Travel literature is a broad and popular genre of writing covering adventure and exploration, travel writing collections, travel-related memoirs, and travel-centric fiction. Travel writing often blends with essay writing, coming in the form of travel writing collections or as features in magazines. Styles range from journalistic, to the introspective, to funny, and to serious. Early examples appear in medieval China, ancient Greece, and in early Arabic literature.

Historical

• The Travels of Marco Polo. One of the classic travel books (published around 1300) that gave some of the first insights into travelling to Asia from Europe. The linked article can provide background and the itinerary. (updated Nov 2018)

20th Century

Long distance travel became more accessible to people in the 20th century.

• On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Considered one of the great American novels, it tells of multiple road trips across the United States with the beatnik generation in the post-war years of 1947-1950. (updated Nov 2018)

See also

• Fiction tourism
• Travel writing