Travel Books
recommended by travel writers
Last updated: October 03, 2024
Travel books are a popular genre in the 21st century, combining personal observations and emotions with detailed descriptions and journeys through interesting places. In English, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was a pioneer, writing about her trip to Scandinavia, in her Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
Much earlier, Ibn Battuta (born in Tangier in 1304) had written about his travels. Islam has a rich tradition of travelling to gain knowledge, and it's no surprise we have not one but two interviews on travelling in the Muslim world.
We also have reading recommendations from contemporary travel writers, including Paul Theroux, Colin Thubron and Sara Wheeler. Books that influenced Bruce Chatwin, author of In Patagonia and The Songlines, are recommended by his biographer.
(For books about specific countries—not necessarily travel writing—please look at our 'world' section where books are organized by country).
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1
A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East's Long War
by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad -
2
The Britannias: An Archipelago’s Tale
by Alice Albinia -
3
The Gathering Place: A Winter Pilgrimage Through Changing Times
by Mary Colwell -
4
The Granite Kingdom: A Cornish Journey
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5
Wounded Tigris: A River Journey Through the Cradle of Civilisation
by Leon McCarron -
6
High Caucasus: A Mountain Quest in Russia’s Haunted Hinterland
by Tom Parfitt
The Best Travel Writing of 2024, recommended by Shafik Meghji
The Best Travel Writing of 2024, recommended by Shafik Meghji
Every spring, the judges of the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards draw up a shortlist for the title of the ‘travel book of the year.’ The 2024 shortlist highlights six fascinating recent travelogues that wrestle with political and environmental issues, and explore the contrast between the outsider and the insider gaze.
The Best Travel Books, recommended by Paul Theroux
Travel is a leap in the dark, says Paul Theroux and one that will leave you a different person at the other end. He recommends five travel books that inspired him, from Mark Twain at sea to VS Naipaul in India
The best books on Mountaineering, recommended by Anna Fleming
Mountaineering is a thrilling, mind-altering pastime that brings the climber into direct contact with some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes. But it is also one that carries significant risk, explains Anna Fleming, author of the rock-climbing memoir Time on Rock. Here, she recommends five fascinating mountaineering books that combine history, nature, and sheer adventure.
The best books on The Polar Regions, recommended by Sara Wheeler
The acclaimed author discusses the Polar Regions. She says an African In Greenland is the best book ever written on Greenland – the story of a man from Togo who went there in the 1960s
The Best Books by Adventurers, recommended by Alastair Humphreys
One morning in early June, Laurie Lee said goodbye to his mum at the garden gate and went off on an adventure. Is now the moment for you to do the same? Bestselling author and adventurer Alastair Humphreys recommends five books written by adventurers that can’t fail but inspire you to ‘go simple, go solo, go now.’
The Best Travel Writing, recommended by Colin Thubron
The much-travelled author Colin Thubron reflects on more than 40 years of writing about other cultures, and shares his own favourite travel reading with us
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1
Mountain Gloom And Mountain Glory: The Development of the Aesthetics of the Infinite
by Marjorie Hope Nicolson -
2
Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
by Mary Wollstonecraft -
3
Walden
by Henry David Thoreau -
4
The Art of Travel
by Alain de Botton -
5
How to Talk About Places You've Never Been: On the Importance of Armchair Travel
by Michele Hutchison (translator) & Pierre Bayard
The Best Books on the Philosophy of Travel, recommended by Emily Thomas
The Best Books on the Philosophy of Travel, recommended by Emily Thomas
At its best, travel broadens our minds, expands our horizons and allows us to see the world we live in differently. But it has also played an important role in the history of philosophy. Emily Thomas, author of The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad, explores the connections between her two passions—philosophy and travel—at a moment when most of us are unable to leave our houses: perhaps the perfect moment to reflect on travel’s significance for human beings.
The best books on Local Adventures, recommended by Alastair Humphreys
Wonderful as it would be to climb Mount Everest or row across the Atlantic, not all of us will get the chance to go on an epic adventure. But that doesn’t mean we can’t go exploring. Alastair Humphreys, the British adventurer, explains the concept of ‘local adventure’ and recommends books that give a feel for what it’s about and why it’s worth pursuing.
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1
In The Shadow of the Mountain
by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado -
2
High: A Journey Across the Himalaya, Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China
by Erika Fatland, translated by Kari Dickson -
3
Crossed Off the Map: Travels in Bolivia
by Shafik Meghji -
4
The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East
by Rebecca Lowe -
5
The Po: An Elegy for Italy's Longest River
by Tobias Jones
The Best Travel Books of 2023: The Stanford Travel Writing Awards, recommended by Cal Flyn
The Best Travel Books of 2023: The Stanford Travel Writing Awards, recommended by Cal Flyn
Every year, Stanfords, the best travel bookshop in the world (in our view), sponsors the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, with travel writers and journalists judging the best travel book in a number of categories. Here Cal Flyn, our deputy editor, takes us through the eight books shortlisted for the 2023 ‘Travel Book of the Year’ award, taking us from Bolivia to Singapore via Europe, the Middle East and the top of Mt. Everest.
Bruce Chatwin: Books that Influenced Him, recommended by Nicholas Shakespeare
With his books In Patagonia and The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) reinvented travel literature. Nicholas Shakespeare, his biographer, lifts the lid on a complex life and selects five books that influenced Chatwin’s work.