Isn’t it nice to step off a plane and already know where you’re going and how you’re going to get there? That confidence comes from doing your homework and reading up on your destination beforehand. When I travel with a partner, I am often content to let a trip unfold as it may, but when I’m doing it solo, I feel it’s critical to have a sense of my surroundings and a solid game plan. Things I like to know before I go include how to use public transportation to get to and from the airport, any big-name events or temporary exhibitions coinciding with my stay, and what’s playing in English at the movies.

While a guidebook can get you part of the way to travel-savvy, there’s a wealth of online knowledge free for the taking. While many of us are no doubt familiar with travel sites such as Trip Advisor or Frommer’s, there’s much more out there just a few mouseclicks away.

Here’s a far from complete look at some of the online sources of useful information for various European areas in which you might find yourself sooner or later. What sources of information do you turn to prior to setting out on your trips?

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To come to grips with a country you haven’t previously visited, check out statistics on its population, GDP, political climate, recently published articles and more by referring to The Economist’s country briefings.

Time Out Magazine covers the European cities of Alicante, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Athens, Baden-Baden, Barcelona, Bari, Belgrade, Berlin, Biarritz, Bilbao, Bologna, Bordeaux, Bratislava, Brugge, Brussels, Budapest, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Florence, Gdansk, Geneva, Genoa, Girona, Gothenburg, Granada, Graz, Hamburg, Helsinki, Istanbul, Jerez, Krakow, Leipzig, Lille, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Luxembourg, Lyon, Madrid, Málaga, Malmö, Manchester, Marseille, Milan, Montpellier, Moscow, Munich, Nantes, Naples, Nice, Oporto, Oslo, Palermo, Palma, Paris, Pescara, Prague, Pula, Reykjavík, Riga, Rijeka, Rome, Seville, Siena, Split, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Toulouse, Trieste, Turin, Valencia, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Zadar, Zagreb, and Zürich.

In Your Pocket is a nice glossy monthly booklet covering dozens of European cities, several of them in Eastern Europe. If there’s a downloadable pdf version for the city of your visit, it’s well worth perusing beforehand. If not, look for this useful booklet upon arrival.

Wikitravel is “a project to create a free, complete, up-to-date, and reliable worldwide travel guide,” and like Wikipedia itself, the content is reader-created. You might want to take a few extra steps to verify the accuracy of information gleaned from the site, but it’s not a bad starting point.

Globespotters is a blogspot launched several months ago by the International Herald Tribune, with contributions from reporters covering the European cities of Rome, Paris, London, Berlin and Istanbul.

For zany, occasionally naughty (you’ve been warned!) commentary, Gridskipper, the Urban Travel Guide, can be a real, shall we say, mind-opener.

Happy travels, and happy planning!