Ten of the Best Travel Books of 2023

From Central Asia to the Balkans and beyond, the year's best travel books share autobiographical, anthropological, historical and even ecological views on some of the world's most fascinating places. In fact, 2023 seems to be the year for fascination and curiosity: each of these books, whether they deal with the Silk Road or road-tripping while Black in Jim Crow-era America, are written for those who want to learn something about the world around us — how it was, how it is today, and what it might become tomorrow.

They're for the travelers who want more than just ticking off a list of attractions on a map: they're for the discoverers, written by discoverers. We hope, as the winter grows colder and a New Year begins, that these books grant inspiration to travel in the year ahead and a new perspective on the world around us, which is far more interconnected than we can ever imagine.

"Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance," takes travelers on a deep dive analyzing the historical and personal narratives surrounding The Green Book, a travel guide published for African American travelers nearly each year between 1936 to 1967, offering destination guides, destination-based friendly hotels, restaurants and gas stations (such as those owned and operated by African Americans), as well as helpful travel tips and other information.

Hall takes us on his own Green Book journey from Detroit to New Orleans, and does a great job of explaining the realities of traveling as a Black person during this period, with anecdotes from travelers he met and spoke with. It's enlightening, emotional and extremely relevant, and is a great read for all travelers.

One word: enthralling! "Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel" by writer, translator and professor Shahnaz Habib opens a wonderful dialogue about travel: the privilege of travel for people from America and Europe, the differences between passports (they truly do have different levels of power), the impact of Colonialism and travel guides on travel, and their intended audiences — and so much more. It's a book you can begin and forget you're reading, until you're halfway through. She takes you from New York City to Japan to Turkey and beyond. It's as much an autobiography and travelogue as it a discourse on travel, and travel's history as a primarily First World invention.

Ever wondered about the origin stories of the world's place names? Duncan Madden's "Found in Translation: The Unexpected Origins of Place Names" is the book for you! It's a fascinating take explaining first contact, geography, myths and legends and more, all culminating in how the world got its names. We learn about the origins of Canada, from the Huron-Iriquois word for "village," and the origins of the name Malawi, which means "fire flames," in Chewa, thought to come from the time of the Maravi Empire and refer to either the people, who were skilled iron workers, or the way the sun rises above the scenic Lake Malawi. Madden explains the origins of the names of nearly 70 countries, and it's a great read for curious travelers, history lovers or word nerds.

While many travel books connect different places together like stacking pearls on a strong, Kapka Kassabova rests in one place: the Mesta river basin in southern Bulgaria, where ancient history lives hand-in-hand with the people who live there — and the plants that they've harvested for medicinal and food purposes for millennia, reminding readers of the connection between nature, time and humanity. Kassabova's book is a narrative of her time spent in the region, what she learns and encounters along the way. Poetic and wistful, it's a fascinating read for anyone who loves history, nature or the Balkans, with all its history both modern and ancient.

Best-selling author Pico Iyer is back with a travel-focused philosophical book: "The Half Known Life: Finding Paradise in a Divided World." Taking us on a journey to Iran, North Korea, Japan and beyond, Iyer considers whether it is possible to find paradise in this less-than-perfect world, taking inspiration and knowledge from different spiritual traditions and visiting the places that were, once, considered an earthly paradise, but have now become areas of conflict. It's considered one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, and is a great, emotional read for travelers searching for that elusive more.

Explorer and travel writer Leon McCarron takes readers on a journey down the Tigris River in modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq in his book, "Wounded Tigris: a River Journey Through the Cradle of Civilization." An undertaking of epic proportions and significant risk, the journey unfolds through Mesopotamia's ancient history to the region's current crises, including the threat of climate change and human development, which is even now putting the river, and the people who rely upon it, at risk. Armchair adventurers, travelers interested in ecological crises and history lovers will all love this book.

Seidel, an art historian, sketches connections between Arles's ancient past and site of the beginning of the medieval pilgrimage route, the Camino del Santiago, with Vincent Van Gogh's life and the art he produced there in her book, "Vincent's Arles: As It Is and As It Was." The book focuses upon Vincent's life and works, as well as the region's own history, often showcasing Vincent's letters to his brother about the place or his works. It's a love letter to Arles, now renowned by travelers across the globe as a must-visit for any fan of Van Gogh's work, but which has had an interesting history of its own far beyond the artist's short tenure there.

"Tender Maps: Travels in Search of the Emotions of Place," by Alice Maddicott is a rich and imaginative take on travel: what is it like to truly breathe in a place? To feel connected to it, emotionally and spiritually? To find joy and inspiration in discovery? These are some of the questions Maddicott encounters with us as she tells her story of psychogeometry, bringing us from Nashville to Venice to Tbilisi and beyond. The book is a series of ponderous essays, with each part focusing on a few subjects and destinations.

"Unravelling the Silk Road: Travels and Textiles in Central Asia" is as much an education about the importance of textiles and their subsequent trade around the world, which largely contributed to globalization even in the ancient world, as it is an exploration into the part of the world where the three textile roads can be found: the famous Silk Road, the even older Wool Road and the newer, more devastating Cotton Road, all in located in Central Asia, where east meets west. It's a wonderful and informative book by a man who has spent a decade and a half living in the region.

Traveling across the Himalayas in China, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, Norwegian author Erika Fatland invites us not only to discover the harsh geography of the massive mountain range, but also the diverse, multi-layered peoples who live there, each offering distinct, fascinating histories and cultures of their own that have survived not only the harsh landscape, but also harsh political and religious regimes in her book, "High: A Journey Across the Himalaya, Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal and China."