Travel Advice
The best travel books of 2024
From a travel memoir exploring Latin America to a quiz book combining geography and politics, these new titles are guaranteed to spark your wanderlust (and make a great Christmas gift too)…
Myths of Geography
By Paul Richardson
Stanfords Book of the Month for October
Subtitled ‘Eight Ways We Get the World Wrong’, this iconoclastic read tears into the accepted wisdoms of mapmaking. But this isn’t simply pedantry; the sacred cows Richardson takes on, such as Europe always being the centre of world maps, act as a jumping-off point for wider debates. At other times, it’s just fascinating, as the author points out the only national park in which you can swim between continents, or dissects the argument for border walls.
On the Narrow Road to the Deep North
By Lesley Chan Downer
Everyone loves a quest, especially one clearly borne of a real passion for the subject. In this elegantly told homage, the author sets off in the footsteps of Japan’s most cherished poet, Matsuo Basho, whose own wanderings gave birth to Japan’s most famous travel book. Along the way, she ponders a contemporary Japan far from the tourist beat, taking in industrial towns and highland villages with the same curious spirit.
Daybreak in Gaza
Edited by Mahmoud Muna & Matthew Teller
It’s impossible to see news stories such as the bombing of Gaza and not be moved by them. Yet, at the same time, we are often blind to how these events change the day-to-day lives of those directly affected. This book of interviews with ordinary Palestinians – displaced artists, acrobats, chefs, medics – is more than a record of a people trapped in a tragic moment; it celebrates Gaza’s enduring culture and history too.
Prisoners of Geography: The Quiz Book
By Tim Marshall
Stanfords Book of the Month for December
It seems geography is rather in vogue at the moment. This quiz book riffs on the popular series of books by the journalist Tim Marshall, which reflect on the world’s geopolitics through maps. Spanning 300 questions, puzzles and word games, this mix of geography and politics will test even the most dedicated news junky.
A Long Way South
By Sara Stewart
Itinerant traveller Sara Stewart threads the needle between vagabond nostalgia and a snapshot of another era in this fast-paced memoir of her explorations of Latin America in the mid-1970s. Amid a backdrop of political instability, military coups, kidnappings and smuggling, this is an ode to a more intrepid spirit of adventure – when you’d turn up at a city and have to negotiate your way past the tanks – and a time long before travel became straightforward.
How the World Eats
By Julian Baggini
There are many ways to see the world. Doing so through the prism of the many different approaches to growing, preparing and eating food is one of the more fascinating. In doing so, author Baggini shines a light on some remarkable cultures along the way, from the hunter-gatherer Hadza in Tanzania, whose sustainable lifestyle is under threat, to the worst excesses of Western fast-food society. And by casting a global eye on our past and present relationship with food, he also sets out an agenda for how we should be eating.
Four Points of the Compass
By Jerry Brotton
Stanfords Book of the Month for September
’The history of direction’ is a tough subject to make interesting, yet Brotton does so with flair, looking into how it forms the basis of all cultures. From the five colour-coded compass points of the Aztecs to the blue dot we all follow today, he delves into the desire that exists in all of us to make sense of a blank horizon.
The Korean Myths
By Heinz Insu Fenkl & Bella Myŏng-wŏl Dalton-Fenkl
The spread of South Korea’s Hallyu (K-Wave) culture has seen the ancient myths that permeate its music, film and TV spread far and wide. This intriguing book unpicks their history and intricacies to offer an invaluable resource for any Koreaphile or traveller.
Vagabond
By Mark Eveleigh
Inspired by the figure of the Spanish vagabundo (drifter), the author sets off on a solo 1,225km hike from Gibraltar to Estaca de Bares – Spain’s northernmost tip – in an uplifting paean to the freedom of the wanderer.
Wild Twin
By Jeff Young
Young drifts 1970s Europe in a haze of dives, scrapes, cathedrals and, eventually, deportation and breakdown, before returning home to care for his dying father. A poignant tale of dreams, loss and the hole that travels fills in us all.
War & Peace & War
By Andrew North
Before he was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2022, former BBC foreign correspondent Andrew North spent two decades reporting from Afghanistan. Here he tells its story through the lives of those he met.
A Ride Across America
By Simon Parker
It’s nearly time for the US election! Cue great waves of writers travelling small-town America to better understand its eccentricities. Thankfully, Parker offers far more wit and empathy than most as he cycles 7,000km (11 states), visiting churches, cookouts and rodeos to flesh out a vision of the US beyond the polls and clichés.
Finding Your Feet
By Rhiane Fatinikun
The founder of Black Girls Hike is behind this unique guide to exploring rural Britain, which is particularly pertinent to Black women and women who feel unsafe in remote areas. Alongside tips and hand-picked hikes, it includes eye-opening and inspiring accounts of the author’s own experiences of hiking through Britain’s wilds.
The Valley of the Assassins
By Freya Stark
The late Freya Stark’s treks into the wilderness of western Iran in the 1920s came at a time when there were few female travel writers. Even 90 years after its publication, her wit and zest shines through in this new edition of her first work.
The World Atlas of Public Art
By Andrew Wasserman
From Dakar to Newcastle, this wide-ranging book focuses on 125 public artworks around the world, delving into the conversations that they inspire just by being there.
Storm Pegs
By Jen Hadfield
Stanfords Book of the Month for July
Having moved to Shetland to start afresh, the author recounts the ways that this far-flung Scottish archipelago taught her to live, at the same capturing what makes these islands so breathtaking and unique.
Amuse Bouche
By Carolyn Boyd
Francophile Carolyn Boyd shares the stories behind the country’s most fascinating foods and ingredients, blending history and travel. It’s the perfect pre-Olympics appetiser.
The Lost Paths
By Jack Cornish
By 2026, some 16,000km of forgotten footpaths around Britain stand to be lost. Jack Cornish’s fascinating book sets out to ensure they aren’t, and en route explains why Britain’s history is buried in these historic rights of way.
Slow Trains to Istanbul
By Tom Chesshyre
Stanfords Book of the Month for June
At little behest, rail enthusiast Tom Chesshyre sets off on a 7,350km trip shadowing the old Orient Express route across Europe, albeit in considerably less luxury – you and I would call it Interrailing. Across 55 trains, he shows the true value of travel by rail: where every stop offers a side adventure.
Children of the Volcano
By Ros Belford
In another book that addresses starting over, the author – fresh from a break-up – relocates to Sicily to give her daughters a childhood to remember, and herself a new go at life. What follows falls into the ‘inspirational’ bracket of books about overcoming the odds, though it paints a portrait of island life that will have travellers intrigued.
On the Shadow Tracks
By Clare Hammond
While working as a journalist in Yangon, Clare Hammond found a map that showed a web of unknown railways across Myanmar. Setting out to discover their origin, she travels from contested areas to border towns while telling the tale of the country’s colonial legacy.
An African History of Africa
By Zeinab Badawi
Broadcaster Zeinab Badawi is out to set the record straight, by telling a history of Africa through the eyes of Africans. To do so, she visits more than 30 countries, speaking to experts and storytellers, to unearth not just the larger narrative of the continent, but the smaller stories that shaped local experience. It is a task as enormous as Africa itself, yet achieved with breathtaking brevity and laser-eyed focus.
At the Edge of Empire
By Edward Wong
When Edward Wong became the Beijing bureau chief for The New York Times, he set out to investigate his own father’s mysterious past in the People’s Liberation Army. Balancing this against his day job chronicling China’s economic boom and rapid rise under nationalistic rule, he tells a unique story that is both personal and sweeping, as he finds his own place in modern China.
Sicilian Inheritance
By Jo Piazza
Bestselling author Jo Piazza’s latest novel is based on the author’s own family history about the murder of Jo’s great-great-grandmother in Sicily more than 109 years ago. Sara, a Philadelphia chef’s beloved great-aunt dies leaving her a valuable piece of land in Sicily. But there’s a catch.
The Covenant of Water
By Abraham Verghese
New in paperback, this winner of the Viking Fiction with a Sense of Place Award at the 2024 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards follows a family in Kerala that suffers a peculiar affliction: every generation at least one person drowns. This is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today.
Cold Kitchen
By Caroline Eden
Caroline Eden finds comfort away from the road in her basement Edinburgh kitchen. Join her as she cooks recipes from Central Asia, Turkey, Ukraine, the South Caucasus, Russia, the Baltics and Poland, while reflecting on past adventures and contemplating the kitchen’s unique ability to tell human stories. This is a hauntingly honest – and at times heartbreaking – memoir with the smell, taste and preparation of food at its heart.
A History of the World in 47 Borders
By John Elledge
A fascinating and surprising history of the world told through the lines people have drawn on maps, from the Roman attempts to define the boundaries of civilisation, to the secret British-French agreement to carve up the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, or the reason why landlocked Bolivia still maintains a navy.
Enchanted Islands
By Laura Coffey
Laura Coffey embarks on what was meant to be a simple holiday. But her newfound fascination with ancient Greek myths transforms her trip into a six-month odyssey around tiny archipelagos and mystical Mediterranean islands thought to be the setting of Odysseus’s epic journey. Slipping between the mythical realm and the real world, Laura reflects on what she has lost and the way we craft our own mythologies.
Sunken Lands
By Gareth E Rees
An ‘immersive’ travelogue exploring the mythology and emotional resonance of flooded places — at a time when the waters are rising once more. From Stone Age lands that slipped beneath the English Channel to the rapid inundation of New Orleans, author Gareth E Rees explores stories of the world’s flooded places from the past – and those that are now disappearing before
our eyes.
Ancient Rome in Fifty Monuments
By Paul Roberts
Roberts takes us on a new tour of ancient Rome, in the process revealing many little-visited sites not on the usual tourist lists. He tells the story of the city emperor by emperor, drawing out the political, social and cultural backdrop to the monuments and expertly using the latest archaeological research.
Around the World in 80 Days
By Michael Palin
With Michael Palin gracing our televisions again, now is a great time to read (or re-read) his back catalogue. Orion has just re-released some of his best travel books with revamped paperback covers. We recommend you start at the very beginning with his 1989 classic Around the World in 80 Days and go from there.
Taking the Risk
By Hilary Bradt
Stanfords Book of the Month for April
The founder of Bradt Travel Guides looks back on 50 years of escapades, surprises, mishaps, disasters… and success. From her first solo trip at the age of three (on a British beach), she revisits six decades of hitchhiking, feeding the travel habit by working abroad, and starting a successful travel publishing company where knowing nothing proved a surprising asset.
Save Me from the Waves
By Jessica Hepburn
Stanfords Book of the Month for March 2024
Claiming to be the first woman to have completed the ‘Sea, Street, Summit Challenge’ – swim the English Channel, run the London Marathon and climb Mount Everest – Jessica’s tale of how it happened falls into classic ‘unlikely hero’ territory. With humour and wit, she charts her journey from reluctant athlete to mentality monster, and in doing so gives life and character to the settings for her achievements.
Wayfarer
By Phoebe Smith
Former Wanderlust editor Phoebe Smith swaps globetrotting for a story closer to home – both emotionally and geographically. Against a backdrop of Britain’s pilgrim paths, she retreads her own tale of trauma and loss, weaving it with those of past travellers. Along the way, she shows that the UK wilderness has restorative powers far beyond an invigorating view.
Why We Travel
By Ash Bhardwaj
Journalist and broadcaster Ash Bhardwaj dives into the thing we’re all looking for: travel motivation. But as you might expect from a man who has met the Dalai Lama and walked 800km across India, this is no breezy self-help book. Instead, he ponders how a pastime that used to be associated with relaxation became all about what we can gain.
Paddling France
By Anna Richards
Beyond the delights of the Riviera or the winery-speckled banks of the Dordogne, France’s coast, rivers and lakes aren’t sung about often enough. But there are marvels here. From the gorges of the Ardèche to the islands of Finistère, avid paddler Anna Richards tests 40 places for a canoe, kayak or SUP escape in France.
Around the World in 80 Years
By Ranulph Fiennes
There is little extreme activity that Sir Ranulph Fiennes hasn’t done, from running seven marathons on seven continents to hauling loaded sledges across both polar ice caps. His latest read is a bit of a retrospective – as the redoubtable explorer turns 80 – gathering celebs and colleagues to review a life relentlessly well led.
Foodie Places
By Sarah Baxter
The latest entry in the long-running, and delightfully illustrated, ‘Places’ series sees Sarah Baxter (another writer formerly of this parish) delve into 25 culinary capitals. Chosen with trademark good taste, these include tried-and-true foodie havens as well as some more surprising spots with their own world-class delicacies. We can feel our stomachs rumbling just thinking about it.
The Half Bird
By Susan Smillie
We love an against-all-odds adventure that evolves into something grander. This tale of one woman’s solo sail from Land’s End to the shores of Greece has all the hallmarks of the genre, as the author quits her job to follow her dream and somehow stretches it out into a three-year voyage. With only the basics onboard, this soon turns into a thoughtful meditation on solitude, resilience and the irresistible lure of the sea.
Local
By Alastair Humphreys
After years of expeditions all over the planet, British explorer Alastair Humphreys turns his gaze on the area in which he lives. In doing so, he ends up learning more about the natural world than in all his years of travelling. The resulting story prompts a revelation we can all relate to: that the wildlife around us needs protecting.
Saudi Arabia
By Grace Edwards
This book is perhaps most notable for being the first English-language guide from a major travel publisher written exclusively on Saudi. It will surely be one of many to come and offers great advice on a remarkable region that travellers are still just learning about.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
By Bettany Hughes
While all but Egypt’s Great Pyramid have been lost to history, the Seven Wonders of the old world still enthral us today. Historian Bettany Hughes brings her trademark intelligence and enthusiasm to bear as she traces their stories and realises that they all share one thing: humanity’s capacity to dream big.
Terrible Maps
By Michael Howe
Drawing on the popular social media feed of the same name, this book sits firmly on the side of the editorial fence labelled geographical dad jokes. But we love cartography in any form, especially if it points out how similar the shape of Oklahoma is to a thumbs-up.
Love from Venice: A Golden Summer on the Grand Canal
By Gill Johnson
Charting a summer of rebellion in 1950s Venice, this memoir recalls a time when the author swapped a comfy gig at London’s National Gallery for teaching English to an aristocratic Italian family, drawing on the letters she sent to her admirer. In embedding herself in the city’s high society, she also bears witness to the dying days of the Grand Tour, when Europe’s young socialites ran wild across its old cities.
Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China
By Noo Saro-Wiwa
Author Noo Saro-Wiwa looks beyond the usual historical or political subjects that take the focus of most books on China and instead looks at what she calls ‘Black ghosts’: the large numbers of African economic migrants living there. In doing so, she explores a little-documented world, meeting everyone from drug dealers to cardiac surgeons, and looks at how these often cloistered communities intersect with the wider Chinese society.
Walking Scotland’s Best Small Mountains
By Kirstie Shirra
The popularity of munro-bagging – climbing all the mountains in Scotland over 914m – has meant that many of the country’s smaller peaks are often overlooked. This book proves that what they lack in stature, they more than make up for in character, offering a series of routes that are aimed at providing day walks with ascents accessible to non-climbers.
