• What's ticked?
• Accolades
• Contact us

c o l u m n s

• Cheap Charlie
• ChrisCrossings
• Err Travel
• Leocha
• Travel Notes
• Archives

s u b s c r i b e

• Elliott's E-Mail, a free weekly newsletter, is your insider resource for moneysaving ideas.

First name

Last name

E-mail address

Subscribe
Cancel

• Like what you see? Now you can become an underwriter.

a l s o

• Ticked e-mail
• Visit Tripso
• Referring sites
• Home

s e a r c h

• Find a story.



(c) Elliott Publishing.

Free Information!
Cheap Charlie · December 1, 2002

There are few things that I like more than free things, especially when they are worthwhile. This week I'm taking a look at Web sites that offer good, unbiased travel information available on the Internet - for free.

The sites I'll feature this week and in future columns still maintain editorial integrity and don't inundate you with annoying, pop-up and pop-behind, advertising.

Since we are coming into the winter season (and because it is a site that I started), I'll begin with the best overall ski and snowboard destination resort site on the Web, Skiamericacanada.com.

I started this site because resort sites themselves are, naturally, one sided. They are designed to promote individual resorts. I also found that other ski and snowboard sites only parroted the resort descriptions and served up a lot of statistics, but never really let those planning vacations have a look at the personality of the ski and snowboard resorts.

Skiamericacanada.com is easy to navigate with all the descriptions, phone and fax numbers that a winter sports enthusiast needs to plan the perfect vacation. The site is based on the guidebook Ski America and Canada, which is available from Amazon.com and at many bookstores.

For every destination resort you will find a mountain layout, snowboarding trail tips, nearby cross-country and snowshoeing trails, ski school programs and prices, lift-ticket options and prices, day-care facilities, hotels, B&Bs, mountain inns, lodges, gourmet to family dining options, nightlife and après-ski spots, and other activities that include the best shopping, sleigh rides, ice-skating and more.

Skiamericacanada.com includes coverage of every major resort in the United States from New England with its picture-perfect towns, to California's Sierra Nevada ski areas; and Canada from the enormous Whistler Blackcomb to the dramatic resorts surrounding Quebec on shores of the St. Lawrence Seaway. In all there are more than 80 American ski and snowboard resorts, plus 20 Canadian winter resorts.

If you are a skier or snowboarder, Skiamericacanada.com is the place to go for unvarnished destination information about ski and snowboard resorts in North America. It is the next best thing to having your best friend come back to tell what it's like.

Check out the site and sign up for the regular ski and snowboard resort newsletter where you can find out what's new at resorts across the United States and Canada.

One of the first travel book imprints to put all of their content on the Web was the Rough Guides. Today, at Roughguides.com travelers can research a vacation at hundreds of destination around the world.

Amazingly, I think that almost every Rough Guides title is available on the Web. You can find where to dine in Amsterdam or what to see in Ayutthaya, Thailand. Or, check out museums in Milan and then nightlife in the Manila. The range of information is mind-boggling.

Almost every legitimate tourism destination in the world is covered. There is an overview of the lands, a "best of" listing, the basics that covers visas, transportation and orientation, and a listing of major cities covered within each country. The city information is even more detailed with dining, hotels and nightlife blended with sightseeing, theater and culture.

The www.roughguides.com site has information on seven African and Middle Eastern nations, 13 Asian countries, 27 Caribbean islands, 7 Central American lands, 36 European nations, five South American countries as well as USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand.

This site is a well of knowledge. In my experience the hotels and restaurants are expertly-researched, the destination information provides the basics for sightseeing and beginning explorations, and the site is clear and easy to navigate.


Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at leocha@aol.com or access his Web site.