Reading and travel go together like wine and cheese. A good book after a long day’s hike can be worth just as much as a travel companion. In the airport, on the train, in front of a fire at a B&B after a day on the trails, your holiday will offer opportunities for you to pick up that outdoor travel book that has been lying around unread.
What’s even more important than reading? Reading books about travel, of course. And what’s more important than reading books about hiking and travelling? Well, actually getting out there and hiking, of course. It usually all starts with the right amount of inspiration and motivation, a small idea strolling through your brain which sprouts into an epic outdoor adventure.
Here are some titles that might inspire or accompany you on your hiking holiday.
Bill Bryson – A Walk in the Woods
Hike along with a hilarious guide full of mishaps
There’s probably no book about hiking funnier than this autobiographical account by Bill Bryson. It details his adventures along the Appalachian Trail in his usual skillful and humorous style. Bryson proves capable of describing the most bizarre situations. You will not find a more entertaining guide to tell you about the encounters and experiences on the trail.
This book isn’t just a comical experience of two men on a hike. It treats its readers to historical information and introspective thoughts on the complexity of friendships and personal limitations. If you’re looking for the master in writing books about travel, then look no further.
Haruki Murakami – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
A personal story on persistence and process
The books of Haruki Murakami can often be seen as a hike: a walk on the border between everyday moments and the supernatural. This book is a surprisingly autobiographical and down-to-earth account of Murakami’s relationship with running. It is shaort and very easy to read. The average hiker might be put off by the title, but this book is about more than just the ultra-marathon (62 miles!) that Murakami ran. It’s a story of persistence, the struggle of ageing, travel and insights into life from one of the greatest Japanese writers of our times.
Raynor Winn – The Salt Path
Personal and financial misfortune spurs a long distance hike
A couple lose their home, become bankrupt and receive a devastating medical diagnosis. Struggling to cope with the magnitude of what is facing them they embark on a year long coastal trek along the South West Coast Path. Along the way they test the strength of their relationship with just enough money to survive, they aim to walk the whole of the Salt Path without having a solution to their problems. Raynor’s husband develops a health issue on the hike compounding a bad situation. Is there redemption and happiness to be had on the trail? Despite controversy about the factual accuracy of the story it is a great read and even spurred a feature film.
Robert Louis Stevenson – Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
Some consider this to be the original modern travel book
One of the originals of walking literature—charming, wry, and surprisingly modern in spirit. In order to forget an unfulfilled love interest a young Stevenson decides to hike the 200km journey into the sparsely populated and impoverished areas of the Cévennes mountains in south-central France in 1878. He recalls the difficulty he has in managing his beligerent donkey “Modestine” and encounters bemused peasants. It is one of the earliest accounts to present hiking and camping outdoors as a recreational activity and the first instance of a sleeping bag as he sleeps outdoors.
Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist
Brazil’s magician of literature sells 150m copies
This enchanting novel by Paulo Coelho has taken over the world. Santiago, a shepherd’s boy from Andalusia, travels from Spain to the Egyptian desert, looking for a treasure he believes to be buried there. The inspiring story draws its strength from the utter simplicity and the remarkable encounters along the way. Towards the end of the book, the focus on a physical treasure shifts to a more abstract inner wealth – the kind of treasure that any hiker has searched for in one way or another. It truly is an inspirational book about hiking.
Rory Stewart – The Places In Between
Stewart believes walking can be a transformative experience
The Places In Between is Rory Stewart’s gripping memoir of walking across Afghanistan in the winter of 2002, just after the fall of the Taliban. Travelling mostly on foot from Herat to Kabul, he moves through remote valleys and snowbound passes, relying on local hospitality, tribal networks, and sharp judgment to keep going—often accompanied by a scrappy dog he names Babur. It’s a vivid, ground-level portrait of a country’s landscapes and communities, told with the steady momentum of a journey where every day’s miles feel earned. The New York Times named it one of the top-ten books of 2006. Stewart ran as an independent candidate for the 2020 London mayoral election, highlighting his campaign with daily walks across all London boroughs to engage directly with residents. He withdrew form the race after the election was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tony Hawks – Round Ireland with a Fridge
A bizarre trip around the Emerald Isle warms the heart
This is an odd book with an even odder premise. Hawks hitchhikes around Ireland with a small fridge after making a drunken bet, sparked by seeing someone apparently trying to thumb a lift with a fridge. The result is a comic travel memoir that touches on the unique character and tapestry that makes Ireland so unique. Over the course of a month-long, madcap journey, Tony and his fridge travelled from Dublin to Donegal and down around the country via Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Wexford and Wicklow, meeting a real prince and a bogus king along the way and even getting the fridge christened before returning to Dublin. It even inspired a movie some years later.
Andrew Forsthoefel – Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time
Ambition and youth combine for a compelling tale
Walking to Listen follows Andrew Forsthoefel, a 23-year-old just out of college, as he walks roughly 4,000 miles across the United States carrying a sign that explains his purpose: to listen. Along the way, he records conversations with strangers and weaves their voices—often introduced through short interview transcripts—into a narrative that’s less about landmarks and more about people, generosity and the realities of American life. Underneath the miles is a personal quest too: making sense of adulthood, finding direction, and working through the shock of his parents’ divorce and his relationship with his father.
Cheryl Strayed – Wild
A 1,100 mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail to escape her demons
As a result of personal trauma, bad choices and family loss Strayed hiked 1,100 miles alone along the Pacific Crest Trail, a continuous wilderness undulating from Mexico to Canada over nine mountain ranges. A novice with an overloaded pack, she endures heat, snow, fear, injury, and loneliness, while the story of her grief and past unspools alongside the daily grind of the trail. More than a wilderness travelogue, it’s a sharp, candid account of how sustained physical challenge and the quiet companionship of books and chance trail encounters can help someone feel “found” again.
Rachel Joyce – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
A hike of compassion
Everyone has their own reasons to commit to a hike, but protagonist Harold Fry’s ideas are rather unique. When he receives a letter from an old friend in hospice who tells him goodbye, he immediately writes her a reply. A walk to post the letter in the mailbox gradually turns into a 600 mile hike, as Harold becomes convinced that his friend will stay alive as long as he keeps walking and delivers the letter directly to her. A book about relationships and acceptance that is as funny as it is sad.
Lisa Dempster – Neon Pilgrim
Walking a pilgrimage in Japan
Everyone can start hiking, proves this autobiographical book of Lisa Dempster. Without motivation and overweight, the Australian woman starts a 750-mile pilgrimage in Japan. The book provides a fascinating insight into the world of the Japanese pilgrimage, but is nevertheless an honest and witty account of the personal struggles of the author – definitely a book that should be read by whoever is interested in hiking in Japan.
We hope that you enjoyed this guide and will check out some of these hiking book recommendations. If you’re interested in getting out on the hills yourself and taking a hiking tour, just get in touch.
