The days of cheap travel are basically over and it’s important to get as much information as possible before spending hard-earned money on airfare, hotel reservations, and event tickets. If you don’t have well-travelled friends or colleagues, travelling to parts unknown can be a costly adventure. Here are five benefits of reading travel review sites before going on your next holiday.
Avoid Tourist Traps
Reading other travellers’ reviews of the countries they’ve visited and sites they’ve seen can help you avoid sites that are a waste of time and money. Some locations are surrounded by or contain little more than souvenir or trinket shops that are designed to get you to spend money impulsively.
These stops are often tempting and before you know it, your travel budget is in shambles. However, if you read travel review sites before scheduling sightseeing trips, you can avoid such places and save your money for other stops on your itinerary.
Know When to Travel
If you’re unfamiliar with a country to which you’re travelling on holiday, most travel review sites will provide information about the best time of year to visit. Depending what you want from your trip, knowing when to visit will prevent you from missing events that you had hoped to see during your stay. Many areas are desolate during the off-season so it is important to know when that is for the country that you’re visiting.
Find Great Accommodations
Reading online hotel review sites can help you find accommodations to book while staying in a certain country or city. Sometimes the pictures do not match the facility and people who have been there will often share this information online. If you’re looking for 5-star luxury hotels at the destination where you’re travelling, you don’t want to book a hotel only to discover it only deserves to be rated 2 stars.
Discover Information on Customs
While travelling to an exotic locale, you don’t want to accidentally insult your hosts during your stay. By reading travel review sites, you can gain insight about the customs that you should be aware of before leaving home. Knowing what to do and what not to do can save you from being embarrassed and, in some countries, it could keep you out of their judicial system.
Get Inside Information
When you read travel review sites, you can sometimes get inside information about places to visit in the country where you’re travelling. The sites may be places that few tourists visit because they are unaware of them or it could be the restaurants that are frequented by locals because they serve great food. Tips about unusual places to visit or the best times to go to avoid crowds can help make your holiday a great experience.
There are dozens of travel review sites where you can find great information about travelling to different parts of the world. The reviews may be from professional travel bloggers or from average travellers such as yourself who want to share their experiences.