Travel Guide

Travel Guide

Top 10 Best Travel Guides

If you're planning a trip, you'll definitely what to learn as much as possible about the place you'll be visiting. Finding out more about the area's top attractions, sights, tours and other features can help you get the most out of your travel experience. Travel guides are the best way to get a clear idea about what to expect - but not all of them are truly helpful. Below, we highlight the top ten best travel guides, all which can be found online.

1. Fodor's - Originally best known for its printed series of travel guides for locations around the world, Fodor's maintains an excellent travel website that covers hot destinations from around the world. It's a great place to stop and peruse some well-written articles about visiting different regions.

2. Frommer's - Like Fodor's, Frommer's began strictly as a print travel guide company. Today, its website offers great tips and advice about visiting various parts of the world. You can still order print editions, too, that are handy for bringing with you on your travels.

3. AAA - AAA - the American Automobile Association - is well known for providing its members with great travel guides and advice. Today, you can visit their website and plan a trip using their many useful articles and information. Get a better idea about where you're going - and how you'll be getting there - by using AAA.

4. TripAdvisor - A one-stop shop for travel reviews and advice, TripAdvisor offers travel guides for every region in the world. Their guides are also conveniently broken down by attractions, restaurants, hotels and other categories.

5. Lonely Planet - Lonely Planet offers articles, videos and other features, allowing you to peruse many different kinds of travel guides all in one place. Since they have such a wide assortment of different takes on any given location, you can really get a feel for what to expect on your trip. Best of all, they usually offer excellent advice about things you really shouldn't miss seeing - and otherwise probably wouldn't.

6. The Travel Channel - Best known for being a television channel offering many different travel related shows, the Travel Channel website also doubles as an excellent travel guide. Different features are broken down by and organized by category and location, making it a breeze to get the scoop on any area you plan on visiting. It has a true wealth of information to share with you, and can make planning a vacation more intuitive in general.

7. The New York Times Travel Section - One of the most highly regarded newspapers in the world, The New York Times, offers up its unbeatable Travel Section online. Visitors can search past issues to get the best information about the places they are planning on visiting. Getting the New York Times' take on locations around the world is another great way to plan a trip and to know what to expect, as well.

8. Chowhound - Since dining is such a huge part of the travel experience, it's nice to know that there's a travel guide out there that focuses solely on the cuisines of various parts of the world. Visit Chowhound to find out where the best places to eat in any given city are - and where the true hidden gems can be found.

9. Travelistic - It's been around since 2004, so Travelistic has proved that it's a travel guide with staying power. The site revolves around the posted reviews, videos and photographs of its registered members. It offers you a "real" look at many locations around the globe, and is a useful guide to look through when planning a holiday.

10. IgoUgo - With its extensive collection of readers' tips, reviews and other resources, IgoUgo is a very beneficial travel guide to take a look at when trying to plan an itinerary. It allows you to find out what others' experiences have been at locations around the world. Sometimes, you'll be alerted to someplace new and exciting; other times, you'll find out what places to avoid. Either way, it's information you can definitely put to good use.

About the Author

Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who represents a number of UK businesses. For a range of online travel guides, he recommends Gawwk.com.

Seek Cantonese speaking local guide/travel agent to Spain and Portugal?

Our family of 8 members are planning to go to Spain and Portugal for 12-3 days from Mar 23 and April 5, 2008. Kindly give me some local travel agencies or individual local guide who can escort us during this period. We strongly request a local guide who can speak in Cantonese. Thanks very much!

Most touristic guides speak English and I don't think you have a problem with that.
Another suggestion is to talk to you travel agent because I checked Portuguese web sites and they don't have much about guides.Have fun Portugal is a good country to visit.