A dozen beautiful travel coffee table books to inspire your next getaway.
My coffee table is the one space where I give myself full permission to judge books by their covers. After all, coffee table books are decorative art pieces with punchy titles that say, “this is me, and these are my interests.”
The best coffee table books inspire and encourage you to spend more time doing things that bring you joy. They make your house feel more like a passion-aligned home.
As a travel lover, most of the coffee table books I own are (to no one’s surprise) travel-related. Here are twelve of my favorites.
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12 Gorgeous Travel Coffee Table Books
Wally Koval
Accidentally Wes Anderson
Accidentally Wes Anderson is proof that the soft, pastel pinks of the Grand Budapest Hotel really do exist (in Prague, Havana, and Singapore). This travel coffee table book reframes historic hotels, offbeat viewfinders, and colorful railway stations through Wes Anderson’s signature aesthetic (picture: vibrant palettes, striking symmetry, and a beautifully even tone). The stories behind the destinations are just as intriguing as the film-like photos, too (if you enjoy the way Atlas Obscura pinpoints the idiosyncrasies of places, you’ll love this curation).
Nick Pachelli
The Tennis Court
Nick Pachelli’s The Tennis Court is the travel coffee table book that nudges me to move. I’m not a tennis player (I still can’t serve), but I do find tennis nostalgic. My dad and I visited a neighborhood tennis court every summer, and although I mostly hit the net, I still have fond memories of the sport. The Tennis Court draws up those memories. The way Pachelli writes is so immersive you feel like you can hear the sound of the ball. The photos bounce from court to court (around the world). White baselines look like painter’s tape stretched over canvases of clay and grass. My favorite spreads: the hard, green tennis court tucked into a cove in Positano, the lavender court of Jeju, and the burnt orange court enclosed by Rotterdam’s dark blue waterways.
Gray Malin
Dogs
A photo series of pooches in nine of the most luxurious hotels in the United States (plus a detour to London and another to Paris), Gray Malin’s Dogs has the amped-up glitz of Beverly Hills Chihuahuas and the classic Americana of Cassius Marcellus Coolidge’s Dogs Playing Poker. The photos are crisp and feel-good (think: a dalmatian and a retriever dressed in scarves and fuzzy caps on a snowy trip to Aspen).
Frances Mayes & Ondine Cohane
Always Italy
Always Italy, in its physical, printed format, is such a brick of a guidebook that it’s practically a coffee table book (so that’s how I think of it). Frances Mayes and Ondine Cohane reveal the best of Italy and many of its secrets. Always Italy reads like an armchair travel story, spotlights all twenty regions of the country, and pulls in over 300 photos from National Geographic. Although you’re equally as likely to find a picture of pork hanging from wood as you are of the intricacies of Italian architecture, this travel coffee table book remains immersive.
Ajiri Aki
Joie
Joie de vivre is a little French phrase that describes the act of celebrating simple things. Joie (unsurprisingly) embodies Joie de vivre. Paris-based Ajiri Aki shares how to le pause, treat holidays as holy days, and lunch the French way. She shows that joy, a value so many of us prioritize on vacations, can be incorporated into our everyday. Inside the pages: notes on café life, chats with Parisian flâneurs, and lively photos by Jessica Antola.
Finn Beales
Let’s Get Lost
Let’s Get Lost is one of the best travel photography coffee table books I’ve ever come across. The images range from dark and moody to soft and golden-lit. Every photo looks like it belongs on a magazine cover. The curation, a visual feast of skeleton trees standing like lost ghosts in Namibian sands and Gentoo penguins swimming in the ice-cold waters of Antarctica, features stories from over twenty adventurous travel photographers hungry for dramatic shots (they each share a photography tip, too, in mini blurbs titled “Behind The Lens”).
Tamara Weiss & Amanda Benchley
Vineyard Folk
Vineyard Folk peels back perceptions about Martha’s Vineyard by ditching the airbrushed coastal cottages typically associated with the island for a real, vibrant picture painted by the creatives who live there. Here is a series of profiles on the vineyard folk: the thirty-three-year-old Brazilian-American DJ, Flavia Gaeta; the tribal activist Juli Vanderhoop, who runs Orange Peel Bakery; and over a dozen more residents who call Martha’s Vineyard home.
Hawa Hassan & Julia Turshen
In Bibi’s Kitchen
In Bibi’s Kitchen is a cookbook I don’t stow away in a cabinet. The cover is too eye-catching. And the recipes have taken me along the coast of Africa, from the horn-shaped tip of Somalia to the islands of Comoros. The collection breaks down homestyle meals from eight West African countries into clear, easy-to-follow instructions; this is the most loved of my travel coffee table books, dented from years of use and ringed with stains of Shaah Cadays (Somali-style chai).
Sara Combs & Rich Combs
At Home In Joshua Tree
I picked up At Home In Joshua Tree a few autumns ago from a chic Mojave Desert showroom. And to date, this is one of my favorite souvenirs; it’s a title that instantly transports me back to the Mojave. At Home In Joshua Tree is high-desert living at its best, with photos washed in dusty, earthy colors and a landscape imagined as a lifestyle. Every page, from the fabric recs to the trail guide, reflects the warmth of Joshua Tree – the town and the National Park.
QT Luong
Our National Monuments
Our National Monuments directly responds to Executive Order 13792 by highlighting the beauty of the twenty-two land-based National Monuments and five marine monuments pulled into federal review in 2017. Each monument is introduced by its protectors, and QT Luong’s photography is a stunning showcase of America’s sweeping landscapes and varied geography.
Sarah Baxter
Inspired Traveller’s Guides
Each of Sarah Baxter’s Inspired Traveller’s Guides is themed (my favorite is Hidden Places) and looks best when stacked together on a nightstand (or bookcase) in sets of three. Picture smaller, photoless art books with full-page, storybook-esque digital illustrations by Amy Grimes and breezy bedtime essays that feel like gentle dips into unique locations around the globe.
Caitlin Flemming & Julie Goebel
Sense Of Place
Sense Of Place is one of the best travel coffee table books for design lovers. Each home is set in a different town (or city) and absorbs its location like a sponge. As you flip the pages for inspo, you’ll hop from Santa Fe to Mallorca to Brussels. Each layout is furnished and snug, as Sense Of Places explores what makes a house truly feel like a home.
Did you enjoy this list of travel coffee table books? Let me know in the comments below! As always, I love hearing from you.
Great read. Another really good coffee table book: “Whose Boat Is this Boat?”, a compilation of Donald Trump comments in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. We actually have it on our coffee table.
Nice site!
LOL. This is the best comment. xx – Anshula
Some really valuable suggestions there! I would check out Treasured land and Life and love of the sea ! Keep the valuable posts coming
Awww…thanks, Sharad! I’m so glad you enjoy the blog! xx – Anshula
Really great post. I would have to get busy reading some books highlighted here
This is a great list. I’m obsessed with Atlas Obscura. My fiancé and I love to travel and we have quite the collection of travel books. I’m always looking for new books I can gift him.