As travelers look to unplug and connect, books are becoming the new itinerary—driving trips, retreats and a revival of slow, immersive book travel.
One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to take books set in the place I’m visiting. So, picture the scene. I arrive in picturesque St Malo, France, after reading what is still one of my favorite books, All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. And there, in a medieval alley behind the fortress that used to protect the king’s pirates and the town from the sea, I run across a lady giving a book tour of all the sites from the book. Pure travel book heaven.
Reading and travel are intrinsically linked. Indeed, when people began to travel by train in the 19th century, publishers began selling romance and thriller paperbacks across London’s railway stations. Penguin Books installed a PenguinCubator vending machine on train platforms.
And it makes sense that it’s making a comeback. There is a clear reported trend toward slow travel, analog travel and vacations that allow us to log off. It chimes with the trend for skillcations, too; learning something while we’re away. Plus, it segues neatly from the setjetting trend, which is still a major factor in determining travel destinations, to visiting destinations we’ve watched in our favorite shows. Think Emily in Paris tourism or The White Lotus travel trends.
Travelers Are Seeking Community And Books Are A Way In
Driven by BookTok and celebrity book clubs, book tours and book breaks are in high demand, mostly from people seeking a sense of community and a way to bond over books. Substack has many reading circles, such as the Travel Book Club.
It also aligns with the resurgence of the do-nothing vacation, then, which, in the words of The Washington Post, aligns with wellness rather than laziness. It is “not about being a bore, ignoring local culture or rejecting adventure for the rest of your days. It’s about giving yourself the time and space for a mental reset.” It’s about unplugging and giving yourself time to think, rather than ticking off everything you’ve seen or done in any given location—and books are the perfect way to do this.
An AARP 2025 study found 40% of U.S. adults are lonely (up from 35% in 2018), with middle-aged (45-59) at 46%—now the loneliest group. Research suggests that we are trying to counter that and seek human connections as we travel beyond our daily lives.
It brings to mind the community project in over 70 countries called The Human Library, where, instead of people borrowing books, they borrow a person. The idea, established in Denmark in 2000, is to ‘publish people as open books’ so that a person can ask questions about someone’s life and experience and better understand issues. And just like reading books and being immersed in someone else’s life and stories completely different to yourself, so you can sit down with “Alcoholic”, “Autism”, “Bipolar” and “Body Mod Extreme” (someone with extreme body modifications) through every range of human condition imaginable—”Molested”, “Muslim”, “Naturist”, “Polyamorous”, etc—and ask questions, and hear people’s stories.
More Travelers Are Seeking Out Vacations Based On Or Around Reading.
The stats support this trend. Skyscanner has noticed a Literature Trend: in its 2026 travel trends report, 55% of travelers reported having booked a trip or considering one based on a destination in a book they’ve read. Search filters for hotels with libraries are up 70% year-on-year.
The New York Times reports that the vacation rental platform Vrbo coined the term ‘Readaways,’ noting that 91% of respondents in its trends report said they were interested in a trip based on reading and relaxing.
Americans Are Reading Much Less Today
And it’s probably because we are reading far less and finding far less time to read:
- An American Time Use survey, as reported by Bloomberg, states that just 16% of respondents read for pleasure every day, and they do so alone.
- Visits to American public libraries decreased by 56% in the ten years from 2012 to 2022.
- Over the 20 years from 2003 to 2023, the share of Americans who read for fun fell by 40%.
- Public commuting, the time when many people used to read, has also declined significantly since the pandemic, as many more people now work from home.
Without rides on public transport, we need our vacations to read. And for some, we’re doing that not just at the pool, but purposefully, seeking out other readers to hang with.
Reading Retreats Are Coming Back
It’s in that context that opportunities for reading are becoming a thing. Bedside Reading offers a hotel service that gives guests access to a digital library of books. In Indiana, the Nickel Plate Express railway offers Read and Rides where the railway cars are sure to be quiet.
The Rest&Read retreat in West Wales’ primary activity, aside from seaside walks, saunas and fireside chats, is to read. It mirrors many others around the U.K. and the U.S., such as Ladies Who Lit and the Bad Bitch Book Club—the demographic is predominantly female, reflecting that women are more prevalent in the publishing workforce, as book buyers and novelists.
Beyond that, there are obviously a multitude of hotels that can indulge guests’ literary favorites. For example, take The Notebook. While the movie was filmed in South Carolina, Nicholas Sparks set his novel in the town of New Bern, where he still lives today.
For the 30th anniversary of The Notebook, why not check into The Harvey, a boutique hotel from the 1790s that offers a Nicholas Sparks package that includes a self-guided walking tour map of local landmarks and a dinner gift card to The Chelsea, which appears as a backdrop in Sparks’ novels The Wedding and A Bend in the Road?
Or you can live out your best Eat, Pray, Love vibes in Bali. The Buahan Banyan Tree Escape is in the heart of the jungle, with glimpses of rice fields afar. Stay in this no-walls, no-doors highland destination and take part in traditional tempe-making, which Buahan supports to empower women in the local community.
In a fast, crowded travel landscape—which has been politically fraught for much of this year—book travel offers a slower, deeper way to see the world, and to connect within it. And particularly as people read less at home, travel is where they can find books again, and the people who relish them.
