert you don’t want to miss? Click “Join” and the event will be added to your plan. Look for that restaurant everyone keeps telling you about? Click “Add to Plan” and you won’t forget to try it.
Plans can be as short or long as the user chooses.
The Visit Harrisonburg Trip Planner can be downloaded to your mobile phone or used through your web browser at www.VisitHarrisonburgVA.com.
“In the past, visitors’ only option was to contact the Visitor Center to request a personal itinerary or ask Travel Specialists to highlight sites and routes on a physical map or even pay a travel agency,” Bell said. “With the addition of the Visit Harrisonburg Trip Planner people can plan their trips virtually using their computer, phone or tablet. With recent concerns for social distancing this allows visitors to get what they need without personto-person contact.”
The Visit Harrisonburg Trip Planner app also has a social component. Once the user develops a plan it can be shared directly with others through social media, email or SMS.
Harrisonburg’s app is distinguishable in the app stores by an icon of the state of Virginia with a map marker with the Harrisonburg H pointing to the Harrisonburg area on the map.
The Visit Harrisonburg Trip Planner is one in a series of recent improvements and changes implemented by the City of Harrisonburg Tourism & Visitor Services. Other recent improvements include the launch of the Traipse Scavenger Hunts and improvements in the search engine features of the Tourism website.
These improvements are focused on interacting with a wider audience and adjusting to the ways people get and use information digitally.
Harrisonburg Tourism & Visitor Services continues to offer the same in-person services they have for years at the HardestyHiggins House Visitor Center at 212 S. Main St. including knowledgeable Travel Specialists, maps and brochures.
The Traipse App and Trip Planner App are new tools that allow visitors additional opportunities and ways to experience and learn about Harrisonburg from the convenience of their mobile device.
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