Customer Reviews

National Geographic Traveler

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have subscribed to National Geographic Traveler for almost a year and find it fairly enjoyable. The destinations are good, the photos are good and the articles are good. But also nothing to knock your socks off.

Why only four stars and not five? The magazine doesn't wow me very often and I have found that most of the articles focus on white bread middle to upper class Americans. I am not the sort of traveler who is going to be staying in $350 a night room when I go to Bali. The do have budget conscious or "nitty gritty" tours/hotels/destinations etc but there are fewer of those than luxury tours/hotels/destinations.

They also occasionally focus on trips that are a bit too exotic and remote. What are the odds that I will decide to scale K2, Kayak 28 days in the Arctic Circle or run a marathon in the Sahara Desert? The articles are okay to read but not in depth enough to be educational nor practical enough to go to. They do nothing but peak your curiosity a tad and then you move on.

So for me the magazine is only a 4 out of five stars. Will I renew my subscription, yes. Its a good magazine, but if your looking for something with just as good destinations, articles and photos with a bit less posh and unattainable, scope out the aptly names Budget Travel. If you have the money to burn when you travel and enjoy reading about other peoples extreme adventures this magazine will be perfect.

This is a great magazine for the dreaming traveler. Unless you have quite a bit of money, this may be as close as you get to some of these places, but que sera, sera. The photos are of National Geographics usual great quality, and every now and then you'll find something close enough to home to actually see.

This is a better than average travel magazine. Good mix of practical type stuff, budget travel ideas, and sort of 'dream trips.' I've read Frommer's Budget Travel in the past, and I like this one somewhat better than that. It is way better than the prestige publications like Travel + Leisure or Conde Nast Traveler, which cater seemingly only to the super rich.

I dropped my subscription to National Geographic Traveler after two years. The only really good thing about the magazine was the photography of the places covered--what you would expect from a National Geographic magazine. The articles and reviews in the magazines were generally useless for me as a middle-class traveler. I travel quite a bit overseas, but cannot afford most of the places NG Traveler covers. If you can afford the $300-$500 rooms at the places NG Traveler recommends, then subscribe. But if you are the average traveler on a budget, skip this magazine.

I bought this as a gift, and first of all, it never arrived. My friend said he never got a single magazine. Second, the company will automatically renew your subscription unless you call to cancel it. They send you a single post card with the information, and unless you read closely, you may not realize what it's about. The cancellation process itself was painless and automated, but I don't think you should ever be automatically renewed for a one-year subscription.

It took less than a month for our order to be processed. Wow, what speed! So far, my husband and I are very impressed with the magazine. This magazine seems to offer something for everyone from both budget and interest perspectives. (Not just a travel magazine for the rich.) The photos are, of course, absolutely fabulous too.

I had this subscription for a year and at first was so excited about it. However this magazine disappoints. I thought the articles were really lacking content and depth, and everything else was just pretty superficial overview of a hotel or a place. The dramatic oh of disappoint hit me about a 1/3 of the way last year when I received the month with Maui revealed or something like that. I saved it as I was going to Maui and about a month or two later I opened it excitedly and got this what felt like a two page article full of....nothing helpful. I get cooking light and every month they do an article each issue about a place and restaurants of course. Even their articles give you a better idea of checking out a place than this magazine. Between these unhelpful articles this magazine is 90% ads. You have to make an attempt to find where the magazine is between all the ads.
Big disappointment. Did not renew subscription.

NG Traveler isn't what I expected it to be. It has few lengthy, in-depth articles and many, many short paragraph snippets that give you no sense of the place it describes. Or they are the intimate thoughts of a traveler to a singular small place...and have no bearing on any trip you would take. It doesn't inspire one to travel or give many insights into traveling. In fact, I'm having trouble writing this review because I can't remember any specifics of the six issues since I started getting the magazine. I won't be renewing my subscription.

The National Geographic Traveler is published eight times a year, down from 10 issues a year. Recently National Geographic Adventure folded, I would not be surprised if this magazine follows adventure. This magazine is a buyer beware because it might fold. After subscribing to National Geographic, I was disappointed with the quality of National Geographic Traveler.

The locations, and vacations reviews in this magazine are expensive and out of budget to all but the wealthiest.

Cons
- Only 8 issues annually
- Expensive travel recommendations

This magazine seems to be all advertising. The articles written about places to visit are obviously written by people getting kickbacks from resorts, hotels and airlines, something we all wish we could get.

Who can afford a hotel room for $2000 a night???

Skip this magazine, the articles are dull, uninspiring and completely unrealistic to the average person.

Try Frommers "Budget Travel" magazine instead. Much better!