When I’m looking for a good restaurant that I haven’t been to, I consult my Zagat guide.  When I’m looking for kid-friendly restaurants, museums, stores, and parks, I consult my Lila Guide.  The Lila Guide is a book that is available for 23 metro areas and all of the reviews inside are written by parents.   The books are organized by geographic location within a city (such as western suburbs), and also by categories such as shopping, fun and entertainment, health and support, and other necessities.  By using my The Lila Guide, I actually found a small children’s museum not too far from my home that I never knew existed! I think the Lila Guide would be perfect for travel if you wanted to prepare in advance for which restaurants are kid friendly, or which parks were near your hotel.

Lila Guides for the following cities are available Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, LA, Miami, NYC, Pennsylvania, Phoenix, Pittsburg, Portland, St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Twin Cities, and Washington DC.  You can buy the Lila Guide at http://www.lilaguide.com/, or they often open up the voting surveys - if you review 10 items for a book, they will send you a free book!