Planning a trip and need a heads-up on the hidden quarters and cool hangouts that the average visitor doesn't get to hear about? Then leave your guidebook at home and instead let a growing army of travel bloggers show you the way. Traditional travel books often can't compete with the vast breadth of information on the Internet or a dedicated blogger's constantly updated insights into his home turf or topic. So whether you're after the best burger in Brooklyn or the hottest hotel in Berlin, simply log on. There's a blogger waiting to help.
Our favorites:
SHANGHAIDIARIES.COM This stylish blog is the work of American journalist Dan Washburn, who moved to China in 2002. Alongside Shanghai restaurant reviews and city listings, you'll find hundreds of articles, pictures and short videos. And if that isn't enough coverage of China's most dynamic city, Washburn also edits online city guide shanghaiist.com.
NOTESFROMTHEROAD.COM Erik Gauger's sumptuous site contains gorgeous photographs from his trips around the globe. He eschews the camera phones or small digital cameras usually so beloved of travel bloggers and opts instead for an unwieldy, large-format Toyo AX camera with a Schneider lens. He also draws intricate maps in watercolors and acrylics to guide readers through Mexican deserts, the Iberian peninsula, and beyond.
VAGABLOGGING.NET This
is a website created by Rolf Potts, a renowned shoestring