They say that planning a trip is part of the fun of travelling. At least it is for me. When planning I start dreaming about the destination, try and understand the culture with a big part on food, look for interesting hotels, specialty restaurants and markets. Many travelers like to go without knowing in advance what surprises are waiting for them, I don’t. Surprises can be good or bad and if the second, they can spoil your trip.
Today there are a lot of sources for travel info. They are all ok as soon as you cross-check the information. An important point is that sometimes they cater for foreigners that judge on their personal or national tastes, but it is not always what you would like to try. An example: suggestions for Rome are nearly often coming from foreigners so you get pizza, gelato and pasta that are not often what we could call “the real thing”.
My recommendation is read the more you can and cross-check the info, following also your personal interests and taste.
Here following my personal list, but you might have some of your own which you might add or choose from. Please note that my comments on each one are personal, so take them for what they are, personal.
Travel Planning Tips
Booking.com – Particularly good for hotels, provided you read carefully all comments.
Tripadvisor – Largely used, a bit too much, with a lot of comments based on national habits.
Elizabeth Minchilli – For Italy restaurants, hotels, tours, recipes and other tips.
Lonely Planet Guides – On top of the printed guides, which are still my favorites, their website has good basic guides which can give you the flavor of the destination.
New York Times Travel – good particularly for hotels with interesting insights.
The Guardian Travel – Same as above.
Conde Nast Traveller – Same as above. I like it very much; it is based on Traveler UK/USA articles.
The Telegraph Travel – Same as above.
Prior Wold Apple Prior Guides – High level suggestions that go via Google maps.
Of course, there are many more, but I think that it can be a good start. Enjoy daydreaming and you already will be traveling 😊