Portable travel guides

Luxe City Guides are the posh version of your run-of-the-mill Zagat and Frommer’s. The guides cover 31 cities from Asia to America and Europe and they’re all formatted to be super-svelte (i.e. they’re light and compact– golden words for those of us traveling with kids in tow). The guides avoid all the padding and get straight to the choicest cut, which results in an ultra-smart guide brimming with priceless information for discerning, value-conscious, and busy travelers.

We checked-out their New York guide to gage how on-point they are and we couldn’t believe how up-to-date on the latest must-see restaurants, nightlife destinations, sights, and perhaps most importantly, boutiques, they are.

While the guides themselves could easily slide into a luggage pocket, Luxe has now come-out with City Guides Mobile editions, available for a multitude of handsets including iPhone, Blackberry, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and HTC. Each app comes with a year of free updates sent directly to your mobile. We love this for travelers, but also as a way to easily stay in the know of what’s going on in our home city.

The mobile app now covers 10 destinations – New York, Hong Kong, Paris, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Rome, Bali, Sydney, and Bangkok - but 20 more are on their way.

The one downside - our “must-see,” “must try” list is now so long, it’s adding stress to our already saturated back-to-school schedule.

Dish with us: how do you stay on top of the latest shopping, dining, and sightseeing destinations?