by Hope Lee

Created on: March 11, 2011   Last Updated: March 12, 2011

Smartertravel.com bills itself as "information and inspiration," and does a good job of delivering both.  Smarter Travel is a comprehensive travel advice site that provides facts, advice, and some sponsored listings to savvy travelers.

Information

On the "information" side of things, Smarter Travel offers a variety of articles and columns that provide useful advice.  One feature that is very popular is their

ultimate guides, pdfs that lay out in handy chart format the current realities of topics like airline fees, carry-on bags, and tipping.  They also offer "How to book a..." guides that help travelers book everything from airfare to cruises.  

In addition to these more timeless pieces, Smarter Travel offers a variety of timely travel advice.  The "Today in Travel" blog offers insights on topics that have just happened and how these topics will affect travel.  The topics could be specifically travel related, like a recent fare hike, or connect the dots from a recent earthquake and how that will affect travel to the region.  Other columns, like Airfare Deals and The Deal Detective, offer timely insights into cheap trips that are currently available.  

Inspiration

The Smarter Travel website also offers plenty of inspiration to go with the information.  Browsing the photo galleries provides views from both "the professionals" and readers from around the world that are sure to inspire ideas for your next trip.  The Travel Guides section gives a comprehensive look at destinations around the world.  Plus, information and inspiration are doled out on specialty travel topics like adventure travel and frequent flyer travel.

Smartertravel.com does a good job of having current information on a wide variety of topics.  There is something for everyone from beginner to expert traveler.  There are a variety of "sponsored deals" and travel booking boxes throughout the website, but Smarter Travel is not primarily a travel booking site; these links take you to other sites and help keep Smarter Travel free.   

If it seems like the amount of information on Smartertravel.com would be daunting to keep up with, there is a helpful option to join the site and sign up for travel newsletters.  The travel newsletters offered by smartertravel.com can be tailored to your interests, with topics like frequent flyer mile alert, cruise news, deal alert, or their general interest SmarterTravel updates.  The newsletters will help subscribers keep current on new information added to the Smarter Travel website and so stay up on trends and topics within the travel world.  

Smartertravel.com is a great information source for savvy travelers.  While there are other, more specific travel advice websites out there for travelers mainly focused on one travel area or travel mode, Smartertravel.com is a great source of information and inspiration for the general traveler looking for help in sorting through the latest fees or finding the current deals.  

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