F
CUS GUIDES
CUS GUIDES
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Commercial sites
with on-line booking of flights / travel / accommmodation (see also: Airlines, Car Hire, Travel Trade etc ) |
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| www.1ski.com (1 Ski) EMAP's online skiing and snowboarding travel services. | ||||||
| www.airnet.co.uk (Air Net) Discounted flights. | ||||||
| www.all-hotels.com (All Hotels) Online accommodation directory. | ||||||
| www.bargainholidays.com (Bargain Holidays) Lots of last-minute flights and packages from top UK travel operators. | ||||||
| www.bedandbreakfast.com (Bed and Breakfast) For places to stay with character in the U.S. | ||||||
| www.cheap-hotels-airline-tickets.com/ (Cheap-Hotels-Airlines-Tickets) Searches all the major travel sites for the best deal for your preferred travel arrangements. "Explore our travel forums and directory of travel resources." | ||||||
| www.cheapflights.co.uk (Cheapflights) Low-cost last minute flights. http://www.cheap-hotels-airline-tickets.com/ | ||||||
| www.city2000.com/travel (City 2000) Linked to the trade's online reservation Galileo system, the site offers flights, car hire, hotels, and complete packages. Good, straightforward approach. | ||||||
| www.deckchair.com (Deckchair.com) Enter where and when you want to go and the site checks availability of low cost flights. Online booking. | ||||||
| www.ebookers.com (E-bookers) Europe's leading online travel store with millions of discounted flights, hotels, holidays and car hire. | ||||||
| www.expedia.msn.com (Expedia) Microsoft's brilliant, huge, useful travel site with everything, including on-line bookings, travel features, city guides, web links, etc, but too arty, complicated, slow to download and destinations/features are patchy and incomplete. | ||||||
| www.faraway.com (Far Away) US-based travel and tour operator selling online to the public, private business and the trade. Owned and operated by Affinity International Travel Systems, Inc. Little or no destination information. | ||||||
| www.farebase.net (Farebase) Online booking. | ||||||
| www.flightbookers.co.uk (Flightbookers) Discount flights, car hire, accommodation. | ||||||
| www.globaltrip.com (Global Trip) Good budget travel site covering the world, offers help on cheap flights, hostels, destinations, etc. | ||||||
| www.holidayhome.co.uk (Holiday Home Directory) Holiday homes for rent ... the site features properties worldwide, ranging from simple cottages to luxurious villas and ski chalets. By putting you directly in touch with property owners, the site saves on booking fees and commissions. | ||||||
| www.hotelstravel.com (Hotels & Travel on the Net) Truly wonderful! Primary resource is a worldwide hotel booking facility, but you hardly need anything else to plan, research and book a trip anywhere in the world. Links to other travel sites, and a vast directory of hotels. | ||||||
| www.interhome.co.uk (Interhome) On-line browsing or booking with this major provider of holiday apartments and villas throughout Europe. | ||||||
| www.homexchange.com (International Home Exchange Network) Home swapping site. | ||||||
| www.homebase-hols.com (Home Base Holidays) Home swapping site. | ||||||
| www.lastminute.com (Lastminute.com) Not just travel - everything last minute at lowest prices. Useful, spontaneous, worth checking. | ||||||
| www.leisurehunt.com (Leisurehunt) Worldwide travel packages, some bookable online. | ||||||
| www.onerail.com (One Rail) An intriguing site for online booking of rail travel anywhere, works just like the airline sites. | ||||||
| www.opodo.co.uk / www.opodo.com (Opodo) Online travel service run by consortium of 9 major airlines. Useful local information combined with low fares to over 1300 destinations. | ||||||
| www.rail.co.uk (rail.co - Rail Travel) This site tries to put together the jigsaw that is rail travel in Britain. Also looks at other rail travel, onward connections, etc. | ||||||
| www.rail.co.uk/ (rail.co - Rail Travel) This is rail.co's eclectic links page with connections to an interesting selection of UK, European and other travel companies. | ||||||
| www.railtrack.co.uk (Railtrack) British rail site: Easier than actually going anywhere by train in Britain. | ||||||
| www.shawguides.com (Shaw Guides) Our comment: Good for educational vacations, including cookery courses worldwide. | ||||||
| www.singleshomeexchange.com (Home Exchange Holiday) Home swap worldwide - International home exchange holiday and vacation rental service. "I stay in your home while you stay in mine." | ||||||
| www.spanishvillas-rentals.com (Holiday Villa rentals in Spain) Privately owned high quality holiday villas, fincas or apartments for rent in Spain. | ||||||
| www.thomascook.co.uk (Thomas Cook) Online booking of flights and complete packages from Thomas Cook. | ||||||
| www.tiss.com (Travel Information Software Systems Internet Booking Service) Big discounts on airfares. | ||||||
| www.travelocity.co.uk (Travelocity) Linked to Bargain Holidays, above. Hotel, car and flight reservations. Register and get access to SABRE, the travel agents' online booking facility. | ||||||
| www.travelscape.com (Travelscape) Book flights, packages, hotels, etc at good prices on this easy-to-use site. U.S.-oriented but with major foreign cities too. | ||||||
| www.travelselect.com (TravelSelect/Globepost) Worldwide flight booking service with info on accommodation, excursions and city tours. No comment yet. | ||||||
| www.utravel.co.uk (uTravel) Flights, packages etc to popular destinations with some pretty basic, but readable destination tips and information. | ||||||
| www.thevancouverguide.com (The Vancouver Guide) Vancouver travel information, plus furnished apartments in the city. | ||||||
| www.vacation-homes.com (Vacation Homes Unlimited) Established in 1986, Vacation Homes' user-friendly site provide beautiful home-from-home house exchange vacations anywhere in the world. Join online (or directory membership also available). | ||||||
| www.vacationhouses.com (Vacation Houses) Holiday rentals in Europe - 40,000 searchable houses and apartments on an easy-to-use site! | ||||||
| www.venere.it (Venere) European hotel reservations by Venere.Com, including apartments, bed and breakfast, travel and lodgings. | ||||||
| www.virtualcities.com (Virtual Cities) Good source for unusual, interesting, smaller hotels. | ||||||
| Travel insurance on line | ||||||
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www.egg.com/
(Egg)
Online travel insurance is new on the
clear, usable Egg site. www.travelinsurers.com/ (Travel Insurance Agency - TIA) Travel insurance specialists, clear, usable site with plenty of insurance options too. www.wwtis.co.uk/ (Worldwide Travel Insurance Services) Tailor-made travel insurance quotes. www.westwind.co.uk/westwind/d-direct.html (Travel Insurance Direct) More basic offer, uses postal service, UK users only. |
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| Maps and route planners on the web | ||||||
| www.alpineskimaps.com Ski runs of the main resorts in the French, Austrian, Swiss and Italian Alps. | ||||||
| www.iti.fr (iTi) Has changed its name and redirects to Mappy - see below. | ||||||
| www.mappy.com (Mappy) Brilliant multilingual Europe-wide route planner with local information links, maps, search for local attractions, etc. | ||||||
| www.multimap.com (Multimap) European street maps, especially good for UK. | ||||||
| www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk (Ordnance Survey) The online resource of the definitive UK mapping agency online. | ||||||
| www.streetmap.co.uk (Streetmap) Complete street mapping of mainland Britain. | ||||||
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TRAVEL TRADE, CAR
HIRE, AIRLINES, FERRIES, RAIL SERVICES (see also: Commercial sites with on-line booking ) |
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| Travel Trade - Airlines & Airports - Car Rentals - Ferries - Hotels - Railways | ||||||
| Travel Trade | ||||||
| www.abtanet.com (Association of British Travel Agents) If you want to book a package, this is useful for tracking down who goes where. | ||||||
| www.aito.co.uk (Association of Independent Tour Operators) Trade association of mainly small, low-key specialist operators. | ||||||
| Car Hire | ||||||
| www.avis.com (Avis) | ||||||
| www.budgetrentacar.com (Budget) | ||||||
| www.hertz.com (Hertz) | ||||||
| www.carpass.co.uk (CarPass Spain) Great idea - prebooked one-day vouchers for car hire at Spanish resorts. | ||||||
| Ferries | ||||||
| www.ferryinformationservice.co.uk/ (Ferry Information Service) Useful, informative site run by the Passenger Shipping Association, which represents a group of ferry companies registered in the UK. All questions answered on their routes - that's most (but not all) routes to and from the UK. | ||||||
| www.corsicaferries.com/ (Corsica Ferries) The up-and-coming Corsican operator whose latest development is a new Newhaven-Dieppe ferry on the English Channel, starting in March 2001. | ||||||
| www.irishferries.ie (Irish Ferries) On-line car ferry bookings for Irish Ferries routes to Dublin and Rosslare | ||||||
| www.norfolkline.com/ (Norfolk Line) Page of the new cross-Channel ferry from Dover to Dunkerque. | ||||||
| www.p-and-o.com/ (P&O) The major shipping company, with links to the sites of its various operations. | ||||||
| Airlines and Airports | ||||||
| www.a2bAirports.com (Complete UK and Ireland Airport Guide) EMAP's useful detail on each UK airport, how to get to it and out of it, etc. | ||||||
| www.aerlingus.ie (Aer Lingus) | ||||||
| www.airfrance.fr (Air France) | ||||||
| www.alitalia.it (Alitalia) | ||||||
| www.british-airways.com (British Airways) | ||||||
| www.easyjet.com (Easy Jet) Low cost airline | ||||||
| www.flybmi.com (British Midland) | ||||||
| www.elal.co.il (El Al Israel Airlines) | ||||||
| www.klm.nl (KLM) | ||||||
| www.londoncityairport.com (London City Airport) Website of the least known London airport, with 10 minute check-in time for European flights | ||||||
| www.ryanair.com (Ryan Air) Low-cost airline, flights all over Europe | ||||||
| www.fly.virgin.com (Virgin Airlines) | ||||||
| Railways | ||||||
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www.eurostar.com/
(Eurostar)
The site of the high-speed London-Paris and London-Brussels rail
service. www.seat61.com ('The Man in Seat Sixty-One') This is a fantastic, fascinating site run by inexhaustible rail traveller Mark Smith (who has named the site after his favourite seat on Eurostar), giving masses of information - much of it not available elsewhere - on how to travel by train from the UK to each country in Europe and beyond. www.nationalrail.co.uk (National Rail Enquiry Service) The official rail information site - its most useful feature is details of services that are not running normally. |
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www.onerail.com
(One
Rail)
Online booking of national and international rail travel, works just like
airline sites. www.Qjump.co.uk (Q Jump) Rail planning, information and online booking. |
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www.raileurope.co.uk/
(Rail
Europe - UK)
UK based official SNCF agents selling all European rail travel
including Motorail, rail passes, Eurostar, and add-ons like car hire, bike
hire, accommodation. www.raileurope.com (Rail Europe - US) US version of Rail Europe. |
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| www.railtrack.co.uk (Railtrack) British rail site: Easier than actually going anywhere by train in Britain. We suggest "customers" use some other form of transport while in the UK. | ||||||
| www.rail.co.uk (rail.co - Rail Travel) This site tries to put together the crazy jigsaw that is rail travel in Britain. Also looks at other rail travel, onward connections, etc. | ||||||
| www.rail.co.uk/ (rail.co - Rail Travel) This is rail.co's eclectic links page with connections to an interesting selection of UK, European and other travel companies. | ||||||
| www.sncf.com/ (SNCF - French Railways) The site of SNCF, the French national rail company, which runs Europe's most modern and comprehensive national rail network. | ||||||
| http://ter.sncf.fr (SNCF - TER) TER are the important regional rail services in France. | ||||||
| www.sncf.fr/ (SNCF route planning page). | ||||||
| www.thetrainline.com (the train line) On-line rail booking agency - the most painless way to plan and book rail travel in the UK and abroad. Books accommodation too. | ||||||
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| EUROPEAN TRAVEL SITES AND EUROPEAN CITIES | ||||||
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| Europe Guides and City Guides | ||||||
| www.theaa.co.uk (Automobile Association) Our comment: Good city guides on the World Travel Centre page. Visit their bookshop page for a full list with description of all AA travel titles - then come back to us and buy any of 'em at 15% off, UK post free | ||||||
| www.city.net (City Net) Up to date information on over 3000 towns and cities. | ||||||
| www.visiteurope.com (European Travel Commission) Site of 28-nation ETC to facilitate travel to Europe. Good, quick summaries of main attractions in each country. Plenty of practical information too, and calendar of major European events. | ||||||
| www.eurotrip.com (Eurotrip - Budget Travel in Europe) A great travel resource for independent travel in Europe. Advice on trip preparation, euro-railing, back-packing, destinations and accommodation. Includes reviews, articles, message boards. | ||||||
| www.freetodo.net/ (Free To Do) This fascinating, unique site tells you what's free to see and do - events, castles and historic sites, walks, festivals, museums and art galleries and more unusual attractions - at places throughout Europe (and some in America). | ||||||
| www.mappy.com (Mappy / iTi) Excellent free European Route Planner (with emphasis on France), plus clickable access to traffic information, hotel bookings, sights, tourist offices, etc. Choose fastest routes, routes without tolls, routes without traffic, etc. | ||||||
| What's On Guides | ||||||
| www.timeout.com (Time Out magazine) City listings and City guides. Our comment: Time Out's site is brilliant, encyclopaedic, updated weekly. Great web links, listings, reviews, even local weather forecast for next 4 days. | ||||||
| www.whatsonwhen.com (What's On When) Useful selection of events in cities worldwide with search to help find the type of events you're looking for, plus online booking of tickets, accommodation and travel. | ||||||
| European Route Planning | ||||||
| www.mappy.com (Mappy / iTi) Excellent free European Route Planner (with emphasis on France), plus clickable access to traffic information, hotel bookings, sights, tourist offices, etc. Choose fastest routes, routes without tolls, routes without traffic, etc. | ||||||
| AMSTERDAM | ||||||
| http://amsterdam.pitas.com/ (Amsterdam Pitas) Eclectic links page reaching all parts of the city. | ||||||
| www.amsterdam.nl/e_index.html (City of Amsterdam) Comprehensive official site. | ||||||
| www.simplyamsterdam.nl/ (Simply Amsterdam) Extensive Amsterdam links site, essential pre-visit info. | ||||||
| www.visitholland.com/ (Welcome to Holland) Netherlands Board of Tourism site. | ||||||
| www.visitamsterdam.nl/index.html (Visit Amsterdam) The city's official tourism site. | ||||||
| BARCELONA | ||||||
| www.barcelonaturisme.com (Barcelona Turisme) Information on Barcelona for business and leisure travellers. Beautiful, enjoyable, useful site. | ||||||
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| BRUSSELS & BRUGES | ||||||
| SEE OUR FEATURE ON BRUSSELS | ||||||
| BRUSSELS www.trabel.com/brussels.htm (Belgium Travel Network) Online tour of Brussels. www.bruxelles.irisnet.be/en/5en_tour/5en_tour.htm (Brussels Capital Region) English pages of the city's official tourism site. www.brusselsairport.be/ (Brussels Airport) Useful, attractive airport site also has Beligium information and links. BRUGES www.trabel.com/brugge/bruges-tourvoorblad.htm (Belgium Travel Network) easy to use online tour of Bruges. |
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| www.brugge.be/toerisme/en/index.htm (Stad Brugge) Official Bruges site, English pages. | ||||||
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| DUBLIN | ||||||
| LONDON | ||||||
| PARIS | ||||||
| SEVILLE | ||||||
| www.sevillacultural.com (Seville Cultural) Online magazine about the city. | ||||||
| See our books on European Cities | ||||||
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