Best Travel Forums

"Many travel websites now include forums or message boards, where readers can exchange information, give travel tips, ask questions and provide answers. Forums are a great way to share information and advice, and many of them are very active and popular. They cover a wide variety of topics, from information about specific destinations and accommodation, to questions about remote locales and special travel interests. Below I have listed my favorite travel forums. They all have a lot of regular postings and many of the questions are answered by other readers." —Travel and Living Abroad Contributing Editor Volker Poelzl

BootsnAll Travel, www.bootsnall.com,is a travel community for budget travelers, with travel stories, blogs, as well as Travel Forums. The forum is divided into categories by destination and travel interest, making it easy to find specific postings.

Canuck Abroad.com, www.canuckabroad.com, is a resource for Canadian expatriates and travelers abroad, with a Travel/Expatriate Forum that contains postings from around the world. A good number of messages however, are self-promotions of tour operators and guest houses.

Lonely Planet Thorntree Forum, thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/, is a forum with postings and messages about destinations worldwide. It is among the most active travel forums on the worldwide web.

RealTravel.com, realtravel.com, is an online travel community that also includes Forums about destinations worldwide. The forum covers worldwide destinations as well as general travel tips, help, and advice.

Rick Steves’ Europe through the Backdoor, www.ricksteves.com, features Graffiti Wall, an active forum, where travelers to Europe share advice and information. The forum is very well organized into many categories for easy navigation.

Rough Guides Travel Talk, roughguides.evecommunity.com/eve/forums, is an active forum hosted by the travel guide publisher. The forum however, is not as well organized as other forums, and finding recent messages about your desired destination is time-consuming, and you might have to use the advanced search function to find what you are looking for.

Travellerspoint.com, www.travellerspoint.com, is an online travel community, that also includes a Forum. The forum allows readers to discuss travel plans, find a travel companion, share ideas and tips and learn about travel destinations worldwide.

TravelPod.com, www.travelpod.com, lists travel blogs by destination, and also hosts a Forum. The forum is quite active and offers travel tips and message boards for all continents.

Virtual Tourist, www.virtualtourist.com, is a worldwide travel community that also has its own Forum. The forum is fairly active and easy to navigate, and you can search for forum postings by continent and country.