December 27, 2005 -- ONCE upon a time, making travel arrangements meant trusting strangers to choose not only which airline to take and where to stay, but sometimes, where to go. These choices could result in the greatest experience of your life, or a week in hell.
Today, consumers are not big on trust. We'd rather chart our own course, and for this we can thank the Internet, which has brought the world to our respective cubicles, homes and wireless hot spots. Before we solidify our plans, we can find out that the little "charming" hotel in Tuscany listed in the travel brochure is actually quite heinous, and that the manager isn't responsive to complaints. Or, we can book an airfare and enjoy the spectacle of watching a search engine compare fares from more than 100 sites. We can even find out the best place for a cheap meal in Tokyo - in seconds.
Whatever we want, whatever we need, it's online. In fact, sometimes there's too much information, as the cacophony of competing sites (and con artists) can turn the making of travel plans into a daunting job. That's why you should clip this guide to our 25 favorite travel Web sites. They'll help you plan your dream vacation - and keep it from a nightmare ending.
MOST INVALUABLE RESOURCE
tripadvisor.com
When tripadvisor launched, we thought it was too good to be true, and placed our bets on it being unreliable. Then, slowly, an increasing number of people contributed to the site, submitting passionate, detailed reviews of hotels around the world. (To fi nd a hotel, search, fi nd one you like, then price shop via five different partner sites.) Lo and behold, an army of underground critics was born, the industry began to pay attention, restaurants, attractions and destinations were added - and we found ourselves head over heels in love.
BEST NEW WEB SITE
kayak.com
First there were Expedia and Travelocity. Then there was Orbitz. Now, a team that had its fingers in all three is giving the world of discount travel a sound thrashing with this 11 month-old meta-search engine (Mobissimo who?). It doesn't book your travel - it just leads you to the sites where you can. It's also possible to look for air, hotel and car rental deals. Each search utilizes more than 100 sites and while it hasn't yet opened the doors to every online corner, it seems as if it won't be happy until it does. Viva la revolucion!
BEST FARE FINDER
airfarewatchdog.com
It isn't the slickest site - heck, it's basically a blog - but its staff (who cull together the fares featured in NYP Travel's Best Fares column) is absolutely insane about finding the cheapest fare they can.
You don't book here (this basically runs the same way as Kayak), you just link to where the fares are. Often, they're directly from the airlines themselves, which is, by far, the safest way to book. Bonus: It's big on tracking 'blooper' fares, which means you can snap up a ticket for pennies (or nothing at all!) while the airline fixes the mistake.
BEYOND THE HYPE
virtualtourist.com
Tripadvisor may be a force to be reckoned with on the hotel front, but this sprawling site takes the prize for actually dishing dirt on destinations, beyond what tourist boards, tour operator brochures and even guidebooks will tell you. Users worldwide host their own mini-pages, ranked by popularity, and you can learn about everything from what's cool in Chicago to the best sites in tiny countries you've never even heard of. A quote: "When God created paradises [sic], he or she might got in [sic] hurry and had not so much time for Sao Tome & Principe." (It's doubtful that marketing will be hiring this user any time soon.)
BEST"PORN"
travelzoo.com
This pay-to-play site that sells listings to airlines, tour operators, hotels and other providers worldwide is the ultimate for those of us curious about how cheaply we could steal away (whether we actually can or not). Nearly 10 million people now subscribe to this site, which fires off weekly lists of must-book-now specials that you access through Travelzoo but book with the provider. What's that, you say? Just $69 for a four-star resort somewhere warm? Yes, please. This site's brash, it's tacky and it's as jarring as an art auction on a cruise ship. We're loving it.
BEST DISCOUNT PACKAGE SITE
europeexpress.com
It isn't a Web site per se, but rather a portal to the Seattle-based company's seven subsidiaries, all of which sell amazingly priced package trips around the world. The subsidiaries are: Fly South Vacations (a week in Buenos Aires from $749/pp with air? No problem); Go-Today (home of the $299/pp London special - air and hotel); Air France Vacations; Virgin Vacations; Brian Moore International Tours; and EEI. There's often an overlap in offerings, but no matter which company you use, the prices will blow you away. We've been featuring its deals in our pages for years; pay them a visit and see why.
FASTEST WAY TO (PRETEND TO) GET OF TOWN
towd.com or travelfreak.com
Looking to escape the grind for an hour? Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory (TOWD) lists nearly 1,500 official tourism offices from around the world, each site providing a helpful overview of the destination in which you're interested. Want to see what's up in Italy? Botswana? Angola? Click and go. Additionally, the site automatically ranks the most popular searches, so you can see where everyone else is off to, metaphorically speaking, of course. And while TOWD takes the cake for volume, we also like Travelfreak, which offers a more neatly kept directory of more than 200 countries. (The rarely updated site is otherwise useless).
BEST WAY TO STICK IT TO THE AIRLINES
seatguru.com
The agent thought she was going to put you between the lavatories and the galley, in the seat with the least amount of legroom on board? Well, she can think again. Thanks to this site, you can find that the seat you really want is 14C, which has extra legroom and no crew yammering away behind the curtain. On Seatguru you can search the seating charts of darn near every plane on most major airlines, as well as learn more than you ever thought you'd need to know about a plane's seating arrangement.
COOLEST CURRENCY CONVERTER
xe.com
To see how your dollars are going to hold up when you travel, bookmark this low-frills site that gives lightning-quick conversions for everything from the zacha (Zambia) to the dong (Vietnam). The first page of the site offers the most popular currencies, and with one more click you can access dozens more. An additional click gives you access to all 180 currencies in the world. You can even see how much gold the dollar buys (.00202114 ounces at press time).
TASTIEST FOOD GUIDE
roadfood.com
Forget lobster and foie gras. What we really want to know is where to find the best pancake house. This Web site, founded by folk food fans Jane and Michael Stern, is an online community made up of total nerds who send in pictures of luncheonettes in Nashville, diners in New Jersey, and breakfast platters from Jewish delis in Wisconsin. There are over 1,000 listings, with more being added every day. Wherever you're headed, print out that state's list and go. For $19.99, you can become an "Insider," which gives you access to more info than you need on food that's bad for you.
FASTEST TRANSLATIONS
babelfish.altavista.com
Nós somos supostos ser viajantes do mundo, mas nivelamos-nos às vezes rolamos nossos olhos sobre o fato que o local que nós estamos visitando no traduzido no ingles - como poderiam? Mas ento há esta ferramenta pequena acessível, o mais r pido de toda a ele est am vel nós encontrou na web, que faz traduçs de tudo dos menus do restaurante aos sentidos do hotel, em 11 línguas, variando de holande ao japones. Nós no podemos viver sem ela. (For a translation, go to the site!)
MOST AWESOME AIRLINE SITE
britishairways.com
If only we could fly the Web site instead of being stuck in British Airways' World Traveller (BA's euphemism for coach class). Just search for flights and you'll see what we mean. Find out how much the trip you want to take would cost if you booked dates on either side (it lists up as many days as you like in advance and after your departure, to help you get the best fare). Then, once you select your flights (listed along with their prices) it spells out all the details, rules and regulations for you before you book far more simply and clearly than other airlines. It's all so ridiculously simple. It's as if British Airways actually likes you.
MOST USEFUL GUIDEBOOK SITE
frommers.com
Here's a little secret: We haven't been everywhere. We're trying to span the globe, but there's only so much time. So if someone calls and says, "Hey, I was thinking of stopping in X for a day and have a few questions, like what does a taxi cost from airport? And what should I do while I'm there?" we know where to go if we don't have the answers. We zoom over to the Web site of this behemoth guidebook publisher, where every title ever published is online in its entirety, maps included. Its recommendations aren't always spot on, but damn if they aren't thorough as hell.
BEST MAPPING SITES
maps.google.com and local.live.com
We love that Google launched the best online map tool ever (click and drag! Why did it take so long to figure that one out?). What we love more: that Microsoft got irritated and launched a site that's possibly even better, though still in test mode. There' no telling where this battle will lead. Our New Year's wish: Long may they battle it out.
HIPPEST WEB GUIDE
superfuture.com
Five years after this site helped us have an absolutely fantastic week in Tokyo, we're still addicted to its interactive maps for cities ranging from Amsterdam to San Francisco (but with a special emphasis on Tokyo, Sydney and New York). Want to shop in the really cool places? Stay at the really cool hotels (and book them through partner site, Tablet Hotels)? Don't move a muscle without checking out the city guides here. Founded in 1999 by the scary fabulous Tokyo resident Wayne Berkowitz, the site has become a must-use tool for the cool set.
BEST BLOG
gridskipper.com
The January launch of Gawker Media's first travel blog was a bit bumpy, to say the least, with a revolving-door cast of characters who seemingly were competing to be the snarkiest and most jaded psuedo-hipsters around. Never mind that they were supposed to be covering the world - there'd be time for that later. In the meantime, they seemed to be saying, "Let's crucify everybody and everything! And have a laugh whilst doing it! And they'll never figure out that we really don't know jack about travel!"
Well, things have calmed down and smartened up with Chris Mohney at the helm. He's aided by contributors (some more knowledgeable than others) sending in earnest and often interesting tidbits from their travels, ranging from Atlanta to Almaty. Plus, it's been running an excellent monthly photo contest, which we hope continues.
BEST WEATHER SITE
wunderground.com
So it doesn't have a channel - who cares. Get weather reports for over 60,000 cities around the world on this simple, fast-loading site that is big on bells and whistles, not flash popup ads. There's even a link to a simplified version if you're visiting the site from your PDA or cell phone.
MOST COMPLETE CRUISE GUIDE
cruisecritic.com
Want to know all about the site editor's experience onboard a Carnival wine cruise to the Bahamas? Or fun facts about gay and lesbian cruises? How about which ships have the best coffee? This exhaustive site is thankfully well organized, and a great place to learn about these pleasure boats. Now 10 years old, it profiles more than 50 cruise lines and nearly 300 ships. The message boards now feature approximately 3 million posts. That's a lot of cruise talk.
WHERE TO FIND A SPA
spafinder.com
It's Monday morning in January and you're in full I-hate-winter mode. Why not slip away to a spa? Click on this site and you can search by location, price, style and type of offerings.
There's an excellent Best Buys section, which lists scores of good deals, and the Spa 101 section is particularly useful. You can learn things such as spa terms (what is a Chakra, exactly?), spa etiquette (leave your cell phone at home) and the history of the industry, dating back to ancient times.
BEST SKI SITE
onthesnow.com
There's an avalanche of ski sites out there, but we love this one for being both comprehensive and incredibly easily to navigate. Everything and anything you need to know about skiing is here, including the obvious (weather, resort snow updates) a message board (free to join) and a comprehensive listing of resorts in North America (plus many in Europe). You can also shop for gear, read regular updates for each region and post your own reviews of your favorite (or most hated) resorts.
MOST HELPFUL FAMILY SITE
familytravelnetwork.com
An incredibly thorough site that's as well written as most parenting magazines, Family Travel Network includes feature stories like "How to Afford Your Dream Family Vacation," travel destinations, a section called interests and activities (i.e., dinosaur treks and family cruising) and news, tips, gears and more.
Its expert staff includes managing editor Nancy Schretter, who has served as a family travel expert on the "Today" and CNN.
FOR PET LOVERS
pettravel.com
Can't leave Fido or Whiskers at home? You don't have to. Visit this site - which has a database large enough to make your head spin - and learn about pet-friendly accommodations and services around the world.
You can also find information on a host of subjects ranging from pet immigration rules to airline information, microchipping your pet, and more. Plus, you'll find discount deals and travel gear, from medicine to carriers.
MOST AWESOME OUTDOOR SITE
gorp.com
Want to get into the great outdoors? This site lists just about everything you need to know, from a trail finder section to wads of information on parks. It has one of the best lists we know of for finding where to enjoy your favorite activities, from fishing and climbing to snowboarding, white water rafting and biking, as well as a comprehensive section on travel adventure packages. Tally ho.
