Now, write this down.
Books that helped me plan travel.
The list was in the order of the hawker centers we planned to visit. First, the Hainanese Chicken Rice, then the Chilli Crab, and finally Sup Tulang, the mutton bone soup.
All stops had been guided by watching hours of Anthony Bourdain, and they all ultimately came from the Makansutra Singapore Guide founded by KF Seetoh.
It was 2009. We were moving back to the U.S. after living for three years in Brazil and we realized that for a short time, a month to be exact, we didn’t need to be there or here, so we spent the time traveling Southeast Asia.
It was the first time I relied heavily on a written book to plan our travel. I picked out things that sounded interesting, mostly food. Okay, it was all food. Then I made a list and mapped out the hawker centers where the food was located ultimately giving us a full itinerary for the trip.
This experience may be the reason that travel planning from books holds such priority for me now. Yes, there are travel blogs and articles. If you can find some that aren’t written solely for SEO and tell you something helpful, you can gather tips here and there. But a book that has it all in one place? There is nothing like it for travel planning.
These travel books are rare, and understandably so. The time from research, to writing, to publishing can be long, and many things change sometimes making a book inaccurate before you can even click to buy.
But if you search hard enough, they are out there. They may not be in a “Guide to” form that you would expect. They also might not be brand new. Age on a book doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant. There are still places going strong many years later that you can pull out among those that no longer exist.
Since that trip to Singapore years ago, these are books that I have found especially helpful for planning travel. They are also exceptional reads, teaching about culture, food, and attractions even if you don’t plan to physically step foot on the streets.
(Most of these link to my affiliate bookshop at Bookshop.org. They also have ebooks now, yay!)
My Beer Year: Adventures with Hop Farmers, Craft Brewers, Chefs, Beer Sommeliers and Fanatical Drinkers as a Beer Master in Training by Lucy Burningham. This is a delightful memoir and the author’s travels to Germany and Belgium to explore beer gave me many travel tips. And it’s written by a woman in beer. So there is that.
Belgian Cafe Culture: A portrait of the iconic cafe by Regula Ysewijn. A history book to hold on to. Photographing a book like this would be my absolute dream. The author dives into the stories of disappearing beer cafes in Belgium. I read this several years ago and knew it would come in handy. It did, just last year when we finally made it to Belgium. And we did find two cafes still operating in Brussels - À la Mort Subite and Au Daringman. Unfortunately, Au Daringman just closed in December 2024.
Pasta Pane Vino: Deep Travels through Italy’s Food Culture by Matt Goulding. I owe so much of my food exploration in Italy to the things mentioned in this book. It gave me ideas for food, drinks, and regions to seek out. I also read Rice, Noodle, Fish which is equally enjoyable, but I haven’t made it to Japan yet. I did use it to help me navigate a Japanese food court in LA, though.
Hawaii The Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guide Book and The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook by Andrew Doughty. These are reference books and not travel stories or memoirs, but I couldn’t have planned our first trips to the Big Island or Kauai without them. You’ll also get local tips such as one of the best places to get poke is right in Foodland supermarket.
Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World by Jeff Gordinier. The book covers the author’s adventures following René Redzepi for four years and it is both insightful and enjoyable to read. It is the chapters on Mexico that gave me tips for our trip to Oaxaca this past December.
The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World's Most Expensive Fungus by Ryan Jacobs. This book taught me so much about truffles. It’s such an informative and interesting read. For travel, it gave me a regional knowledge of where they come from for future exploration.
My Portugal: Recipes and Stories by George Mendes and Genevieve Ko. I knew a little about Portuguese food before jumping into this book, thanks to living in Brazil. But I might not have made it to Cervejaria Ramiro if I hadn’t read it before traveling to Lisbon. That place remains one of our top cultural dining experiences of all our travels.
Classic German Baking: The Very Best Recipes for Traditional Favorites, from Pfeffernüsse to Streuselkuchen by Luisa Weiss. I had been to Germany’s Christmas Markets and explored bakeries there before encountering this book, but it gave me much more to explore. I refer to it anytime we are headed to the region or when I encounter a German bakery in the States so I know what I shouldn’t miss. I’m looking forward to finishing Classic German Cooking next.
Any that I need to add to the list? Let me know!
Also, if you read the title and your mind went to the George Strait song like mine did, high five. I don’t listen to much country music anymore, but I grew up with the classics.