Books are a man’s best friend because you will never be alone if you love reading. They transport you to a completely new place full of wonder and fantasy. Traveling is another wonderful aspect of life besides this. It is similar to living a parallel life without needing to teleport physically. How about combining the two? Yes, we’re referring to the books that make you want to travel.
The best travel books are ones that transport you to exotic locations so you may escape your everyday life. The best books inspire you to get up from the couch, grab your belongings, and embark on your own exciting adventure. Here are 10 books that will simply boost your desire to travel.
Best Travel Books
Always an excellent book can transfer you. In particular, a fantastic travel novel may have you climbing mountains, navigating deserts, or discovering exotic islands with each page flip. The best travel books not only transport us to the destination with the author but also give us a sense of ownership over the adventure.
We are more eager than ever to learn about travel after a few years of trip famine. Even while we’re getting back into real-life exploration and preparing for beach getaways and city weekends, that craving is challenging to quell.
For the majority of us, there are only so many days available on the calendar each year for actual travel, especially if you only have 28 days allowance for vacation.
As a result, we’ve compiled a list of our best travel books right now to spur you on to your next excursion and quench your wanderlust.
Some are first-person, enthusiastic author-presented images of a single location. Others are collections of various pieces, which are excellent if you’re looking for more general motivation. Some people use the term “travel” a little more widely, referring to modes of transportation—the voyage itself—rather than the final destination.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Our all-time favorite adventure book has to be Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. The book is a first-person account of the 1997 Everest disaster, which saw eight climbers die and many others become stranded on the summit due to bad weather.
During the incident, Jon Krakauer was working on a piece for Outside Magazine. On that unfaithful day, he traveled to the top of the world with a small group of exhibitions, where he told everything that had happened, from the people he had only briefly met to a thorough examination of what had gone wrong.
It was a terrifying account of how vulnerable we are in the mountains, and while it might have scared some people away from hiking in the Himalayas, it had the opposite effect on me. In fact, it inspired me to hike to Everest Base Camp alone so that I could see all of Everest’s lethal features for myself.
It is a fantastic novel based on a true-life, compelling experience that, depending on how you feel about trekking, may make you hesitant to go hiking or, like it did for me, may encourage you to book a flight to Nepal and go hiking. In either case, there isn’t a finer book to read about disasters and hiking than this one.
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The fantastic book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer tells the true story of an American traveler named Chris McCandless, who walked “into the wild” and vanished off the face of the planet before his death was discovered in a bus that had been abandoned on the Stampede Trail in Alaska in 1992.
When Outside Magazine asked Jon Krakauer to write about Chris’s story in 1993, Jon did what he does best and followed Chris’s path from his early years to his death.
It’s a fantastic nonfiction piece that raises questions like how to fit in and how discovering the self can occasionally conflict with contributing to society.
Chris was shunned by society and hitchhiked across the western United States in search of enlightenment. As Jon relates, Chris’ adventure left a lasting impression on many of the people he met along the route.
This book is among the greatest travel books you should read because of the heartwarming tales of his beneficial effects on others around him, even down to the last words he penned in his diary.
Whether you think Chris McCandless’s decision to move to Alaska was a mistake or find him inspirational after reading this book, it’s certain that his narrative, as told from Jon’s point of view, will inspire the inner free spirit you never knew you had. I highly recommend you give the book a try because it is the kind of book you won’t be able to put down until you’ve finished it.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
In his amusing travel book A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson chronicles his attempts to hike the 3,500 km Appalachian Trail, one of the world’s longest hiking routes that connect Maine in the northeast of the United States to Georgia in the southeast.
A humorous travel book that describes what it’s like to attempt the Appalachian Trail, the strange characters you meet along the way, and perhaps even how to save your life when you come across a bear in the wild is created by Bill’s humor combined with his friend’s hilarious complaints throughout the journey and all the misfortunes they encountered along the trail.
It is a nonstop page-turner; you will put the book down and finish it before you realize it. This is a terrific book to choose if you’re searching for a pleasant travel read to whet your appetite for the American outdoors.
The Map of Knowledge by Violet Moller
The Map of Knowledge by Violet Moller is a history book about how knowledge was transmitted between European cities during the Dark Ages and how it was preserved over time. It unintentionally sparked my interest in Southern Italy and Southern Spain to the point where I now want to travel to Sicily and Toledo the next time I am in Europe.
The book traces the voyage of three of the greatest antiquity scientific works—the Almagest, Method of Medicine, and Element—as they pass through seven towns and more than a thousand years. These works were written by Euclid, Galen, and Ptolemy, respectively.
You will travel through time with the book as it takes you through Alexandria in the sixth century, Baghdad in the ninth, Muslim Cordoba, Catholic Toledo, Sicilian Palermo, and ultimately Venice, where it was printed for the first time, and the knowledge was finally saved.
You will be intrigued by these cities of knowledge and wish to see all the locations that were crucial in helping to preserve these important scientific discoveries over time after taking this fascinating journey around Europe and the Arab world.
This book is for you if you’re looking for information about the history of the European and Arab worlds throughout the Middle Ages and inspiration to travel to unusual Southern European places like Toledo and Salerno, which were once the epicenters of knowledge.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Every traveler should read Paulo Coelho’s classic The Alchemist at least once in their lives. The book is a novel by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho that chronicles the trip of a young shepherd from Andalusia to the Egyptian pyramids.
Despite being fiction, The Alchemist is packed with incredibly useful information and real-life motivational stories that will encourage you to travel and visit the Middle East, one of the most stunning and distinctive parts of the world.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
If you’re searching for a novel to whet your wanderlust, I recommend reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac. The two main free-spirited characters in this 1957 book travel across the United States using the traditional methods of hitchhiking and boxcar railroads. The story follows their adventure.
Despite being fiction, Jack’s real-life experiences as he traversed the country, experiencing life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug usage, are reflected in the stories the two characters encounter.
It is a fantastic book that will show you what life was like in the US at the time and how a wanderer with a free spirit traverses the nation for essentially no money. The language in the book, written in the 1960s, maybe a little more difficult to understand. Still, the overall reading experience will undoubtedly boost the wanderlust you need during this historically unusual period.
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
We’re back with another non-fiction adventure book, Touching the Void, by Joe Simpson, which tells the story of another mountain mishap, this time in Peru’s Andes Mountains. The book follows two climbers who ascend the 6,344-meter (20,814-foot) high Siula Grande summit via the previously unclimbed west face of this prominent peak in the Cordillera Huayhuash.
On their descent, one of the climbers lost his footing and fell into a deep chasm, causing the other climber to break the rope in order to save himself. This left the climbing partner to rely solely on his own faith.
It is a suspenseful tale of every climber’s worst nightmares, and it eloquently illustrates the human capacity for survival in the face of extreme adversity.
Every time you set foot in the mountains after reading this magnificent book, you will feel humbled and inspired by the incredible willpower we all possess. You should read it if you’re looking for a great adventure book to sate your wanderlust at this time; it’s a haunting and inspirational book.
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
I took The Lost City of Z by David Grann on my six-month tour through South America. It is a non-fiction book that tells the tale of the early exploration of the Amazon Forest by the British explorer Percy Fawcett. Fawcett was so enamored with the Forest that, in 1925, he and his son disappeared there while searching for the fabled ancient lost city known as El Dorado, which is said to be full of gold.
The book goes into detail about Fawcett’s early explorations of the Amazon Forest, where he first learned of El Dorado—an ancient city in the Amazon full of gold—which sparked his obsession and caused him to disappear into the forest. This sparked a search for clues about his whereabouts and the whereabouts of El Dorado.
The Lost City of Z is a fantastic book that will show you how early investigations were undertaken in the past, how dangerous it was, and just how dreadfully cruel the Amazon Forest actually is.
When a fruit falls from a tree, the forest is so unforgiving that animals quickly devour it, leaving little fruit for exhibits exploring the Amazon Forest.
Final Words
There you go; we have reviewed the top 8 best travel books to read . We have added these books to the list because they are perfect for those who love traveling. These books will truly take you on a new adventure trip, and you will find yourself planning your next adventure trip. Keep reading our blogs to learn about the best reading tips and reviews about the best books in different genres.
FAQ
What Makes a Good Travel Book?
These fundamentals are woven into effective travel writing, but it also includes interesting anecdotes that keep readers’ attention. Many travel novels contain humorous, sad, and thought-provoking tales, among other things.
What Makes Travel Meaningful?
We are inspired to see, taste, and try new things when we travel because it forces us out of our comfort zones. It continuously tests our ability to adapt to and explore new environments, interact with other people, welcome new experiences as they arrive, and share them with friends and loved ones.
What is the Relationship between Reading Books and Traveling?
Your imagination is stimulated by reading. Your fascinations are tickled as you travel. Reading can engross you to the point where you forget to eat. You gnaw on a little while you journey in anticipation.
Why Do People Read Travel Books?
Stimulates your creative side. Reading travelogues will undoubtedly make you want to go on vacation, but they may also encourage you to document and share your own adventures. You will discover more about what makes an excellent travel story as you read more books.