Almost every national tourist board now has its own website. Many of them are ponderous, badly-translated and of little practical use. Others are enormously useful. These are my favourites.

1 Tour Egypt
The chief highlight of Tour Egypt is a wonderfully entertaining site for children, which includes a colouring book, Egyptian stories and games. The practical information is also unrivalled. A stunningly well-executed site.

2 Maison de la France
The Maison can be very slow, but - like many aspects of French bureaucracy - disarmingly efficient. Once you've expressed an interest in a particular region, it links to hundreds of smaller tourist offices with their own sites. The "Your Stay in France" section holds a colossal amount of useful information.

3 Greenland
Greenland has only 55,000 inhabitants, but one of them has built an excellent site. Midnight sun, dog-sledging and whale-watching are well covered.

4 The Federated States of Micronesia
The Federated States consists of four main islands - Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae and Yap. This site recommends restaurants and places to stay and gives a brief insight into the character of each island.

5 Travel to South Africa
Gimmicky but entertaining, this site is good at what it calls "interaction" - which means webcams, bulletin boards, "immersive" (surround) images, wallpaper and a guide to slang. The trip-planning section is also impressive.

6 Germany - Wunderbar
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of this site is its quirky competitions. The Trivia Oberammergau and the Germany Sweepstakes both offer appealing prizes, and the transport information is particularly useful. Look out for the virtual trip, in which a couple of green aliens decide to pay a visit to Berlin and receive a rapturous welcome.

• You can find a list of all tourist board sites, including those of each US state, at www.towd.com