Top 5 Travel Guides Online

Whenever I'm about to go on vacation I like to do some research. I like to research food places, sightseeing options, and things that we can do as a family. When I traveled by myself I was out at dawn and back at dusk, but now that I have a family I also need great hotels with great amenities. When it was just me I would eat out all the time, now I need good convenience stores and nearby grocery stores if possible. How I used to travel and how I need to travel now are somewhat different... in either case doing quality research on a city will help me not waste my relaxation time figuring things out in the new location.

Most of the research I do I do online; I find that it's quicker and more convenient that way. When I'm online there are certain travel sites that I prefer to go to. There are plenty of them available, each with their own benefits and considerations... but I want to share with you the five that I'm discovering to be most beneficial in my traveling experience.

Concierge.com

Concierge.com to me is the Cadillac of travel guides in my opinion. It won't offer you guides to every city, but specific ones. It is more on the high-end as far as options and even cities for review, but the ones that are reviewed have some good information attached.

Fodors.com

What makes fodors.com stand out to me is that it's not only a guide to various places but it also has language guides for when you're going to a foreign country. There's nothing worse than not knowing what to say when you get off the airplane when it comes to travel! You need to know what signs mean, what customs a country has, even what the currency is. Fodors is well known for their travel guides, so check out their website for the guides that other sites don't provide.

Frommers.com

Frommers.com seems to be the all-inclusive travel guide website. It involves a community section where people can post their photos or insights into a particular place. It has a section for trip ideas based on what kind of trip you're taking. It has an online store where you can purchase guides for specific types of travel. You can even book a trip on frommers.com. Frommers.com incorporates a news component so you can see what's going on in different parts of the world. Visually it's only slightly engaging but if you want information it definitely has it.

CNN.com/TRAVEL

CNN is a 24/7 news website. Everything on the website is pertaining to current events and up-to-date information. Their travel section is inclusive of latest travel stories, travel incidents, travel videos and things you need to be aware of in the travel industry as a whole. Here you can find articles pertaining to the odds and ends of traveling as well as reports that you won't see on your typical travel guide website. Get the "news" version of traveling from CNN.com/travel.

TripAdvisor.com

What I like about tripadvisor.com is that it's the Yelp of traveling. If you're not familiar with Yelp, let me explain to you what it is briefly. Yelp.com is an online portal where people give their reviews and ratings on certain businesses and organizations. It's not based on employees of Yelp, but on regular people. The ratings and reviews are very honest and like anything you'll get the gamut as far as opinions, but most places have pretty consistent reviews. TripAdvisor.com does the same thing except it's mostly for hotels, cruises, flights, restaurants, and things to do in a given city. Currently the site has over 25 million traveler reviews and opinions, so if you're looking for a personal review of a city, go to tripadvisor.com.