Eight travel books for curious armchair explorers

A good travel book gives you more than a list of places. It lets you spend time with the person doing the travelling: their curiosity, assumptions, mistakes and reasons for setting out. The route matters, but so does the gap between what a traveller expects and what a place allows them to understand. These eight books offer different versions of that encounter, including walking, cycling, driving and an extended childhood stay.

They were written in different periods and should be read as particular accounts, not current practical guides or complete explanations of the countries they describe. Some are comic, some more reflective, and some entwine the journey with political history. Choose the voice and mode of travel that appeal to you. An observant companion can make a familiar destination feel new, while an unfamiliar place can expose the limits of the visitor's own perspective.

Find your next read

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck sets out across the United States with his dog Charley, using the journey to consider a country he wants to encounter again. The book's appeal lies partly in that desire to look beyond an established idea of home. Choose it as a literary travel narrative shaped by its author's voice and concerns, rather than treating every encounter as an unmediated documentary record; its relation to factual reportage has been questioned.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson attempts to walk the Appalachian Trail, accompanied for part of the journey by his friend Stephen Katz. The difference between the ambition and the practical business of walking supplies much of the comedy, while the trail opens into environmental and historical digressions. Pick this if you like travel writing that makes room for discomfort and inadequate preparation, and want a companion who can be interested in a place without pretending to master it.