Travel resources worth bookmarking

Start with a guide to get a feel for a place, then check the climate for the months you can travel. Read reviews with care: they show what other travellers liked, not what suits you. Maps and trail sites help once you know where you are going.

Guides and inspiration

• Lonely Planet — Travel guides and information
• Wikivoyage — Free, community-written travel guides
• Atlas Obscura — Unique and off-the-beaten-path destinations
• Rick Steves — Practical guidebooks, videos and itineraries for Europe
• National Geographic Travel — Inspiring travel content and photography

Reviews

Compare travel review sites before booking — What Tripadvisor, Booking.com, Viator and GetYourGuide reviews can (and cannot) tell you.

• TripAdvisor — User reviews and ratings for destinations

Sights, trails and road trips

• UNESCO World Heritage List — Every World Heritage site, searchable by country
• AllTrails — Hiking and walking trails with maps and recent reviews
• Komoot — Plan hiking, cycling and running routes (free account needed)
• Roadtrippers — Plan road trips and find stops along the way

When to go

Compare typical weather by month, then see where to go month by month.

• WeatherSpark — Year-round climate reports by place, with monthly temperature and rainfall

Work out how you will get between places before you book stays: a route that looks short on a map can mean a full day of buses. Then check entry requirements for your passport, and book timed tickets for popular sights early. For seasons, see where to go month by month.

• Rome2Rio — Transportation planning and comparison
• Booking.com — Accommodation bookings
• XE Currency Converter — Real-time currency exchange rates
• IATA Travel Centre — Passport, visa and health entry requirements by nationality
• timeanddate.com — Time zones, sunrise and sunset times, and public holidays
• One Bag Travel — Pack lighter and travel with only a single carry-on travel backpack
• Pack A Book — Find books set in the destination you’re visiting
• Viator — Book activities and experiences
• Musement — Book tickets to museums, attractions and activities all over the world

Food

Find the best local cuisine and dining experiences for your travels.

• Eater — Food news and dining guides
• Yelp — User reviews for restaurants and more
• Zomato — Restaurant search and food delivery
• TheFork — Restaurant reservations in Europe

Compare the same property on two sites before you book: prices, fees and cancellation rules can differ, and it is worth checking the property’s own website too. Check the total price with cleaning and service fees, and read recent reviews, not just the average score. Booking through a site you don’t know? Run these checks first.

Hotels, hostels and rentals

Before you pay, find the cancellation terms and the last day you can cancel for free. Rentals set their own rules, so read them for each listing.

• Booking.com — Books hotels, homes and more
• Hostelworld — Hostel bookings and reviews
• Airbnb — Vacation rentals and experiences
• Airbnb Help: find a host’s cancellation policy — Where to see the policy before you book
• Vrbo — Vacation rentals by owner
• Hostelz — Hostel price comparison
• Hostelling International — Hostels run by national non-profit associations, with member rates

Free and low-cost stays

Stays with locals or in someone’s home rely on trust. Read profiles and reviews, agree dates and responsibilities in writing, and tell someone where you are staying. Abroad, check the entry and work rules for your visit first.

• Couchsurfing — Stay with locals for free (paid membership required)
• TrustedHousesitters — Free stays in exchange for looking after pets and homes (annual membership)
• TrustedHousesitters on house sitting and border control — Documents to carry for an international sit
• HouseCarers — House-sitting directory for sitters and homeowners, with ID checks (membership to apply)
• HomeExchange — Swap homes with other travelers

Specific needs

• SleepinginAirports — The Guide To Sleeping in Airports
• Hotels With Gym — Find Hotels with Gym and Fitness Center

Search on a comparison site, then check the airline or rail operator’s own website: booking direct is often the same price and makes changes and refunds simpler.

Air travel

Find the best flights and air travel resources for your journey.

• Skyscanner — Flight comparison and booking
• Kayak — Flight and travel deals
• Google Flights — Flight search with price history and date grid
• FlightAware — Live flight tracking and delays
• AeroLOPA — Detailed aircraft seat maps
• AirlineList — Airline ranking
• LuggageLosers — Live ranking of airlines by how much luggage they are losing right now

Ground travel

Resources for local transportation during your travels.

• Rentalcars.com — Car rental comparisons
• Uber — Ride-hailing service
• Rail Europe — European train travel
• The Man in Seat 61 — How to travel by train anywhere in the world
• Omio — Trains, buses and flights across Europe in one search
• 12Go — Buses, trains and ferries across Asia
• BlaBlaCar — Carpooling and long-distance buses
• Rome2Rio — Discover how to get anywhere

Budget travel

Resources for traveling on a budget and finding the best deals.

• Secret Flying — Cheap flight deals
• Couchsurfing — Free stays with locals (paid membership required)
• Workaway — Work a few hours a day in exchange for food and a bed (annual membership)

Work out what your trip needs, then decide how you will pay, move around and stay in touch. For stays and getting around, see Accommodation and Travel; to check a site before paying, run these checks.

Plan a budget

Decide what matters most to you, then see what the place you are going to costs day to day.

• Wikivoyage: Budget travel — Free, community-written guide to lowering the cost of transport, lodging, food and activities
• Numbeo cost of living — Crowdsourced prices for everyday items in thousands of cities, comparable side by side
• Interrail — Rail passes for Europe, sold by a company owned by European railways. Compare a pass against single tickets for your own route

Money abroad

Ask your bank about foreign transaction and ATM fees before you leave, and carry more than one way to pay. The Plan & Pack page lists a currency converter for checking exchange rates.

• FDIC: Travel Tips, Bon Voyage — The US bank regulator’s advice on cards, ATMs, fees and keeping your money safe on a trip

Getting around and staying for less

Compare flights, trains, buses and stays on more than one site, and read the cancellation terms before you pay. The Travel page lists flight search, train and bus planners, and a short budget travel section. The Accommodation page covers hostels, house sitting and stays with locals, including member-run hostel networks.

Solo travel

New Zealand’s SafeTravel advises researching safe areas, dress codes and attitudes to gender before you go, and giving someone at home your itinerary, accommodation details and insurance policy. It calls booking your first night a good idea. Australia’s Smartraveller advises women not to advertise that they are travelling alone, and not to leave a drink unattended.

• Wikivoyage: Solo travel — Community-written overview of the advantages, drawbacks, meeting people and staying safe alone
• SafeTravel (New Zealand): women and people travelling alone — New Zealand government tips on registering your travel, research, accommodation and keeping in touch
• Smartraveller: travel safety for women — Australian government advice on safe transport, accommodation and being social safely
• Wikivoyage: Tips for women travellers — Community-written advice on making friends, staying healthy and staying safe

Meet people on the road

The Accommodation page lists Hostelworld and Couchsurfing, both of which have ways to meet other travellers. Interest groups are another way in.

• Meetup — Find local interest groups and events in the city you are visiting

Before you go

Read your own government’s advice for each destination on the Safety page, and see how to read government travel advice. Whether you travel alone or not, check that your insurance covers your whole trip.

Before you commit to a month somewhere, check three things: whether you are allowed to work remotely there on the visa you will hold, how fast the internet really is, and whether your health insurance covers long stays abroad. Rules change often, so always read the official page for your own passport before you book.

Choose where to base yourself

Compare cities on cost, connection speed and community before you pick one.

• Nomads.com — Cities for digital nomads, with cost, internet and community data (formerly Nomad List)
• Numbeo — User-contributed cost of living comparisons by city
• Speedtest Global Index — Mobile and broadband internet speeds by country
• Wikivoyage: Digital nomad — Free, community-written overview of visas, housing and staying healthy

Visas and working legally

A tourist stay does not always allow remote work, and a few countries offer a dedicated remote-worker visa instead. Use the government pages below as examples of what to look for (eligibility, proof of income, application route), then find the official page for the country you want.

• Croatia: temporary stay of digital nomads — Croatian Ministry of the Interior (MUP) page on the permit
• Estonia: digital nomad visa FAQ — Estonian government e-Residency programme on how its visa works

Coliving and workspaces

Month-long stays are easier in places built for them.

• Coliving.com — Flexible shared living spaces worldwide
• Nomadico — Coliving and coworking spaces for digital nomads

Health insurance

Ordinary travel policies often cap trip length or exclude people who live abroad. Read the exclusions before you buy.

• GOV.UK: foreign travel insurance — UK government guidance on cover, exclusions and insurance for long trips
• SafetyWing — Travel medical insurance for remote workers

Entry rules depend on your own passport, so check the rules for your nationality, not a friend’s. Use only government sites to do it. Lookalike sites copy the real ones and charge extra for the same form, and some governments say so on their own pages. For a country’s rules in brief, see its country page; for the wider picture, read how to read government travel advice.

Check what you need

Start with your own government’s advice for your destination, then confirm on the destination’s official site.

• UK Foreign Travel Advice — Each country’s advice has an “Entry requirements” section
• Government of Canada: travel advice — Entry and exit requirements for each destination
• GOV.UK: check if you need a UK visa — For travelling to the UK, by nationality and reason for visit

Travel authorisations

Many countries ask visa-exempt visitors to apply online before they fly. Each site below is the government’s own portal. Check on it whether your passport needs the authorisation.

• EU Entry/Exit System (EES) — Official EU site on the system that registers travellers on a short stay who are not EU, Icelandic, Liechtenstein, Norwegian or Swiss citizens at the Schengen border
• ETIAS — The official EU site for the planned travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors. It says ETIAS is currently not in operation and takes no applications
• UK ETA — GOV.UK’s page on the electronic travel authorisation for the UK
• US ESTA — U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s site for Visa Waiver Program travellers
• Canada eTA — The Government of Canada’s page to apply for an eTA
• Australia: Electronic Travel Authority — Department of Home Affairs page on the ETA (subclass 601)
• Australia: eVisitor — Department of Home Affairs page on the eVisitor (subclass 651)
• NZeTA — Immigration New Zealand’s application site
• K-ETA (South Korea) — The Korea Immigration Service’s official site
• Sri Lanka ETA — Sri Lanka’s online ETA and visa application site
• Kenya eTA — Kenya’s Directorate of Immigration Services portal
• South Africa ETA — The Government of South Africa’s official site for the electronic travel authorisation

Arrival cards and declarations

An arrival card is a free online form some countries require before you land. It is separate from any visa or authorisation. Submit it only on the government site, within the window that site gives.

• SG Arrival Card (Singapore) — Immigration & Checkpoints Authority page with the link to submit
• Taiwan Arrival Card — Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency site
• Korea e-Arrival Card — The Korean Ministry of Justice’s official site
• Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC) — Malaysian Immigration Department’s online form
• Philippines eTravel — The Philippine Travel Information System
• Thailand Digital Arrival Card — Thai Immigration Bureau’s official site

Avoiding lookalike sites

Type the address from a government page, or follow a link from one, and treat a site that asks for more than the official one does as a warning sign. Four official sources warn about lookalikes themselves:

• GOV.UK says that for the UK ETA “other websites may charge more to apply” and tells you to “avoid websites that imitate government services”.
• Singapore’s ICA says submitting the SG Arrival Card is free and that it does not support or endorse any commercial entity that charges a fee to submit it for you. Those entities are not affiliated with ICA.
• The K-ETA site says to apply only at www.k-eta.go.kr or in its app, and to be careful of similar agencies and phishing sites that charge high fees.
• The Korea e-Arrival Card site says www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr is the only official site and that any website requesting payment information is not an official service.

Check at least two governments’ advice before you book: they rate the same country differently and update at different times. For emergency numbers, plugs and currency, see the quick facts on each country page. New to advisories? Read how to read government travel advice. Booking through a site you don’t know? Run these checks first.

Government travel advice

Sign up for alerts for your destination where a government offers them, and look again shortly before you leave.

• U.S. Department of State — Travel advisories and safety information
• UK Foreign Travel Advice — Safety, entry requirements and local laws for every country
• Government of Canada — Travel advice and advisories by destination
• Smartraveller — Australian government travel advice and email updates
• SafeTravel — New Zealand government travel advisories

Health

Look up vaccines and health notices for your destination a few weeks ahead.

• CDC Travelers’ Health — Vaccines and health notices by destination
• World Health Organization — International travel and health
• TravelHealthPro — UK travel health guidance and outbreak alerts, from the National Travel Health Network and Centre

Travel insurance

Buy insurance soon after booking and read the policy’s small print. Check that it covers every country you pass through, your whole trip length, hospital treatment and emergency transport, and the activities you plan. Declare any existing health conditions. GOV.UK warns that insurance may be invalidated if you travel somewhere the UK advises against, and that cover for an airline or travel agent going out of business is typically not included. Carry the policy number and the insurer’s emergency phone number.

• GOV.UK: foreign travel insurance — What to check in a policy
• Smartraveller: travel insurance — How to read a policy, from the Australian government
• World Nomads — Travel insurance

Flights can be a large part of a trip’s footprint, so one of the biggest changes is flying less: take the train for shorter trips and stay longer when you do fly. For hotels and tours, look for recognized certification rather than a “green” label the business gave itself.

Stay somewhere certified

Look for a named standard, then check the property on that scheme’s own site.

• GSTC — Global Sustainable Tourism Council criteria and recognized certifications
• Green Key — Eco-label for hotels and campsites, run by the Foundation for Environmental Education
• Ecobnb — Eco-friendly accommodation
• GSTC-Recognized Standards — Lists of standards GSTC has recognized for hotels and tour operators

Travel by land

Check how long the overland route takes and book the long legs early.

• The Man in Seat 61 — How to travel by train anywhere in the world
• Interrail — Rail passes for travel across Europe
• Byway — Flight-free holidays by train, bus and boat

Estimate your flights

Calculators use different methods, so compare options with the same one.

• myclimate — Flight carbon footprint calculator
• ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator — Estimates CO₂ per passenger from the UN aviation agency

Tours and outdoors

• Responsible Travel — Ethical tour operators
• Lokal Travel — Sustainable travel experiences
• Leave No Trace — Seven principles for visiting outdoor places responsibly