By clicking on the featured links, visitors will leave nationalgeographic.com and be directed to third-party e-commerce sites that operate under different terms and privacy policies. As a participant in multiple affiliate marketing programs, National Geographic will earn a commission for certain purchases. See full disclaimer below.*
Guidebooks can be wonderful resources for helping travelers navigate destinations. But the best travel books can also inspire journeys. Fiction or nonfiction, there’s no shortage of books with a sense of place just waiting to spark your next adventure.
As a travel journalist and lifelong book lover, I often look to books for trip ideas. When I find a new title I love, I add it to my packing list. Doing so doesn’t just encourage planning; it enhances the experience on the ground.
To help you find your next trip of a lifetime, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite books that touch on travel in fresh and even surprising ways. Always wanted to dive in French Polynesia? Richard Powers’s novel Playground will have you packing your scuba gear. Nat Geo’s 100 Nights of a Lifetime may spur you to skip the crowds and try astrotourism. The New Tourist nudges you to rethink not just where you’ll go, but why.
All of these books awaken a sense of wonder for our world, whether you’re ready to hit the road or dream from the comfort of your favorite reading chair. Here are my top picks.
Best for: Travelers who want to leave a positive impact
Tourists get a bad rap. However, Paige McClanahan suggests we’re all tourists when we leave home and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In her conversation-stirring book, the Paris-based American author unpacks the evolution of mainstream travel, from the guidebook-toting backpackers of the 1970s to the mega groups overflowing popular destinations today.
Deeply researched, with dispatches from Barcelona to Iceland, McClanahan digs into the negative and positive impacts of tourism with nuance and care.
Best for: Travelers who want to avoid the crowds
From Amsterdam to Venice, tourist hotspots around the world are grappling with overtourism. One solution? Traveling to under-the-radar dupes. Award-winning travel journalist Andrew Nelson offers 100 such places, among them Puglia’s cobblestoned Lecce, which has all the charm, history, and wine of busy Florence, plus sunny beaches.
Instead of Miami, architecture buffs would do well to check out Detroit’s underappreciated but no less stunning Art Deco buildings. Nature lovers may appreciate Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef, Nelson notes, where massive whale sharks are more prevalent than they are in the Great Barrier Reef.
Bonus: By visiting these lesser known alternatives, travelers will likely save money and come away with even more appreciation for our precious planet.
Best for: Ocean lovers, futurists, and old-fashioned explorers
This book will appeal to anyone who loves to read, not just travelers. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Powers takes readers on a wild, awe-inspiring journey set in French Polynesia, where a tiny atoll becomes the base for a plan to develop floating cities in the world’s largest ocean.
In Playground, Powers deftly navigates themes of AI, colonization, and climate change through the experiences of vividly rendered characters. It may not be a travel book in the traditional sense, but this story inspires reverence and respect for the ocean and all its wonders, especially when we travel.
Best for: Travelers fascinated (and concerned) by Antarctica or polar regions
Elizabeth Rush’s fresh and timely take on Antarctica focuses not on individual heroic feats, but on the power of community to create change. This book chronicles the author’s 2019 experience with 57 scientists and crew members aboard a months-long expedition to Thwaites Glacier, where no one has ever gone.
Rush lays out what’s at stake for the planet if the world’s widest glacier, also known as “Doomsday Glacier,” melts. At the same time, she manages to offer hope. This is an essential read for travelers—or anyone—worried about climate change.
(These winter essentials helped our writer survive Antarctica)
Best for: Stargazers and night owls
Travel journalist and author Stephanie Vermillion sheds light on 100 nighttime adventures around the world—and not all involve stargazing. From eye-opening evening tours of Rome’s Coliseum to glow-in-the-dark mushroom treks in South Australia, Vermillion details unique adventures in more than 30 countries. (Yes, there are plenty of astrotourism ideas too.) This is the perfect coffee table travel book for anyone who enjoys late-night adventures—even from the comfort of their own home.
(Here’s a practical guide to stargazing)
Best for: Travelers who appreciate slow travel, interesting characters and craft
A chance encounter with one of the last inheritors of the 300-year-old lace-needling artform in Burano, Italy, inspired Eliot Stein to write his first travel story. Nearly two decades later, the BBC journalist and editor’s deep curiosity and reverence for the custodians of disappearing traditions around the world hasn’t waned.
In this book, Stein crosses five continents and meets more than a dozen such people, from folks preserving West Africa’s living libraries to Scandinavia’s last night watchman. Stein’s ode to the past is an antidote to today’s travel equivalent of fast fashion, reminding us there’s so much more to this world if we slow down and “dare to listen.”
Best for: Anyone new to hiking, especially women and marginalized groups
After noticing a lack of racial disparity on hiking trails, Rhiane Fatinikun founded Black Girls Hike U.K. to provide a safe and inclusive community for Black women to explore the English countryside. Her book is full of practical advice about making the most of any hiking adventure, as well as inspiring interviews with Black outdoorswomen.
Fatinikun takes it a step further by offering her favorite British hikes, including Glencoe Pass in Scotland and Land’s End in Cornwall, England. Fatinikun writes like an encouraging friend who wants other women like herself to get outside any chance they can get—and feel like they belong when they do.
(From sunscreen to first aid, here’s all the hiking gear you need)
Best for: Travelers interested in deeper experiences
With its alien-like landscape, Chile’s Atacama Desert is like nowhere else on Earth. That makes it the perfect stand-in for Mars, according to NASA, and a well-photographed spot for intrepid travelers. In this evocative travel memoir, Mark Johanson details the three months he spent in the world’s driest non-polar desert, not for planetary research, but to learn more about his adoptive home in Chile.
Diving into the legends and characters of this striking environment, the expat peels back the layers of a country where he’s lived for nearly a decade with his Chilean partner. Johanson’s vivid descriptions spur readers to go beyond “bucket list” travel and experience a destination in more meaningful ways.
Best for: Young travelers and families who love the outdoors
Geared toward young readers (ages 7-11), National Geographic Explorer Stephanie Pearson’s latest book is the perfect companion to her 100 Great American Parks. From Acadia to Zion, America’s “best idea” forms the backdrop to these stirring stories of bravery and discovery.
Learn about the pioneering Black family who guides people through the Mammoth Caves of Kentucky and the sled dogs on snowy rescue missions in Denali, Alaska. With beautiful illustrations by Madeline Kloepper, this book is sure to inspire any child to make their own mark in the great outdoors.
(Avoid crowds at these 10 least-visited national parks)
Best for: Travelers who love the ocean and My Octopus Teacher
Travelers captivated by Craig Foster’s Oscar-winning 2020 documentary, My Octopus Teacher, may enjoy his memoir. In it, the filmmaker, naturalist, and founder of the Sea Change Project dives into time he spent in places including the Great African Seaforest and the Okavango Delta, while sharing insights on how wonders of the water can connect us on land.
Best for: Nature lovers
Singing sand dunes, rainbow trees, exploding ants, and pink armadillos. In Atlas Obscura’s latest book, founder Josh Foer and plant and animal correspondent Cara Giaimo feature 500 of the most unusual and least-understood flora, fauna, and funga across all seven continents. With deep insights and playful wit, this detailed and entertaining field guide is ideal for travelers fascinated by nature’s wildest side.
Best for: Fiction fans who love history and food
Yang Shuang-zi’s novel may have “travelogue” in the title, but this National Book Award winner is much more complex than a typical foreigner abroad tale. Set in 1930s Japan-colonized Taiwan, it follows a Japanese novelist traveling with a translator who knows the island’s unspoken codes.
As the story unfolds, the author touches on some of the best and worst aspects of travel, from food to what gets lost in translation. The book is both an ode for delving into worlds beyond our own and a reminder to let the narrative be driven by locals, not by a traveler’s romanticized notions.
How we chose the best travel books
As a travel journalist for over 20 years who also reports on culture and books, I used my own experience and judgment to compile this list. In making my selections, I considered these factors:
• Author expertise: All the books on this list were written by well-known authors or experts in their fields.
• Acclaim: Books on this list have earned critical acclaim or awards, such as the National Book Awards in the case of Taiwan Travelogue.
• Variety: This list includes a mix of destinations, experiences, and points of view to suit many travel interests.
Kathleen Rellihan is a travel journalist who writes for National Geographic, Afar, BBC, Outside, and more. She also covers culture and books—especially the most travel-inspiring ones.
*Although we are sharing our personal opinions of these experiences or products with you, National Geographic is not endorsing these experiences or products on behalf of anyone. It has not performed product safety testing on any of these products, did not manufacture them, and is not selling, or distributing them and is not making any representations about the safety or caliber of these products or experiences for individual consumers. Prices and availability are subject to change from the date of publication.
link