Why not even check the guidebooks out from your local library? When we went to Europe a few years ago, my mother checked out books on London, Paris, Germany, Spain, and Austria, and took them to Europe with us. If you misplace them, you'll just buy them from the library, and if you don't, you've just saved yourself the money!

I always consult virtualtourist.com and tripadvisor.com before and during holidays. The forums are particularly useful as locals and people who know the area can answer the questions that guidebooks can't.

I am a big advocate of checking out the US Dept of State travel warnings before going on a trip. Getting guide books, either at a cheap price or searching online various places still doesn't give you up-to-the minute warnings. Doesn't usually take more than a couple minutest to peruse the site.

as far as guide books go, the Access travel series is nice because it's a street-by-street guide of major cities, and all of the restaurants, shops, museums, etc are submitted by people who've been there. Not too expensive either.

Nora, the problem with all of your suggestions is that they're all mainstream and are aimed at the masses. If people are relying on a brochures they're picking up at tourism offices and convention bureaus, they're going to be going where everyone else is going and only getting the "touristic" experience.

I disagree with using the press information too. I look at this stuff all the time (I'm a travel writer) and generally it's only more mainstream suggestions presented as insider advice.

Wiki, ditto, is mainstream, aimed at everyone, and the sources aren't always reliable. I can't tell you how many times I've found inaccuracies in relation to destinations I know intimately.

And as for your state department warnings, most of the time they're wrong. They try to play it too safe. The FBI site is another that's full of inaccuracies, it's laughable.

As for tripadvisor... you can't trust everything you read... you need to make sure that the person who's opinion your trusting has the same kind of taste and preferences to you. And how do you know they know what they're talking about? How can a person who only goes on holidays for 2 weeks of the year 'know' travel? compared to say a professional travel writer who stays in hotels for 300 nights of the year. I'm sorry, but I'm going to go with the professional over the amateur for travel advice, just as I would for advice regarding my health, my car, my finance, etc.

And by saying this I'm not saying 'guidebooks rule'. They don't - always. They can often be out of date. The author who writes one may have vastly different standards of taste to another, may not be as thorough at updating as another, may have no attention to detail and no skills at discernment. With any guidebook - just like with tripadvisor - you need to make sure you 'click' with the author, that you like the same kind of restaurants, the same kind of hotels, the same sorts of sights, etc.

But it's that taste, strength of opinion and skills of discernment that I want - what you call "biases" - who really wants bland information? Who really wants to be sent to a place that every other tourist is sent to so that you're sitting in a restaurant that has no character and personality and is only full of other tourists?

That's why my main resource - as both a travel writer and a traveller - is always locals. However, not just any locals, but locals I can trust with knowledge and expertise. So if I want to find the best restaurants, I research one restaurant thoroughly and once there - if it meets my expectations - I chat to the waiters, restaurant manager and even the chef and find out where they like to eat on their day off. At a bar, I ask the bar tender, at a boutique I like, I ask the manager or shop assistant for recommendations for other stores like that one, at an art gallery I ask for tips for other galleries showing similar art, etc.

You're getting expert advice this way that's also free and at the same time you're getting to meet fascinating locals. Stay clear of the tourist offices and guidebooks, and simply talk to knowledgeable, friendly locals. And you'll make friends along the way!