10 most influential travel books

Attention bookworms! Here we reveal the 10 best reads for travellers…

Let’s get it straight. There is no such thing as the most influential travel book of all time. At best, we can offer up candidates for the most influential books of a particular generation.

And let’s not confuse ‘best-selling’ with being influential. Popularity doesn’t automatically translate into lasting impact. Influence is something best measured over time, whereas being ‘in vogue’ is by definition a transitory state and subject to whim; fifty shades of fame, anyone?

The travel books chosen here by Rob Woodburn have either passed the test of enduring influence or have unquestionably enhanced our appreciation of the joys of travel.

The list is by no means prescriptive. One reader’s elixir may prove to be another reader’s poison.

The Odyssey – By Homer

The Odyssey

Homer (circa 800 – 700 BC)
First printed edition 1488

The Odyssey is generally regarded as the first travel book, and by that assessment alone has since influenced all others. This tale of a soldier returning home from a Trojan war began life as an epic poem, which became oral mythology over centuries before being committed to paper.

Inevitably, the saga has been shaped and altered by countless narrators, yet is one of the western world’s most enduring legends. Its relevance today may well be considered largely academic but no travel writing can completely disengage itself from the historic influence of this ancient wonder.

The Innocents Abroad – Mark Twain

The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)
Published 1869

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, is famous for his novels about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, however this was his most popular work during his lifetime.
The Innocents Abroad is one of the best-selling travel books of all time and Twain’s droll style has greatly influenced all subsequent comic travel narrative. (viz. Bill Bryson).

The author was hired to file dispatches for a San Francisco paper that sponsored him on a cruise to Europe and the Holy Land. His posts debunked both his fellow travellers and the overwrought travelogues of the time and were an immediate hit with readers. They were later published as a book.

Twain explores the difference between expectations and reality and raises issues that still resonate, including cultural identity, the gap between rich and poor and the innate prejudices of most tourists.

On The Road – Jack Kerouac

On the Road

Jack Kerouac (1922 – 1969)
Published 1957

This largely autobiographical stream-of-consciousness account of impromptu travels across America captured the zeitgeist of the time and became “the bible of the counter-cultural generation". Kerouac’s style mirrored the restless, non-conformist, ad-lib, jazzy tempo that hallmarked the ‘Beat Generation’ of American writers.

Paradoxically, Kerouac’s bravura performance in avant-garde spontaneity reaffirmed ancient Homer’s adage that “the journey is the thing"; that movement itself is purpose. On the Road fuelled a passion for travel among the post-World War II generation while Kerouac’s prose style probably sparked the later ‘gonzo journalism’ of Hunter S. Thompson. The book’s global influence lingers, evident in the multi-national co-production of the 2012 film adaptation.

Arabian Sands – Wilfred Thesiger

Arabian Sands

Wilfred Thesiger (1910 – 2003)
Published 1959

If you had to choose one word to sum up this great explorer it would have to be ‘resolute’. Thesiger considered hardship and challenge integral to achieving the goals of true travel writing, equating a capacity for endurance with authentic experience.

Arabian Sands covers his travels in the Empty Quarter between 1945 and 1950 and describes the way of life of the Bedouins. It’s generally thought of as the finest book ever written about Arabia and a matchless account of a world that’s since been lost forever.

Thesiger’s later travels saw him also visit Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, Pakistan and Kenya. Both his writings and lifestyle have greatly influenced other intrepid-minded travel writers, among them Bruce Chapman and Colin Thubron. Thesiger died in 2003 aged 93.

Trackes – Robyn Davidson

Tracks

Robyn Davidson (born 1950)
Published 1980
Davidson was 27 when, with her dog Diggity and four camels, she made her epic nine-month trek of more than 2700 kilometres through the inhospitable deserts of central Australia.

Her frank revelations of how she was affected by both the vastness of the land and the gruelling conditions grabbed the attention of readers around the world. Tracks won the inaugural Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, an amazing result for a book Davidson never intended writing. It shaped as a possibility only after she’d agreed to an article on her trek for National Geographic.

A Year In Provence – Peter Mayle

A Year in Provence

Peter Mayle (born 1939)
Published 1989

Mayle effectively created a new genre for travel writing with this best-selling memoir of sea change in a foreign country, in his case departing Devon in England to start a new life in the Luberon area in southern France.

The book covers his first year of living in the village of Ménerbes. His engagingly detailed and wry account struck a chord with millions nursing their own dreams of starting anew. It also provoked a succession of similar memoirs that mine the theme of ‘relocation and renewal’, the most notable being Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes.

Mayle wrote two sequels about his life in Provence but subsequently moved to America to escape the sightseers drawn to Ménerbes by his books. He later returned to France and now lives only 20 kilometres from his original Provençal bolthole.

Venice – Jan Morris

Venice

Jan Morris (born 1926)
Published 1960

Morris is best known for marvellous books about cities, which include Oxford (1965), Hong Kong (1988), Trieste (2001) and Sydney (1992). She’s also a renowned historian.

Venice is one of three books Morris wrote about ‘La Serenissima’ and is considered one of the paramount portrayals of the city and a major work of cultural history. Venice won the 1960 RSL Heinemann Award, an achievement that helped prompt the transition of Morris from foreign correspondent to full-time author. The Times hailed it “a classic love letter to Italy’s most iconic city".

In 2004, Morris received the Thomas Cook Travel Book special award for outstanding contribution to travel writing. Yet she’s on record saying she prefers to be seen as a belletrist, or essayist, rather than a travel writer.

The Great Travel Bazaar – Paul Theroux

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The Great Railway Bazaar

Paul Theroux (born 1941)
Published 1975

A classic of its genre and arguably the finest book yet about travel by train. Theroux takes readers on a memorable four-month odyssey that departs from London’s Victoria Station to chuff steadily east, riding the rails along 30 different routes across Europe, through the Middle East, India and south east Asia before returning from Tokyo to Europe on the Trans-Siberian Express.

His book can be viewed as a colourful, energetic ‘bazaar’ of acute observations, entertaining anecdotes and sharp, yet sometime sardonic, commentary on his fellow passengers and places visited. Theroux has since penned four more travelogues of train travel and is also a successful novelist.

Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

Notes from a Small Island

Bill Bryson (born 1951)
Published 1995

Pick any Bryson yarn. He’s probably more responsible for spreading the popularity of travel writing than any other contemporary author. Whatever he writes is publishing gold, be it travel, science, memoir or biography. But his anecdotal travelogues, imbued with an infectious, gentle humour, sharp intellect and unrivalled eye for small detail, first won him a devoted global audience.

Bryson has an unrivalled gift for transmitting head-spinning facts and figures without being tedious while his mastery of comedic tone makes him a modern Mark Twain. It’s a very brave (or foolish) travel scribe who dares try quarry a similar vein.

Notes from a Small Island was so influential it was later voted ‘the book that best represents England’. Bryson is now the UK’s biggest selling non-fiction author since official records began, a tally boosted by his multi-million selling science book, A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003).

Eat Pray Love – Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat Pray Love

Published 2006
Elizabeth Gilbert (born 1969)

Gilbert’s memoir about her search for personal solace after her divorce covers a journey to Italy, India and Indonesia, with a fairytale denouement in Ubud, Bali.

Weathering some withering criticism amid heated debate about its narcissistic tendencies, the book nevertheless struck a deep chord. And, having got the hallowed thumbs up from Oprah, became not only a best seller but a global cultural phenomenon, selling more than 10 million copies and translated into 30 languages. The 2010 film starring Julia Roberts further boosted its reputation.

A steady parade of tourists inspired by the book and movie follow in Gilbert’s footsteps to Bali where the Museum Puri Lukisan in Ubud has a cycling package including a stop at the home of Mangku Ketut Liyer, the aging Balinese balian (mystic) made famous by Gilbert’s runaway success.

Why travellers are increasingly dreaming of a white Christmas – and the best places to experience one for yourself.

If the Euro summer has long been Australians’ defining holiday, the white Christmas may well be emerging as its frosty successor.

Booking data from APT Travel Group has revealed that Australians are planning long-haul travel further in advance and increasingly swapping summer at home for a white Christmas abroad.

Why more travellers are booking a white Christmas

tallinn winter — Find festive spirit in abundance in Tallinn, Estonia. (Credit: Unsplash/Dmitry Sumin)

Part of the shift is practical. With the Australian Government recently downgrading its travel warning for parts of the Middle East, travellers’ confidence in long-haul travel is returning as key transit hubs for Australians travelling to Europe reopen.

But accessibility alone isn’t the reason we’re seeing an incline in festive winter holiday bookings.

This year, Australia has experienced a particularly patchy start to the snow season, reminding travellers of how unpredictable winter has become and leading them to look overseas for their next wintry escape. At the same time, rising global temperatures are making reliable snowfall less certain across many parts of the world. Ironically, the rarer a classic white Christmas becomes, the more alluring it feels.

finland snow — Travellers are increasingly looking overseas for guaranteed snowy escapes. (Credit: Unsplash/Joni Kuusisto)

Behavioural psychologists have long observed what they call the ‘scarcity effect’: we tend to assign greater value and desirability to experiences that feel limited or increasingly out of reach. A white Christmas – once an annual tradition for many – has evolved into a bucket-list experience.

It’s also a novel antidote to the Australian festive season. Rather than scorching pavements and beachside barbecues, travellers want to experience the Christmas they’ve spent their whole lives watching in films: snow-dusted pines, chestnuts roasting over an open fire and streets glowing beneath tinsel garlands and fairy lights. Nostalgia sells, but even more so when we feel like it might not always be available to experience.

For decades, Australians have sought to escape winter in search of a European summer. Now, the pendulum is swinging the other way. Below are the top places to have yourself a very Merry Christmas in the snow.

The best places to have a white Christmas

Finland

best places for white christmas — Finland is one of the best destinations for a white Christmas. Credit: APT)

When you’re set on experiencing a blanket-white Christmas, your best bet is to go north. Thanks to its chilly temperatures and geographical proximity to the Arctic Circle (nearly one third of the country’s landmass lies within the Arctic region), travellers are guaranteed to see snow during Finland’s winter months. Plus, the possibility of witnessing the northern lights ribboning across the sky makes the experience all the more magical.

Tallinn, Estonia

tallinn old town — The city of Tallinn has a UNESCO-listed medieval town. (Credit: Unsplash/Ilya Orehov)

While places like Finland and Norway are coveted Christmas destinations, they certainly aren’t easy on the wallet. Estonia’s charming medieval capital of Tallinn is one of the best places to have a white Christmas on a budget, boasting Gothic spires, an intimate atmosphere and toasty market stalls selling everything from handicrafts to sugar-coated almonds. While snow over the Christmas period isn’t guaranteed these days, the country is further north and generally colder than Western European countries such as Germany and the Netherlands.

Canada

whistler christmas — Explore the Christmas lights of Whistler. (Credit: APT)

With its festive spirit, friendly locals and picturesque landscapes, Canada is a top contender for the best place for a white Christmas. Victoria in British Columbia has just about every Christmas tradition covered in one town: a main street of snow-frosted stores, a gingerbread competition, a visit to see the reindeer and horse-drawn trolley rides; while Alberta will see you embracing cosy holiday traditions with the spectacular Canadian Rockies as your backdrop.

If you can’t choose just one destination, the Twelve Days of Christmas tour by APT includes Christmas in Banff, sleigh rides at Lake Louise, Vancouver’s Canyon Lights and the Canadian Rockies. “It’s a relaxed, accessible way to get a proper white Christmas, snow guaranteed rather than hoped for,” says Sarah Latimore, international GM Product & Operations at APT.

New York, USA

new york winter — Central Park dusted with snow is all but magical. (Credit: Unsplash/Caitlyn Wilson)

Yes, films have been romanticising Christmas in New York for decades, but there’s a reason: the cool shift transforms the grand metropolis into what feels like a cinematic village where families glide over ice skating rinks in Central Park, dazzling displays illuminate the streets and carollers sing outside cosy bars with crackling fireplaces.

Germany

Browse bountiful Christmas markets in Regensburg. (Credit: APT)

Germany does Christmas with all the trimmings, especially the Christmas markets; there are hundreds (if not thousands) to choose between in picture-postcard historical towns across the country. Dresden has one of the oldest markets in the country, while Regensburg offers four fairy-light festooned markets within its UNESCO-listed medieval old town.

London, UK

london snow — Cosy up in London for the winter. (Credit: Unsplash/Zhang Kaiyv)

London is a prime place to celebrate a white Christmas with little people: Hamleys alone is worth getting on a plane for! Not only do many hotels offer holiday packages for families, but the sight of latticed snowflakes drifting from the sky on a rugged-up stroll along the Thames is nothing short of enchanting.

Prague, Czech Republic

prague snow — Escape to the charming city of Prague. (Credit: Unsplash/Lukas Konvica)

Offering Gothic architecture, charming cobbled streets and spiced pastries in spades, Prague is among the best places to spend a white Christmas. Come Advent season, when a dusting of snow may cover its ancient castle, and the smell of roasting ham rises from the market stalls, it becomes utterly unforgettable.

Niseko, Japan

niskeo skiing — Hit the slopes for a Christmas spent skiing in Niseko. (Credit: Unsplash/Kristian Klausen)

You don’t need to fly all the way to Europe to enjoy a wintry Christmas abroad. On Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, Niseko is a wonderland for travellers wishing to spend the Christmas season carving up the ski slopes. Promising festive events such as fireworks and giant illuminated trees, as well as plenty of the fluffy white stuff, this ski resort town doesn’t disappoint.

Is Europe or Canada better for a white Christmas?

Europe and Canada are the two most popular destinations among Australian travellers booking wintry Christmas escapes. But which is right for you? Sarah Latimore, international GM Product & Operations at APT, says the answer hinges on your travel interests and preferences.

“Europe suits travellers who want depth, variety and a bit of indulgence, moving through centuries-old Christmas market traditions city by city,” Latimore says.

“Canada is for travellers chasing that classic, snow globe white Christmas. Think twinkling lights and decorations through Whistler and Banff, evenings by an open fire in a Fairmont hotel, and the kind of moments that define the season: dog sledding, sleigh rides, snow underfoot rather than sand.

“Neither is the ‘right’ choice universally; it comes down to matching the traveller. Someone chasing romance and heritage will lean Europe. Someone chasing a classic, white Christmas will lean Canada.”