Slant community chat on Discourse| 9 Recommended Products | Recommendations | Price | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 Tripadvisor· · · | 12 | 0 | – | Apr 9, 2017 |
| #2 Lonely Planet· · · | 6 | 0 | – | Apr 9, 2017 |
| #3 Wikitravel· · · | 6 | 0 | – | Apr 16, 2016 |
| #4 Foursquare· · · | 5 | 0 | – | Aug 20, 2017 |
| #5 gogobot· · · | 5 | 0 | – | Apr 16, 2016 |
| #6 TripExpert· · · | 5 | 0 | – | Apr 14, 2016 |
Pro High quantity of reviews
Tripadvisor lists tour options for many of the available attractions. Many of the individual tours have lots of recent reviews so you can get a better idea of what the experience will be like.
Pro Good for food/restaurants
Tripadvisor will usually have the not-to-miss restaurants, even if they can end up being touristy. A good yelp equivalent in non-US countries.
Con Lack of trust in reviews
There is a lot of incentive for companies to post fake reviews in order to increase their ranking/visibility. Tripadvisor does very little to catch the false reviews, so it's hard to know what's authentic and what isn't.
Con Lots of sponsored content
Sponsored content such as sightseeing tours and hotels can clutter up the content users are actually searching for.
Pro App available
Lonely Planet offers an app for Android and iOS that helps you find attractions while you're on the move.
Con Not in-depth
Only provides short descriptions (usually one paragraph) about each site and a map to the location. There are no photos or reviews.
Pro Overview of the best/most popular attractions
Rather than give you a long list of all possible attractions, wikitravel lists only the most popular/must see spots. This saves you time when picking out quality attractions.
Pro Doesn't look like a marketing pitch
Wikitravel, true to the format of Wikipedia, doesn't have ads, and the content isn't worded in a way that makes readers feel like they're being pitched to go somewhere by a travel agency.
Con Limited pictures
There are very few pictures of the destination, with none (in most cases) of specific attractions. If you want to get an idea of what the attraction looks like, you'll need to find images on google or other sites.
Con Short descriptions
Descriptions of each attraction are often only a couple of sentences.
Pro Each attraction has a photo album
Users can add their photos of the attraction to Foursquare, so you'll often have plenty of pictures to check out.
Pro Helpful map for finding attractions near you
All attractions are listed on a clear map of your destination. If you want to find something close to your current location, the map comes in handy.
Con Recent decrease in popularity
In 2014, Foursquare split into two apps, moving the social components to an app called "Swarm". With the removal of the social interaction from Foursquare, the number of active users started to diminish. This resulted in fewer new reviews.
Pro Detailed information on each attraction
Along with having a photo gallery, each attraction has a small description, plenty of reviews and a map. The "Tribe" feature tells you what type of travelers enjoy that attraction the most (Outdoor Enthusiasts, Local Culture, Adventure Travelers etc.).
Pro Attractions have photo galleries
Each attraction has a photo gallery that any reviewer can add to. Many of the galleries are quite large with great pictures of the attraction, so you can get a good feel for whether or not it's something you're interested in.
Con Website layout can be confusing at first
The website design is fairly crowded. With so many features available on the site, it can take some time to figure out how to navigate it.
Con Lists places that are out of business
Gogobot does not keep their lists of businesses and attractions up-to-date, so some of their listings are no longer in business.
Pro Trustworthy reviewers
Rather than accept reviews from anyone, TripExpert relies on reviews from selected experts and locals.
Pro Only quality attractions are shown
Rather than provide a long list of attractions, TripExperts only show the best attractions in a specific area based on expert reviews. This makes it much faster to find quality attractions, rather than searching through hundreds of less interesting options.
Con Only shows a few attractions for each destination
They take a "quality over quantity" approach, which results in a much smaller list of attractions than is available on many other similar sites.
Pro Gives you a chance to talk to locals
Group members are made up of both locals and travelers. Participating in the groups gives you a chance to ask locals questions and get insider information about the best spots.
Pro Very friendly, welcoming community
Most people on couchsurfing are very friendly and love to chat with others. Members are often very happy to help out with suggestions.
Con No feature specifically for finding attractions
Couchsurfing does not provide a list of available attractions in various locations. The only way to discover things to do on your trip is by chatting in the groups or by sending messages.
Pro Provides a variety of info on each destination
Fodor's Travels makes it easy for you to scan a destination and see if it's a good place for you. They cover top attractions, when to go, travel advice (such as health and what to wear), and have a photo gallery.
Know any negative aspects of this option?
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