{"id":337748,"date":"2025-12-10T13:43:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/the-ten-best-books-about-travel-of-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T13:43:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:43:27","slug":"the-ten-best-books-about-travel-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=337748","title":{"rendered":"The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"


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These top titles of the year conveniently bring the world and its many perspectives to us<\/h2>\n
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Laura Kiniry<\/a><\/p>\n

– Travel Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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Smithsonian<\/em> magazine’s picks for the best books about travel of 2025 include Adventures in the Louvre<\/em>, On the Hippie Trail<\/em> and Things Become Other Things<\/em>.
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\u201cOne\u2019s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things,\u201d mused author Henry Miller<\/a> in his 1957 memoir Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>It\u2019s true: Travel has the power to transform. Expanding beyond our comfort zones can introduce us to unfamiliar ideas and ways of thinking, show us landscapes and cities we\u2019d never imagined, and offer insight into our own selves. And with this year\u2019s selection of best books about travel, we can experience it all simply by turning the pages.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s picks take us through time and place, from the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the waters that still hold its stories to the iconic Europe-to-South Asia \u201cHippie Trail\u201d of the 1970s. We embark on a circumnavigation of the globe at a time without cellphones, accompany a solo female motorcyclist on an epic journey across 25 countries, and set out on a 100-year history of the legendary Route 66. Brimming with practical tips, wondrous history and diverse perspectives, these works of writing deliver the world to us.<\/p>\n

On the Hippie Trail<\/em> by Rick Steves<\/h2>\n

Most people know guidebook author and travel TV host Rick Steves<\/a> as one of America\u2019s leading authorities on European travel. However, it was a transformative trip along the \u201cHippie Trail,\u201d a legendary Europe-to-South Asia overland route popular among counterculture travelers between the mid-1950s and late 1970s, that transformed Steves into the person he is today. In 1978, the then-23-year-old made his way from Istanbul to Kathmandu by way of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Steves\u2019 On the Hippie Trail<\/em><\/a> <\/em>documents it all, complete with original journal entries and color photos from the 3,500-mile trek. Unlike Steves\u2019 authoritative guidebooks, this hardcover travel narrative shows a young and wide-eyed traveler who\u2019s experiencing cultures and places for the very first time. At one point he\u2019s mulling over the disparities between the first world and the third world; at another he\u2019s staring in awe at the Taj Mahal. \u201cEurope is like a well-worn pair of shoes,\u201d he writes in the chapter titled \u201cLeaving Europe.\u201d \u201cBut as a traveler, I need more \u2026 something to wallop my norms.\u201d He found it on the Hippie Trail.<\/p>\n

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Route 66: The First 100 Years<\/em> by Jim Ross and Shellee Graham<\/h2>\n

When Route 66 opened for business in 1926, no one knew the impact it would have on the American zeitgeist. A century later, the 2,448-mile-long Mother Road that once linked hundreds of rural communities from Chicago to Los Angeles is a symbol of freedom, possibility and the open road. Route 66: The First 100 Years<\/em><\/a> <\/em>celebrates this legendary highway that came of age with the automobile, along with all the motor courts, neon signs and roadside attractions that sprung up with it.<\/p>\n

Acclaimed Route 66 ambassadors Jim Ross and Shellee Graham\u2014both of whom have spent three decades exploring and documenting the route\u2014capture the story of this incredible lifeline\u2019s heyday, demise and renaissance in their colorful 208-page tome. In addition to enticing chapters like \u201cRevolutionizing Travel,\u201d \u201cHard Times,\u201d and \u201cTrading Posts and Tourist Traps,\u201d the book is brimming with eye-catching photos (many of them vintage), memorabilia and essays from local experts detailing the history of Route 66 in states like Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. It\u2019s a nostalgic exploration of the people, places and experiences that helped shape this legendary roadway and pave the way for its enduring legacy.<\/p>\n

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Explore the route from its birth in 1926 through its centennial, and experience the events, people, and places that created the legacy ensuring America\u2019s Mother Road a place in the hearts and minds of the nation.<\/p>\n