From the latest tales of a TV legend to inspiring fictional adventures, these are the top travel books to come out of 2022, and the perfect Christmas gift for the travel lover in your life...
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By Edward Dusinberre
Combining travel writing with insights into the working lives of string-quartet musicians, Dusinberre illuminates the relationship between music and home by discovering ways in which the former tweaks our longing for a place of one’s own. And when travel is forbidden, he finds the ability of music to affirm home and transcend distance takes on extra significance.
By Jean De Pomereu and Daniella McCahey
This book retraces the history of Antarctica through fascinating objects drawn from collections across the world. It has been published to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the first crossing into the Antarctic Circle by James Cook aboard the ship Resolution, on 17 January 1773. As such, it presents a gloriously visual history of the White Continent, from Terra Incognita to the expeditions of Shackleton and Scott, to its emergence as the frontline of climate change.
By Mani Coe & Reuben Coe
Reuben is living in a home, struggling to accept that he has Down’s syndrome, when he sends the titular text message to his brother, Mani, who lives in Spain. Mani returns to England and moves the pair into a farm cottage, rebuilding their relationship through walks in the area in what is a moving paean to brotherhood.
By Janice Pariat
A wonderful example of fiction with a strong sense of place. This book journeys across continents as the centuries intertwine in a multi-layered saga that unfolds through the lives of four unique characters, taking us to Italy, India’s north-east and the forests of the lower Himalaya on journeys that change the lives of its protagonists forever.
By Farokh Talati
Farokh Talati, head chef of London’s acclaimed Spitalfields eatery St John Bread and Wine, gathers recipes from his travels through India and time spent in the kitchen with family. Blending Persian and Indian cooking from west London all the way to Gujarat and beyond, his life is told through recipes, stories and photographs in what becomes something of a love letter to the Parsi culture and people.
By Vitali Vitaliev
This compendium of curious, interesting, unexpected and downright bizarre geographical anomalies is filled with fun tidbits to reel off to friends. The world is full of little-known corners that have often been the result of diplomatic horse-trading or overly ambitious armies. Discover countries that do not really exist, the world’s only town that lies entirely underground, a hotel room whose bedroom is in France and whose bathroom is in Switzerland, and lots more.
By Robert Twigger
Armed only with an inflatable canoe, Twigger – a man resolutely fascinated by uninhabited isles – journeys beyond the tourists and busy roads to explore Cumbria’s finest. In doing so, he visits both real and remembered islands, drawing inspiration from the Lakeland poets, Alfred Wainwright and others, to redraw his own map of the Lakes and visit a place very different to the one we know.
By Alex Bescoby
Crossing 23 countries on the mother of all road trips, filmmaker Alex Bescoby recreates a journey originally documented in the mid-1950s, when a group of students drove for the first time from London to Singapore in a pair of Land Rovers. The aim here is to do it all in reverse (not literally), as the author seeks to return one of the original vehicles home, bookending one of the great overland adventures of the last century in buccaneering fashion.
By Raynor Winn
Raynor Winn knows the health of her husband is declining, so they set off on another healing walk in what is a sequel of sorts to her last book, The Salt Path. Together, they embark on a 1,600km journey from Scotland to the familiar shores of the South West Coast Path, through Northumberland, the North York Moors and Wales. Each step is recorded in luminous prose as she greets strangers and friends, wildlife and wilderness along the way.
By Travis Elborough
When writers step outside of their familiar surroundings, special things can often happen, as this collection charting the 35 routes that changed the lives and legacies of some literary giants, from Charles Dickens to Herman Melville, adroitly shows.
By Sarah Malik
Safar is the Urdu and Arabic word for ‘journey’. Through a series of interviews with Muslim women from different backgrounds, Sarah Malik delves into the emotional and spiritual aspects of travel with often moving results.
By Michael Palin
In the literary companion to his latest TV series, Palin tracks the River Tigris through Iraq to get a sense of what life is like now in a region that was once the cradle of civilisation but has suffered greatly. There are plenty of patches of light amid the gloom, as the author’s warmth and humour shines through in a vivid portrait of a complex country.
By Hannah Reynolds & John Walsh
There are multiple ways to cycle from Land’s End to John O’ Groats, and the route created for this book takes inspiration from just how many there are, highlighting the myriad quiet roads, quaint villages and wild landscapes along the way that are worth detouring for. The result is a wonderfully illustrated guide that puts the choice in your hands.
By Levison Wood
In this engaging anthology, explorer and Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award-winner Levison Wood gathers 100 accounts of human endurance throughout history. Packed full of you-couldn’t-make-it-up stories and adventures, he finds plenty of meat in the enduring nature of the human spirit and the physical determination that it sometimes takes to achieve one’s goals.
By Giancarlo Ascari & Pia Valentinis
Throughout history, bridges have been used as a way to link people, places and cultures. This collection of stories uses its subject matter as a jumping-off point to explore legends, anecdotes and the inspirational lives of those who designed, built and crossed some of the greatest bridges of the world.
By Lucy Lethbridge
A fascinating study of the emergence of the UK’s travel industry, from the end of the Napoleonic Wars through to the package holiday boom and on to the Instagram era, taking in tour guides and guide books along the way. Lethbridge casts a canny, sharp eye on the British traveller’s often-misguided perceptions of both themselves and their hosts.
By Mary Novakovich
Part-travelogue, part-memoir, Mary Novakovich focuses on the relatively little-known Lika region in central Croatia as the battleground for exploring her own complicated relationship with the country and her family’s roots. As she visits and revisits her relatives over the years, she crafts a moving, living portrait of the landscape, the people who inhabit it and the culture and history surrounding them.
By Erika Fatland
Having established herself as one of travel writing’s rising stars with Sovietstan and Border, Erika Fatland ascends to new heights with her fascinating journey among the isolated villages spanning the fractious borders that divide up the Himalaya region. Expect a collision of religion, history, tradition and politics at the roof of the world.
By Wyl Menmuir
What is it about the water that calls us back to it? Using Cornwall and its communities as his muse, author Wyl Menmuir poetically explores our fascination with and dependence on the sea. He talks to fishermen, beachcombers, surfers and other locals about living their lives by the tides, and explores his own personal emotional connection to the water.
By Sally Mills
Isolated, with neither electricity nor running water yet teeming with rare species, Aride Island in the Seychelles is the stuff of Robinson Crusoe-esque dreams. It was certainly enticing enough to lure conservationist Sally Mills and her husband to take a job there. This account of their 20-month experience managing the Aride Island Nature Reserve is a blend of wondrous wildlife and hard decisions, as they try to bridge the vast culture gap with the local rangers.
By Jennifer Barclay
More than one traveller has dreamt of spending the summer working at a bar overlooking the Aegean. For her latest intimate insight into Greek island life and culture, Jennifer Barclay does just that, finding herself serving customers and fending off vicious competition at the titular taverna in the old village of Olympos on the Dodecanese island of Karpathos.
By Sarah Thomas
The otherworldly scenery of Iceland seems to capture most visitors’ imaginations, but Sarah Thomas fell hard for its rugged charms – and a local, too – and quickly decamped to the island. While her marriage plays out in the background, the book details Thomas’ growing connection to and understanding of that extraordinary landscape and the people and wildlife that call it home.
By Helen Coffey
It’s no secret that travel has a flying issue, but can we really avoid it and the environmental harm it does? Yes, reckons Helen Coffey, whose book explores flight-free science and thinking with her on-the-road attempts to put it into practice. The opportunities that open up for adventure are encouraging.
By CJ Schüler
Now out in paperback, CJ Schüler’s acclaimed – and timely – account of following the millennia-old trade route of those supplying amber to high-end customers takes him from St Petersburg down to Venice, tracing a history of Central European progress and suffering along the way.
By Sarah Baxter
The draw of the wild – the remote, the untamed, the inhospitable, the bizarre – has long spurred travellers forward. Here long-standing Wanderlust contributor Sarah Baxter collects 25 raw areas to visit, from UK spots like Ennerdale, St Kilda and Strumble Head to Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest and New Zealand’s Te Wāhipounamu, all colourfully illustrated by Amy Grimes.
By Leonie Charlton
A paperback release for those who missed Leonie Charlton’s beautifully written memoir about pony trekking in the Outer Hebrides first time around. The journey serves as a cathartic expedition for the grieving writer – but also a great sketch of one of the UK’s wildernesses.
By Kate Wickers
Becoming a parent has put paid to many a traveller’s ambitions. Not Kate Wickers, who relays her family’s misadventures in the likes of Japan, Cuba and Borneo and what she found out on her journeys – usually learned the hard way, and often the funniest way too.
By Kate Wills
After her marriage falls apart within a year, journalist Kate Wills takes inspiration from a litany of female travellers and writers throughout history – from Emily Hahn to Gertrude Bell, to Virginia Woolf – to experience the world on her own terms. This memoir recounts her solo journeys and collects plenty of tips for travellers. Now out in paperback.
By Eric Marks
Eric Marks, a sprightly 75-year-old, has an ambition to join his nephew and climb Africa’s highest peak. But before he can get to Tanzania, Marks needs to get into trekking shape. This is how he finds himself tackling large northern sections of the South East Coast Path – from Minehead to St Just – where he picks up a taste for walking and meets plenty of characters along the way.
By Jack Thurston
With many post-pandemic cyclists continuing to enjoy the delights of home, you can avoid the crush of the pack with this guide to 36 routes of varying ability in the under-appreciated Midlands and beyond, taking in the likes of Lincolnshire, Shropshire, the Peaks and the Lakes.
By Rebecca Lowe
Figuring that the best way to discover the truth about a place is to experience it yourself, Rebecca Lowe grabbed her bicycle to wind 11,000km through the Middle East. Taking her from Europe to Iran via Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan and the Gulf, the novice cyclist’s oft-punctured journey allows her to see the human faces behind the headlines. Illuminating, gripping and often funny.
By Richard Hammond
It’s something of an understatement to say that green considerations are a major concern for travellers and tour operators alike these days. It’s certainly a reality that the founder of greentraveller.co.uk, Richard Hammond (not the guy from Top Gear), takes very seriously. Here he provides handy tips on helping you plan an eco-conscious trip, including ways to see through “greenwashing” and how to be a more thoughtful visitor, as well as lists for destination inspiration.
By Mark Weston
Once one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, Lake Victoria and the communities that rely on it are grappling with the devastating results of climate change. Mark Weston goes to live on an island on the Tanzanian side of the lake, and paints a vivid picture of a way of life under man-made threat.
Edited by Cam Honan
Get a widescreen dose of trekking inspiration with this glossy guide that’s part coffee-table read, part practical advice. Taking you through Nepal, Bhutan, India, Tibet and Pakistan via maps, alternative itineraries and tips from those who have done it, this book will still look sharp on your shelf while you’re out wandering the roof of the world.
By Alice Morrison
Adventurer Alice Morrison’s passion for her adopted homeland of Morocco takes her on three expeditions across it, centred on the Draa River, the Sahara and the Atlas mountains. But she doesn’t just shine a fascinating, intimate light on the life and culture outside of the cities – as well as on the sex lives of camels – but also the threat that climate change poses to this already challenging landscape.
By Simon Parker
People travel for all sorts of reasons. In Simon Parker’s case, it’s to heal. With a close friend dying and COVID-19 looming large – sparking a suppressed anxiety disorder – he sets off on a 5,500km journey around Britain on a bicycle. Along the way he discovers a new sense of hope and optimism, not just in himself but in a country blearily emerging from lockdown.
By Bryan & June Nelson
Imagine spending a whole year on the Galápagos Islands. The late zoologist Bryan Nelson’s 1968 ornithological classic gets updated with the input of his wife, June. Having undertaken the isolated, wild study with him, she further fleshes out the experience of living alone (and often roughly) in this wildlife paradise.
The Architectural Guides
A good way to truly understand a country is through its architecture, revealing the true history of culture, politics and economics than underpin it. DOM publishers’ The Architectural Guides don’t just provide an excellently curated list of the most intriguing buildings in a destination for visitors to seek out, but also the context behind their construction and ideas they represent. Successfully combining DOM publishers’ joint passion for architecture and high-quality books, the 150-strong series is not only one of the best on-to-go travel guides to appreciate some more off-the-beaten track destinations – including Bishkek, Iran, Kabul, Kazakhstan, Minsk, Sofia, Tunis and the UAE – but beautifully constructed enough to simply inspire armchair travellers at home. You can find the full catalogue at dom-publishers.com.
The Best British Travel Writing of the 21st Century Edited by Jessica Vincent
Edited by Jessica Vincent
The best travel writing inspires and educates at the same time. Collecting together 30 of the best travel stories of the last two decades, this book doesn’t just send us around the world, but brings it a little closer to us too. And obviously Wanderlust is featured in it!
Crossed off the Map By Shafik Meghji
By Shafik Meghji
Wanderlust contributor and South America expert Shafik’s new title uses a mix of travel writing, history and reportage to tell the story of Bolivia – how its impressive influence helped shape the world, and how its people are responding to the modern world.
Great Escapes: Alps
Europe’s big mountains are gaining travellers’ attention, especially out of ski season. This coffee table book reveals the most picturesque places to stay – historic inns, monasteries, mountain huts, palazzi, even a youth hostel – balancing the accommodation imagery with the widescreen scenery.
How to Become a Professional Travel Writer By Mark Eveleigh & Narina Exelby
By Mark Eveleigh & Narina Exelby
Fancy becoming the next Paul Theroux? This handy title breaks down the practical realities of becoming a proper ‘getting paid’ travel journalist – how to pitch, how to get on press trips, how to balance the books and, of course, tips on actually writing the pieces.
Black Lion By Sicelo Mbatha
By Sicelo Mbatha
The moving, inspirational tale of how Sicelo Mbatha was irresistibly drawn to becoming a guide in South Africa’s Imfolozi Nature Reserve, shaking off a childhood trauma and instead forging an astonishing spiritual connection to the wilderness.
Shadowlands: A Journey Through Lost Britain By Matthew Green
By Matthew Green
Historian Green goes on a moving journey across Britain to find the ghosts of places that found themselves lost – whether through disaster or mis-deed – telling the disappeared occupants’ long unheard stories.
Epic Train Journeys By Monisha Rajesh
By Monisha Rajesh
Mixing the spectacular with a good selection of the niche and little-known, the 40 journeys is this well-presented photobook take you from the Andean Explorer in Peru through to The Ghan in Australia.
Life Lessons From the Amazon by Pip Stewart
By Pip Stewart
Following her gruelling world’s-first 1,014km journey following Guyana’s Essequibo River from source to sea, Pip Stewart bring home with her a lot of life lessons and a flesh-eating disease. In this absorbing read, she shares the story of her encounters with caiman, jaguars and the indigenous Waî Waî community – and the life-changing perspectives that the experience gave her.
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