gtrekker

The BBC Profiles provide an economic, historical, and political overview, with a section on current leaders. The Profiles also list the media outlets, which include television and radio stations and the press.

Published September 2005
A balloon is readied for launch at the annual hot air balloon festival in Rocamadour, France. ...click to view photos

National Geographic's People and Places feature provides a short overview of the destination and include a Features section with related articles, photos, and videos, depending on the destination.

Travel + Leisure Magazine's guide to the greatest hotels worldwide as selected by its team of reporters and editors.

Weatherbase provides historical weather information such as "average number of day above 90," "average number of days with thunderstorms," and other similar types of data.

Published March 2005
A man pushes a stroller down Place Charles-Felix, in front of the 18th-century apartment building where Henri Matisse lived and worked from 1921 to 1938....click to view photos

From website: At Franceguide.com, discover everything from French gastronomy and world-renowned museums in Paris to mountain sports and the French Riviera. Explore our practical travel information section for details on hotels in France, and access our calendar of events for the latest happenings in France...click for website

Up-to-date information provided by the State Department on matters such as passport and visa requirements, safety and security, crime, health and medical issues, any areas of instability, and the location of the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. It also links to Travel Warnings for that country, if there is one.

Frommer's Forums are divided into countries, and all the messages relating to a country are presented in a list that makes it easy to browse through the topics.

Review site with hotel reviews and candid photos posted by users.

Asiarooms.com Travel Guides provide information on topics such as Culture, Tourist Attractions, Festivals, Things to do, How to get in, and Where to Eat.

Concierge.com destinations guides include information on getting there, getting around, lodging, places to eat, see and do, ... etc. Although Concierge.com may not have as many hotel recommendations as some guide books, they provide hotel photos along with the recommendations. The destinations guides also have links to articles about the destination published by Concierge.com or Conde Nast Traveler.

Frommer's has put a substantial amount of content online, making Frommers.com a good resource for travel planning. The site is easy to navigate since all the destinations are organized by similar topics such as "Getting There," "Restaurants," and "Suggested Itineraries."

USA Today's Country Guides have information on topics such as Money, Health, Accommodations, Entertainment, Top Things To Do and See, Getting There, Getting Around, Climate, and Map. You can also select the topics you are interested in and create a mini guide that puts all the information on one page for easy reading.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published August 2007
How did the couple cross the French countryside? In an Audi A3. Ondine Cohane hunts down gnarly waves and tasty oysters

In a tight circle in the southwest of France lie the world's best Bordeaux, exquisite medieval abbeys, and Basque hill towns, all packed between the imposing peaks of the Pyrenees and the surf-friendly swells of the Atlantic. ... click for full article

From Travel + Leisure Family
Published April 2003
Move your family to France for a week-or three-and stay in a house that's cheaper than a hotel room. Here, a renter's guide to where to go and everything you need to know, plus just-back reports from two families....click for full article

From Lonely Planet
Visitors to Champagne in France's northeast stream through the cellars of such famous brands as Bollinger, Moët et Chandon and Taittinger to learn about bubbly and perhaps sip a glass or two....click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published August 2007
Unrivaled access, special connections, destination savvy-these are just some of the tools each of these uber-agents can deploy to bring the most to your next big trip. In parsing the day-to-day events of an actual itinerary, Consumer News Editor Wendy Perrin demonstrates how the intuitive maneuvers of a great travel planner can turn any journey into a smoothly orchestrated, magical experience. ... click for full article

From Lonely Planet
Got nothing but a maxed-out credit card and a hankering for a glamour holiday? Don't worry, there are ways around the dilemma. Even on a budget you can soak up the same sun as the celebrities if you know how....click for full article

Virtual Tourist has user reviews on topics such as Hotels, Things To Do, Restaurants, Local Customs, Nightlife, Off the Beaten Path, Tourist Traps, Transportation, ... etc.

In addition to standard listings on attractions, restaurants, and lodging, Fodors.com has a section called "Features" that are specific to the destination. For example, the Features section for Paris has articles titled "Cheese Primer," "Bistro to Brasserie," "Pampering Spas," . . . etc.

Gayot's Restaurant Guides provide detailed restaurant reviews and rate restaurants on a scale of 1 to 20. For many cities, Gayot also provides Best of lists, such as Best Seafood, Best Romantic Restaurants, Best Heart-Healthy, ... etc.

IGoUGo is a travel review site. The reviews are organized into "journals," which are a collection of reviews by an author about a trip, such as reviews on hotels, restaurants, nightlife, experiences, photos, ... etc.

Podcasts of Traveler Magazine's selection of the world's greatest walking tours. The podcasts last about 20-30 minutes.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published August 2007
The dollar may be taking a beating in Europe, but you don't have to. Our correspondents have combed five favorite European cities for the best small, stylish, and reasonably priced accommodations (most are $250 a night or less) and restaurants that serve great food at a great value. From a Roman villa on the Tiber to a sleek modern hotel just off Las Ramblas-all you have to do is choose. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published December 2005
A mystery to many but a friend to all, the hotel concierge is a traveler's most overlooked ally. Christian L. Wright reports on these ultimate insiders and how to put them to work for you ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published June 2007
When a rental conks out, the quest for a new car turns a vacation into a tour de France ... click for full article

From Travel + Leisure Family
Published April 2006
Anyone who's ever whiled away a morning in Paris, watching children play with sailboats in the Luxembourg Gardens, has had to wonder: How is it that French kids always look so perfectly turned out? Here's your cheat sheet: an up-to-the-minute list of the shops that fashion-obsessed Parisian parents swear by. ...click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published June 2005
Following a best seller through Paris
Relatives of mine are going to Paris this summer and would like to take in the sites mentioned in the novel The Da Vinci Code. Can you suggest any tours?
Devon Spicer
Bethesda, Maryland

Just as John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil opened up a new tourism niche in Savannah, Georgia, Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is drawing book lovers to Paris to visit locations in the mega-hit. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published March 2007
Pity poor Gustave Courbet. In 1871, the painter denounced Napoleon's memorial in the Place Vendôme as a tribute to "war and conquest...devoid of all artistic value." It was duly dismantled, only to be rebuilt under the Third Republic at a present-day cost of $65,000 and billed to Courbet. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published July 2007
Two islands in the Seine remain strikingly apart from the rest of the city. Gully Wells finds out what Balzac meant when he talked about "gastronomy of the eye" ... click for full article

Published April 2006
One of Provence's hilltop villages perches - perched villages – that date to the Middle Ages, Le Beaucet sits in the Vaucluse hills under the once-watchful gaze of its medieval castle...click to view photos

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published September 2006
Petrarch, Cezanne, Virginia Woolf, Alice Waters-for centuries, people have been bewitched by Provence. But the beauty the region wears so lightly has been hard-won. Patricia Storace looks beyond the fantasy to discover the soul of the south of France ... click for full article