Our Favorite Travel Books

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

"All my life, I've sought travel experiences that put bring me closer to the ancient past—hiking to lost cities in South America, crawling around crumbling old castles in Europe, exploring the ends of the earth with nothing but my hiking boots and a sturdy backpack. That's why I loved The Lost City of Z, a brilliant piece of narrative nonfiction that tells the story of the original real-life Indiana Jones, Sir Percy Fawcett, who disappeared in the Amazon jungle in 1925 on a quest to find the fabled city of gold, El Dorado. Journalist David Grann's account of Fawcett's life, disappearance, and posthumous redemption reads like a ripping adventure yarn. I loved every page of it." —Josh Roberts

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(Photo: Amazon.com)

Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany; In a Sunburned Country and Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe

"It's all about the Bills. Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford is one of my all-time favorite books, and one with a strong travel element. The New Yorker contributor starts in the kitchen at Mario Batali's Babbo in New York and, driven by an increasing mania to understand Italian food, ends up in Tuscany. It's fascinating and funny and a book that I recommend to anyone looking for a great read.

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It's hard to choose just one book by Bill Bryson to recommend, but as travel inspiration, I've always loved In a Sunburned Country and Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe. I like authors who recognize the inherent ridiculousness of travel, of delving into a culture that doesn't make total sense and muddling through, often with comic effect. Yet even in his funniest moments, Bryson manages to tell us all sorts of fascinating things, both about the places he's exploring and about the nature of travel itself."—Christine Sarkis

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(Photo: Amazon.com)

Into the Wild

"I'm quite fond of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I think I related to the story's doomed protagonist, someone who abandons society's idea of success in order to follow his heart. Stepping out of comfort zones, particularly during travels, rewards you with exponential self-growth. Ok, so you don't always come out at the end with your life, as was evidenced in 'Into the Wild,' but tactful testing of your will and occasionally doing things that scare the bejesus out of you are most important."—Patricia Magaña

(Photo: Amazon.com)

Eat, Pray, Love

Two of our editors picked Eat, Pray, Love, for different reasons:

"Eat, Pray, Love—the movie made me sort of hate how melodramatic this book is, but I read it on my first long-term trip abroad and really fell in love with its honesty about how hard travel can be, but why it's worth it anyway. This quote sums that up for me: 'I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless, newborn baby—I just don't care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it's mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to—I just don't care.'"—Shannon McMahon

"I loved reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. After hitting a very low point in her life, Gilbert turned to traveling for motivation and to rediscover herself. Her journey through three different countries was inspirational and helped me realize the importance of traveling as much as possible."—Olivia Briggs

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(Photo: Amazon.com)

The Beach

"The Beach, by Alex Garland inspired some of my travels in Southeast Asia and I even got to see where they filmed the movie adaptation in Maya Bay off of the Phi Phi Islands this year. Published in 1996, Garland was ahead of his time in predicting the explosion of backpacking culture and tourism in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Favorite Quote: 'Tourists went on holidays while travelers did something else. They traveled.'"—Ashley Rossi

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(Photo: Amazon.com)

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

"I could not stop laughing while reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. This true story of off-beat adventurers taking on the trail is both heartwarming and educational. Bryson has a sneaky way of teaching you the historical facts about the Appalachian Trail without you even realizing it."—Jamie Ditaranto

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(Photo: Amazon.com)

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven

"I almost didn't pick up Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven based on the horrible title and cheesy cover art, but I'm so glad I did. This true story is a riveting memoir told from the point of view of a young woman who embarks on a round-the-world trip in 1986—starting in the People's Republic of China, which had only just opened to independent travelers. The plot takes an unexpected twist when things go horribly wrong, and I could not put this book down until I found out what happened."—Caroline Morse

What's your favorite travel book of all time? Tell us in the comments.

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Caroline Morse is always looking for a good book to read. Send her your recommendations on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline and on Twitter @CarolineMorse1.

(Photo: Amazon.com)