Bookbound
The Literature Trend
Literary travel enters a new chapter
Whether it’s tracing the footsteps of fictional heroes, planning a slow holiday around a reading retreat or chasing the world’s most beautiful bookshops and libraries, people are choosing travel and literature to escape, reconnect and restore.
84% of travellers have booked, or would consider, a trip inspired by literature.
Hotel bookings using our “library” filter are up 70% globally YoY.1
Reading and travel are intrinsically linked
“Books open up the world to us, bringing us closer to new places, cultures, and perspectives. With 85% of book buyers reading to ‘relax or escape’2, it is no surprise that reading is a source of wanderlust, with books remaining an important travel companion for many. Reading and travel are intrinsically linked – books inspire real world journeys, which in turn create the space for people to lose themselves in books.”
Rebecca Sinclair
Chief Brand Officer at Penguin Books UK
Penguin’s recommended holiday reads for 2026
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Orlanda
Jaqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz
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Island Calling
Francesca Segal
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Beach Read
Emily Henry
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The Place of Tides
James Rebanks
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The Lagos Wife
Vanessa Walters
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Our Infinite Fates
Laura Steven
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Believe
S. M. Govett
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Strangers
Belle Burden
Penguin books to inspire your next travel destination
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Midnight’s Children
Salman Rushdie
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Is A River Alive?
Robert Macfarlane
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Mediterranea
Anastasia Miari
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Indignity: A Life Reimagined
Lea Ypi
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Death in the Arctic
Tom Hindle
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One Golden Summer
Carley Fortune
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Girl, Goddess, Queen
Bea Fitzgerald
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Our Oaken Bones
Merlin Hanbury-Tenison
The top literary travel experiences people would consider in the future are:
8 out of 10 travellers say reading time is important to them on a trip.
Library conversation views in travel subreddits are up 37% YoY, while reading retreat conversation views have climbed 60%3
- Data compares global hotel redirects on Skyscanner using the ‘library’ filter between 1 June 2024 – 31 May 2025 and the same period the previous year (1 June 2023 – 31 May 2024) ↩︎
- NielsenIQ BookData ↩︎
- Reddit Internal powered by Community Intelligence, Global, June 2024 to June 2025 vs June 2023 to June 2024. ↩︎