Audley’s Top 10 Favourite Websites

After being recently voted “Top Website 2009” by Wanderlust readers (thank you if you voted for us!), it prompted us to think about our own list of favourite websites.

After some thought and much discussion, we have come up with our favourite top 10 websites from the web development team here at Audley, shown below in no particular order.

See if you agree with our choices.

When the first version of Google Earth was released, we were in awe at the ability to ‘fly’ to literally anywhere on the planet from the comfort of your armchair. Now that they have just added the possibility of diving beneath the oceans, plus the surface of Mars and the Moon, there’s never been a better time to download Google Earth. We promise you, you will lose hours… the only better thing is going there!

Sharing your photos is fun. Browsing other people’s photos is a great way to be inspired. Whether to travel or to take better photos.

Our favourite photo sharing website is simple to use and very user-friendly. Set up a free account and upload your photos to share with just your friends or the wider world.

You have probably already experienced virtual tours on the web where you can look around a scene by moving your mouse. But these high quality, full screen images of beautiful places around the world are amazing.

You may need to download Quicktime (it’s free and the site will prompt you if it’s not already installed), but it’s worth it for the sumptuous views. Just don’t move your mouse too much or you may get dizzy.

Many of Steve McCurry’s award-winning images will be instantly familiar. His style generally focuses on the human face and his ability to capture a moment so perfectly makes us all green with envy as we take our snaps on our own travels.

(Requires the Flash plugin – your computer will prompt you if you do not have it installed)

Growing in popularity by the day, this photo blog started by Alan Tyler, a web developer at the Boston Globe, highlights news stories in some of the most amazing, high quality photography seen on the web.

Often beautiful, sometimes shocking, he adds new sets of photos 3 times a week.

Dedicated purely to travel videos, this website is a great way to explore other people’s travel experiences from around the world.

Containing almost 8,000 online videos, some made by travellers themselves, others professionally produced, you can spend hours here exploring destinations you might be considering yourself.

There is plenty of choice when it comes to producing photobooks, but our favourite is Bob Books with their hard back, full photo covers and quality feel. Download the free Bob Books software and in no time at all, you’ll be producing the most beautiful photo books using your own photos and captions. The software comes with built in templates to make it really easy.

These photo books make a great souvenir of your travels or the perfect gift. They also can take a video from your camera or digicam and turn it into a flick book. It’s so retro we love it!

This fascinating website is seeking to chart the migration history of the human species using analysis of DNA contributed by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. The results so far are fascinating and if you wish, you can get involved by ordering a home DNA test yourself which will be analysed to reveal your ancestry lines. The data you provide is then anonymously added to the database to assist with the project.

We all love to read about travel, and no other website is as comprehensive for travel reading as the Stanfords website.

Browse by continent, country or city and find guide books, maps and travel literature all of which can be ordered online.

Although this site is no longer updated by the BBC it still contains an amazing amount of content from the highly successful Planet Earth series. If, like us, you loved watching this ground-breaking series, you can watch clips from each episode and explore a virtual earth to discover the wildlife, see behind-the-scenes clips and watch footage from the series.