The Waylume Bookshelf
Read your way there.
A selection built from the most-recommended travel reads out there — the memoirs and classics readers keep coming back to, field guides for the practical planner, and the lists that start daydreams, chosen by popularity and critical acclaim. Every title links straight to Amazon.
As an Amazon Associate, Waylume Travel earns from qualifying purchases made through the links on this page, at no additional cost to you. Prices are set by Amazon and shown on their site at checkout. These are retail book recommendations and are not travel reservations.
Rick Steves Iceland
Rick Steves · 2024
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Rick Steves Scotland
Rick Steves · 2024
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Rick Steves Paris
Rick Steves · 2024
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Rick Steves Ireland
Rick Steves · 2024
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Rick Steves Sicily
Rick Steves · 2023
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Rick Steves Snapshot Scottish Highlands
Rick Steves · 2023
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Rick Steves Snapshot Kraków, Warsaw & Gdańsk
Rick Steves · 2024
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Rick Steves Prague & the Czech Republic
Rick Steves · 2023
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Lonely Planet Sweden
Lonely Planet · 2025
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Lonely Planet Japan
Lonely Planet · 2024
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Lonely Planet Thailand
Lonely Planet · 2024
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Lonely Planet Sri Lanka
Lonely Planet · 2024
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Lonely Planet Indonesia
Lonely Planet · 2024
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Lonely Planet Pocket Boston
Lonely Planet · 2025
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Fodor's Essential Scotland
Fodor's · 2024
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Fodor's Bahamas
Fodor's · 2024
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Idle in Provence
Eric Idle · 2026
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A Walk in the Woods
Bill Bryson · 1998
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Notes from a Small Island
Bill Bryson · 1995
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The Lost Continent
Bill Bryson · 1989
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Neither Here nor There
Bill Bryson · 1992
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In a Sunburned Country
Bill Bryson · 2000
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The Road to Little Dribbling
Bill Bryson · 2015
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Bill Bryson's African Diary
Bill Bryson · 2002
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In Patagonia
Bruce Chatwin · 1977
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The Songlines
Bruce Chatwin · 1987
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What Am I Doing Here
Bruce Chatwin · 1989
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The Great Railway Bazaar
Paul Theroux · 1975
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Dark Star Safari
Paul Theroux · 2002
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Riding the Iron Rooster
Paul Theroux · 1988
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The Happy Isles of Oceania
Paul Theroux · 1992
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Ghost Train to the Eastern Star
Paul Theroux · 2008
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The Old Patagonian Express
Paul Theroux · 1979
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The Pillars of Hercules
Paul Theroux · 1995
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The Tao of Travel
Paul Theroux · 2011
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A Time of Gifts
Patrick Leigh Fermor · 1977
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The Broken Road
Patrick Leigh Fermor · 2013
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Travels with Charley
John Steinbeck · 1962
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On the Road
Jack Kerouac · 1957
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Under the Tuscan Sun
Frances Mayes · 1996
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A Year in Provence
Peter Mayle · 1989
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Eat, Pray, Love
Elizabeth Gilbert · 2006
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The Beach
Alex Garland · 1996
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Journey Without Maps
Graham Greene · 1936
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A Tramp Abroad
Mark Twain · 1880
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Roughing It
Mark Twain · 1872
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Life on the Mississippi
Mark Twain · 1883
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Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
Robert Louis Stevenson · 1879
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An Inland Voyage
Robert Louis Stevenson · 1878
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From Sea to Sea
Rudyard Kipling · 1889
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The Travels of Marco Polo
Marco Polo · 1818
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Travels with a Writing Brush
Meredith McKinney · 2019
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Greek to Me
Mary Norris · 2019
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Educating Alice
Alice Steinbach · 2004
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Hidden Cities
Moses Gates · 2013
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World Travel
Anthony Bourdain & Laurie Woolever · 2021
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Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer · 1996
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Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer · 1997
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Wild
Cheryl Strayed · 2012
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The Snow Leopard
Peter Matthiessen · 1978
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Arabian Sands
Wilfred Thesiger · 1959
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The Marsh Arabs
Wilfred Thesiger · 1964
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Kon-Tiki
Thor Heyerdahl · 1950
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The Worst Journey in the World
Apsley Cherry-Garrard · 1922
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West with the Night
Beryl Markham · 1942
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Out of Africa
Isak Dinesen · 1937
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Desert Solitaire
Edward Abbey · 1968
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The Lost City of Z
David Grann · 2009
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Turn Right at Machu Picchu
Mark Adams · 2011
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A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
Eric Newby · 1958
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Love and War in the Apennines
Eric Newby · 1971
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Slowly Down the Ganges
Eric Newby · 1966
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The Last Grain Race
Eric Newby · 1956
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Full Tilt
Dervla Murphy · 1965
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In Ethiopia with a Mule
Dervla Murphy · 1968
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Where the Indus Is Young
Dervla Murphy · 1977
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On a Shoestring to Coorg
Dervla Murphy · 1976
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Muddling Through in Madagascar
Dervla Murphy · 1985
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The Journey's Echo
Freya Stark · 1963
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Around the World in Eighty Days
Michael Palin · 1989
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Pole to Pole
Michael Palin · 1992
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The Adventurer's Son
Roman Dial · 2020
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Love with a Chance of Drowning
Torre DeRoche · 2013
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The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost
Rachel Friedman · 2011
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True at First Light
Ernest Hemingway · 1999
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The Naturalist on the River Amazons
Henry Walter Bates · 1863
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Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands
Mary Seacole · 1857
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Walking the Woods and the Water
Nick Hunt · 2014
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The Maine Woods
Henry David Thoreau · 1864
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1,000 Places to See Before You Die
Patricia Schultz · 2011
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1,000 Places to See in the USA & Canada Before You Die
Patricia Schultz · 2007
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Vagabonding
Rolf Potts · 2002
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The Vagabond's Way
Rolf Potts · 2022
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Destinations of a Lifetime
National Geographic · 2015
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Best of the World
National Geographic · 2023
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100 Dives of a Lifetime
Carrie Miller · 2019
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100 Slopes of a Lifetime
Gordy Megroz · 2021
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The Geography of Bliss
Eric Weiner · 2008
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Atlas Obscura
Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras & Ella Morton · 2016
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Gastro Obscura
Cecily Wong & Dylan Thuras · 2021
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Lonely Planet Bali & Lombok
Lonely Planet · 2007
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Lonely Planet Vietnam
Lonely Planet · 2001
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Lonely Planet Borneo
Lonely Planet · 2008
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Lonely Planet Caribbean Islands
Lonely Planet · 2005
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Lonely Planet Bangkok
Lonely Planet · 2018
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Lonely Planet Kyoto
Lonely Planet · 2018
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Lonely Planet Crete
Lonely Planet · 2000
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Lonely Planet Nepal
Lonely Planet · 1993
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Lonely Planet Central Asia
Lonely Planet · 2007
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Lonely Planet Romania & Moldova
Lonely Planet · 2004
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Lonely Planet Algeria
Lonely Planet · 2007
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Lonely Planet Puerto Vallarta & Pacific Mexico
Lonely Planet · 2006
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Lonely Planet Kuala Lumpur, Melaka & Penang
Lonely Planet · 2008
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Lonely Planet Brussels, Bruges & Antwerp
Lonely Planet · 1999
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Lonely Planet Northeast India
Lonely Planet · 2007
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Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door
Rick Steves · 2017
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Rick Steves Europe 101
Rick Steves · 2007
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Rick Steves Paris
Rick Steves · 2007
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DK Eyewitness Paris
DK Publishing · 2002
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DK Eyewitness Cuba
DK Publishing · 2004
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DK Eyewitness Budapest
DK Publishing · 2017
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Fodor's Japan
Fodor's · 1983
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Fodor's New Zealand
Fodor's · 2014
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Fodor's Hawaii
Fodor's · 1989
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