This week we're pitting six of the blogosphere's most up-to-the-minute sites against each other, and asking Chris Mohney and Amanda Kludt, the editors of the wildly popular New York-based urban travel guide Gridskipper, to give the thumbs up or thumbs down.
The Cool Hunter v Hotels By City
The Cool Hunter talks a good game. It claims to be the "internet-based hub for the best and coolest of everything … the benchmark reference point for trend spotting and cultural awareness of 'the now' ". Their travel wing scours the world for achingly hip hotels, accompanied by a splurge of very sexy pictures.
Hotels by City spreads itself well. The blog is subdivided into categories, the most cutting edge of which is their Hotel Drink section, and its Boutique Bar tag in particular. They've also got sections devoted to snazzy toilets, and swimming pools. Possible minus points for starting the very un-cool, but very funny Bed Jumping phenomenon.
Winner: the Cool Hunter
Amanda Kludt: says "Cool hunter wins hands. It has cool in its name. It has shiny aesthetics and gorgeous photos. And beyond just their travel blog, Cool Hunter's general site covers everything from design to fashion to food to art openings. Hotels by City is cute but can't really compete."
Moleskine City v MetroBlogging
The battle of the city blog networks. Metroblogging has over 50 city-specific blogs written by hand-picked local writers from around the world. It pushes into the hitherto lesser-blogged corners of Asia - their Mumbai wing's most recent post is a smashing piece on spotting Bollywood stars. Showing us that "cool" is very much a global thing.
Moleskine City's scope is smaller, but it is perhaps more consistent with its image. Connected (somewhat ambiguously) with the famous notebooks, these blogs cover a wide range of cultural bits and bobs in London, Milan, Paris, Rome and New York, with more on the way. Like those types you see jotting in their Moleskine books over a mocha latte or three, these brows are higher than most.
Winner: Moleskine City
Chris Mohney says: "I have nothing but respect for the vast quantity and enormous coverage represented by the Metblog network, but the aggregate result is something like a geographically organised Myspace. There are diamonds in that rough, but we always assign the most unfortunate intern to sift those blogs for useable tips. Moleskine City, on the other hand, emanates from the eternally cool notebooks that are the envy of travelling hipsters worldwide. Their guides and blogs are similarly elegant, though not as cool-obsessive as some."
Arthur Frommer v Tim Leffel
Arthur and Tim are the travel blogosphere's elder statesmen, so we thought they should get a bit of kudos for jamming it with the kids. Let the battle of the dancing dad's commence!
Arthur Frommer is the scion of the Frommers guidebooks empire, and since May he's been blogging his socks off! I say he, but one suspects some of it might be ghost-written. Although largely directed at a US audience, his (or her) stuff is useable by all.
Tim Leffel has written a number of titles on travelling on the cheap, and his Cheapest Destinations blog is a firm web favourite, doing exactly what it says on the tin.
Winner: Split decision
Chris Mohney: "Frommer is the eminence grise of American travel writing and deserves credit for practically reinventing the guidebook industry. Leffel is also quite accomplished, turning out books, articles, and blogwork with astonishing frequency. Realistically, neither of these guys are cool, but that's part of their charm. Slight edge to Art, because he's old school."
Amanda Kludt: "I don't read these two blogs very often. However, I do know that Frommer's by its very nature is the antithesis to cool. Also in recent posts Arthur has plugged both his daughter's travel guides and Capitol One. Tim isn't exactly hip but he's cuter, a bit more interesting, and adds in a little personality - which, for me, makes him the clear winner in the battle of the dads."
Next week we'll be looking at the net's best video blogs, aka "vlogs". If you know a good one, email it to benji.lanyado@guardian.co.uk
