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9 Books to Spark Your Wanderlust in 2023

Armchair travel. We’ve all indulged in it via daydreams and  Parts Unknown,  with weekly trips to  The White Lotus and afternoons spent leafing through the pages of this very magazine. But our editors, avid readers that they are, know that the most transportive (and transformative) stationary adventure is often to kick back with a good book. And we read a lot of those in 2022—from immersive  travel writing  that challenges the reader to breezy beach reads designed to be read on the sand. Here, we’ve rounded up the fiction and non-fiction books that sparked our wanderlust over the past year. Whether you are an accomplished bookworm yourself, or have simply resolved to crack even just one book in the New Year, we’ve got you covered.

All products and listings featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you purchase something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

My lack of familiarity with Italy’s modern literature, combined with my interest in novelist Jhumpa Lahiri’s immersion in the country’s language and literary traditions, motivated me to order this collection of 40 tales from 20th-century Italian writers, which Lahiri edited. The Pulitzer Prize winner curated a super sharp collection from authors who were both known to me (Italo Calvino, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa) and those unfamiliar (I enjoyed discovering Natalia Ginzburg), translating many of them herself, to telegraph an Italy you don’t see through travel: The dusty backroads of  Sicily in the early 1900s; hardscrabble towns beyond  Florence ; male and female protagonists struggling through banal life choices. More than a varied journey that jumps between eras and places in an often-overlooked Italy, this collection demonstrates the power of fiction to enlighten audiences on cultures and histories that are not their own (nearly half of the stories had never been translated before), mostly thanks to the stewardship of Lahiri herself. — Erin Florio , executive editor

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

“It’s nothing to come to Europe … It doesn't seem to me one needs so many reasons for that. It is something to stay at home; this is much more important.” I found a weathered and water-damaged copy of this masterpiece sitting alone on a  Brooklyn stoop this spring and began devouring it immediately—it is by far the longest and most difficult spontaneous read I’ve ever embarked on, and my found edition quickly became mine as I underlined passages more than I did not. Protagonist Isabel Archer is a young American woman, one less in control of her own desires than she is aware, visiting distant relatives in England. Her aunt takes her as a companion on a tour of Europe, and as she traipses from  Paris to  Florence  Archer makes a suitor out of just about every man she encounters. Firmly declining proposal after marriage proposal, Isabel is determined  to accomplish the abstract and impossible: to know everything about the world and about herself before she can marry. What better way to do so than to travel?— Charlie Hobbs , editorial assistant

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

I was already planning a trip to  Savannah when I picked up the non-fiction novel by journalist John Berendt, which is a page-turning murder mystery and a human interest masterpiece all in one. But it inspired me to make sure I experienced all the smallest nooks and crannies of Georgia’s oldest city—from subterranean antique shops to Flannery O’Connor’s historic childhood home, the Spanish-moss-strewn cemeteries, and an beloved drag show (yes, Club One) that lived up to the hype. Berendt lived the remote-work life, well before we all caught on to it, in order to live out his dream of transplanting to Savannah in the 1980s. The Southern Gothic tale that unfolds shortly after his arrival is one that strings together the small community’s dark past and its many eccentric personalities to paint a colorful picture of a Low Country gem that you can only experience through its people. — Shannon McMahon , editor, destinations

Bluets by Maggie Nelson

In her poetic prose, Maggie Nelson writes a personal exploration of her encounters with the color blue in life and love, and misery and pain. Catching sight of fragments of blue in my own life, Nelson has inspired me to count the colors in all my adventures. Navigating and experiencing travel through the lens of color opens up new and exciting emotions, connections, and realizations. I now find myself asking questions like: Which other city have I seen with this palette before? What does the color of this food remind me of? I jot down my answers and it becomes a story of its own. — Jessica Chapel, editorial assistant

Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

I fell for the somewhat hapless, super awkward, but rather relatable Arthur Less in Andrew Sean Greer's Pulitzer Prize-winning 2017 novel  Less during a jaunt around Europe, not unlike the protagonist. This fall, Less entered my life once again with Greer's sequel  Less is Lost . The novel—at times laugh-out-loud funny, deeply heart warming, and an apt portrayal of the current state of America—sees Less once again on a journey; this time on an unexpected  road trip across the United States where he finds himself in unpredictable situation after unpredictable situation. From beginning to end, I found myself armchair traveling through Greer's metaphors and vivid-yet-quirky descriptions from California to New Mexico to Georgia. I was ultimately left with an optimistic view of humanity—and an itch to rent a camper van, grab my dog, and get lost. — Scott Bay , associate editor

Lizzie and Dante by Mary Bly

This summer, when it seemed like everyone was traipsing around Europe, I was reading  Lizzie & Dante , a delicious rom-com about a woman who vacations at a seaside resort on Elba, an island off the  coast of Italy . The titular character, Lizzie (a Shakespeare scholar, because of course), meets a handsome Italian chef and his precocious daughter, and romance ensues. There are yachts,  secret ocean coves, and mouthwatering accounts of a crabby chef’s set menu that’ll have you ready to plan a trip to Elba (or at the very least, make a reservation at a very expensive Italian restaurant). The main character is on holiday with her best friend and his movie star boyfriend, giving it a touch of  The White Lotus  energy, but with far more likable characters. — Madison Flager , senior commerce editor

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

This year, I revisited a book I was assigned in high school when it caught my eye on a shelf in New York 's McNally Jackson Nolita, showcased with a group of “eerie” titles in the month of October. In the 1966 novel  Wide Sargasso Sea , Dominican-British author Jean Rhys gives the infamous madwoman in the attic from  Jane Eyre a story, and a life. The feminist, post-colonial prequel is set in the Caribbean, part one in  Jamaica during the protagonist’s childhood, and part two in Dominica during her toxic honeymoon with Mr. Rochester. The descriptions of these islands are at once beautiful and haunting. Take, for example: “The road climbed upward. On one side the wall of green, on the other a steep drop to the ravine below. We pulled up and looked at the hills, the mountains, and the blue-green sea. There was a soft warm wind blowing but I understand why the porter had called it a wild place. Not only wild but menacing. Those hills would close in on you.” These locations are not romanticized—they’re integral to the story Rhys tells about race, power, and assimilation—and in that way, this read will prompt your interest in them in more ways than one. — Alex Erdekian , travel bookings editor

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

I was utterly transported by the epic sweep of this beautiful, terribly sad historical novel about the Korean experience in  Japan over the course of the 20th century. (I read it right around the time Apple TV+ released its miniseries based on the book, and while I know many people who have enjoyed the screen version, this might be a case where the book hit me so hard I’ll never want to see the adaptation.) The vividly wrought locales are essential to Lee’s storytelling, especially the spartan but pristine world of Yeongdo, a fishing village on a tiny island off the coast of Busan more than a hundred years ago, and the rough-and-tumble milieu of Osaka at mid-century, with its squalid Korean ghetto, crowded markets, and illicit pachinko parlors. There are also gripping forays into Tokyo, Nagano, and the Japanese countryside. I found it to be such an illuminating portrayal of the fraught interlaced history of these two wonderful countries, and a reminder of how deeply I want to spend time in both. — Jesse Ashlock , deputy global editorial director and head of editorial content, U.S.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I read Madeline Miller’s  Circe years ago, and was blown away by how she brings Greek mythology to life in a totally fresh format. I finally got around to reading her debut novel,  The Song of Achilles  (2011), about that Achilles—and  that heel—this year, and it reminded me just how transportive mythology can be. It inspired me to buy a book on Sicilian mythology  while on the island over the summer , and my 2023 resolution is to read up on local stories before future trips. (Currently accepting recommendations of books tied to Kenyan and Peruvian folklore for my winter travels.) — Megan Spurrell , senior editor

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15 Travel Books That Will Give You Serious Wanderlust

The end of the year is just that time for favorites lists – and I’ve written about the best travel books many times over! I love talking about travel books. Why? Because part of the tool belt of any traveler is a good book. Long bus, train, or plane rides can get pretty boring and can give you a lot of “dead” time if you haven’t mastered the art of the 10-hour blank stare. Additionally, reading travel books helps you learn about the destinations you are visiting. The more you know about a place, the more you can understand a place.

I am a voracious reader and even used to have a book club on this website where I shared all the books I read. Today is another one of those days where I share some of the books I’ve read recently! If you’re looking for some great reads, here are my current list of the best travel books to inspire you to travel to far-off lands:  

1. The Alchemist , by Paulo Coelho

Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop  

2. Love With a Chance of Drowning , by Torre DeRoche

3. The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca  by Tahir Shah

4. On the Road , by Jack Kerouac

5. Looking for Transwonderland , by Noo Saro-Wiwa

6. The Lost City of Z , by David Grann

Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop

7. The Beach , by Alex Garland

8. Vagabonding , by Rolf Potts

9. In A Sunburned Country , by Bill Bryson

10. Dispatches from Pluto , by Richard Grant

11. Turn Right at Machu Picchu , by Mark Adams

12. A Year of Living Danishly , by Helen Russell

13. The Art of Travel , by Alain de Botton

14. From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home , by Tembi Locke

BONUS: Ten Years a Nomad: A Traveler’s Journey Home , by me!

Books about travel inspire us to go visit far-off lands and imagine us doing incredible things. Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country inspired me to visit Australia! I hope these travel books inspire you to travel the world and feed your wanderlust. If you have any suggestions that I can add to this best travel books list, leave them in the comments.

If you’d like to see some of the other books I’ve recommended (or are currently reading), check out this page I created on Amazon that lists them all!

You can also find them listed in our Bookshop store, which helps support locally-owned bookstores. If you’re in the US, click here to check out my Bookshop store!

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner . It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld . If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

• SafetyWing (best for everyone)
• InsureMyTrip (for those 70 and over)
• Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage)

Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals.

Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more.

Got a comment on this article? Join the conversation on Facebook , Instagram , or Twitter and share your thoughts!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I recommend only products and companies I use and the income goes to keeping the site community supported and ad free.

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recommended by travel writers

Last updated: August 20, 2024

Travel books are a popular genre in the 21st century, combining personal observations and emotions with detailed descriptions and journeys through interesting places. In English, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was a pioneer, writing about her trip to Scandinavia, in her Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark .

Much earlier, Ibn Battuta (born in Tangier in 1304) had written about his travels. Islam has a rich tradition of travelling to gain knowledge, and it's no surprise we have not one but two interviews on travelling in the Muslim world.

We also have reading recommendations from contemporary travel writers, including Paul Theroux,   Colin Thubron and Sara Wheeler. Books that influenced Bruce Chatwin, author of In Patagonia and The Songlines, are recommended by his biographer.

(For books about specific countries—not necessarily travel writing—please look at our 'world' section where books are organized by country ).

The Best Travel Writing of 2024 , recommended by Shafik Meghji

A stranger in your own city: travels in the middle east's long war by ghaith abdul-ahad, the britannias: an archipelago’s tale by alice albinia, the gathering place: a winter pilgrimage through changing times by mary colwell, the granite kingdom: a cornish journey, wounded tigris: a river journey through the cradle of civilisation by leon mccarron, high caucasus: a mountain quest in russia’s haunted hinterland by tom parfitt.

Every spring, the judges of the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards draw up a shortlist for the title of the 'travel book of the year.' The 2024 shortlist highlights six fascinating recent travelogues that wrestle with political and environmental issues, and explore the contrast between the outsider and the insider gaze.

Every spring, the judges of the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards draw up a shortlist for the title of the ‘travel book of the year.’ The 2024 shortlist highlights six fascinating recent travelogues that wrestle with political and environmental issues, and explore the contrast between the outsider and the insider gaze.

The Best Travel Books , recommended by Paul Theroux

The worst journey in the world by apsley cherry-garrard, following the equator by mark twain, the west indies and the spanish main by anthony trollope, christ stopped at eboli by carlo levi, an area of darkness: a discovery of india by v.s. naipaul.

Travel is a leap in the dark, says Paul Theroux and one that will leave you a different person at the other end. He recommends five travel books that inspired him, from Mark Twain at sea to VS Naipaul in India

The best books on The Polar Regions , recommended by Sara Wheeler

Arctic dreams by barry lopez, an african in greenland by tete-michel kpomassie, the reindeer people by piers vitebsky, the ice by stephen j. pyne.

The acclaimed author discusses the Polar Regions. She says an African In Greenland is the best book ever written on Greenland - the story of a man from Togo who went there in the 1960s

The acclaimed author discusses the Polar Regions. She says an African In Greenland is the best book ever written on Greenland – the story of a man from Togo who went there in the 1960s

The Best Books by Adventurers , recommended by Alastair Humphreys

As i walked out one midsummer morning by laurie lee, no picnic on mount kenya by felice benuzzi, tracks by robyn davidson, carrying the fire by michael collins, paddling north by audrey sutherland.

One morning in early June, Laurie Lee said goodbye to his mum at the garden gate and went off on an adventure. Is now the moment for you to do the same? Bestselling author and adventurer Alastair Humphreys recommends five books written by adventurers that can't fail but inspire you to 'go simple, go solo, go now.'

One morning in early June, Laurie Lee said goodbye to his mum at the garden gate and went off on an adventure. Is now the moment for you to do the same? Bestselling author and adventurer Alastair Humphreys recommends five books written by adventurers that can’t fail but inspire you to ‘go simple, go solo, go now.’

The Best Travel Writing , recommended by Colin Thubron

The road to oxiana by robert byron, the way of the world by nicolas bouvier, in patagonia by bruce chatwin, a time of gifts by patrick leigh fermor, invisible cities by italo calvino.

The much-travelled author Colin Thubron reflects on more than 40 years of writing about other cultures, and shares his own favourite travel reading with us

The Best Books on the Philosophy of Travel , recommended by Emily Thomas

Mountain gloom and mountain glory: the development of the aesthetics of the infinite by marjorie hope nicolson, letters written in sweden, norway, and denmark by mary wollstonecraft, walden by henry david thoreau, the art of travel by alain de botton, how to talk about places you've never been: on the importance of armchair travel by michele hutchison (translator) & pierre bayard.

At its best, travel broadens our minds, expands our horizons and allows us to see the world we live in differently. But it has also played an important role in the history of philosophy. Emily Thomas , author of The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad , explores the connections between her two passions—philosophy and travel—at a moment when most of us are unable to leave our houses: perhaps the perfect moment to reflect on travel's significance for human beings.

At its best, travel broadens our minds, expands our horizons and allows us to see the world we live in differently. But it has also played an important role in the history of philosophy. Emily Thomas, author of The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad , explores the connections between her two passions—philosophy and travel—at a moment when most of us are unable to leave our houses: perhaps the perfect moment to reflect on travel’s significance for human beings.

The best books on Local Adventures , recommended by Alastair Humphreys

The forest unseen: a year's watch in nature by david george haskell, the path: a one-mile walk through the universe by chet raymo, on looking: eleven walks with expert eyes by alexandra horowitz, pilgrim at tinker creek by annie dillard, the backyard adventurer by beau miles.

Wonderful as it would be to climb Mount Everest or row across the Atlantic, not all of us will get the chance to go on an epic adventure. But that doesn't mean we can't go exploring. Alastair Humphreys , the British adventurer, explains the concept of 'local adventure' and recommends books that give a feel for what it's about and why it's worth pursuing.

Wonderful as it would be to climb Mount Everest or row across the Atlantic, not all of us will get the chance to go on an epic adventure. But that doesn’t mean we can’t go exploring. Alastair Humphreys, the British adventurer, explains the concept of ‘local adventure’ and recommends books that give a feel for what it’s about and why it’s worth pursuing.

The Best Travel Books of 2023: The Stanford Travel Writing Awards , recommended by Cal Flyn

In the shadow of the mountain by silvia vasquez-lavado, high: a journey across the himalaya, through pakistan, india, bhutan, nepal, and china by erika fatland, translated by kari dickson, crossed off the map: travels in bolivia by shafik meghji, the slow road to tehran: a revelatory bike ride through europe and the middle east by rebecca lowe, the po: an elegy for italy's longest river by tobias jones.

Every year, Stanfords , the best travel bookshop in the world (in our view), sponsors the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, with travel writers and journalists judging the best travel book in a number of categories. Here Cal Flyn , our deputy editor, takes us through the eight books shortlisted for the 2023 'Travel Book of the Year' award, taking us from Bolivia to Singapore via Europe, the Middle East and the top of Mt. Everest.

Every year, Stanfords , the best travel bookshop in the world (in our view), sponsors the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, with travel writers and journalists judging the best travel book in a number of categories. Here Cal Flyn, our deputy editor, takes us through the eight books shortlisted for the 2023 ‘Travel Book of the Year’ award, taking us from Bolivia to Singapore via Europe, the Middle East and the top of Mt. Everest.

Bruce Chatwin: Books that Influenced Him , recommended by Nicholas Shakespeare

Labyrinths by jorge luis borges, journey to armenia by osip mandelstam, planet and glow-worm by edith sitwell, the rings of saturn by w.g sebald.

With his books In Patagonia and The Songlines , Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) reinvented travel literature. Nicholas Shakespeare , his biographer, lifts the lid on a complex life and selects five books that influenced Chatwin's work.

With his books In Patagonia and The Songlines , Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) reinvented travel literature. Nicholas Shakespeare, his biographer, lifts the lid on a complex life and selects five books that influenced Chatwin’s work.

The best books on Southeast Asian Travel Literature , recommended by Cat Barton

The quiet american by graham greene, selected poems by james fenton, the gate by françois bizot, stay alive, my son by pin yathay, the beach by alex garland.

The Bureau Chief for the Agence France Presse in Dhaka discusses South East Asian travel literature. Particularly interesting on Cambodia. Further recommended reading from Graham Greene and James Fenton

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

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A good travel book means you can get lost trying to navigate the sleepy backwaters of Kerala , taste unidentifiable foods on the streets of Ho Chi Minh , and drive for miles across the wild plains of Africa , spotting nothing but wildebeest. Spend lazy days lying in a hammock strung between palm trees on an exotic beach and hazy evenings drinking the local brew in a shack in some hard-to-get-to village. Revisit a treasured spot or discover somewhere new.

Stories evoke a sense of place and reveal secrets about a destination , so here's our selection of inspiring novels set in foreign lands, from Alaska to Papua New Guinea , for armchair travellers and jet-setters.

Books that make you want to travel

TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY BY JOHN STEINBECK

Read it before you go to: the USA, on a road trip

'Nearly every American hungers to move.'

The book that is probably Steinbeck’s most endearing is not only a love letter to the USA , it’s also an ode to our innate desire and need to travel, and the joy and lifeblood it can breathe into us. 'A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike,' he says. 'And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.' At age 58, Steinbeck couldn’t fight his restlessness and, feeling he no longer knew or understood his country outside of New York , he hit the road for a year in a camper van, which he christened Rocinante after Don Quixote's horse. This riveting travelogue describes the many people he met along the way, the social and cultural patterns he noticed, the changing landscapes and seasons – and his heart-warming relationship with his sidekick, Charley the poodle. Buy now

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA BY GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ

Read it before you go to: Cartagena, Colombia

‘From the sky they could see, just as God saw them, the ruins of the very old and heroic city of Cartagena des Indias, the most beautiful in the world’

This is a book to start once you’re away, ten-minute bursts on the tube won’t do if you’re to keep up with Marquez’s lyrical language, which is crammed with detail, just like every cobbled street in Cartagena ’s Old Town. Magical realism comes close to reality in this city where the balconies of rainbow coloured houses heave with bougainvillaea, where locals knock back fiery aguardiente neat before noon, where squares shimmy to life with spinning salsa dancers at night. Here an epic love story unfolds over the course of a lifetime, and a passionate romance laced with an ugly seediness seems to crawl out from the very walls of this Spanish-colonial city on the Caribbean sea.

A MOVEABLE FEAST BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Read it before you go to: Paris

‘If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.’

This retrospective memoir by the American author documents his time as a struggling writer in the French capital during the early 1920s. He talks about the every day: the tables being washed down outside the cafés of Saint Germain first thing in the morning, lunches of cheese and baguette, on the days he can afford to eat – in some ways it is a very simple book about a city. But it's also a tale of the luminaries, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, that he meets along the way. Hemingway writes about the nature of love, and of the passing of time – with every sentence excruciatingly calculated in its simplicity.

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY BY JAY MCINERNEY

Read it before you go to: New York

‘Tad’s mission in life is to have more fun than anyone else in New York City, and this involves a lot of moving around, since there is always the likelihood that where you aren’t is more fun than where you are. You are awed by his strict refusal to acknowledge any goal higher than the pursuit of pleasure.’

New York in the 1980s was a place of rampant corruption, extraordinary violence and moral degradation. It also boasted the best nightlife in all human history. McInerney’s novel is supposed to be a takedown of the city’s crass materialism, but he is too in love with the target of his satire to make any of the charges stick. Because really this is a paean to Manhattan and its glorious degraded glamour. The second person narration – ‘You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time in the morning’ – drags you in from the first page before you know it you are overcome with an urgent desire to stalk the Lower East Side at 6am, the consequences be damned.

CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN BY LOUIS DE BERNIERES

Read it before you go to: Ionian islands, Greece

‘Once the eyes have adjusted to the extreme vestal chastity of this light, the light of any other place is miserable and dank by comparison; it is nothing more than something to see by, a disappointment, a blemish. Even the seawater of Cephalonia is easier to see through than the air of any other place.’

The year is 1941 and even the idyllic paradise of Cephalonia is not immune to the onslaught of the second world war. With the arrival of Italian Captain Antonio Corelli, the young and beautiful Pelagia is torn between a new suiter and her Greek fisherman fiancé, Mandras. As war sweeps the island, desire builds and ‘a love delayed is a lust augmented.’ The pages burn with the heat of passion, the rage of war and the scorch of the sun. Against all this action the mythical beauty of the island becomes even more patent, a landscape that jingles with the bells of rambling goats, sways like a breeze through twisting olive groves and dances with bobbing fishing boats in blue seas.

MY BRILLIANT FRIEND BY ELENA FERRANTE

Read it before you go to: Naples or Ischia

‘In that period it became a daily exercise: the better off I had been in Ischia, the worse off Lila had been in the desolation of the neighbourhood; the more I had suffered upon leaving the island , the happier she had become. It was as if, because of an evil spell, the joy or sorrow of one required the sorrow or joy of the other; even our physical aspect, it seemed to me, shared in that swing.’

The author, who shuns publicity, and whose identity is a mystery, captures southern Italy’s grittiness on every page of this four-part series. The chaotic tale of friendship begins in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples in the 1950s. And through the lives of two girls, Elena and Lila, the story of a city is told in a way that transforms the relationships of the protagonists too. The star of the show, though, is Ischia . The 17-square mile island, just an hour’s ferry from Naples, is where Elena spends one memorable summer – fleeing from the heat, and poverty of Naples.

INTO THE WILD BY JON KRAKAUER

Read it before you go: on an American road trip

‘In reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.’

Into the Wild follows the heartbreaking internal struggle of Christopher McCandless, an Emory University graduate and the son of wealthy parents who abandons all ties to modern day society in search of freedom, and happiness in nature. From kayaking down the dusty Colorado River, prancing on branches on the Pacific Coast Trail, running with wild horses in South Dakota, dancing on Salvation Mountain to walking waist-deep in freezing water down the Stampede Trail in Alaska, this book will inspire a road trip through the American south-west or California .

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THE DRIVER’S SEAT BY MURIEL SPARK

Read it before you go to: Italy

‘I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilots believe in the afterlife. You are safer when they don’t.’

There are books that inspire you to travel and then there are books that make you question why exactly you travel in the first place. The Driver’s Seat is an oddity of a novella, a short, staccato film noir, a crime story that’s not a crime story, about a woman, Lise, who flees 16 years of working in the same accountants’ office for an unnamed city in Italy . She dresses in garish, clashing colours – a yellow top, a skirt patterned with blue, mauve and orange, with a red-and-white-striped coat on top – so clashing that the porter of her hotel laughs at her. In her hands is a book she describes as 'a whydunnit in q-sharp and it has a message'. Though, actually, that works pretty well as a description of Spark's own work. Dark, witty and really quite disturbing.

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EAT PRAY LOVE BY ELIZABETH GILBERT

Read it before you go to: Italy, Indonesia, India – or anywhere solo

‘I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return. I am having a relationship with this pizza, almost an affair.’

Often dismissed as light-hearted chick-lit, Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling memoir of her travels through Italy, India and Bali will have you salivating over pizza in Naples and checking into an ashram, such is the power of her words. There’s plenty of soul-searching, sure, but there’s also humour, friendship and a bucket load of satisfying symbolism found in the most unlikely of places.

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RUNNING IN THE FAMILY BY MICHAEL ONDAATJE

Read it before you go to: Sri Lanka

‘From ten until noon we sit talking and drinking ice-cold palmyras toddy from a bottle we have filled in the village. This is a drink which smells of raw rubber and is the juice drained from the flower of a coconut. We sip it slowly, feeling it continue to ferment in the stomach.'

There are so many extraordinary, evocative, almost sensual depictions of Sri Lanka in the country’s novels. But, turn to Michael Ondaatje to take you straight to the intoxicating tropical heat of an island where everything smells of coconut oil (from the street-side cooking to the slick sheen of schoolgirls’ plaits). The novel is ostensibly fiction, a constructed memoir, but Ondaatje spent his childhood in Colombo and clearly draws heavily on that. His depiction of the family network within Sri Lankan society is vivid and vibrant. You can feel the drops of sweat, hear the buzzing chirping barking sounds of the steamy nights, as the dialogue intersperses itself with anecdotes and chapters of poetry. It’s magic. And gets better on second, third, fourth reading. Or you can follow on with the numerous-award-winning Anil’s Ghost for a narrative rooted in the harrowing shadow of the country’s civil war.

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SHANTARAM BY GREGORY DAVID ROBERTS

Read it before you go to: Mumbai

'The open windows of our battered bus gave us the aromas of spices, perfumes, diesel smoke, and the manure of oxen, in a steamy but not unpleasant mix, and voices rose up everywhere above ripples of unfamiliar music. Every corner carried gigantic posters, advertising Indian films.'

The story goes that the manuscript for Shantaram was destroyed. Twice. By prison guards. But author Gregory David Roberts persisted, penning one of the longest travel tomes about India , and more specifically, Mumbai . It’s a (supposedly) autobiographical love story in which Roberts falls for a woman and a city, intoxicated by life in the slums and a hefty amount of opium. It’s raw, romantic and revealing of some of Mumbai’s inner workings – the good, the bad and the really, really ugly – and it’s utterly compelling.

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THE MINIATURIST BY JESSIE BURTON

Read it before you go to: Amsterdam

'Looming above the sludge-coloured canal, the houses are a phenomenon. Admiring their own symmetry on the water, they are stately and beautiful, jewels set within the city’s pride. Above their rooftops Nature is doing her best to keep up, and clouds in colours of saffron and apricot echo the spoils of the glorious republic.'

From a quiet, rural childhood, Nella Oortman finds herself delivered via marriage to a grand townhouse on the Herengracht. Here she navigates a city bubbling with dangerous contradictions, where the repressive atmosphere of the Protestant Reformation mingles with excessive wealth, prolific trade and greed. With vivid description Jessie Burton conjures an image of Amsterdam as beautifully as a Vermeer painting, from the bustling canals to the Dutch East India Company’s dock-side warehouses to the sugary bakeries and the intricacies of life within the merchant’s houses in the glittering Golden Age. Visit the Rijks Museum and see for yourself the dolls house of Petronella (Nella) Oortman that inspired the book.

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THE POISONWOOD BIBLE BY BARBARA KINGSOLVER

Read it before you go to: East Africa

‘In Congo, a slashed jungle quickly becomes a field of flowers, and scars become the ornaments of a particular face. Call it oppression, complicity, stupefaction, call it what you like, it doesn't matter. Africa swallowed the conqueror's music and sang a new song of her own.’

The Poisonwood Bible tells the story of an American missionary family who moves to the Congo in the late 1950s – a time of political instability in the fight to shake off colonial rule. This is a book that brings Africa alive; the flavours, the smells, the sense of community, the jungle, the reverence for nature. Set against a background of racism and oppression, as the family’s tale unravels an initially alien world becomes multi-faceted and familiar. And while the family is fictional, many of the events their story wraps around – from the Congolese Independence ceremony to the assassination of politician Patrice Lumumba – actually happened, making it an interesting insight into the history of the area too.

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FOOTSTEPS BY RICHARD HOLMES

Read it before you go to: the South of France

‘Then I went down to the Loire, here little more than a stream, and sat naked in a pool cleaning my teeth. Behind me the sun came out and the woodfire smoke turned blue. I felt rapturous and slightly mad.’

In 1964, when he was just eighteen, Richard Holmes, the future biographer of Shelley and Coleridge, decided to recreate Robert Louis Stevenson’s twelve-day hike recorded in his Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes . He then ventures to Paris during the tumult of ’68, an homage to Mary Wollstonecraft’s similar journey across the Channel in search of revolutionary fervour. Part autobiography, part biography, part hymn to the glory of France (and Italy in a later trip following Shelley), Footsteps is occasionally thrilling and always hilarious. Reading the book leaves you rapturous and utterly mad with the urge to travel.

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AROUND INDIA IN 80 TRAINS BY MONISHA RAJESH

Read it before you go to: India

'To understand India you have to see it, hear it, breathe it and feel it. Living through the good, the bad and the ugly is the only way to know where you fit in and where India fits into you.’

Rajesh spent four months travelling around India by train to try and get to know a country that had become a stranger to her. In that time she covered just over 40,000km – almost the circumference of the earth. Whether she’s trundling on a toy train to Darjeeling, hanging out of a rammed Mumbai local or watching cataract surgery on a hospital train, the author evokes sounds and smells and tastes that make you feel like you’re riding alongside her. Being a British Indian she’s both an insider and outsider: explaining mannerisms, translating conversation, and engaging her fellow passengers with wonderful wit and humour. Aside from being a hilarious travelogue, the book explains how to negotiate the railway ticketing system, which trains have the best food, and uncovers beautiful places off the typical tourist trail.

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100 Must-Read Travel Books

Find adventure from the comfort of your armchair with some of the best travel books! These are 100 must-read books to kickstart your travels.

Rebecca Hussey

Rebecca holds a PhD in English and is a professor at Norwalk Community College in Connecticut. She teaches courses in composition, literature, and the arts. When she’s not reading or grading papers, she’s hanging out with her husband and son and/or riding her bike and/or buying books. She can't get enough of reading and writing about books, so she writes the bookish newsletter "Reading Indie," focusing on small press books and translations. Newsletter: Reading Indie Twitter: @ofbooksandbikes

View All posts by Rebecca Hussey

Real travel is awesome when we can manage it, but sometimes we just have to travel from our armchairs, right? When armchair travel is the most we can do, it’s good to have many reading options from which to choose. So I put together a list of 100 of the best travel books that will take you around the world without requiring any more effort than lifting your hand to turn the pages.

I did my best to organize these by geographical region, although sometimes that’s tricky since there are many ways to divide up the regions of the world. And I had to include a large category of “various locations” since some travel books really do take you everywhere. Within the geographical region, the books are organized chronologically.

I hope you will find some books on this list that pique your interest and can help you find adventures from the safety of your own home. Or maybe they will inspire you to go on a journey, or prepare you for an upcoming trip. Maybe you will read one of these on an airplane. Whatever the case, if travel is something that interests you, I hope this list helps you find new books to love.

Best Travel Books Set In Europe

Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796)

“ Originally published in 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft’s account of her trip to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, is compelling both in its picture of countries rarely visited in Regency times and insights into Mary’s personal life. ”

Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879)

“ Ever hopeful of encountering the adventure he yearned for and raising much needed finance at the start of his writing career, Stevenson embarked on the120 mile, 12 day trek and recorded his experiences in this journal.”

Edith Wharton, A Motor-Flight Through France (1908)

“ Shedding the turn-of-the-century social confines she felt existed for women in America, Edith Wharton set out in the newly invented ‘motor-car’ to explore the cities and countryside of France.”

D.H. Lawrence, Sea and Sardinia (1921)

“ Written after the First World War when he was living in Sicily, Sea and Sardinia records Lawrence’s journey to Sardinia and back in January 1921. It reveals his response to a new landscape and people and his ability to transmute the spirit of place into literary art.”

George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)

“ This unusual fictional account – in good part autobiographical – narrates without self-pity and often with humor the adventures of a penniless British writer among the down-and-out of two great cities. ”

Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941)

“ Written on the brink of World War II, Rebecca West’s classic examination of the history, people, and politics of Yugoslavia illuminates a region that is still a focus of international concern .”

Mary McCarthy, The Stones of Florence (1956)

“ Mary McCarthy offers a unique history of Florence, from its inception to the dominant role it came to play in the world of art, architecture, and Italian culture, that captures the brilliant Florentine spirit and revisits the legendary figures Dante, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and others who exemplify it so iconically.”

Jan Morris, The World of Venice (1960)

“ Often hailed as one of the best travel books ever written, Venice is neither a guide nor a history book, but a beautifully written immersion in Venetian life and character, set against the background of the city’s past. ”

Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts (1977)

“ In 1933, at the age of 18, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on an extraordinary journey by foot – from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. A Time of Gifts is the first volume in a trilogy recounting the trip, and takes the reader with him as far as Hungary.”

Tété-Michel Kpomassie, An African in Greenland (1981)

“ Tété-Michel Kpomassie was a teenager in Togo when he discovered a book about Greenland—and knew that he must go there. Working his way north over nearly a decade, Kpomassie finally arrived in the country of his dreams. ”

Peter Mayle, A Year in Provence (1989)

“ In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a long-cherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote country of the Lubéron with his wife and two large dogs. ”

Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun (1996)

“ Frances Mayes—widely published poet, gourmet cook, and travel writer—opens the door to a wondrous new world when she buys and restores an abandoned villa in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. ”

Adam Gopnik, Paris to the Moon (2000)

“ Paris. The name alone conjures images of chestnut-lined boulevards, sidewalk cafés, breathtaking façades around every corner–in short, an exquisite romanticism that has captured the American imagination for as long as there have been Americans.”

Lori Tharps , Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain (2008)

“ Magazine writer and editor Lori Tharps was born and raised in the comfortable but mostly White suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was often the only person of color in her school and neighborhood. At an early age, Lori decided that her destiny would be discovered in Spain. ”

Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor, Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story (2009)

“ Between 1998 and 2000, Sue and Ann travel throughout Greece and France. Sue, coming to grips with aging, caught in a creative vacuum, longing to reconnect with her grown daughter, struggles to enlarge a vision of swarming bees into a novel. Ann, just graduated from college, heartbroken and benumbed by the classic question about what to do with her life, grapples with a painful depression. ”

André Aciman, Alibis: Essays on Elsewhere (2011)

“ From beautiful and moving pieces about the memory evoked by the scent of lavender; to meditations on cities like Barcelona, Rome, Paris, and New York; to his sheer ability to unearth life secrets from an ordinary street corner,  Alibis  reminds the reader that Aciman is a master of the personal essay. ”

Sarah Moss, Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland (2012)

“ Novelist Sarah Moss had a childhood dream of moving to Iceland, sustained by a wild summer there when she was nineteen. In 2009, she saw an advertisement for a job at the University of Iceland and applied on a whim, despite having two young children and a comfortable life in an English cathedral city.”

Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot (2012)

“ In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. ”

Best Travel Books Set In  Latin America

Zora Neale Hurston, Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica (1938)

“ Based on Zora Neale Hurston’s personal experience in Haiti and Jamaica, where she participated as an initiate rather than just an observer of voodoo practices during her visits in the 1930s, this travelogue into a dark world paints a vividly authentic picture of ceremonies and customs and superstitions of great cultural interest. ”

Sybille Bedford, A Visit to Don Otavio (1953)

“ In the mid-1940s, Sybille Bedford set off from Grand Central Station for Mexico, accompanied by her friend E., a hamper of food and drink (Virginia ham, cherries, watercress, a flute of bread, Portuguese rosé), books, a writing board, and paper. Her resulting travelogue captures the rich and violent beauty of the country as it was then. ”

V.S. Naipaul, The Middle Passage , (1962)

“ In 1960 the government of Trinidad invited V. S. Naipaul to revisit his native country and record his impressions. In this classic of modern travel writing he has created a deft and remarkably prescient portrait of Trinidad and four adjacent Caribbean societies–countries haunted by the legacies of slavery and colonialism .”

Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia (1977)

“ An exhilarating look at a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land, Bruce Chatwin’s exquisite account of his journey through Patagonia teems with evocative descriptions, remarkable bits of history, and unforgettable anecdotes.”

Paul Theroux, The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas (1979)

“ Beginning his journey in Boston, where he boarded the subway commuter train, and catching trains of all kinds on the way, Paul Theroux tells of his voyage from ice-bound Massachusetts and Illinois to the arid plateau of Argentina’s most southerly tip. ”

Salman Rushdie, The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey (1987)

“ In this brilliantly focused and haunting portrait of the people, the politics, the land, and the poetry of Nicaragua, Salman Rushdie brings to the forefront the palpable human facts of a country in the midst of a revolution. ”

Mary Morris, Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone (1987)

“ Traveling from the highland desert of northern Mexico to the steaming jungles of Honduras, from the seashore of the Caribbean to the exquisite highlands of Guatemala, Mary Morris, a celebrated writer of both fiction and nonfiction, confronts the realities of place, poverty, machismo, and selfhood. ”

Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place (1988)

“ Lyrical, sardonic, and forthright, A Small Place magnifies our vision of one small place with Swiftian wit and precision. Jamaica Kincaid’s expansive essay candidly appraises the ten-by-twelve-mile island in the British West Indies where she grew up, and makes palpable the impact of European colonization and tourism. ”

Isabel Allende, My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile (2003)

“ Isabel Allende evokes the magnificent landscapes of her country; a charming, idiosyncratic Chilean people with a violent history and an indomitable spirit, and the politics, religion, myth, and magic of her homeland that she carries with her even today. ”

Best Travel Books Set In  North America

Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)

“ Widely admired for its vivid accounts of the slave trade, Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography — the first slave narrative to attract a significant readership — reveals many aspects of the eighteenth-century Western world through the experiences of one individual. ”

Isabella Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains (1879)

“ Bird was born in 1831 in Cheshire, England, and became one of a distinguished group of female travellers famous in the nineteenth century–a time when it was considered that a lady’s place should be confined to the home. Isabella travelled and explored the world extensively and became a notable writer and natural historian.”

John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley in Search of America (1962)

“ In September 1960, John Steinbeck embarked on a journey across America. He felt that he might have lost touch with the country, with its speech, the smell of its grass and trees, its color and quality of light, the pulse of its people.”

Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire (1968)

“ This is a rare view of a quest to experience nature in its purest form — the silence, the struggle, the overwhelming beauty. But this is also the gripping, anguished cry of a man of character who challenges the growing exploitation of the wilderness by oil and mining interests, as well as by the tourist industry. ”

Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974)

“ A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. ”

Edmund White, States of Desire: Travels in Gay America (1980)

“ In this city-by-city description of the way homosexual men lived in the late seventies, Edmund White gives us a picture of Gay America that will surprise gay and straight readers alike.”

William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982)

“ William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity … His adventures, his discoveries, and his recollections of the extraordinary people he encountered along the way amount to a revelation of the true American experience.”

Gretel Ehrlich, The Solace of Open Spaces (1984)

“ Poet and filmmaker Gretel Ehrlich went to Wyoming in 1975 to make the first in a series of documentaries when her partner died. Ehrlich stayed on and found she couldn’t leave. The Solace of Open Spaces is a chronicle of her first years on “the planet of Wyoming,” a personal journey into a place, a feeling, and a way of life. ”

Jonathan Raban, Bad Land: An American Romance (1985)

“ In towns named Terry, Calypso, and Ismay (which changed its name to Joe, Montana, in an effort to attract football fans), and in the landscape in between, Raban unearths a vanished episode of American history, with its own ruins, its own heroes and heroines, its own hopeful myths and bitter memories. ”

Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild (1996)

“ In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. ”

Jenny Diski, Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking Around America with Interruptions (2002)

“ Using two cross-country trips on Amtrak as her narrative vehicles, British writer Jenny Diski connects the humming rails, taking her into the heart of America with the track-like scars leading back to her own past. ”

Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost (2005)

“ A Field Guide to Getting Lost draws on emblematic moments and relationships in Solnit’s own life to explore the issues of wandering, being lost, and the uses of the unknown. The result is a distinctive, stimulating, and poignant voyage of discovery. ”

Sarah Vowell, Assassination Vacation (2005)

“ With Assassination Vacation, [Vowell] takes us on a road trip like no other—a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage. ”

Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (2012)

“ At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life.”

Suzanne Roberts, Almost Somewhere: Twenty-Eight Days on the John Muir Trail (2012)

“ It was 1993, Suzanne Roberts had just finished college, and when her friend suggested they hike California’s John Muir Trail, the adventure sounded like the perfect distraction from a difficult home life and thoughts about the future. But she never imagined that the twenty-eight-day hike would change her life. ”

Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road (2015)

“ Gloria Steinem—writer, activist, organizer, and one of the most inspiring leaders in the world—now tells a story she has never told before, a candid account of how her early years led her to live an on-the-road kind of life, traveling, listening to people, learning, and creating change. ”

Best Travel Books Set In  Asia

Matsuo Bashō, The Narrow Road to the Deep North (1689)

“ In later life Basho turned to Zen Buddhism, and the travel sketched in this volume reflect his attempts to cast off earthly attachments and reach out to spiritual fulfillment. The sketches are written in the ‘haibun’ style–a linking of verse and prose. ”

Alexandra David-Néel, My Journey to Lhasa (1927)

“ In order to penetrate Tibet and reach Lhasa, she used her fluency of Tibetan dialects and culture, disguised herself as a beggar with yak hair extensions and inked skin and tackled some of the roughest terrain and climate in the World.”

Eric Newby, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (1958)

“ No mountaineer, Newby set out with a friend to explore the formidable peaks of the Nuristan Mountains in northeast Afghanistan. His witty, unorthodox report is packed with incidents both ghastly and ecstatic as he takes us where few Western feet have trod.”

Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard (1978)

“ When Matthiessen went to Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and, possibly, to glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard, he undertook his five-week trek as winter snows were sweeping into the high passes. This is a radiant and deeply moving account of a ‘true pilgrimage, a journey of the heart.'”

Michael Ondaatje, Running in the Family (1982)

“ In the late 1970s Ondaatje returned to his native island of Sri Lanka. As he records his journey through the drug-like heat and intoxicating fragrances of that ‘pendant off the ear of India,’ Ondaatje simultaneously retraces the baroque mythology of his Dutch-Ceylonese family. ”

Vikram Seth, From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkian and Tibet (1983)

“ After two years as a postgraduate student at Nanjing University in China, Vikram Seth hitch-hiked back to his home in New Delhi, via Tibet. From Heaven Lake is the story of his remarkable journey and his encounters with nomadic Muslims, Chinese officials, Buddhists and others. ”

Christina Dodwell, Traveller in China (1985)

“ Christina Dodwell s wanderlust, combined with her inventive and unorthodox methods of travel and her unquenchable curiosity about people, make her the ideal guide to the remoter parts of China’s vast territory. ”

Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu (1988)

“ Why did Dire Straits blast out over Hiroshima, Bruce Springsteen over Bali and Madonna over all? The author was eager to learn where East meets West, how pop culture and imperialism penetrated through the world’s most ancient civilisations. Then, the truths he began to uncover were more startling, subtle, and more complex than he ever anticipated. ”

Pankaj Mishra, Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India (1995)

“ From a convent-educated beauty pageant aspirant to small shopkeepers planning their vacation in London, Pankaj Mishra paints a vivid picture of a people rushing headlong to their tryst with modernity. ”

Andrew Pham, Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam (1999)

“ Catfish and Mandala is the story of an American odyssey—a solo bicycle voyage around the Pacific Rim to Vietnam—made by a young Vietnamese-American man in pursuit of both his adopted homeland and his forsaken fatherland.”

Ma Jian, Red Dust: A Path Through China (2001)

“ In 1983, at the age of thirty, dissident artist Ma Jian finds himself divorced by his wife, separated from his daughter, betrayed by his girlfriend, facing arrest for ‘Spiritual Pollution,’ and severely disillusioned with the confines of life in Beijing. So with little more than a change of clothes and two bars of soap, Ma takes off to immerse himself in the remotest parts of China. ”

Suketu Mehta , Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (2004)

“ The book combines elements of memoir, travel writing as well as socio-political analysis of the history and people of Mumbai. Mehta writes as a person who is at one level outsider to this magnificent city and on the other hand is the one who is born here and has lived his childhood in the city then known as Bombay. ”

Faith Adiele, Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun (2004)

“ Reluctantly leaving behind Pop Tarts and pop culture to battle flying rats, hissing cobras, forest fires, and decomposing corpses, Faith Adiele shows readers in this personal narrative, with accompanying journal entries, that the path to faith is full of conflicts for even the most devout. ”

Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (2009)

“ Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years–a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population. ”

Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers (2012)

“ In this brilliant, breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. ”

Best Travel Books Set In  Africa

Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa (1897)

“ Upon her sudden freedom from family obligations, a sheltered Victorian spinster traded her stifling middle-class existence for an incredible expedition in the Congo. ”

Beryl Markham, West with the Night (1942)

“[Markham’s] successes and her failures—and her deep, lifelong love of the ‘soul of Africa’—are all chronicled here with wrenching honesty and agile wit. Hailed by National Geographic as one of the greatest adventure books of all time, West with the Night is the sweeping account of a fearless and dedicated woman. ”

Maya Angelou, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986)

“ Once again, the poet casts her spell as she resumes one of the greatest personal narratives of our time. In this continuation, Angelou relates how she joins a “colony” of Black American expatriates in Ghana–only to discover no one ever goes home again. ”

Eddy L. Harris, Native Stranger: A Black American’s Journey into the Heart of Africa (1992)

“ Recounting his journey into the heart of Africa, an African American describes his encounters with beggars and bureaucrats, his visit to Soweto, a night in a Liberian jail cell, and more. ”

Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families (1998)

“ Philip Gourevitch’s haunting work is an anatomy of the killings in Rwanda, a vivid history of the genocide’s background, and an unforgettable account of what it means to survive in its aftermath. ”

Colleen McElroy, Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar (1999)

“ McElroy’s tale of an African American woman’s travels among the people of Madagascar is told with wit, insight, and humor. Throughout it she interweaves English translations of Malagasy stories of heroism and morality, royalty and commoners, love and revenge, and the magic of tricksters and shapechangers. ”

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, New News Out of Africa: Uncovering Africa’s Renaissance (2006)

“ In New News Out of Africa , this eminent reporter offers a fresh and surprisingly optimistic assessment of modern Africa, revealing that there is more to the continent than the bad news of disease, disaster, and despair.”

Noo Saro-Wiwa, Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (2012)

“ She finds [Nigeria] as exasperating as ever, and frequently despairs at the corruption and inefficiency she encounters. But she also discovers that it is far more beautiful and varied than she had ever imagined, with its captivating thick tropical rainforest and ancient palaces and monuments.”

Best Travel Books Set In The  South Pacific

Robyn Davidson, Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback (1980)

“ Robyn Davidson’s opens the memoir of her perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company with the following words: ‘I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there’s no going back.'”

Dea Birkett, Serpent in Paradise (1997)

“ Acclaimed British travel writer and journalist Dea Birkett, obsessed like many with the island’s image as a secluded Eden and its connection to the mysterious and intriguing Bounty legend, traveled across the Pacific on a cargo ship and became one of the very few outsiders permitted to land on Pitcairn. ”

Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country (2000)

“ Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. ”

Kira Salak, Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua, New Guinea (2001)

“ Traveling by dugout canoe and on foot, confronting the dangers and wonders of a largely untouched world, [Salak] became the first woman to traverse this remote country and write about it. ”

Best Travel Books Set In The  Middle East/North Africa

Mary Wortley Montagu, The Turkish Embassy Letters (1716)

“ Her lively letters offer insights into the paradoxical freedoms conferred on Muslim women by the veil, the value of experimental work by Turkish doctors on inoculation, and the beauty of Arab poetry and culture. ”

Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana (1937)

“ In 1933 the delightfully eccentric Robert Byron set out on a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad and Teheran to Oxiana -the country of the Oxus, the ancient name for the river Amu Darya which forms part of the border between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. ”

Isabelle Eberhardt, The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt (1987, written in late 19th century)

“ Eberhardt’s journal chronicles the daring adventures of a late 19th- century European woman who traveled the Sahara desert disguised as an Arab man and adopted Islam.”

Sara Suleri, Meatless Days (1989)

“ In this finely wrought memoir of life in postcolonial Pakistan, Suleri intertwines the violent history of Pakistan’s independence with her own most intimate memories—of her Welsh mother; of her Pakistani father, prominent political journalist Z.A. Suleri; of her tenacious grandmother Dadi and five siblings; and of her own passage to the West. ”

Amitav Ghosh, In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler’s Tale (1993)

“ Interspersing his quest with accounts of his stay in ‘Masr’ and the people he met, Ghosh weaves together a narrative packed with exuberant detail, exposing ties that have bound together India and Egypt, and Hindus and Muslims and Jews, from the Crusades to Operation Desert Storm.”

Rory Stewart, The Places in Between (2004)

“ In January 2002 Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan–surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers … Along the way Stewart met heroes and rogues, tribal elders and teenage soldiers, Taliban commanders and foreign-aid workers. ”

Colin Thubron, Shadow of the Silk Road (2007)

“ Making his way by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart, and camel, Colin Thubron covered some seven thousand miles in eight months out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran into Kurdish Turkey and explored an ancient world in modern ferment. ”

Gertrude Bell, A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert (2015, written in early 20th century)

“ This is the epic story of Bell’s life, told through her letters, military dispatches, diary entries, and other writings. It offers a unique and intimate look behind the public mask of a woman who shaped nations. ”

Lynsey Addario, It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War (2015)

“ Lynsey Addario was just finding her way as a young photographer when September 11 changed the world. One of the few photojournalists with experience in Afghanistan, she gets the call to return and cover the American invasion.”

Best Travel Books Set In  Arctic/Antarctic

Ernest Shackleton, South: The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition, 1914-1917 (1919)

“ In an epic struggle of man versus the elements, Shackleton leads his team on a harrowing quest for survival over some of the most unforgiving terrain in the world.”

Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams (2001)

“ Lopez offers a thorough examination of this obscure world-its terrain, its wildlife, its history of Eskimo natives and intrepid explorers who have arrived on their icy shores. But what turns this marvelous work of natural history into a breathtaking study of profound originality is his unique meditation on how the landscape can shape our imagination, desires, and dreams. ”

Sara Wheeler, Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica (1996)

“ Terra Incognita is a meditation on the landscape, myths and history of one of the remotest parts of the globe, as well as an encounter with the international temporary residents of the region – living in close confinement despite the surrounding acres of white space – and the mechanics of day-to-day life in extraordinary conditions. ”

Gretchen Legler, On the Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station, Antarctica (2005)

“ Sent to Antarctica as an observer by the National Science Foundation, Gretchen Legler arrives at McMurdo Station in midwinter, a time of -70 degree temperatures and months of near-total darkness. ”

Various Locations

Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Battuta , (14th century)

“ Ibn Battutah—ethnographer, bigrapher, anecdotal historian and occasional botanist—was just 21 when he set out in 1325 from his native Tangier on a pilgramage to Mecca. He did not return to Morocco for another 29 years, traveling instead through more than 40 countries on the modern map, covering 75,000 miles and getting as far north as the Volga, as far east as China, and as far south as Tanzania. ”

Martha Gellhorn, Travels With Myself and Another (1979): “ Out of a lifetime of travelling, Martha Gellhorn has selected her ‘best horror journeys.’ She bumps through rain-sodden, war-torn China to meet Chiang Kai-Shek, floats listlessly in search of u-boats in the wartime Caribbean and visits a dissident writer in the Soviet Union against her better judgment.”

Barbara Savage, Miles from Nowhere: A Round-The World Bicycle Adventure (1983)

“ This is the story of Barbara and Larry Savage’s sometimes dangerous, often zany, but ultimately rewarding 23,000 miles global bicycle odyssey, which took them through 25 countries in two years.”

Elaine Lee, editor, Go Girl!: The Black Woman’s Book of Travel and Adventure (1997)

“Globe-trotting attorney Lee assembled 52 travel pieces presenting the uncommon perspective of black women, mostly African Americans. Assembled under the headings ‘Back to Africa,’ ‘Sistren Travelin’,’ and ‘Trippin’ All Over the World,’ many initially appeared in popular women’s or travel magazines.”

Cheryl J. Fish, editor, A Stranger in the Village: Two Centuries of African-American Travel Writing (1999)

“ Dispatches, diaries, memoirs, and letters by African-American travelers in search of home, justice, and adventure-from the Wild West to Australia. ”

Caryl Phillips, The Atlantic Sound (2000)

“ Liverpool, England; Accra, Ghana; Charleston, South Carolina. These were the points of the triangle forming the major route of the transatlantic slave trade. And these are the cities that acclaimed author Caryl Phillips explores–physically, historically, psychologically–in this wide-ranging meditation on the legacy of slavery. ”

Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel (2002)

“ Any Baedeker will tell us where we ought to travel, but only Alain de Botton will tell us how and why … de Botton considers the pleasures of anticipation; the allure of the exotic, and the value of noticing everything from a seascape in Barbados to the takeoffs at Heathrow.”

Geoff Dyer, Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It (2003)

“ As he travels from Amsterdam to Cambodia, Rome to Indonesia, Libya to Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert, Dyer flounders about in a sea of grievances, with fleeting moments of transcendental calm his only reward for living in a perpetual state of motion. ”

Susan Orlean, My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who’s Been Everywhere (2004)

“ In this irresistible collection of adventures far and near, Orlean conducts a tour of the world via its subcultures, from the heart of the African music scene in Paris to the World Taxidermy Championships in Springfield, Illinois–and even into her own apartment, where she imagines a very famous houseguest taking advantage of her hospitality. ”

Ryszard Kapuściński , Travels with Herodotus (2004)

“J ust out of university in 1955, Kapuscinski told his editor that he’d like to go abroad. Dreaming no farther than Czechoslovakia, the young reporter found himself sent to India. Wide-eyed and captivated, he would discover in those days his life’s work—to understand and describe the world in its remotest reaches, in all its multiplicity.”

Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love (2006)

“ Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. ”

Tahir Shah, Travels with Myself (2011)

“ Travels with Myself is a collection of selected writings by Tahir Shah, acclaimed Anglo-Afghan author and champion of the intrepid. Written over twenty years, the many pieces form an eclectic treasury of stories from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and beyond.

Elisabeth Eaves, Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents (2011)

“ Spanning 15 years of travel, beginning when she is a sophomore in college, Wanderlust documents Elisabeth Eaves’s insatiable hunger for the rush of the unfamiliar and the experience of encountering new people and cultures. ”

Paula Young Lee, Deer Hunting in Paris: A Memoir of God, Guns, and Game Meat (2013)

“ What happens when a Korean-American preacher’s kid refuses to get married, travels the world, and quits being vegetarian? She meets her polar opposite on an online dating site while sitting at a café in Paris, France and ends up in Paris, Maine, learning how to hunt. ”

Emily Raboteau, Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora (2013)

“ On her ten-year journey back in time and around the globe, through the Bush years and into the age of Obama, Raboteau wanders to Jamaica, Ethiopia, Ghana, and the American South to explore the complex and contradictory perspectives of Black Zionists. ”

Amanda Epe, A Fly Girl: Travel Tales of an Exotic British Airways Cabin Crew (2014)

“ A Fly Girl gives insight to the highs and lows in the world of a former BA cabin crew, in an intriguing travel writing memoir. In the global landscape the memoirist meticulously documents personal adventures, social structures and political history throughout her daring and exciting expeditions.”

Robert Moor, On Trails: An Exploration (2016)

“ Throughout, Moor reveals how this single topic—the oft-overlooked trail—sheds new light on a wealth of age-old questions: How does order emerge out of chaos? How did animals first crawl forth from the seas and spread across continents?”

What do you think are the best travel books? Check out even more recommendations for travel memoirs here !

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30 Best Travel Books to Inspire The Wanderer in You

Written By: The Planet D

Inspiration

Updated On: January 7, 2024

The best way I know how to spark my wanderlust is to get inspiration from great travel books. My favorite travel books cover everything from a life changing experience to overcoming adversity. They make me laugh out loud and inspire me to explore the world. These books don’t focus on one theme they focus on many. So get your Kindle ready and start downloading today!

Table of Contents

Best Travel Books to Explore the World

In this article, we wanted to share some of the best travel books that made me laugh, made me cry, and inspired me to get out and travel around the world.

Disclosure: If you click the links below and make a purchase from Amazon, we do receive a referral commission at no extra cost to you.

1. Masked Rider by Neil Peart

Many people know him as a massively talented drummer from  Rush . But what they do not realize is that Neil Peart was not only one of the greatest drummers in the history of music , he was also an avid cyclist. Sadly, Peart died of cancer, but through his music and travelogue and travel books his genius lives on. (yes he has more than )

Masked Rider is an honest and undisguised account of his time cycling in West Africa. It’s a must read for anyone who wants to go on a great adventure. Neil Peart lets us see the man behind the rock star and he makes us realize that superstars are people too. Purchase Masked Rider – Neil Peart on Amazon

2. Finding Gobi by Dion Leonard

If you love dogs, this is one of the best adventure travel books you’ll read to make you smile. Ultramarathon runner Dion Leonard traveled to China with one thing on his mind; to finish on the podium of a 155-mile race through the Gobi desert.

Follow the story of Leonard, whose heart is warmed by the persistence of a stray dog that kept pace through heat and exhaustion for 70 miles. See how Leonard is transformed from a focused veteran to a man that gives up what little food he has in his pack to share with the stray dog that he named, Gobi. Buy Finding Gobi – Dion Leonard on Amazon.com to see what happens next

3. American Shaolin by Matthew Polly

A regular American guy, Matthew Polly recounts his time living, studying, and performing with the Shaolin monks in China. This is one bizarre and hilarious travel memoir about fulfilling your dreams. Follow along as Matthew drops out of Princeton to pursue his ambitions of transforming his scrawny physique into that of a kung fu master.

He tells tales of breaking into the secret world of Shaolin Kung Fu which has strange disciplines like “The Iron Crotch” and other various indestructible body parts. I seriously think this is also one of the funnest travel books to read out there. Check out American Shaolin – Matthew Polly today.

4. Crazy Rich Asians – Kevin Kwan

The movie took the world by storm and it is one of the few travel books that translates to screen beautifully. Peek behind the looking glass of the secretive billionaire families that have more money than Vladimir Putin.

Follow along as Rachel joins her boyfriend in Singapore on a summer holiday only to find out that her humble boyfriend is Asia’s most eligible bachelor and everyone (including his mother) is out to tear them apart.

This is one of the best travel books based in Asia depicting the unique culture of Singaore. Read Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan now.

5. White Tiger – Aravind Adiga

White Tiger tells of a dirty and unforgiving India, an India that doesn’t allow people to claw their way out of their Caste. It is now a movie on Netflix. I haven’t watched it yet but if it’s good you can be sure I’ll add it to my favorite travel movies.

This was one of those travel books that neither of us could put down and a book that we feel is a must read for everyone  traveling to India.   Those who have spent their time in an Ashram or driving around the country in an organized tour isolated from the truth won’t like it. But, like one review said, “This is the book that India Tourism doesn’t want you to read.” Get White Tiger by Aravind Adiga on Amazon.

6. The Beach by Alex Garland

Let me set one thing straight, I hated the movie The Beach, but I loved the book by Alex Garland. The Beach captures what travel was like in Thailand way back in the 1990s. (trust me, we were there). This is one of the first travel books we read that really brought us back. toa place we had been to.

The rooms in Thai guesthouses were disgusting, and the streets were filled with backpackers seeking adventure while escaping the world drinking cheap beer. There were still undiscovered coves and beaches that nobody had heard of, and there were probably several drug kingpins running the land.

Visiting Thailand for the first time is still a great adventure and this is a must read anyone going to the land of Smiles for the very first time! The Beach by Alex Garland is available on Amazon.

7. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson is the king of writing travel books that make you laugh our loud. Anything by Bill Bryson is a winner, but my personal favorite memoir by Bryson is “In a Sunburned Country”. This was the first book I read by Bryson and it inspired me to read them all! I laughed out loud.

Written at a time when the world was still getting to know Australia, it shows the quirkiness of the island country and makes you want to book a ticket to see it for yourself. If you pick up any book by Bill Bryson, you won’t be sorry but, In a Sunburned Country is our favorite.

Go Around the World with Bill Bryson:

• A Walk in the Woods – Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail spanning the Eastern Coast.
• A Stranger to Myself – Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away
• The Best American Travel Writing
• The Road to Little Dribbling – An American in Britain

8. Dave Barry Does Japan

He may be old school when it comes to mentioning travel books and authors, but Dave Barry is hilarious. It was Dave Barry who sparked my love for travel writing and how powerful, funny, and inspiring it could be.

I never thought I’d become a travel writer, but I loved reading about his escapades around the world. He explains Japanese traditions through humor and experiences at karaoke bars, geisha encounters, kabuki theatre, and confusing comedy clubs. Japan is still very confusing even today so it is worth a read. Check out Dave Barry Does Japan and have a great laugh today.

9. Love Africa by Jeffrey Gettleman

Love Africa tells the story of Jeffry Gettleman the East Africa bureau chief for the New York Times. It begins with his first trip to Africa when he volunteered and fell in love with the continent.

But he kept being called back to the United States to his other love, his girlfriend Courtenay who is a criminal defense lawyer. Follow along as he navigates his career as a journalist, to his love for Africa and his true love relationship with Courtenay. We know how Africa can tug at your heart.

Can you have it all? Read and follow along on this travel memoir through Africa, because we’re not giving it away. Buy Love Africa by Jeffrey Gettleman on Amazon.

10. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

It’s an oldie but a goodie. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is the story of a shepherd boy named Santiago who sells his flock and purchases a ticket to Tangier, where he is robbed and must work at a shop to find his way home.

At the heart of the book lies Santiago who embarks on a quest to find his true purpose in life. As he encounters a series of characters and navigates the challenges of the journey, Santiago learns valuable lessons about faith and perseverance.

“The Alchemist” is a book that invites readers to reflect on their own lives and aspirations. Coelho’s emphasis on listening to one’s heart, embracing the unknown, and overcoming fear resonate deeply, inspiring readers to question their own paths and pursue their personal legends with courage and determination.

He ends up taking a great adventure across the Sahara and after all his adventures, discovers his fortune right back where he started. I read this book before we started traveling full time and it put me in the mood to wander. And to appreciate life.

I think The Alchemist was the catalyst for my dream of becoming a travel writer and taking the leap to explore the world. This book taught me that you don’t need to go far to discover the beauty in life. Buy the Alchemist on Amazon

11. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

This no-holds-barred autobiography of a child soldier, Ishmael Beah, is gripping.  A Long Way Gone tells how an innocent child can be forced into savage warfare in Sierra Leone. It may not belong in your typical travel books listing, but it is something that people should read and know about.

Having lost everything including his family, his home, and his soul, Ishmael tells of his journey to evade the military. For three years he hid in the jungle and half-starved to death. It recounts the fear and despair he felt each day until he was finally captured by the government army.

Hopped up on drugs, he was forced to commit unthinkable acts. This is a story of going to hell and back, living a life of revenge and violence. He was rescued by UNICEF but it was a long and painful rehabilitation. Read A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

12. The Bang Bang Club – Greg Marinovich & Jaoa Silva

Set in Apartheid-Era South Africa, the  Bang Bang Club  is a true account telling the tale of the four photojournalists that dared to enter the townships and document history as it was happening.

It was written by two surviving journalists Greg Marinovich & Jaoa Silva Heartbreaking and shocking, the Bang Bang Club doesn’t hold back when telling of the brutality of that time.

The photographers had to come to terms with their own demons and what they witnessed day in and day out as war correspondence reporters. Their photos made history and set new standards, earning a Pulitzer Prize for two of the photographers. Get Your Copy of The Bang Bang Club – Greg Marinovich & Jaoa Silva

13. The Girl in the Picture – Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, photographer Nick Ut captured the shocking photo of children running from a napalm blast. Kim Phuc was the center of that photograph, with her naked body covered in severe burns. It became known as “the photo of the century” winning the Pulitzer Prize

In her own words, Kim tells her story of what happened to “The Girl in the Picture” Read the fascinating tale as she journeys from Vietnam eventually landing in Canada where she faced many hardships along the way. This book not only showed me what it was like for Phuc, but taught me about communism in Vietnam and what it took to break away. The Girl in the Picture – Vietnam

14. Touching the Void – Joe Simpson

Joe Simpson recalls his harrowing climb of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes back in 1985 with Simon Yates. Disaster struck after their summit when Joe fell into a crevasse and broke his leg (very badly).

We love adventure travel, but this is an entirely new level. The book stands the test of time as Joe recalls the three days he spent trying to get down the mountain after a near fatal fall and what he had to endure along the say. It was also  made into a movie  in 2003. Touching the Void – Joe Simpson

15. Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is a gripping and harrowing firsthand account of the tragic 1996 Mount Everest disaster. As an acclaimed travel writer and mountaineer, Krakauer brings his expertise and storytelling prowess to this unforgettable true story that resonates with readers long after the final page.

Krakauer’s ability to convey the physical and emotional challenges faced by climbers on the world’s highest peak is unparalleled. I couldn’t put this book down. Krakauer captures the essence of the mountaineering experience, immersing readers in the awe-inspiring beauty and perilous nature of Everest that inspired us to visit Everest Base Camp.

Krakauer candidly reflects on his own role and decisions during the ill-fated expedition, providing a raw and introspective narrative that adds depth and authenticity to the book. His vulnerability and willingness to share the emotional toll of the tragedy make the story even more compelling.

We’ve been to  Mount Everest Base Camp  and it was exciting to read about a place that we’ve been to and retrace steps through Namche Bazaar, the Tengboche Monks, and the Sherpa monuments to those who have fallen. Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer

Into the Wild by John Krakauer

We go directly to another John Krakauer. As a travel writer, Krakauer goes beyond mere adventure storytelling and has a knack for delving into the complexities of human nature and Into the Wild certainly does that.

Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer is a captivating and introspective exploration of the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who abandoned civilization to embark on a solitary adventure in the Alaskan wilderness. It begins with a typical road trip across the country and then takes a turn.

Through interviews, personal anecdotes, and McCandless’s own writings, Krakauer pieces together the motivations, struggles, and ideals that led him to seek solace and freedom in the untamed wilderness.examining his desire for self-discovery, his rejection of societal norms, and his yearning for a simpler existence. Krakauer offers insights into the allure of the wild and the inner turmoil of a young man searching for meaning and transcendence.

The book delves into the complexities of McCandless’s character, and Krakauer’s skillful storytelling and introspective analysis allow readers to appreciate the complexities of his subject, even if they do not completely align with McCandless’s actions. Read it now.

16. Dark Star Safari – Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux is one of the Greatest modern travel writers of our time. And he has written many classics such as Mosquito Coast and the Great Railway Bazaar, but our favorite travel book by Paul Theroux is Dark Star Safari.

Dave and I started our travel adventures cycling from Cairo to Cape Town and Dark Star Safari takes Theroux overland as he revisits the continent but he was on a road trip (not bicycle). This book took us back to Africa and brought back all the feelings we had – the good, bad, the ugly, and the depressing parts that we forget.

Through his vivid account, sharp wit, and introspective reflections he brings to life the people, places, and complexities he encounters along the way from Cairo to Cap Town. From bustling cities to remote villages, readers are transported to the heart of Africa, experiencing the triumphs, hardships, beauty and every day life that define the continent.

What we like about Dark Star Safar, is how he shows the less glamorous aspects of travel. He confronts the realities of poverty, political instability, and cultural clashes, providing a nuanced and balanced perspective of Africa. Through his encounters with locals, aid workers, and fellow travelers, he unveils the complexities and contradictions that exist within each country and challenges common stereotypes. See our Cairo to Cape Town adventures at It All Began in Egypt: Cycling a Continent

Get Dark Star Safari – Paul Theroux on Amazon

17. Wild – From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Adventure travel can be transformational. When taking on a challenge, it is an emotional roller coaster. I’ve definitely been there with negative and productive thoughts and regrets. But as at the end of any grand adventure, the struggle can be healing and you can come out triumphant.

One of the most successful travel books (it always is when turned into a movie right?) focuses on the journey of the author along the Pacific Crest Trail while she navigates the physical and emotional challenges of hiking over a thousand miles in search of healing and self-discovery.

At the heart of the book lies Strayed’s emotional and psychological journey. As she grapples with grief, loss, and personal demons, she confronts her own vulnerabilities and gradually finds strength and resilience. Her candid exploration and raw honesty of her past mistakes, relationships, and the complexities of human nature is both relatable and inspiring.

Follow along as Cheryl Strayed faces her demons and struggles her way along the way. You can purchase Wild – Lost and Found on The Pacific Crest Trail. On Amazon here.

18. A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe

A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe is an anthology that celebrates the spirit of solo female travel. Edited by Faith Conlon, Ingrid Emerick, and Christina Henry de Tessan, this collection of personal narratives showcases the empowering and transformative experiences of women who have ventured out into the world on their own.

Solo female travelers will love this travel book. The book features a diverse range of stories from women of various backgrounds and destinations, offering a mosaic of perspectives and travel experiences. From exploring bustling cities to traversing remote landscapes, readers are treated to a rich tapestry of cultures, encounters, and adventures.

The anthology captures the essence of travel, going beyond mere descriptions of destinations to delve into the transformative power of exploration. A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe is an empowering and inspirational read for both seasoned travelers and those dreaming of embarking on their first solo adventure.

Get it on Amazon

19. 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz

1,000 Places to See Before You Die  is the original brainchild of the talented and wonderful Patricia Schultz. If you have a serious case of wanderlust to travel around the world, buy this travel book by Patricia Schultz. This travel book makes for a great gift!

Many travelers are always looking for inspiration and there is an endless supply here. I’ve taken my Sharpie Marker and gone through all the destinations around the globe that she recommends. 1,000 Places to See Before You Die is the world’s best selling travel book. I wish I had thought of this idea. If you are a collector of travel books, you need to have this in your library.

20. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert while traveling through India, so it certainly reminds me of my travels there. It is the real life story of Elizabeth Gilbert finding herself after divorce.

I didn’t identify with India (pray) part of the book since I was there at the time, but I could definitely get on board with eating through Italy and finding love in Bali. Many travelers love following in the footsteps of Eat Pray Love and why not? Who doesn’t want to run away from it all, find themselves, fall in love and write a book about it?

21. Grand Adventures by Alastair Humphreys

Grand Adventures is written by National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Alastair Humphreys. We first heard of Alastair while he was cycling around the world and were inspired so much by him, we followed his bike peddles to cycling Africa. This book round up the world’s most grand adventures to inspire you to try your own. (We make an appearance or two from one of our adventures around the globe as well.)

22. Concierge Confidential by Michael Fazio

Concierge Confidential by Michael Fazio gives the inside scoop from behind the scenes of the rich and famous. He was New York’s top concierge and he shares stories and secrets from the madness of catering to the elite. From the ridiculous demands to having to get people in to anywhere possible, it’s an at times hilarious read.

I wouldn’t want his job for the world, but it is fun to take a peek inside the secret life of a concierge. One of the more unconventional travel books since it’s from the perspective of the Concierge getting travelers their every whim, it still transports you to another place.

23. Ontario Escapes by Jim Buyers

Ontario Escapes is written by Veteran journalist and top travel writer in Canada, Jim Byers. He shares his personal experiences and tips for traveling around Ontario Canada.

As a native Ontario resident, I found so many hidden gems in this book offering great Ontario travel tips and ideas. I love Jim’s writing style as he shares practical information with inspiring personal stories and recommendations.

24. Ultimate Journeys for Two by Mike and Anne Howard

Ultimate Journeys for Two was written by our friends Mike and Anne Howards Mike who are currently on the world’s longest honeymoon. And you can find us there too talking about Greenland travel!

This travel book is more of an account of a bunch of couples giving advice and snippits about a place. Its more of a travel reference giving people travel ideas to inspire couples to go out and see the world and have a great adventure. There are ideas for couples to travel on every continent!

25. How to Travel the World on $50 a Day – Matt Kepnes

How to Travel the World on $50 a Day by Matt Kepnes shares money-saving tips on transportation, food, beverages, accommodation, and airline tickets, it’s the how-to guide for twenty-something budget travelers. Nomadic Matt has parlayed his highly successful travel blog into a best selling travel book on the New York Times’ best sellers list.

While I’m not sure if you really can travel for $50 a day in today’s world, it is still a good reference for budget travel and budget tips and advice.

26. Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2023

If you are looking for good travel guide books while traveling we recommend Lonely Planet. It is still our go-to travel book to help plan our adventures.

Lonely Planet was once often referenced as “The Bible of Travel.” Dave and I never booked a trip without buying a lonely planet country guide. While travel blogs have taken away a lot of travel guide book revenue, the Lonely Planet is still highly regarded. And you can never Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel series. Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2023 follows the formula of the previous Best in Travel series.

Published annually, Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel showcases the top destinations, experiences, and trends around the world, curated by travel experts. What are the top destinations for 2023? You’ll have to purchase it to find out.

Here’s a cool fact, we named The Planet D after The Lonely Planet in 2007. We were so inspired by the Lonely Planet travel books that when trying to think of a name for our travel blog, we simply took off the lonely, and added a “D” Plus, the Lonely Planet is what inspired me to get into travel writing. It was my dream to write for them one day.

Get the Lonely Planet Best of 2023 on Amazon Here

27. The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Mark Twain’s “Innocents Abroad” takes readers on a delightful through Europe and the Holy Land aboard his voyage in a retired Civil War ship (the USS Quaker City). Why do we love it? Well, this travelogue, first published in 1869, offers a unique perspective on the experiences of American tourists during the mid-19th century.

Twain’s witty and satirical writing style shines throughout the book, making it an enjoyable and entertaining read. While the book is primarily a humorous account of his journey, it also delves into deeper themes and critiques of society. Twain reflects on the idiosyncrasies of human nature, the follies of tourism, and the stark contrasts between cultures.

It is worth noting that Innocents Abroad can be a dense read at times, particularly for readers who are not familiar with the historical context or the locations mentioned. Twain occasionally includes lengthy digressions and references to classical literature, which might require additional effort from the reader to fully appreciate. Get it on Amazon

28. Right Turn at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams

Right Turn at Machu Picchu is a travel memoir by Mark Adams that weaves together history, archaeology, and personal discovery as Adams retraces the footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, the explorer who rediscovered the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.

Blending his own travel experiences and encounters with informative and fascinating insights into the history and culture of the Incas creates an infectious story where readers will find themselves eagerly turning the pages to uncover the secrets of Machu Picchu.

One of the book’s strengths lies in Adams’ ability to convey the awe-inspiring beauty and mystique of the Peruvian landscape. With a modern travel writing tone, Adams transports readers through the rugged terrain, lush jungles, and awe-inspiring ruins that make up the region surrounding Machu Picchu.

It even provides a wealth of historical and archaeological information, offering a deeper understanding of the site’s significance. See reviews and purchase it on Amazon

29. This Contested Land: The Storied Past and Uncertain Future of America’s National Monuments by McKenzie Long

A new addition to our best travel books article is This Contested Land: by Mckenzie Long delves into the history and complex issues surrounding America’s national monuments. (Shall we talk about Mount Rushmore anyone?)

Long sheds light on America’s national monuments including their creation, significance, and the ongoing debates surrounding their management. Through modern travel writing, Long explores the intertwined narratives of nature conservation, cultural preservation, and the conflicting interests that have shaped these sites.

This Contested Land does not shy away from exploring the controversies and conflicts surrounding national monuments. Long examines the various stakeholders involved, including local communities, indigenous groups, environmentalists, and commercial interests. By presenting multiple perspectives, the book encourages readers to contemplate the intricate balance between preservation, public access, and economic development.

This Contested Land serves as a valuable resource for anyone interested in America’s national monuments and the broader debates surrounding land conservation and cultural heritage. Check it out

30. In The Kingdom of Men by Kim Barnes

Kim Barnes takes readers on a mesmerizing journey into the heart of Arabia with her novel, “In The Kingdom of Men.” Set in 1960s Saudi Arabia, Barnes’ paints vivid prose of the desert landscape, transporting readers to a world of contrasts and contradictions in the Middle East. From the vast expanses of sand dunes to the opulent palaces and bustling markets, the setting becomes as much a character as the individuals who navigate its complexities.

The protagonist, Gin McPhee, a young American woman thrown into the unfamiliar Saudi Arabian culture, brings a fresh perspective to the narrative. As she grapples with the oppressive societal norms and her own desires for independence, readers are drawn into her struggle and resilience.

Barnes skillfully explores the clash between tradition and modernity, particularly through the lens of gender dynamics and the stark divide between the Western expatriates and the local Saudi community of the Middle East. She delves into the intricate web of power, politics, and cultural tensions, illuminating the challenges faced by those who seek to bridge these divides. Get it on Amazon

So have these travel books inspired you to go around the globe? What is the best travel adventure you’ve ever read? If you have other travel books to share, leave them in the comments below, we are always looking for good reads.

Read Next: 

• Best Travel Movies to Inspire Wanderlust 
• Best Travel Tips from 20 Years of Traveling
• Best Travel Songs to Rock the Long Drive
• 48 Best Travel Movies to Inspire Wanderlust
• 40 Best Gifts for Travelers That they will love
• 20 Best Motorcycle Movies and TV Shows To Inspire Wanderlust

Travel Planning Resources

Looking to book your next trip? Why not use these resources that are tried and tested by yours truly.

Book Your Flights: Start planning your trip by finding the best flight deals on Skyscanner. We have used them for years and have found that they have the best flight deals.

Book your Hotel: Find the best prices on hotels with these two providers. If you are located in Europe use Booking.com and if you are anywhere else use TripAdvisor.

Find Apartment Rentals: You will find the cheapest prices on apartment rentals with VRBO . 

Travel Insurance: Don't leave home without it. Here is what we recommend:

• Safety Wing - Occasional Travelers.
• Medjet - Global air medical transport and travel security.

Book Your Activities: Looking for walking tours, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more? Then we recommend Get Your Guide.

Need more help planning your trip? Make sure to check out our Resources Page where we highlight all the great companies that we trust when we are traveling.

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About The Planet D

Dave Bouskill and Debra Corbeil are the owners and founders of The Planet D. After traveling to 115 countries, on all 7 continents over the past 13 years they have become one of the foremost experts in travel. Being recognized as top travel bloggers and influencers by the likes of Forbes Magazine , the Society of American Travel Writers and USA Today has allowed them to become leaders in their field.

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65 thoughts on “30 Best Travel Books to Inspire The Wanderer in You”

Doing great job man… Keep it up.

Wonderful list. This is what I was searching for. Thanks for doing the hard research for me.

Awesome list. Thanks for sharing. It’s really very useful.

Thanks for sharing!

These are very interesting books about travel, I had the opportunity to read some of them. very nice

I can’t wait to read more of these books! Reading has always been one way that I keep my wanderlust alive and well.

I was just searching for some good books which can take me into the world of wanderlust. As expected, you are on the internet with your awesome experience. I would love to read all of them. The Alchemist I have done and I am approaching other ones from now onwards. Thanks for sharing this post.

Very useful thing for those who like traveling. Thanks for sharing this with us,

Love those books… thanks for sharing Regards! Thank You!

Michael Palin’s Pole to Pole and Levison Woods Walking the Himalayas!

The only book in this list that I have read (partly) is Eat Pray Love but I also didn’t love it! I was actually in Bali when I started it and it just didn’t grab me, but I’ll definitely be trying out some others on this list! A good book on holiday can do wonders!

I hope to get my hands on Eat, Pray, Love soon. It must be a great read coz it’s on every travel books list.

Wonderful collection. I was in deep search. Thanks a lot to write about these books.

Thanks, Actually I am searching these collection from so many times. Great !!

Thanks for sharing. I was actually not aware about Michael Crichton’s book. Great list of books, I better start reading.

Lot’s of new books for me to add to my list! Thank you! I loved In A Sunburned Country, I consider it one of my favourite travel books and it definitely encouraged me to travel to Australia where I am now!

Thanks, guys some great books there. Think I need to get my hands on Dave does Japan. I am hoping to visit next year.

My all time favourite travel book that I never seen included on any lists is called WorldWalk by Steven Newman. In his early 20s, over a period of 4 years, Steven walked around the world relying on the kindness of strangers. This was the mid-1980s well before the time of internet and mobile phones being common place. His book is inspirational and entertaining and eye-opening all at once. I can’t recommend it enough.

it is very helpful for me like a traveler

An amazing list of books. I watched the film Eat Pray Love (starring Julia Roberts, maybe) but never took the time to read the book. THis list inspired me.

I think one books may be worth adding is Vagabonding.

I just want to say “wow” you have an amazing collection of books.

I was looking for a list like this! I just finished reading a series of books for foodies and Eat Pray Love was one of them. Thanks for sharing yours! Concierge Confidential seems like an interesting read.

thanks for sharing

i have planning to travel 2or3 places.i read this article.it is very helpful it provide great ideas.amazing article thanks for sharing.

Great recommendations! Some of it are already on my list. I just pick some great additions on my list. Thanks!

I think i watched the movie American Shaolin like 20 years ago. I didn’t know it was from a book. Gonna check it for sure. Thanks for great post.

I really love “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer as well as his other book “Into the Wild”, The book and Sean Penn movie are amazing. I also love anything by Bill Bryson with my favorite being “A Walk in the Woods”

For something hot off the press, check out Oblivious; the story of a ride through Africa on a Royal Enfield. Lost teeth, hitchhiking on iron ore trains in the Sahara, romance… Check it out: obliviousthebook.com

Thank you for this! I’ve been into Kerouac lately because I love (and love to hate) his frantic writing style but I needed some other material =)

Hey Awesome List of books, I read eat pray love that is totally awesome and every traveler must read. Now I am going to add The Alchemist and American Shaolin in my bucket list.

Nice post! thanks for sharing.

I was searching for best travel books ad I found this. I have only Paulo Coelho from this list and i am definitely going to get myself a few. Thanks for the wonderful list. Really useful.

This is a great list – most of these I’ve not read so my reading list has just grown! A Long Way Gone is one book, though, that has been on my shelf for years – I’m a bit afraid to read it….

(I don’t admit this too loudly, but I couldn’t stand Eat Pray Love …)

Which is your favorite?? Obviously not Eat Pray Love! lol

The alchemist from the Paulo Coelho is very good book….i´m brazilian and like Paulo Coelho

Whenever I enter a bookstore, I always look for books pertaining travel, whether they are memoirs or a compilation of essays. I also made a post about these books that I have in my shelf. I can spot three of them here in your list. I’m interested in the other books you have cited here and I hope to get my own copies.

I am so happy to read this blog about 21 travel book. it is so much interesting and helpful for every person of the world who travel form one place to another. Canada is consider most visited place in the world. So Hamilton Airport Limo service is well known for Ground transportation medium to or from airport.

This is a great list… there’s also a lot of great poetry (Heights of Machu Picchu- Neruda) and Siddhartha by Herman Hesse really had me thinking Southeast Asia big time! Great post, guys!

I love to read travel books. This is a very resourceful list. I have read some of the books from this list. Very inspiring post. Loved it:)

This post has defiantly inspired me to get reading! please take the time to check out my travel blog: earthsmagicalplaces.com

All of these traveling books look amazing, especially if you’re on a long journey or waiting for your ride and need to kill time! Thank you for sharing these.

Awesome list, thanks for sharing with us

Many read and many added to the list. I’m neither a fan of books that paint a pretty picture of a country nor of the ones that put down a country altogether. But I still read them because there is no such thing as bad book 😉 We all learn a thing or two from a book anyway 🙂

I’m ashamed to admit that, of these, I’ve only read The Alchemist – although White Tiger is sitting waiting patiently on my bookshelf.

I do like to read books about / set in places I’m going to travel to, though. One of the best examples was before I went to Kansas last summer, I read all of the Little House on the Prairie books, and it actually really opened up the history of the area for me, and helped me to understand the formation of the state, and why it looks & is the way it is.

I’m currently reading Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel, and it’s really making me think about how I write about my own travels, and how I tie together my travel blogging with my other writing (poetry & fiction).

All of Bill Bryson’s travel books make me want to just get off the couch and just go (and record my travels with dry wit and sarcasm), but aside from Bryson’s Road to Little Dribbling, I think my other favorite travel read of the last year was Mo Willems’ You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons: The World on One Cartoon a Day. Not only does one cartoon a day actually create a bizarrely interesting read, but it makes you start noticing the little moments that make your day. I also enjoyed Storybook Travels by Colleen Dunn Bates and Susan La Tempa. It’s a great book for parents traveling with children!

Awesome list, I will definitely be picking up a few of those, and read some of them again. Thank you Dave and Deb 🙂

Ha! I loved The Beach, the movie! Haven’t read the book but maybe I’ll put it on my list. 🙂 I did stopped reading Eat, Pray, Love in the India chapter but I went back to read it a second time and I’m glad I did. Her book, Big Magic, is really great for aspiring creatives so I would recommend that. 🙂

Interesting. I should maybe read Eat Pray Love again. The India chapter might be better for me since I’m no longer in India. Being removed from the location might put her writing into a different perspective

Great recommendations! I can’t wait to check a few of these titles out!

Kate | http://www.petiteadventures.org/

I’m saving this post in Bloglovin’ for as a future shopping reference, haha. I’ve gone through all my books and need more reading material. Thanks so much for sharing! I own and have already read Nomadic Matt’s book. It was super helpful!

Oh lordy my stack of books that I want to read is already sizable but I can see I’m going to add a few more to it….you have some great recommendations here. 🙂 .-= Trisha´s last blog .. PR-Blogger Relations Manifesto =-.

I agree – I loved White Tiger and couldn’t put it down. I read about five or six of the “must reads” that were popular for India travelers at the time and White Tiger and Shantaram were tops!

I have to read Shantaram. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of it before writing this post. That is what I love about posts like this, you can learn so much from other people.

White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is really cool and also Travels by Michael Crichton…great list D&D! .-= agentcikay´s last blog ..Hokkien Mee and its Cult status =-.

Thanks. I am glad that someone else has read travels. When we tell people that Michael Chricton had a travel book they think we are mistaken. But it is very good.

Hahaha, I am laughing because the two books I can’t stand about India are The White Tiger and Shantaram — and both are mentioned here, in your post and in the comments. I have read a lot of books about India and I think there are far better books, more balanced, more insightful, more honest. I find these two blow a lot of hot air.

I think there is a kind of reactionary response to the “shining” India of economists or the “magical” India of travel writers and spiritual seekers. In fact, India — like life — is all of these things. Magical, poor, spiritual, dirty, friendly, nerve-wracking. A lot depends on your perspective, attitude and perception.

I have said before that India is like the cave that Yoda sends Luke into. When Luke asks, “What will I find there?” Yoda answers, “Only what you bring in with you.”

Mariellen .-= Mariellen Ward´s last blog ..Photo of the Week- Naga Sadhu =-.

Well, we will agree to disagree on this subject. We enjoyed many parts of India and made friends with many wonderful people, but a book that talks about the negatives of any country is important. That is how change is made. The poor need a voice and White Tiger gives them one in a very entertaining way to let people know their side of the story. I would love to know the books that are more balanced and insightful, it would be great if you could list a couple of recommendations and I will check them out. And your Star Wars quote (while very profound) has nothing to do with the book and the point we are making. White Tiger is about the people that are living in India, not about what a tourist is supposed to get out of their spiritual journey to India. Thanks for your comment Mariellen, I know that you love India and this recommendation isn’t meant to offend people that do, it is just a book that we felt hit the nail on the head of a lot of what we saw and read in the papers while we were there.

I’m glad you replied to this Dave, the post made me feel stupid and ignorant when I first read it, but then I thought about it more and my point still stands – I read the book and it made me want to go to India. I will stand with the agreement to disagree – Shantaram is a work of fiction, which is a story with hints of lives and attitudes in India, but through extreme views. It’s like saying you’d never go to Virginia because of Patricia Cornwell’s books. If I wanted earnest travel writing with a true anthropological view, I’d have gone to the travel writing or the history section. Perhaps it’s even more impressive that a work of fiction can open your mind to a country. I get a better view of what it’s really like from Indian friends, but I’m also a literature fan and have many influences in my travel life.

I’m currently struggling through Open Veins of Latin America, which is a socio-historic view of the region, before travelling out to Costa Rica later this year. It’s very worthy and I would really like to understand more of the politics, history and culture before I go but I’m highly unlikely to finish it as history presented in fact is rarely inspirational and certainly more difficult to absorb. My partner bought me Costa Rica: A Traveller’s Literary Companion, which is a series of local, translated short stories and folklore. I’ve whizzed through it because it was enjoyable and accessible – far more inspiring than the worthier tome that will give me a ‘better’ view.

Sorry to rant – apparently I feel quite strongly about this!

Thanks for the comment and don’t be sorry at all. That is what we love about blogging, it encourages discussion. I think that your point is bang on. Books of extremes can make me want to go the a country even more. The Bang Bang Club is very unforgiving and yet, I think that it inspires people to go to South Africa. I read it while I was there and loved it even though it didn’t portray the country is a perfect light. I guess, a lot of the books we mentioned don’t paint a pretty picture of any country, but they all have inspired us to explore them more. And you are right, this is a book of fiction and it is impressive that a book can open your mind to a country and evoke such strong feelings on either side of the coin. That makes for great writing I think, when people feel passionate about it either way…absolutely loving it, or genuinely hating it.

Shantaram is also a very inspiring picture of India. Bittersweet, laugh out loud, exciting book. I’d never wanted to visit before reading this, now it’s definitely on my list.

Laura, I will definitely have to check out Shantaram thanks for the recommendation.

Oops, I replied to Trisha on the wrong post, that is supposed to be on Celebrities that inspire travel post. Taking it off now, but didn’t want you to think that I was a crazy person and going off on a tangent regarding celebrities:) Sorry Laura.

I must say it did confuse me!

Haha, sorry about that. If you didn’t reply back, I would have never known and we would have had an odd message on our books post about celebrities. 🙂

The Top Ten Most Influential Travel Books

Even before there were armchairs, voracious bookworms traveled the world just by reading

Tony Perrottet

Contributing writer

William H.H. Murray's guidebook to the Adirondacks “kindled a thousand camp fires and taught a thousand pens how to write of nature,” inspiring droves of American city-dwellers to venture into the wild and starting a back-to-nature movement that endures to this day. Of course, Murray's slender volume was part of a great literary tradition. For more than two millennia, travel books have had enormous influence on the way we have approached the world, transforming once-obscure areas into wildly popular destinations.

A detailed selection would fill a library. So what follows is a brazenly opinionated short-list of travel classics—some notorious, some barely remembered—that have inspired armchair travelers to venture out of their comfort zone and hit the road. 

1. Herodotus, Histories (c.440 BC)

Homer's Odyssey is often referred to as the first travel narrative, creating the archetypal story of a lone wanderer, Odysseus, on a voyage filled with mythic perils, from terrifying monsters like the Cyclops to seductive nymphs and ravishing sorceresses. As may be.  But the first real “travel writer,” as we would understand the term today, was the ancient Greek author Herodotus, who journeyed all over the eastern Mediterranean to research his monumental Histories. His vivid account of ancient Egypt, in particular, created an enduring image of that exotic land, as he “does the sights” from the pyramids to Luxor, even dealing with such classic travel tribulations as pushy guides and greedy souvenir vendors. His work inspired legions of other ancient travelers to explore this magical, haunted land, creating a fascination that reemerged during the Victorian age and remains with us today. In fact, Herodotus qualifies not just as the Father of History, but the Father of Cultural Travel itself, revealing to the ancient Greeks—who rarely deemed a foreign society worthy of interest—the rewards of exploring a distant, alien world.

  2. Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo (c.1300)

When the 13th-century Venetian merchant Marco Polo returned home after two decades wandering China, Persia and Indonesia, the stories he and his two brothers told were dismissed as outright fiction—until (legend goes) the trio sliced open the hems of their garments, and hundreds of gems poured to the ground in a glittering cascade. Still, Polo's adventure might have remained all but unknown to posterity if an accident had not allowed him to overcome his writer's block: Imprisoned by the Genoans in 1298 after a naval battle, he used his enforced leisure time to dictate his memoirs to his cellmate, the romance writer Rustichello da Pisa. The resulting volume, filled with marvelous observations about Chinese cities and customs and encounters with the potentate Kublai Khan (and including, admittedly, some outrageous exaggerations), has been a bestseller ever since, and indelibly defined the Western view of the Orient. There is evidence that Polo intended his book to be a practical guide for future merchants to follow his path. The vision of fabulous Chinese wealth certainly inspired one eager and adventurous reader, fellow Italian Christopher Columbus, to seek a new ocean route to the Orient. (Of course, Islamic scholars will point out that the 14 th -century explorer Ibn Battuta traveled three times as far as Polo around Africa, Asia and China, but his monumental work Rihla , “The Journey,” remained little known in the West until the mid-19th century).

3. Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768)

When the author of Tristram Shandy penned this extraordinary autobiographical novel, the Grand Tour of Europe as a rite of passage was in full swing. Wealthy young British aristocrats (almost invariably male), took educational expeditions to the great cultural sites of Paris, Venice, Rome and Naples, seeking out the classical sites and Renaissance artworks in the company of an erudite “bear leader,” or tour guide. Sterne's rollicking book suddenly turned the sober Grand Tour principle on its head. The narrator deliberately avoids all the great monuments and cathedrals, and instead embarks on a personal voyage, to meet unusual people, seeking out new and spontaneous experiences: (“'tis a quiet journey of the heart in pursuit of NATURE, and those affections which arise out of her, which make us love each other—and the world, better than we do.”) His meandering journey across France and Italy is filled with amusing encounters, often of an amorous nature (involving assorted chamber maids and having to share rooms in inns with member of the opposite sex), which prefigures the Romantic era's vision of travel as a journey of self-discovery. Even today, most “true travelers” pride themselves on finding vivid and unique experiences, rather than generic tourist snapshots or lazy escapes.

4. Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869)

Writers of the Gilded Age (a term Mark Twain incidentally coined) produced thousands of earnest and tedious travel books, a tendency that Twain deftly deflated with Innocents Abroad. Sent as a journalist on a group cruise tour to see the great sights of Europe and the Holy Land, Twain filed a series of hilarious columns to the Alta California newspaper that he later reworked into this classic work. With its timely, self-deprecating humor, it touched a deep chord, lampooning the naïveté of his fellow Americans (“The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad”) and the modest indignities of exploring the sophisticated Old World (“In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”) The result was to embolden many more of his fellow countrymen to fearlessly cross the pond and immerse themselves in Europe, and, hardly less importantly, to begin a new style of comic travel writing that echoes today through hugely popular modern authors such as Bill Bryson. Today, Innocents Abroad is one of the few 19th-century travel books that is still read eagerly for pleasure. (Its perfect companion is, of course, Roughing It , Twain's account of his misspent youth as a miner in the wild American West).

5. Norman Douglas, Siren Land (1911)

The Italian island of Capri began its proud reputation for licentiousness in ancient Roman times, and by the mid-19 century was luring free-living artists, writers and bon vivants from chilly northern climes. (It was even said that Europe had two art capitals, Paris and Capri). But its modern reputation was sealed by the libertine writer Norman Douglas, whose volume Siren Land offered an account of the carefree southern Italian life “where paganism and nudity and laughter flourished,” an image confirmed by his 1917 novel South Wind , where the island is called Nepenthe, after the ancient Greek elixir of forgetfulness . (Siren Land gets its title from Homer’s Odyssey; Capri was the home of the Sirens, ravishing women who lured sailors to their deaths by shipwreck with their magical voices). Millions of sun-starved British readers were captivated by the vision of Mediterranean sensuality and Douglas' playful humor. (“It is rather puzzling when one comes to think of it,” he writes, “to conceive how the old Sirens passed their time on days of wintry storm. Modern ones would call for cigarettes, Grand Marnier, and a pack of cards, and bid the gale howl itself out.”) Douglas himself was flamboyantly gay, and liked to scamper drunkenly around Capri’s gardens with vine leaves in his hair. Thanks largely to his writings, the island in the 1920s entered a new golden age, luring exiles disillusioned by post-war Europe. The visitors included many great British authors who also penned travel writing classics, such as D.H. Lawrence (whose marvelous Etruscan Places covers his travels in Italy; Lawrence also showed drafts of the torrid Lady Chatterly’s Lover to friends while on holiday in Capri in 1926), E.M Forster, Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene and W.H. Auden. (The renowned poet wrote a travel volume on Iceland, of all places). The collective vision of Mediterranean freedom has inspired generations of travelers to those warm shores ever since.

6. Freya Stark, The Valley of the Assassins (1934)

The Victorian age produced a surprising number of adventurous women travel writers—Isabella Bird, for instance, wrote about exploring Hawaii, the Rocky Mountains and China—but the authors were regarded as rare and eccentric exceptions rather than role models by female readers. In the more liberated era of the 1930s, Freya Stark's tome revealed just how far women could travel alone and live to write about it. Her breakthrough book, The Valley of the Assassins , was a thrilling account of her journey through the Middle East. Its highlight was her visit to the ruined stronghold of the Seven Lords of Alamut, a medieval cult of hashish-eating political killers in the Elburz Mountains of Iran whose exploits had been legendary in the West since the Crusades. (The singular escapade made her one of the first women ever inducted into the Royal Geographical Society.) The bestseller was followed by some two dozen works whose freshness and candor inspired women to venture, if not by donkey into war zones, at least into exotic climes. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world,” she enthused in Baghdad Sketches . “You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it.”

7. Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957)

This thinly veiled autobiographical novel, about a group of young friends hitch-hiking and bumming their way across the United States, has inspired generations of restless readers to take a leap into the unknown. Although the publisher made Kerouac change the actual names (Kerouac became Sal Paradise, the wild driver Neal Cassady became Dean Moriarty and poet Allen Ginsberg became Carlo Marx), its episodes were almost entirely drawn from life, qualifying it as a classic of travel writing. It was also a cultural phenomenon: Kerouac legendarily hammered out the whole lyrical work on a giant scroll of paper (possibly on one speed-induced binge), and carried it about in his rucksack for years before it was published, becoming an instant icon of the rebellious “beat” era, thumbing its nose at the leaden conformity of the cold war era. Today, it is still a dangerous book to read at an impressionable age (at least for younger males; women tend to be left out of the boyish pursuits, except as sex objects). The delirious sense of freedom as Kerouac rides across the wheat fields of Nebraska in the back of a farm truck or speeds across the Wyoming Rockies toward Denver is infectious.

8. Tony and Maureen Wheeler, Across Asia on the Cheap (1973)

It was one of history's great self-publishing success stories. When two young travelers roughed it in a minivan from London to Sydney, they decided to write a practical guide about their experiences. Working on a kitchen table, they typed out a list of their favorite budget hotels and cheap restaurants from Tehran to Djakarta, stapled the copied pages together into a 90-page booklet and sold it for $1.80 a pop. Their instincts were correct: There was a huge hunger for information on how to travel on a budget in the Third World, and the modest booklet sold 1,500 copies in a week. The hit became the basis for Lonely Planet, a vast guidebook empire with books on almost every country on earth. The young and financially challenged felt welcomed into the exotic corners of Nepal, Morocco and Thailand, far from the realm of five-star hotels and tour groups, often for a few dollars a day. The guidebooks' power quickly became such that in many countries, a recommendation is still enough to make a hotelier's fortune. (Having sold 100 million copies of their guidebooks, the Wheelers finally sold Lonely Planet for £130 million in 2010 to the BBC. (The BBC recently confirmed plans to sell the franchise to NC2 Media at a loss for just £51.5 million. Nobody ever claimed Across Asia was high literature, but the Wheelers now help fund a literary institution, The Wheeler Center, in their home city of Melbourne, Australia, to promote serious fiction and non-fiction). 

9. Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia (1977)

Along with Paul Theroux's wildly entertaining Great Railway Bazaar , Chatwin's slim, enigmatic volume became widely credited with the modern rebirth of travel writing. A former Sotheby's art auctioneer, the erudite Chatwin famously quit the London Sunday Times Magazine via telegram to his editor (“Have gone to Patagonia”) and disappeared into the then little-known and remote tip of South America. In a stylistic first for the genre, In Patagonia weaves a personal quest (for a piece of prehistoric skin of the mylodon, which the author had seen as a child) with the region's most surreal historical episodes, related in a poetic, crisp and laconic style. Focusing on god-forsaken outposts rather than popular attractions, Chatwin evokes the haunting ambiance with deftly drawn vignettes from Patagonia's storybook past, such as how Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid lived in a cabin in southern Argentina, or how a Welsh nationalist colony was begun in the windswept town of Trelew. And thus the quirky travel pilgrimage was born.

  10. Peter Mayle, A Year in Provence (1989)

Mayle's breezy account of his mid-life decision to escape dark and sodden England to renovate a farmhouse in Ménerbes, a village in the south of France, created an entire sub-genre of do-it-yourself travel memoirs filled with charmingly quirky locals. It also inspired thousands to physically emulate his life-changing project, flooding Provence and other sunny idylls with expats in search of a rustic fixer-upper and supplies of cheap wine. Aided by the relaxed residency laws of the European Union, discount airlines and France's super-fast TGV trains, the once-impoverished southern France quickly became gentrified by retirees from Manchester, Hamburg and Stockholm, until it is now, in the words of one critic, a “bourgeois theme park for foreigners.” (Tuscany became equally popular, thanks to Frances Mayes' beguiling books, with the shores of Spain and Portugal following suit). Things got so crowded that Mayle himself moved out – although he has since returned to a different tiny village, Lourmarin, a stone's throw from his original haunt. In recent years, Elizabeth Gilbert's wildly successful Eat Pray Love (2007) offered a similar spirit of personal reinvention, inspiring a new wave of travelers to follow her  path to the town of Ubud in Bali in search of spiritual (and romantic) fulfillment

A Smithsonian Magazine Contributing Writer, Tony Perrottet is the author of five travel and history books, including Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists and The Sinner's Grand Tour: A Journey Through the Historical Underbelly of Europe; www.tonyperrottet.com

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Tony Perrottet | READ MORE

Tony Perrottet is a contributing writer for Smithsonian magazine, a regular contributor to the New York Times and WSJ Magazine , and the author of six books including ¡Cuba Libre!: Che, Fidel and the Improbable Revolution that Changed World History , The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games and Napoleon's Privates: 2500 Years of History Unzipped . Follow him on Instagram @TonyPerrottet .

12 Best Travel Books to Inspire Your Next Trip

It’s true no matter what your experience: travel transforms you. Whether you’re headed out on a beach vacation with family or a months-long international backpacking trip, you’ll return home different from how you left it. This is the magic of travel writing captured in the best travel books: expressing the transformative nature of travel and encouraging readers to do the same.

In this ultimate guide to the best travel books, we share the most page-turning books to inspire your next adventure. You’ll find everything from a book of the photography of Egypt’s great treasures to an inspired guide to the best places for a quiet, zen escape from the hustle and bustle. No matter which of these inspiring books you choose, they’ll have you packing your bags in no time.

This post contains affiliate links that may reward me monetarily or otherwise when you use them to make qualifying purchases – at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. For more information, please read our  disclosure policy .

12 (Must-Read!) Travel Books

1. motorcycle diaries , ernesto “che” guevara.

One of the world’s great road trip stories, Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de Motocicleta) is taken from the personal journals of Ernesto “Che” Guevara as he traveled by motorcycle from Buenos Aires up the spine of South America. Covering some of the continent’s most unique destinations, his stories inspire travel to unique spots, but more than that, they speak to the transformative experience of travel.

More than just a travel story or journal, the pages of Motorcycle Diaries speak to Guevara’s transformation from a well-to-do Buenos Aires medical student to one of the most important and revolutionary political figures in the Americas. It’s a story of being changed by travel, one that every traveler can relate to – whether you agree with his philosophy or not!

Motorcycle Diaries is required reading for travel to South America, but perhaps even more important as a book to read for travel to Cuba . When traveling to Cuba and seeing Che’s image anywhere and everywhere you look, having this unique peek into the root of his political transformation is one of the best ways to understand the Cuban Revolution.

Read More: 7 Best Books to Read Before Traveling to Cuba

2. Quiet Escapes: 50 Inspiring Destinations to Find Your Zen , Emma Thomson

Travel isn’t always about the biggest and brightest: it’s also about finding refuge and peace to recharge and renew. From deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon to city breaks with peaceful escapes among chaos, Emma Thomson’s Quiet Escapes : 50 Inspiring Destinations to Find Your Zen covers some of the best destinations and travel experiences for this quiet contemplation we all need.

Get ready to be inspired: you’ve likely never heard about the majority of these special spots and unique travel experiences. Thomson’s travel stories read like the perfect mix of aspiration and inspiration, with just enough practical details to get you started planning your own retreat.

Offering both a new travel philosophy and the practical inspiration to get you there , Quiet Escapes is an exceptional addition to your travel book collection or a fabulous gift for any traveler on your holiday gift list.

3. Treasures of Egypt: A Legacy in Photographs from the Pyramids to Cleopatra , Ann R. Williams

With all the stunning photography and unique storytelling you’d expect from National Geographic, Treasures of Egypt: A Legacy in Photographs from the Pyramids to Cleopatra is the ultimate ticket to some of the most unique artifacts and impressive destinations from bucket list Egypt.

Published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the rediscovery of King Tut’s tomb, this hardcover book is itself a treasure. Treasures of Egypt is so much more than just a coffee table book or a photography anthology. It documents in living color and with inspiring story clues to long-lost ancient relics, countless expeditions and discoveries, and of course, golden treasures emerging from desert sands.

Whether you’re planning your own trip to Egypt , hoping to inspire the next generation of little archeologists or travelers, or just looking to appreciate some of the world’s treasures from the comfort of your own home, Treasures of Egypt will get you there. It’s also an incredible gift for the traveler in your life.

4. 36 Hours World: 150 Cities from Abu Dhabi to Zurich , The New York Times

With detailed yet easy-to-read itineraries for the perfect long weekend in favorite cities around the world like Bogotá, Dakar, and Beijing, 36 Hours: World is the ultimate travel inspiration in the form of a beautiful book that will live permanently on your coffee table. It’s so good it will never make it to your shelf.

Travel newbies will appreciate the expert insights, while more seasoned travelers will find inspiration for their next off-the-beaten-path getaway. Stunning photos and personal stories make it engaging even if your next trip is more in the dream stage than the planning phase.

36 Hours: World is just the beginning: The New York Times has countless books in the 36 Hours series , including unique options for weekend trips in Europe , and regional U.S. and Canada versions to inspire road trips and long weekend drives.

Use regional versions like 36 Hours: Latin America and Caribbean (my favorite!) and 36 Hours: Asia and Oceania as the backbone for some incredible itineraries to take you around the world.

5. Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico , Rick Martínez

If there was ever a cookbook to include on a list of the best travel books, it’s this one! Mi Cocina is Rick Martínez’s love story of the beauty and diversity of Mexico and an anthology of the very best of Mexican cuisine.

Mi Cocina shares recipes from all around Mexico , breaking down the book into chapters based on regions of the country to best map the unique tastes, flavors, and traditions found throughout the country. From staples like tortillas and beans to more elaborate dishes, Mi Cocina shares it all in an accessible way no matter how much you know about cooking – or Mexico!

Consider this cookbook meets travel book the perfect way to travel without leaving home or the perfect inspiration for your next trip to Mexico .

6. World Travel , Anthony Bourdain

Offering a unique mix of travel guides, fascinating stories, words of advice, and travel philosophy, all in his unique voice, World Travel is both an inspiration and reflection from one of the travel greats. You don’t need an excuse to pick up this book: it’s a page-turner covering Bourdain’s favorite spots, from backpacker favorites to destinations you couldn’t even dream of.

Obsessively watching his shows through the years shaped my own travel philosophy immensely. At a time when most travel shows were making formulaic guides to European cities, Anthony Bourdain was careening his way through off-the-beaten-path destinations and having incredible cultural experiences most viewers never imagined.

World Travel captures that same lightning in a bottle and is a must for travelers whether you’ve ever had the joy of living vicariously through the travels of Anthony Bourdain or not.

7. Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam , Andrew X. Pham

On a journey of both self-discovery and escape as a Vietnamese-American refugee living in the United States after the Vietnam War, Andrew X. Pham’s Catfish and Mandala is a must-read travelogue and compelling, award-winning story . From the desert of Mexico to Korea and Japan before arriving “home” in Vietnam, Pham’s journey was as long and varied as it was deep, bringing readers along for the humbling journey.

Pham’s writing speaks to the experience of immigration and redefining the meaning of home. Whether you’ve experienced immigration first-hand or not, this story has important lessons about movement’s impact on people and society – something everyone should know a bit more about.

8. Take More Vacations , Scott Keyes

Travel is much, much more affordable than most people realize. The book Take More Vacations is here to help you crack the code to affordable travel, if you want to, well, take more vacations – no matter your travel budget.

From Scott Keyes, the founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights , comes one of the best books you can read if you’re looking to get into travel hacking, but the idea of points, credit cards, and loyalty programs makes your head spin.

Explaining the (surprisingly simple!) principles that have made Scott’s Cheap Flights among the very best in the business at saving you money, Scott’s stories are worth their weight in gold. After you read Take More Vacations , you’ll never plan a trip the same way again . You’ll just be planning more of them.

9. Riding the Iron Rooster , Paul Theroux

What is it about travel – by motorcycle, bicycle, car, or, in this case, train – that makes for the most lasting and engaging stories? Paul Theroux’s Riding the Iron Rooster captures that magic in a travel story worth a visit, whether you’re headed around the world to China or just around the corner.

While Theoreux’s experience in China is not recent – so much has changed in China since he captured it – reading his account of his experience in China is still enlightening, sometimes hilarious, and thoroughly fascinating. Get a glimpse of stunning landscapes, complicated history, and profound people through the eyes of a master storyteller.

Paul Theroux is a legendary travel writer, and his  The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia  is absolutely canonical among travel books. It’s another absolute must as you build your library of travel books. Whether you pick up his more famous works or the lesser-known gems, you can’t go wrong with his unique voice and unforgettable stories.

10. The Catch Me If You Can: One Woman’s Journey to Every Country in the World , Jessica Nabongo

The first black woman on record to visit all 195 countries in the world, Jessica Nabongo shares her story in The Catch Me If You Can . This much-loved book is a unique mix of memoir, travel guide, and inspiration for your own adventure.

Organized chronically by country visited, each chapter offers a snapshot of a country, a time, and an experience. The Catch Me If You Can makes for a unique story from a fresh and inspiring travel voice that will leave you wanting more.

11. Travel Anywhere (And Avoid Being A Tourist) , Jeralyn Gerba and Pavia Rosati

From the creators of Fathom , T ravel Anywhere (And Avoid Being a Tourist) is much more than just a collection of travel tips – it’s an invitation to the adventure of travel, no matter if you’re headed around the world or around the corner.

Travel Anywhere is a unique collection of travel stories and recommendations that shares classic bucket list destinations, hidden gem hotels, remote escapes, and more. More than just a list of favorites, it also includes tips for travel planning, responsible travel, how to *actually* get off the beaten path, and more.

The photos alone will have you packing your bags and buying a ticket.

Read More: 15 Top Bucket List Destinations for Your Next Trip

12. How to Move Abroad And Why It’s The Best Thing You’ll Do , Jessica Drucker

If you’re an avid traveler looking for your next big adventure, or just even a newbie considering a life change, you’ll want to pick up How To Move Abroad . This guide covers everything from the dreamy details about choosing a destination and how to make the most of your new travel base to the more granular details like paying taxes and finding a job abroad or remote work.

You’ll love Jessica Drucker’s personable, friendly style – no dry, boring bits here , even when it’s time to dig into numbers and the more challenging realities of living abroad. Highly recommended for expats, digital nomads, and those considering this lifestyle, How to Move Abroad is a great addition to your arsenal of travel books if you’re looking at staying on the road a little longer than before.

Books for Travelers

Whether you’re just dreaming of your next vacation or getting started planning, picking up one of these must-read travel books will inspire, inform, and guide you. From memoirs to more practical city guides, travel writing comes in many shapes and sizes but serves the same purpose: transforming us, just as we’re transformed when we travel.

Carley Rojas Avila

Carley Rojas Avila is a bilingual New York-based travel writer, editor, content marketer, and the founder of the digital travel publications Explorers Away and Home to Havana. Carley is an expert on all things Latin America, the Caribbean, and Cuba, having lived and worked in four different countries in the region. Her writing has appeared on the Associated Press wires and in Travel + Leisure, Yahoo, MSN, Euronews, The Weather Channel, and more. When she's not writing about her travels, find her front row at a Bad Bunny concert, befriending street cats, and taste-testing every pizza in Havana.

25 Best Fiction Travel Books That Will Make You Want To See the World

Published: 11/20/2023

The Best Fiction Travel Books To Read Before Traveling

How many times have you finished reading a novel and immediately added the book’s setting to your travel bucket list ? If you’re anything like me, this happens all the time . To be brutally honest, I’m not sure I’ve taken a single trip in my life that wasn’t somehow been influenced by books.

Long before I had any notion of being a travel blogger (it was the 90s and blogs didn’t even exist!) Ann M. Martin’s descriptions of New York City in the Baby-Sitters Club book series inspired my love of the city. I read the American Girl Felicity books and longed to visit Colonial Williamsburg . As I got older, my studies of English literature inspired travels all over the British Isles . Closer to home, I picked up Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible and immediately knew I needed to visit Cincinnati .

I truly believe the best way to learn about a destination before traveling is through a good fiction book. For this post, I’ve teamed up with other travel bloggers to round up the novels that have inspired our travels .

Whether you’re headed to Cincinnati or Chile, we’ve founded the perfect book to pair with your travels . By reading these books before your trip, you’ll feel like you’re visiting an old friend when you finally reach your destination.

P.S. These novels also make excellent gifts for any travelers on your holiday gift list !

Pin these Travel Fiction Books and never wonder what to read next!

Best Fiction Travel Fiction Books to Read Before You Go to . . .

• Botswana: No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
• Morocco: Salt Road by Jane Johnson
• Istanbul: Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
• Mumbai: Shantaram  by Gregory David Roberts
• Thailand:  The Beach by Alex Garland

Barcelona: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Eastern Europe: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

France: Languedoc Triology by Kate Mosse

• Greece:  Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
• Ireland: The Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn

Paris: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

• Naples:  My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
• Tuscany:  The Temptation of Gracie by Santa Montefiore
• Whitby, England:  Dracula by Bram Stoker

Central America

• Panama: The World in Half by Cristina Henríquez

North America

Alaska: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Cincinnati: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

• Martha’s Vineyard: The Identicals by Elin Hildebrand
• Mexico: The Battles In The Desert by José Emilio Pacheco
• Michigan:  Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
• New York City: Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
• North Carolina: Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• Seattle:  Where’d You Go, Bernadette   by Maria Semple

South America

• Chiloe Island, Chile:  Maya’s Notebook  by Isabel Allende

Pacific Islands

• Hawaii: Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes

Best Fiction Travel Books Set in Africa

Hi! I’m Ada, a travel writer based in northern Minnesota, on a mission to see the world. I use this travel blog to provide practical, no-nonsense travel tips and itineraries for both domestic and international travels.

Home Airport:

European Christmas Markets

Where I’ve Been:

Botswana: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

When you pick up the first book in The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency you’ll meet Precious Ramotswe. Mma Ramotswe is a single woman in her 30s, born, raised, and living in Botswana, Africa .

After losing her beloved father, she’s faced with the task of deciding what to do with her life. She makes a bold choice and takes you along for the ride.

Throughout this interesting, funny, and heartwarming series – over 20 books and counting – the characters will become your friends. You’ll get to know the people in Mma Ramotswe’s life – her friends, her colleagues, her late father Obed Ramotswe. And you’ll get to know Botswana.

The series is written by Alexander McCall Smith, who includes the country of Botswana in the story as if it’s another character. Seen through the eyes of Precious Ramotswe, it’s a character you’ll fall in love with. She describes her home country with strong affection, and the gratitude she expresses for having grown up in the beautiful land will make you wish you’d grown up there too.

If you have plans to visit Botswana yourself, read at least a couple of these first. You’ll feel a bit like you’re going home.

Contributed by Deb of Introvert with Itchy Feet

Morocco: The Salt Road by Jane Johnson

The sense of place in Jane Johnson’s books never fails to transport you to the featured far-flung destinations, and The Salt Road in particular really captures the imagination.

The story focuses on the ancient trade route that ran from the Moroccan souks to the desert. Isabelle is the modern-day protagonist, embarking on a quest along the Salt Road , in search of answers about her past. Following in the historic footsteps of a Tuareg women, she traces this iconic route through many of Morocco’s most beautiful landscapes.

If you’re traveling to Morocco , reading this book before your trip will paint a vivid picture of the places you’ll likely visit. It focuses on lesser-known areas as well as the bustling medina in Marrakech and the Saharan desert . Of particular note is the Anti-Atlas Mountains region, a stunning area that’s rarely featured in other novels set in Morocco . You’ll learn about the rural way of life in this rugged land, as well as some of the best spots for hiking and climbing. The town of Tafraout is a focal point, and a great spot to base yourself for your own Anti-Atlas Mountains adventure.

Contributed by Heather of Conversant Traveller

Best Fiction Travel Books Set in Asia

Istanbul: museum of innocence by orham pamuk.

Museum of Innocence by Nobel-prize winner for literature Orhan Pamuk, is a tale of unrequited love and the complexities of human emotions, all set against the backdrop of a changing city. The story is set in Istanbul and revolves around the obsessive love of Kemal, a wealthy businessman, for his distant relative, Fusun. The novel is narrated from Kemal’s perspective and spans several decades, beginning in the 1970s.

The novel explores themes of love, memory, obsession, and the passage of time. It provides a detailed and intimate portrait of Kemal’s inner world and a vivid depiction of Istanbul’s evolving social and cultural landscape over the years.

As Kemal’s infatuation with Fusun deepens, he becomes increasingly fixated on preserving mementos and objects associated with their relationship. Every night, he visits her family for dinner and starts stealing little things from their house, ranging from teaspoons, hairpins and cigarette butts. Over the decades, these accumulate to thousands of little items/memories.

But Pamuk doesn’t stop there. He went ahead and actually opened a real museum with all the items Kemal had carried off over the years in the novel. An entrance ticket is printed in the novel’s final pages, allowing readers free entrance to the Museum of Innocence in the Cukurcuma neighbourhood.

For those who have read it, visiting the Museum of Innocence will likely be the highlight of your Istanbul itinerary .

Contributed by De Wet of  Museum of Wander

Mumbai: Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Shantaram is the story of Lin, a convict who escapes prison in Australia and ends up living in Mumbai, India . Lin becomes embedded in the underworld of the Mumbai mafia, all the while looking for love and a purpose in life. It’s a real page turner, very loosely based on the author’s experiences.

The city of Mumbai comes alive in Shantaram and is a central character to the story. The author lived in Mumbai and writes about the city as only an insider could.

Mumbai is already fascinating and well worth a visit, but after reading Shantaram you will be inspired to see Mumbai in a new way. Sites like the Taj Mahal Hotel , Leopold’s Cafe , and the iconic Air India building are already well known, but after finishing the book you’ll want to visit the more off the beaten path locations mentioned. Most memorable are the haunting and atmospheric Afghan Church , the Haji Ali mosque which is only accessible a few hours a day, vibrant Sassoon Dock and the walk along the Mumbai sea wall from Gateway of India to the Radio Club.

Many of the places mentioned in Shantaram are located in the Colaba area of Mumbai, the southernmost section of the city. There are many Shantaram tours available, but all of these sites are easily found and accessible on your own.

Contributed by Suzanne of Suzanne Wanders  Delhi

Thailand: The Beach by Alex Garland

The Beach by Alex Garland is a thrilling tale that takes readers on an unforgettable journey through Thailand’s exotic landscapes, including the fictional island of Koh Phi Phi . This captivating adventure novel tells the story of Richard, a young traveler searching for authenticity who discovers a mysterious hidden paradise.

Reading this book before venturing to Thailand is an excellent idea to soak up the magic of these places and to be ready to set off and discover the wonders of Thailand.

First, The Beach offers a fascinating insight into Thailand’s little-known places, encouraging travelers to explore beyond the traditional tourist destinations. The book reveals secret beaches, charming local restaurants, and off-the-beaten-track activities such as a night under the stars or a hike through the jungle, offering an authentic and memorable experience. Indeed, the book encourages people to interact with the locals, discover their culture, and participate in traditional celebrations.

The most striking aspect of this novel is how the island of Koh Phi Phi becomes a character. Garland describes the lush landscapes, secluded beaches, and crystal-clear waters with striking accuracy, creating an immersive atmosphere that makes the reader feel transported there.

Contributed by Victoria of Guide Your Travel

Best Fiction Travel Books Set in Europe

No, it’s not a fairy tale. You really can visit the medieval castles and other European haunts described in your favorite novels. Cité de Carcassonne , pictured above, features heavily in Kate Mosse’s Languedoc Triology. Now the historic town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that belongs on any French itinerary.

Photo credit: melissa kruse of mountains & mahals .

As soon as I finished the last chapter of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind , I immediately got on Google flights and searched for tickets to Barcelona .

In The Shadow of the Wind , Daniel, the son of widowed bookseller, happens upon the last copy in existence of a book by Julián Carax. Daniel falls in love with Carax’s writing, but his efforts to find more books by the same author takes him on a harrowing, unexpected adventure through Barcelona.

While this novel is anything but realistic, Zafón transports readers to the Spanish city in 1945. You’ll follow main character Daniel through Barcelona’s passageways, shops, churches, and hilltop mansions. In fact, Zafón depicts Barcelona in such specific detail that you can actually go on The Shadow of the Wind walking tours which take you to places like the Church of Santa Maria del Mar , Els Quatre Gats Café , Baixada de la Llibreteria and even the real-life locations of the novel’s fictional bookshops.

Even if you’re not a fan of gothic novels (I’m not), if you’re headed to Barcelona soon, give The Shadow of the Wind a try. I promise that Zafón’s haunting descriptions of the Spanish city will stay with you.

For anyone who loves historical fiction mixed with a dash of gothic thriller, The Historian will sweep you away to Eastern Europe in a modern retelling of the vampire myth. The plot centers around the idea that Vlad the Impaler – Dracula himself – never actually died, and follows three different characters through different time periods across Europe as they try to discern the truth.

You won’t get tips on where to stay or eat from this book, but the rich descriptions of places like Romania and Bulgaria ; Budapest and Istanbul will transport you. From ancient academic libraries in Istanbul to monasteries in Bulgaria to scenes in communist Hungary, this book uses place and history as an ancillary character.

While most of the plot takes place in Europe in the 1950s and 1970s, the majority of the places the author richly describes still exist today – and this book was the reason my first trip to Europe included Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria!

The history and folklore in this story are well-researched, and the sometimes-chilling addition of the potentially-undead makes it a really fun read. Just beware that you, too, may find yourself with a desire to see places like Wallachia , the Hagia Sophia , or Rila Monastery after reading this book.

Contributed by Amanda of A Dangerous Business Travel Blog

Kate Mosse’s Languedoc Triology consists of three historical fiction novels that intertwine the past and present with elements of mystery and adventure: Labyrinth , Sepulchre , and Citadel . The rich history of Carcassonne comes to life through Mosse’s vivid descriptions of the French setting and intricate architecture, making the medieval city a character of its own in the books.

Despite the books’ historical setting, visiting modern day Carcassonne will make you feel like you stepped back in time the same way Mosse’s writing transports you through time. The city is known for its stone wall fortifications and fairytale-like architecture. Mosse even includes a walking guide at the end of Labyrinth to take you to all the key sites that inspired her writing.

You can explore the cobblestone streets of the Cité de Carcassonne , a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and visit Chateau Comtal to learn more about the history and legends of the city. Another famous landmark mentioned in the books is Pont Vieux . This pedestrian bridge provides picturesque views of the fortified city and is a great spot for a sunset stroll between the old and new city. 

Carcassonne is the perfect destination for readers who enjoy Mosse’s enchanting stories and want to experience history first-hand.

Contributed by  Melissa of  Mountains and Mahals

Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn is an inspirational, fictionalized account of the life of Irish High King Brian Boru , a beloved hero who banished the Viking invaders from Ireland for the last time. As you read  Lion of Ireland , you’re sure to plant the seeds for an epic Irish adventure!

If you’re a fan of things that are old and ancient, this is a must read. The book is a wonderful mix of fact and folklore. As you read about the rolling green hills traveled by the King, you’ll start longing to visit the Emerald Isle. Happily, there are plenty of sites from the King’s realm you can still see today.

For example, no Ireland itinerary is complete without a visit to the Rock of Cashel , the seat of the ancient Kings of Munster. Boru ruled Ireland from a fortress atop this hill. After reading this book, you’ll also want to plan a trip to the Hill of Tara , the ancient ceremonial site where the rulers of Ireland were “crowned.” Visit the ruins of Innisfallen Abbey , located in Killarney National Park , where Boru studied as a youth. 

Naples:   My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

For a page-turning series that you won’t want to put down (except to book flights to Italy ), look no further than Elena Ferrante’s captivating My Brilliant Friend series.

Told across four volumes, My Brilliant Friend catalogs the intense, lifelong friendship between Raffaella (Lila) Cerulla and Elena Greco, starting with the women’s upbringings in a very poor and isolated part of Naples in the mid-20th century.

After meeting in elementary school, the girls’ fates diverge significantly: despite both characters being intensely academically gifted, only Elena is able to pursue her education into adolescence and beyond, while Lila is prevented from doing so by economic and cultural circumstances. The consequences of this, for each woman individually as well as for their relationship, spin out for decades.

Exploring themes of friendship, family, ambition, feminism, and more, the series also brings to light 20th-century Italy in a vivid way, from political debates (fascism, communism, and beyond are more than academic considerations for many characters) to dazzling views of the Mediterranean Sea enjoyed from the island of Ischia .

While the city of Naples , from its poorest neighborhoods to its shopping districts to its food, is a  central heartbeat of the series, the Amalfi Coast , Ischia, Pisa , Florence , Milan , and more are also featured.

To understand Italy’s–and especially Naples’–cultural background before visiting, My Brilliant Friend does a phenomenal job of contextualizing recent history, while also including spellbinding descriptions that will leave you anxious to hop on a plane and bite into your first sfogliatella .

Contributed by Kate of Our Escape Clause

Any reader of Dan Brown’s  The Da Vinci Code will immediately recognize the glass pyramid outside of Paris’s Louvre museum.

If you enjoy reading mystery novels and are considering a trip to the French capital , a must-read is Dan Brown’s highly acclaimed novel, The Da Vinci Code ! The story begins in the heart of Paris , following Robert Langdon as he endeavors to solve a mysterious murder that occurs within the Louvre Museum .

While the premise might sound like a typical murder mystery, what sets The Da Vinci Code apart is the skillful and deliberate manner in which Brown blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction. Brown also captivates his readers by delving into the more enigmatic aspects of religion, challenging established norms and authority.

Simultaneously, he immerses readers in his world through engaging puzzles, intriguing facts, and historical insights of several famous landmarks, including the Louvre, Church of Saint-Sulpice , Champs-Élysée s, and other places across Europe.

So, if you’re planning a trip to Paris, be sure to check out The Da Vinci Code ! It makes exploring the city feel like you’re stepping into Dan Brown’s world and uncovering hidden secrets.

Contributed by Kristin of Global Travel Escapades

Tuscany, Italy:   The Temptation of Gracie by Santa Montefiore

The Temptation of Gracie takes place in Tuscany, Italy and makes you long to travel there and experience its romantic and vivid ambiance. It’s about an elderly woman who, although she lived abroad in Italy as a young woman, has not travelled much at all since then.

The story takes place partially in the present day while she’s in her late 60s, but mostly through flashbacks to when she was young, in love, and living in Tuscany. In the present day, although it’s been 40 years since Gracie has set foot in Italy, she decides (to the surprise of her family and friends) that she is going on a tour to Italy to learn how to cook Italian food. Given that her family and friends have never known her to do anything adventurous, this comes as a surprise to them.

The beautiful Tuscan town and countryside in the book is so vividly described that you will almost taste it, hear it and feel like you’re there. It is sure to make you crave delicious Italian foods, wines and being able to wander through cobbled roads with old buildings, and experience Italy with loved ones.

The story is about lost love, friendship, second chances, and how travel bonds us. The Tuscany region in Italy includes beautiful countryside, as well as cities like Florence and Pisa – which make a great visit for solo travellers, couples and even families with kids.

Contributed by Kristin of Tiny Footsteps Travel

Whitby, England:   Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula by Bram Stoker is the novel which brought the idea of vampires into popular culture. Published in 1897, the novel follows lawyer Jonathan Harker as he travels to Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase an English estate. Dracula travels by sea to Whitby,  England, where he preys on Harker’s fiancée. Harker joins Professor Van Helsing to find and destroy Dracula at his castle in Romania.

Whitby is a fishing town and beach resort in North Yorkshire . It has an imposing, ruined abbey on a cliff overlooking the town, which can be reached by climbing 199 stone steps up the cliff side. Bram Stoker visited Whitby and was inspired by the town. In fact a history of Romania that he picked up in Whitby’s library provided the name for his creation.

The scene where Dracula arrives in Whitby is iconic; a deserted ship crashes into Whitby’s pier and a creature resembling a large black dog leaps ashore, running towards the 199 steps and the abbey.

Whitby would be a great place to visit even without its Dracula connection, but it makes the most of its creepy reputation, with events like Whitby Goth Weekend and regular ghost tours. 

Contributed by  Helen of Helen on her Holidays

Best Fiction Travel Books Set in Central America

Panama: The World in Half by Cristina Henriquez

The World in Half by Cristina Henríquez is a captivating novel that tells the story of Miraflores, a young woman living in Chicago.  When Miraflores discovered that her supposedly deceased father is actually alive in Panama , she secretly plans a trip there to uncover the mysteries of her family’s past.  

Reading The World in Half before traveling to Panama offers readers the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the country’s history, culture, and diverse population. It provides insights into the social and political dynamics of Panama. Readers will be able to enhance their travel experience with a greater understanding of the local customs and traditions.

What sets the book apart and makes its depiction of Panama special and memorable is Henríquez’s ability to capture the country’s essence. Through her writing, readers are transported to the lush landscapes of Panama. You feel like you are immersed in its vibrant street markets, lively festivals, and in the presence of lovely, gracious local people.

Contributed by Eleanor of Elevate Your Escapes

Best Fiction Travel Books Set in North America

Don’t write off Cincinnati as a sleepy Midwest city. After reading Curtis Sittenfeld’s  Eligible , I knew I needed to explore the Ohio city and I’m so glad I did! 

Wanna know the real reason I ended up in Alaska in winter ? I read Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone the autumn before. After reading her beautiful depictions of life on the Kenai Peninsula , I knew I needed to get to Alaska asap.

In The Great Alone  (which takes its name from a line from a Robert Service poem) tells the story of the Allbright family in the 1970s. Ernt Allbright, a PTSD-suffering Vietnam veteran who abuses both alcohol and women, decides to escape suburban Seattle for the wilds of Alaska. He brings his wife and 13-year-old daughter on an Alaskan adventure that includes battling the elements and each other while also learning to trust, love, and let go.

I’ve read a lot of Kristin Hannah and The Great Alone is one of her best. The novel reads a little like a love letter to Alaska. Although the novel features a fictional town, you can find the landscapes Hannah describes in The Great Alone in the Seldovia area. This tiny town is located across the bay from Homer at the tip of the Kenai Peninsula outside of Anchorage.

You might not expect Cincinnati’s famous Skyline chili to make an appearance in a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice , but Curtis Sittenfeld somehow manages to pull it off.

In Eligible , Sittenfeld transports the Darcy family to modern-day Cincinnati, OH . Mr. Bingley is a reality tv star, Mr. Darcy is Bingley’s long-suffering childhood friend, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are irresponsible parents crippled by medical debt.

As much as Eligible is a clever adaptation of the Austen classic, it’s also a bit of a love letter to Cincinnati. Cincinnati is Sittenfeld’s hometown and she’s clearly fond of it. The Bennets reside in the Hyde Park neighborhood in a decrepit Tudor House and Sittenfeld spends most of the novel giving an extensive tour of Cincinnati with stops in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, dinner dates at Orchids and Boca restaurants, and some favorite attractions like the Freedom Center and Mercantile Library .

If you’re headed to Cincinnati soon, I highly recommend this fun rom-com romp through the city!

Martha’s Vineyard: The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand

The Identicals , by Elin Hildebrand is the story of Harper and Tabitha Frost, twin sisters separated when their parents’ divorce.

Laid-back Harper grows up on Martha’s Vineyard with their father while reserved and serious Tabitha lives on Nantucket with their mother. This story about these rival sisters fits perfectly with the complicated and long-held rivalry between these two Massachusetts islands .

Elin Hildebrand has been writing about Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket for over a decade. The ease at which she incorporates local restaurants, beaches and landmarks into her stories could only be accomplished by someone who knows the island intimately.

Within the first few chapters Hildebrand manages to weave in the names and descriptions of favorite island locations. She reveals a hidden-gem beach at Cedar Tree Neck Preserve and a serene Japanese Garden on Chappaquiddick Island to escape the summer crowds. She also describes practical details like where her characters rent a car ( AA Island Auto Rental ) or go for a romantic sunset dinner ( The Outermost Inn ).

Hildebrand’s lived experience of Martha’s Vineyard, its people, and its hidden gems adds authenticity to the setting and makes the island feel like a character in its own right.

Contributed by  Maria of Martha’s Vineyard Travel Tips

Mexico: Battles in the Desert by Jose Emilio Pacheco

The Battles In The Desert is one of Mexico’s most treasured books about Mexico by a Mexican author. It is set in the Colonia Roma of Mexico City in the post-WWII era of President Miguel Alemán’s rapid modernization. Battles In The Desert has been translated into multiple languages (including English), adapted into a movie, and a song by the rock band Café Tacvba.

Intermediate-level Spanish learners will enjoy reading the story in the original Spanish if they choose to do so. José Emilio Pacheco was a celebrated poet whose prose is as enjoyable as the story itself. The main character is an elementary school student named Carlos who lives in the culturally diverse Colonia Roma with his middle-class family.

There are multiple references to the Avenida Alvaro Obregón , the most famous street in the Colonia Roma that every visitor to Mexico City has to explore The story feels like a love letter to the pop culture of the era. Carlos’ mother is an extremely religious figure in his life who does not like people who are not from Jalisco. Her family is from Guadalajara and was forced to leave because of the Cristero Religious Wars.

At school, Carlos is friends with a boy named Jim who was born in the United States . Jim invites Carlos to his house one day where Carlos meets Jim’s mother Mariana. She is a beautiful 28-year-old woman who makes sandwiches for the boys with a kitchen appliance imported from the United States. Carlos quickly becomes infatuated with his friend’s mom. He skips school to tell her his feelings which bring a number of repercussions.

Battles In The Desert is one of the most common books read in Mexican middle schools. It is a part of the local popular culture and something that is easily accessible to travelers. I highly recommend reading this book before traveling to the Colonia Roma in Mexico City.

Contributed by  Paul of Playas y Plazas

Michigan:   Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Although this lovely book by Ann Patchett begins in a gymnasium in a small New Hampshire town and spends a few years in California, the heart and soul of  Tom Lake , which bounces back and forth in time, takes place in northern Michigan .

Part of it—at a fictional and idyllic summer stock theatre. And the other at a generations-old Michigan cherry farm on the shores of Lake Michigan and near Traverse City .

It is a beautiful story of love, friendship, loss, and relationships intricately woven into the play— Our Town . The main character of this book, while young, performs as Emily, the lead role, and is a natural, accidentally and briefly falling into the life of a professional actress. In the book, and later in life, she recollects her experiences and her short but intense relationship with a now famous movie star, an unknown at the time, to her three young adult daughters, all improbably home during lockdown in the summer of 2020 and helping with cherry picking.

Patchett does a masterful job of telling this gorgeous story and of conveying the startling beauty and peace of a northern Michigan in full bloom, which you will undoubtedly want to see for yourself after relishing this must-read.

Contributed by Janice of Gather and Go Travel

New York City:   Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn is a fun fiction book about two strangers who meet because of a notebook that one of them leaves at The Strand Bookstore in New York City’s Union Square .

Lily decides to leave a red notebook with a message in it in the stacks of books at The Strand when her family goes away for the holidays and she is alone in NYC. Dash finds the notebook, and returns it to the bookstore after completing his dare.

The characters pass the book back and forth as they wander through New York City before meeting each other in real life. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares is a quick YA read with a sweet message and is a fun way to “see” New York City in December . The characters go to popular New York City attractions as well as to off-the-beaten path restaurants as they make their way through the city. 

As this book is the first in a trilogy, fans can continue to travel with Dash and Lily as they continue in New York City during The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily and when they travel to London in Mind the Gap Dash and Lily .

Contributed by Lanie of Make More Adventures

North Carolina:   Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Written by an actual zoologist, Where the Crawdads Sing depicts a murder mystery set in the marshy coast of North Carolina in the mid-1900s. The story follows Kya, a young girl living isolated in the marsh and her connection to nature. Her narrative is fragmented with flashes forward to the present-day investigation of Chase Andrew’s murder.

The setting of the marshes in North Carolina ’s coast play a huge role in the book, and will bring reader’s back to a time of simple nature, before beach towns developed in popular spots on the shore. Author Delia Owens is well-aquanted with detailed descriptions of the flora and fauna in the area and does an incredible job of putting readers right into the environment with Kya.

North Carolina’s coastline is a beautiful destination for travelers looking to enjoy untouched nature. Where the Crawdads Sing depicts this soft, quiet marshland in such an alluring way, while at the same time bringing excitement and mystery through its plot.

Contributed by Michele of Adventures Abound

Seattle:   Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

While most of Maria Semple’s popular novel, Where’d You Go Bernadette , is focused on planning a trip to Antarctica, I actually think this is the perfect novel to read before visiting Seattle, WA . In it, Semple tells the story of Bernadette Fox, a brilliant architect who has lost her way in the minutia of being a stay-at-home mom living in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.

Keep in mind, this is no love letter to Seattle. Bernadette’s pretty miserable about all aspects of her life including the city where she currently resides. She makes no secret that she straight up hates the people of Seattle.

But critics often show the world in the most striking detail. The book mentions several Seattle restaurants by name include Lola and Wild Ginger . You’ll also see the city’s Chihuly sculptures through Bernadette’s eyes and visit popular Seattle tourist attractions like the Space Needle and Pike Place Market . 

Semple chose to use fictional emails, articles, and other correspondence rather than prose to tell the story of Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Unique and fast-paced, I definitely recommend this fiction book before you travel to the Pacific Northwest.  

Best Fiction Travel Books Set in South America

The beautiful landscapes of South America have inspired countless novels. Pictured is an Incan ruin in Peru’s Sacred Valley.

Chiloe Island, Chile:   Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende

Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende is a book that will introduce you to the magical mystic land of Chiloe Island , in the north of Patagonia .

The book follows Maya, a troubled young adult running away from her tumultuous life in America and settling in Chiloe Island with her grandmother. The book has two different storylines, the past and the present, introducing the land to the reader. One storyline is focused on Maya and her life, whilst the other on the rustic life in Chiloe, with its traditions, mysticism, and local beliefs.

Maya’s Noteboo k is a fantastic introduction to Chiloe Island. Reading it before travelling to Chiloe will help you appreciate its culture much more, and also understand the local traditions. One of these traditions is the curanto , a Mapuche cooking technique that sees meat, seafood and vegetables cooked underground. Taking part in a curanto dinner alongside the locals is a fantastic way to immerse yourself in the culture of the island. 

After you’ve read the book, walking on the streets of the towns in Chiloe will seem familiar. It will feel that you are part of Maya’s story.

Contributed by Joanna of The World In My Pocket 

Best Fiction Travel Books Set in the Pacific Islands

Nothing will get you longing for the lush tropical landscapes of Hawaii and other Pacific Islands more than a good novel set on one of the islands.

Hawaii:   Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes

This novel is about three generations of women in Hawaii . In Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes, Hulali is a famous hula teacher, while Laka, her daughter, abandoned her family after winning the Miss Aloha Hula contest. The novel begins when Laka returns with her baby daughter, Hi`i in tow. As Hi`i grows, she wants to win Miss Aloha Hula more than anything, just like her mother did. But her relationship with her family and with Hawaii itself is complicated.

This is a book about community and belonging. It delves into the history of Hawaii, and it’s one of the great books to read before you go to Hawaii because it will make you more conscious of the nuances of Hawaii’s culture and history while also helping you be a more respectful tourist.

Contributed by Erin of Flying Off the Bookshelf 

Wrap-up: Best Fiction Travel Books To Read Before Your Next Trip

Hopefully this round-up of favorite novels helps transport you around the globe in more ways than one.

I’ve heard it said that a library card is the best passport you could ever have. Pair that library card with an actual passport and we’ve really got it made! Personally, I think reading is all the more rewarding when we first let a book transport us to a new place in the world and then later get to see that location with our own eyes.

I’m curious if a fiction book has ever inspired your travels. If so, please let me know what book you read and where you traveled to. Maybe we’ll do a round-up of favorite fiction books to inspire our travels every year!

If you enjoyed these 25 Best Fiction Travel Books, check out my other book-inspired travel!

  Ada is a travel writer based in northern Minnesota. She’s spent two decades as a freelance writer. She’s lived in three countries and has visited all 50 states. In addition to traveling the world, she runs a Boundary Waters outfitters and helps people plan canoe trips and other outdoor adventures in northeastern Minnesota.

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45 of the Best Travel Books That Inspire Wanderlust

I love reading a great book especially if it takes place somewhere that I dream of traveling to . I am always looking for the best travel books that inspire wanderlust so I asked my fellow travel bloggers to name their favorite inspirational books about travel.

Whether looking for books that inspire you to travel or the best books to read while traveling, here are 45 of the best travel books every traveler needs to have on their reading list.

Best Travel Books

The ultimate travel book is the nomad’s bible. I’m talking about On the Road by Jack Kerouac. This book is fast-paced (some might say rambling) but no other piece of travel literature so evokes the spirit of adventure and excitement that travel brings. It is especially descriptive and inspiring with regards to the quintessential American road trip . Follow Sal Paradise and his kooky, often drug-addled friends in a cross-country quest for something deep, spiritual, and unforgettable.

There are few pieces of modern travel literature that has captivated readers around the world in quite the same way as Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. The part-truth, part-fiction novel tells the story of an Australian convict named Lin who escapes prison and ends up in Bombay, India. His journey is both poetic and chaotic as he learns about his new environment and surrounding culture while living in the slums. Roberts’ writing is breathtaking, and his descriptive and elegant style transports the reader directly into the heart of bustling Indian society.

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”

When it comes to book that will make you want to pack your bags and chase your dreams, you really won’t find anything better than Paulo Coelho’s legendary tale found in “The Alchemist”.  It’s a quick and easy read (less than 200 pages), but it’s chalk full of inspirational travel quotes , life lessons, and thought provoking questions.  It was recommended to me by a friend, and once I finished it — I was only mad at myself for not reading it sooner.  It may be one of the most famous travel books out there, and it’s for good reason.  If you haven’t read this one yet, than don’t wait any longer!  It’s truly something special!

We are inundated with advice on where to travel to, but we hear little of why and how we should go, even though the art of travel seems naturally to sustain a number of questions neither so simple nor so trivial…” writes Alain De Botton in ‘The Art of Travel’ . The book is neither a guide book nor an account of experience in far away places. Rather it is journal about how our thoughts and our very being is affected by the ‘not so simple’ act of travel. The book definitely creates a craving to leave everything and travel to far off places. But what it does better is being a companion who that helps you put in words exactly what you felt while travelling.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail  by Cheryl Strayed

If there is one ‘wild’ travel book you should read this year, it’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. While the travel movie starring Reese Witherspoon is good, the book goes a mountain canyon beyond. Cheryl Strayed’s gritty portrayal of herself as a broken woman seeking redemption through nature and physical challenge is both a nail-biting travel adventure and a literary masterstroke. The way she entwines her inner journey with the harsh awe-inspiring landscape is, to my mind, inspiring. You won’t just find yourself rooting for her through every snowy pass and rocky trail, you’ll want to get out there and do it yourself.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Gabor Kovacs, Surfing the Planet

Into the Wild is probably one of the best motivational books for those who want to travel with the objective of finding themselves. In Jon Krakauer’s book we can read about Christopher McCandless’ real story, who after his university graduation decided to get rid of all his material possessions and set out on a great adventure completely alone. McCandless was found dead in Alaska and this book tells us his tragic adventure based on his diary and the author’s investigations. Into the Wild teaches us a lot about life and makes us reflect on what we really want from it. Despite the tragic end, I enjoyed reading every bit of this adventure, which made me desire to live something like that.

The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho

Claudia Tavani, My Adventures Across the World

The Pilgrimage tells the story of Paulo as he walks his way to Santiago in what is both a journey and a self-discovery experience. To this date, it is still one of the books that most inspired me to travel, not only to discover new, beautiful places but also to better understand myself.  While traveling became a way of life for me – as a result of a long trip across Central and South America in which I had plenty of time to think and figure out what I wanted to do with my life – it actually took me much longer to eventually walk the Camino de Santiago. I walked the Camino del Norte (the Northern route) to Santiago de Compostela last summer and, needless to say, it was an incredible, enlightening experience.

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Allison, Eternal Arrival

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino is a masterpiece, somewhere between poetry and fiction. The narrator, a young Marco Polo, entertains Kublai Khan with stories of intriguing cities, each more impossible sounding than the next. As the book goes on, it becomes more and more fantastical, leaving you wondering whether or not any of these cities exist at all — or whether they’re all one city described in various ways from the vivid imagination of a young traveler. Calvino’s lush prose makes this question almost irrelevant, and after reading this short but sweet novella you’ll be left wanderlusting for all these impossibly beautiful cities. To be able to describe a city the way Calvino does these “invisible cities” is a lifelong pursuit.

A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani

Barbara Wagner, Jet-Settera

Tiziano Terzani’s A Fortune Teller Told Me is a book about an Italian journalist who travels across Asia and consults some of the most famous fortune-tellers of Asia along the journey. He consulted shamans, soothsayers and sorcerers during his travels. One of the fortune tellers in Hong Kong told him that he should not get on a plane for a year, because the plane would crash, so he ended up traveling across Asia taking trains, boats, cars. The book describes his journey across Burma, Thailand , Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore , and Malaysia over land.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Samantha, There She Goes Again

This incredibly complex book takes place over the decades, with the two main threads taking place during the sixties in southern Italy and present day Hollywood. The whole book is rife with nods to the entertainment industry, both in the height of its glamourous days to a sarcastic view of its current reality-ridden state. Walter is great at invoking the various settings, and this is best seen in his descriptions of southern Italy. It’s so beautiful, so nostalgic, you want to book your ticket to Positano as soon as you’re done reading!

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

They say most good books are based on a true story, and Eat, Pray, Love is exactly that and one each person can identify with.

It is a story of a woman who decides to end her marriage and go on a journey of discovery around the world and food for her soul. Set in three beautiful locations of the world Italy (Eat), India (Pray) and Bali (Love). We follow Elizabeth on her travels while she eats bowls of pasta and gelato which leave one instantly hungry and craving all the things she goes searching for in this book. Each part of the journey literally inspires one to book a ticket and go do their own Eat, Pray, Love trip. India a land of miracles and temples gives us a glimpse of the arranged marriage ceremonies while in Bali one learns to open their heart and love again.

The book not only inspires one to travel but also to follow their dreams. Life is too short not to eat that gelato or fall in love with a tall dark stranger.

Verushka Ramasami, Spice Goddess Blog

The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara

Himanshu, Everything Candid

The Motor Cycle Diaries written by Che Guevara is a cult book and thus a must read for every travel loving soul. It has all the elements to ignite wander thirst within you and put you in a whirlwind of thoughts that will make you travel. It’s a frank account of an inquisitive traveler who experiences the amusing world and that changes himself forever.

This book is a travel journal written by revolutionary hero Che Guevara when he was 23 years old and decided to travel the world with his friend Alberto riding their old motorcycle they christened “the Mighty One”. During their 9 months of travel on battered road of Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela to do their medical residency and serve at leprosy colonies of Latin America. His narration of his experiences are free-spirited and original to the core just like his shaping-up rebellion nature.

This book has all the elements that define a perfect road trip and make you realize how you can explore your true self by traveling across geographies and meeting different people. This journey, thus, transformed Che and by the end of journey it was clear what would be his destiny. This high-spirited book is an impactful read and an inspiring tale of a great legend in the making. A truly iconic book by a larger than life icon from last century.

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

Nisha Jha, Lemonicks

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson has to be my book which inspires wanderlust. If you are into hiking or love outdoors, this book is for you. The author Bill Bryson tries to take the Appalachian Trail stretching from Georgia and has a hilarious take on it. The book is written in a humorous style, with more serious discussions and curiosity relating to the trail.

The book teaches us about our co-travelers and how it could be, in some cases, a daunting experience. The goals, outlook could be different. At times, you need to discard many things which are really not needed. He has wonderfully described the natural beauty of majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes.

The Places Inbetween by Rory Stewart

Alice, Teacake Travels

There’s nothing I love more than going to countries people tell you you shouldn’t go to. There are a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions out there about what a country is really like, how the people are and your level of safety once you’re there. Understandably, some countries are more dangerous than others but I feel we shouldn’t leave them alone and books like The Places Inbetween keep my wanderlust for these countries pulsing. Rory Stewart’s amazing account of his walk across Afghanistan in 2002 following the US invasion is a unique insight into this fascinating country and I love how personal it is. Like all good stories, it’s the local people that really make it.

In Xanadu – A Quest by William Dalrymple

Maria, Maria Abroad

In Xanadu – A Quest  is a personal travel memoir of William Dalrymple’s journey along Marco Polo’s footsteps from Jerusalem to Xanadu, the summer palace of Kubla Khan. As an avid traveler, Dalrymple spends his summer break from Cambridge to take an overland journey from Jerusalem to Aleppo, to Eastern Turkey, across Iran and Pakistan, and finally through China until his final destination – Xanadu. Along the way he shares his encounters with locals and other travelers, funny stories, bureaucratic hurdles and historic insights on the places he visits.

Can We Live Here?: Finding a Home in Paradise by Sarah Alderson

Jolene and Andrzej Ejmont, Wanderlust Storytellers

‘’In 2009, Sarah and John Alderson quit their full-time jobs in London and headed off, with Alula, their three-year-old daughter, on a global adventure to find a new home.’’

It is easy to connect with Sarah as you read her witty novel about what it is like to give up your job and to chase adventure in life!  Her story is honest and real; one can’t help but feel inspired to chase a similar lifestyle! But mostly to simply be brave enough to follow your dreams! Destinations you will read about include: London, India, Australia, USA , Bali and more!

Rohan Cahill-Fleury, Travels of a Bookpacker

The story of a man determined to visit all the countries in the former Soviet Union. Some are popular tourist destinations e.g.  Czech Republic but he also travels to some more ‘off the beaten track’ locations such as Kyrgyzstan and Moldova.

It provides interesting account of local life in these countries as well as the practicalities and issues traveling there as a tourist. There is some simple, easy to follow history of each country explained as well as interesting anecdotes. You’ll find yourself adding countries to your travel list you’d never considered before!

A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History’s Greatest Traveler by Jason Roberts

This biography follows the life of James Holman, a British guy who went blind during the course of his life but wasn’t discouraged by it and travelled the world anyway. Known in the 19th century as the “Blind Traveller”, he hopped on sailing boats across the oceans, crossed Siberia until he overstayed his welcome, and got invited to explore South America . His books were both despised and celebrated by his contemporaries. Unfortunately, many works have not survived to this day – hence the man’s obscurity. This budget-minded, nifty and unstoppable fellow is one to read about. After picking up your jaw, you’ll likely travel with a changed perspective.

Iris, Mind of a Hitchhiker

The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé

Inma,  A World to Travel

As a very visual person , the first books I read – if you want to call them that – were indeed comics. I would literally read one or two daily as the local library was a few steps away from my home and – newsflash! – travel ones were my favorite of them all. The Adventures of Tintin by Belgian cartoonist Hergé was a comic series that took me to Egypt, Congo, Tibet and even the Moon before I turned 8. Such great memories!

Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth by Albert Poddel

Megan and Mike from  Mapping Megan  and  Waking Up Wild

This is an inspiring story of an ordinary guy who visited every country on Earth. He survived riots, revolutions, civil wars, trigger-happy child soldiers, robbers, pickpockets, corrupt cops, voodoo priests and Cape buffalo. He went around, under, or through every kind of earthquake, cyclone, tsunami, volcanic eruption, snowstorm, and sandstorm that nature threw at him. He ate everything from old camel meat, rats, dung beetles and the brain of a live monkey.  And he overcame attacks by crocodiles, hippos, anacondas and several girlfriends who insisted he stop this nonsense and marry them.

This is a remarkable and meaningful tale of quiet courage, dogged persistence, undying determination, and an uncanny ability to escape from one perilous situation after another and return with some of the most memorable, frightening and hilarious adventure stories you have ever read.

The World by hitchhiking: 5 years at the University of Life by Ludovic Hubler

After business school, Ludovic decided to get on the road to get a Life PhD. His hitchhiking tour of the world ended up lasting for 5 years during which he also experimented with boat-hitching and  ice-breaker hitching  – A story full of beautiful life lessons in kindness and inspirational meetings, including one with the Dalaï-lama.

Covering 59 countries around the world and people of all background, this book inspires wanderlust not only to seek new landscapes but new connections and understanding of life. It is a book that makes you want to meet all mankind. But be careful, after reading it you will have a strong urge to pack a bag and lift your thumb!

Claire,  ZigZag On Earth Travel Blog

Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach

Penny Sadler,  Adventures of a Carry-on

Without Reservations, by Alice Steinbach, is THE book that I credit with giving me a chronic case of wanderlust. Perhaps because I suspect she and I are close in age, I could relate to her observations of the people she met in her travels, and her self observations. Her writing is so sensual, I always felt I was right there with her — in Paris, Italy and England. This paragraph is beautifully descriptive it made me want to go and have my own adventures.

“Last night on the way home from a concert at Sainte-Chapelle, I stopped on the Pont Royal to watch the moon struggle through a cloudy night sky.

From the bridge my eyes followed the lights of a tourist boat as it moved like a glowworm across the water.  Here in Paris, I have no agenda; here I can fall into step with whatever rhythm presents itself. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to stand on a bridge and catch the scent of rain in the air. I had forgotten how much I need to be a part of water, wind, sky.”

Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche

Liz, Lizzie Meets World

Even if you’re not a fan of chick lit, you’ll love Torre DeRoche’s “Love with a Chance of Drowning.” It’s a love story wrapped in adventure, delivered with a healthy dose of humor and innuendos. DeRoche takes you through the gorgeous remote islands of the Pacific while riding on a leaky boat, as she shares her greatest fears and how she conquers them. This book will have you laughing and crying (cry-laughing even) and dreaming of palm trees and blue seas.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlo Ruiz Zafón

Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s most acclaimed novel, The Shadows of the Wind, is a magnificent book about a young boy whose life revolved around Barcelona where he eventually found himself in a tangle of mystery and drama. I can’t tell much because you have to read it actually to feel what I’m talking about.

So, how did this particular book inspired me to travel? It made me intrigued about Barcelona. So intrigued that I invited myself to join my friends who already planned their trip to the mystery city – they had to change plans to fit me in, but they were a real sport about it. Also, my visit to Barcelona ignited my passion for travel and also it is the place where I swore I’ll make it a goal to enjoy whatever our pretty wild world can offer us.

Evan, Pretty Wild World

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

In an era today where we mostly go to work for around 9 hours a day, and spend another few hours preparing for work, and even commuting to/from it, Tim Ferris gives us a chance to open our mindset that we can actually have a 4 hour work week instead of a 40 hour one. Four hours a week to work anywhere we want. Sounds too good to be true? It really isn’t. By working remotely, creating businesses and putting systems in place, you, as a business owner/worker, can actually do whatever you want. Most people who want to travel full time but are just wondering how to fund their travels can definitely pick up this book to become inspired, and eventually become a full time nomad.

Ruby,  A Journey We Love

Delaying The Real World by Colleen Kinder

I read this book by Colleen Kinder towards the end of my college career. This book was immensely responsible for a change in my beliefs of how life worked after graduation. Delaying The Real World is “a twentysomething’s guide to seeking adventure.” Within its pages, you will find hundreds of suggestions for things you could do around the world, other than heading straight into a cubicle. Suggestions include wanderlust-inspiring options such as teaching English abroad, working on a cruise ship, building homes in villages, or leading tour groups. There are also tons of helpful websites and inspiring anecdotes from real people living out adventurous lives. I highly recommend this book to anyone bitten by the travel bug, and looking for a way to make life an adventure.

Brianna,  Archives of Adventure

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts

In 2013, my boyfriend and I planned to quit our jobs and go for a RTW trip for a year. We were reading dozens of travel guides, found some travel blogs and hosted lots of people from different countries via Couchsurfing community so we could learn about their lands and traditions.

And then we discovered the Vagabonding. Without any exaggeration, the book changed our lives. It gave us not only necessary courage to leave our comfortable life in Germany and set off for an adventure, but it also proved that long-term travel is a lifestyle. A fascinating lifestyle!

Rolf Potts will guide you, he will warn you, he’ll give you plenty of practical advice, and he’ll definitely inspire you to hit the road.

Ivana Greslikova & Gianni Bianchini, Nomad is Beautiful

It’s Only the Himalayas: And Other Tales of Miscalculation from an Overconfident Backpacker by S. Bedford

One of the most recent books that inspired wanderlust was “It’s Only the Himalayas: And Other Tales of Miscalculation from an Overconfident Backpacker”. This laugh-out-loud travel memoir by Sue Bedford chronicles her year long adventures and misadventures with her best friend.

In her book, Sue details her close encounters with a lion, epic fails and triumphs trekking to Annapurna Base Camp with her dad, and her steamy romances in Asia. Since I’ve never backpacked across the world, this book gave me a lot of insight on both the challenges and amazing experiences to have on this type of journey.

This book also inspired me to travel with my mom. Since reading this book, we’ve traveled to Bermuda, Italy and Switzerland together. As Sue describes in the “It’s Only the Himalayas” author interview, traveling with your parents builds on your friendship and strengthens your bond.

Danielle,  The Thought Card

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

A book that completely captured my imagination and wandering spirit and inspired me to explore regions of the earth I never thought I would surf in was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The tale of adventure and discovery helped inspire me to go surfing in places like Iceland, Africa and numerous small islands in the Pacific. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea goes into the underwater exploration of almost every region of the globe it describes an underwater world that is almost impossible to comprehend yet drove my imagination wild. From navigating under ice in the Antarctica to fending off natives off the islands of Papua New Guinea and exploring the Corals of the Red Sea it is a tale of travel and adventure that has transcended centuries and stays relevant today.

Dane,  Holiday From Where

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness might sound like an odd choice when naming books that inspire wanderlust, but for me it did just that. It reminded me of the raw, real, tough travel that backpackers make through developing countries, getting right into the middle of the unknown and making their own pathway through. In the book the subjects are travelling by boat through the jungles of Congo, and the further down stream they get the higher the sense of danger. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder and you begin to feel as if they are descending into a madness. The book is dirty and gritty, but so eloquently written that it transports you deep into the heart of Congo and sits you right next to the authors alter ego – Marlow.

Crystal, Castaway With Crystal

Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh

Less a travel guide than an odyssey of self-discovery, Around India in 80 Trains is the account of a British woman of Indian origin who returns to travel the country she left as a child.

In a largely unplanned journey she visits the four corners of India’s train network by taking as many different trains as possible, from the crush of Mumbai’s commuter trains to a truly special hospital carriage.

While Monisha doesn’t have the easiest of journeys, the sheer variety of the places she sees and the effervescent people she meets puts India near the top of my travel list.  I’ll definitely be taking the train when I visit.  And if a spiritual awakening is thrown in too, so much the better.

Emily, from Kids and Compass

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure is a hilarious memoir about a journalist’s unanticipated return to India; the country she hated and vowed never to visit again.

The book follows Sarah as she tries to settle into a new life in Delhi and documents all the culture shock and frustrations that go with it. Having already visited India , I found myself laughing out loud because I could completely relate to her story.

Sarah does a great job of bringing all the smells, colours, sounds and chaos of India straight to the hands of the reader, while also thoughtfully and light-heartedly explaining the many faiths and religions that embody the country.

This book makes the eccentricities of India seem so endearing that you’ll want to book your flight and experience them for yourself!

Nicole. Wee Gypsy Girl

The Beach by Alex Garland

The Beach is a story of American and European backpackers who found a paradise in an island in Thailand. The island features an untouched beach and lagoon. It is part of a huge marine park, making it inaccessible to tourists. There they lived in a secret small community, doing idyllic chores everyday – planting, fishing and construction – until this thin slice of civilization crumbles through a series of incidents. The Beach is written in 1996 but remains a classic. It fulfills the wish of every modern backpacker: getting out of the race for an authentic experience and finding a beautiful, unspoilt paradise that’s in no danger of turning into a typical commercialized tourist attraction.

Katherine,  Tara Lets Anywhere

The Promise of Iceland by Kari Gislason

Long before I traveled to Iceland, it was a destination which fascinated me for its unknownness and unusualness. I read everything I could, but my favourite was a memoir by half-Australian, half-Icelandic author Kari Gislason , called The Promise of Iceland. Gislason was born in Reykjavik but left at age ten; he returned in his late twenties to track down his father and his regular explorations of many significant parts of Iceland convinced me that it was a place I absolutely had to visit. The book is the perfect mix of intriguing story and sightseeing, and will definitely get you booking an Iceland trip as soon as possible.

Amanda, Not a Ballerina

The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna

The book that sparked my interest about Finland is The Year of the Hare written by Arto Paasilinna, one of the most famous Finnish novels. It’s the story of a frustrated journalist who hits a hare with his car, then decides to rescue it and moves to the countryside together with the hare. It inspired me because it’s a fun story, and it talks about the love that Finnish people have for their nature. Visit Helsinki in winter  and you’ll see what I mean – Finns like to enjoy nature even when it’s -30 outside!

Margherita Ragg, The Crowded Planet

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

For anyone who has read The Millennium Trilogy, which includes The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, you would be aware it is a crime book that is rather dark, which then opens the question, why would this book inspire wanderlust? Well for me, the book obviously did but for a slightly strange and odd reason. As an Aussie, snow is foreign and rare to us down in the sunburnt country. Reading this book, however, opened my mind to the beauty of snow and what I could experience. Since then I have been attracted to the cold and the cool white fluffy stuff. I have fallen in love with it so much I will be embarking on a trip to Antarctica.

Lauren,  The Traveller’s Guide By #ljojlo

A Year in Provence  by Peter Mayle

Amy, A Traveling Broad

Whether you’ve been to France or not, you’ll be drawn into this best-selling memoir by Peter Mayle. In it, he regales readers with tales of his year he lived in a 200 year old stone farmhouse in southeastern France with his wife and dogs. His wit and humor make the book an easy and enjoyable read. His vivid descriptions of people, places and things makes it easy for readers to see things through his eyes. His stories include his first experience with “le mistral” (a violent, cold northwesterly wind); his initial resistance to French customs such as kissing hello; and his interactions with a local construction crew. “A Year in Provence” offers readers a glimpse of life in this beautiful region of France, making you want to buy a ticket when you’re done.

My Life in France by Julia Child

This will not inspire you to take the road and travel but it will definitely make you curious about how the French eat, cook, sleep and cook. It really is true — France is a country that will teach you how to cook. When Julia arrived in France, she didn’t know anything about cooking (nor spoke a single French word) and I kind of resemble to that experience. I did a culinary trip in South America for 3.5 years and when I came back home, my mother was surprised that I already know how to fry an egg properly. Believe me, I never learned to cook back home because my grandmother and mother are pretty good at it. My siblings and I didn’t bother learning at all.

That trip also made me very fluent in Spanish — something I never thought I will be capable of. In Julia’s book, it is highlighted that when you are surrounded by a certain culture for a long time, you will definitely know how to adapt and adjust to its setting. I think this is one of the best reasons to travel and to keep traveling.

Trisha,  PS I’m On My Way

Shopping for Buddhas: An Adventure in Nepal by Jeff Greenwald

Lance and Laura Longwell, Travel Addicts

Over 25 years ago, I discovered the Jeff Greenwald book, Shopping for Buddhas:  An Adventure in Nepal.  I would soon be moving to Nepal for a study abroad program and was riveted by the story of shopping for the perfect Buddha statue.  Less than a year later, I would find myself in Nepal exploring the back alleys of Kathmandu and Bhaktapur in the early days of the civil war .

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

Peter Matthiessen was a CIA agent and a co-founder of the literary magazine The Paris Review. He was also a student of Zen Buddhism, which he explores in this classic travel book. In 1973 Matthiessen trekked in the remote mountains of Nepal with a field biologist friend, who was there to study the Himalayan blue sheep. During this trek they hoped to see the rare snow leopard. He writes about the harsh physical challenges of the trip, and on life and death, and practicing Buddhism. Even though they travel through such challenging conditions, this book really made me want to go to Nepal .

James Clark, Nomadic Notes

Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai

One of our favourite books that inspired wanderlust, specifically for Sri Lanka, was “Funny Boy”, written by Shyam Selvadurai. It is almost an autobiographical story about a young Tamil gay boy growing up in 1980s Sri Lanka during the civil war era, struggling to come to grips with his homosexuality in a very religious and traditional family and society.

It’s a really good insight into what it was like in the country during these awful civil war years. In addition for LGBT travellers, it is particularly insightful to read, mainly because since the 1980s, the country has not changed at all with regards to LGBT rights. It’s still illegal to be gay in Sri Lanka and many of the issues faced by Arjy are still the case today.

Stefan and Sebastien, Nomadic Boys

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The book is set in Afghanistan and talks about an unlikely friendship between a wealthy Pashtun kid, Amir and his servant Hassan and their relationship growing up. The book traverses through the past and present with Amir making a decision to travel back to his homeland from the United States, his current adopted home to save the life of his friend’s son. The story is fascinating, not just for its strong characterization but also for the vivid portrayal of life growing up in this vastly unexplored country. The country has been in the news for all the wrong reasons but this book makes sure every reader is transported back to the beautiful country it was before the conflict tore it apart and made it what it is in now – a picture of warzone ruin. It remains one of our favorite books and incites wanderlust for the simple reason, the beauty we take for granted today, might not be available to see tomorrow.

Rishabh Shah, Gypsy Couple

The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah

This travel book is about culture, traditions and challenges faced by an Afghan person who convinced his wife to escape the stable life in UK and shift with the whole family to unpredictable Morocco. The main hero buys one of the posh old houses “Dar Khalifa” in Casablanca. As the house was missing residents for many years it started slowly falling into pieces. The hero decides to return the glory and the prosperity to the house. To achieve this goal he needs to confront local peculiarities of lifestyle and working culture. Tahir Shah describes different sides of Morocco: its colors, feelings, history and, of course, superstitions.

Natalia, mytriphack

A House in Fez by Suzanna Clarke

Tamason,  Travelling Book Junkie

Have you ever fell in love with a country so much that you imagine one day moving there?  This is exactly what happened to Suzanna and her husband. During a trip to Morocco they fell in love with the African country enough to purchase a property and rather than just using it as a holiday home, they decided to immerse themselves completely into the Moroccan way of life.

Without being able to speak Arabic, they move to the city of Fez, a city not necessarily known for its touristic pull, purchase a tired riad in need of serious renovation and spend a year transforming it into a beautiful home.

This is a story about courage and conviction,  Suzanna and her husband don’t linger on the consequences of such a move, they simply follow their hearts.

Wanderlust is all about following your heart and making decisions that will enrich your life for the better whilst exploring a different part of the world and for me this is a book that highlights just that.  It also led to us jumping on a plane to explore Fez for ourselves, highlighting that it is a book that inspires wanderlust in others as well.

Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux

Mar, Once in a Lifetime Journey

Dark Star Safari by Paul Thereoux is my all-time most favourite travel book. Brilliantly sarcastic and no-bullshit, Theroux recounts the adventures and misadventures of his overland trip from Cairo to Cape Town 30 years after he spent time as a teacher in Malawi. This book was the most beautiful way for me to remember all the places I worked in Africa and it was also slightly sad to realize that, for some of them, those 30 years Theroux talks about were actually detrimental to their development. Dark Star Safari is a poignant and honest view of the continent from the point of view of an outsider. Theroux has no qualms in being to the point and very honest, sometimes bordering insulting, when describing the people and places. There are no taboos in his vocabulary and no holy cows he tells it how it is.

If you are still looking for more travel inspiration, here are  other travel books for the book lover on your list. What are your picks for the best travel books to inspire wanderlust?

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25 comments.

This is a great list of travel books and I have read few of them like kite runner, alchemist etc. Others I am going to grab soon.

LOADS of great books in there 🙂 🙂

This is a great list of travel books, have definitely added a few of these to my list!

Such inspiring reads! I’ve only read a couple but excited to download more to my Kindle. Cue the wanderlust!

Lovely compilation indeed. Given my passion for books and travel, I found this post really enjoyable. Before travel, books were the vehicles that I traveled the world on the wings of imagination. The books are great and each unique in its own way, My pick of the lot are, Shantaram and The Motorcycle Diaries.

Extensive list. I’ve read Eat, Pray, Love. And I’m reading the Alchemist. I’m on my way! Lol

Wow! What a fantastic compilation of books. There are so many gems that I’m adding to my reading list!

That’s a great list to fill up the evenings for the whole year 🙂 I love books about travel especially with a cultural twist))) Thank you for putting this post!

Ah wow, absolute go-to reading list here 🙂 I can see a fair few I need to get hold of 🙂

What a great list! So happy to see my favorite novel of all time on there: The Shadow of the Wind. I have read 12 of these books… which means you ahve given me a LOT of great reading ahead. Thank you.

Wow, epic list of travel books! I’ll have to refer back to this one when I’m looking for my next book. I love books, both fiction and non-fiction, that take you on a journey to new places and stirs that wanderlust to travel somewhere new!

I’d add Alastair Humphries’ “Microadventures” and “203 Travel Challenges. Travel the World. Discover Your Inner Self” – both are inspiring in a way that makes you act and improve yourself while having fun on the road.

Thanks for the suggestions! I’m putting them on my reading list.

At the risk of being spammy (sorry!), try my novel set in Greece: “Girl Gone Greek” – you might like it. Check out the Amazon reviews first (on COM and CO dot UK) and see if you like the sound of it. Enjoy!

Hi Rebecca, I lived in Greece a few years when I was younger so this book sounds really interesting. Adding it to my reading list!

These are definitely the absolute classics for travel!

I recommend An Embarrassment of Mangoes. Sailing and cooking in the Caribbean. Will have to check out some of your recommendations!

That’s a great list, found so many of my favourites in here including Alain de Botton’s Art of Travel that I dared to criticise in an article – he is my favourite contemporary philosopher but on the travel topic I reckon he could do a lot better 😉 Thanks for sharing, will download a couple about nomadic families to cheer myself up from fever and chest infection. Greetings from London!

So Darcee & I are heading to Morocco this year so I was looking for some great books to dive into the world of the area. I have never even heard of A House in Fez or The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca! We are hoping to head to Casablanca so I may start with The Caliph’s House! Thanks for this list. Many of the books are already on my list! Love Jack Kerouac!

wow, it`s huge! Noted. about ”Shantaram”

Very good performance but what a long story! Full of tragedy violence drugs and sadnesses. Makes you realize how people live in the rest of the world! Fighting for everything just to survive! An intimate look at life in India!

Thanks for this list! I’ll be checking out several of these titles. The interesting part about this blog post is the highlights about each book and how each book may be relevant. Great post.

So many of my trips have been inspired by reading novels! Last year, I took a January teaching job in Hawaii, after reading Honolulu and other fiction set on Oahu. I’m most interested in the fortune-teller book, I wonder if that will be my next trip…

Looks like some awesome reads to me. Anything by Paula Coelho absolutely rocks. Ryan

Great post/list and book review. I am placing Beautiful Ruins and a Walk in the Woods on my list.

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34 Best Travel Books That Will Take You All Around the World

No plane ticket required.

Our editors handpick the products that we feature. We may earn commission from the links on this page.

These expansive reads range from scenic train trips in Kazakhstan ( Around the World in 80 Trains ) to romantic jaunts in Europe ( Under the Tuscan Sun ) to hiking treks ( Wild ). Vintage accounts like Freya Stark's excursion to Persia in the 1930s, or Beryl Markham's feat of aviation in 1936, capture a time when crossing an ocean was no easy task. Travel books by Black authors like Tembi Locke's Italy-set From Scratch or Overground Railroad by Candacy Taylor explore the intersection of race and voyaging. And gorgeous coffee table books from National Geographic and the New York Times will inspire constant wanderlust for everyone, whether you're a young adult looking to backpack or a retiree planning a long-awaited vacation.

These timeless travel books are as relevant in 2021 as they were when they were written, and they all have one thing in common: they'll take you on a journey and perhaps even change the way you see the world.

Due North by Lola Akinmade Åkerström

Lola Akinmade Åkerström has what many people would consider a dream job: She's an award-winning travel photographer and writer.  Due North  is a collection of all that she's learned. Amid spirited insights about destinations, Åkerström also gets personal about her experiences abroad as a Nigerian woman. "The more visa stamps in my passport, the more my motives for travel were deeply questioned," she writes. 

Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish

There are no better Scotland travel guides than the Scottish stars of one of TV's most Scottish series,  Outlander . In  the show  Men in Kilts , co-stars and off-screen friends  Sam Heughan  and Graham McTavish travel around their native country for the best off-the-beaten-path delights, historical insights, and Outlander  tie-ins.  This book is best enjoyed with a glass of scotch. 

Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude by Stephanie Rosenbloom

Alone Time  offers a reminder that the best travel companion is...you. In the memoir, Stephanie Rosenbloom documents solo trips across four cities: Paris, Istanbul, Florence, and New York. The book explores what it means to make peace with solitude. 

My Little Cities: Paris by Jennifer Adams

After reading this board book over (and over), your toddler will be better acquainted with the City of Light. Soon, they'll be asking for baguettes and saying merci. Follow this book up with other installments in the My Little Cities series, like New York and London . 

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

In this YA page-turner, Ginny receives an inheritance from her recently deceased aunt in the form of 13 envelopes, each naming a destination. What does Ginny's Aunt Peg want her to find? Combine the adventure of a scavenger hunt with the joy of travel, and you'll get this novel—which adults will enjoy, too.

Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders

Every city has its list of must-sees. But what about the places that don't make any Top 10 list, and are all the more magnificent for it?  Atlas Obscura  is devoted to rounding up the world's hidden gems. 

This Way Back by Joanna Eleftheriou

Memoirist Joanna Eleftheriou spent her life traveling between the mountain village in Cyprus where her father was from and Queens, NY, where she went to high school.  This Way Back  is about the challenge of creating a sense of identity when you're from a place that has an identity crisis of its own: In 1974, following a Turkish invasion,  Cyprus was partitioned , with its Greek population confined to the island's southern portion and Turkish population to the north. 

World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever

For years, the late Anthony Bourdain was a tour guide to our world through shows like  No Reservations and  Parts Unknown . He espoused a kind of travel that was less about sight-seeing, and more about learning about and respecting the culture around you through food. This book compiles Bourdain's guidance for navigating his favorite cities, including Buenos Aires, New York, and Shanghai, as well as other destinations. 

Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Greatest Trips

Journeys of a Lifetime  is the kind of book that will delight readers at any stage—because there's a trip for everyone. Retirees looking for their next adventure might enjoy some of the lengthier trips. Train across Europe, anyone?   

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke

In this tear-jerker of a memoir, Tembi Locke—an actress who has appeared in  The Mentalist , Castle and Bones —recalls the defining relationship of her life. While she was studying abroad in Florence, Locke met Saro, a Sicilian chef, and fell in love almost instantly.  From Scratch is being adapted into a movie starring Zoe Saldana . 

All the Way to the Tigers: A Memoir by Mary Morris

Featured as a pick in  O , the Oprah Magazine's summer books round-up,  All the Way to the Tigers   is the refreshing literary answer to  Tiger King .  Mary Morris, author of the solo travel memoir  Nothing to Declare , documents her trek to India to get up-close-and-personal with striped felines. 

West with the Night by Beryl Markham

West With the Night  is a gripping tale set in a time when air travel itself was a death-defying act. Beryl Markham was the first person to fly solo over the Atlantic, leaving from England and surviving a crash-landing in Nova Scotia in 1936. She was also an adventurer, a horse trainer, an adrenaline-seeker—and as this memoir shows, an excellent writer. 

Falling Off the Map: Some Lonely Places of The World by Pico Iyer

Pico Iyer is one of the most acclaimed and prolific travel writers working today. Whether he's documenting trips to  Bombay or Japan , Iyer's observations are sharp. But  Falling Off the Map  has a special appeal: It's a humorous tour through some of the world's most remote places, which you may never see otherwise. 

Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Not Visited and Never Will by Judith Schalansky

Reading a book about travel is, indeed, a journey—but one of the mind. Cartographer Judith Schalansky's  Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands   pairs gorgeous illustrations to accompany each poetic description of a far-off island.

Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America by Candacy Taylor

For Black motorists in the 20th century United States, taking a road trip was a dangerous proposition. Many businesses were closed to Black guests, while towns were hostile to Black visitors. Published between 1936 and 1966, the Green Book was a guide to friendly businesses throughout the country—and was an essential part of any road trip.  The Overground Railroad uses the lens of travel to tell a story about being Black in America. 

36 Hours: USA & Canada

This coffee table book will fuel your wanderlust, and may eventually lead to some weekend getaways. A compilation of the  New York  Times '  36 Hours column , the book gives off-the-beaten-path itineraries for short trips for cities around North America. You can also check out the Europe or world editions.  

Eurydice Street: A Place In Athens by Sofka Zinovieff

Sofka Zinovieff, a Brit, moves to her husband's native Athens to raise their two daughters. From her vantage point between cultures, Zinovieff can observe Greek customs as she participates in them.  Eurydice Street  is the honest and vivid portrait of life in modern Athens you may be missing on that tour of the Acropolis. 

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

With this memoir and Oprah's Book Club pick , Cheryl Strayed singlehandedly changed many people's associations of the word "wild." Now, when people say "wild," they picture Strayed hiking the Pacific Crest Trail after her life fell apart, and walking her way to wholeness. 

Footsteps: From Ferrante's Naples to Hammett's San Francisco, Literary Pilgrimages Around the World

Footsteps   is an anthology for bibliophiles and adventure-seekers alike. In each essay, a different writer explores their own relationship to a place—like L.M. Montgomery’s Prince Edward Island, and Elena Ferrante's Naples. 

The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World

The title says it all. Every two-page spread in  The Travel Book  is devoted to a different country. Part reference guide, part color-saturated coffee table book,  The Travel Book  makes for a gift that will be revisited. 

Elena Nicolaou is the former culture editor at Oprah Daily. 

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The 16 Best Travel Books to Inspire Wanderlust

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Nothing inspires wanderlust like getting engrossed in a novel about traveling to a foreign land and the adventures that ensue. You can lose yourself in stories of love, heartbreak, redemption, and self-discovery whether you’re traveling abroad or back home planning your next adventure.

We have been traveling on and off for over 10 years, and along the way, we have taken a lot of long flights, train trips, and bus rides. We always make sure we have a good travel book tucked into our bag to get us through the journey. And if one of your friends is heading abroad, a good book with a heartfelt inscription from you on the front cover is a great travel gift !

Here is our list of the 16 best travel books that have inspired our trips around the globe! We hope that they inspire you to start planning your own adventure!

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase or booking through one of our links we may earn a small commission (don’t worry, it’s at no extra cost to you).

16 Great Travel Books to Inspire Wanderlust

1. A Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisine

By anthony bourdain.

Anthony Bourdain changed the way the world thinks about food. He taught us to embrace all of the strange and unique cuisines across the globe and that some of the best meals are at a tiny plastic table down a random alleyway. Of course, most people are familiar with Bourdain due to his hit travel TV show , No Reservations . What most people don’t realize is that it was actually his take-no-prisoners, tell-all style of writing that launched his TV career.

A Cook’s Tour recounts Bourdain’s dining adventures across Portugal, France, Vietnam, Russia, Morocco, Japan, Cambodia, Mexico, and Spain . He eats a still-beating cobra heart in Hanoi (we’ve done this too!), samples half-formed duck embryos – otherwise known as balut  – in Cambodia (check!), and enjoys a  tagine in Morocco (been there too!).

Bourdain is a great storyteller, and by the end of this book, you’ll be both hungry and eager to plan your next trip.

2. The Beach

By alex garland.

If you’ve done a bit of traveling and can’t seem to get “off the beaten path,” then try giving Alex Garland’s The Beach a read.

Richard is a British backpacker who is disillusioned with the well-trodden tourist circuit of Southeast Asia. While staying in a cheap hotel on Khao San Road in Bangkok, he is given a mysterious map to a beautiful beach, unspoiled by tourism, hidden in the Gulf of Thailand. He befriends a French couple, Françoise and Étienne, and together they set off to find the secret beach.

It’s a tale of paradise found (and lost) with plenty of adventure, romance, betrayal, and cannabis. It’s truly one of the best travel books out there and anyone headed to Thailand for the first time should read it!

3. Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America’s Strangest Jail

By rusty young.

Although Marching Powder  was written by Rusty Young, it is really the story of Thomas McFadden, a British drug trafficker who was caught in Bolivia and imprisoned in Bolivia’s San Pedro prison.

San Pedro turns out not to be your typical prison. Inside its walls, you must pay rent for your jail cell and imprisoned drug lords are joined by their wives and children who enter and leave the prison freely. There is also an onsite cocaine manufacturing operation and a small bribe can get you out of (or into) the prison for a day.

Thomas begins running tours of the bizarre prison and they become a staple of the South American backpacker circuit. When Rusty hears about the tours he signs up for a night in the prison. He winds up staying for 3 months in order to document Thomas’ story and life in San Pedro.

We actually tried to visit the San Pedro prison when we were in La Paz, but by that time the Bolivian government had cracked down on the illegal tours.

4. The Cloud Garden: A True Story of Adventure, Survival, and Extreme Horticulture

By tom hart dyke and paul winder.

The Cloud Garden  tells the story of a fearless young backpacker, Paul, and an impetuous botanist, Tom. Together they decide to attempt a crossing of the impenetrable stretch of swamp and jungle between Panama and Colombia known as The Darién Gap. This no man’s land is also full of guerrillas (not to be confused with gorillas) and drug smugglers. It’s not exactly the kind of place you want to go on vacation but Paul is hunting for adventure, and Tom is hunting for orchids.

Unfortunately, just a short way from the Colombian border, they are captured by a paramilitary group and held against their will for 9-months. Their tale is chock full of suspense, wit, and even a bit of Stockholm syndrome.

We are often told by friends and family not to go somewhere because it is too dangerous. For the most part, we go anyways and discover friendly people and fun adventures. But this travel novel is an example of what happens when you push your luck just a little too far!

5. Shantaram

By gregory david roberts.

Shantaram is an epic saga of loss, hope, faith, and redemption. The protagonist is a convicted Australian bank robber who escapes prison and flees to Mumbai, India (called ‘Bombay’ at the time) to build a new life. Along the way, he works as a slum doctor, drug dealer, passport forger, weapons smuggler, and Bollywood actor.

While some of the events mirror the author’s life, much of the story is obviously fiction or at least significantly embellished. It’s a beautiful read full of gang fights, romance, and impossibly heroic moments. A bit like the main character in your own Bollywood movie.

While many of our book recommendations are quick reads, Shantaram is almost 1,000 pages. It’s the perfect travel novel if you have an extremely long bus ride or flight ahead of you.

6. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

By bill bryson.

A Walk in the Woods  recounts Bill Bryson’s attempt to hike the entire 2,100 miles of America’s Appalachian Trail with his overweight, chain-smoking friend, Stephen Katz. Along the way, they meet a host of interesting thru-hikers and develop a begrudging appreciation for the beautiful and fragile wilderness of the United States.

Bryson has a great sense of humor and all of his books will make you chuckle, though this one makes a particularly great gift for hikers. Many people prefer his travel novel about Australia, In a Sunburned Country,  but I have a soft spot in my heart for A Walk in the Woods. Perhaps because I grew up in East Tennessee, just 20 miles from the Appalachian Trail.

7. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values

By robert m. pirsig.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is much more than just a travel book. It tells the story of a man and his son on a cross-country motorcycle trip from Minnesota to California. The book deviates from the main storyline quite often to delve into philosophical pondering (which is the real focus of the book).

It’s an incredibly interesting book if you have an interest in eastern philosophy or if you just want inspiration for a motorcycle trip across the US . Although according to the author, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance “should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It’s not very factual on motorcycles, either.”

8. Papillon

By henri charrière.

Papillon is the “autobiographical” story of Henri Charrière. He is a French safecracker wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to a life of hard labor on the penal colony of Devil’s Island (French Guiana). The ensuing tale spans 14 years and involves numerous jailbreak attempts – some successful, some not.

There is a question as to how much of the novel is true with some critics claiming it is about 90% fiction. Regardless, Charrière is a great storyteller and the book became an immediate success upon its release in 1969. It has since been translated into 21 languages and made into a movie three times.

9. Round Ireland with a Fridge

By tony hawks.

You’ve probably had a few too many drinks and made a ridiculous bet with your friends before. And you probably woke up the next morning with a hazy memory of the terms of your silly bet and never actually followed through with it. In the book  Round Ireland with a Fridge , Tony bets a friend that he can hitchhike around the circumference of Ireland with a refrigerator in one month.

He realizes the foolishness of this claim when he wakes up hungover the next morning. But rather than take the easy way out, he decides to give it his best shot. So with his trusty mini-fridge in tow, he sticks out his thumb and heads off on an adventure that turns him into a national hero.

It’s a hilarious tale that will have you believing in the kindness of strangers and the luck of the Irish!

10. The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison

By warren fellows.

Warren Fellows was a drug smuggler who trafficked heroin from Thailand to Australia and got caught. This book is not meant to proclaim his innocence. In fact, Fellows makes it clear that he was guilty (but mainly unlucky).

Fellows is given a life sentence in Bangkok’s notorious Bang Kwang prison. His account of the living conditions and punishment that he endured for over a decade makes prisons in the USA look like 5-star hotels.

It may be obvious to you at this point that I am very intrigued by foreign prisons. So intrigued, in fact, that I actually visited an inmate in Bangkwang prison during a trip to Bangkok in my youth. It turned out to be far less interesting than I was expecting and a bit strange as the inmate wanted me to deliver cryptic messages to people around Bangkok. Better to just stick to reading about them…

11. Heart of Darkness

By joseph conrad.

Heart of Darkness  was written over a century ago but still remains a fascinating read. It’s the tale of Charles Marlow, a riverboat captain and ivory transporter obsessed with the “blank places on the earth”. Otherwise known as those areas that are unmapped and uncivilized.

He journeys up the Congo River in Africa in search of the mysterious ivory trader, Krutz. Marlow’s trip into the heart of the African continent is full of vivid imagery and shines an uncomfortable light on the practice of imperialism in the 19th century.

While the story takes place in Africa, this book was the inspiration for the cult classic movie Apocalypse Now set in Vietnam (it’s also the namesake for one of the best new breweries in Saigon ). Whether you’re headed to Africa or Southeast Asia, this is a classic quick read.

12. Travels with Charley: In Search of America

By john steinbeck.

In Travels with Charley , John Steinbeck recounts his 1960s road trip around the United States with his French Poodle, Charley. Steinbeck was nearing the end of his life and wanted to see America one last time. So he bought a GMC pickup truck, outfitted it with a camper named Rocinante (after Don Quixote’s horse), and set off on his epic journey to rediscover the country he spent his life writing about.

It’s best to not take the story as an actual autobiography. His older son later remarked that “Steinbeck was at heart a novelist” who would never let the truth get in the way of a good story. And it is a great story. In fact, it’s one of the best travel books for anyone planning an American road trip .

13. The Alchemist

By paulo coelho.

Recommending The Alchemist  may be a bit cliché. However, it’s one of the best travel books in the world for good reason. The Alchemist is the quintessential traveler’s tale of learning to listen to your heart and following your dreams.

Santiago is a young Andalusian shepherd who decides to give up his flock of sheep and journey to Africa in pursuit of his personal “treasure” which he believes is at the Pyramids. Along the way, he loses everything he owns (a few times), meets a king, falls in love, and much more.

The Alchemist is a quick, easy read and is a great place to start if you’re looking for a little travel inspiration.

14. The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World

By lonely planet.

Lonely Planet’s The Travel Book is not actually a travel novel. It’s a brief overview of every country in the world. Each entry includes beautiful photos, fun facts, and a few key phrases in the local language. Lonely Planet describes it as “850 images. 230 countries. One complete picture.”

At approximately 450 pages, the Travel Book is huge and heavy. So you certainly wouldn’t want to bring it along on your trip. But it’s the perfect coffee table book to help you find inspiration to plan your next exotic vacation.

15. Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders

By joshua foer, dylan thuras, and ella morton.

If you prefer visiting obscure destinations overstaying in 5-star hotels,  Atlas Obscura  is the perfect travel book for you! “Inspiring equal parts wonder and wanderlust”, this oddball travel book details 700 of the most bizarre sites around the world.

It’s another book that is better suited for the coffee table at home than your suitcase. But, flipping through the Atlas Obscura will definitely make even the most content homebody curious about visiting some of these off-the-beaten-path adventures.

16. Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes

By alastair humphreys.

Alastair offers a fresh take on the concepts of travel and adventure in his book Microadventures . He believes that you can take the spirit of a great big adventure and squeeze it into a short time period with a small budget.

He challenges everyone to get out of their comfort zone. Even if it’s just spending the weekend camped on a nearby hillside or taking a swim in a lake close by. You don’t have to book a plane ticket to experience adventure, sometimes it’s waiting for you right in your own backyard!

What’s your favorite travel book? Tell us in the comments so we can add it to our list!

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Nick took his first solo trip abroad to Ireland and Scotland when he was just 19. Since then he has visited over 70 countries around the world (plus 45 states in the USA). He coupled his passion for travel photography with Val’s passion for writing and thus Wandering Wheatleys was born. He now lives in Asheville with his two rambunctious kids, Humphrey and Wilhelminha. Besides photography, Nick loves eating the weirdest food he can find in a country (sheep’s brain currently sits in first place) and making Val get up an hour before sunrise to make sure he gets “the good light”.

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12 thoughts on “the 16 best travel books to inspire wanderlust”.

These are amazing books on the list that I noted everything except for the Alchemist as I’ve been reading that a lot of times already, it’s my favorite travel book that’s why. Although I am passionate about travel books, I’ve never heard the rest of the list so this is a good information for me. I will definitely start with “A Cook’s Tour” by Anthony Bourdain, that got me interested more.

Being passionate about books from childhood, books have always been the wings that fueled my travel imagination. Many of the places that I visit today are places that I have already visited through the books that I have read. This is an awesome list of books. I have read quite a few of them. my all time favourites are Papillon and The Alchemist.

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The 15 Best Travel Books for Inspiring Your Next Big Trip

From fiction to memoirs to guidebooks, these escapist reads will have you booking a plane ticket in no time.

Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links.

For many of us, books were our first way to travel the world. As children, we went to imagined locations like Narnia and the land of wild things; as teenagers, we went to real life destinations like East Egg and the Salinas Valley. Every one of us owes some small part of the savvy adult travelers we are today to the traveling we did in our mind’s eye, way back when.

Now that shots are in arms, many of us are eager to resume traveling—the real kind, that is. "Travel more" might even be your New Year's resolution. If you haven’t decided which parts unknown to explore just yet, or you’re still socking away funds for the trip of a lifetime, we're here to help. We’re encouraging you to get back to basics by turning to those trusty books once again. We’re here with a rough and ready syllabus of travel reading for anyone looking to travel responsibly, imaginatively, and exuberantly.

Lee Boudreaux Books Less, by Andrew Sean Greer

In Less , an unforgettable comic novel, we meet Arthur Less, an aging writer embarking on a madcap global adventure in an effort to outrun heartbreak. Less’ travels take him everywhere from Berlin to Paris, a ski chalet in Morocco to a Christian writing retreat in Southern India, all of it a sparkling satire of Americans abroad, as well as a bittersweet travelogue of the heart’s vagaries. Greer masterfully blends absurdity, heartache, and pure, unfettered, laugh-out-loud joy, proving definitively that yes, literary novels can have happy endings. 

Harper Perennial Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter

Dreaming of a holiday on the Italian Riviera? Look no further than Beautiful Ruins , Walter’s luscious novel of midcentury Italy and contemporary Hollywood. Beautiful Ruins opens in 1962, when Pasquale, the young proprietor of a ramshackle inn on the Ligurian coastline, encounters Dee Moray, a beguiling American starlet. Pasquale soon learns that Dee’s stay at the inn is just a pit stop on the way to Switzerland for medical treatment, but it’s more than enough time for a wistful intimacy to form between them. On a Hollywood backlot many decades later, a disillusioned development assistant encounters an elderly Italian gentleman seeking answers about an actress he met long ago. Lavishly imagined and shimmeringly told, Beautiful Ruins is a fantasia of treachery and romance, showcasing a seminal American writer at the height of his powers. 

Catapult Rough Magic, by Lara Prior-Palmer

At age 19, Prior-Palmer discovered “the world’s longest, toughest horse race”—the Mongol Derby, a breakneck thousand-kilometer race through perilous Mongolian wasteland, designed to recreate the horse messenger system developed by Genghis Khan. The heavily televised race sends riders like Prior-Palmer through a punishing landscape of woodlands, wetlands, mountains, dunes, and steppes. In this sensual, spiritual memoir, Prior-Palmer recounts her grueling journey through immense physical hardship, and her surprising transformation from underdog to the race’s first female champion.

Little, Brown and Company How to Be a Family, by Dan Kois

Ever dreamed about uprooting your family for one life-changing, globe-trotting year? Kois did exactly that, and lived to tell the tale. Disillusioned with the screen-heavy grind of parenting two pre-teen girls in Washington D.C., Kois and his wife spirited their daughters away to seek new kinds of togetherness in New Zealand, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and small-town Kansas. The product of their travels is this heartwarming memoir, wherein Kois meditates on parenting, community, and the parts of who we are that follow us, no matter how far we go.

Back Bay Books Blue Highways, by William Least Heat-Moon

Following two devastating personal losses, Heat-Moon set out across America on a road trip, hewing only to the country highways marked in blue on his atlas. Blue Highways will transport you to a lost place and time: blue collar America in the early eighties, as seen through truck stops, greasy spoons, and majestic landscapes. Sleeping in the back of a Ford pick-up and traveling wherever the winds blow him, Heat-Moon sketches vibrant portraits of strangers and communities, all while making an unforgettable voyage of self-discovery. 

St. Martins Press-3PL Stranger on a Train, by Jenny Diski

“If you want to see what this nation is all about, you have to ride the rails,” Colson Whitehead wrote in The Underground Railroad . Diski puts this principle to the test in Stranger on a Train , a travelogue meets memoir about her experience of seeing the United States by AmTrak. In these meandering pages, Diski unpacks the decline of American railways, recounts fateful meetings with fellow travelers, and excavates the lingering wounds of her past, proving that wherever we go, there we are. 

Riverhead Books Memorial, by Bryan Washington

At Memorial ’s center are two complicated men: Benson, a Black daycare teacher, and Mike, a Japanese-American chef. Benson and Mike’s years-long live-in relationship is on the rocks, with each one of them too apathetic to rekindle their romance or to end it. As Mike puts it: “We fight. We make up. We fuck on the sofa, in the kitchen, on the floor. I cook, and cook, and cook.” Their companionable stasis is turned upside down when Mike receives news that his estranged father is dying in Japan just as his mother Mitsuko arrives on their doorstep, forcing Benson and Mitsuko to become unlikely roommates in Mike’s absence. Come for Memorial 's bittersweet story of love, care, and what it means to be home, but stay for the novel's mouth-watering culinary travelogue, featuring everything from Japanese comfort food to Houston TexMex. 

Vintage Disappearing Earth, by Julia Phillips

At the center of this bewitching novel set in remote Russia is the mysterious disappearance of two young girls; around that fulcrum turns a maelstrom of social, ethnic, and gendered tension magnified by the crime. Phillips evokes a tight-knit community riven by loss, as well as an unreal landscape on the edge of the earth, replete with tundras, volcanoes, and startling, foreign beauty.

Mariner Books Dark Star Safari, by Paul Theroux

Veteran travel writer Theroux’s finest work is Dark Star Safari , an unputdownable account of his high-octane journey from Cairo to Cape Town. Traveling by bus, canoe, cattle truck, armed convoy, ferry, and train, Theroux traverses the African continent, all while encountering locals, aid workers, and tourists along the way. Richly observed and meticulously reporting, Theroux paints both a heartening and harrowing picture of Africa: a place of political turmoil, exhilarating change, and staggering beauty.

A Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel Allende

From a titan of literature comes an epic novel that opens in 1930s Spain, where a pregnant widow makes a harrowing pilgrimage over mountains and oceans to escape civil war. Bound to her deceased lover’s brother in a marriage of convenience, she settles in Allende’s native Chile, where she builds a new home while reconsidering her relationship to the home she left behind. In this transporting novel of journeys and homecomings, Allende is as transcendent and life-affirming as ever, locating joy even in the refugee experience and light even in the darkness.

Eland Publishing Full Tilt, by Dervla Murphy

In 1963, adventurer Dervla Murphy packed a pistol, boarded a bicycle, and set out from Dunkirk to reach New Delhi. In  Full Tilt , a memoir composed of her daily diaries, Murphy chronicles her grueling overland journey through Europe, the Middle East, and central Asia, where she encountered vibrant remote cultures and spectacular landscapes. From dinner with the Pakistani president to firing her pistol in a few tense moments, Murphy’s action-packed journals are an ode to traveling alone and the spirit of adventure.

White Lion Publishing Hidden Places, by Sarah Baxter

If you’re the type of traveler who wants to get off the beaten path, look no further than Hidden Places , a lavishly illustrated guidebook highlighting some of the world’s best-kept secrets. Many of the places contained here are difficult to access, like a remote village in alpine Austria with a population of 39 people, or secreted away by their ancient makers, like the rock-cut underground churches of Lalibela. Whether you want to hike through craggy mountain passages or glimpse the ancient world, Hidden Places celebrates the road not taken.

Vintage The Art of Travel, by Alain de Botton

Plenty of travel writing concerns itself with where to go, what to do, and how to do it all “the right way.” But what about the why of it all? Enter The Art of Travel , a meandering meditation on why we travel and how it changes us, in which de Botton juxtaposes his own observations with the wisdom of great philosophers. Reflecting on travel’s disappointments, trials, and rewards, de Botton reveals how we fulfill and find ourselves along the way.

Between The Lines Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World, by Anu Taranath

Consider this conundrum: traveling abroad is one of the best ways to expand our thinking about inequity, power, and the long legacy of colonialism, but if we’re not careful, our crash landings into new communities can emphasize the very power and privilege we seek to dismantle. Taranath’s bible for the conscientious traveler offers invaluable tips for exploring the world with care and respect, providing tools for navigating discomfort and fostering mindfulness. Don’t set foot on a plane without first digging into this vital guidebook.

Three Rivers Press Footsteps, by the Editors of The New York Times

For so many of us, great literature is our first introduction to the destinations that will loom large on our "must visit" list. We fall in love with a place through a writer’s eyes, then vow to go there one day ourselves. In this anthology of bite-sized essays, contemporary writers do just that, retracing the footsteps of their favorite authors to reveal the cherished places that shaped their work. From Dashiell Hammitt’s San Francisco to Marguerite Duras’ Saigon, each gemlike essay reveals a new shade of a story and a setting. 

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The Best Travel Books I’ve Ever Read

Last updated on February 7, 2024 by Shannon

When heading on the road, reading about the cultural nuances and history that shapes a country is one of the best gifts we can give ourselves before traveling. Certain books allow for more informed and considerate travels, as well as a deeper experience in the country. 

I’ve read about six books a month for decades—I’ve had a lot of time on marathon flights and overnight buses in far-flung places in the world—and have covered huge swaths of the travel niche. This list is less The Alchemist and more A Fortune-Teller Told Me —I love true stories and favor novels grounded deeply in the culture of a place rather than a philosophical book that happens to feature travel.

These travel books are hand-picked and provide cultural and political history of new countries, often woven through a story or personal narrative. The word “best” is subjective—travel books centered on some places may pique your interest more than others—but these books all stand out for sharing compelling journeys and insights any wanderluster will love.

Don’t ask me who’s influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he’s digested, and I’ve been reading all my life. Giorgos Seferis

The Travel Books that Moved Me

Countless lists try to suss about the best travel books of all time—the next section covers those. But here’s a list of travel books that have moved me. These are books that shifted something deep in my soul when I was finished reading them, or fundamentally shifted something about how I travel.

Most of these were books I read just before and while traveling through the country in question, though others are books I’ve encountered during my long years of wandering (since 2008!) and living abroad .

These are unconventional recommendations for the best travel books, but I guarantee each will shift your perspective in some meaningful way.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

A heartbreaking fictional story set in the real-life political turmoil in Afghanistan. Hosseini paints a fascinating picture of modern Afghanistan, with the main characters struggling with familial and cultural obligations. This book transcends travel and is generally a phenomenal book every person should read.

The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga

A favorite read for me; Adiga’s novel paints a picture of two very different Indias—the crushingly poor and the rising global middle class. The story sheds light on India’s cultural dynamics, globalization, and politics, and the mess these elements are causing in modern India. It’s also a very quick, easy read.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

This book offers not just a journey through India, but a deep dive into the complexities of its society. Highly recommended for travelers heading to India, it shares an intricate portrayal of a family’s life in Kerala, blending political and social commentary with a poignant narrative.

Roy’s rich prose and keen observations bring to life the lush landscapes and intricate social structures of Southern India, making it a compelling and insightful read for anyone seeking to understand the nuances of this diverse and fascinating region.

A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East by Tiziano Terzani

A captivating overland memoir that beautifully intertwines the author’s personal experiences with the diverse cultures of the Far East. Terzani, guided by a prophecy from a fortune-teller, embarks on a journey avoiding air travel , which leads to a series of enlightening and often humorous encounters across Asia.

This book is a treasure trove of cultural insights and human stories, highlighting the author’s deep engagements with local traditions, spiritual practices, and the everyday lives of the people he meets.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Set in rural Florida, my home state , Hurston’s novel is controversial because of her choice to use local black dialects from the time (much like Tony Morrison’s novels).

The novel delves into black African American culture in a way unlike other writers—not from the racial black-white perspective, but instead through the eyes of her characters, who happen to be black and southern. It’s a must read for Americans and non-Americans alike traveling in the south of the U.S.

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Álvarez

A historical novel blending history and the true story of the Mirabel sisters, “ Las Mariposas ” and their fight against the Trujillo dictatorship.

These four sisters worked in the underground to overthrow Trujillo and three of the four were murdered shortly before the dictatorship ended.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Sometimes a book just hits you in all of the feels. I’ve lost two brothers to drug addiction over the years, and Strayed’s unvarnished honesty about her drug use when she started trekking the Pacific Crest Trail hooked me.

The book unfolds with that same unflinching prose . Strayed’s journey was hard. She processed a lot during her months of walking, and she ultimately used her travels as a way to unpack a tough time in her life. I could acutely understand using travel for this purpose and I know many others will too.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

Boo is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who moved to India with her husband. While living in Mumbai, she followed the lives of several families within the Annawadi slum. This story weaves together the lives of these people in a way that reads as a novel.

The film  Slum Dog Millionaire  was many people’s only look at life in a slum—that was Hollywood’s version. Great literature challenges you to look at your preconceptions of the world and widen your thinking. Boo’s book does just that.

She takes a topic that is glossed over in mainstream travel narrative and adds a very real element to the struggles the world’s poorest people face. It’s a must read before visiting India, and for any armchair travel-lover curious about the world.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Many middle and high school students read this book, but if you missed this in your school curriculum, pick it up. Although I traveled the world for all of the shiny reasons we all do—food, culture, fun—I was also running from a difficult family situation that I could only come to terms with once I had some distance.

For this reason, Chris’ lonely journey pulls at me deeply. He was young and adventurous, but ultimately unprepared and unlucky. His final thoughts as his journey comes to an end still resonate with me decades after I first read the book.

Best Travel Books of All Time

When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life. Christopher Morley

On the Road  by Jack Kerouac

This classic novel follows the travels of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty as they crisscross the United States in search of adventure, kicks, and spiritual fulfillment.

Kerouac’s spontaneous prose captures the essence of Beat generation counterculture, and the book remains a must-read for anyone interested in the American road trip.

The Great Railway Bazaar  by Paul Theroux

Train-travel enthusiasts most appreciate this fascinating account of the author’s journey across the world, but it’s an essential read for anyone planning or dreaming of world travel.

Through vivid descriptions and encounters with locals, Theroux provides a unique insight into the cultures and landscapes of the places he visited, and the book is a beautiful documentation of his four-month journey by train from London to Japan and back, passing through Europe, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia.

The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

Weiner’s book focuses on how cultures and nations create and experience happiness . One of the core conclusions of The Geography of Bliss, one that he builds a case behind throughout, is that happiness does not correspond to those things you would assume.

In fact, neither cultural diversity nor social equality could predict or create higher levels of happiness. Each of the happy countries profiled had their own quirks. The happiness was subjective; what made one culture happy was often the exact reverse in the next happy country studied.

This book offers a fascinating tour of the world. I haven’t visit many of the places he visits—Iceland, Bhutan, Moldova—and I found the book a wonderful trip through these cultures.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

This book is an epic tale that you’ll love for at least the first half, and still find riveting in the second half, when the tone changes a bit.

I began reading it on the plane to Mumbai , which proved to be the perfect companion as I backpacked across India. The novel, based on true events, follows the life of an Australian fugitive named Lin, who finds a new life in the underworld of Mumbai.

The story is rich with vivid descriptions of the city’s chaotic streets, its diverse inhabitants, and Lin’s tumultuous adventures. From living in slums to engaging with the local mafia, Roberts’ narrative is immersive, offering a raw and intense portrayal of life in one of India’s most dynamic cities.

Papillon (P.S.) by Henri Charriere

This gripping memoir tells the story of the author’s wrongful imprisonment and subsequent escapes from the penal colonies of French Guiana and Venezuela.

Set against the brutal yet captivating backdrop of the notorious penal colonies, including Devil’s Island, the narrative vividly portrays the contrasting beauty and danger of the South American wilderness. The book’s intense detailing of Charrière’s experiences, from his 1945 imprisonment for a crime he professed innocence to, to his daring escape attempts, captivated me completely.

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston

This high-adventure travel book resonated deeply with my passion for the genre, a love first ignited by River of Doubt . In this compelling narrative, Preston recounts the true story of the discovery of an ancient city in the Honduran rainforest, often referred to as the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God.

The expedition, fraught with danger and challenges, including dense jungles and deadly snakes, offers a vivid portrayal of both the natural wonders and the perilous undertakings in uncharted territories. This book not only provides a fascinating insight into a 500 year archeological mystery, but also captivates with its depiction of raw adventure, making it an essential read for anyone who cherishes high-adventure travel books.

Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America’s Strangest Jail  by Rusty Young  & Thomas McFadden

An endlessly readable first-hand account of the McFadden’s time in a La Paz prison for cocaine trafficking. Young, a backpacker intrigued by McFadden’s story petitions for his release. Put this high on your list for insight into all of South America’s drug culture and more importantly a dizzying look at Bolivia’s internal dynamics.

The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer: Close Encounters with Strangers  by Eric Hansen

While this book may not hold up like others on this list, it is good fun. This collection of essays explores the bizarre, the unusual, and the deeply human side of travel. Hansen shares his unique experiences, from meeting a bird man in New Caledonia to a heartwarming encounter with a lap dancer in Piccadilly.

Each story delves into the unexpected connections and poignant moments that can happen when traveling—moments every traveler will understand, even if they make more … conservative … travel choices.

No Mercy: A Journey Into the Heart of the Congo by Redmond O’Hanlon

Sometimes you just want a unique travel book that reminds you that “No, you don’t have to do that, too.” O’Hanlon’s book is precisely that. This book takes you deep into one of the most challenging and mysterious regions on Earth: the Congo. O’Hanlon’s journey is filled with danger, humor, and the raw beauty of a land largely untouched by modern civilization.

His travel writing is unlike anything else you’ve read, and he vividly captures the lush rainforests, the diverse wildlife, and the complex cultural dynamics of the region, all while facing immense physical and psychological challenges.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert

A personal memoir (and a Hollywood film with Julia Roberts), this book is a light and easy read—some people hate the narrator, while this book inspired thousands of to take a year off and explore the world solo . It actually inspired my roommate at the time—we were both living in Los Angeles —to go live in an Ashram in Kerala for three months.

I found it an enjoyable beach read and far better than the movie. It’d be silly to leave it off this list since it so deeply resonates with many.

Best Travel Books: By Country, Region, & Review

I’m passionate about the value in reading books about the specific places you’re traveling. For that reason, I’ve rounded up a number of guides to books about countries like Spain and Ireland, regions like Africa and Central America, and a fair number of individual travel book reviews.

The Best Books to Read Before Going to Ireland

Best Books to Read Before Visiting Spain

The Best Books You Should Read Before Traveling Africa

Travel Book Review: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Travel book review: “the geography of bliss” by eric weiner.

Travel Book Review: Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim

Travel Book Review: One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni

Book Review: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey

Travel book review: wild: from lost to found on the pacific crest trail by cheryl strayed, travel book review: behind the beautiful forevers by katherine boo.

Travel Book Review: Gold Rush in the Jungle by Dan Drollette

28 thoughts on “the best travel books i’ve ever read”.

I like your blog. Learning so much! If you have not yet read, Angela’s Ashes By Frank Mccourt – it is an amazing read that will inform a reader of a lot of Irish history.

Wonderful list! We came from trans-Siberian tour couple of months ago and it was a blast! I feel like that culture is my true culture, they’re honest and warm people, I love that about them. Guys from Travel all Russia suggested me couple of books and movies to help with the nostalgia, so your list will definitely help me too!

So glad it’s helpful! And what a great trip that must of have been — it’s still on my bucket list. And if you love any of their book suggestions, please feel free to comment with them here and I’ll add them! :)

What a great list – I will add quite a few of these to my “to read” pile! I would suggest to add “Watching the English” by Kate Fox for UK – a great and funny book about English culture and their habits and etiquette. For China – The Good Women of China by Xue Xinran is a very sad, but fascinating book of true stories about life of different women in China in 80’s. And for travel around the world inspiration fantastic read is Jupiters Travels: Four Years Around the World on a Triumph by Ted Simon.

Thanks for the rec on “Watching the English” — it looks fascinating and I’ve added it to my reading queue before I head back to England this fall. And the others too, I’ll update the list and add these recs, thanks Linda! :)

Do check out “Vagabonding: The uncommon art of long term travel” by Rolf Potts and “Marco Polo didnt go there” by the same author. Lovely insightful writing which will make you want to pack your bags right away

Thanks for sharing and weighing in — both are great books and sound wonderful.

Consider adding “Blue Highways” from William Least Heat Moon and/or “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. Both are top notch road trip/self discovery books.

I will check out Blue Highways for sure! Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is definitely in these lists under the US section — it was a fantastic read. Thanks for sharing, the other one is now in my Kindle queue. :)

I enjoyed your well selected list. Some of my favorites include stories written by Pearl S Buck about China, Shogun (and others James Clavell wrote) about Japan and of course many by James Michener.

Thanks Joanne, I’m revamping the list so I’ll research the authors you rec’d (add them to my queue) and here as well! Cheers and thanks for taking the time to share some great ones! :)

What were your niece’s favorite reads on the road? We will be leaving for our year around the world on about a year and will have our 11 and 8 year olds in tow. Would love her recommendations!

Hi Moira! Great question, I tried really hard at first to find relevant books on the local country, but instead switched to either 1) anything she wanted to read and found interesting and 2) themes. So her favorite author hands-down right now is Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series to start if your 11 year old hasn’t yet; she couldn’t put the books down and read all five in less than 2 months). Then, she was really keen to read the Hunger Games, which I resisted at first, but then we read it and used it as a launching point to discussing revolutions, revolutionary heroes, and Aung San Suu Kyi before we went to Burma. So, look around for topical (also listened to Bamboo People audiobook before Burma http://www.amazon.com/Bamboo-People-Mitali-Perkins/dp/1580893295 and then try to incorporate themes is my best rec. I found a couple and added to pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/shannonrod/family-travel/ — you have motivated me to dig around and create a child focused page like this one now! Keep me posted if you find good ones too! :)

Great list Shannon! I would also add “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. While not about a specific place, Coelho writes about the wonder and the mystic of travel. The way travel will open up your eyes not just to the things you see and experience while abroad, but also what you have at home. A fantastic read for the solo traveler. PS. Keep up the great work!

Thank you for the rec Tony, not having The Alchemist on there was an oversight for sure. I read the book years ago and remember really loving the core message and the easy story surrounding it that made it both enjoyable and profound. I appreciate you weighing in and would love any other recs as you find good ones! Cheers :)

Having traveled widely, as well, I love the photos on the “A Little Adrift” FB page! Margaret Bishop,

Thank you Margaret! I appreciate the support and wish you safe travels on your next adventure :)

Great list! You should read Goodbye Sarajavo- great read

Thanks Jen, I haven’t read that one, but will add it to the list next time I update! :)

I just read “Across Patagonia” by Lady Florence Dixie written in 1880.  It’s good and you can read it for free on Google Books!

Fantastic addition — I love books in the open domain, read a couple to prep for Burma that were also free, and good :) Will add this next time I update the list! Thanks Rachel :)

Awesome… This is a really good compilation. For India, you can also read and add the following 2 books of William Dalrymple – The City of Djinns and 9 Lives.

Thanks for sending along those recs, I’ll see about adding them to the list, then hunting them down and reading them myself! :)

I’m so happy I found this list. I always like to read a book related to the country I’m visiting but it’s not always easy to find books with the proper location quickly.

Glad you found it helpful, and if you come across any great ones I don’t have mentioned, please shoot me a message and I’ll add them! :)

What a comprehensive list! Can I nominate “The Hidden Europe” for the Eastern Europe category? At 736-pages, it’s the most comprehensive Eastern European travelogue.

Wow, somehow missed this comment a few months back, but thanks for sharing your book rec, and it will definitely be added to the list asap! (And I’ll add it to my huge list of “to be read in the future” books  :)  Cheers and thank! 

Great lists Shannon and all of them is great..Thank you for sharing the books. I want all of them specially the book of from Spain. Truly rich in culture and I would like to discover more from them.

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18 Inspiring books to gift travelers this holiday

From novels to cookbooks, these travel page-turners are sure to please everyone on your list.

All the #instatravel posts or Tripadvisor reviews can’t take the place of a gorgeous photo book or a compelling travel tale that you can get lost in. These 18 new books will inspire wanderlust, shine a light on a corner of the world you might not have known about, and help you explore more deeply once you are there. You’re sure to find something for a favorite traveler on your holiday list—or for yourself.

Cooking in Iran: Regional Recipes and Cooking Secrets , by Najmieh Batmanglij

News headlines don’t often show the side of Iran that fills the appetizing pages of Batmanglij’s latest cookbook, packed as it is with some 250 recipes and 400 photographs. The Tehran-raised, Washington, D.C.-based Batmanglij traveled 10,000 miles throughout her home country to trace the roots of traditional Persian dishes, document the bounty of local markets, and cook with local chefs, from saffron-rich Khorasan province to the famed wine region of Shiraz.

Basque Country: A Culinary Journey Through a Food Lover’s Paradise , by Marti Buckley

An Alabama chef who has lived in San Sebastián, Spain , for more than eight years, Buckley evokes the spirit of the Basque people through cultural insight and classic recipes. Travelers can recreate tasty bites such as salt fish croquettes or gâteau Basque.

Let’s Eat France! , by François-Régis Gaudry

This six-pound compendium of everything French cuisine is a light-hearted collection of recipes (from mayonnaise to cassoulet); tips (best gastronomy museums, a guide to wild berries); a tour of the country via its breads, wines, and signature dishes; and anecdotes on star chefs from Julia Child to Daniel Boulud. [ Discover the chocolate capital of France. ]

Cuban Flavor: Exploring the Island’s Unique Places, People, and Cuisine , by Liza Gershman

With its tropical Caribbean setting, Cuba has always been rich in a variety of fruits and the bounties of the sea. But the country’s complex history has often meant shortages in food, fuel, and other resources. This photo-filled cookbook celebrates Cuban culture and the people behind the food, capturing a resilience, which, as Gershman writes, “perfumes every savory dish.”

Photo Books

Spectacle: rare and astonishing photographs , by national geographic.

The more than 200 images that animate this coffee table book are divided into chapters titled Chaos, Surprise, Beauty, and Awe. Nearly all of them are bound to spark a #travelgoal, from the tree-root-tangled temples of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, to the sculptures of the annual Burning Man festival, in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. [ These photos prove how wild Burning Man really is. ]

In the introduction to this stunning photo book, National Geographic staff photographer Mark Thiessen writes: "Each shot took planning, commitment, dogged determination, and sometimes dumb luck … and a little bit of magic.”

Born to Ice , by Paul Nicklen

Born and raised on Baffin Island, in Arctic Canada , award-winning National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen has long had a love affair with polar regions. This substantial keepsake photo book captures the lives of leopard seals, whales, walruses, polar bears, penguins, and narwhals, and is infused with the urgency Nicklen feels about preserving a beloved landscape that is rapidly disappearing.

Paris Echo , by Sebastian Faulks

With chapters titled after Paris Métro stations, this twisty story told through two narrators—an American academic researching World War II Paris and a teenage Moroccan immigrant—is at heart a love letter to Paris’s historic streets and odd corners, tourist attractions and flaneur-inviting neighborhoods. [ Read more about people-watching in Paris .]

Where the Crawdads Sing , by Delia Owens

This best-selling, Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick immerses readers in North Carolina ’s coastal marshlands while telling a tale that’s part murder mystery, part coming-of-age narrative. You’ll fall in love with the main character, abandoned 10-year-old Kya, who learns to survive amid the blade grass, palmettos, and cattail lagoons.

• Nat Geo Expeditions

What We Were Promised , by Lucy Tan

Although with less designer-name-dropping than the Crazy Rich Asians series, Tan explores similar themes of class, newly acquired wealth, and family tradition in her novel set in Shanghai. After achieving success in the U.S., Lina and Wei return to China as wealthy expats but life amid Shanghai’s high-rises and shopping malls isn’t what they expected, particularly when Wei’s long lost brother comes back into their lives.

Little , by Edward Carey

This curiosity-filled novel about the life of Madame Tussaud is enlivened with old-timey illustrations by Carey himself. Set in the years before and during the French Revolution, diminutive Marie moves to Paris after being orphaned and becomes assistant to a doctor who makes wax models of body parts. A must-read for anyone who’s ever visited Madame Tussauds wax museum in London or any of its other 20 outposts around the world. [ Madame Tussaud used beheaded politicians to create her original waxworks . ]

RELATED: 14 Epic Libraries Around the World

Arctic Solitaire , by Paul Souders

Souders’ quest to photograph polar bears led to this memoir detailing a series of solo, accident-prone adventures piloting a 22-foot boat through Arctic waters. The search for the iconic animal takes Souders from Hudson Bay up to Repulse Bay, in northern Canada , stopping at Inuit villages along the way. [ Here's how people live in the Arctic. ]

To Shake the Sleeping Self , by Jedidiah Jenkins

We might have heard this story before—young man quits job and his prescribed life and hops on a bike for a long-distance adventure (this time from Oregon to Patagonia) to find himself. But this memoir stands out for its frank honesty about the author’s emotional journey, as someone struggling with his evangelical Christian upbringing and his sexual identity. “I am on this bike, on my spirit quest,” he writes. “This is where people have revelations.”

Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Life in Contemporary Palestine , by Marcello di Cintio

Traveling through the West Bank, into Jerusalem , across Israel, and into Gaza, Di Cintio reveals life in contemporary Palestinian territories through the lens of its authors, books, and literature. He meets writer Maya Abu-Alhayyat at Café Ramallah, smoking a nargileh under a poster of Elvis. He finds the cultural hub of Gaza at the Gallery Café, where he chats with theater impresario Jamal Abu al-Qumsan. Throughout he finds “no life undarkened…by conflict” but also “no life wholly defined” by it either.

Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road , by Kate Harris

With a lifelong “mad longing for a world without maps,” Harris undertakes an epic cycling adventure along the Silk Road. She marvels at the Mars-like landscape of the Tibetan Plateau, indulges in calorie-dense khachapuri adjaruli (cheese and egg-filled bread) in Georgia , and interviews government ministers about wilderness conservation in Tajikistan .

Go Find: My Journey to Find the Lost—and Myself, by Susan Purvis

What’s it like to be lost, really lost? Purvis has been there, both physically and emotionally, but this memoir recounts how she found her way back to her true self, with the help of a Labrador retriever she names Tasha and trains in search-and-rescue in the avalanche-prone mountains around Crested Butte, Colorado .

Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains , by Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent

Despite suffering from panic disorder (a malady she says she shares with Charles Darwin), the intrepid Bolingbroke-Kent sets off on a solo adventure across a lesser-known part of India , Arunachal Pradesh. Her travelogue sensitively captures the history, landscapes, and people of this isolated, mountainous state.

The Library Book , by Susan Orlean

For those of us for whom libraries are a travel destination, Orlean’s latest book is on our holiday wish list. Consummately curious, Orlean delves into the case of the 1986 fire that devastated the Los Angeles Public Library, the largest library disaster in U.S. history. Who started it? Why? Woven throughout, we learn about the compelling—and quirky—history of libraries in general.

The Immeasurable World: Journeys in Desert Places, by William Atkins

They may seem dry and lifeless, but desert landscapes, as fans know, are far from monochrome. Atkins journeys to eight of the world’s great deserts, following the trail of Wilfred Thesiger in the Empty Quarter of Oman, volunteering with an immigrant-aid non-profit in the Sonoran desert, and visiting the church of St. Antony in Egypt ’s eastern desert, one of the oldest monasteries in the world.

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The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century: A Printable List

By The New York Times Books Staff Aug. 26, 2024

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The New York Times Book Review I've I want THE 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY read to it read it 1 My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante 26 26 Atonement, by lan McEwan 2 The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson 27 Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 3 Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel 28 Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell 4 The Known World, by Edward P. Jones 29 The Last Samurai, by Helen DeWitt 5 The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen 30 Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward 6 2666, by Roberto Bolaño 31 White Teeth, by Zadie Smith 7 The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead 32 The Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst 8 Austerlitz, by W.G. Sebald 33 Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward 9 Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro 34 Citizen, by Claudia Rankine 10 Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson 35 Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel 11 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz 36 Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates 12 The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion 37 The Years, by Annie Ernaux 13 The Road, by Cormac McCarthy 38 The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño 14 Outline, by Rachel Cusk 39 A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan 15 Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee 40 H Is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald 16 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon 41 Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan 17 The Sellout, by Paul Beatty 42 A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James 18 Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders 43 Postwar, by Tony Judt 19 Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe 44 The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin 20 Erasure, by Percival Everrett 45 The Argonauts, by Maggie Nelson 21 Evicted, by Matthew Desmond 46 The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt 22 22 Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo 47 A Mercy, by Toni Morrison 23 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, by Alice Munro 48 Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi 24 The Overstory, by Richard Powers 49 The Vegetarian, by Han Kang 25 25 Random Family, by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 50 Trust, by Hernan Diaz I've I want read to it read it

The New York Times Book Review I've I want THE 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY read to it read it 51 Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson 52 52 Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson 53 Runaway, by Alice Munro 76 77 An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones 78 Septology, by Jon Fosse Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin 54 Tenth of December, by George Saunders 55 The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright 56 The Flamethrowers, by Rachel Kushner 57 Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich ཤྲཱ རྒྱ སྐྱ A Manual for Cleaning Women, by Lucia Berlin The Story of the Lost Child, by Elena Ferrante Pulphead, by John Jeremiah Sullivan. Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor 58 Stay True, by Hua Hsu 83 When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamín Labatut 59 Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides 84 The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee 60 Heavy, by Kiese Laymon 85 Pastoralia, by George Saunders 61 Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver 86 Frederick Douglass, by David W. Blight 62 10:04, by Ben Lerner 87 Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters 63 Veronica, by Mary Gaitskill 88 The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis 64 The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai 89 The Return, by Hisham Matar 65 The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth 90 The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen 66 We the Animals, by Justin Torres 91 The Human Stain, by Philip Roth 67 Far From the Tree, by Andrew Solomon 92 The Days of Abandonment, by Elena Ferrante 68 The Friend, by Sigrid Nunez 93 Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel 69 59 The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander 94 On Beauty, by Zadie Smith 10 70 All Aunt Hagar's Children, by Edward P. Jones 95 Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel 71 The Copenhagen Trilogy, by Tove Ditlevsen 96 Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, by Saidiya Hartman 72 22 Secondhand Time, by Svetlana Alexievich 97 Men We Reaped, by Jesmyn Ward 73 The Passage of Power, by Robert A. Caro 98 Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett 74 Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout 99 How to Be Both, by Ali Smith 75 15 Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid 100 Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson I've I want read to it read it

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Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

100 Best Books of the 21st Century:  As voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics  and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

The Reigning Couple in Russian Literature :  For Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, translating together extended naturally from their relationship as husband and wife. Now, it is their life’s work.

Book Review Quiz Bowl :  Can you guess these novels that originally got bad Times reviews?

Rapping About Books and Grammar :  Jacob Mitchell has become  a wildly popular performer  whose rhymes have made reading and grammar all the rage among young people across Britain.

The Book Review Podcast:  Each week, top authors and critics talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

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• Winter Vacations

15 Best Warm Places to Travel to This Winter

Leave the cold behind with a trip to one of these warm-weather destinations.

Sure, the winter months have their perks — skiing, sledding, snowman building, and the holidays, of course. But the cold! Oh, the cold. It digs deep under your skin, straight to your bones, chilling everything from your toes to your chattering teeth. Fortunately, several year-round, warm-weather destinations can offer a much-needed respite from the frigid air.

From island getaways to sizzling cities, here are the best warm-weather places to visit in December, January, and February.

• Best tourist destination: The Bahamas
• Underrated hidden gem: Panama Highlands
• Best for families: San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Best for couples: Rangiroa, French Polynesia
• Best for solo travelers: Bangkok

Read on for our full list of recommendations for places to travel to this winter.

The Bahamas

Per Breiehagen / Getty Images

Sometimes, you just need to get away from the cold and not think about a single thing. And that's exactly what you can do in The Bahamas , an island chain that's about a three-hour flight from New York City. There are several beautiful destinations to choose from — New Providence Island, Grand Bahama Island, and the Exumas (and their famous swimming pigs) come to mind. Many of the archipelago's inhabited islands are home to some of the country's best all-inclusive resorts , making it an ideal winter getaway for families, couples, or solo travelers.

Panama Highlands

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While Panama has its share of splendid coastlines, the country's vast interior should not be overlooked, especially for a winter vacation. Temperatures in the highlands are generally in the 60s and 70s year-round, creating ideal conditions for outdoor adventures. Visitor-favorite activities here include bird-watching and, for more adventurous types, crisscrossing the verdant mountains via the famous hanging bridges of Boquete. The region is also home to a stellar coffee scene worth exploring. Book a stay at The Haven , an adults-only wellness resort that makes a great base if you're looking to do a local coffee tour.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Taylor McIntyre / Travel + Leisure

If you want to blend some time under the sun with some cultural enrichment, look no further than the capital city of Puerto Rico , which has long stretches of white-sand beaches, and historic attractions like the famous Castillo San Felipe del Morro fort. Visitors will also find lots of places to sample delicious Puerto Rican food — make a reservation at Cocina Abierta and thank us later. In San Juan, it's best to go boutique, so check into the O:LV Fifty Five hotel, which features a rooftop pool and bar offering the best views in town.

Rangiroa, French Polynesia

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Though more than a hundred islands comprise French Polynesia, just a handful of them (like Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea) get most of the attention. If you prefer to visit somewhere a little less crowded, try the quiet, sparsely developed atoll of Rangiroa. Located about an hour from Tahiti by air, the island has plenty of pristine beaches and a massive lagoon brimming with sea life. Stay at the Hotel Kia Ora Resort & Spa , which boasts stunning overwater bungalows and villas with private plunge pools.

Pakin Songmor / Getty Images

Winter happens to be the best time to visit Thailand , especially its capital city, Bangkok. The weather is balmy year-round thanks to the country's tropical location, but the winter months offer slightly more comfortable temperatures, with highs rarely exceeding 90 degrees. To get the most out of this massive city, it's best to book a lengthy visit or hire a local guide — there are tons of tour options available through Airbnb Experiences , for instance, that focus on food, culture, and photography. Don't miss out on the city's canals, either, which you can tour on a long-tail boat. Make your home base the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok , a long-running honoree in Travel + Leisure 's World's Best Awards .

Ambergris Caye, Belize 

With nonstop flights available from several U.S. cities — including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Miami — getting to the Central American nation of Belize is easier than you think. And while the country's interior is filled with lush, verdant landscapes home to ancient temples, monkeys, and even a few rare jaguars, the real star is the coast.

To experience the white-sand beaches at their best, make your way to Ambergris Caye. Belize's largest island is known for its water sports, including diving and snorkeling around the nearby Belize Barrier Reef and its famous Great Blue Hole . For a luxe visit, book a few nights at Alaia Belize , which provides easy access to the beach as well as a swimming pool that's suspended six stories above the main access corridor, with portholes in the bottom that offer aerial views of the property.

Mexico City 

Jorge Castro / Travel + Leisure

Though winter in Mexico City won't have the tropical heat you might expect from the rest of the country — temperatures tend to top out in the upper 60s or lower 70s this time of year — it still provides a balmy alternative to snowy U.S. locales. The capital is flush with cultural attractions , including first-rate museums like the stunning Museo Frida Kahlo , incredible shopping at both high-end stores and local markets, and some of the best restaurants in the world (we're looking at you, Pujol ). Make your home base Las Alcobas , a luxury hotel offering lavish guest rooms and a tranquil spa, perfect for relaxing in after a day of urban exploration.

Key West, Florida

NAPA74 / Getty Images

Key West is a true delight during the winter months, as the average high temperature never really falls below 75 degrees. It's the perfect place for fruity cocktails on the sand, sunset strolls down lively shopping streets, and slice after slice of tangy Key lime pie. Make the most of your time here by booking a stay at the historic Casa Marina Key West , a Curio Collection by Hilton property that just finished an extensive renovation in spring 2024. Through the hotel, you can book local food tours, golf outings, and sailboat cruises, or simply sit by the pool and soak in all that Florida Keys sun.

Martin Harvey / Getty Images

If you're seeking an African safari this winter without the crowds of a classic destination like Kenya , try the less-traveled terrain of Namibia . Located on Africa's southwest coast, the country offers seclusion, otherworldly landscapes, and near-guaranteed warm weather. It's also the perfect place to see animals like lions, elephants, leopards, and rhinos in their natural environment. There are several outfitters to choose from, but Natural Selection is top-notch, offering numerous safari camp options, including the famed Shipwreck Lodge on the Skeleton Coast.

Jorg Greuel / Getty Images

When the first cold snap hits, book a flight to Dubai . The desert oasis offers not just warm weather but a mind-boggling array of things to do, from swimming in the Persian Gulf to shopping at some of the world's most luxurious stores and dining at multiple Michelin-starred restaurants. Don't forget to visit the Burj Khalifa , the tallest building in the world at over 160 stories, while you're here, via an elevator that travels at an ear-popping 33 feet per second. Try Atlantis, The Palm — or Atlantis Dubai's latest addition Atlantis, The Royal — for your overnight stays, each property a veritable playground for those looking to indulge in the finer things in life.

Art Wager / Getty Images

Pick an island, any island — or make it a multi-island trip . Start on Oahu , home of the vibrant capital city, Honolulu, and Waikiki Beach. For a tropical, relaxed vibe, head to Kauai for scenic hiking and kayaking adventures. Hawaii Island offers the chance to view active volcanoes up close at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, while Maui is where you'll find some of the poshest resorts on the islands, complete with luxury spas and fancy restaurants. On each island, the Malama Hawaii program connects visitors with volunteer opportunities so you can give back to the local community. Some resorts will even offer special rates and discounts to those who participate, like third-, fourth-, or fifth-night free deals or packages with food and beverage credits.

Matteo Colombo / Getty Images

Just because Queenstown is New Zealand's most popular ski town doesn't mean it's not worth visiting when the weather is warmer. It's a great time to take on one of the area's popular hikes, check out the local wineries, or spend some time strolling lakeside in Queenstown Gardens. A scenic trip up the Skyline Queenstown gondola is definitely in order, as is a bungee jump or two if you're feeling brave enough (no pressure!). Whether you choose to indulge in a luxurious stay at one of Queenstown's top resorts — Eichardt's , Rosewood Matakauri , and The Carlin are among the best — or the city is just part of a larger adventure around New Zealand, the weather will be between 68 and 86 degrees from December through February.

Siripong Kaewla-iad / Getty Images

Lest we forget, it's summer down under, too, between December and February, with Sydney temperatures hovering around the 65-to-78 degrees mark. Translation: It's beach time! Pack your swimsuit and head to Bondi Beach to see the surfers do their thing or go for a swim at the famous Bondi Icebergs ocean pools (pictured above). If it's too crowded, try the Bronte Baths or Wylie's Baths a few suburbs south in Bronte Beach and Coogee Beach, respectively. Treat yourself to a luxury stay downtown at The Langham, Sydney , or the Park Hyatt Sydney , both located in the historic "The Rocks" neighborhood and within walking distance of Sydney Harbour.

Buenos Aires

Robert Frerck / Getty Images

If you've been waiting for an excuse to learn to tango in Buenos Aires , winter is a wonderful time to head south, with temperatures between 64 and 75 degrees. There's no shortage of dance clubs if you'd like to try out your moves — or tango shows if you'd prefer to leave it to the professionals. Besides dancing, the city is known for its food and wine scene, with shops and tasting rooms selling bottles from Argentina's best vineyards. Stay in the super-luxe Faena Hotel Buenos Aires , home of the popular Rojo Tango dinner show , or Palacio Duhau-Park Hyatt Buenos Aires , just a 10-minute walk from Recoleta Cemetery, where Eva Perón (Evita) was laid to rest.

iStockphoto / Getty Images

Another southern hemisphere spot known for its wine regions is Cape Town , where winter (well, summer) temperatures tend to be between 68 and 78 degrees during the day. Head 40 minutes out of the city to the Stellenbosch wine region, home of Babylonstoren , a hidden gem favorite of area locals for its vineyards, garden cafe, and other agri-tourism efforts. Then, retreat to a luxury stay at The Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa in Camps Bay, where you can indulge in a relaxing treatment or two and enjoy views of the Atlantic Ocean.

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JAPAN TRAVEL GUIDE 2025: Your Ultimate Companion to Explore, Tokyo , Kyoto and Osaka with Travel tips, Top attractions, Itineraries, Comprehensive maps, and Japanese Phrase book Kindle Edition

Imagine stepping into a world where ancient traditions harmonize with cutting-edge modernity, where every corner holds a new discovery, and where the past and present coexist in beautiful balance. Welcome to Japan, a country that has fascinated travelers for centuries with its rich culture, breathtaking landscapes, and unforgettable experiences. Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a seasoned traveler, the Japan Travel Guide 2025 is your comprehensive companion, expertly crafted to help you make the most of your adventure.

Inside This Guide, You Will Discover:

In-Depth Exploration of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka : Uncover the unique charm of Japan’s top cities. Wander through Tokyo’s bustling districts, from the neon-lit Shibuya Crossing to the serene Meiji Shrine. Step back in time in Kyoto as you explore ancient temples, tea houses, and the enchanting Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. Experience Osaka’s vibrant street food scene, historic castles, and lively entertainment districts.

Essential Travel Tips : Navigate Japan like a local with practical advice on transportation, cultural etiquette, and must-know travel tips. From mastering Japan’s intricate subway systems to understanding local customs, this guide has you covered.

Curated Itineraries : Whether you have a few days or a couple of weeks, our carefully designed itineraries help you make the most of your time. Discover the perfect balance between must-see attractions and hidden gems, tailored to different interests and travel styles.

Comprehensive Maps : Never get lost with detailed maps of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. These maps include key landmarks, transportation hubs, and walking routes to help you navigate the cities with ease.

Japanese Phrase Book : Break the language barrier with our handy Japanese phrase book. From ordering food to asking for directions, these essential phrases will enhance your interactions with locals and enrich your travel experience.

Top Attractions and Hidden Gems : Dive deep into Japan’s most iconic sights and uncover lesser-known treasures. Explore historic temples, tranquil gardens, bustling markets, and more.

Foodie’s Guide to Japan : Savor the flavors of Japan with our guide to the best dining spots, from traditional sushi bars to modern izakayas. Learn about local specialties and where to find the most authentic dishes.

Budget Tips : Traveling in Japan doesn’t have to break the bank. Discover money-saving tips, affordable accommodations, and budget-friendly dining options to make the most of your trip without compromising on experience.

Why This Guide?

This guide is more than just a book; it’s your gateway to a transformative experience in Japan. Whether you’re soaking in the neon lights of Tokyo, finding peace in Kyoto’s temples, or indulging in Osaka’s culinary delights, this guide will ensure you uncover the true essence of Japan.

Call to Action:

Embark on the journey of a lifetime with the Japan Travel Guide 2025 . Whether you’re planning your trip or already en route, this guide will be your trusted companion every step of the way. Get your copy today, and start exploring Japan’s endless wonders!

Don’t just dream about Japan—experience it. Let this guide lead the way!

• Reading age 10 - 18 years
• Print length 160 pages
• Language English
• Publication date August 19, 2024
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• See all details

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DDQKXSKB
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 19, 2024
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 39285 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
• #1 in Family Travel
• #1 in Japanese Travel
• #2 in Solo Travel

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Here’s the Best Time to Book Your Winter Vacation

But many people wait until the last minute to book their travel. Sometimes, they have no other option. It could be because they had to wait to get their vacation time approved or just decided to go somewhere on a whim. That’s fine. But waiting until the last minute in the hopes of significant savings is a mistake.

“With today’s dynamic pricing models, there’s no such thing as a last-minute travel deal,” says Flight Centre ’s Amra Durakovic. “If you wait until the very last second to book your trip, you’ll end up paying more.”

Planning and booking your vacation early has many advantages. You’ll have access to more options, and you can lock in your savings early. If you’re using credit, you’ll have a couple of months to pay off your trip before you even take it. And the best part? You’ll have something to look forward to as you rake the yard and shovel the snow. Whether it’s a ski trip or a beach break, there’s nothing like a holiday to break up the long, dark winter days.

While you shouldn’t wait until the last minute, you also don’t have to book a year in advance to score a great deal. There are the optimal times to book, depending on your destination.

Domestic Travel

You should book at least two months in advance, which can save you up to 40 per cent on your travel costs. Sundays are good days to book, with fares up to 15 per cent lower. Online tools like Google Flights can give you an idea of what things cost on different dates and you can track specific itineraries to get alerts when the price changes.

Related: Top 20 Most Popular Home-buying Destinations for Canadians in 2022

International Travel

If you’re going abroad, even to the US, you should book around 90 days in advance. You can save up to 10 per cent, and Thursday is often the cheapest day to book.

Ways to Save

Package deals are a great way to save money, and if you’re short on time, you’ll be freed up from doing any planning once you arrive at your destination. The flights may be at odd times and quite packed, but all-inclusive holidays make a tropical escape easy and affordable.

Related: Silent Travel is the New 2024 Wellness Trend

Book accommodations outside of tourist districts or downtown areas. Just going a block or two can save you a ton. Another option is to rent a vacation home (Airbnb, VRBO) instead of staying in a hotel . If your accommodation includes a kitchen, you can save by not always eating out.

Being flexible helps save, too. Changing your dates by a day or two can save you a bundle on airfares and accommodations. Flights earlier in the day are generally cheaper, and you can save even more by not booking accommodations on weekends.

Related: A Travel Lover’s Guide to Decorating With Souvenirs: Try These 10 Smart Ideas

If you want to go away this winter, start looking at destinations now and then book early to grab the best deals and experiences. Bon voyage!

Related: The Best Places and Times of Year to See the Northern Lights

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Where to book your next stay: Best hotels and resorts across the US

Start planning a dream trip.

Whether you're planning a vacation, honeymoon, or business trip, choosing your hotel is about so much more than just a place to sleep. The best hotels and resorts offer a variety of amenities, activities, and dining options to ensure you have a stellar experience.

To identify the best hotels and resorts across the United States, USA TODAY 10Best invited a panel of hotel and travel experts to nominate their top picks, then readers voted for their favorites across eight categories. Here are the winners.

Click on each category below to see the full winners list:

Best All-Inclusive Resort: Triple Creek Ranch in Darby, Montana

A luxury guest ranch in western Montana, Triple Creek Ranch offers an all-inclusive vacation experience complete with stunning scenery, plush accommodations in private log cabins, and outdoor activities throughout the year. The menu of activities includes horseback riding, fly fishing, hiking, archery, lawn games, skiing, snowshoeing, and even equestrian skijoring.

Full list of winners: Best All-Inclusive Resort »

Best Bed-and-Breakfast: The Winchester Inn in Ashland, Oregon

Step back in time when you stay in one of the 21 well-appointed guest rooms and suites located in the main house, Heritage House, Carriage House, or one of the two cottages. Guests of Winchester Inn can enjoy a two-course breakfast each morning, and, come dinner time, enjoy a meal at the on-site Alchemy Restaurant.

Full list of winners: Best Bed-and-Breakfast »

Best Boutique Hotel: GunRunner Hotel in Florence, Alabama

Drawing inspiration from the storied Shoals area, the GunRunner Hotel has 10 spacious suites — seven with private balconies — that celebrate the history and people of the region. Guests can also take advantage of the top-notch services and treatments offered at the GunRunner Spa.

Full list of winners: Best Boutique Hotel »

Best Destination Resort: Hidden Pond in Kennebunkport, Maine

Hidden Pond, a resort nestled amid 60 acres of birch groves and balsam fir trees on the southern coast of Maine, invites guests to kick off their shoes and relax by the pool or the fireplace. Travelers who just can't stay still can go stand-up paddleboarding on Goose Rocks Beach, chat with the resort gardener, take a mixology class, or cruise the property and its surroundings on a bike.

Full list of winners: Best Destination Resort »

Best Family Resort: Woodloch Resort in Hawley, Pennsylvania

The Woodloch Resort welcomes families to the Poconos with accommodations ranging from single rooms to two-bedroom suites. If you need more space, vacation rentals are also available. Meal plans mean all-inclusive family dining, and guests enjoy access to a range of activities daily, with amenities like a rock-climbing wall, indoor and outdoor pools, go-karts, bumper cars and boats, kayaking, and snow tubing (in the winter).

Full list of winners: Best Family Resort »

Best Historic Hotel / Resort: Historic Hotel Bethlehem in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Guests of the Historic Hotel Bethlehem can learn about the hotel’s storied history in the Lower Lobby. A hotel has occupied the site since 1741, though the structure was used as a convalescence home for World War I soldiers for a period. Today, guests enjoy modern amenities at this historic setting in the heart of Moravian Bethlehem.

Full list of winners: Best Historic Hotel / Resort »

Best Luxury Hotel Brand: Salamander Collection

The Salamander Collection offers one-of-a-kind getaways. Authenticity is always a priority, especially regarding cuisine and fine dining, wellness, and the overall experience of each stay. In addition to luxury amenities, guests can enjoy unique adventures, equestrian events, and golf.

Full list of winners: Best Luxury Hotel Brand »

Best Waterfront Hotel / Resort: Chatham Bars Inn in Chatham, Massachusetts

With a quarter-mile private beach and stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean, this classic New England destination has welcomed guests to Cape Cod since 1914. With 25 landscaped acres, poolside and beachfront cabanas and lounges, cottages, and six on-site dining options, there’s a lot to enjoy. Settle into an Adirondack chair, stroll into town, or get out on the water to watch the whales.

Full list of winners: Best Waterfront Hotel / Resort »

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Bargain travel hunters, your time is coming. Here's how to get the best fall deals.

• Fall is a great time to travel, with lower airfares and hotel prices.
• The week following Labor Day is the best time for domestic airfare deals, while Oct. 20 is the best for international trips.
• Some of the best practices for getting great fall travel deals include setting price alerts, picking morning flights and booking refundable hotels.

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Friday is National Cheap Flights Day (who knew?). Summer is drawing to a close, but the plus side as we head into fall means it’s shoulder season for travel, so deals abound if you have the scheduling flexibility to take advantage of them. 

Traditionally the period from September (after the Labor Day crowds have died down) to mid-November (before the Thanksgiving travel crush begins) has been a time of low demand for vacationers. The long tail of remote work since the COVID-19 pandemic has upended this pattern a little, but the next few months are still generally a more affordable time to travel. 

Here’s what the pricing trends are if you’re looking to book an off-peak getaway. 

Fall airfares 

According to data from Expedia , airfares in the fall are typically 10% lower than ticket prices in the summer. The online travel booking site said airfares will generally be lower in the coming months, and travelers can save as much as 15% by planning to fly on Mondays or Saturdays. 

“Regardless of the destination, fall is a fantastic time to travel and there’s still time to plan a getaway. The week following Labor Day is the best time for domestic airfare deals, while Oct. 20 is the best for international trips − and for the start of leaf-peeping season,” Melanie Fish, head of Expedia Group Brands public relations, said in a statement. 

An analysis from Hopper shows that domestic airfare in September averages $240, down 8% from September 2023. International prices to many regions also remain favorable.  

According to Gemma Jameison, a travel expert at Skyscanner, this can also be a great time to book flights for next summer.

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Fall hotel prices 

Hotel prices are up slightly since 2019, but the average is still reasonable at $161 a night, according to Hopper. 

Expedia said some popular destinations domestically and internationally have good deals this fall. Seattle, Honolulu and Denver are among the best for budget-conscious travelers in the U.S., and Toronto, Santo Domingo and London are great for those looking to venture abroad. 

Fall rental car prices 

Hopper noted that gas prices are down almost 10% from August 2023, and car rental prices are flat or slightly down, meaning road trips this fall will be more affordable. 

Tips to get the best fall travel deals 

According to Expedia, there are a few things travelers can do to maximize their budget. Some of the best practices include: 

• Setting price alerts for your preferred flights.
• Picking morning flights, which are often cheaper and also less likely to be delayed or canceled. 
• Book refundable hotels. It may cost a little more, but the extra flexibility will pay off if your plans change. 
• Save by bundling flights and hotels.

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at [email protected].

The Key Points at the top of this article were created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and reviewed by a journalist before publication. No other parts of the article were generated using AI. Learn more .