Lonely Planet

Having sold over 120 million guidebooks since its inception in 1972, Lonely Planet are one of the most trusted names when it comes to getting information on all things travel. The Lonely Planet website features an abundance of content that will help you plan a trip, from the best places for food and drink to booking a cheap last minute deal on a flight.

One of the best features for me is the Thorn Tree forum, which due to its existence since 1996 contains almost everything you need to know when planning a trip abroad thanks to the thousands of travelers constantly exchanging tips and advice. You can explore the forum by country, continent or interest, as well as searching for a travel companion, or simply having a chat to gain insightful ideas. Anyone can leave their comments under posts, while you can also sort them by ‘Recent’, ‘Highlighted’, ‘Trending’, ‘Active’, and ‘Unanswered’ to quickly find the most relevant and interesting topics for you.

Another great aspect of the Lonely Planet website for planning a trip is the wide selection of short videos featuring everything from the best places in Europe to get coffee to where’s best for discovering local music in Havana. Although the Lonely Planet guides contain huge amounts of information on a vast array of different countries, the option to watch a two-minute clip can be a nice break from skimming through hundreds of pages to help plan your trip.

The only downside that I have encountered when using the Lonely Planet website as a travel planning tool is that its information is often purposefully limited in order to tempt you into buying their guidebooks. Some pages are great and full of tours information and pricing, however others will have just one paragraph of writing before showing you a link to purchase the book. That being said, all in all it is a great place to plan your next travel adventure.

David Jones

I am a professional travel writer and travel enthusiast who traveled the world twice, so I am sharing my firsthand knowledge about everything related to travel and spending time abroad.