5 of the Best Vacations for Book Lovers

For some travelers, the perfect vacation means a beach and a cocktail. For others, it means a stack of books, a city full of stories, and the chance to walk in the footsteps of the writers who shaped the way they see the world. Literary travel, the art of building a vacation around bookshops, libraries, authors’ homes, and the places that made great literature possible, is a rewarding way to explore a destination, especially for book lovers.

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Portland, Oregon

The Pacific Northwest’s creative capital has cultivated one of the strongest bookish cultures in the US. It’s a city where independent publishing thrives, readers are regulars, and there’s never a night without an open mic, storytelling hour, or poetry slam. Whether you’re hunting for a rare first edition, catching a debut author’s first public reading, or simply want to spend a rainy afternoon surrounded by shelves, Portland made an art of the reading vacation long before it became a trend.

Here's what to add to your literary itinerary in Portland:

Powell’s City of Books: Powell’s is the largest independent bookstore brand in the world and is beloved for its collection of new, used, and rare books. While at the flagship location on Burnside Street, be sure to check out the Rare Book Room on the third floor. This space contains more than 1,000 square feet of dark wood shelving, antique furniture, and thousands of Powell’s most valuable titles.
Portland Book Festival: Held annually every November, the festival draws more than 100 local and national authors to the Portland Art Museum and surrounding venues for author talks, panels, readings, workshops, live music, book fair, and food trucks. It’s considered one of the country’s best events of its kind!
The Heathman Hotel: The Heathman is the ideal home base for fervent readers. Its stunning two-story library features mahogany walls, an ornate chandelier, and over 3,000 author-signed books.
The Stacks Coffeehouse: This beloved North Portland spot blends a community library with a coffee shop. The entire book collection was assembled thanks to generous donations. Inside, the vibe is relaxed and unhurried. Writing sessions and open mics are regular occurrences.
“The Knowledge” Mural: The mural is a block-long, digitally printed mural of stacked books. If you’re looking for the perfect bookish photo op, head over to the east exterior wall of the 5th Avenue Cinema to find it.

New York City, New York

Aside from being the beating heart of the publishing industry, the Big Apple inspired some of the most iconic novels ever written. Literary history is found around every corner, including its bars, parks, and buildings. Today, thousands of readers flock to New York to take in its book scene, festivals, and the neighborhoods that still inspire the creative energy behind the written word.

A reading vacation in New York wouldn't be complete without stopping by:

The Strand Bookstore: The Strand is a literary institution. The original location on Broadway is iconic for its massive collection. Similar to Portland’s Powell’s, the Strand is known for new and used books as well as its own open-to-the-public Rare Book Room.
New York Public Library: The beautiful main branch on Fifth Avenue is one of the city’s most marvelous structures. Visitors adore the Rose Main Reading Room in particular for its ceilings painted with murals of billowing clouds. The library is free for all to visit. As a bonus, anyone who lives, works, or pays property taxes in New York State is eligible for a library card.
The Library Hotel: The Library Hotel is famous for its approach to naming guest floors and the decor inside rooms on each floor. Each of the 10 guest floors is themed after a category of the Dewey Decimal System, with all 60 rooms individually decorated with 50-150 books exploring a specific subject within that category. Guests also get access to other book-themed spaces within the hotel, including the 24/7 Reading Room and the rooftop lounge, which transforms nightly into the Bookmarks Lounge with literary-inspired cocktails.
Brooklyn Book Festival: One of the country’s premier literary events, the festival runs nine days every September. It includes citywide events, a virtual festival day, children’s day, and an all-day celebration in Downtown Brooklyn.
Literary Walk in Central Park: The southern section of The Mall in Central Park is lined with statues of literary greats, including Shakespeare, Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott.

Baltimore, Maryland

The city was once given the nickname “The City that Reads” as part of a campaign to promote literacy. Today, the slogan remains true, as Baltimore lives and breathes reading and writing culture. It has centuries of authentic literary heritage, a community where independent booksellers and neighborhood reading rooms thrive, and a one-of-a-kind free book giveaway that runs entirely on the goodwill of its residents.

If your literary travels take you to Baltimore, be sure to visit:

The Edgar Allan Poe Trail: Baltimore’s most iconic literary pilgrimage starts at the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, a National Historic Landmark where Poe lived in the 1830s and launched his writing career. From there, it’s a short walk to Westminster Hall & Burying Ground, Poe’s final resting place. Plus the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival brings the city together every October for a free, family-friendly celebration of Poe’s life and legacy, complete with performances, art, vendors, and a funeral reenactment.
The George Peabody Library: One of the most breathtaking rooms in America and Baltimore’s crown literary jewel. Known as the “Cathedral of Books,” this stunning library features a soaring six-story atrium with ornate cast-iron balconies, patterned marble floors, and a criss-crossed glass skylight flooding the space with natural light. The collection holds over 300,000 volumes, including first editions by Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville, and a first edition of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.
The Book Thing: Once a month, this organization opens its doors to welcome readers in to pick and choose books to take home for free.
The Ivy Bookshop: This beloved community bookstore is found in the historic Mt. Washington neighborhood inside a captivating 19th-century building surrounded by three acres of gardens.
Cuples Tea House and Vinyl & Pages: These two Black-owned businesses operate under the same roof and serve as hubs for creativity, conversation, and cultural exchange. Whether you’re browsing books, flipping through records, or settling in for tea, this is one of the most genuinely special stops in the city.
Bluebird Cocktail Room: Found in the Hampden neighborhood, this literary-inspired bar draws influences from the Lost Generation writers, including Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Edinburgh, Scotland

There are cities that inspire great literature, and then there are cities that look like they were conjured from it. Edinburgh is the latter. It is a dramatic, moody, medieval city that looks plucked from a Gothic novel. It’s no coincidence that the city has produced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, J.M. Barrie, Muriel Spark, and J.K. Rowling, or that it became the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature in 2004.

Make sure these literary experiences are on your Edinburgh itinerary:

Edinburgh International Book Festival: This international book festival is one of the largest of its kind in the world and is held every August at the Edinburgh College of Arts. Leading and emerging authors from around the globe come together for author talks, book signings, creative writing workshops, panel discussions, performances, and interactive events.
Topping & Company Booksellers: Topping & Company is often considered one of the most beautiful bookstores in the UK. Inside, you’ll marvel at the floor-to-ceiling shelves, rolling ladders, cozy reading nooks, and curated selection of 70,000 titles.
The Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour: Two professional actors lead this acclaimed two-hour theatrical walking tour through Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns, performing a dramatic and humorous script that brings 300 years of Scottish literary history to life. The tour begins inside The Beehive Inn and winds through some of the city’s most storied pubs. Running year-round, it’s one of the best ways to experience the city’s literary soul after dark.

London, England

London’s literary history is woven into its everyday fabric. The same streets that inspired Dickens are still being walked. The pubs where writers argued and drank and scribbled are still pouring pints. And sitting alongside all of that history is a book culture that is very much alive today, with world-class bookshops, one of the greatest libraries ever assembled, and a theater scene still putting Shakespeare’s words in front of new audiences. When it comes to vacations for book lovers, you can’t get much better than London.

You'll want to add these experiences to your itinerary:

The Globe Theatre: Faithfully reconstructed according to the look of the original Elizabethan playhouse, this theatre is where Shakespeare’s career took off. Outdoor productions run throughout the warmer months. Getting a groundling, or standing ticket, only costs a few pounds and lets you see one of the Bard’s tales just as it was intended to be seen.
The Charles Dickens Museum: This beautifully preserved townhouse was Dickens’ London home and the place where he wrote some of his most beloved works. Visitors can see his writing desk, personal letters, and the dining room where he entertained guests. Costumed tours run on the third Saturday of every month for a truly immersive experience.
The Sherlock Holmes Museum: This museum brings Holmes and Watson’s world to life with meticulously recreated rooms straight from the pages of Conan Doyle’s stories.
The Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey: Considered one of the greatest literary monuments in the world, this space houses graves and memorials of English-speaking literary giants. Geoffrey Chaucer was its first resident in 1400, and today it holds the graves of Tennyson, Dickens, and Kipling, alongside memorials to Shakespeare, Austen, Keats, Shelley, T.S. Eliot, and Milton.
Hatchards in Piccadilly: The oldest bookshop in the UK features five floors of curated books, signed first editions, and rare titles, all housed in a charming interior with a central winding staircase and intimate browsing areas.
The British Library: Every publication produced in the UK and Ireland is sent here, resulting in a collection of over 150 million items. The Treasures Gallery alone is extraordinary; it includes the Magna Carta, Shakespeare’s First Folio, the Gutenberg Bible, original manuscripts by Austen, Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Lewis Carroll, and even handwritten Beatles lyrics. The six-story King’s Library glass tower is a jaw-dropping sight.
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese: No trip to London would be complete without a pub stop. Rebuilt after the Great Fire of London in 1666, this legendary pub welcomed Dickens, Twain, and many other literary minds.

Plan Your Holiday Escape

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