Use the Web to plan your vacation

By Esther Schindler

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The World Wide Web – the Internet -- gives travelers an amazing array of resources.

Some of those are fairly obvious. Every airline and hotel chain has its own Web site, where you can make plane reservations or find a hotel that's close to your destination. You've probably also seen advertising for Web sites that promise to find you the least expensive price on lodging, airfare and other travel logistics; among them are travelocity.com, priceline.com, orbitz.com and many other competitors.

All of those can be extremely useful to a consumer planning a vacation trip -- but they're just the beginning. Here are a few other tips to get the most memorable holiday possible, no matter what your budget.

Finding a destination

Most people begin with a few possible holiday destinations or activities in mind. Then they explore each possibility: How expensive a trip is this? How "adventurous" is it? How appropriate is this trip for a family of four (with one in diapers)?

When you choose a vacation destination that is inherently a tourist attraction, such as Disneyland, your first online task is to visit the attraction's site (such as disneyland.com). Such sites are the best source of mundane factual information, such as opening hours, maps and prices. But don't stop there. Do a Web search on the keyword ("disneyland"), and you'll discover several sites that focus on the topic -- in this case, the Ratcage Disneyland discussion forum and Theme Park Insider's advice about the best choices to make when planning a trip.

If you're thinking of visiting a particular geography -- such as Santa Fe New Mexico or Germany's Black Forest region -- look for the area's chamber of commerce, which is often tied to a visitor's guide. (You can just type in the town name, such as santafe.com. Or use "visit yourdestinationname" in a search engine to bring up the most relevant sites.) In addition to giving you plenty of logistical information, such as airports and weather, most of these sites list nearby attractions, upcoming events and businesses including hotels and restaurants (usually those that are members of the chamber of commerce). The sites vary considerably in depth and usefulness, but it's usually worth a visit; often, the site includes money-saving printable coupons that you can use on your trip.

Try to drill down and be as specific as possible. For example, there's a lot of good information on the Germany Tourism site but when I planned my last visit, I was able to make decisions easier with the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) site -- it told me about the biggest waterfall in Germany, the clock museum, a historic railway. Note, too, that the smaller sites are more likely to mention budget-travel options.

The options are more exciting if you're an independent traveler. Using your trusty search engine, type in keywords that reflect your personal interests. If you're a quilter, type in "quilt class" or look for "specialty travel." Check out Infohub.com, which can inform you about arts and crafts vacations. If you're a foodie, a Google search on "California wine country, food, garden" will bring you to Copia.org, which offers wine tasting and cooking classes in Napa Valley. If you've always wanted to stay in a bed-and-breakfast sites like bbonline.com and bedandbreakfast.com will lead you to new adventures.

Don't leave your traditional travel resources behind; most such books include URLs for the recommended destinations. Use them! I've often found their suggestions to be marvelous jumping-off points, especially when the book has only a tiny paragraph about an intriguing niche museum ("Ooh, honey! It's a model railroad park!").

Getting opinions and advice

Traveling independently is less predictable. That's fine for serendipity, but much less comfortable when you're trying to discern if that inexpensive bed-and-breakfast is best described as "bargain" or "dive." Fortunately, the Internet has plenty of resources to help you make good decisions.

One site that I rely on for this purpose is tripadvisor.com. It has other worthwhile features, such as general travel forums and a destination guide, but it shines at hotel recommendations from real users. For instance, if you're looking for a hotel in Boston or a bed and breakfast in London, you can read the reviews of people who have stayed there (and post a review too, you'll help someone else). Doing so once helped me cross off my list an inexpensive Munich hotel that clearly earned the "dive" appellation, and recommended an alternative that turned out to be awesome. I don't stay anywhere until I check it against the TripAdvisor reviews.

You should also look for feedback and recommendations for other vacation highlights. I'm an admitted foodie, and have planned elaborate vacations based entirely on dining options. So when I had a five-hour train layover in Paris, I headed to the France forum at egullet.com to ask for advice. If you had time for only one meal in Paris, I asked, where would you go? Based on the suggestions from the discussion forum participants, I had one of the best meals of my life.

We all have finite time available for leisure travel, and most of us have an even-more-finite budget. Why not use the Internet to help you get the most out of it?