Planning Weekend Getaways: Website Ideas

Derek and I have been doing travel getaway gifts for one another for a number of years and I thought I would share some of my "go-to" travel planning websites for creating great experiences for one another.

Trip Advisor

My number one "go-to" site is Trip Advisor.  I use both the desktop and app version on my phone.  I will look around at hotels, restaurants, and things to do (my favorite section).  This is where I get the "feel" for the area and make sure there are plenty of things to do. I'm normally looking for food tours, wine tours, outings (like a Segway tour), museums, or other things to keep us busy during our visit.

Yelp

I use Yelp to cross-reference restaurants against Trip Advisor to see if the reviews are consistent.  If we are visiting from out of town, we want to make our calories count and pick a great restaurant.

Pinterest

I am an avid Pinterest user and will put our next destination into the search engine to see what comes back.  I've found this to be a great tool to check out ports of call on cruises and to look for free ideas instead of paid shore excursions.

Google

When all else fails, I check out what Doctor Google suggests. I normally comb through the first two or three screens of results (hey, I'm into research!) and find a number of interesting local sites to find out timing-specific events like festivals to check out.

Let me know your favorites!

Cathleen