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50 travel blogs I can’t live without

December 15, 2008

Last year at about this time, I profiled the most influential and inspiring travel blogs of 2007. This year, I’ve combined them into a single list of blogs I can’t live without.

My methodology is simple. I looked at every travel blog I follow from my RSS reader and identified the ones I read the most. Here are the results:

Alaska TravelGram
Almost Fearless
Anders Meanders
Arthur Frommer
Brave New Traveler
Consumerist
Evan Sparks
Everett Potter
ExpertCruiser
Flight Wisdom
Gadling
Hidden Travel Gems
Hotel Blogs by Guillaume Thevenot
HotelChatter
Intelligent Travel
Jaunted
Jeanne Leblanc
LLWorldTour
Marriott on the Move
MaxaBlog
Online Travel Review
Peter Greenberg
PlaneBuzz
Rick Seaney
Roads Less Traveled
Safe Cruise
Ship Critic blog
Southwest Airlines
T2Impact
The BOOT
The Cruise Log
The Daily Traveler
The Practical Nomad
This Just In…..
Tim Leffel’s Cheapest Destinations
Towers and Tarmacs
Travel Babel
Travel Gear Blog
Travel Log
Travel Maven blog
Travel Post
Travel Rants
Traveler 2.0
Traveler’s Check
Tripinator – Travel 2.0
Tripso
Upgrade: travel better
USA Today’s Hotel Hotsheet
World Hum
WSJ.com: The Middle Seat Terminal

Did I miss any? Please feel free to leave a comment with your favorite travel blog.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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  • http://transienttravels.com/ susan

    Another great travel blog: http://www.nomadicmatt.com/

  • http://www.soultravelers3.com Soultravelers3

    Great list! Some I know, some I do not. There are so many in the travel field that it is hard to keep up with them all.

    As a family guy, I am surprised that you seemed to miss all of the great family travel blogs.

    National Geographic Travelers called us “one of the best family travel blogs in cyberspace” so you might want to check us out too! We are into our 3rd year of an open ended world tour as a family, living large on 25k a year!

    http://www.soultravelers3.com

    Thanks!

  • http://AmateurTraveler.com Chris (Amateur Traveler travel podcast)

    Another good list and a couple of travel blogs I did not know. I have to be honest though, if they are not also on twitter I will probably not follow them. I hardly use RSS anymore but find my travel news on twitter… like this story.

  • http://www.nomadicmatt.com Nomadic Matt

    Though I didn’t make the cut, I still think its a good list! :)

  • http://travel-babel.blogspot.com Claire Walter

    And I can’t (or prefer not to) live without Elliott.org! You keep the travel industry on its toes and make travel providers accountable when they have slipped.

  • Marjorie

    Still another really good (and witty) travel blog is http://www.tourism-trends.com.

  • http://www.soultravelers3.com Soultravelers3

    Oh you are right there Claire!

    Elliott.org is or should be on everyone’s can’t live without travel blog list!!

  • Christopher Elliott

    Thanks for all of your suggestions. I’ve already added these blogs to my reader. For those of you on Twitter, please follow me at @elliottdotorg

    I’m working on a similar list of top travel twitterers

  • Beth

    Can anyone tell me what the difference is between a travel blog and online magazine? Some of the ones mentioned in this llist like Brave New Traveler blur the line.

    Why does it make a difference? I’ve noticed that bloggers tend to only promote other blogs. So where does that leave online magazines?

  • http://www.alaskatravelgram.com Scott mcmurren

    Great list, Chris! Keep the chatter going! Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo!

  • Lindsey

    Great list! Those are some of my faves too. Can’t live without Jaunted or World Hum!!

  • http://www.llworldtour.com Lisa Lubin

    Yay!! So happy to still be a part of your rss repertoire!
    Thanks for the mention as my 2+ years around the world continue…next stop Egypt!
    LL

    http://www.llworldtour.com

  • http://www.uselessbeauty.com Vidiot

    NewYorkology.com (and twittering at @NewYorkology) is a fantastic New York travel site — deals, tourism info, opening hours, reviews.

  • http://www.deliciousbaby.com Debbie Dubrow

    Chris, I hope you’ll take a minute to check out my blog… I write about traveling with young kids.

    Also, to Christine’s comment “I’ve noticed that bloggers tend to only promote other blogs. So where does that leave online magazines?”

    My perception is that bloggers tend to view themselves as a community and promote the people who they interact with and have a relationship with online. Many magazines don’t link out even when they quote a blogger (though that is certainly changing). Some magazines (Conde Nast Traveller, Cookie Mag, National Geographic Traveler, and Galavanting are great examples) do a great job of connecting with the blogger community, and I find myself following and promoting their work when it is relevant to my readers. It’s not tit-for-tat, but I have limited time for online reading and I tend to read the articles that are brought to my attention through twitter or other online relationships.

  • http://www.cejohnson.us Judy

    I enjoy the deals that Beat of Hawaii finds!

  • Carl Parkes

    Whatever you do, don’t read http://travelwriters.blogspot.com

    It hasn’t been updated in months! Lazy blogger, bad, bad.

  • http://www.travel-rants.com Darren Cronian

    Thanks for mentioning Travel Rants in your list of blogs Chris.

    All the best for 2009 — oh and Happy Christmas! :)

    http://www.twitter.com/travelrants on Twitter, if anyone wants to keep up with my rants, and general not very interesting stuff about me and my life!

  • http://www.nileguide.com Nicole Lerner

    Great post Elliott! I agree with Chris @ Amateur Traveler – I find a lot of great travel content on twitter. It’s how I found this post!

    I also second Susan’s addition; Nomadic Matt’s blog is a great one to add to the list.

    I hope the NileGuidance blog (http://blog.nileguide.com) finds its way into your RSS reader too!

  • Pingback: OTR Named 1 of Chris Elliott’s ‘50 Blogs I Can’t Live Without’ | Online Travel Review

  • http://grahamstravelblog.blogspot.com grahamstravelblog

    Thanks for the list. I’ll have to check them all out and update my feed reader. Hopefully by this time next year I’ll have a shot at making your list;)

  • Michael Madison

    being in the travel trade myself, I like “Musings on Travel, Alex Bainbridge’s ecommerce blog: http://www.tourcms.com/blog/alexbainbridge/
    Her gives an insightful viewpoint to many areas of online travel.

  • Pingback: Reading list for holiday travel | On the go with Vivian

  • http://twitter.com/samiwasnt Sam Daams

    This is a great list Elliot. A few here that I hadn’t even heard of. Better get reading more so good to have some fresh feeds to add.

  • http://www.nancydbrown.com Nancy D. Brown

    Hi Chris,
    I hope you’ll stop by “What a Trip” at http://www.Nancydbrown.com. I’m a freelance travel writer based in Northern California. I’m also the lodging editor at http://lodging.uptake.com/blog/.

    I agree with Chris and Debbie Dubrow that I look to Twitter for my travel news as well as the sense of community.

    Looking forward to your top travel twitters list.
    http://twitter.com/Nancydbrown

  • http://knutalbert.wordpress.com Knut Albert solem

    An impressive list, please have a look at my blog, too!

  • http://www.uncorneredmarket.com Audrey

    Some of these blogs were already in my RSS, but I’ve discovered a new group of blogs to add. Thanks!

    Please take a look at our blog: http://www.uncorneredmarket.com. After eighteen months in Asia (from Turkmenistan to Burma), we’re about embark on the South America and Africa part of the RTW trip. Our focus tends to be on human stories, photography, street food, and markets.

  • http://www.towersandtarmacs.com Benet Wilson

    Chris – I am honored to be on your list of must-reads. I see my pal Holly Hegeman from PlaneBuzz is on, but where, oh where is Cranky Flier???

  • http://www.travelersjournal.com Dave Bear

    Hey Chris,

    Just took a buy out from the Post-Gazette and, among other activities, I am spending more time on my Web site. In addition to an archive of over 500 daily podcasts, I have over 400 articles I’ve written, and am also posting selected travel press relases. Check it out. – Dave Bear

  • http://TravelMavens.net David Molyneaux

    Chris,
    Always nice to be mentioned. Travel Maven.typepad.com has a growing group of followers, as does my web site, TravelMavens.net. You do a great job of keeping an eye on all of us.
    –david Molyneaux

  • http://www.hipcompass.com Michelle

    Hi Chris,

    Thanks for the great list!

    Please check-out my travel blog http://www.HipCompass.com …just started in August of this year but hopefully I will make your 2009 list!

    And thanks for putting me on the list of top travel twitters!

    -Michelle “the HipCompass guru”

  • http://www.venere.com/ Marion @ venere.com

    Thanks for the list. If you’re looking for travel tips and stories visit our blog : http://www.venere.com/blog/

  • http://www.bonjourparis.com Karen Fawcett

    Dear Chris:

    Please consider http://bonjourparis.com

    Not that I’m prejudiced ;-)

  • http://soyouwanttobeabanquetmanager.blogspot.com banquet manager

    How my blog for banquet managers where I rant about hotels, sales managers, waiters, vacationers, and tell it like it really is. Please visit;
    So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager

  • Pingback: Travel Babel on Elliott’s Top 50 List | Articles About Everything

  • http://www.thaitourde.co.cc/ thaitourde

    Thanks, that was a very interesting read. The history behind the facts…

  • http://nicaragua-stuff.blogspot.com/ Aaron Perkinson

    This is a really interesting blog on daily living in Nicaragua. I thought it was great!!

  • http://www.sulumitsretsambewno.com/ sulumits retsambew contest

    Those travel blogs are really good with high pr. I wanna say thanks for sharing to us.

  • http://nggametukang.blogspot.com tukang

    thanks you for list it. i like it

  • http://www.travelandtweet.com John Traveler

    Please check out my travel blog. Hopefully, you will like it and will add it to your list.

  • http://armchairgolfblog.blogspot.com/ hopchagma

    Definately will not go to Vilamoura anymore, 6 Hour rounds of Golf and 4.5 Euros for a beer , we will stay clear of the Vilamoura golf courses this year, and the so called free shuttle bus turns up if you are lucky.

  • http://roundmyworld.com/ Tom Backpacker

    Looks like we share some of the same favourite travel blogs!

    I have my travel blog at Round My World, Maybe you would enjoy some of the articles posted?

  • http://www.sarahtours.com Hamid Mernissi

    I had a wonderful music tour in Morocc with Yuval Ron Ensemble. We had a blast. Check this link
    http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/article/content.article/morocco_bus/en

  • http://www.sarahtours.com Hamid Mernissi

    If you want to experience great traveling, go to Morocco with Sarah Tours, Inc. Check this blog. http://www.yanoweb.com/morocco/

  • http://www.indiadelhihotels.com India Delhi Hotels

    Thanks nice list.. i was searching this type of list.

  • http://www.nriyp.com/Travel/TravelHome.aspx NRI Travel

    What a list!! Love it and got some great ideas.
    Thank you

  • http://www.ciaovenezia.eu/ Venice Travel Guide

    hey, i can’t thank you enough for posting this!

    You made my day.

    thanks !

  • http://www.downtownluxuryhotels.com Jayson

    It is really a very useful list. It will be very helpful to me.

  • http://www.flood-pictures.com/ flood pictures

    Great list. Your research very helpful. Can I know what the aspects that you use to decide 50 blogs?

  • http://www.nomadicnotes.com/ James Clark

    I love checking out blog lists, there’s always a few that I haven’t seen before. I have hundreds of subscriptions in my RSS feed but there are only a few I always check everytime they are updated.

    I can be found at Nomadic Notes Travel Blog.

  • http://http/aol.com barbie45

    Consumerist is excellent. It is not geared just for travel, but provides excellent and new posts daily. Also grumpy Traveler by an Australian,and TRAVEL RANTS British and Jaunted are very informative.

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