How FI is built
The selection rules behind every page. Short on purpose — if you have to read 4,000 words to understand a guide, the guide is hiding something.
City selection
A city makes the index if (a) it's a viable base for two or more days of travel, (b) it has at least one sight a stranger would cross the country for, and (c) it's reachable from a major airport or rail line. We don't index every town in a state — we index the ones a traveller would actually go to.
Sight selection
Each sight is attached to its city. We score on two axes: cultural / historical depth and photogenic draw. A 5-star sight (top-right) is something you'd fly in for; a hidden gem (top-left) is worth half a day if you're already in town. Photogenic-but-shallow spots stay in your camera roll, not in our index.
Hotel selection
We list hotels at three price points per city when possible — a heritage / boutique pick, a reliable mid-tier, and a backpacker / budget option. Star ratings are the property's own; FI ratings are independent. Prices are live across Booking, Expedia and Agoda; we show the cheapest of the three with a "best" tag.
List rules
Lists are editorial — "best beaches", "monsoon escapes", "hill stations under 4 hours". Items in a list link back to their canonical city or sight page. No list is sponsored and no item is paid for placement. If we change a list, the `updated` date moves.
What we don't do
- Accept sponsored content or paid placement.
- Run pop-ups, interstitials or autoplaying video.
- Track you with third-party advertising cookies.
- Pretend AI-generated photos are real.
- Recommend places we wouldn't send a friend.
Where the words come from
Most blurbs draw on Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, both licensed CC-BY-SA. Where we lift directly, the source is credited on the page. Curator notes — when present — are FI originals. Photos are from Unsplash unless explicitly marked otherwise.
We update this page when the selection rules change. One monthly note flags what moved.