Like Yelp For Tourist Sites: Nextstop.com

Trip-themed website nextstop says it's not a travel site or a review site; it's more like a tipster site�like a pal quickly rattling off some suggestions on what to do tonight.

Nextstop is a user-generated site, like Yelp. It focuses on only positive reviews, which are about two sentences long. The downside to this format is if you want to see whether Rome's Spanish Steps are worth a visit, no one will tell you that it's a tourist trap and to avoid it. You'll only get a hit on the place if someone recommends it. And if you're looking for in-depth info on a spot, you'll have to do your own additional research.

The usual worry with a Yelp-like site is that anyone can go in and promote his or her own store, restaurant, etc., but nextstop tries to weed those baddies out by doling out "reputations." As you make more guides, you earn a higher reputation, which gives you perks like having your content pop up more frequently in searches.

Since users create their own guides without guidance from editors, sometimes you get a mishmash of recommendations. We found a featured guide to Italy that only listed sights in Rome and Florence. It would make more sense to split them up into guides for those two cities. And we thought the guide titled "Shaka's picks for fun walks with mom" was about walks to take with your kiddies. But when we clicked on it, we learned it was for strolls with your pooch.

The site's founders were the peeps behind Google Calendar and Picasa, so nextstop uses Google Maps, has lots of photos and is user friendly. It's especially helpful when you're looking for very specific suggestions, like the best pizzas in Sydney. The long list for the world's best yarn shops is something knitters would have a hard time finding on traditional travel websites. Nextstop also could be useful for taking a peek at what there is to do in a given place and using the info as a jumping-off point for your travels.

[Photo: nextstop]

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