Travel Writing & Commentary

Brought to you by Penguin. When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he was about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan's history? Abroad in...

Rain in the Mountains brings together some of Ruskin Bond’s most beautiful works from his years spent in the foothills of the Himalayas in the town of Mussoorie. Through vivid images and lucid writing, Bond evokes the everyday sights and sounds, and captures the essence of mountain life. The...

In Manav’s world, memories are like little birds perched upon the windowsill of time. In his world there are no boundaries between thoughts and reality. In his world the past and the present form a mirror that disintegrates into the memory of a single day…Known for writing silences and...

Vikrant Pande and Neelesh Kulkarni's quest to retrace the trail of Rama's fabled travels during his years in exile began with their trying to locate Chitrakoot on the map and realizing that they had little idea where it might be. Curious about the places mentioned in the Ramayana, they set off...

Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life - from six weeks to four months to two years - to discover and experience the world on your own terms....

William Dalrymple's highly praised and greatly entertaining account of his 1986 trip made while a student at Cambridge which retraced Marco Polo's route across land from Jerusalem to Xanadu....

In Neither Here nor There Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack and journeys from Hammerfest to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia....

Paul Rosolie’s extraordinary adventure in the uncharted tributaries of the Western Amazon - a tale of discovery that vividly captures the awe, beauty, and isolation of this endangered land....

On October 6, 1973, Ted Simon knew there was no going back. He loaded up his 500cc Triumph Tiger in the pouring rain and said good-bye to London....

A 2026 Audie Awards Finalist! Stow away with Rick Steves for a glimpse into the unforgettable moments, misadventures, and memories of his 1978 journey on the legendary Hippie Trail. In the 1970s, the ultimate trip for any backpacker was the storied “Hippie Trail” from Istanbul to Kathmandu...

A landmark in travel writing, this is the incredible true story of Heinrich Harrer’s escape across the Himalayas to Tibet....

THIS GRIPPING AND TRIUMPHANT MEMOIR FOLLOWS A LIVING LEGEND OF EXTREME MOUNTAINEERING AS HE MAKES HIS ASSAULT ON HISTORY, ONE 8,000-METER SUMMIT AT A TIME. For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of...

After 40+ years of writing about Europe, Rick Steves has gathered 100 of his favorite memories together into one inspiring collection: For the Love of Europe: My Favorite Places, People, and Stories. Join Rick as he's swept away by a fado singer in Lisbon, learns the dangers of falling in love...

The Great Railway Bazaar is Paul Theroux's account of his epic journey by rail through Asia....

An unforgettable spiritual journey through the Himalayas... IN 1973, Peter Matthiessen and field biologist George Schaller traveled high into the remote mountains of Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and possibly glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard. Matthiessen, a student of Zen...

With all the narrative power and intellectual authority that have distinguished his earlier books, V.S. Naipaul explores the life, the culture, the ferment inside the nations of Islam.

The Climb is a true, gripping, and thought-provoking account of the worst disaster in the history of Mt. Everest: On May 10, 1996, two commercial expeditions headed by experienced leaders...

In 1948, Lama Anagarika Govinda made an unforgettable journey into Tibet before its invasion by the Chinese....

Aside from love, few actvities seem to promise us as much happiness as going traveling: taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather....

A remarkable guide to the quests that give our lives meaning—and how to find your own—from the New York Times bestselling author of The $100 Startup and 100 Side Hustles “If you like complacency and mediocrity, do not read this book. It’s dangerously inspiring.”—A. J. Jacobs...

From the bestselling author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Sphere, comes a deeply personal memoir full of fascinating adventures as he travels everywhere....

In 1834, Ralph Waldo Emerson, formerly a Unitarian minister, began a new career as a public lecturer. Nature (1836), his first published work, contained the essence of his transcendental philosophy. This collection contains 11 of his most celebrated and memorable essays....

In India's tropical paradise, stands a town wrapped around a giant roundabout, where a canny caretaker with a French connection holds sway. Vying for his attention are two competing neighbours. Appu holds lessons for the living but Maya cares only for the dead. And a gastronome dog plays ball...

AN ENVIRONMENTALIST’S JOURNEY THROUGH INDIA’S PRECIOUS YET VULNERABLE LANDSCAPES. In the boundless Thar, deemed a ‘wasteland’ by the authorities, miners bulldoze sand dunes guarding life-sustaining water. The Gangetic dolphin, once a thriving apex predator, struggles for survival as its...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The beloved memoir of self-discovery set against the spectacular Tuscan countryside that inspired the major motion picture starring Diane Lane—now in a twentieth-anniversary edition featuring a new afterword “This beautifully written memoir about taking...

Brought to you by Penguin. No sex. No kids. No future? When Tom Feiling moved to Tokyo as a student in the early nineties, Japan was a beacon of the future: a rising superpower, a technology giant, and a global symbol of prosperity, civility and success. When he returned twenty-four years later...

"Safari" in Swahili means a journey, typically a long one. In Dark Star Safari, Theroux's itinerary is African, from Cairo to Cape Town—down the Nile, through Sudan and Ethiopia, to Kenya, Uganda and beyond to South Africa. Journeying by train, boat and cattle truck, he passes through some of the most beautiful—and often life-threatening—landscapes on earth.

In 1911, Hermann Hesse sailed through southeastern Asian waters on a trip that would define much of his later writing. Hesse brings his unique eye to scenes such as adventures in a rickshaw, watching foreign theater performances, exploring strange floating cities on stilts, and luxuriating in...

"Jenna helps you prepare for trips that’ll work with your family and budget, and also with the understanding that no trip is perfect or without a few hiccups." – Giovanna Fletcher "I love Jenna's down-to-earth, approachable style – she makes family travel feel doable and exciting." –...

Read by the author, Kate Barron 'A truly inspiring story of courage, resilience and the call of the wild. Wilderness Mum is a testament to the extraordinary things we are capable of' - Tim Peake Most people believe the wild years end when motherhood begins. For me, that’s when they truly...

يُعَدُّ هذا الكتابُ من أشهرِ كُتبِ الرِّحلاتِ في التاريخ؛ فقد عُرِفَ «ابن بطوطة» بكثرةِ

يعرض لنا الكاتب في هذا المُؤلَّف مشاهداتِه السياحيةَ في ربوع بلدان الشرق الأدنى؛ فالكِتاب أشبه بمعجمٍ سياحي يستهلُّه الكاتب بتقديمِ نُبذةٍ تاريخية عن كل بلدة من البلدان التي زارها؛ موضِّحًا أهميتَها التاريخية، وطبيعتها الجغرافية، وأهمَّ مُدنها، وأروع المناظر الجمالية التي خلَبَت لُبَّه، فضلًا عن كلِّ ما يتعلَّق بالعادات والتقاليد والموروثات الدينية والعقدية لهذه البلدان، وأشهر معالمها الأثرية، وأهم مساجدها التاريخية التي تجسِّد رسوخَ الموروثات العقدية لدى شعوبها. كما ضمَّن الكاتب في ثنايا هذا الكتاب بعضَ النوادر والطرائف التي حدثت له في بعض البلدان التي زارها، وكأنه يبرهن من خلال هذا الكتا...

علي أحمد الجرجاوي: وُلِدَ في مدينة «جرجا» بمحافظة «سوهاج» في القرن التاسع عشر، تَعَلَّمَ مبادئ القراءة والكتابة، وحفِظ القرآن الكريم في الكُتَّاب، ثم درَس العلوم الدينية، ثم رحل إلى القاهرة طلبًا لاستكمال الدراسة وتحصيل العلم بالأزهر، اشتغل بالعمل الحُرِّ مبتعدًا عن الأعمال الحكومية؛ لِما لاحظه من تسلُّط الإنجليز على مُقَدَّرات البلاد إثر فشل الثورة العرابية، وأسس صحيفة «الإرشاد» التي كان يصدرها ويترأس تحريرها في بداية القرن العشرين، إلى جانب عمله بالمحاماة أمام المحاكم الشرعية، ثم عمل رئيسًا ﻟ «جمعية الأزهر العلمية» حتى وفاته.

مجموعة من رحلات الرحالة محمد ثابت، حيث يصف من خلاله تجاربه في مختلف أنحاء العالم، بدءًا من أوروبا وأفريقيا وصولًا إلى آسيا وأمريكا وأستراليا. يتناول الكتاب مشاهدات متنوعة عن الحضارات، الطبيعة، الثقافات، ومجاريه التاريخية مثل النيل، مع التركيز على تفاصيل مدهشة وتجارب شخصية.

The city long adored for its medieval beauty, old-timey brasseries, and corner cafés has even more to offer today. In the last few years, a flood of new ideas and creative locals has infused a once-static, traditional city with a new open-minded sensibility and energy. Journalist Lindsey Tramuta offers detailed insight into the rapidly evolving worlds of food, wine, pastry, coffee, beer, fashion, and design in the delightful city of Paris.

My 30th birthday present to myself was to quit my job, set out from Seattle, and maybe cycle the world. BOOK RED begins this insane journey. When my bike started falling apart in the first two days, things weren’t looking so good. When pedaling 9 hours a day wasn’t supplying enough serotonin, things weren’t looking so good. An elated mind will smile at strangers; a diseased one will make games of passing bottles of urine, dead animals, and roadside crosses.

Thebe Ikalafeng is a branding icon who set the agenda for the industry at the dawn of our democracy and continues to pioneer it to this day. As the founder of Brand Africa, the African continent is now a major focus in his life's mission. He is The Traveller, having touched soil on every African country. His mission is impact.

From Myanmar's highlands to the British Pennines, from slow travel between coffee plantations in Borneo to a cross-continent odyssey on African railways, from the pioneers of the American West to European trains in war, this is a new prism through which to explore human lives, and global landscapes, politics and history. The Untold Railway Stories is a testament to both the joy and impact of train travel - to the ambition and ingenuity, and also to destruction and sacrifice within its history - and is published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the first passenger railway line.

Sous la plume vive de Chapelle, Bachaumont, Lottin, Néel et Pompignan, ces Voyages amusants rassemblent des récits de voyage du début du XVIIIe siècle, où le badinage le dispute à l’observation. On y goûte l’esprit, la satire légère et la curiosité d’époque, au fil d’itinéraires qui croquent paysages et mœurs avec une verve délicieusement classique.

Read by the author and available digitally for the first time From the star of No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain's New York Times-bestselling chronicle of travelling the world in search the globe's greatest culinary adventures "Bourdain shows himself to be one of the country's best food writers...