Country profiles cover safety and security, local travel, laws and customs, health, entry requirements and consular contact details. A clear opening paragraph states whether or not to visit a country, and what to expect. The pages are dated to show they are still valid.The US State Department site isn’t always so up-to-date. Its page on Zimbabwe, for example, was last amended in April, two months before violent elections.

However, the site still offers valuable background information and it’s always worth knowing what locals think of Americans, in case you are mistaken for one. Recently, for example, American tourists were warned by Indonesian militia groups to leave certain areas. The State department has duly posted a travel warning at www.travel.state.gov, among its dull-but-worthy plain text information sheets. Available for every country in the world, these provide valuable additional information not covered by the FCO: the viability of local airlines, traffic and road safety, criminal penalties and drugs dangers. You can subscribe to receive current warnings by e-mail.Australia’s government understands the benefit of consulting other country’s travel advice sites, offering links to Canada’s, Britain’s and America’s sites at www.dfat.gov.au. Its own advice is useful and, although tailored towards Australians, has universal value.

For example, it reports a scam at Russian cashpoints where electronic devices are used to read PIN details from people withdrawing cash, allowing their accounts to be accessed. And if you’re planning an ocean trip in Asia-Pacific, don’t miss the section on piracy, which increased by 40 per cent in 1999 and is rife around Indonesia. There’s a hot link to a weekly piracy report and you’re advised to check your travel insurance small print – many policies exclude piracy coverage.The link from the Australian site is the quickest way into Canada’s; otherwise you’ll need the patience to type http://voyage.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/destinations/menu_e.htm – but it’s worth it. The home page has a colourful world map – click on different regions for impressive country information – which predicts trouble as well as reporting what’s happened (ideal for risk junkies). In true Canadian style, the site is earnest and sometimes delightfully literal: “Travellers are advised that there are no telephone services in Antarctica.. Canadians should not travel to Afghanistan. Canadians in Afghanistan should leave.” The usual advisories pinpoint such no-go destinations as Kosovo, Central African Republic, and Angola.For an alternative angle, try Discovery TV’s Cooled Off Hot Spots, at www.travel.discovery /tv/wmdangr.html. Destinations such as Cambodia and Nicaragua – still commonly considered dangerous due to past conflicts – are given the all-clear.

The site outlines perceived problems about each country, the situation in April 2000 and reasons to go – Iran’s historic monuments, Nicaragua’s beaches. Robert Young Pelton reappears and offers some handy tips for avoiding common travel scams.Your final check before departing for any dubious destination should always be with the FCO. They’ll even try to help you when there is no peril: their France advisory page urges you to “remember where you are staying Keep a note of your hotel’s address” Always useful, that.. UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has added 61 places of value to its roll-call of protected cultural and natural sites. At its recent meeting in Cairns, Australia, it was decided to pass this record number of sites – five of them in Spain, including the Palm Grove of Elche in front of the Altamira Palace in Valencia – which brings the number of sites of “outstanding universal value” up to 630.