For many among us, summer is the perfect season to travel the world and explore its many wonders. If you’re still in need of some inspiration or if you simply want to extend the experience, travel books can be the ideal way to broaden your horizon. We searched and found 5 recently published travel books for you to read this summer, at home or abroad.
1. Bizarre Belgium: 50 places for a weird day out
Whether you’ve been living in Belgium for years or you’re just planning a weekend visit, Bizarre Belgium: 50 places for a weird day out will be the ideal tool to make your Belgian wanderings more interesting. While most of us will already be acquainted with Belgium’s most famous sights, including Manneke Pis and the Atomium, authors Karen François and Kamiel de Bruyne specifically went looking for something else, something more, something weirder.
Through 50 sights in Belgium, they take the reader on a weird exploration around the country. Whether you’re most interested by an anus-shaped hotel room or Europe’s very first UFO memorial: they’ve covered it all. Perfect for a staycation or to give your Blitz visit to Brussels an extra dimension.
2. Go West: London to the Welsh Coast
Cycling holidays have become increasingly popular over the past few years, as tourists are looking for slower and more eco-friendly travel alternatives. Steve Silk, author of best seller The Great North Road, takes us on a new adventure, leading from London all the way to the Welsh Coast.
In Go West: London to the Welsh Coast, Silk cycles readers through a eight days and 300 miles long journey, passing by numerous backroads, castles, and other forgotten sights along the way. While riding through towns such as Oxford, Gloucester, Monmouth, and Carmarthen, he shows how easy it is to leave London by bike for an unforgettable cycling adventure.
3. Fiesta: a journey through festivity
What happens when you mix topics such as anthropology, history, psychology, and folklore? In Daniel Stables’ Fiesta; a journey through festivity, festivals around the globe are highlighted and analysed from different points of view, leading to an interesting overview of an eclectic collection of festivities.
From drunken pilgrimages to sacrificial funerals, national days to neo-pagan necromancy, the author covers it all. Through his work as a travel journalist, Stables was able to experience the festivals in person and to identify global links between the most particular of events. Whether you read this purely out of interest or to define your next travel destination, it is undoubtedly an interesting pageturner.
4. Women Travel Solo: 30 Inspiring Stories of Adventure, Curiosity and the Power of Self-Discovery
Solo travel is one of the most enriching journeys one can experience but it can also be a daunting thing to do. In Lonely Planet’s Women Travel Solo: 30 Inspiring Stories of Adventure, Curiosity and the Power of Self-Discovery, 30 inspirational stories from solo travelling women show how beautiful and empowering of an experience solo travel can be.
Through first-person accounts, women talk about hiking the Huemul Circuit in Patagonia, meeting the Reindeer Herders of Mongolia, hitchhiking in Mesopotamia, and more. They share their best tips for embarking on your own solo adventure, from successfully eating out on your own to staying safe in unknown territory.
5. The Sound of Many Waters: A Journey Along the River Tay
While you might not have heard of the River Tay before, it has the widest catchment area of any river in Britain. A large network of lochs, water bodies and smaller streams all come together in the mighty river, meandering through its surroundings as a common thread.
In The Sound of Many Waters: A Journey Along the River Tay, Robin Crawford takes us on a personal and a historical journey with the River Tay as a central theme. From the gold-panners on the river Cononish to Beatrix Potter’s holiday home near Dunkeld, all are connected through the same waters.
Extra: Dear New York
While this book is only scheduled to appear in October, we could not not include Brandon Stanton’s newest title in this list. Stanton, also known as the man behind the now famous Humans of New York Facebook page and book, once again dives into New York’s soul and secrets in Dear New York.
With over 500 full-color pages of portraits and stories from every corner of the city, 75% of which have never seen the light of day before, Stanton takes his readers on a surprising, moving, and more-meaningful-than-ever journey through New York. One to pre-order as soon as possible.
