How to put together your own travel guide

There's no shortage of travel guide websites but viamichelin.com leads the way.

Michelin's green guides to places and red guides to hotels and restaurants have long been go-to sources - now they feed the online site.

The huge amount of excellent information about many countries is dazzling so we'll settle on a French destination that for many travellers is just off the beaten track.

It's Marseilles, a busy, multicultural port in Provence. Via Michelin calls it a "fabulous Mediterranean melting pot". If you arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, Michelin offers a choice of two routes south to Marseilles, with directions in fine detail, amounting to around 10 hours if you don't stop off along the way, which would be a shame.

Michelin points to seven favourite good-value hotels in the port city and has links to many more. It lists 79 tourist attractions and 31 leisure activities and recommends a four-hour small group (at least two persons) tour for 56 euro ($70) or the ubiquitous hop-on and hop-off bus for 19 euro.

You're in France, so the 33 recommended eating places drawn from the red Guide Michelin demand close attention. Une Table au Sud is said to be as appealing to the eyes as the taste buds, with a view over the port. Miramar has "magnificent bouillabaisse" while Michel-Brasserie des Catalans boasts authentic atmosphere and bouillabaisse also.

If you have time to visit other places, plenty of fine choices include Aix-en-Provence, where you can still inspect the studio of Paul Cezanne, preserved since his death in 1906. You can do a four-hour tour for 72 euros. The website enables you to gather bits and pieces in a "travel book" ready to print out for your trip.

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