Ready to “Book” Your Next Trip? How Literary Tourism Became the Hottest Vacation Trend
From reading retreats to author-led camping trips, travelers are looking to books for their next vacation
For most of us, our first exposure to a world outside of our own was sparked by childhood books. Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit drew me into the English countryside, while E. L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler invited me to sneak around New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art after dark. And my tween-age obsession with Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club’s Super Specials fueled my first vacation envy, as my fictional friends jetted off on fabulous getaways—a Vermont ski trip, Bahamas cruise, and Walt Disney World trip—all of which I’ve since checked off as well.
“Long before TripAdvisor and travel influencers, there were books,” Emily Powell, third-generation owner of Portland, Oregon’s iconic independent bookstore Powell’s Books, tells Thrillist. She adds that readers have long jotted down where to go based on what they’ve read. “From On The Road by Jack Kerouac, to A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, or A Paris Novel by Ruth Riechl, place is such a powerful character in literature that it often leads to late-night airline splurges.”
While traveling to film and TV locations, or set-jetting, has been trending, it was far preceded by literature inspiring a desire to venture to far-off places. “Books create a powerful emotional connection to a place,” Carl Walsh, VisitBritain senior vice president, USA, says. “When travelers visit a location they’ve read about, it adds another layer to the story and… turns a good story into something they can feel, walk through, and remember in a new way.”
Even with its deep literary lineage stretching back centuries (hello, William Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Brontë sisters in the Yorkshire moors, or Jane Austen in Bath), Britain has seen a recent uptick in literary tourism. While this trend partially stems from TV and film adaptations of books like Bridgerton, Outlander, and Bridget Jones’s Diary, Walsh believes the core reason is that “travelers are also seeking more personal and meaningful experiences, and literary tourism offers a unique way to connect with Britain’s culture and landscape.”
The sensation stretches beyond the U.K., as the literary tourism market brought in $2.4 billion last year, and is predicted to skyrocket to $3.3 billion by 2034, according to Future Market Insights.
And it’s not just about classic books and authors, but traveling between the lines of literature in any and every way, from reading retreats and hotel packages to book festivals and even author-led vacations—much of it traced to the viral popularity of #Booktok, which has racked up more than 370 billion views.
“I do think that the Internet can take credit for the increase of literary tourism or, at least, the documentation of literary tourism,” Katherine D. Morgan, owner of Portland, Oregon’s Grand Gesture Books, says, adding that even bookstores themselves have become destinations. “People treat my store like a landmark—walking through the door and telling me how they saw it featured on TikTok.”
With so many different facets of literary tourism, the travel industry is going all in. One of the most exciting partnerships is World of Hyatt’s new literary glamping adventure Camp Unwritten, bringing Reese Witherspoon’s Reese’s Book Club authors and their readers together in Under Canvas’s spectacular outdoor settings. The inaugural season kicked off in July with Twelfth Night and Girl Dinner author Alexene Farol Follmuth at Under Canvas Columbia River Gorge and The Unwedding author Ally Condie at Under Canvas Great Smoky Mountains.
Spectacular Things author Beck Dorey-Stein will be the featured Camp Unwritten author at ULUM Moab from August 19 to 21. “Reading and traveling are strikingly similar in that they’re an invitation to a shared experience,” Dorey-Stein says. “Literary tourism lets readers live the stories they love and be reminded that they are the main characters in their own lives. The opportunity to meet new people in an awe-inspiring place and bond over books in real life while going on a meaningful adventure together is, I daresay, a spectacular thing.”
With as many types of literary travel getaways as book genres, we’ve bookmarked just a few of our top picks.
Book Club Reading Retreats
Once reserved for neighborhood groups, book clubs have evolved into welcoming communities of all niches. Book Huddle founder Lauren Moore expanded her virtual monthly book club of nearly 700 into IRL reading retreats, with upcoming getaways in Oregon and Maine, while Ladies Who Lit’s Megan Christopher has enhanced her “no-pressure” club with global retreats in Morocco, Greece, and St. Eustatius. And the made-for-introverts Silent Book Club, with chapters in more than 55 countries, encourages readers to BYOB (book, that is!) to its Costa Rica, Italy, and Hawaii retreats.
Hotel–Book Collaborations
As proof of literary tourism’s reach, major hotels are teaming up with reading partners. Tempo by Hilton New York Times Square’s Highball bar and lounge works with East Village’s indie bookshop Book Club Bar to present a Room and Book Package, which includes a book, a bottle of wine, a cheese and charcuterie plate, and a $150 food and beverage credit. The Loutrel in Charleston, South Carolina, offers a blind-date book program, where guests will find a surprise read from the city’s Buxton Books in their room, plus a guide to themed locations to explore. Perhaps the most massive collab is Apple Vacations, Penguin Random House, and Emma Roberts’ Belletrist book club for Pages in Paradise, currently featured at nine Dreams Resorts & Spas across Latin America and the Caribbean. Among its programming highlights are book-themed cocktails, poolside happy hours, and the best part—which I got to experience at Dreams Macao Beach Punta Cana—a butler delivering books right into your hands anytime and anywhere you turn a final page.
Meanwhile, some hotels have found their own ways to veer toward bookish interests. Snowbird Mountain Lodge in Robbinsville, North Carolina, has its own book concierge who drops off a selection of reads in your room upon arrival, and Lucknam Park in England’s Chippenham launched a two-night package celebrating Austen’s 250th anniversary. Then there’s The Bookhouse Hotel in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the very definition of a book lovers’ paradise with 5,000 books in a quaint four-room boutique hotel.
Author-Hosted Trips
Camp Unwritten isn’t the only opportunity to hobnob with those who penned your favorite pageturners—and Dorey-Stein, for one, understands why the trend is growing. “Devoted readers want more than just the book: They want to know the inspiration, the process, and the scenes that got cut along the way.” she says. “And as an author, it’s a gift to linger in a world I’ve loved and must inevitably leave to create the next book.”
British writer Daisy Buchanan leads the Read Yourself Happy Retreat in Zakynthos, Greece, in late September, celebrating the written word by connecting writers, readers, and creatives, while crime writer Michael Jecks steps in as a guest expert for Smithsonian Journeys’ Mystery Lover’s England trip with three upcoming departures through 2026. Those with a love for the high seas can join New York Times-bestselling novelist Christopher Moore on Avalon Cruise’s Storyteller Series to sail down the Danube River in October. And Two O’Clock on a Tuesday at Trevi Fountain author and travel blogger Helene Sula hosts Christmas market river cruises each holiday season.
Whether they’ve written cookbooks, food memoirs—or both!—the Dinner with Friends Abroad
journey through southern Italy this September shows how well travel pairs with food writers with an all-star roster featuring Ruth Reichl, Nancy Silverton, Alec Lobrano, and Laurie Ochoa. Similarly, Via Rosa’s The Culture of Food in Puglia is led by Dinner: A Love Story author Jenny Rosenstarch in October.
Literary-Inspired Tours and Itineraries
There’s no better way to get deeper introspection into the greatest books than by visiting the stomping grounds of those who crafted the words. Literary tours trace those pathways, like in Florida with Key West Food Tours’ The Hemingway Experience, or across the pond in England where there’s English Lakes Tours’ Beatrix Potter
experiences in the Lake District, Oxford Official Walking Tours’ C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien tour, or London Literary Tours’ Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, and Oscar Wilde tour. Others string them together into longer itineraries like Enchanted Book Club’s Classic Authors in the U.K. this fall and Literary London next May, or The Book Club Tour which has British tours themed around Agatha Christie, Austen, and Shakespeare.
Some fictional characters warrant their own visits, like Sherlock Holmes in London through Brit Movie Tours, or a whole trip with Enchanted Book Club dedicated to Anne of Green Gables in PEI next summer, where raspberry cordial is sure to be on the agenda. Readers who prefer choosing their own adventures can also follow self-guided itineraries of The Great Gatsby in Long Island, Gone with the Windin Atlanta, Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, and Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking books in Sweden.
Book Festivals
For every kind of page turner, there’s also an annual book festival. This year marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, and September’s annual Jane Austen Festival in Bath is set to be the biggest yet. Many of the events are costume required, which makes for an especially immersive experience. Other festivals this September include the International Agatha Christie Festival in the English Riviera; the series-themed Forever Twilight Festival in Forks, Washington; and Middle Earth Festival in Wythall, England. Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival takes place in March.
Practically every major city around the globe has some sort of annual literary ode, but among the most storied are Jaipur Literature Festival in January, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in April, Hay Festival in Wales in May, Rio Book Biennial in June, Edinburgh International Book Festival in August, plus the Berlin International Literature Festival, Brooklyn Book Festival, and Library of Congress’ National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. all in September—the latter of which is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a lineup including The Fault in Our Stars’ John Green, Goosebumps’ R.L. Stine, and Purple Hibiscus’ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
