There are already several lists of travel blogs on the web that rank websites based on different criteria, but none used the one I was interested in: the number of unique visitors a site receives per month. I decided to created this top travel blogs list partly because I wanted to know how the travel blogosphere is doing in terms of traffic, and also because I wanted to play around with some meaningless statistics.
Most websites don’t share this kind of information and therefore I had to rely on traffic estimation services. The most popular traffic estimator is probably Alexa but I discarded that one as it is notoriously inaccurate. Instead I went for Google Ad Planner. It’s statistic are comprehensive and more accurate than Alexa, though they still have a pretty large error margin. Google Ad Planner combines information from a variety of sources including Google Toolbar data, Google Analytics data and other third-party market research.
Unfortunately, Google Ad Planner only keeps track of websites with a certain amount of visitors. Not all the travel blogs in this list have those traffic numbers and I had to resort to another tool. For these blogs I’ve used Compete to estimate the number of unique visitors. Compete uses data from ISPs, their own toolbar and other data sources to estimate traffic. It is limited to US visitors only and it isn’t as accurate as Google Ad Planner but it gives a descent indication nonetheless. For all but one blog the estimates of Compete were lower than of Ad Planner.
The 100 top travel blogs:
Based on real traffic stats that was available from several sites the estimates appeared to be a little bit too conservative. I therefore applied two different constants (one for Adplanner and one for Compete) to adjust for this somewhat.
Only independent travel blogs were considered for this list. Commercial blogs such as National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel and Lonely Planet’s Blog are therefore excluded. I’ve tried to rank as many travel blogs I could find and plan to update this list regularly. If you think a blog is missing just let me know; perhaps it has the traffic numbers to be included in the next update.
Hi there! My name is Adam and I run World Travel for Couples. According to my google analytics, I had about 9300 visits in February. Not sure where you are getting all your information, but I just wanted to throw my hat in the ring. Thanks!
Thanks Adam for letting me know. I’ll rank your blog with the next update.
Great list of people! Would love for you to consider mine, which I know has quite a high # of unique visitors. 🙂
Hey – thanks for putting this together.
Some of these sites are pulling in some fantastic traffic, interesting to get a visual comparison.
Cheers!
Cam
Great selection of blogs on this list! Good to compare them.
Thank you for doing this! It’s so motivating to see how much success other travel blogs have achieved. I’m looking forward to moving up in the pack!
Agree with Cam, interesting to see it listed out. We’d love to be included next time around. http://www.ishouldlogoff.com. Thanks!
Nice look at some fantastic travel bloggers. Are these unique views per month or per day (did I miss that?). Anyway, I’d love it if you’d throw my blog into the mix as well: http://www.so-many-places.com. Thank you!
@Kim, the views are per month.I’ll have a look at every blog that is posted here.
Hi Robin,
We would love to be considered in your list! http://www.ordinarytraveler.com. We average 10,000 to 12,000 unique visitors every month according to Google Analytics. Thanks for putting this list together!
Wow, it’s really nice to see our travel blog is on the top 100 list! Thank you so much for creating this and for having our blog there 🙂
Nice list, I’m looking forward to spending some time browsing through the blogs I was not aware of. Hope you’ll consider mine in the next update to the list. Cheers.
@Ken, I already tried to rank your blog but Compete didn’t allow me to enter subdomains. Have to see if I can find a workaround for that in the next update.
Good list of travel blogs 🙂
pretty nice list, good to compare 🙂
Sorry Robin, still not 100% clear. Are these definitely Unique Visitors and not Page Views (Impressions)?
The numbers seems a little high for Unique Visitors but about right for Page Views.
The post itself and the chart label makes it clear it’s Unique Visitors, but in the comments above you refer to “Views” in your reply to Kim.
@Alastair, unique visitors per month. I am not sure why you think the numbers are a bit high.
Nice list, but I feel like some of those aren’t really considered blogs… Also if the list included my blog ilikegoingplaces.com it would be a lot cooler!!
This is a great list! I’d like to share http://www.ViewfromthePier.com, a site launched by a friend of mine that offers several distinct and complimentary features. Each day the site’s home page features a fresh photograph from all around the world, captioned by an uplifting quotation. A link to this daily photo/quote is available via a free subscription! Also engrained in the site’s rich content are the “Compass Rose” (http://www.viewfromthepier.com/compass-rose/), a regular in-depth destination feature focusing on a facet of a given region’s culture or broader travel themes and a monthly Q & A called “Peer to Pier” (http://www.viewfromthepier.com/peertopier/) that profiles interesting people, offering a personal window into a country or area. Also, the “Guest Room” column serves as a platform for writers/travelers to share their travel experiences.
Hello Robin,
This is Wade from http://www.vagabondjourney.com, and I would love for my site to be included on your list. There are big differences in traffic counting methods but my site meter reports 100K to 120K unique visitors per month. My Awstats says 6K per day, but I think this is a little high, while Compete and GA rank me lower. Thanks!
(Note: if you look at this tonight my entire hosting company is down so you won’t be able to access the site. This is probably why I am browsing around the internet reading all the top blog lists haha. Thanks!)
Hi, Great to see a new list of top travel blogs. With over 8000 uniques per month, I feel mine should be in there somewhere. Could you take a look at http://travelswithanineyearold.com? Thanks. Theodora
Nice list, it’s nice to see one that took some effort to compute/compile. I’d love to put The Vacation Gals on your radar; we’re doing pretty well. 🙂
Thanks so much for including http://www.TravelingGreener.com on your Top 100 list.
some great ones on the list… might as well put mine on your radar 🙂
http://www.stayadventurous.com/
stay adventurous, Craig
Lots to sift though! As someone who just started a travel blog a few months ago, it’s nice to see what else is out there and what other people are doing. Thanks for sharing.
Steph
http://www.littlecolombiaobservationist.com
Great job putting this list together. We would love to have our site considered for the next update:
http://www.hecktictravels.com
Cheers,
Pete
Hello Robin
I think you miss my travel blog – http://www.akademifantasia.org/
Thanks
Huzaifah
Hi Robin!
Thanks for including http://www.LLworldtour.com!
Happy to be included in such great company. 🙂
Lisa
Definitely something to shoot for! Thanks for putting this together. I’d love to be considered in your next list!
http://tourist2townie.com/
Best,
Gareth
Hi Robin,
We are so pleased to be on this list and ranked so high. Thanks for doing the hard work of compiling the list.
Cheers!
Terri
I’d never heard of the Complete tool… thank you for introducing me to it, looks like it was quite useful for you.
Also, if you decide to make another list, we’d love to be included! We cater to senior and mature travelers and offer tips on travel and interesting info on destinations:
http://www.ymtvacations.com/travel-blog/
TravelFreeFaster.com is a good one too for frequent flyer bonuses, hotel promotions and credit card promotions
Great list! However, I feel that there should be a category of “unique blogs”based on content which may be on a road to popularity but still away from the lost of “Top 100 blogs”.
My blog http://aceguide.blogspot.com merits such kind of consideration and a support, suggestion and criticism to climb the ladder of popularity
Once again, thanks for an excellent list
Hey,
Nice list… would love to be added… I’m sure http://www.brendansadventures.com has enough to get up there somewhere. Cheers.
I have to agree with Adam above. These stats are way off for Grantourismo. We measure our stats using Google Analytics, and a few other different means and they all compare fairly well – at the moment, as we’re not posting as often, we’re getting between 10-12,000 unique visitors a month, but have had months with twice as many visitors (not page views). It obviously varies depending on how often we’re posting, as we’re full-time travel writers not full-time bloggers at the moment. But we had 3,000 visitors on just one day last week, so the stats above don’t make sense. Nice idea to do this though.
Hi There, I’d love to be included int he list in the future as well. I had around 3200 Uniques last month, which isn’t incredible, but might get me on the list.
Awesome list! I have been looking a great travel blog list and you have one.
Hi there, would love to be part of this amazing list. My travel site has an average of 30,000 uniques per month.
http://www.PlacesAndFoods.com
I’d like to introduce you to http://havebabywilltravel – a little niche site about traveling with babies, toddlers and young children!
Thanks for sharing the list, it would be good if we could on there http://www.100placestovisit.com as we are getting just over 10k uniques.
Great to see more and more are traveling and interested in the lifestyle. Can’t wait til we’re on the list: Nomadik Nation: http://nomadiknation.com/
Hey so nice to take a peak at other peoples stats so be good to share ours in your next update 🙂 Thanks
Nice post. Even if it’s not 100% accurate, as a new blogger, it’s still cool to see what kind of numbers the top travel blogs are getting. Thanks.
Is there a way to find the traffic source?
Great list of really talented bloggers 🙂
Hi Robin,
Great to find this list of travel blogs based on unique monthly visitors. Really cool to see how much traffic everyone is getting. Wonderful to know so many people are out there reading travel blogs!
I’d love to be considered for your next update. My current unique monthly visitors stands at >4300. And this is growing rapidly, due to finally learning how to apply SEO -keywords and meta to my posts and site in general. Sadly, I’ve gone 1 1/2 years without any of that on my site! Yikes. Better late than never, I guess. 🙁
Thanks for the new list.
cheers, Lash
Great information given. I am newbie in travel blog so need time to learn from all the top ranking blogger.
Hi Robin, Thanks for this great list. Please consider our site next time around: http://www.wickedgoodtraveltips.com. Our traffic always averages over 10k visitors per month. Thanks very much. – Susan
Wow great post! Thank-you for putting this together! It really gives an aspiring travel blogger something to… well … aspire to. Some of these sites are pulling in great traffic and I know a lot of them that are on here and they are doing well for a reason! Would love to see a 2012 update of this list and would one day like to see Goats On The Road appear on it!
Cheers and Thanks Again.
Great list. I love checking out what other travel sites are doing and the areas they’re covering. It’s always fun to read different perspectives on the same places I’ve visited and hear about their experiences.