Vacation by Yelp

In 2001 we spent two weeks in Germany, Switzerland and mostly Italy. Most of the trip was planned and booked with recommendations from Rick Steves. Jonathan loves Rick Steves. Every quaint hotel we visited, and tiny little restaurant we frequented was packed with Americans in their 50s flipping through their worn copies of Europe Through the Back Door. We had better luck six years later in Austria, which is less of an American tourist destination than Italy.

We needed a better strategy, and one that works well for everywhere we plan to go. But touristing is hard. How do you get the local recommendations, and avoid the tourist traps without a great guide book?  If you use a web search engine you get lists of activities that are overwhelming, and many times just advertisements.

So today, at least for trips in the US, you can use Yelp, at least we do. Type in "kid activities" in any location and you get a recommendations of things to do. You can check the ratings, read the reviews and bypass the paid for lists. But make sure that you read several of the reviews ... For example, one place that we are planning on visiting has only 3.5 stars. But the worst review says "if you are over 13 stay away, this place is not for you!" As the parent of a 5 and 6 year old I read this as "if you have a 5 and 6 year old go, your kids will have a blast!" Which is in line with what other reviewers said.

A boat tour was listed under "kid activities" which got sucked into the Yelp search engine because one patron complained about kids being on the tour. And how kids shouldn't be allowed on until they are old enough to behave. Since it was a snorkeling and scuba tour -- it probably doesn't meet our requirements for safe fun with our little boys anyway.

We've used Yelp to find our favorite restaurants in Sacramento, and a decent cup of coffee in Michigan after our red-eye.  You can use Yelp for international destinations, but the information is much more spotty, and if you don't speak the local language, you will need to use a translation engine.

I'm relying heavily on Yelp for our upcoming South Florida trip. This time we want to go the Everglades, as well as the Florida Keys. I found the air boat tour and nature show which will give the boys plenty of opportunities to see alligators and mangroves, as well as our activities in the Keys (dolphins and bottomless boats). I also found the restaurants we will be taking the boys to (typing kid-friendly restaurant did the trick).

Will Yelp replace the tourist guide book? Probably not, we love the preset itineraries in Lonely Planet books when traveling in Russia, Asia, Australia or South America, and Rick Steve's wonderful recommendations in Europe ... however, at least for our US trips, we are relying less and less on guide books, and more on Yelp.