10 best travel books to satisfy your wanderlust in lockdown

Like so many of us, Claire Nelson had reached her thirties and despite outwardly appearing to have a good career and an exciting social life, had started to feel less than satisfied with her busy city lifestyle. With the aim of giving herself some time off to clear her head, she sets off on a hiking holiday to Joshua Tree Park in California. What should have been a chance to reconnect with nature and come back fully recharged, instead turned into this harrowing memoir of hope and survival after a grave wrong turn found Claire at the bottom of a remote gully with a fractured pelvis. Truly all alone, with no phone signal and little hope of being found, Nelson finds herself looking back on the life she lived and what she’s learnt along the way.

One of our very favourite travel writers, Anna Hart, fills us in on what has been a very enviable career so far, writing for Conde Nast Traveller, The Guardian, Suitcase, Stylist magazine and more. Specialising in adventure, Anna scatters genuinely useful tips for travelling better – both for ourselves but also for the planet, in-between thrilling stories. Without taking herself too seriously, she proves that travel has the ability to add value to our lives, no matter what stage we’re at and regardless of what or who we’re leaving behind. We challenge anyone not to jump on the next available flight after reading this but it will hold particular appeal to solo female travellers looking to embark on their next escapade.

Brave, reckless and passionate but also deeply troubled, this is the remarkable story of Marie Colvin’s life as told by her friend and fellow journalist Lindsey Hilsum. Risking her life time and again to get the story, Marie found herself in places other war correspondents wouldn’t dream of venturing, on the front line of some of the world’s most dangerous war zones. They say you should never judge a book by its cover but in this case, it’s pretty apt. Wearing her signature leather jacket and eye-patch, Marie Colvin’s story is every bit as badass as it looks and one that’s definitely worth discovering. Although her ground-breaking journalism actually changed the shape of history, it ultimately also cost Marie her life.

A familiar face on our TV screens, Simon Reeve has spent the past decade travelling to some of the remotest regions in the world in search of adventure with the BBC. His escapades have included tracking lions on foot, hunting with the Bushmen of the Kalahari and diving with sharks, alongside so much more. This title documents all of these exciting stories but also sheds light on Reeves’ own personal story, including how he left school with no qualifications, as well as a candid account of his battle with depression.

Home to unique wildlife and extraordinary volcanic landscape, the Galapagos Islands have long held an allure for conservationists and been the ultimate bucket list destination for keen explorers. Of huge ecological importance and one of the first Unesco World Heritage sites, today this archipelago is under threat from increased tourism. Taking his wife and two young daughters (aged just five and three at the time) along for the ride, this book documents marine biologist Monty Halls time living 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador for three months, in his role as president of the Galapagos Conservation Trust. If you’ve always dreamt about uprooting your family for an adventure of a lifetime, this one’s for you.

Although no stranger to train travel (Monisha Rajesh spent three months travelling around India for her last book using this method of transport), this time the entire world is her oyster and she’s roped in her less well travelled fiance to share the journey with her. Departing from London’s St Pancras, together they explore the highs and lows of countries and cultures, covering 45,000 miles in varying degrees of comfort. Although an upbeat and cheerful read, Rajesh doesn’t shy away from reporting the racism both herself and her husband encountered at times along the way. A page-turning look at the best and worst of humanity set to the gentle backdrop of locomotion.

If novels are more your thing, you’ll love Theatre for Dreamers, the fifth book from Samson, which is set on the intoxicating Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s. A look at the relationship between artist and muse, it follows a group of bohemians, including a young Leonard Cohen, seen through the eyes of teenager Erica. Dealing with her own grief, Erica found herself on the island after promising her dying mother she’d go on an adventure. This is exactly the sort of book we’d have picked up in duty-free, bound for a week of sun-lounging (those were the days) but it’s just as enticing, perhaps even more so, reading it from the familiarity of our own home.

Based on a true story, Tuk-Tuk for Two is the third in Adam Fletcher’s self-published Weird Travel series. With lots of laugh out loud moments, newly single Adam finds himself travelling around India in this slightly surreal mode of transport with a beautiful stranger. What could possibly go wrong? Armchair escapism that you’ll gobble up in one sitting.

Like so many other areas of history, the achievements of women are woefully underreported when it comes to travel writing. Journalist Mariella Frostrup set out to right that wrong by collating some of the most gripping travelogues she uncovered when researching the great women adventurers of our time. There will be many names within this book that you’ll never have heard of before, but none that you’ll forget after hearing their inspiring achievements.