Internet resources for backpackers - favourites

Internet is a great way to collect information to plan a trip ahead, and in fact slowly becoming a necessary complement to the Lonely Planet and other guidebooks (on that note: please see the new poll that I launched on this!).

Here is a quick review of the websites that I use for planning my own trip:


The Lonely Planet forum (Thorn Tree Forum) is a must. Once registered, travelers may post any question related to the trip (visas, vaccinations, hotels, itinerary, etc.) which are all answered very quickly, most of the time by frequent travelers or expats. Definitely worth a visit; some specific FAQ (see for instance FAQ thread for Mainland Southeast Asia or Vietnam) and loads of good advice! The French version is unsurprisingly less dynamic.

For French speakers, the forum of the Routard may be useful alternative, but if you speak English go directly to the Thorn Tree Forum.

The website Travelfish is focused on Asia and offers excellent resources. Excellent FAQs, specific stories, city guides, etc., most of them being available for free. The website also offers more complete guides in PDF format, asking for a reasonable fee. I do not think I will go for the latter but again this website is an excellent resource written by backpackers for backpackers...

Travel Independent is a straightforward, yet to the point information source.

These are my favourites, and probably the most famous ones. You can of course find numerous private and public blogs on Southeast Asia, including mine, many of them being of varying quality - including mine :-)

See you later!