The Best 3 Free Online International Travel Guides

by Karan Goel

No matter where you want to travel in 2010, preparation is key. You must know where to visit, what gear you need, and carry enough funds to spend an enjoyable vacation. On Amazon or your local book store, you’ll find a huge selection of international travel guides – but they are probably the paid ones.

Here I present the best free online international travel guides that will provide comprehensive information to prepare your trip.

Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet is the biggest commercial online travel websites. Pick a region from the “Destinations” tab and dive into the introduction. The sidebar on the left provides a menu, the top picks, eventually fast facts, related groups, and possibly blogs.

If you have found an interesting place that you would like to keep in mind, you can save the destination, provided you are logged in.

NileGuide

On NileGuide, travelers can discover exactly what they’re looking for on their vacation. Whether it’s a boutique, kid-friendly hotel in Seattle or a hole-in-the-wall pub in Prague, we connect them to relevant suggestions that make for more rewarding travel experiences.

To “Get Started”, search for your desired destination. The first thing you’ll see is a “Snapshot“. You’ll notice that the “Overview” provides guides to download. All available guides are listed under the respective tab.

A major draw of the site is its speed. It’s rather laggy and thus requires a bit of patience. Also, at this point the destination archive isn’t very big compared to other free online guides. Nevertheless, the flexibility and interactivity it offers is a killer argument in its favor.

Arrival Guides

These free travel guides are maintained by professional journalists. All information is available online, but each guide can be downloaded as a PDF for free. Some guides are available in several different languages, which is a huge plus of this site.

This page lists the continents and the countries featured on the site. When you click on “View destinations >>” next to a country, you will reach a page that lists its destinations and the available guide languages.

So, that’s all for your travel needs. Did I miss something? Tell me in the comments below.