Ever wanted to travel a part of the world but the cost of plane tickets worries you? If you miss travelling to a place but can’t make the trip just yet, get a taste of that place by reading a book! Travel books are honest and descriptive accounts of destinations that transport you to the destination! Be it the Himalayas or the Italian countryside, here are some of the best travel books in the world!

1. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Cheryl Strayed’s courageous memoir recounts how, with nothing to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life; she would walk the entire way from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State on her own! Wild beautifully depicts the horror and thrills of one lady in her youth who, despite all odds, embarked on a journey that strengthened and ultimately healed her.

User Ratings: Rated 4.02 on Goodreads

Awards/Accolades: Indies Choice Book Award, Adult Nonfiction (2013), Puddly Award, Nonfiction (2013), Goodreads Choice Award, Memoir & Autobiography (2012)

2. World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever

Anthony Bourdain, writer, television host, and insatiably curious traveller, offers a travel handbook to some of the world’s most fascinating destinations. Moreover, a lifetime of experience is condensed into World Travel, a fascinating, practical, enjoyable, and frank travel guide that introduces readers to some of his favourite places—in his own words, supplemented by essays from friends and family.

User Ratings: Rated 3.58 on Goodreads

3. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This captivating novel by Paulo Coelho has a devoted following all around the world. In addition, it tells us a tale about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago, who goes from his hometown in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure hidden near the Pyramids. However, what makes this book special is its tremendous simplicity and soul-stirring wisdom. Coupled with the narrative of Santiago is a timeless tribute to the transformative power of our dreams and the significance of listening to our hearts.

User Ratings: Rated 3.89 on Goodreads

Awards/Accolades: Grand Prix des lectrices de Elle, roman (1995), Premio Grinzane Cavour, Narrativa Straniera (1996), Corine Internationaler Buchpreis

4. The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

As a matter of fact, Peter Matthiessen’s book The Snow Leopard was published in 1978. It revolves around his two-month search for the snow leopard in the Dolpo region of the Tibetan Plateau in the Himalaya with renowned naturalist George Schaller.

User Ratings: Rated 4.04 on Goodreads

Awards/Accolades: National Book Award, Contemporary Thought (1979) & General Nonfiction (Paperback) (1980), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee, General Nonfiction (1978)

5. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat, Pray, Love is a fascinating, frank, and eloquent account of the year when a writer decided to seek a quest of worldly pleasures, spiritual devotion, and what she truly desired from life. Her goal was to travel to three locations where she could evaluate one component of her nature against the backdrop of a culture that has done that one thing exceptionally well in the past.

User Ratings: Rated 3.59 on Goodreads

Awards/Accolades: Puddly Award, Nonfiction (2008)

6. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Chris McCandless, a young man who travelled deep into the Alaskan wilderness in 1992 and whose SOS note and skeletal body were discovered almost four months later, is the subject of Into the Wild.

User Ratings: Rated 3.99 on Goodreads

Awards/Accolades: Washington State Book Award (1997)

7. Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer

Heinrich Harrer was climbing in the Himalayas when war broke out in Europe. The British imprisoned him in India, but he managed to escape and go to Tibet. Heinrich Harrer spent seven years in Lhasa, the Forbidden City, where he became a friend and tutor to the Dalai Lama, gaining a deeper understanding of Tibet and the Tibetans than any Westerner before him. This book is a true account of what happened at the time.

User Ratings: Rated 4.05 on Goodreads

Awards/Accolades: 2002 Light of Truth award from The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT)

8. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes

When Frances Mayes began remodelling an abandoned villa in the breathtaking Tuscan countryside, she encountered a magical new world. Every step revealed a hidden gem, she invites readers to enjoy the pleasures of Italian life and feast at her table in Under the Tuscan Sun, with the poetic voice of a poet, the vision of a seasoned traveller, and the discerning palate of a cook and food writer.

User Ratings: Rated 3.76 on Goodreads

9. Down Under by Bill Bryson

Down Under is the British title of best-selling travel writer Bill Bryson’s travelogue book on Australia. It was published in the United States and Canada under the title In a Sunburned Country, a title inspired by the renowned Australian poem “My Country.“

User Ratings: Rated 4.06 on Goodreads

Awards/Accolades: Puddly Award, Travel Writing (2001), Thurber Prize Nominee, American Humor (2001)

10. Among the Cities by Jan Morris

This is one of the best travel books in the world, it comprises 37 best pieces from Morris’ entire writing collected from past collections as well as pieces written just for this book. Morris paints each location with elegance, passion, and wit, whether taking us back to Berlin and Beirut in the 1950s or to Houston and Sydney in the 1980s. She captures and conveys its complex personality, causing us to see the familiar in new ways or introducing us to off-the-beaten-path locations all over the world, from Sri Lanka and Kashmir to Trouville and Cuzco to Wyoming and Bath.

User Ratings: Rated 3.98 on Goodreads

User Ratings: Rated 4.04 on Goodreads

Awards/Accolades: National Book Award, Contemporary Thought (1979) & General Nonfiction (Paperback) (1980), General Nonfiction (1978)

11. Jerusalem by Guy Delisle’

Guy Delisle and his family spend a year in Jerusalem. It’s not simple to establish one’s bearings in this city of many faces, which has been alive for nearly 4,000 years thanks to wars and conflicts. The writer lets the fundamental questions explode at a diversion in an alley, at the gate of a holy place, on the terrace of a cafe, and helps us find a Jerusalem we’ve never seen before resulting in one of the best travel books of the world!

User Ratings: Rated 4.20 on Goodreads

Awards/Accolades: Prix du Festival d’Angoulême, Fauve d’or du meilleur album (2012)

12. French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France by Tim Moore

The novel French Revolutions tells the storey of Moore’s effort to win the Tour de France funnily and fascinatingly. It’s possible that “conquer” isn’t the proper word. When he can, he cheats by popping an odd hayfever medication for an ephedrine rush, swigging cheap wine from his water bottle, and occasionally crying on the phone to his wife. This book is a poignant account of his adventure through the french mountains making it one of the best travel books in the world!

User Ratings: Rated 3.82 on Goodreads

13. Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari is one of the best travel books of the world as it brings readers across Africa by rattletrap bus, dugout canoe, livestock truck, military convoy, ferry, and railway. He faces danger, delays, and perplexing circumstances on his epic and fascinating adventure. He interviews Africans, relief workers, missionaries, and visitors to get a sense of the situation. As a result, an incisive meditation on Africa’s history, politics, and beauty end up finding its way out.

User Ratings: Rated 3.98 on Goodreads

14. Around the World in 80 Trains: A 45,000-Mile Adventure by Monisha Rajesh

Monisha Rajesh was met with amazement when she announced ambitions to traverse the globe in eighty train travels. But it wasn’t long before she was painstakingly designed an itinerary that would cover almost 45,000 miles – nearly twice the circle of the globe – coasting over the world’s most remarkable trains, from Tibet’s cloud-skimming heights to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express’ silk-sheeted magnificence. As you swirl across the world in its pages, Monisha provides a delightfully realistic description of life, history, and culture in a book that will make you laugh out loud – and ponder on what it means to see the world and being a global citizen in one of the best travel books of the world.

User Ratings: Rated 3.87 on Goodreads

If you manage to read all the travel books on exploring the world on this list – perhaps you’ll be a world traveller or the at the least you will finally have what it takes to go on your adventures and knock off destinations from your travel bucket list in the world we live in!

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