Number one: guys who possess a certain amount of swankitude should read Thrillist. It’s kinda like Daily Candy for boys. Number two: Thrillist is a fan of Luxe City Guides, which I haven’t had the pleasure of reading just yet, but I certainly look forward to doing so now that I’ve read about them. Thrillist describes them as:

Slickly designed, pocket-sized intel on the greatest dining, drinking, and money-blowing options available to the discerning man-about-planet. The accordion-style cardstock pamphlets break down 16 Asian locales, 3 Euro cities, and…New York (since apparently some people don’t find Minneapolis “luxe”).

I am sure women-about-planet can also benefit from these. At the very least, we can benefit from better-informed men. ‘Nuff said.

Luxe City Guides

Look closely, and you’ll see that this is no ordinary map. Instead of museums or major tourist destinations, spas and salons are the main attraction of Shecky’s New York Beauty Map. This full color, laminated (so you don’t ruin it after a few cosmos) map of Manhattan has over 250 beauty venues and points of interest, as well as subway stops and key landmarks. The map’s flip side has contact information for each of the venues listed on the front.

But best of all, this map is free. Shecky’s, an online bar and nightlife guide to major U.S. cities, will send you the map as a gift for registering on the site. In fact, my map arrived just a few days after joining the site.

This month, Lonely Planet launches its new Encounter guidebook series with eight new titles aimed at travelers on short breaks and weekend jaunts to major cities like London, Dublin, Hong Kong and New York. At 6 x 4 inches, the guides are a good size for lugging around the city and include pull out maps and itineraries designed for two- to five-day trips. And along with the regular tourist information, this guide series offers tips, favorite destinations and other morsels from local celebrities (e.g. Craig Newmark in San Francisco).

Introducing Lonely Planet Encounter

Just the other night, I was remarking to a friend that I couldn’t think of any reason she’d ever need to know the Dewey Decimal System (yes, we were having a seriously dorky conversation). But I stand corrected. If you stay at New York’s The Library Hotel, you’ll need to know something about ‘ole Dewey’s system just to find your room. Each of the hotel’s 10 floors are named after one of the system’s major categories (Social Sciences, Literature, Language, History…you get the point), and individually-decorated rooms are outfitted with books that fit those categories.

If you want to learn more about this New York boutique hotel, check out Your Room is Booked from the Washington Post.

Have you visited The Library Hotel? Review it for us!

Mobil Travel Guide has announced its picks for the best North American spas of 2007. Only two establishments won Mobil’s coveted five-star rating: Spa Montage at Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, CA and The Spa at Mandarin Oriental New York. But there were plenty of four-star winners:

Mobil Four-Star Award Winners

Willow Stream, The Spa at The Fairmont, Banff Springs, Banff, AB

The Sanctuary Spa at Sanctuary, Camelback Mountain, Paradise Valley, AZ

Alvadora Spa at Royal Palms, Royal Palms Resort & Casitas, Phoenix, AZ

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort, Scottsdale at Troon North, Scottsdale, AZ

The Centre for Well-Being at The Phoenician, Scottsdale, AZ

Willow Stream, The Spa at The Fairmont, Scottsdale Princess, Scottsdale, AZ

The Spa at Omni Tucson National, Tucson, AZ

Ancient Cedars Spa, Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, BC

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort, Whistler, BC

The Peninsula Spa, Beverly Hills, The Peninsula Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills, CA

The Beverly Hills Hotel Spa by La Prairie, Beverly Hills, CA

The Spa at Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills, CA

Post Ranch Spa, Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, CA

The Bathhouse, Calistoga Ranch, Calistoga, CA

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Aviara, Carlsbad, CA

The Spa at Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, CA

Spa Gaucin, St Regis Monarch Beach, Dana Point, CA

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, CA

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Half Moon Bay, Half Moon Bay, CA

The Spa at Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, CA

The Spa at Torrey Pines, Lodge at Torrey Pines, La Jolla, CA

The Spa at The Carneros Inn, Napa, CA

The Spa at the Island Hotel, Newport Beach, CA

Spa du Sureau, Chateau du Sureau, Oakhurst, CA

Spa Ojai, Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, Ojai, CA

The Spa at Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach Resorts, Pebble Beach, CA

Spa du Soleil, Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford, CA

Remede Spa, St. Regis San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

The Spa at CordeValle, The Lodge at CordeValle, San Martin, CA

Bacara Spa, Bacara Resort and Spa, Santa Barbara, CA

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Bachelor Gulch, Avon, CO

The Spa at the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO

The Spa at the Brown Palace, Denver, CO

The Mayflower Spa, The Mayflower Inn, Washington, CT

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Washington DC

Willow Stream, The Spa at The Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort, Aventura, FL

Spa Palazzo at The Boca Raton Resort & Club, Boca Raton, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Key Biscayne, Key Biscayne, FL

Canyon Ranch SpaClub at Gaylord Palms Resort, Kissimmee, FL

SpaTerre at Little Palm Island, Little Torch Key, FL

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Miami

The Spa at The Setai, Miami Beach, FL

The Ritz Carlton Spa, Naples, Naples, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Orlando, Grande Lakes, Orlando, FL

The Spa at The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Members Spa Club, Ritz-Carlton Sarasota, Sarasota, FL

The Ritz Carlton Spa, South Beach, South Beach, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Lodge Spa, Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, GA

Spa at Sea Island, The Cloister, Sea Island, GA

Spa Halekulani, Halekulani, Honolulu, HI

Spa Suites at The Kahala Hotel and Resort, Honolulu, HI

Hualalai Sports Club and Spa, Four Seasons, Resort Hualalai, Ka’upulehu-Kona, HI

The Spa at Manele Bay, Four Seasons Resort Lanai, Lanai, HI

Spa Grande at The Grand Wailea Resort, Wailea, Maui, HI

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Wailea, Maui, HI

The Peninsula Spa, Peninsula Chicago, Chicago, IL

The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, Chicago, IL

The White Barn Inn Spa, White Barn Inn, Kennebunkport, ME

The Spa at Pinehurst, The Carolina at Pinehurst, Pinehurst, NC

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Lake Las Vegas, Henderson, NV

Canyon Ranch SpaClub at The Venetian Resort Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

Spa Bellagio at Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV

The Spa at Four Seasons, Hotel Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

The Spa at Wynn Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

The Spa at Emerson Place, Mount Tremper, NY

The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel New York, New York, NY

The Peninsula Spa, New York, The Peninsula New York, New York, NY

Stillwater Spa, Park Hyatt Toronto, Toronto, ON

Woodlands Spa at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, Farmington, PA

Spa at the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, Kiawah, SC

The Spa and Salon at Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, Irving, TX

Trellis, The Spa at The Houstonian, Houston, TX

The Watermark Spa, Watermark Hotel & Spa, San Antonio, TX

The Spa at Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City, UT

The Greenbrier Spa, White Sulpher Springs, WV

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole, Teton Village, WY

Clearly, finding a top-rated spa is easier when you’re in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Florida or somewhere involving snow.

Mobil Travel Guide’s Best of the Best Spas 2007

Are you a geotourist? If you love exploring unique neighborhoods in destination cities, dining at independently-owned and operated restaurants relying on local produce and ingredients, buying souvenirs made by local craftspeople and artists and staying in family-run lodging options, you’re on your way to being a geotourist. In the current issue of Ode Magazine, Jay Walljasper writes about his tour of Chile with Jonathan Tourtellot, an editor at National Geographic Traveler who’s pretty much considered to be “the man” behind the geotourism movement. If you have any interest at all in helping local communities improve during your travels, you should read the article linked below. And as Tourtellot points out in the story, you don’t even have to donate to local charities or spend part of your vacation volunteering to be a geotourist. It’s much more about where you choose to travel and how you spend your money once you get there.

Geotourism by Jay Walljasper

Zagat has just released its 2007-8 Guide to America’s Top Golf Courses. The book covers 1,000+ courses in the United States, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.

The guide ranks the following as the Top 10 Best Golf Courses:

1. Bandon Dunes, Bandon Dunes Course, Bandon, OR

2. Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes Course, Bandon, Or

3. Whistling Straits, Straits, WI

4. Arcadia Bluffs, Traverse City, MI

5. Bethpage, Black, Long Island, NY (tied)

5. Cascata, Las Vegas, NV (tied)

6. Kiawah Island, Ocean, Charleston, SC

7. Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula, CA

8. Kapalua, Plantation, Maui, HI

9. Shadow Creek, Las Vegas, NV

For more, you’ll have to pick up a copy of the guide. Cost: $15.95.

Patricia Shultz’s 1,000 Places to See Before You Die has captured the wanderlust of many a traveler. The Travel Channel took note of the book’s popularity and developed a television show based on Shultz’s worldly advice. 1,000 Places premiers tonight at 9 pm on the Travel Channel. To satisfy the modern viewer’s appetite for reality television, the on-screen version follows two newlyweds from Colorado on a 14-week round-the-world journey to 13 countries and 100 of Shultz’s suggested destinations. First stop? Alaska.

You know all those cool travel tips in Budget Travel magazine each month? Well now there’s a entire book of ‘em. The Smart Traveler’s Passport includes 399 tips collected from the magazine’s loyal tipsters. If you ever wondered what you could do with a Ziploc bag, dental floss and trash bags during your next vacation, this would be the place to look. Practical tips for scoring low fares on airline tickets and avoiding long lines at major attractions are among the more down-to-earth nuggets of wisdom in this little book’s pages. Cost: $14.95.

Via World Hum, I learned about the Rough Guide World Party. Published in December 2006, the book covers the world’s top festivals and famous celebrations from Berlin’s annual Love Parade to Burning Man, the Reggae Sumfest in Jamaica to St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland. Along with full color maps, the guide offers tips and scheduling information for a slew of the planet’s most dynamic world hangs.