What makes travel writing good?

So what makes people want to read travel writing? Is it because we wish we were on the trips ourselves? Maybe we don't have the time or the money to go to Africa on Safari, so going along with a writer is the next best thing? Or maybe we like to read about places we are going to visit soon, to get an idea of what to expect? Or we want to remember all of the great things about a trip that we took in the past, so we find a writer who can share those stories with us?

The reason that I love travel writing combines all of these ideas and more. I love to read fiction stories because of their vivid detail and descriptions. I can't get these vivid descriptions about travel without the travel writing genre. Yet some writing that seems to be travel writing, is more like an advertisement than a real piece of writing.

The kind of writing that is usually found in booklets or brouchures about trips is not very vivid at all. For example, this is a website dedicated to trip advice, and information on various destinations. The description of Finger Lakes found on the home page is rather bland.

"Finger Lakes, NY: The Finger Lakes region of New York is a land of stunning scenery including beautiful lakes, rolling hills, spectacular vineyards, and over 1,000 waterfalls. From the award winning wineries - to the relaxing spas - to the world-class museums, the variety of experiences visitors can enjoy throughout the region is impressive."

Ok, so Finger Lakes has a lot to offer, but I still can't see it. I would rather read a paragraph about someone taking an afternoon trip to one of those 1,000 waterfalls, to see what they are like through their eyes.

I looked around online for an example of what I think is "good" travel writing, and I found Chuck Thompson.

Check out the excerpt from his book "Smile When You're Lying". He shows how travel writing can be great, and he also goes on to explain what is wrong with a lot of travel writing today. He gives an example of some writing from Outside magazine, and calls it "chirpy discourse" which is an accurate description in comparison to his dark and humorous writing. He has a sense of humor about his travels, and he really gives the writing a personal voice.

Here Thompson talks about what he thinks is wrong with some travel writing:

"The biggest reason travel writing is dull, as Queenan correctly pointed out, is that most of it is devoid of anything approaching an authentic point of view. On those rare occasions when travel writers are allowed to express an actual opinion, it must be a completely harmless one that's also shared by the travel industry at large. These are usually offered as hard-hitting commentaries describing how “quaint” a hotel room is, how “mind-blowing” a nature park is, or how “mouthwatering” a chef's specialty is. Everything is superlative. Like being a sports fan, one of the best things about being a traveler is complaining about the parts you don't like—hating the Dallas Cowboys not only doesn't make me any less a football fan, it probably makes me a more avid one. This is a concept the travel industry has never embraced."

I agree completely with his assesment. I love travel writers who embrace what they don't like about a destination, or who simply describe the place in a way that shows us what is scary, or unappealing about it. Someone who seems like he is never afraid to say what is on his mind, and describe it in detail is Anthony Bourdain who is a cook, author, and television star.

Here is an example of the way that he describes a trip to Portugal in his book A Cook's Tour on travelling the world to sample the foods from different cultures.

“So it was with a mixture of excitement, curiosity and dread that I woke up on a cold, misty morning in Portugal and looked out the window of my room at orderly rows of leafless grapevines, the fires from distant hearths issuing smoke into a gray sky over the valley. Where I was staying was a bed-and-breakfast, a seventeenth-century quinta (a private home turned country inn) about half a mile from the Meirelles farm. It was set back from a twisting country road, past an arbor, surrounded by fields and orange groves and mountains, looking in every way as it must have four hundred years ago.”

This sounds like the opening lines of a novel. So I think I have figured it out:
It is description, detail, and use of a personal voice that makes a good piece of travel writing worth reading.


Bourdain, A. (2001). A Cooks tour: in search of the perfect meal [pp 19]. (Amazon look inside), Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com


Thompson, C. (2007). Chuck thompson: author of to hellholes and back and smile when you're lying. Retrieved from http://www.chuckthompson.com/excerpt-smile.html


Trip advisor. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.tripadvisor.com/