As a travel writer, I spend a great deal of time reading books and articles from other authors about their expeditions and adventures. During that time, I have compiled a short list of the 5 best adventure travel books that I’ve ever read.
Often, I believe that what makes a travel book so powerful is its ability to transport you to a completely different world. That could be a different place, time, or both. The best adventure travel books are often written about extreme locations, sometimes about places that may no longer exist. I always find myself filled with envy at the travel writers that were able to pave their way through history and embark on unique adventures.
These five books do just that, and if you enjoyed this list, check out another 10 of the best travel books here.
For now, my top 5 best adventure travel books are:
- The Marsh Arabs by Wilfred Thesiger
- Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
- BONUS – Out the Door by Matt Lynch
- A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby
- Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
- The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara
1. The Marsh Arabs by Wilfred Thesiger
Wilfred Thesiger is undoubtedly one of history’s greatest travel writers. His adventures have cemented themselves in travel lore and many expeditions have attempted to follow in his footsteps.
In The Marsh Arabs, Thesiger ventures into the wetlands of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Iraq. During the years Thesiger spent amongst these truly extraordinary tribes of people, he became involved in blood feuds, territorial disputes, and battles with giant river boar.
What makes this one of the best adventure travel books of all time, is its ability to step back into an age gone by. Due to extensive damming of the rivers in northern Iraq and societal shifts over the last 80 years, both the marsh landscapes and the people who lived there, have ceased to exist.
In that sense, it achieves the very thing that all travel writers search for: a timeless adventure captured succinctly amongst the pages of book.
If you enjoy The Marsh Arabs, then Thesiger’s book Arabian Sands is another astounding read.
2. Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
During the outbreak of WWII, German mountaineer and Olympic skier Heinrich Harrer finds himself in the Indian Himalayas – a region occupied by the British. After being captured in a prisoner of war camp, he decides to escape and trek over the high-mountain passes of the Himalayas into the Forbidden Kingdom of Tibet.
After fighting off bandits, hunger, and extreme conditions, he finds his way to Lhasa, capital of Tibet and a city where all foreigners are banned. Over the next 7 years, Harrer recounts in fascinating detail his life in Tibet, including his personal relationship with his holiness, the Dalai Lama.
Harrer is not a journalist, but he is an expeditionary and a man who found himself in the most unusual of circumstances. His matter-of-fact storytelling is fascinating, as are his endless stream of jaw-dropping anecdotes. Again, Harrer achieves what Thesiger does; he shows you through the window of adventure to a world that no longer exists and – due to Chinese occupation – shall perhaps never exist ever again.
3. BONUS – Out the Door by Matt Lynch
Yes, I am promoting my own book in a list of the best adventure travel books! To put my stories alongside those of Thesiger and Harrer is sacrilegious, but I am certain that my book is one that you will love.
If you find yourself yearning for adventures, dreaming of backpacking, and wondering about far-flung adventures, then you will enjoy my book as both fuel for your day dreams and a place to learn a thing or two, as I did on expeditions of my own.
Here is the blurb for Out the Door – 10 Tales of Adventure:
“One day, Matt shouldered a backpack and stepped out the door, to a world of travel writing and adventures. Over the five years that followed, he ventured through ten countries and three continents, from the lofty peaks of the Himalayas to the arid wastes of the Gobi desert. On rickety Soviet-era sleeper carriages and futuristic Japanese bullet trains he began to discover that travel was not always glamorous and that the rough tales could inform him just as much as the smooth. Follow along in ten stories, as Matt travels by train, boat, bus, rickshaw, camel, flippers, and his own two feet to explore the world and slake his thirst for adventure.”
4. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby
At first appearance, Eric Newby doesn’t seem to be much of an adventurer, working in a London fashion shop. However, he soon finds himself staring into the mouth of an expedition when he ventures into the Nuristan mountains of Afghanistan for a first ascent of Mir Samir.
Newby has an irresistibly charming way of storytelling which seems to revolve around stumbling through adventures by good old British charm and an upbeat attitude. However, he grows into the expedition with many wondrous descriptions and witty quips to craft a story worthy of the best adventure travel books.
5. Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
There is perhaps no adventure book that balances philosophy with mountaineering quite like Touching the Void. It is a genuine thought experiment, played out in real time with the highest stakes possible. Two young climbers attempt a first ascent of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. One climber falls off a snow cliff, leaving the other clinging onto the rope in the midst of a snowstorm trying to decide whether or not to cut the line and save himself, or hang on to potentially kill them both.
It is a great example of the naivety of youth fuelling a far-flung adventure, but with the sobering reminder that when you make that decision, you really are alone, in both the success and the consequences.
6. The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara
After the death (or CIA assassination if the conspiracy theories are to be believed) of the revolutionary figure Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, a satchel of his notebooks was found alongside letters for family members. These extracts were collected and gathered together to form The Motorcycle Diaries.
They tell the story of a young Che with his friend Alberto who buy a cheap motorcycle in Argentina and head off on a road trip around South America. During this time, Che underwent a significant change, impacted by what he saw and experienced. As a result, he began to form the political ideas of a people’s republic that would dominate the rest of his life.
What makes this book so exceptional is that Che never wrote the diaries for publication, and he may never have expected for them to see the light of day. Yet they are written with perfect detail, emotion and genuine insight. This book is proof that travel changes lives and that what you experience on the road can change you forever.
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