With the overwhelming number of travel guides that exist out there, it’s hard to find one that’ll satisfy your wanderlust or inspire your next travel. Luckily for you, we’ve found all of the best places to look for travel inspiration.
Keep reading to see all of the best travel guide websites that’ll help guide your next travels! Travel guides help us plan our trips better.
10 Top Travel Guide Websites for travel inspiration!
1.Secret World
It is impossible to make a list of good travel guides without mentioning Secret World, which with more than 3 million travel guides is the world’s largest free travel guide. Available in more than 70 languages, it allows its readers not only to browse content by country or city but also to search and book travel experiences in more than 100,000 locations around the world.
One can download the guides to their iPhone or iPad and create their own special travel itineraries.
It is one of the few user-generated content sites that shares revenue fairly and directly with its writers, thus encouraging them to take an active interest in the quality and detail of the guides they write.
2. Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a dominant brand in the travel industry, offering both travel guides and other resources on destinations worldwide. It is mainly geared towards backpackers on a budget.
Its travel guidebooks, available in both digital and print form, come under a variety of categories such as regions, countries, cities, hikes, treks, etc. They include itineraries, maps for navigation, insider tips from experts, off-the-beaten-path attractions, and other helpful information.
Although Lonely Planet is not as resourceful and updated as it used to be, it’s still one of the best travel sites to get an overview of destinations. You can also book accommodation and dining options via the website.
3.Fodor’s
The great travel writer Eugene Fodor once said “You don’t need to be rich to travel well.” And that’s been kind of my mantra for the last several years.
In 1936 Fodor wrote the first modern travel guide book. It was for British audiences and he wrote all 1200 pages himself. The book was On the Continent: An Entertaining Travel Annual.
According to Fodors.com, “The guide went beyond reporting on the sights and for the first time included information about Europe’s culture and people, practical information like how to tip, and was the first to be annually updated.”
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Since On the Continent was first published, Fodor’s has been a trusted name in travel guides.
They now claim that their travel writers have covered more than 7500 destinations around the world. Fodors.com was one of the first travel websites when it launched in 1996.Today the site offers destination guides, general travel content and forums about specific destinations or general travel topics such as air travel.
4.Frommer’s
The venerated Frommer’s travel guides were launched by Arthur Frommer in 1957 with a guide to visiting Europe on $5 a day (yup. $5.).That guide followed his book about how to travel Europe as a GI (Frommer was in the Army at the time). Frommer’s quickly grew to become one of the most trusted names in travel guide books.
Several years ago, Frommer’s was acquired by Google, who pulled the plug on their print books in the spring of 2013.Arthur Frommer reacquired the company shortly thereafter and then quickly made a deal with to get the books back in distribution. Frommers.com is a fine place to start planning for a trip for free.Destination information includes city layouts, how to get around, and their top picks for hotels and dining.
They also provide other general travel content and feature articles plus trip ideas for honeymoons, arts and cultural travel, national parks, family travel, road trips and more.
5.Intelligent Travel
Since its founding in 1888, the National Geographic Society has earned a sterling reputation for inspiring wonder about the richness and variety contained in the wider world. The Intelligent Travel blog, written by the staff of National Geographic, is dedicated to covering authentic culture and sustainable tourism
6.Bradt Guides
Known for publishing guides for lesser-traveled destinations (though certainly not less deserving), Bradt bills itself as “the world’s leading independent travel publisher.”
Bradt guides are the go-to for destinations not covered by other publishers.The Bradts’ first book, Backpacking Along Ancient Ways Peru & Bolivia, was the first to detail the Inca Trail.
Later they became known for writing guides to destinations “post-conflict.” These included Rwanda, Kosovo, and the Baltic States after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
In addition to their destination guide books, Bradt also publishes a Slow Travel series of UK destinations, a Wildlife series and general travel literature.
7.World Travel Guide
Gets lots of free international travel guides to destinations around the world. The guide is available in English, German, French and Spanish. The site has a nice “˜Holiday Ideas’ section for some inspirational travel ideas. The homepage features a neat globe browser for pinpointing places worldwide. Catch the best deals and the latest events too on the dedicated pages for each location.
8.Rough Guides
The neatest feature on the site (apart from all the travel content) is the Rough Guide to The World picture mosaic map. There’s a movable “˜World Lens’ which you can hover on any location and check out the experiences as pictures. Also subscribe to the free Rough Guides Podcasts every month. Another useful audio download is the free phrasebook available for select languages. Or you can forget about all that and play the Rough Roads Game!
9.Atlas Obscura
Sometimes places off the beaten track make for great adventures. You could discover one on this site which according to the site’s own words is a collaborative project with the goal of cataloging all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist. Exploring places by category is the way to go here.
10.The Planet D
Think adventure travel is just for rock climbers and mountaineers? The Planet D will inspire you to think again. Declaring that “travel is for everyone,” this blog offers adventure travel ideas for all walks of life.
The best travel guides will be the ones that you use and that help you plan a trip that you truly love. I personally like to use a combination of travel guide books and online travel planning resources.
But don’t just follow my advice. Try these guide books series and online travel guides for yourself and find the ones that you will like and use for your trip planning.