The best Travel books are often the ones that have the power to transform you as much as a journey does. My love for travel books was probably the reason why I became a travel blogger and writer. I have always been obsessed with travel books, especially biographies of adventurers who have embarked on extraordinary journeys.
Seven Years in Tibet, by Heinrich Harrer, inspired me to visit Tibet; Blaine Harden’s Escape from Camp 14 was the reason why I went to North Korea. Reading George Orwell’s Burmese Days when traveling in Myanmar made me connect with the country in ways I never thought was possible.
To celebrate my love for travel books, I have compiled a list of 50 best books for travelers with the help of the WildJunket community. I hope these travel novels, memoirs and kids’ books will feed your wanderlust.
Best Travel Books
TIP: I recommend getting a Kindle Paperwhite ebook reader if you don’t have one. You can store a ridiculous amount of books on it and read it anywhere you are. Either buy books individually or sign up to Kindle unlimited (first month is a free trial).
Best Travel Books Based in Africa
Desert Flower — Waris Dirie
I’m a huge fan of autobiographies, and this is definitely my favorite. Waris Dirie is a Somali-born supermodel with an exceptional story to tell. In this travel book, she shares her story of how she escaped from the nomadic tribe she was born into, across the dangerous Somali desert, to London. She eventually became an internationally renowned fashion model and a human rights ambassador for the U.N.
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African Diary — Billy Bryson
Bill Bryson is a best-selling travel writer, and one of my favorite writers of all time. His writing is witty and light-hearted, giving an interesting spin on travel literature. In this book, Bryson shares his journey to Kenya, describing his hilarious observations about Kenyan culture, geography, and politics. He also talks about his visits to poverty-fighting projects run by CARE International, to which he donated all royalties for the book.
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Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart — Tim Butcher
This thrilling autobiography was written by Butcher, who was sent to Congo as an Africa foreign correspondent for British newspaper the Daily Telegraph. The book follows Butcher’s mission to recreate the expedition of explorer Henry Stanley, traveling alone through the Congo. Butcher had not only the courage, but the insight to tell a great story of a country struggling to emerge from a history of colonial rule.
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Gratitude in Low Voices — Dawit Gebremichael Habte
Reading this travel biography on a recent trip to Eritrea definitely made my experience all the more meaningful. The travel book tells the story of Eritrea from a human angle, and it’s packed full of history and interesting political events. The author fled his homeland of Eritrea as a teenager in the midst of the ongoing Eritrean-Ethiopian war. Crossing illegally into Kenya, he experienced the abuse and neglect known by so many refugees around the world.
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It’s Our Turn to Eat — Michela Wrong
As a correspondent specializing in Africa, Michela Wrong covered events in Cote d’Ivoire and former Zaire, before moving to Kenya. In this book, she covers the story of a Kenyan whistle-blower who became simultaneously one of the most hated and admired men in Kenya. It reads like a political thriller while probing the very roots of the continent’s predicament.
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Best Travel Books Based in Asia
Bad Lands: A Tourist on the Axis of Evil — Tony Wheeler
For those who have a special interest in “forbidden lands” (like I do), this is one of the best books on travel to dangerous places. Lonely Planet’s co-founder Tony Wheeler gives a witty first-hand account of his travels through places often perceived as having some of the most repressive regimes in the world: Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.
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Escape from Camp 14 — Blaine Harden
A travel book that truly shook me to the core, Escape from Camp 14 is the biography of Shin Dong-hyuk, the only known person born inside a North Korean prison camp to have escaped. Author Blaine Harden unlocks the secrets of the world’s most repressive totalitarian state through the story of Shin’s shocking imprisonment and his astounding getaway. Shin knew nothing of civilized existence—he saw his mother as a competitor for food and snitched on her to the guards. His mother and brother were killed before him.
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Lands of Lost Borders — Kate Harris
This is a travel biography of Harris’ journey by bicycle along the Silk Road. Pedaling mile upon mile in some of the remotest places on earth, she realized that an explorer is the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. The farther she traveled, the closer she came to a world as wild as she felt within. This book helped me face my fears during difficult times, and will hopefully help you challenge your limits too.
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Seven Year in Tibet — Heinrich Harrer
This book was the reason why I traveled to Tibet. Made famous by the movie starring Brad Pitt, Seven Years in Tibet is the autobiography of Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer. The adventure travel book covers the escape of Harrer from a British internment camp in India to Tibet. He spent several years in Lhasa, and subsequently became a tutor and friend of the 14th Dalai Lama. One of the best travel books I’ve read.
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Sold: A Story of Modern-day Slavery — Zana Muhsen
In this incredible autobiography, Zana Muhsen tells her harrowing story of being sold to Yemen as a teenager. Born and bred in Birmingham, Muhsen was only 15 when her father told her (and her sister) they were spending the holidays with family in Yemen. After their arrival, they realized they had been literally sold into marriage. They had to adapt to a completely alien way of life, with frequent abuse and the ordeal of childbirth on bare floors.
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Best Travel Books Based in Europe
The Choice — Edith Eger
I just finished this book, and literally couldn’t stop turning the pages! Written immaculately in a haunting yet hopeful voice, The Choice is a memoir of the author’s own unthinkable experience in Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. She was just a teenager in 1944 when she was sent to Auschwitz. There, she experienced one of the worst evils the human race has ever known. When the camp is finally liberated, she is pulled from a pile of bodies, barely alive.
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Under the Tuscan Sun — Frances Mayes
One of the best travel books about Europe, Under the Tuscan Sun actually inspired me to visit Italy when I was just a teenager. The travel memoir, written by American author Frances Mayes, describes her experience of traveling to Italy and falling in love with the Tuscan countryside. She and her husband decide to buy and restore an abandoned villa, but the renovations prove to be a long, tedious but rewarding experience.
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A Year in Provence — Peter Mayle
In this best-selling travel memoir, Peter Mayle shares all the ups and downs of his first year in Provence. Mayle and his wife are met with unexpectedly fierce weather, underground truffle dealers and unruly workers, who work around their normalement schedule. His light-hearted take on life as an outsider in provincial France is both funny and charming at the same time.
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Driving Over Lemons – Chris Stewart
A hilarious and insightful biography by Stewart, this inspiring travel book talks about the author’s experience of leaving his life in the UK and moving to a farm in southern Spain. At the age of 17, he retires as the drummer of Genesis and moves to a remote mountain farm in Andalucia without any electricity or running water. I read this book while living in Spain, and his hilarious anecdotes definitely struck a chord!
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Eat Pray Love — Elizabeth Gilbert
Another travel book made famous by the movie, this is true story of American author Elizabeth Gilbert. On the surface, Gilbert had everything many of us dream of having – a husband, a house, a successful career – yet she felt lost. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert embarks on a quest for self-discovery. She discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy, the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Indonesia.
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Best Travel Books Based in North America
A Walk in the Woods — Bill Bryson
The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America: majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. And Bill Bryson is definitely the most entertaining and interesting guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way – and a couple of bears.
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Wild — Cheryl Strayed
This bestseller is Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of her 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, beginning in the Mojave Desert and hiking through California and Oregon into Washington. Seeking self-discovery and solutions to her personal grief, Strayed set out on her journey, alone and with no prior hiking experience. One of the best travel books of all time, Wild is an incredible reminder of how a journey can be pivotal in helping us understand more about ourselves.
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Into the Wild — Jon Krakauer
This non-fiction book tells the remarkable story of a young man’s solo adventure in Alaska. In 1992, he left his well-to-do family, hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. 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.
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Blue Highways: A Journey into America — William Least Heat-Moon
Blue Highways features an unforgettable journey along the backroads of USA. The author set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity about “those little towns that get on the map”: Remote, Oregon; Simplicity, Virginia; Why, Arizona; Whynot, Mississippi.” 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.
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The Divide: A 2700 Mile Search For Answers — Nathan Doneen
A must read for Canada-philes, this book tells the epic adventure Doneen took across his country. Discover a world of bears, bivy sacks and mountain weather. Follow his journey the Great Divide, the world’s longest mountain bike route, stretching 2700 miles along the Continental Divide from Alberta to the US-Mexico Border.
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Best Travel Books Based in South America
The Lost City of Z — David Grann
Described as “a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon,” this non-fiction book details the journey that British explorer Percy Fawcett and his son took in search of an ancient city in the rainforest. It is a cross between a crime novel (that actually happened) and travelogue. Fawcett and his son went missing and their story continues to be shrouded in mystery.
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The Motorcycle Diaries – Ernesto Che Guevara
For a peek into South America during the revolution days, join Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara as he travels the length of South America. He traverses the continent on his trusty 1939 Norton 500 motorcycle and shares intriguing observations in his travel-diary-turned-biography. This memoir is highly entertaining, and features exclusive, unpublished photos taken by the 23-year-old Ernesto on his journey across a continent. Definitely one of the best travel books of all time!
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Life and Death in the Andes – Kim MacQuarrie
I read this adventure travel book during my 5-month backpacking trip through South America, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in this continent. EmmyAward-winning author Kim MacQuarrie takes us on a historical journey through the Andes, the world’s longest mountain chain. He brings fresh insights and contemporary connections to fabled characters like CharlesDarwin, Pablo Escobar, and Che Guevara. Beautifully written and thought-provoking, Life and Death in the Andes shows us South America as no one has before.
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In Patagonia – Bruce Chatwin
Bruce Chatwin’s exquisite account of his journey through Patagonia gives an exhilarating look at Patagonia, a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land. An instant classic upon publication in 1977, his travel memoir teems with evocative descriptions, remarkable bits of history, and unforgettable anecdotes. Fueled by an unmistakable lust for life and adventure and a singular gift for storytelling, Chatwin treks through “the uttermost part of the earth” in search of almost-forgotten legends.
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Marching Powder – Thomas McFadden and Rusty Young
Rusty Young was backpacking in South America when he heard about Thomas McFadden, a convicted English drug trafficker who ran tours inside Bolivia’s notorious San Pedro prison. Intrigued, the young Australian journalist went to La Paz and joined one of Thomas’s illegal tours. They formed an instant friendship and then became partners in an attempt to record Thomas’s experiences in jail. The result is Marching Powder, a true story about friendship, betrayal, and compassion in one of the world’s most notorious prisons.
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Best Travel Books Based in Oceania
In a Sunburned Country — by Bill Bryson
Yet another book by my beloved writer Bill Bryson, this memoir describes his travels through Australia, as well as his comical conversations with people about the country’s history, geography, unusual flora and fauna. He also included several stories about Australia’s 19th-century explorers and settlers. The book definitely gives interesting insights into Australia, and makes for an entertaining read. I love Bryon’s light-hearted style of writing and wry sense of humor.
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The Happy Isles of Oceania — Paul Theroux
I read this book years ago, but I remember it was the reason that brought me to Papua New Guinea. This is a must-read for any island lover! In this book, Theroux shares his journey through the Pacific Islands shortly after the break-up of his first marriage. Starting in New Zealand, he travels to Australia and Papua New Guinea and then follows the clusters of islands throughout the Pacific Ocean, passing through Easter Island and finishing his trip in Hawaii.
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The Sex Lives of Cannibals — J. Maarten Troost
In this memoir, Troost describes the two years he and his girlfriend spent living in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati. It provides interesting (and at times comical) insights into the people of Kiribati and their unique customs. He shares how he adjusted to an over-whelming fish-based diet, extreme heat, and an ineffective government, which the author describes as “Coconut Stalinism – though Stalin, at least, got something done.”
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Blue Lattitudes — Tony Horwitz
In an exhilarating tale of historic adventure, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author retraces the voyages of Captain James Cook, who drew the map of the modern world. Tony Horwitz vividly recounts Cook’s voyages and the exotic scenes the captain encountered: taboo rituals, cannibal feasts, human sacrifice. He also relives Cook’s adventures in Tahiti, Savage Island, and the Great Barrier Reef to discover Cook’s embattled legacy in the present day.
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A Land of Two Halves — Joe Bennett
After 10 years in New Zealand, Joe Bennett asked himself what on earth he was doing there. Other than his dogs, what was it about these two small islands that had kept him here for so long? Bennett thought he’d better pack his bag and find out. Hitching around both the intriguingly named North and South Islands, with an eye for oddity and a taste for conversation, Bennett began to remind himself of the reasons New Zealand is quietly seducing the rest of the world.
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Best Travel Novels and Stories (Fiction)
The Kite Runner — Khaled Husseini
My number 1 absolute favorite book of all time! This award-winning travel novel tells the story of a boy named Amir and his close friend Hassan. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of Afghanistan’s monarchy to the the exodus of refugees to Pakistan, and the rise of the Taliban regime. The book’s most shocking scene depicts an act of sexual assault that happens against Hassan that Amir fails to prevent.
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One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One of the most influential literary works of our time, One Hundred Years of Solitude is the masterpiece of Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He not only rose to become one of Latin America’s most renown figures, he also put Colombia on the map. This book tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendiá family. Inventive and amusing, the novel definitely gets you drawn to the underground world of Latin America.
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The Alchemist — Paulo Coehlo
Another one of my favorite authors, Coehlo is well known for his thought-provoking travel novels. The Alchemist is his best book, in my opinion. The travel story follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago to the Pyramids in search of answers. Troubled by a recurring dream, he asks a Gypsy fortune teller about its meaning. The woman interprets the dream as a prophecy telling the boy that he will discover a treasure at the Egyptian pyramids.
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Shantaram — Gregory David Roberts
Set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay, Shantaram is an epic travel fiction story narrated by Lin, an escaped convict who flees maximum security prison in Australia. Accompanied by his faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay’s hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men. Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city’s poorest slums. Burning slums, romantic love and prison agonies — this huge novel has a passionate love for India at its heart.
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On the Road — Jack Kerouac
Inspired by his own adventures across the United States, Jack Kerouac’s travel novel tells the story of two friends whose cross-country road trips are a quest for meaning and true experience. On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope, a book that changed American literature. I remember reading this as a teenager, and dreaming of doing a road trip across the USA after that.
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A Woman in Jerusalem — A.B. Yehoshua
This bestselling travel novel tells the story about the struggle to identify a nameless victim in the wake of a terrorist bombing in Israel. A human resources man is appointed to investigate her identity. As the facts of the woman’s life take shape — she was a beautiful engineer from the former Soviet Union, a non-Jew on a religious pilgrimage to Jerusalem —he yields to feelings of regret and even love. Both serious and highly entertaining, A. B. Yehoshua astonishes his ability to get into the soul of Israel today.
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Burmese Days: A Novel — George Orwell
This fiction book about travel paints a picture of Burma (now Myanmar) during the waning days of the British Empire, when Burma was ruled as part of British India. The novel is centered around John Flory, a white timber merchant who forms a friendship with Veraswami, a black doctor. Orwell actually spent five years as a police officer in the Indian Imperial Police force in Burma, and gave interesting observations of the country during the colonization period.
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American Dirt — Jeanine Cummins
The newest title on this list of best travel books, American Dirt is a current bestseller on Amazon. The novel centers around Lydia Quixano Pérez who lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She has a comfortable life, but is forced to flee to the United States after her journalist husband runs a tell-all profile of a drug cartel. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia joins the countless people trying to run away from something. It is a literary achievement filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity on every page.
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The Great Alone — Kristin Hannah
Another travel bestseller that sparked my interest in Alaska, The Great Alone depicts a desperate family who seeks a new beginning in the near-isolated wilderness of Alaska after the Vietnam War. The Allbrights find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the newcomers’ lack of preparation. But as winter approaches and darkness descends, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own.
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Next Year in Havana — Chanel Cleeton
A beautifully-written travel novel packed to the brim with Cuban spirit and forbidden passion — perfect for those who have a crush on Cuba (me!). After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity—and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution.
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Best Travel Guide Books & Compilations
Best in Travel 2020 — Lonely Planet
A great source of inspiration for world travelers, this is one of the best books about travel. This annual bestseller ranks the hottest, must-visit countries, regions, cities and best-value destinations for 2020. The Best in Travel 2020 includes the best new sights for families, new openings, experiences and best new places to stay. This book is a compilation of research and personal experiences from Lonely Planet’s staff, authors and online community.
