1. The journeys of the world’s great explorers have been committed to a mash-up, so there’s no need to roll out the parchment if you want to follow in the footsteps of Columbus. The maps have been put together by GOOD magazine, a title dedicated to “people who want to live well and do good”.

Its noble intentions aside, this map is a lot of fun – the potted history and leg-by-leg descriptions that come with entries such as Marco Polo or Livingstone would given even the most world-weary itchy feet.

2. Flights search engine Skyscanner has ditched the drop-down menus in favour of text boxes with an intuitive predictive functionality (i.e. it suggest Paris, Panama, Palma etc. as you type Pa…). It has also added time and airline filters to its flight graphs, which allow you to view flights across month and year-long periods to see when it’s cheapest to travel.

The aim of the redesign, which is still in Beta phase, was to make the site more user-friendly. We think it’s worked - the design is as clean as ever and the simple navigation means it’s easy to compare flight prices.

50 best travel websites of 2007

Another year of innovation and refinement as travel websites continue to become more niche, focussed and useful

BACKGROUND

• The 10 hottest travel websites to watch

• 10 travel websites to watch: July

• 10 travel websites to watch: June

• 10 travel websites to watch: May

• 10 travel websites to watch: April

Times Online's top 100 travel websites

Once again, we've crawled, clicked and crashed our way around the world of internet travel to bring you our top 100 travel websites in 2009

3. Skyscanner is one of the many sites featured on Cheap-flights-finder.com, a new site that bills itself as a search engine of search engines – or meta-meta search, as they say in the business.

The site searches Kelkoo, Kayak, Dohop, Sykscanner and Mobissimo, and claims that these give it access to over 500 travel websites that sell flights. It’s not the most flexible search – you must enter dates and choose a city pair, but it’s a good place to start your flight search nevertheless.

4. To you, Tarmac Text is the “Slow” sign painted on the road. To savvy travellers it’s Opodo’s free new service that sends a text message to holidaymakers the day before they fly, featuring a booking reference number, flight number, flight departure time and weather summary for their destination.

Handy if you’re always forgetting to print out those email confirmations, or if you just want to save paper. It’s sent to all customers who enter their mobile number when booking.

5. Some people choose their hotel by location, some by price, and some, it seems, according to the brand on its miniature toiletry bottles… with pictures for scale. Extravigator, a site for exchanging travel tips that’s definitely not for backpackers, features the hotel toiletries debate among its August content.

There’s also upscale breakfasts in New York and a debate on the virtues of Dubai for Jewish visitors among the popular posts.

6. Traveldodo is, ostensibly, a forum for travel tips, but its clever billing as “travel do’s and don’ts”, plotted neatly on interactive maps, makes the site easy to navigate and contribute to. Go to the destination you’re interested in, and you’ll see people’s do’s and don’ts plotted on the map – the former tending to outweigh the latter.

Most concern hotels, but there’s also tips on transport, shops, restaurants, bars and sights. The downsides - you have to be a member to contribute and some of the entries are too pithy to be useful.

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