Best of the Travellers

Ten of the Best

Enjoy travel writing? Here are ten recommendations. I have read and enjoyed them all – otherwise I couldn't recommend them – but this is not just a list of my ten favourite travel yarns; there were some rules. For a start, I have tried to provide good geographical variety: Between them these books cover the Americas, Europe, Africa, China and Australia. They provide perspectives from land and sea; from trains, boats, cars, foot, and even ox-cart. The authors (and I allowed myself no more than a single title from any one) include the usual names one associates with the genre – Paul Theroux, Bill Bryson, et al. – as well as some better known from other pursuits, such as the novelist Salman Rushdie.

• Old Glory – Jonathon Raban
• The Great Railway Bazaar – Paul Theroux
• In a Sunburned Country – Bill Bryson
• The Gobi Desert – Mildred Cable & Francesca French
• The Jaguar Smile – Salman Rushdie
• French Lessons in Africa – Peter Biddlecombe
• Where the Indus is Young – Dervla Murphy
• Into the Heart of Borneo – Redmond O'Hanlon
• Bad Blood – Colm Tóibin
• Voyage of the Beagle – Charles Darwin