Tips on Getting the Best Travel Advice

Who can you trust to plan your family’s trip? You can get advice from websites, guidebooks, travel articles and tourist offices, but how can you tell the difference between good advice and bad? The short answer is you can’t always tell, but there are several ways to test travel information. Before you base your trip plans on any source, ask these questions:

How current is it? Look for dates, or clues in the article itself (mention of events, etc.). Check guidebook copyright dates and look for dates on web entries. Good websites usually date the articles so you can tell how current the information is and you can click on the author’s name to see if it’s written by someone with real authority.

What is the author’s expertise? Is it a blog or discussion from someone who lives there or travels often? Is it a suggestion from someone who has written guidebooks about the destination? Or is it an article by someone who’s taken one vacation there? In general, information by professional travel journalists is more reliable (they not only know how to find the real facts, they travel more frequently). If in doubt, Google the writer or author’s name to see their credentials.

How consistent is crowd-sourced information? Crowd-sourced websites have certain advantages — unbiased user reviews and descriptions — but also present their own questions. Not all the reviews are unbiased: Some are solicited and even rewarded by the establishment, some highly critical reviews are written by competitors. And remember not everyone likes the same things, so look for specific descriptions, not generalities. Again, check the dates and read a number of recent reactions to look for common complaints or compliments.

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Does the information agree with other sources? If you find one source that says the Vatican is open New Year’s Day, while all others say it’s closed (which it is), be suspicious of anything else that author says. That said, things do change, so balance this with checking the dates of articles.

Is the author’s travel style also yours? Great advice for backpackers could be terrible advice for luxury travelers. Does the author give examples of what he or she likes about a hotel or restaurant or just say “this place is great” without letting you know what that opinion is based on? Be sure you’re on the same wavelength with your source.

Is the destination’s own website kept up to date? This may be the trickiest of all, because there’s no way to check this until you are there. But do beware not everyone is careful to update the important travel details on their site, and tourist offices are among the worst offenders. Don’t plan a trip around a tourist office site’s assurance an attraction is open at certain times without checking. If possible, go to the attraction’s own website for important details. Many tourism sites still list places closed for renovation or entirely.

A great trip begins with good planning. The more sources you consult in planning a trip, the more you will be able to judge whose travel advice you can trust.