The Best Travel Book you've read till date

[Shyguy]

What is the best travel-related book you have read so far in your life? My favorite one is "The Art of Travel".

 

[Ian Sutton]

I have two, but they're more 'resources'.

Golosario (Paolo Massabrio) is an annual listing of specialist food shops in Italy and it's pretty thorough. Yes, occasionally something less than stellar is listed, and occasionally something good was missed, but the exceptions are rare for something of this scale. All in Italian, but even non-speakers should get some value from it if they like grazing food shops.

Italy for the gourmet traveller, isn't IMO such a good food resource, having very limited coverage and even that can feel like it struggles to get past the obvious at times. However, I find it a far more useful book to give me a 'feel' for a region, city, area, with writing that is very engaging and driven by a clear love for the country. It's been very useful in getting holiday plans started, as reading a few sections can inspire ideas of candidate locations to visit, that I then explore in more detail.

 

[Pauline]

I always get a guidebook for a new country or place. They are my main resource. Also a walking/hiking guidebook.

I read novels set in the countries I am going to.

Or memoirs by people who have moved there. Now a lot of that is on YouTube and I watch too many of those videos.

For travel inspiration I don’t know. Probably trip reports!

 

[davythefatboy]

I have two, but they're more 'resources'.

Golosario (Paolo Massabrio) is an annual listing of specialist food shops in Italy and it's pretty thorough. Yes, occasionally something less than stellar is listed, and occasionally something good was missed, but the exceptions are rare for something of this scale. All in Italian, but even non-speakers should get some value from it if they like grazing food shops.

Golosario also has an App for $6.99 per year with presumably the same content. It's convenient for use on the go to find nearby places (although their geolocation is poor, most places in my neighborhood in Florence are several blocks off from reality -- be sure to use Google or Apple Maps before walking to the venue!)

In terms of food resources, I also have three food dictionary apps for Italy. I don't know if the Slow Food dictionary app is still sold, but it's my favorite. but there's also the Blue Guide to Italy Food and the Italian Food Decoder. Frequently a given regional speciality is only in one of the three -- none is comprehensive.

 

[Georgia & Zig]

I always get a guidebook for a new country or place. They are my main resource. Also a walking/hiking guidebook.

I read novels set in the countries I am going to.

Or memoirs by people who have moved there. Now a lot of that is on YouTube and I watch too many of those videos.

For travel inspiration I don’t know. Probably trip reports!

I also get inspiration from the trip reports as well as information!

 

[artnbarb]

I recently enjoyed The Temporary European by Cameron Hewitt. He works with Rick Steves and has traveled extensively to update their guidebooks.

 

[PatrickLondon]

I like Robert Macfarlane's atmospheric and evocative writing about wild places he's visited (so I don't have to)
Books

 

[Doug Phillips]

Granite Island by Dorothy Carrington. Hands down my favourite. Dorothy Carrington first came to Corsica in 1948. She spent most of the rest of her life, until she died in 2002, living on and writing about Corsica. Granite Island, her masterpiece, was first published in 1971. It is a mixture of folklore, history, and travelogue. I found it a bit difficult to read before we arrived on the island – not a big fan of the folklore part – but my appreciation grew the longer we were on Corsica. This is a great book to take on any visit to Corsica.

 

[Wendy Ashworth]

Granite Island by Dorothy Carrington. Hands down my favourite. Dorothy Carrington first came to Corsica in 1948. She spent most of the rest of her life, until she died in 2002, living on and writing about Corsica. Granite Island, her masterpiece, was first published in 1971. It is a mixture of folklore, history, and travelogue. I found it a bit difficult to read before we arrived on the island – not a big fan of the folklore part – but my appreciation grew the longer we were on Corsica. This is a great book to take on any visit to Corsica.

Hello Doug,
A wonderful and much overlooked book I agree. I read it after our first visit to Corsica and found it enhanced our future visits immeasurably.
I hope it’s still in print.I remember writing about it on SlowTravel as a suggestion for other travellers to the wonderful island.
Tiny print if I remember correctly.
Wendy

 

[Pauline]

I like Robert Macfarlane's atmospheric and evocative writing about wild places he's visited (so I don't have to)

I listen to “adventure” books on Audible. I’ve listened to all of Levison Woods books about his walking trips - the Nile, the Middle East, the Himalayas, the Americas. I’ve listened to Robert Macfarlane too - wonderful. And Alistair Humphries who did the walk through Spain that Laurie Lee wrote about.

I didn’t think of these as travel books but as walking books, so they didn’t come to mind earlier.