--- title: "Best Books About Traveling the World: 20 Travel Books for Every Reader" url: https://33travels.com/best-books-about-traveling-the-world/ author: "Lena Marchetti" published: 2026-11-11 updated: 2026-11-11 place: "Buying Guides" --- # Best Books About Traveling the World: 20 Travel Books for Every Reader The best books about traveling the world are the ones that cover real distance: Paul Theroux taking trains from London to Japan and back, Nellie Bly racing around the globe in 72 days in 1889, Ted Simon riding a motorcycle through 45 countries. The list below mixes those trips with the memoirs, novels and planning books that show up again and again on lists of the best travel books for adults. Twenty books follow in five groups: a single trip around the world, a classic of travel writing, a memoir, a novel or help planning your own trip. [We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page.](https://33travels.com/affiliate-disclosure/) ## Best books about traveling the world: the short list by reader - **The best book about traveling the world in one trip:** [Jupiter’s Travels](#tpg-jupiters-travels-simon), four years and 45 countries on a Triumph motorcycle. - **The classic most lists put first:** [The Great Railway Bazaar](#tpg-great-railway-bazaar-theroux), four months by train across Europe and Asia. - **A short read for one flight:** [Around the World in Seventy-Two Days](#tpg-around-world-72-days-bly), 126 pages. - **The funniest:** [In a Sunburned Country](#tpg-sunburned-country-bryson), Bill Bryson across Australia. - **The best travel novel to start with:** [Around the World in Eighty Days](#tpg-around-world-80-days-verne), the book Nellie Bly set out to beat. - **For anyone planning a long trip:** [Vagabonding](#tpg-vagabonding-potts), on saving, leaving and traveling slowly. - **For picking where to go:** [Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travel List](#tpg-ultimate-travel-list-lonely-planet), 500 ranked places. - [![Jupiter's Travels](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0965478521.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0965478521?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world)Jupiter's TravelsMid-range[Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0965478521?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) - [![The Great Railway Bazaar](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0618658947.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618658947?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world)The Great Railway BazaarBudget[Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618658947?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) - [![Vagabonding](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0812992180.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812992180?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world)VagabondingBudget[Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812992180?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ## The best travel books of all time at a glance | Book | Author | First published | Pages | Where it goes | Type | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Around the World in Eighty Days | Jules Verne | 1872 | 247 | London to London via Suez, Bombay, Hong Kong and San Francisco | Novel | | Around the World in Seventy-Two Days | Nellie Bly | 1890 | 126 | New York to New York via Europe, Egypt, Ceylon and Japan | Nonfiction | | On the Road | Jack Kerouac | 1957 | 304 | Across the US and into Mexico | Novel | | Travels with Charley | John Steinbeck | 1962 | 277 | A 10,000-mile loop of the US | Nonfiction | | The Great Railway Bazaar | Paul Theroux | 1975 | 352 | London to Japan by rail, home on the Trans-Siberian | Nonfiction | | In Patagonia | Bruce Chatwin | 1977 | 240 | Argentina and Chile | Nonfiction | | Jupiter’s Travels | Ted Simon | 1979 | 456 | 45 countries by motorcycle | Nonfiction | | The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho | 1988 | 208 | Spain, Morocco and Egypt | Novel | | The Beach | Alex Garland | 1996 | 448 | Thailand | Novel | | Under the Tuscan Sun | Frances Mayes | 1996 | 320 | Cortona, Italy | Memoir | | In a Sunburned Country | Bill Bryson | 2000 | 352 | Australia | Memoir | | The Art of Travel | Alain de Botton | 2002 | 272 | Egypt, the Lake District, Provence | Essays | | Vagabonding | Rolf Potts | 2003 | 240 | Anywhere, for months | Planning | | Shantaram | Gregory David Roberts | 2003 | 944 | Bombay (Mumbai), India | Novel | | Eat, Pray, Love | Elizabeth Gilbert | 2006 | 400 | Italy, India and Indonesia | Memoir | | The Geography of Bliss | Eric Weiner | 2008 | 345 | Iceland, Bhutan, Moldova, Qatar and more | Nonfiction | | Turn Right at Machu Picchu | Mark Adams | 2011 | 368 | Peru | Memoir | | Wild | Cheryl Strayed | 2012 | 315 | Pacific Crest Trail, US | Memoir | | Ultimate Travel List | Lonely Planet | 2020 (2nd ed.) | 336 | 500 places worldwide | Planning | | World Travel | Anthony Bourdain | 2021 | 480 | Destinations worldwide | Planning | Page counts are for the editions linked here. Other editions run longer or shorter. ## Around the world travel books: one trip, the whole globe Few travel books cover a full circuit of the planet. Two of these do, a century apart, and the third visits countries on four continents in search of the happiest one. ### Jupiter’s Travels: 45 countries on a motorcycle Ted Simon left London in 1973 on a Triumph Tiger 100 and came back four years later after about 126,000 km (78,000 miles). He rode through Africa, South America, Australia and Asia. The book came out in 1979 and is still the reference point for round-the-world riders. It reads well for people who will never ride a motorcycle. [![Jupiter's Travels](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0965478521.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0965478521?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) Jupiter's TravelsMid-range Ted Simon's 1973-1977 ride around the world on a Triumph Tiger 100: 45 countries and about 126,000 km. - First published 1979; 456-page Jupitalia paperback - 45 countries and about 126,000 km on a Triumph Tiger 100 [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0965478521?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### Around the World in Seventy-Two Days: Nellie Bly’s race On November 14, 1889, the New York World sent reporter Nellie Bly to beat the fictional record of Phileas Fogg. She traveled by steamship and train, stopped in Amiens to meet Jules Verne, and was back in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. She carried one small bag for the whole trip. Her account is short enough to finish on a single long-haul flight. [![Around the World in Seventy-Two Days](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/1420965158.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1420965158?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) Around the World in Seventy-Two DaysBudget The New York World reporter's 1889-90 race against Phileas Fogg's fictional record, by steamship and train, with one small bag. - First published 1890; 126-page Digireads paperback - England, France, Italy, Egypt, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, US [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1420965158?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### The Geography of Bliss: a trip around the world to find happiness Eric Weiner, a former NPR foreign correspondent, travels to countries that rank high and low on happiness research, from Iceland and Bhutan to Moldova and Qatar. Each chapter is one country and one theory about why people there are happy or not. It suits readers who want ideas along with the places. [![The Geography of Bliss](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/044669889X.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/044669889X?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) The Geography of BlissBudget A former NPR correspondent tests theories of happiness country by country, from Iceland and Bhutan to Moldova and Qatar. - First published 2008; 345-page Twelve paperback - Happiness-hunting trip across several continents; Iceland, Bhutan, Moldova, Qatar [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/044669889X?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ## Classic travel books that defined the genre The Great Railway Bazaar (1975) and In Patagonia (1977) are the two books usually credited with reviving travel writing in English, and both still top lists of the best travel writing books. Both are here, along with Steinbeck’s American road trip. My first job, at a guidebook publisher in Barcelona in 2007, came with a rule from the editors: a guidebook tells you where to sleep, and travel writing tells you why to go. The books in this section are the second kind. None of them will help you book a room. ### The Great Railway Bazaar: four months by train In 1973 Paul Theroux took trains from London through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Southeast Asia to Japan, then rode the Trans-Siberian home. The book sold 1.5 million copies after it came out in 1975. Most of the book happens in sleeping cars and dining cars, in conversations with other passengers. In 2008 he retraced the route in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star. Among the best travel books Reddit readers recommend, Theroux comes first. In an [r/travel thread on favorite books about travel](https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1nvf25s/favorite_books_about_travel/), the top answer named him and this book as the place to start, and Bill Bryson came second, with the advice to pick the continent you care about. [![The Great Railway Bazaar](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0618658947.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618658947?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) The Great Railway BazaarBudget Four months on trains in 1973: London to Japan through Iran, Afghanistan, India and Southeast Asia, home on the Trans-Siberian. - First published 1975; 352-page Mariner Books Classics paperback - Europe, Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Russia by rail [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618658947?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### In Patagonia: short chapters from the end of the world Bruce Chatwin went to southern Argentina and Chile looking for the origin of a scrap of skin his grandmother kept in a cabinet. The book jumps between his trip and the stories of the people who ended up there: Welsh settlers, Butch Cassidy, Boer families. It won the Hawthornden Prize in 1978. Read it before a trip to Ushuaia, Punta Arenas or Torres del Paine. [![In Patagonia](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0142437190.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0142437190?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) In PatagoniaBudget Chatwin travels to the far south of Argentina and Chile after a scrap of prehistoric skin from his grandmother's cabinet. - First published 1977; 240-page Penguin Classics paperback - Argentina and Chile, from Buenos Aires south to Ushuaia and Punta Arenas [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0142437190?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### Travels with Charley: a road trip around the United States In 1960 John Steinbeck drove about 10,000 miles around the US in a camper truck he named Rocinante, with his poodle Charley. He wanted to see whether he still knew the country he wrote about. Later research showed he stayed in hotels more often than the book suggests, so read it as a portrait of 1960 America rather than a diary. [![Travels with Charley in Search of America](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0140053204.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140053204?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) Travels with Charley in Search of AmericaBudget Steinbeck's 1960 drive around the United States in a camper named Rocinante, with his poodle Charley. - First published 1962; 277-page Penguin paperback - About 10,000 miles around the US, from Long Island to Maine, the West and back [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140053204?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ## Best travel memoirs: one place, one person A travel memoir follows one writer through one country or one long walk. Each of these five stays in one place you can visit. ### In a Sunburned Country: Australia, the funny way Bill Bryson crosses Australia by road and on the Indian Pacific train from Sydney to Perth, with stops in Alice Springs, Uluru, Darwin and the Great Barrier Reef. He spends a lot of the book on what can kill you there. In the UK it is called Down Under. [![In a Sunburned Country](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0767903862.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0767903862?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) In a Sunburned CountryBudget Bryson crosses Australia from Sydney to Perth by rail and road, with Uluru, Darwin and the Great Barrier Reef on the way. - First published 2000; 352-page Crown paperback - Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Alice Springs, Uluru, Darwin, Perth [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0767903862?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Bingham’s 1911 route Mark Adams, a magazine editor with little hiking experience, retraces the 1911 route Hiram Bingham took to Machu Picchu, guided by an Australian survivalist. The book came out on the 100th anniversary of Bingham’s expedition. It covers Vitcos, Espíritu Pampa and Choquequirao as well as Machu Picchu, with the history a guidebook leaves out. [![Turn Right at Machu Picchu](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0452297982.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452297982?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) Turn Right at Machu PicchuBudget An editor with little hiking experience follows Hiram Bingham's 1911 route to Machu Picchu with an Australian guide and mule drivers. - First published 2011; 368-page Plume paperback (2012) - Peru: Cusco, the Andes and Machu Picchu [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452297982?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### Wild: 1,100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail Cheryl Strayed hiked about 1,100 miles of the [Pacific Crest Trail](https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/) alone in 1995, after her mother’s death, with no long-distance hiking experience. It is a book about grief more than about the trail. It appears on nearly every list of the best travel books, even though the whole trip stays in California and Oregon. It was the first pick of Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 and became a film with Reese Witherspoon in 2014. [![Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0307476073.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307476073?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest TrailBudget A 26-year-old with no hiking experience walks the Pacific Crest Trail alone in 1995, four years after her mother's death. - First published 2012; 315-page Vintage paperback - Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert to the Oregon-Washington border [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307476073?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### Eat, Pray, Love: a year in Italy, India and Indonesia After her divorce, Elizabeth Gilbert spends four months eating in Rome, four in an ashram in India and four in Bali. It remains the best-known memoir about traveling alone after a divorce. [![Eat, Pray, Love](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0143038419.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143038419?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) Eat, Pray, LoveBudget Four months each in Rome, an Indian ashram and Bali, after a divorce. Published in 2006. - First published 2006; 400-page Riverhead paperback - Year-long trip through Italy, an ashram in India, and Bali, Indonesia [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143038419?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### Under the Tuscan Sun: buying a house abroad Frances Mayes and her partner buy Bramasole, an abandoned villa outside Cortona, and spend summers restoring it. The book is about kitchens, markets and builders more than about sightseeing. It spent more than two and a half years on the New York Times best seller list. It is the book for people who want to live abroad, not just visit. [![Under the Tuscan Sun](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0767900383.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0767900383?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) Under the Tuscan SunBudget Restoring an abandoned villa near Cortona: builders, markets, kitchens and the Tuscan calendar. - First published 1996; 320-page Crown paperback (1997 printing) - Memoir set in Cortona, Tuscany, Italy; film in 2003 [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0767900383?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ## Best travel novels set in real places These five novels are the ones travelers recommend most, and each is set somewhere you can visit. ### Around the World in Eighty Days: the original Phileas Fogg bets his fortune at the Reform Club that he can circle the globe in 80 days, then sets off with his servant Passepartout by steamer, train and, for one stretch in India, elephant. Jules Verne serialized it in 1872. The Oxford World’s Classics edition linked here uses William Butcher’s translation and adds notes on the book’s geography. [![Around the World in Eighty Days](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0199552517.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199552517?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) Around the World in Eighty DaysBudget Phileas Fogg's wager to circle the globe in 80 days by steamer, train and elephant, in William Butcher's translation. - First published 1872-73; 247-page Oxford World's Classics paperback - Route from London via Suez, Bombay, Hong Kong, Yokohama and San Francisco [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199552517?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### The Alchemist: a short push to go Paulo Coelho’s fable follows an Andalusian shepherd who crosses to Tangier and the Sahara on his way to the pyramids of Giza. At 208 pages it is the shortest novel here. It has been translated into more than 65 languages. [![The Alchemist](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0062315005.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062315005?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) The AlchemistBudget A 208-page fable: an Andalusian shepherd crosses to Tangier and the Sahara on his way to the pyramids. - First published 1988 in Portuguese; 208-page HarperOne paperback - Fable that runs from Spain through Tangier and the Sahara to Egypt [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062315005?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### Shantaram: 944 pages of Bombay An escaped Australian prisoner lands in 1980s Bombay and stays, living in a slum, working for the mafia and running a free clinic. The novel draws on Gregory David Roberts’s own life, though how much is true is disputed. It is the longest book on this list and the one backpackers in India pass around most. Apple TV+ adapted it as a series in 2022. [![Shantaram](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0312330537.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312330537?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ShantaramBudget An escaped Australian convict lives in a Bombay slum, runs a clinic and joins the mafia. 944 pages, set in the 1980s. - First published 2003; 944-page St. Martin's Griffin paperback - Novel set mainly in Bombay (Mumbai), India, in the 1980s [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312330537?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ![Open paperback book lit by a headlamp on the lower bunk of a dim hostel dorm, a rolled sleeping bag and a daypack at the foot of the bed](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/best-books-about-traveling-the-world/assets/hostel-bunk.webp) *A paperback and a headlamp in a hostel dorm* ### The Beach: the backpacker novel Alex Garland’s 1996 novel follows a young traveler from a Bangkok guesthouse on Khao San Road to a secret island community in the Gulf of Thailand, and what happens when the secret gets out. It is a story about the backpacker trail wrecking the places it finds. Danny Boyle filmed it with Leonardo DiCaprio in 2000, on Koh Phi Phi Leh’s Maya Bay. [![The Beach](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/1573226521.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1573226521?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) The BeachBudget A backpacker follows a map from Khao San Road to a secret island community in the Gulf of Thailand. - First published 1996; 448-page Riverhead paperback - Novel set in Thailand, from Bangkok to a hidden island; film in 2000 [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1573226521?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### On the Road: the American road trip Jack Kerouac wrote the book about his trips across the US with Neal Cassady in the late 1940s, renamed Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty. They go from New York to Denver, San Francisco, New Orleans and finally Mexico City. Modern Library ranked it 55th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. [![On the Road](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0140283293.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140283293?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) On the RoadBudget Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty cross the US by car several times in the late 1940s and end up in Mexico City. - First published 1957; 304-page Penguin Classics paperback - Novel set across the US, from New York to San Francisco, and into Mexico [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140283293?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ## Books for planning your own trip around the world These four are inspirational travel books with a practical use: they help you decide where to go, how long to stay away and what you want out of it. ![Closed green cloth hardback, an espresso and a folded coastal map with a pencil on a round marble cafe table on a black and white cobbled pavement](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/best-books-about-traveling-the-world/assets/cafe-map.webp) *Planning a trip with a book, a map and a coffee* ### Vagabonding: how to take months off to travel Rolf Potts’s 2003 book is a guide to long-term travel: how to save for it, how to explain it at work, how to travel slowly and how to come home. It has gone through more than 30 printings and is often cited as an early influence on the digital nomad movement. It has no maps and no itineraries. [![Vagabonding](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0812992180.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812992180?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) VagabondingBudget How to save for months of travel, explain it at work, travel slowly on little money and come home. No itineraries or maps. - First published 2003; 240-page Villard paperback with a foreword by Tim Ferriss - Practical long-term travel philosophy and budgeting, not a single route [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812992180?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travel List: where to go first Lonely Planet ranked 500 places and experiences with votes from its writers and readers, with Petra in Jordan at number one in the 2020 second edition. Each entry has a photo, a paragraph and practical notes. It works as a bucket list and as a coffee table book. For more books to keep on display, see our [best travel coffee table books](https://33travels.com/best-travel-coffee-table-books/). [![Lonely Planet Ultimate Travel List](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/1788689135.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1788689135?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) Lonely Planet Ultimate Travel ListBudget 500 places ranked by Lonely Planet's writers and readers, with Petra at number one. A bucket list with a photo per entry. - Second edition, October 2020; 336-page Lonely Planet hardcover - 500 ranked places and experiences worldwide, with photos [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1788689135?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### World Travel: Anthony Bourdain’s last book Bourdain started this guide before his death in 2018, and his longtime co-writer Laurie Woolever finished it. It covers the places he returned to, country by country, with where he ate, how to get there and essays from friends and family. Use it to plan meals more than sights. [![World Travel: An Irreverent Guide](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0062802798.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062802798?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) World Travel: An Irreverent GuideMid-range Country-by-country notes on the places Bourdain kept going back to, finished by Laurie Woolever after his death in 2018. - First published 2021; 480-page Ecco hardcover - Destination-by-destination guide with food, sights and tips worldwide [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062802798?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ### The Art of Travel: read this before you leave Alain de Botton’s essays ask why trips often disappoint and how to see more when you arrive. Each chapter pairs a place with an artist or writer: Flaubert in Egypt, Wordsworth in the Lake District, Van Gogh in Provence. [![The Art of Travel](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/_products/0375725342.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375725342?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) The Art of TravelBudget Essays on anticipation, curiosity and seeing, each built around a place and an artist: Flaubert, Wordsworth, Van Gogh. - First published 2002; 272-page Vintage paperback - Essays on travel and attention; places include Egypt, the Lake District and Provence [Check price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375725342?tag=33travels-20&ascsubtag=best-books-about-traveling-the-world) ## Travel books by destination If you have a trip booked, read the book set where you are going. This table pairs the main destinations on this list with a book. | Destination | Book | Why read it first | | --- | --- | --- | | India | Shantaram | Bombay street life, slums and the Colaba district | | Thailand | The Beach | The backpacker trail from Khao San Road to the islands | | Peru | Turn Right at Machu Picchu | The Inca sites around Cusco and the history of the trail | | Australia | In a Sunburned Country | The outback, the Indian Pacific and the wildlife warnings | | Argentina and Chile | In Patagonia | The settlers and outlaws of the far south | | Italy | Under the Tuscan Sun | Daily life, food and markets in Tuscany | | Spain, Morocco and Egypt | The Alchemist | The route from Andalusia to Giza | | United States | Travels with Charley or On the Road | The road trip, in 1960 or in the late 1940s | | Several countries | The Geography of Bliss | Short chapters on Iceland, Bhutan, Qatar and others | ![Hand pulling a blue paperback from a shelf of plain colored books in a small bookshop, a globe and an old leather suitcase on the shelf above](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/packing-guides/best-books-about-traveling-the-world/assets/bookshop-shelf.webp) *Pick the book set where you are going* ## How to choose a travel book for the trip Length and weight decide more than genre once a book has to travel. - **Match the page count to the trip.** A 120 to 250 page book (Bly, The Alchemist, In Patagonia, Vagabonding) fits a single flight. Shantaram, at 944 pages, lasts a two-week trip and takes up real space in a carry-on. - **Pack paperbacks.** Hardcovers like World Travel and the Lonely Planet list are heavy. Keep them at home for planning. - **Read about the place before you go, and a novel while you are there.** Nonfiction gives you history and context to look for. Fiction is easier to pick up in short sessions on trains and in airports. A reading list by trip length, built from the books above: | Trip | Books | | --- | --- | | One flight | Around the World in Seventy-Two Days (126 pages), The Alchemist (208), In Patagonia (240), Vagabonding (240) | | A week or two away | The Beach (448), Jupiter’s Travels (456), Shantaram (944) | | At home, before you book | Ultimate Travel List for where to go, World Travel for where to eat, a book set in your destination | At a hostel in San Cristóbal de las Casas in February 2010, I swapped a finished paperback on the shelf by the front desk for a fat one with coffee stains. The shelf held a dozen copies of the same thick novels, left behind by travelers who did not want to carry them any further. Thin books travel on. Thick ones stay on the shelf. ## Best travel books FAQ What is the most famous travel book ever written? The Travels of Marco Polo, dictated in a Genoese prison around 1298 and copied by hand across Europe for two centuries, is the most famous travel book ever written. It described China, Persia and the Mongol court to readers who had never heard of them. Columbus owned a copy and annotated it. Among modern books, Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar and Kerouac's On the Road are the most widely read. Who are the greatest travel writers? Lists of the greatest travel writers usually start with Patrick Leigh Fermor, who walked from the Netherlands to Constantinople at 18 and wrote it up in A Time of Gifts (1977). Jan Morris, Paul Theroux, Bruce Chatwin, Freya Stark and Rebecca West follow. Morris wrote about cities, Stark about the Middle East and West about Yugoslavia in Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941). Are there good travel books for kids? Yes. Children aged 8 to 12 can read abridged editions of Around the World in Eighty Days, and younger children get picture books such as Miroslav Sasek's This Is series, which covers cities from Paris to Hong Kong. Atlases with flaps and stickers work for ages 4 to 7. The books on this list are written for adults; Wild, Shantaram and The Beach include drug use and violence. Is an e-reader better than paperbacks for travel? For trips longer than a week, usually yes. An e-reader weighs about the same as one paperback and holds thousands of books, and the battery lasts weeks. Paperbacks still win on the beach, where sand and glare are a problem for screens, at hostel book swaps and when a battery runs flat. On a trip of a week or less, one paperback is enough.