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Home » Gear » books to read while travelling

The Ultimate List of the 50 Best Books to Read While Traveling (Updated 2024!)

One of my favourite things about traveling is that I suddenly have time to read. When I’m hitching, camping or riding a 24 hour train whilst backpacking around the world, I often manage to read two or even three books a week. So over the course of the last year I’ve got through a fair few, some have been frankly life changing, others have been just as much of a slog as an overnight bus!

As travelers, we understand the transformative power of exploration, the allure of the unknown, and the magic of a well-told tale. It’s for this reason I have put together a list of the best travel books to read when backpacking!

Many of these travel books are best read when you’re actually in the country they are set in; for example, reading Shantaram in India is a really fantastic experience and you will get a lot more out of the book. Same goes for books about backpacking in general, they just seem to make the experience much more reflective and relatable.

From dog-eared classics to hidden gems, the best travel books serve as compasses guiding us through distant lands, exotic cultures, and incredible new experiences. They can fuel our wanderlust, ignite our imagination, and remind us of the infinite possibilities that await on the road.

And so, in no particular order, here we go with the 50 best books to read while traveling… The world is waiting – let’s explore it together, one page at a time.

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#1 – On the Road

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Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel should be compulsory reading for all nomads, backpackers and folks who want to live off the grid. In ‘On The Road’ discover 1950s underground America as Kerouac hitches backwards and forwards across the states in search of Jazz, drugs, sex and the meaning of life. Definitely, one of my favourite books to read while travelling and one of the best backpacking books out there.

#2 – The Cloud Garden

The Darien Gap is a place of Legend. The only break in the Pan-American highway, which runs from Alaska to the tip of South America. The gap is often seen as an almost impregnable strip of swamp, jungle and cloud forest inhabited by FARC gorillas.

This fascinating book tells the story of two unlikely travellers who team up and try to get through the gap from Panama to Colombia, on foot. After a gruelling journey, they are just hours from success when they are captured by FARC fighters and held prisoner in the jungle for nine months. Ok, so you might not want to literally follow in their footsteps but it’s one of the most inspirational books about traveling the world.

#3 – Shantaram

The first book I ever read on India, Shantaram inspired me to book a one-way flight to Delhi and travel around India for 14 months. It might just be my favourite book about traveling around the world if I’m honest!

The book follows the possibly true, possibly exaggerated, story of an escaped Australian convict who finds his way to India where he falls in love, works for gangsters, fights the Russians in Afghanistan, gets imprisoned in Bombay, becomes a professional forger and an amateur doctor and experiences life in an Indian slum.

One of the best books to read while travelling in India, it is extremely well written and paints an accurate, although somewhat rosy, picture of life in India.

#4 –  Last Man in Tower

21st Century Mumbai is a city of new money and soaring real estate, and property kingpin Dharmen Shah has grand plans for its future. His offer to buy and tear down a weathered tower block, making way for luxury apartments, will make each of its residents rich – if all agree to sell.

But not everyone wants to leave; many of the residents have lived there for a lifetime, and many of them are no longer young. As tensions rise among the once civil neighbours, one by one those who oppose the offer give way to the majority, until only one man stands in Shah’s way: Masterji, a retired schoolteacher, once the most respected man in the building.

Shah is a dangerous man to refuse, but as the demolition deadline looms, Masterji’s neighbours – friends who have become enemies, acquaintances turned co-conspirators – may stop at nothing to secure their money. This is really one of the most poignant books to read while travelling in India, it changed how I viewed the country irreversibly.

#5 – A Long Petal of the Sea

Backdropped by the ongoing unrest of the Spanish Civil War, A Long Petal of the Sea offers a tale of love in the face of hardship, a complex cast of characters interwoven into the plot, and the daily struggle to survive. This was one of my absolute favourite reads of 2024 and an awesome bit of travel reading – another gem by Isabel Allende!

#6 – Mumbai to Ventiane

Need more India? I loved my 2 years in this country and Leon G Hewis similarly had an awesome adventure that began on this mysterious subcontinent.

His self-published travelogue-slash-thought-diary gives a refreshing look into South and Southeast Asia. He fully captures the feeling of being on the road and confronting new ideas and creatively working yourself out of situations you’d never encounter on your couch at home. If you’re looking for a definative book about traveling the world and the experiences that come with it then this is the one.

#7 – On a Shoestring to Coorg

This is the first travel book that tested the idea that a five-year old daughter makes for a decent travelling companion. A really interesting read on the now-defunct Indian state of Coorg, this book gives a fascinating insight into the origins of backpacker travel in India.

#8 – The Kite Runner

A fascinating, sometimes painful, read about Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The story follows the fate of two young boys, one of whom is able to escape to America whilst the other, of the Hazara minority group, is forced to stay behind.

#9 – A Thousand Splendid Suns

One of the most inspirational books to read while travelling, I felt that this gave me a real insight into the little known women of Afghanistan and the events that have shaped the country over the last thirty years.

#10 – Born to Run

A tale of a mysterious tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara, who live hidden in canyons and are reputed to be the best long distance runners in the world.

#11 – The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

This is THE book to read if you are interested in how the psychedelic movement began, squats, hippy culture or experimenting with LSD.

Follow Ken Kesey, author of One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, as he leads his band of Merry Pranksters across America fermenting a revolution unlike any other. Definitely, one of the best books to read on the road.

#12 – The Lost City of Z

This is THE book you want to read if you are headed into the Amazon. The book tells the tale of an eccentric British explorer, Percy Fawcett, who spent his life leading expeditions into the Amazon in search of the legendary lost City of Z.

The book recounts his life, his encounters with un-contacted tribes and his final expedition, from which he did not return.

#13 – Indonesia, Etc. Exploring the Improbable Nation

 In Indonesia Etc, Pisani weaves together the stories of Indonesians encountered on her journey with a considered analysis of Indonesia’s recent history, corrupt political system, ethnic and religious identities, stifling bureaucracy and traditional ‘sticky’ cultures.

Fearless and funny, she gives a compelling and sharply perceptive account of a captivating nation.

#14 – The Motorcycle Diaries

A travel classic, these are the diaries of Che Guevara in which he travels around South America by motorbike. A book that is ALWAYS on the list of best books to read while travelling.

#15 – The Killing Fields

Hands-down THE best book you can read about Cambodia under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Heartbreaking, beautifully written and historically accurate, this book will change how you perceive Cambodia forever.

#16 – First they Killed my Father

The personal account of a young girl who was taken from her family and trained as a child soldier by the Khmer Rouge.

#17 – The Waiting Land

It’s about an Irish writer volunteering in Nepal in the 1960’s. The innocent Nepal she writes about it is the one which hordes of travellers each year are still trying to find but which is sadly now gone forever.

#18 – Mud, Sweat and Tears

The inspiring autobiography of Bear Grylls in which he recovers from a broken back and goes on to become one of the youngest climbers to scale Mount Everest. One of the best books to read while travelling anywhere! It truly inspires you to challenge yourself.

#19 – Nine Lives

A Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet – then spends the rest of his life trying to atone for the violence by hand printing the best prayer flags in India. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death.

Nine people, nine lives; each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story. William Dalrymple is one of the best writers when it comes to offering an insight into Indian culture and I highly recommend reading everything he has written.

#20 – Heart of Darkness

At the peak of European Imperialism, steamboat captain Charles Marlow travels deep into the African Congo on his way to relieve the elusive Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader renowned for his fearsome reputation.

On his journey into the unknown Marlow takes a terrifying trip into his own subconscious, overwhelmed by his menacing, perilous and horrifying surroundings.

#21 – Blood River

When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa in 2000 he quickly became obsessed with the idea of recreating H.M. Stanley’s famous expedition – but travelling alone.

Despite warnings that his plan was ‘suicidal’, Butcher set out for the Congo’s eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots.

Making his way in an assortment of vessels including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, helped along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a campaigning pygmy, he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers. This is an epic book for anyone, but it’s epecially of of the best books to read while traveling alone.

#22 – Stranger in the Forest

The best account of an adventure expedition that I have ever read. Stranger in the forest recounts the humorous story of the author’s travels in Borneo where he made lifelong friends with the Penan, jungle people who can catch fish with their feet, imitate the cry of the elusive barking deer, and survive in a fearsomely inhospitable environment.

With their help Hansen learned to hunt pigs, danced in the tribal rituals, discovered the eye watering nature of Penan sex aids and was given the ceremonial name “Rajah Kumis”: King of the Moustache.

He conveys how he came face to face with himself in the patch of map marked “un-surveyed”, and records the experience of living in a proud and ancient tribal community based on mutual respect. One of the most interesting books to read while travelling.

#23 – Absurdistan

Award-winning foreign correspondent Eric Campbell has been stoned by fundamentalists, captured by US Special Forces, arrested in Serbia and threatened with expulsion from China.

He’s negotiated dating rituals in Moscow, shared a house with a charismatic mercenary in Kabul and taken up smoking at gunpoint in Kosovo.

#24 – Speed Bump Himalayas

A hilarious and moving true story of trials and tribulations from a time before mobile phones ruined travel. Mark escapes dreary England in search of adventure and washes up in India with his buddy Sean in tow.

Together, they head into the mountains of Nepal on an ambitious trek but Mark is doomed from the start and embarks upon one of the longest survival journeys I have ever heard of… A rollercoaster ride of amusing cultural observations along the hippie trail, pure survival grit and living the nomad dream.

#25 – Travels on My Elephant

With the help of a Maratha nobleman, Mark Shand buys an elephant named Tara and rides her over six hundred miles across India to the Sonepur Mela, the world’s oldest elephant market.

From Bhim, a drink-racked mahout, Shand learned to ride and care for her. From his friend Aditya Patankar he learned Indian ways. And with Tara, his new companion, he fell in love.

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#26 – Chasing the Devil

For many years, war made Sierra Leone and Liberia too dangerous for outsiders to travel through. Facing down demons from his time in Africa as a journalist, Tim Butcher heads deep into this combat zone, encountering the devastation wrought by lawless militia, child soldiers, brutal violence, blood diamonds and masked figures who guard the spiritual secrets of remote jungle communities.

#27 – A Walk in the Woods

For those of you not familiar with Bill Bryson, he is point blank one of the most amusing travel writers out there. In this tale of walking and woe, Bryson attempts to traverse the Appalachian Trail, one of the longest continuous footpaths in the world which crosses tangled woods and heady peaks.

#28 – Royal Road to Romance

When Richard Halliburton graduated from college, he chose adventure over a career, travelling the world with almost no money. The Royal Road to Romance chronicles what happened as a result, from a breakthrough Matterhorn ascent to being jailed for taking forbidden pictures on Gibraltar.

#29 – The Great Railway Bazaar; By Train Through Asia

Paul Theroux’s account of his epic journey by rail through Asia. Filled with evocative names of legendary train routes – the Direct-Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Delhi Mail from Jaipur, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Hikari Super Express to Kyoto and the Trans-Siberian Express – it describes the many places, cultures, sights and sounds he experienced and the fascinating people he met.

Here he overhears snippets of chat and occasional monologues, and is drawn into conversation with fellow passengers, from Molesworth, a British theatrical agent, and Sadik, a shabby Turkish tycoon, while avoiding the forceful approaches of pimps and drug dealers.

#30 – Just a Little Run Around the World

After her husband died of cancer, 57-year-old Rosie set off to run around the world, raising money in memory of the man she loved. Followed by wolves, knocked down by a bus, confronted by bears, chased by a naked man with a gun and stranded with severe frostbite, Rosie’s breathtaking 20,000-mile, 5 year, solo journey is as gripping as it is inspiring.

#31 – Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, A Journey Through Yugoslavia

Rebecca West’s epic masterpiece is widely regarded as the most illuminating book to have been written in the former state of Yugoslavia. It is a work of enduring value that remains essential for anyone attempting to understand the enigmatic history of the Balkan states and the continuing friction in this fractured area of Europe.

#32 – Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know

One of the first books I ever read about expedition-ing, I was inspired to start travelling and to get involved in trekking, climbing and rafting. Ranulph Fiennes has travelled to the most dangerous and inaccessible places on earth, almost died countless times, lost nearly half his fingers to frostbite, raised millions of pounds for charity and been awarded a polar medal and an OBE.

He has been an elite soldier, an athlete, a mountaineer, an explorer, a bestselling author and nearly replaced Sean Connery as James Bond. In his autobiography, he describes how he led expeditions all over the world and became the first person to travel to both poles on land.

He tells the tales of discovering the lost city of Ubar in Oman and attempting to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole – the expedition that cost him several fingers, and very nearly his life.

#33 – The Worlds Most Dangerous Places

A serious read for the serious explorer, packed full of practical advice on how to travel in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Brace yourselves for one of the darkest books to read while travelling.

#34 – The Dharma Bums

Another Kerouac classic, The Dharma Bums is a journey of self-discovery through the lens of Zen Buddhist thought. Essential reading for all aspiring explorers. Another MUST in the list of best books to read while travelling.

#35 – The Piano Tuner

I read this whilst backpacking in Myanmar, it is beautifully written and enabled me to get a lot more out of my time in this stunning country. The story follows a quiet piano tuner, Edgar Drake, who is ordered by the War Office to travel to the jungles of Burma to tune a rare grand piano for an eccentric British officer renowned for his peace making methods in the war-torn Shan states.

#36 – Walking the Amazon: 860 Days

In April 2008, Ed Stafford began his attempt to become the first man ever to walk the entire length of the River Amazon. Nearly two and a half years later, he had crossed the whole of South America to reach the mouth of the colossal river.

With danger a constant companion – outwitting alligators, jaguars, pit vipers and electric eels, not to mention overcoming the hurdles of injuries and relentless tropical storms – Ed’s journey demanded extreme physical and mental strength.

Often warned by natives that he would die, Ed even found himself pursued by machete-wielding tribesmen and detained for murder.

#37 – The Carpet Wars

A personal odyssey through war, friendship and craftsmanship along the old Silk Route. A fascinating travel book that illuminates the contemporary story of southwest Asia and offers a unique insight into the characters of warlords, presidents and sheikhs.

#38 – The Wild Places

“The Wild Places” is both an intellectual and a physical journey, and Macfarlane travels in time as well as space. Guided by monks, questers, scientists, philosophers, poets and artists, both living and dead, he explores our changing ideas of the wild.

From the cliffs of Cape Wrath to the holloways of Dorset, the storm-beaches of Norfolk, the saltmarshes and estuaries of Essex, and the moors of Rannoch and the Pennines, his journeys become the conductors of people and cultures, past and present, who have had intense relationships with these places. One of the best books to read while travelling!

#39 – Extreme Survivors

60 of the World’s most extreme survival stories. One of the scariest but best books to read while travelling. Plus it has a foreword by Bear Grylls!

#40 – Kon-Tiki, Across the Pacific by Raft

“Kon-Tiki” is the record of an astonishing adventure – a journey 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean by raft. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, led by the mythical hero Kon-Tiki.

He decided to prove his theory by duplicating the legendary voyage. On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl and five other adventurers sailed from Peru on a balsa log raft. After three suspenseful months on the open sea, alone among raging storms, whales and countless sharks, they sighted land – the Polynesian island of Puka Puka.

#41 – Into the Wild

Perhaps one of the most popular books to read while travelling, although not one of my personal favourites. Into the Wild follows the true story of Chris McCandless, a young man who walked deep into the Alaskan wilderness in search of enlightenment. They also made a movie about it !

#42 – Honeymoon with my Brother

After being jilted at his wedding, the author heads off on his two-year, fifty-two country, honeymoon…. with a brother he barely knows. What follows is a series of emotional, amusing and unexpected adventures as the author battles to overcome his loss and reconnect with his brother. One of the most heart wrenching books to read while travelling.

#43 – Travels with Charley

When he was almost sixty years old, worried that he might have lost touch with the sights, the sounds and the essence of America’s people, Steinbeck took note of his itchy feet and prepared to travel. He was accompanied by his French poodle, Charley, diplomat and watchdog, across the states of America from Maine to California.

Moving through the woods and deserts, dirt tracks and highways to large cities and glorious wildernesses, Steinbeck observed – with remarkable honesty and insight, with a humorous and sometimes sceptical eye – America, and the Americans who inhabited it. One of the most honest books to read while travelling.

#44 – The Alchemist

Santiago, a young shepherd living in the hills of Andalucia, feels that there is more to life than his humble home and his flock. One day he finds the courage to follow his dreams into distant lands, each step galvanised by the knowledge that he is following the right path: his own. The people he meets along the way, the things he sees and the wisdom he learns are life-changing.

Now, you  could spend a fat chunk of $$$ on the WRONG present for someone. Wrong size hiking boots, wrong fit backpack, wrong shape sleeping bag… As any adventurer will tell you, gear is a personal choice.

So give the adventurer in your life the gift of convenience: buy them an REI Co-op gift card!  REI is The Broke Backpacker’s retailer of choice for ALL things outdoors, and an REI gift card is the perfect present you can buy from them. And then you won’t have to keep the receipt. 😉

#45 – Siddhartha

A travel classic, Siddhartha is perhaps the most important and compelling moral allegory our troubled century has produced. Integrating Eastern and Western spiritual traditions with psychoanalysis and philosophy, this strangely simple tale, written with a deep and moving empathy for humanity, has touched the lives of millions since its original publication in 1922. Set in India, Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin’s search for ultimate reality after meeting with the Buddha.

His quest takes him from a life of decadence to asceticism, from the illusory joys of sensual love with a beautiful courtesan, and of wealth and fame, to the painful struggles with his son and the ultimate wisdom of renunciation. Definitely, one of the most interesting books to read while travelling!

#46 – Full Tilt, Ireland to India with a Bicycle

Shortly after her tenth birthday, Dervla Murphy decided to cycle to India. Almost 20 years later, she set out to achieve her ambition. Her epic journey began during the coldest winter in memory, taking her through Europe, Persia, Afghanistan , over the Himalayas to Pakistan, and into India. It’s one of the most epic books on backpacking through europe and beyond.

#47 – The Dogs of Nam: Stories from the Road and Lessons Learned Abroad

A collection of short stories from over a decade of travel. This is no glamorous tale of #wanderlust, but a true and honest accounting of what it means to be a traveller.

#48 – Dark Star Safari, Overland from Cairo to Cape Town

Travelling across bush and desert, down rivers and across lakes, and through country after country, Theroux visits some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth, and some of the most dangerous.

It is a journey of discovery and of rediscovery — of the unknown and the unexpected, but also of people and places he knew as a young and optimistic teacher forty years before.

#49 – 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus 

A great book to read while traveling the Americas because it corrects the incorrect history many were taught growing up.

Still have some questions? No problem! We’ve listed and answered the most commonly asked questions below. Here’s what people usually want to know:

What book would you take on a long journey?

The key is to choose a book that is absorbing but also relatively easy to read as your attention will often be divided. I always try to find a book relevant to the place I am visiting as it really helps me get into the trip!

Which book is very useful for travel?

A copy of the local Lonely Planet will usually come in useful and also be sure to pick up a copy of The Broke Backpackers Backpacker Bible which is full of money saving travel tips.

How do you travel with many books?

Books can be heavy and I dont like carying too many. I personally only carry 1 or 2 at a time and then swap them with other travellers. Alternativley, try a Kindle.

Is reading books good while Travelling?

So reading whilst literrally traveling on a bus or train can put some strain on your eyes. The key is to take frequence eye breaks and not to read too much for too long.

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So there you go! A great list of the best books to read while travelling. For even more reading inspiration, check out my buddy Chris’s new book What the Florida if you want to find the weird in Florida state!

My buddy James at Nomadic Note has put together another mammoth post on the best travel books to fuel your wanderlust, so check that out too if you’re looking for more of the best books to take on vacation.

If there are any I might have missed out, tell me in the comments section!

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50 Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed the list and even sifted through comments to see if our reading tastes align. “The Dogs of Nam: Stories from the Road and Lessons Learned Abroad” is my favorite for long road trips.

I suppose that ‘Cambodia’ offers a captivating account of the nation, combining personal encounters with insightful analysis. Another must-read on my list is ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ by Che Guevara. This travel classic takes readers on a journey through South America on a motorbike and is a constant presence on the list of best travel books. I enjoy reading it while traveling by train.

I miss traveling so much! As soon as things “go back to normal” a bit more I am heading to EUROPE! This is a great list and in the meantime I will definitely make due with good books about places that I can’t visit (just yet!). I read a super exciting thriller that takes place in the Greek Isles, U.S. and Europe that I thought did a fantastic job at making me feel like I was really there called “Cyclops Conspiracy” by author William McGinnis. It turns out that the author has a whitewater rafting company so when he describes sailing in Greece I could vividly picture it and even though the book is about terrorists smuggling in nuclear weapons this surprisingly scratched my itch for an international locale.

Curious, how do people usually read while travelling? A physical copy of the book or something like a Kindle? I, by far prefer reading physical books, though I wonder if second hand bookstores, book swapping, etc. with fellow travelers is a thing? On longer travels where I’d read more than 1 or 2 books, buying or carrying them with me is impractical. What do people usually do?

I also love a physical book, lots of places on the travel trail have second hand book stores and exchanges, still. If you’re in a particular area or country for a while, some book stores will buy the book back from you (tho for a lower price) if you keep it in good condition.

I’m late to this party, but readers might still appreciate the website Visit This Read That; a collaborative, crowd-sourced, effort, to determine what books best to read when visiting a place.

https://visitthisreadthat.com/

I would recommend Man Mission by Eytan Uliel, eytanuliel.com for his info. Got this for my husband who is not the biggest reader, just thought he might like it. He totally does, it’s clever and fun. He took it on a trip this week and said it’s hard not to want to just fly somewhere awesome and see it all!

This list is a treasure. Keep up the good work.

One of the greatest travellers of the modern era was Peter Penney who travelled mainly on foot with virtually no money. His travels took him from Europe to Australia on foot through Burma, right after WW2. His best books are “Dust on my shoes” and “Anywhere but here”. A not well known author Peter Penney has an innovative style of traveling with few resources, no passport and picking up food and money along the road. His playgrounds range from Africa which he traversed back and forth, Asia,the Pacific Islands, Australia, Papua New Guinea, etc. His books are a must read for anyone in love with travel, dry humour and adventure.

hey will, really liked your recommendations. however, just noted a small mistake, for the book absurdistan you are using the wrong book cover and the description is a straight copy paste from goodreads. I think for your readers (including me) it would be welcomed to hear about the book in your own words. Keep on doing what you are doing, I truly found your blog inspirational. Jan

Thanks Jan, I’ll look into that – some of these book descriptions were not added by me but my one of my other writers so maybe that’s the issue anyway 🙂

Will, it`s great list! love it.

about “The Alchemist” book…

This book was a life changing read for me. I was moved and spiritually uplifted by this remarkable story. I usually only read biographies and non-fiction stories, but this has become my favorite book because of the meaningful lessons that are taught throughout. I can’t say enough about this book other than the fact that my children will hear it over and over again and I believe every person should own this book.

Julie, https://www.julieannepeters.com/

Great recommendations here! I love a book that can help with my never-ending wanderlust. I have a historical fiction novel that should definitely be considered for this list called “The Jinn and The Sword” by authors Sara Cook and Robert Peacock. The book takes place during the 16th century imperial Ottoman court. There are some BEAUTIFUL descriptions of Istanbul and Venice. I really enjoyed the mental pictures the authors provided. Il Lupo, master swordswman, and his small posse crush an assassination attempt on the emperor and solve mysteries surrounding the theft of sacred relics. It is exciting, suspenseful, fun, and beautifully written. Check out the website for more info: http://www.thejinnandthesword.com/ Hope you will check it out!

I read “On the road” and was very impressed!

So many good books. Thank you for the list.

Ahhhh reading the Kite Runner in Pakistan = <3

Also, anything else by Khaled Hosseini, and The Alchemist are among my favourites!

I thought Shantaram was great, but frustrating in many ways…

‘Nice one Will!

I’ve read “Shantaram” a few times ‘cos it was just so inspiring and an exciting read! As well as “Just a Little Run Around the World.” I very much like the sound of “Honeymoon With My Brother: A Memoir.”

Have you ever read “Kevin and I in India” and “Rupee Millionaire” by Frank Kusy who is hilarious. In fact, I bought all his books! And “It’s on the Meter: One Taxi, Three Mates and 43,000 Miles of Misadventures around the World” a true story about three young British men who decide to travel the world in a London cabbie. It’s such a great read that not only did they make it, but they ended up breaking two world records along the way too!

I’ve read ‘its on the metre’, awesome book! 🙂

Good list mate. Shantaram and White Tiger enriched my experience in India for sure while of course Kerouac had a huge influence (Lonesome Traveller, Big Sur, Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody).. How about Jupiters Travels by Ted Simon.. he spends four years going 60,000 miles round the world on a Triumph in the 1970s. It’s epic and inspired me to travel in a big way. I read it twice. Also Ringolevio by Emmett Grogan, about the San Francisco Digger movement he helps put together after wild adventures in Europe. Good to see you spring back from that UK immigration dept pisstake and best of luck ….

Like you Will, I love to read books set in the country that I am travelling in. I love the feel of paper books but my kindle is more practical. I am looking forward to reading some of these from your list

Hi Will – A great list of books, many are personal favourites of mine. Would just like to add two follow up books of ones previously mentioned that might be of interset. Firstly, The Mountain Shadow, the follow up book to Shantaram (probably my favourite book). Obviously not as good as Shantaram but definitely worth a read. And secondly, Banco, the follow up book to Papillon, which details his adventures once he has found his freedom.

Will, if you didn’t know already, the film is out this year around April of Percy Fawcett and the lost city of Z. ,Was a great read and the film trailer looks awesome.

Holy shit but I did not know that, that is insanely exciting… thanks for telling me!

Can I add Marching Powder by Rusty Young for anyone going to Bolivia?!

Yes you most definitely can, epic book!

I am not fan reading while on travel, but I get interested with these books that you suggested. Gonna try this out.

Nice, a potential convert…happy reading on the road, Greg.

I love Bill Bryson! Check out Indonesian writer Agustinus Wibowo. His works have been translated into English. “Point Zero” is one of the best piece of travel literature I’ve ever read!

What a brilliant list! Some of the best books I’ve read and I imagine the rest are equally great. Thanks 🙂

Glad you like it, Jennie! More to come as I discover new favourites!

Great list – there’s lots I’m interested in reading. I completely disagree with Walking the Amazon, though. That book was very poorly written, which was so disappointing because it should be a fascinating story.

I would also suggest The Unconquered by Scott Wallace to learn about the uncontacted tribes in the Amazon. An incredible story.

For a book about South American, you can try to find ‘The Wizard of the Upper Amazon” which I read almost 40 years ago. About ayawasca and other jungle drugs.

Hi Will. Great site! Which book do you recommend to get ideas about places to visit? thanks 🙂

Hmmm… there’s a few around like ’50 places to visit before you die’ for example but really, it depends on what you want to see… I tend to do a bit of research online first and then simply pack my bag and head out on an adventure! 🙂

Hi – one of the books that inspired me when first travelling was Papillion – the tale of a French convict imprisoned on Devils Island off the coast of South America and his multiple escape attempts (sometimes to live with tribes in Venezuela) and solitary confinement for years on end. Also love the Tim Butcher books but my favourite African travel book is “Congo Journey” by Redmond O’Hanlon…he captures the Africa I know and love.

Papillion is now downloading to my kindle, it sounds absolutely awesome!! 🙂

there is also the film Dude, 1973 with Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen. You will probably love the bit when Stevie has to tattoo a tribesman using a mirror to copy the one on his chest. happy travels

I love this, a good book is so important on your travels! Which one is your favourite?

I always carry a copy of Illusions by Richard Bach…. Recently though, I read the Electric Cool Aid Acid Test – a great book, truly inspirational. I’m also a big fan of ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know’ – Rannulph Fiennes is my hero! 🙂

I’m loving this list. Some excellent reads for the road on there. I particularly liked the underrated Travels on my elephant By Mark Shand. But dude I have a couple of bones to pick with you … How can you not include Notes from a small island, the Bryson classic!?! Or a single William Dalrymple book?! Time to update the list dude!

Hi man! There is Dalrymple in there! He’s one of my favourite writers around, I popped in ‘Nine Lives’ – a great book! Hmmm, it appears I did indeed miss out a Byron classic but you can’t have everything man; 50 is a shatteringly small number when it comes to trying to put every decent book up! 🙂

So many great books! Thanks for sharing – my Amazon wishlist just got a whole lot longer 🙂

I have actually read some of these. Many more to add to my to-read list.

This list is AMAZING!! Now to just get my hands on some of these titles while I am on the road…. hmmm… 🙂

Thanks Lina!! I’m currently working my way through a whole bunch of books on South America! Any recommendations?

51: Jupiter’s Travels 52: Dreaming of Jupiter

Thanks for the list; have read about half of them so time to crack on with the rest!

Shantaram has got to be one of the best books I’ve read so far! Love your blog and sorry about the Nepalese monster 🙂

Cheers Eve! I love Shantaram, I read it right before I headed to India and it somehow prepared me! Regarding the Nepalese monster… I still have the scar to tell of my tale down the pub!

I recently found the White Tiger on a book swap shelf. It’s such a great book!

I just discovered your blog today and have been really enjoying reading back though your articles. Thanks!

The white tiger was one of the first books I read whilst backpacking in India, it’s awesome -really describes the country well! Have you been to India yet?

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

No plane ticket required.

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The easiest way to travel without a plane ticket? Open up a book, and skip the jet lag. The best travel books offer more than a checklist of tourist attractions. Rather, they intertwine sight-seeing with self-discovery. Perhaps that's why solo travel books, like Mary Morris's All the Way to the Tigers or John Steinbeck's classic Travels With Charley , are especially effective: They're all about the effect of travel on the spirit .

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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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 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. Here’s how we test products and why you should trust us.

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.

Some of these books are works of fiction that transport us to spectacular destinations, like the lush Italian Riviera or the ice-bound Russian tundra. Others are travel memoirs recounting extraordinary journeys, like seeing the United States by AmTrak or biking overland from Ireland to India. Still others seek to answer deeper questions about travel, like, “How does travel change us?” and, “How do we travel ethically?” Whatever your preference, be sure you have a good suitcase at the ready, because once you start reading in earnest, you’ll be pulling the trigger on a plane ticket in no time.

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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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.

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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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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.

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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 Best Books of 2023

A Smithsonian magazine special report

The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2023

Take a trip without leaving home with these adventurous reads from this year

Laura Kiniry

Travel Correspondent

It’s often said that travel is all about the journey, whether it’s planning a remote island holiday or setting out on the adventure of a lifetime across the Arctic Ocean. But it can be almost as thrilling to roam the world from the comfort of our homes. Just take our pick of 2023 travel books, which include everything from humor-fueled essay collections and thought-provoking narratives to tomes brimming with full-page colorful photographs and tips on finding the most welcoming LGBTQ+ spots around the globe. They all share the uncanny ability to transport readers through time and space without ever having to open the front door.

Whether it’s a deep delve into a Balkan landscape of healing plants and foraging, or a more than 2,000-mile road trip through America’s racial history, here are ten travel books that are more than worthy of this year’s holiday wish lists.

Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance by Alvin Hall

From 1936 to 1967, the Green Book served as an annual travel guide for African Americans, helping them to identify welcoming hotels, restaurants, gas stations and other businesses across the United States during the Jim Crow era. Compiled by Black New York City postman Victor Hugo Green , this essential reference publication included places like Manhattan’s Hotel Theresa , once considered the “Waldorf of Harlem,” and the Moulin Rouge Hotel in Las Vegas, frequented by celebrities like Harry Belafonte and Ella Fitzgerald during its five-month stint in 1955.

Award-winning broadcaster Alvin Hall first learned about the Green Book in 2015, and he was immediately intrigued. Several years later, he and a friend, activist Janée Woods Weber , set out on a 2,000-plus-mile cross-country road trip from Detroit to New Orleans, visiting many of the establishments once featured in the guide’s pages. (Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has a nearly complete collection of the Green Book , which Hall utilized.) Along the way, Hall also gathered memories from some of the guide’s last surviving users.

The result, Driving the Green Book: a Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance , is a poignant 288-page journey along America’s open roads, delving into the country’s racial past, detailing the Green Book ’s life-saving history and bringing it all together in one remarkable read.

Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance

Join award-winning broadcaster Alvin Hall on a journey through America’s haunted racial past, with the legendary Green Book as your guide.

The Last Ride of the Pony Express: My 2,000-Mile Horseback Journey Into the Old West by Will Grant

In 2019, American journalist Will Grant embarked on a five-month, 2,000 mile journey on horseback from Missouri to California. His goal: to follow the historic route of the Pony Express , a legendary frontier mail system operating between April 1860 and October 1861, which used a series of horse-mounted riders and relay stations to deliver mail from one end to the other in just ten days. Although the express service went bankrupt after only 18 months, it remains an iconic symbol of America’s Old West.

Grant chronicles his 142-day adventure in The Last Ride of the Pony Express , a first-person narrative describing his trip across the Great Plains of Nebraska and the sagebrush steppe of Wyoming in the company of his two horses, Badger and Chicken Fry. While Grant reflects on the West’s modernization over time, it’s his vivid descriptions of the communities and local residents—including ranchers, farmers and migrant sheep herders—along the way that make the book a real page-turner.

The Last Ride of the Pony Express: My 2,000-mile Horseback Journey into the Old West

The Last Ride of the Pony Express is a tale of adventure by a horseman who defies most modern conveniences, and is an unforgettable narrative that will forever change how you see the West, the Pony Express, and America as a whole.

Unforgettable Journeys Europe: Discover the Joys of Slow Travel

The latest in the Unforgettable Journeys series by DK Eyewitness, a publisher of nonfiction books known for its visual travel guides, Unforgettable Journeys Europe highlights the notion that travel really is all about the “getting there.” This inspirational tome details 150 of Europe’s best slow adventures, such as kayaking through Lithuania and crossing the Arctic Circle by train.

The bucket list is organized by modes of transportation, with sections titled “By Bike” and “By Rail,” for example. Illustrations, photos, maps and plenty of practical information (including start and end points for trails, difficulty ratings and website links) are then spread throughout the text, making the book as much colorful reference as it is inspiring read. In the “On Foot” chapter, there’s a description of Scotland’s Fife Pilgrim Way , a 56-mile trek along an ancient pilgrim route with cathedral and countryside views. Along with details on what to see during the multiday hike, the book features a selection of highlighted tips, like what to do (pick wild berries while passing through Clatto Reservoir ) and how to splurge (dinner and an overnight stay at the cozy, Michelin-starred Peat Inn ) en route.

Unforgettable Journeys Europe: Discover the Joys of Slow Travel (Dk Eyewitness)

Inspirational travel book covering 150 of Europe's most incredible journeys, including routes on foot and by bike, road, rail and water.

Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time by Kapka Kassabova

After a decade of living in the Scottish Highlands, native Bulgarian Kapka Kassabova returned to her roots in southwestern Bulgaria’s remote Mesta Valley, a rural region known for its array of wild crops and their vast medicinal properties. Over several seasons (Kassabova’s move occurred at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic), the poet and writer set out to study the deep relationship between the area’s people and plants, as well as with the land itself. Her resulting text—with chapters like “Pine Syrup,” “Honey Sellers” and “Shepherd’s Superfood”—is an autobiographical exploration of one of the globe’s lesser-known corners, one brimming with forages, healers and a wealth of folk traditions.

“ Elixir is the vibrant, beautiful story of a singular, remarkable place,” writes Foreword book reviewer Catherine Thureson. “It issues a call to reclaim the physical, emotional and spiritual connection between humanity and the natural world.”

Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time

In Elixir , in a wild river valley and amid the three mountains that define it, Kapka Kassabova seeks out the deep connection between people, plants, and place.

The Life Cycle by Kate Rawles

British writer and cyclist Kate Rawles has a penchant for raising awareness about environmental challenges through her own adventures—and inspiring action in the process. In 2006, Rawles cycled 4,553 miles from Texas to Alaska , interviewing Americans about climate change along the way. Her latest endeavor—an 8,288-mile, 13-month journey across the length of the Andes Mountains on a self-built bamboo bicycle she nicknamed “Woody”—is the basis for her new book, The Life Cycle .

During this largely solo endeavor in 2017 and 2018, the author crossed some of the planet’s most diverse ecosystems, including South America’s Atacama Desert and the Bolivian salt flats. Simultaneously, she found herself witnessing the devastating effects of extreme biodiversity loss caused by industries such as logging and gold mining, and met with activists and communities working to regenerate these habitats—sharing their concerns and insight throughout the narrative.

The Life Cycle: 8,000 Miles in the Andes by Bamboo Bike

Pedalling hard for thirteen months, eco adventurer Kate Rawles cycled the length of the Andes on an eccentric bicycle she built herself. The Life Cycle charts her mission to find out why biodiversity is so important, what's happening to it, and what can be done to protect it.

Unravelling the Silk Road by Chris Aslan

An extremely well-researched story of three ancient trade routes that helped define a continent, Chris Aslan’s Unravelling the Silk Road “merges trauma with textiles to track the past and present experiences of the people of Central Asia,” writes author Clare Hunter . He explores the roles played by wool, a textile used by the region’s nomads for both yurts and clothing; silk, a commodity that was once more valuable than gold; and cotton, the cause of Russian and then Soviet colonization, since it provided cheap material for the global superpower.

Turkish-born Aslan interweaves his own personal experiences (the author once picked cotton with locals and worked with nomadic yak herders in Central Asia’s Pamir Mountains) with the history of each route and its impact on the lives of local residents ​​ —as well as the region itself. Aslan also examines how political and cultural changes are affecting new trade routes and the people who depend on them.

Unravelling the Silk Road: Travels and Textiles in Central Asia

Veteran traveler and textile expert Chris Aslan explores the Silk, Wool and Cotton Roads of Central Asia.

The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise​​ by Pico Iyer

British-born essayist and acclaimed writer Pico Iyer is no stranger to travel journalism. The author—whose childhood was divided among English, Indian and U.S. cultures—is known for works like 1989’s Video Night in Kathmandu , a stark look at modern Asia, and The Global Soul , a 2001 collection of essays on finding home in a world of international airports and shopping malls. For more than 40 years, Iyer has traveled the globe, reflecting on the planet and our role within it.

“After years of travel, I’d begun to wonder what kind of paradise can ever be found in a world of unceasing conflict,” writes Iyer in his latest book, The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise , “and whether the very search for it might not simply aggravate our differences.” The result is a retrospective look at his own travels and encounters—from North Korea’s capital city of Pyongyang to Jerusalem’s Ethiopian chapels—through the idea of “paradise,” what it means and whether it exists.

The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise

Traveling from Iran to North Korea, from the Dalai Lama’s Himalayas to the ghostly temples of Japan, Pico Iyer brings together a lifetime of explorations to upend our ideas of utopia and ask how we might find peace in the midst of difficulty and suffering.

The Pride Atlas: 500 Iconic Destinations for Queer Travelers by Maartje Hensen

Big, bold and colorful, The Pride Atlas is a valuable resource for LGBTQ+ folks and their allies, as well as a perfect coffee table topper. Compiled by queer author and photographer Maartje Hensen , its 400 pages are brimming with eye-catching photos and practical information, such as websites like Meetup and Couchsurfing that are useful for connecting with similarly minded locals and travelers, and resources regarding laws and cultural attitudes worldwide.

At the heart of the book are 500 destinations from around the globe, each one of them highlighting a way of engaging with LGBTQ+ culture. You’ll find drag shows, Pride parades, campsites, microbrew pubs and other places, from San Francisco’s Transgender District to Haircuts for Anyone , an inclusive and affirmative hair salon in Montreal that charges by sliding scale.

“Hopefully,” writes Hensen, “ The Pride Atlas expands your horizons and inspires you to go out into the world, to (un)learn from others … because, like gender, the world doesn’t fit into binary.” Indeed.

The Pride Atlas: 500 Iconic Destinations for Queer Travelers

Combining immersive photography with expertly researched travel writing, this is the ultimate guidebook for LGBTQ+ travelers—whether you're planning your next getaway, daydreaming from the comfort of your armchair, or seeking to learn about queer culture in other parts of the world.

Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel by Shahnaz Habib

An enlightening and entertaining debut essay collection by a U.S.-based Indian Muslim author, Airplane Mode brings a unique and under-represented perspective to the world of travel. Shahnaz Habib approaches such topics as the origins of passports, colonial modes of thinking about travel—like safaris and pilgrimages—and terms like “pseudiscovery,” which she uses to describe an explorer’s claim of discovering something that’s existed for thousands of years, with both wit and curiosity, incorporating her own personal narratives to boot.

Perhaps Annabel Abbs, author of Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women , says it best in her praise for Airplane Mode, which has been long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence . She calls it “a fascinating, wide-ranging and insightful travelogue that poses some of the biggest questions of all: Who gets to travel, and what is it that makes us so keen to travel in the first place?”

Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel

This witty personal and cultural history of travel from the perspective of a Third World-raised woman of color, Airplane Mode , asks: what does it mean to be a joyous traveler when we live in the ruins of colonialism, capitalism and climate change?

Oh My Mother!: A Memoir in Nine Adventures by Connie Wang

The closest Chinese expression to “Oh, my god” is wode ma ya , which literally translates to “Oh, my mother.” It’s a declaration of astonishment, as well as the title for journalist Connie Wang ’s humorous and heartfelt book, Oh My Mother!: A Memoir in Nine Adventures . Wang details the complicated relationship between herself and her stubborn and “wildly opinionated” mother, Qing Li, across nine essays, taking readers from time-share properties in Cancun and Aruba to a Magic Mike strip show in Las Vegas. “This is our memoir—a long personal essay, if you will—and it was forged through shared fact-checking,” Wang writes in the book. “Qing was the first person to read each chapter as it was written, and she is this book’s first editor.” According to Kirkus Reviews , the author “drives to the heart of how a daughter comes to know her mother as someone with a life beyond motherhood.”

Oh My Mother!: A Memoir in Nine Adventures

A dazzling mother-daughter adventure around the world in pursuit of self-discovery, a family reckoning, and Asian American defiance

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Laura Kiniry | READ MORE

Laura Kiniry is a San Francisco-based freelance writer specializing in food, drink, and travel. She contributes to a variety of outlets including American Way , O-The Oprah Magazine , BBC.com , and numerous AAA pubs.

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The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World (Lonely Planet) Hardcover – November 30, 2021

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Get ready for a journey through every country in the world.

In this fourth edition of The Travel Book each country features an all-new profile that includes details of when to visit, what to see and do, and how to learn more about the country’s culture from its film, music, food and drink.

All brand new, incredible photography illustrates each country, depicting what life is like in each nation from photographic portraits of people, to beautiful landscapes and vibrant scenes of street life. Supported by colourful and detailed mapping, this title will bring the world to life for a new generation of travellers. As a premium 416-page hardback package it will inspire wanderlust and make an impressive gift!

About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and phrasebooks for 120 languages, and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, videos, 14 languages, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more, enabling you to explore every day.

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• Reading age 5 years and up
• Print length 408 pages
• Language English
• Dimensions 10.75 x 1.25 x 13.88 inches
• Publisher Lonely Planet
• Publication date November 30, 2021
• ISBN-10 1838694595
• ISBN-13 978-1838694593
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lonely Planet; 4th edition (November 30, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 408 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1838694595
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1838694593
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 5 years and up
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.75 x 1.25 x 13.88 inches
• #3 in Travel Pictorial Reference Books
• #6 in General Travel Reference

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With over 150 million guidebooks in print, Lonely Planet is a trusted source for any traveler. Since our inception in 1973, we've inspired generations of travelers to discover amazing places and enabled curious travelers to get off the beaten paths to appreciate different cultures and become agents of positive change.

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17 Books To Read (and Finish) On Your Next Long-Haul Flight

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.

As a frequent traveler and full-time digital nomad , I’ve flown tens of thousands of miles over the past few years. I take my Kindle Paperwhite with me everywhere I go, and spend a lot of time thinking about what book to choose for plane rides. The last thing you want when you’re stuck in a plane for hours on end, especially when there’s no Wi-Fi, is to be trudging through a slow read. You want a book that's a page-turner, and keeps you interested the entire way through.

Need a few recommendations for your next trip? We're here to help. Below, 17 captivating books you can start and finish on your next long-haul flight , organized by length, starting with the shortest read. (To approximate how long it will take the average reader to finish a book, we assumed an average reading speed of 300 words per minute, then divided the number of words of a chosen book by 300 to get an average reading time in minutes.)

These book recommendations are a mix of favorites of mine and fellow travelers, from coming of age novels and chilling memoirs to unique thrillers that will have you on the edge of your seat. They take between four and 13 hours to read, so whether you're going cross-country or skipping continents, there's a book to fill the time. You’ll notice a mix of contemporary novels and classics that are readily available at major airport bookshops, should you need to pick up a last-minute read, as well as on your e-reader of choice.

Looking for more of our favorite books for travelers? Check out the most recent installment of the Women Who Travel book club .

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Jennette McCurdy initially captured our hearts on the early 2000s hit television show iCarly, but has since gained significant praise for her memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died. Recounting her upbringing and struggles to overcome past traumas, the book has spent over 52 weeks on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for best memoir. McCurdy’s writing is beautiful, engaging, and chilling.

Page count: 320

Average read time: 3 hours and 35 minutes

Be Water, My Friend by Shannon Lee

Martial artist and actor Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, wrote this book as a guide to her father's teachings. It’s an inspirational and profound commentary on life, learning, and self. If one of your 2024 goals is self-improvement, this is an excellent choice and can easily be finished on a flight from New York City to San Francisco or London .

Page count: 240

Average read time: 3 hours and 50 minutes

Verity by Colleen Hoover

If you're not already familiar, Colleen Hoover is a mega-popular romance and young adult author with a devoted cult following. Verity is a psychological thriller about a ghostwriter who uncovers some dark secrets when finishing a series from a different author. The character development and many twists and turns keep you captivated until the last page.

Page count: 336

Average read time: 4 hours and 15 minutes

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Fourth Wing was released halfway through 2023 and almost immediately became a number one bestseller thanks to its popularity on social media platforms. It’s a fantasy novel described as a nonstop thrill ride following a cadet training to become a dragon rider. Even if this doesn’t sound like something you’d typically go for, it’s fast-paced and engaging, making it ideal for any long-haul flight. You’ll quickly see why it won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romantasy in 2023.

Page count: 500

Average read time: 4 hours and 24 minutes

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Another Goodreads Choice Award winner, this time for the best fiction book of 2023, Yellowface deals with important topics like racism, cultural appropriation, and social media. It’s all you want from a plane read—ruthless, satirical, sharp, and compelling.

Average read time: 4 hours and 29 minutes

The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden

Thrillers are bound to keep you glued to the page when you’re on a flight, and The Housemaid’s Secret is no exception. Although the novel is a sequel to The Housemaid, it can be read as a standalone book. This unique thriller revolves around a maid and her quest to uncover the secrets of the family she works for.

Page count: 227

Average read time: 4 hours and 32 minutes

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reed

Taylor Jenkins Reed is one of my favorite authors. I read Daisy Jones and the Six from cover to cover on a flight from Bogota, Colombia, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I had no clue I’d been in the air for six hours. The book is about a fictional band in the 1970s and their path to stardom. Rather than a standard narrative, it’s structured as an interview of each bandmate, so you get different accounts of the same story.

Page count: 355

Average read time: 4 hours and 41 minutes

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

Single mom Jess Davis uses a DNA-based matchmaking company to hopefully find love. This takes a turn when she matches with the company's owner, whom she already knows and is not fond of. This lighthearted novel will keep you laughing while developing the slow burn between the characters.

Page count: 416

Average read time: 4 hours and 59 minutes

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

Really Good, Actually is Monica Heisey's debut novel centered around a young and recently divorced Maggie. You want to support her throughout the book and feel warm as you watch her character develop. It’s messy, joyful, and relatable to many.

Page count: 384

Average read time: 5 hours and 15 minutes

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Gabrielle Zevin won the Goodreads Choice Award for the best fiction novel in 2022 for Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. It’s a coming-of-age novel about friends who start a video game company. Although there are romantic themes, it’s not a traditional love story and will keep you thinking long after you finish.

Average read time: 5 hours and 39 minutes

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

If you’ve read Homer’s Iliad, you will appreciate Madeline Miller's creativity in The Song of Achilles . Told from the perspective of Patroclus, it tells the story of the Trojan War but centers on the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles. It’s as much a love story as it is a fantasy novel. It’s a perfect read for your next flight to Greece .

Page count: 378

Average read time: 5 hours and 46 minutes

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

A classic piece of literature, Pride and Prejudice was originally published in 1813 and continues to teach new generations essential lessons about life and love. It’s beautifully written, one of the most influential books in the past few centuries, and is easily accessible at airports throughout the country. If you haven’t already read it, consider picking it up for your next trans-Atlantic flight.

Page count: 279

Average read time: 5 hours and 56 minutes

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

If you have been searching for an LGBTQ romance novel, this is the one. We Could Be So Good follows working-class journalist Nick Russo and his budding friendship with the son of the owner of the newspaper, Andy Fleming, in the late 1950s. I read the first half on a flight from Bogota, Colombia, to Mexico City, Mexico, and finished it on my return flight. It’s full of love, joy, heartbreak, fear, and all of the other complex emotions queer people face daily.

Average read time: 6 hours and 1 minute

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed

Another phenomenal read from Taylor Jenkins Reed, this book explains the complex life of Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo, who was married to seven husbands, and her journey to true love. It was gripping until the very last page and is filled with several twists you cannot see coming.

Page count: 391

Average read time: 6 hours and 13 minutes

We Were Liars and Family of Liars by E. Lockhart

Although these are two separate books, you’ll want to read them together on a long flight. We Were Liars is about what happens to a not-so-perfect family on their private island one summer. The prequel is set decades before when the parents were teenagers themselves. It’s filled with secrets, deceit, and confusion that won’t become clear until the final chapters.

Page count (both books): 496

Average read time: 7 hours and 4 minutes

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Former First Lady Michelle Obama shows us a different side of herself in her memoir, Becoming. It’s deeply personal and intimate and makes the reader appreciate how powerful, intelligent, and impressive she truly is. You can find this book in 24 languages in airports worldwide.

Page count: 426

Average read time: 9 hours and 38 minutes

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women is one of the most beloved books of all time and has been adapted into a movie five times. It deals with themes of feminism, love, forgiveness, and more. You're likely to find this book in airports throughout the country.

Page count: 449

Average read time: 9 hours and 54 minutes

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

The five-book A Court of Thorns and Roses series has gone viral in recent years. The fifth book, A Court of Silver Flames, follows Nesta Archeron after the war with Hybern and her connection with Cassian. It’s impressively long, making it perfect for an ultra-long flight.

Page count: 768

Average read time: 13 hours and 6 minutes