The Greatest Travel Writing
This selection of travel writing is based on the continuing research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time and additional research into travel literature acclaimed by the world's readers, writers, critics and scholars.
The Greatest Travel Writing focuses on major works in the field, namely book-length publications.
You may also be interested in The Greatest Nonfiction, The Greatest Historical Fiction or The Greatest Memoirs.
The list is continually updated as new works are discovered and appreciation of older works evolves. Please note the revision date when citing the list.
Latest update: September 6, 2025
The 55 greatest works of travel writing
c.0160 BCE
Description of Greece
by Pausanias, United States
Travel
1298–1299
The Travels of Marco Polo
by Rustichello da Pisa and Marco Polo, Italy
Travel, originally Il Milione ("The Million"), also known as Book of the Marvels of the World
1370
Mandeville's Travels
by Anonymous, England
Travel, also known as The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
1355
The Rihla
by Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, Morocco
Travel, also known as A Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling
1702
The Narrow Road to the Interior
by Matsuo Bashō, Japan
Travel, originally Oku no Hosomichi, also known as The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches
1727
A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain
by Daniel Defoe, England
Travel
1775
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
by Samuel Johnson, England
Travel
1835–1840
Democracy in America
by Alexis de Tocqueville, France
History, originally De la démocratie en Amérique
1840
Two Years Before the Mast
by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., United States
Memoir
1842
American Notes
by Charles Dickens, England
Travel, also known as American Notes for General Circulation
1844
Eothen
by Alexander Mackenzie Kinglake, England
Travel, subtitled Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East
1845
The Voyage of the Beagle
by Charles Darwin, England
Memoir, also known as Journal of Researches
1846
Pictures from Italy
by Charles Dickens, England
Travel
Typee
by Herman Melville, United States
Travel, subtitled : A Peep at Polynesian Life
1847
Omoo
by Herman Melville, United States
Travel, subtitled A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas
1869
The Malay Archipelago
by Alfred Russell Wallace, Canada
Science
The Innocents Abroad
by Mark Twain, United States
Travel
1872
Roughing It
by Mark Twain, United States
Nonfiction travel
1879
Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
by Robert Louis Stevenson, Scotland
Travel
1880
A Tramp Abroad
by Mark Twain, United States
Travel
1884
A Little Tour in France
by Henry James, England
Travel
1890
Around the World in Seventy-Two Days
by Nellie Bly, United States
Travel
1897
Travels in West Africa
by Mary Kingsley, England
Travel
1903
Today in Syria and Palestine
by William Eleroy Curtis, United States
Travel
1921
Sea and Sardinia
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Travel
1922
The Worst Journey in the World
by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, England
Memoir
1933
Down and Out in Paris and London
by George Orwell, England
Memoir
1937
The Road to Oxiana
by Robert Byron, England
Travel
1937–1967
One's Company
by Peter Fleming, England
Travel, subtitled A Journey to China in 1933—Travels through the USSR, Manchuria and China
1941
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
by Rebecca West, England
Travel, subtitled A Journey Through Yugoslavia
1942
West with the Night
by Beryl Markham, Kenya
Memoir
1956
The Lycian Shore
by Freya Stark, England
Travel
The Muses Are Heard
by Truman Capote, United States
Travel
1958
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
by Eric Newby, England
Travel
1962
Travels with Charley
by John Steinbeck, United States
Travel, subtitled In Search of America
1964
An Area of Darkness: A Discovery of India
by V.S. Naipaul, Trinidad
Travel
1975
The Great Railway Bazaar
by Paul Theroux, United States
Travel, subtitled By Train Through Asia
1977
In Patagonia
by Bruce Chatwin, England
Travel
A Time of Gifts
by Patrick Leigh Fermor, England
Travel
1978
Travels with Myself and Another
by Martha Gellhorn, United States
Travel
1981
Old Glory
by Jonathan Raban, England
Travel, subtitled An American Voyage
1982
Blue Highways
by William Least Heat-Moon, England
Travel, subtitled A Journey into America
Shah of Shahs
by Ryszard Kapuściński, Poland
Journalism, originally Szachinszach
1987
The Songlines
by Bruce Chatwin, England
Travel
1990
India: A Million Mutinies Now
by V.S. Naipaul, Trinidad
Travel
1993
The Motorcycle Diaries
by Ernesto (Che) Guevara, Argentina
Memoir, originally Notas de viaje
1995
Notes from a Small Island
by Bill Bryson, United States
Travel
1996
Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer, United States
Nonfiction: biography
1997
The Emperor
by Ryszard Kapuściński, Poland
Travel, subtitled Downfall of an Autocrat
A Walk in the Woods
by Bill Bryson, United States
Travel
2000
Me Talk Pretty One Day
by David Sedaris, United States
Essay collection
2003
Chasing the Sea
by Tom Bissell, United States
Travel, subtitled Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia
2003
Dark Star Safari
by Paul Theroux, United States
Travel
2006
Eat, Pray, Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert, United States
Memoir, subtitled One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
2012
Wild
by Cheryl Strayed, United States
Memoir, subtitled From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
