Call It a ‘Book-cation’ or a ‘Readaway,’ Literary Travel Is Having a Moment
In the book “People We Meet on Vacation,” by Emily Henry, the protagonists take a series of trips, including a pivotal one to Croatia.
This summer, the travel company EF Ultimate Break will offer a 12-day trip to Croatia based on the book. Part of a new BookTok-inspired series of trips, the itinerary shadows the plot with visits to Dubrovnik and Split and adds a cruise among Croatian islands, amplifying the romance of a beachy destination that oozes with history.
“You can imagine following along with the story,” said Alyssa Sands, the director of market development for the company.
Never mind “The White Lotus.” On the heels of “set-jetting” comes “book-cations”: trips that visit a locale of a favorite book, a place where an author lived or simply where the conditions are conducive to reading.
In its 2026 travel trends report, the flight-tracking site Skyscanner found that 55 percent of travelers had booked a trip or would consider one inspired by a book. The vacation rental platform Vrbo coined the term “readaways,” or book-inspired group travel, in its trend report, noting that 91 percent of respondents registered interest in a trip devoted to reading and relaxing.
Resort book clubs, hotel libraries and a growing number of literary festivals are also offering readers new ways to indulge readers’ interests. This comes despite a recent finding that the share of people who read for pleasure has dropped 40 percent since 2003.
It helps that vacations often grant time to read.
“It’s about shutting off the computer and the phone and calming yourself down,” said Jane Ubell-Meyer, the founder of Bedside Reading, a service that teams up with hotels to offer complimentary access to a digital library of more than 200 titles. “I think a book helps you with that.”
Bookish travel isn’t new — think of the legions of visitors to Pamplona, Spain, inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” or the Janeites who visited England last year to celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, or those trekking there this year for the centenary of Winnie-the-Pooh’s birth.
“A book can give you the significance of a place that a guidebook or travel article won’t,” said Amy Alipio, a founding member of the Travel Book Club, a Substack-based reading circle.
Book trips offer a new way to see something familiar.
“Literature gives us a purpose,” said Renee Haight of Phoenix, who has traveled to New York and plans to travel to England with Novel Travels, a company that organizes literary journeys. “I’m 84 years old and I’ve seen enough old buildings.”
Sometimes a good book can make you nostalgic for a place you’ve never seen.
“Books open doors to other worlds,” said Sarah Moriarty, the director of the Charleston Literary Festival in Charleston, S.C. “It’s not a huge surprise that many would take the leap to travel with their feet.”
When they do, the following travel companies help bring the pages to life, or at least create the ideal reading conditions.
Hotels With Reading Habits
Many hotels, such as the Plaza in New York, home to “Eloise” and a scene in “The Great Gatsby,” are associated with books. Others, like the Betsy-South Beach in Miami, which hosts writers-in-residence, champion them.
More hotels are jumping on the literary bandwagon. This month, Avani Hotels & Resorts started a book club at its 44 properties, including on-site book corners where guests can borrow books that reflect the destination (such as “The Miniaturist” at the Avani in Amsterdam), a website listing titles by location and author events.
Several of these programs aim to unite guests through a love of reading. The book club at Scribner’s Catskill Lodge in Hunter, N.Y., selects a book each quarter and invites readers to stay at the lodge to meet the author.
In the Maldives, the InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort names a book of the month that guests can borrow, designed to stimulate conversation.
New three-night reading retreats at Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas, alternate reading time with yoga and mindfulness sessions and author meet-and-greets.
Many hotels offer surprise titles. Guests who sign up for the “literary sabbatical” package at the Williams Inn in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts will find books in their room, selected by a local bookstore and based on their preferences.
Four properties of the Kennebunkport Resort Collection in Maine provide books wrapped to disguise titles and identified by clues like “compelling and profound” or “friendship and enlightening.”
“People aren’t just traveling to stories; they’re traveling into the conditions where they can actually read again,” said Ms. Ubell-Meyer of Bedside Reading, which offers access to books in more than 60 hotels nationwide.
Literary Trips
The boom in bookish trips ranges from day-trips to weeklong vacations.
Last fall, the Nickel Plate Express, a heritage railway in Noblesville, Ind., started Read and Rides: two-hour excursions that invite bookworms to read while enjoying the rural Indiana scenery. Expect the ride to be library-quiet in a pair of 68-seat cars.
The England-based Ladies Who Lit acts like a traveling book club. Instead of a gathering at a member’s house, the club might assemble 12 to 14 readers over five nights in Barbados or the Swiss Alps with a book discussion on the final night.
While Ladies Who Lit books are chosen for fostering conversation, other tours take a literal approach to a place. Timbuktu Travel offers custom itineraries in South Africa, based on “Long Walk to Freedom,” by Nelson Mandela, and in India, related to “Eat Pray Love,” by Elizabeth Gilbert.
“The author is usually asking you to sit with a place rather than rush past it,” said Johnny Prince, the co-founder and chief executive. “The clients we see choosing book-led trips are opting out of the highlights reel and into something a little more considered.”
Two years ago, Novel Travels began running tours in New York tied to the historical fiction of Fiona Davis, whose novels, including “The Lions of Fifth Avenue,” are often based on New York buildings. Most trips are capped at 14 readers and include book discussions, sightseeing and author chats.
A 2027 departure to Egypt features a pre-trip reading list that includes Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile,” Marie Benedict’s “Daughter of Egypt” and Ms. Davis’s “The Stolen Queen.” The titles are united in discussion by the question: Whose history survives?
“Travel becomes more meaningful when you already feel something for that destination, which books give you,” said Corinne Levine, the founder of Novel Travels.
Bookish Events
Literary festivals add celebrity to gatherings of like minds.
Last fall, the first Aspen Literary Festival aimed to attract readers during the mountain town’s quieter shoulder season with a program that embraced a range of genres. Most of the events were free, attracting about 2,000 attendees from around the country.
Its second iteration, Sept. 25 to 27, will feature a lineup that includes the authors Tayari Jones, Robert Kolker and Jennette McCurdy.
“We wanted to create a festival for anyone who ever fell in love with a book,” said Adrienne Brodeur, the executive director of Aspen Words, the nonprofit that runs the festival.
Since 2023, the Santa Fe International Literary Festival has combined appearances by well-known writers (including, this year, Isabel Wilkerson and Ocean Vuong) with literary day trips (recently to Taos, N.M., to retrace visits by the “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” author, D.H. Lawrence) and culinary events. The 2027 festival will take place May 14 to 16.
Now in its 10th year, the Charleston Literary Festival (Nov. 6 to 15) features roughly 50 events and has hosted writers, including Joyce Carol Oates and David Szalay, who won the Booker Prize last year.
The program offers V.I.P. experiences, including exclusive parties as well as a book club concierge dedicated to helping lit-loving groups coordinate their stays. Most events take place in the 500-seat Dock Street Theater.
