With the Internet and all its travel information so easy to access both before and during trips, your standard travel guide needs to work harder to stay relevant. Here is a selection of excellent travel helpers that rely on quirks, niches and online backup to boost them above the crowd. Keep them in mind for your next trip, or for your favorite traveler.
FABMAPS BY RAND MCNALLY
That's "fab" as in fabric. Made of microfiber, these handkerchief-sized maps are tear-proof, washable and don't require an intricate folding system--just toss into your bag or pocket and go. These features also make them kid-friendly, and they can double as a napkin or glasses lens cleaner. (Maybe that's "fab" as in fabulous?) Each of the 24 versions showcases tourist sites and streets in a popular, concentrated U.S. destination, such as Midtown Manhattan or the Vegas Strip.
CITY NOTEBOOK BY MOLESKINE
$13, www.amazon.com
You've probably heard of Moleskine notebooks, the black pocket-sized bound books, with distinctive elastic binder, attached bookmark ribbon and accordion pocket. Moleskine's City Notebooks are their highly tricked-out cousins, fortified with up to 36 pages of city and transportation maps plus basic travel information, map-tracing paper and tear-off sheets to use as you see fit. The bulk of the book still holds a chunk of blank pages as well as a tabbed section to help organize your trip into topics including dining, people and entertainment. It's great for planning (online bonus: Moleskinecity.com features links to 10 blogs, each devoted to a different city), but it's just as good at helping you document vacation experiences--which makes it a fantastic remembrance, too. Versions currently available for 40 major cities worldwide.
EAT.SHOP GUIDES
Hard-copy guides from $15, online versions $10, online access to all 21 global cities for one year $50, www.eatshopguides.com
It's a straightforward formula: Each carefully curated eat.shop guide highlights roughly 90 locally owned restaurants and shops, all within the city proper. The features, too, are focused, with each business laid out over two pages with five artsy shots, an atmospheric blurb, basic info and a short list of striking ingestibles. The guides are available in a 6-by-6-inch bound copy or as an online e-book -- same info, same look. There are 21 cities and counting, including a Twin Cities version likely to teach even locals a thing or two.
LUXE CITY GUIDES
Guides $10, Sets up to $125, www.luxecity guides.com
Created with a sophisticated traveler in mind, these slim 3-by-6-inch accordion-fold helpers are like having the concierge at an upscale hotel tucked into your pocket. Guides start with a frank lowdown called "Blah blah" (The New York guide, for example, lets you know the subway is perfectly safe, weekends are for amateur club-hoppers and the ins and outs of tipping.) The rest of the book is basically a pruned list of travel information that leans toward the chic, with the biggest play given to city-specific standout categories, such as shopping or spa treatments. The 30 guides come singly, or packaged in sets centered around one destination, such as Australia or Thailand, or box sets for an Asian, European, world or customizable Grand Tour. All offer online updates to keep the information current, right up to your trip.
Berit Thorkelson is a St. Paul-based freelance writer who tests travel products for this column and her travel goods website, trustypony.com.
