GLOBALISTSA
www.globalista.co.uk
Styles itself as an upmarket travel guide offering ‘inside reports for the discerning traveller’ written by passionate travellers, style gurus and insider residents. It currently covers 250 destinations, recommending hotels, restaurants, shops and museums alongside beautiful photography and comprehensive lists of cultural and sporting events taking place in each destination covered.
LONELY PLANET
www.lonelyplanet.com
Available in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Japanese, Lonely Planet is a great place to go for travel advice and information. Book airfare and rail travel, make hotel reservations, read mini guides to destinations, or watch videos and use the Pick & Mix service to download individual guidebook chapters or order the guidebooks directly from the site.
PERFECTLY CHILLED
www.perfectlychilled.com
Brings together an eclectic range of private property rentals, small independent hotels, B&B's and unusual places to stay combined with magazine-style editorial features in its Travel Notes section. Property Rentals and Hotels are divided into style categories covering Urban Style, Rural Retreats, By the Sea, Eco Style, Family Friendly, Small Wonders and Active Escapes.
METROTWIN
www.metrotwin.com
Do you know where to find the Bloomingdale’s of London? What about the Tate Modern of New York? A twin centre city guide for transatlantic travellers, Metrotwin twins New York and London invites readers to ‘twin’ places in New York and London, from Irish pubs and vintage shops to cocktail bars, children’s parks and galleries.
ISANGO
www.isango.com
Focuses on the what-you-do-when-you-get-there as opposed to the more logistical how-to-get-there, offering accommodation ideas alongside an information and a booking service on holiday tours, sight-seeing attractions, activities and tips on the best things to do in more than 60 countries across the world. Makes planning a holiday all too convenient.
ROUGH GUIDES
www.roughguides.com
It’s impossible to make a list of good travel guides without mentioning Rough Guides, where readers can browse content by country or city, search for and book over 20,000 value-for-money properties in more than 3500 locations, buy books, download guides to their iPads or listen to travel podcasts.
DELICIOUS ITALY
www.deliciousitaly.com
Foodies with a love for Italian cooking, culture, history, traditions and countryside should make a beeline for Delicious Italy, an independent guide which covers the country region by region. Expect to find fabulous guest houses, hotels and restaurants as well as the best cooking holidays and food and wine guided tours.
TRIP ADVISOR
www.tripadvisor.co.uk
If you want to know what a hotel, restaurant, city or activity is really like, then Trip Advisor is a first port of call. Featuring millions of traveller reviews, opinions and recommendations for hotels, holidays and more, browse by destination, peruse other travellers photos and videos or check out the forum for trending travel topics.
SIMONSEEKS
www.simonseeks.com
Combines detailed travel guides contributed by real travellers, celebrities and professional travel writers with expert money-saving tips and a comprehensive choice of booking options. This is one of the only user-generated content sites that shares revenue equally and directly with its writers, thereby encouraging them to take an active interest in the quality and detail of the guides they write.
TRAVELDK.COM
traveldk.com
Fantastic photography is matched with in-depth information and detail on this excellent site, which lets you explore thousands of destination attractions across the world, each of which have been rated and reviewed by other travellers. You can also share your own attractions with other travellers, make hotel, flight and car hire bookings and can even create, print and share your own travel guides in PDF form.
Emily Jenkinson
23rd August 2011