9 Best Travel Books to Fuel Your Wanderlust

I love to read, and one of my favorite genres is travel. As an avid reader, one thing I hate is finishing up a book and not knowing what to pick up next. So I thought – why not create a list of the best travel books?

Here’s a list of amazing travel books to fuel your wanderlust. I’ve personally read the books I’ve recommended below and included the countries each book visited. The books are also listed according to type below.

It is always a good time to go armchair traveling. Whether you’re on the road or in the comfort of your home, you should never stop discovering and exploring new places. Travel pushes your boundaries, and there is no better teacher than travel (and books).

Here’s a summary of the best travel books in case you don’t want to read all of the posts below.

Best Travel Books to Read:

• 10 Years a Nomad by Nomadic Matt
• In a Sunburnt Country by Bill Bryson
• Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
• Tip of the Iceberg by Mark Adams
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• For the love of Europe by Rick Steves
• The Hidden Europe by Francis Tapon
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
• Walking the Himalayas by Levison Wood

Best Travelogues:

A travelogue is a specific person’s account of travel. It may be a trip they went on and created a book out of it, or essays from previous trips that are compiled in one anthology.

These types of books are my favorite ones to pick up. Not only do they provide a different perspective on travel, these books may also mention places that I have never thought about visiting and want to visit in the future. Here’s the list.

10 Years A Nomad by Nomadic Matt

• Countries visited: Costa Rica, Asia, amongst others – there was a lot of countries involved

Nomadic Matt is a well-known blogger who has backpacked around the world. 10 Years a Nomad is his second book after his Travel the World on $50/Day release.

The book chronicles how he first started to love travel. It began from an international trip to Costa Rica, and a few years later, he decided to quit his job and travel the world full time. Since then, he has been traveling for over 10 years. This book is his travel memoir of sorts on memorable bits, highs and lows, over the past few years.

It is a good book for those who want to learn more about Nomadic Matt or just be inspired by people who have quit their job and traveled the world. He does show the highs and lows of backpacking: from hookups, missed opportunities, and the exhilaration of seeing and experiencing new things on a daily basis.

This book is good for: those who are looking for travel inspiration and a “push” to just travel the world.

This book is not good for: People who are not interested in backpacking and long-term travel.

In a Sunburnt Country by Bill Bryson

• Countries visited: Australia

This is one of Bill Bryson’s older books, but it’s a goodie. He explores various cities and towns through Australia on an epic trip.

In typical Bill Bryson fashion, he does a lot of walking around and exploring various places. Australia has a lot of quirky places to see, and the obsession with big statues in various cities is a must-see. It’s an interesting country, isolated from most places in the world, with lots of distinct flora and fauna.

It has always been a dream of mine to visit Australia. See quokkas and take a selfie with them, hug a koala, and see kangaroos in their native habitat.

This book is good for: People who want to get travel inspiration to Australia, or those who want to have a good laugh reading about Bill Bryson’s pursuits. He is a funny storyteller so there are times where you just want to laugh out loud while reading.

Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

• Countries Visited: UK

Amazing, amazing book, described as a sequel to Notes from a Small Island, which is Bryson’s first travel book about the UK.

The author lived in the UK for a bit of time and he spent a lot of time exploring cities and towns, which has always been a personal dream of mine to do.

I loved the various anecdotes and history of obscure towns and places I’ve never heard of, and added a lot of places I should go and visit on my list.

He did mention that to visit all the known historical sites in the UK at an average of 1 site a week will take approximately 11,500 years to finish seeing everything. Way, way beyond our lifetime. And that’s just one country! What more if we want to visit other countries too? Insane!

This book is good for: People who want to dive more into the UK and plotting more places to visit on the list. As I also mentioned on my post on In a Sunburnt Country, Bill Bryson is an amazing storyteller. So much so that I keep picking up his books as I try to devour more destinations!

Tip of the Iceberg by Mark Adams

• Countries visited: Alaska, USA

Mark Adams decided to retrace the steps that John Muir did when he first went to Alaska on his expedition. However, instead of having his own research boat and rich benefactors paying for the trip, the author had to use float planes and mostly the Alaska marine highway system to get from place to place.

Alaska is one of our favorite states, and you can read some of our travels in this state from our two weeks in Alaska, to our Alaska trip planning, and even a review of the cruise ship we took while there: the MS Noordam.

If you want a remote, off the beaten path destination within the 50 States then Alaska is for you. It’s by far the biggest state in the US, twice as large as Texas, but with not a lot of roads connecting one city to another.

I personally picked up this book because I wanted to know more about cities and towns in Alaska that I would come back to. Some of these places involve a lot planning (and money), as their remoteness means one has to charter an airplane or wait it out for the ferry to pop along.

This book is perfect for: People who want to learn more about Alaska or those who are planning a trip. It may not cover costs in the book, but the itineraries can be used as a DIY trip.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

• Countries visited: India, Indonesia & Italy

Sort of a cliche travel book at this point but Eat Pray Love is Elizabeth Gilbert’s personal journey of finding herself as she traveled through these three cities. It is more girly oriented, as she falls in love while in Indonesia, so not for the hardcore traveler.

It is great for people who want to learn more about solo female travel and what it’s like to find yourself on the road. After all, travel is the ultimate teacher and can show you more things about the world than staying home.

If you’re not too inclined to read, there is a movie based on the book and stars Julia Roberts.

A lot of people love this book and when I was single, it was really great. Now that I’m married, and have a little one of my own, going off on my own to ‘find myself’ is not applicable. But seriously, single Ruby backpacking around Asia got a lot of her start by being brave and being like Elizabeth Gilbert.

For the Love of Europe by Rick Steves

• Countries Visited: Portugal, Spain, Ireland, UK, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy

Fans of Rick Steves know that his guidebooks and TV shows specialize in Europe, and he doesn’t disappoint on this travelogue of his favorite experiences in Europe. From reading the book, it appears his favorite country is Italy, based on the number of pages he has dedicated to the country.

The thing with Rick Steves is while he has been to all of Europe, he focuses more on the more touristy destinations: Italy, Ireland, the UK, Germany, among others. He does not focus on the smaller countries that still have a lot of potential like Montenegro, Slovakia, and Estonia.

This book is perfect for: People who are fans of Rick Steves or are big Europe travelers. Heck, any person who loves Europe should pick up this book to have a glimpse of some of the best experiences and things to do in Europe.

Of course, not everything in Rick Steve’s book is all fun and happy, but the book shows the ‘real’ Europe from someone who’s been visiting again and again for a few decades now.

The Hidden Europe by Francis Tapon

A self-published book from someone who went to all Eastern European countries in Europe and what the author learned from every country. Some of the lessons on the book were pretty controversial, but still informative.

The book is a massive behemoth, and takes a bit of time to read but worth the time reading it. There’s no audiobook option so you definitely have to slog through the book.

Every single chapter is divided into a certain country, and whether the chapter is long or not depends on the author’s personal experiences in the country and how long he managed to stay there. Some countries he stayed longer than others, of course.

This book is perfect for: People who want to learn more about Eastern Europe. These countries are definitely a must-visit and I also strive to go to all the Eastern European countries on the bucket list!

Best Hiking Books

Stories about hiking are particularly interesting. I am not a keen hiker nor would I actually do long distances for the sake of traveling but I find epic hikes quite interesting and entertaining.

Here’s a list of hiking books I would recommend:

Walking the Himalayas by Levison Wood

• Places Visited: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, London

Coming from a guy who has walked the Nile, this book chronicles the author’s adventures of walking the Himalayas. After his Nile walking adventure, the author said he will never walk again, only to be faced with a normal life in Fulham, London.

When a friend mentioned that he should do another adventure before he settles down to normality in London, his next adventure took him to the Himalayas.

His adventures were crazy – from being lost overnight in freezing temperatures, to surviving a terrible car accident that required him to go back home and get treatment, he still finished the trek. Unbelievable determination there.

Bhutan was his final destination. Trivia: a lot of the mountains in Bhutan have not been climbed! There is no rescue infrastructure in the country, with only one helicopter available, so they just banned climbing the mountains.

This book is perfect for: Armchair traveling around the Himalayas. I know I won’t do it, so for those of you who have no intention of walking the Himalayas then this is as good as you can get.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

• Place(s) visited: Appalachian Trail. Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina

For those who don’t want to read the book, there is a movie starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. The book premise is simple, Bill Bryson and his friend, Katz, hike the Appalachian trail. What follows is a hilarious account of their attempt to hike this really long distance trail.

I learned a lot about National Parks on this book, and while I do not intend to hike the Appalachian Trail, I live vicariously through the authors writings. I do want to visit some of the National Parks/National Historic Sites that were mentioned on the book, most of them up north in Virginia and New England.

This book is perfect for: People who want to hike the AT (Appalachian Trail), or want to read about a bunch of older gentlemen try their hand at it.

Best Guidebooks

Sometimes I randomly pick up guidebooks for inspiration. Lots of guidebook publishers have coffee table books and bucket list books that will make you want to pack your bags and just go on the destinations listed.

Below are my favorite guidebooks and why it’s great to pick them up. I read a lot of these guidebooks when I’m trip planning (plus use the internet, of course), and these are the more comprehensive and engaging I’ve read.

The Unofficial Guides

The Unofficial Guides only focus on three books (that I like), mainly Universal Studios, Walt Disney World & Disney Cruise Line. I believe they also write an Unofficial Guide to Disneyland, but since we’ve personally never been to California, I never managed to pick up that guidebook.

This is the most comprehensive Universal Studios, Disney World & Disney Cruise Line guides I’ve ever read. It is so detailed that the books are quite long. They even have a companion app which requires a paid subscription to check how long the lines are.

There’s even ideas on how to spend the perfect day in the theme parks without waiting too much in queues, perfect for people who love to optimize their life!

Lonely Planet

For anything non-Europe and beyond, I love the Lonely Planet guidebooks. Fact: their Southeast Asia on a Shoestring book helped me take that first step to backpacking Southeast Asia way back in 2012.

I loved it to a point that I got the South America, Central America & Europe on a shoestring guidebooks.

The books are not as detailed as I would want and while it does cater to a more backpacker type crowd, I use it to dream of places I would visit while traveling. It would add more and more cities and towns to my bucket list.

Rick Steves Europe

For anything Europe, I pick up a Rick Steves guidebook. He does show a not-so-touristy guide of Europe and also covers a lot of information and hisotry about the area. His books cover recommended walking tours, with maps, stops, and sights to see along the way.

Can you recommend your best travel books?

I don’t have a book on this list that you would like to recommend, list them in the comments below and I would love to read and hopefully include them in the list.