If you are like me you love to read and when you are traveling there’s few things better than a good book to fill the boring spaces between your adventures. Here are 47 of the Best Travel Books of All Time – and amazing list of books to read while traveling.
Does this Coronavirus bug have you down? Not traveling much? Join the club! Most of us are not traveling right now and it’s a perfect time to catch up on your reading. Here are 47 amazing travel books worth reading right now. Happy quarantine….
I’ve divided this list of books to read while traveling into several key categories, as noted in the list below:
- The Best Travel Books of all Time
- New Releases – Best Travel Books 2020
- Inspiration to Travel – feed the wanderlust
- Books for Business Travelers – motivation, career growth, and more
- Adventure, Crime & Mystery books to read while traveling
- Science Fiction & Fantasy – the epic quest to read while on the road
- Non Fiction Books to Read When Traveling
Best Travel Books of all Time
Let’s start first with the very best travel books of all time. These are timeless classics or relatively fresh, but powerful travel books. They speak to the soul, touch the heart, or provide brilliantly useful travel information. They inspire us to travel, to chase our wanderlust, to connect and to explore this beautiful amazing planet we live on.
New Release – Best Travel Books for 2020
It’s still pretty early here in 2020, but here’s the best travel books from 2020 – so far. We’ve also kept a list of prior year’s travel books (2018 and 2019, at least) for you in the following sections.
Each year amazing travel books get published, feeding our travel heart’s desire to see the world, experience it’s beauty, find love, seek adventure and so much more. We travel to live. To love. We travel because we HAVE TO travel.
Tiny New York: The Smallest Things in the Biggest City
Tiamat’s Wrath (from the Amazon Prime Show, the Expanse)
Eat, Pray, #FML
New Releases – Best Travel Books from 2018 / 2019
Here are a few of the best releases from 2018 / 2019 that are still darn good books!
As you might expect, there are also SO many delicious books about travel to choose from in 2018 & 2019, but I trust this list of Best Travel Books will get you started!
Inspiration to Travel – feed the wanderlust; Books to read while traveling
At various times in our life we get the urge to sell everything and simply wander. To pursue the deepest journeys, to wander. We call this phenomenon wanderlust.
Here are some of the best books to read while traveling that feed your wanderlust and inspire you to travel:
Books for Business Travelers – motivation, career growth, and more
My own travel blog is from the perspective of a business traveler. I am on the road most weeks of a month, traveling for work to various places across this great USA. I am also in a sales leadership role and part of my job as a leader is to stay current on trends, techniques and tips for becoming the best employee, leader or professional I can.
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Thus, I make sure that non-fiction books targeted at business professionals are a part of my annual reading list.
Here are a few books that have shaped my professional career and life while on the road for work:
What’s your favorite motivational book or leadership book to read while you travel for work? I’d love to hear from you on Twitter so hit me up and share your best business travel book!
Adventure, Crime & Mystery books to read when traveling
Sometimes when you are traveling you just need a good page turner. No deeper meaning, no higher purpose, or soul searching. You just want to escape to another place. A place of intrigue, of suspense or maybe a gory crime. Maybe it’s spy novel. Or a suspense novel. Maybe even a good crime novel.
Whatever your reason, here are some great adventure & mystery books to read while traveling.
Who’s your favorite author in these genres? We’d love to hear from you! Please hit us up on social media and share some of your favorite books to read when traveling in the mystery, crime and adventure series.
Science Fiction, Fantasy & Travel
Far away worlds, futuristic craft, time travel and fantastic aliens. They drive our wildest imagination, giving us tiny glimpse into a future that is sometimes frightening and dystopian and other times hopeful.
Or perhaps it’s a jaunt into a magical kingdom with talking dragons, heroic wizards and clever thieves. Whatever your fancy, science fiction and fantasy provide some of the best travel experiences ever put to paper.
It’s been said (although I cannot for the life of me remember by whom) that a good fantasy novel just needs a band of motley characters, a magical kingdom and a quest. Yes, a quest; a journey, a mission, a reason to get on the road.
Some of the BEST travel stories of all time have been told in the pages of fantasy and science fiction.
Here we find a short list (that should be longer) of amazing science fiction and fantasy stories that are wonderful companions to accompany you while you travel. Here are some of the best science fiction and fantasy books to read while traveling:
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Honorable Mention: American Gods, Neil Gaiman. Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan. The Martian, Andy Weir. Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson. This Present Darkness – Frank Peretti.
Honestly, I could go on forever with this section. There are just too many amazing science fiction and fantasy novels worth consideration on your books to read when traveling list. But, I forced myself to stop.
If you are craving more sci-fi or fantasy genre books to read while while you are traveling, here is a definitive list:
Non-Fiction Books to Read When Traveling
Sometimes we just need to learn. Whether it’s an exciting narrative of from an archaeology hunt, a spiritual expose, or historical account, a non-fiction book sometimes just hits the spot. Here are a few great books to read while traveling.
Conclusion – final thoughts on books to read when traveling
Reading has been a part of human civilization since we first put a charcoal ember to a cave wall.
We want to document our journeys and experience other peoples adventures and the stories woven for us in great books give us the opportunity to travel to places and times we might never get to visit.
I hope this list of great books to read while traveling is bookmarked in your browser and you are loading your Kindle up now in prep for your next journey!
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By the way, if you are interested in more travel tips and travel advice, you might be like these great articles:
- 147 Business Travel Tips – the ultimate list of road warrior tips & tricks
- 31 Amazing Hotel Hacks Travel Pros Use all the Time
- 53 Amazing Gifts for Business Travelers in the 2019 Gift Guide for Travelers
- 9 Healthy Travel Snacks – eat smarter on the road
- Ultimate Bitcoin Travel Directory: How and where to use crypto for travel
- 11 Best Hotel Beds – Where to Buy that Hotel Mattress You Loved!
- 7 Habits of the Healthy Business Traveler: How to Stay Healthy While Traveling for Business
- 26 Must Have Travel Gadgets & Gear to add to your travel kit
- 9 Travel Safety Tips to help you stay safe on your next trip
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10 comments
What a wonderful article. The books are great.
Thank you, Barb!
Excellent list!
You said “The Horse and His Boy” Yay! That is my favorite Narnia story.
I am a Voyagr of the Dawn Treader guy, but my moms fav is Horse and His Boy. And it is really good, I have to admit.
The best part of the series is everyone’s different opinion.
I loved the Horse and His Boy. I’d also say anything by Bill Bryson is terrific and funny when traveling. And a favorite story of being overwhelmed in a new place & finding the humor in it- “The Sex Lives of Cannibals- Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific”. It made me laugh out loud, in public, many times.
Great suggestions! I will have to check these out. Thanks for dropping in!
What a great list to make your mind wander with physically traveling! Will definitely pick some of them to read over this very weird time with lots of postponed travel plans.
Thanks! Yeah, sucks right now, doesn’t it. Canceled a family trip to London & Poland. Ugh!!