a hopeless romantic shares ten travel romance books set in beautiful destinations
Travel romance books are made for vacations, for the days when you’re splayed out on a beach blanket, sun-splashed paperback in hand, or curled up by a window seat, pre-gaming your out-of-office escape. These books are for those who want to flirt with places and Eat Play Love their way through cities.
The best travel romances feature swoony destinations. Picture the rushing waterfalls of Việt Nam, an intimate hotel bar in the Swiss city of Basel, and the pulse of San Francisco at night. You’ll wander through the cobblestone streets of Italy, find new beginnings in new spaces, and enjoy all that’s sweet and spicy.
Here are ten travel romance books to spark your wanderlust, from love stories for the ages to rom-coms with witty banter and happily ever afters.
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Love & Gelato
I read Love & Gelato for the first time five years ago. I was closer to Lina’s age then, fastening on to every dreamy description of Italy like I was a clothespin. And Love & Gelato is full of dreamy descriptions of Italy. Florence, in particular.
Lina moves to her father’s home in Tuscany after her mom passes away. Summer in Italy isn’t high on her list of plans (and getting to know her dad for the first time in a cemetery? No, thank you). But living with Howard is Lina’s mom’s dying wish, so she stays. She pores over a journal her mom wrote while living in Florence and unlocks a whole side of Italy (and her mother) she never knew: old statues, beautiful art, city views no photos can fully capture, secret bakeries, and gentle Italian comforts. As Lina quickly runs in her mother’s footsteps, she falls in love with (and in) Italy.
Heartstopper, Volume 3
If you’ve seen (and been charmed by) the Heartstopper series on Netflix and haven’t read the webcomics yet, please do.
Tao, Tara, Elle, and Darcy are just as endearing as in the show. And Nick and Charlie’s relationship is sweet, fluttery, and friendship-forward (the best kind of love, in my opinion). Each volume of Heartstopper is full of butterflies but also references serious topics (bullying, homophobia, eating disorders, OCD) with care, sensitivity, and an optimistic gentleness.
You’ll want to read Alice Oseman’s graphic novels in order. The first two volumes aren’t travel romances, but the third one is with sketches of the Musée de Montmartre, La Tour Eiffel, and Louvre (plus little glimpses of Shakespeare & Company and the Arc de Triomphe). Heartstopper, Volume 3 explores young love in the city of love, Paris.
American actress Tembi Locke recollects the first afternoon she rounded the corner of Via dell’Acqua and collided with a Sicilian man who would change the course of her life. The man’s name was Saro, and he would fall just as fiercely in love with Tembi as she would with him. From Scratch is about falling in love, fighting for love, and choosing love, even after your lover is gone.
Locke stitches together her time in Sicily, the Italian island she returns to after Saro’s death. She reconnects, slowly, with her husband’s family. She fills the pages with food and memories. She frames love with tenderness and self-compassion and lets Sicily be ever-present (even in the pages set in LA, Sicily spills over).
People We Meet On Vacation
Emily Henry writes with such a strong, authoritative voice; you feel confident in the relationships she builds on-page. Unlike most travel romance novels, People We Meet On Vacation doesn’t center on one place. Travel is a throughline, a little string of flashbacks, quips, and memories.
Poppy is a travel writer, and Alex is a bookworm. The duo are opposites, college besties with a decade of summer trips (and inside jokes) under their belts. Their friendship fractures (People We Meet On Vacation is an ex-friends-to-lovers story, after all). Two years pass, and Alex and Poppy accidentally resume (and slip back into) warm banter. Poppy still wants to be friends with Alex (let’s be honest, to be with Alex), so she heads out to Palm Springs for one final vacation, a trip that slowly reheats the flame between them.
Love With A Chance Of Drowning
Love With A Chance Of Drowning is the story of a woman afraid of the ocean. Once upon a time, she fell head over heels for an Argentinian man whose heart was anchored to the sea. So, she joined him on a leaky little boat and sailed across the South Pacific. The story is true; Torre DeRoche’s memoir is a love letter to taking risks, overcoming fears, and believing in yourself.
I’ll Be Gone For Christmas
I’ll Be Gone For Christmas is the type of book where a piping hot cup of cocoa is a required pairing (mini marshmallows are optional but highly recommended). Picture a Netflix holiday rom-com in bookish form. Bee and Clover houseswap via Vacate, a fictional app that’s the venn diagram best of HomeAway and Airbnb.
Bee relaxes in the small town of Salem, Ohio, charmed by its cozy atmosphere, wintry forests, and pine-scented farmhand. Clover escapes west to the pink pony clubs of San Francisco, where she stumbles into a stunning woman. I’ll Be Gone For Christmas merges two solo vacations. The stories interconnect, but I won’t spoil how.
The Layover
Roe Horvat’s romances are known for being smutty with a capital S, so it took a lot of convincing for me to read The Layover. I was worried this novella would be some sort of fifty shades of travel, but it isn’t. The Layover has open-door scenes, sure, but the story is deeply emotional and tender too.
Two men (Ondro, a former flight attendant, and Jamie, a biochemist) meet during an airport delay in Basel, Switzerland. At first, Ondro wants to hook up with Jamie, flirt a little, be cocky. But something about Jamie unknots him and nudges him to unpeg the emotions he hides away.
The Layover is open conversation after open conversation. Ondro and Jamie chat about living abroad and leaving their homes. They comment on how anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and laws in Slovakia (where Ondro is from) harm queer communities. They talk (and talk some more) in this thoughtful little travel romance (that still lives in my mind rent-free).
Adam & Evie’s Matchmaking Tour
Adam & Evie’s Matchmaking Tour is one of the best romance books to read on vacation (and I am just saying that because this is our current travel book club pick. no shame).
When Evie Lang, a Vietnamese-American poet, visits Việt Nam for the first time, she falls in love. She falls in love with the country, her homeland, and an uptight man on a matchmaking tour. Adam & Evie’s Matchmaking Tour is a trip to the majestic Datanla Falls, the nightlife of Nha Trang, the imperial city of Huế, the village of Ban Doong, and the bustle of Hồ Chà Minh.
This novel was a bit spicier than I expected (think Birdseye Chili on the Scoville scale). And the vibe felt like a reality dating show, starring main characters so intensely focused on physical attraction that they (somehow, frustratingly) missed all the warning signs charging their dialogue.
But I did enjoy how travel forward Adam & Evie’s Matchmaking Tour was (yes, to all the armchair descriptions of Việt Nam).
Here We Go Again
If you’re looking for road trip romance books, Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun is just that. Childhood friends (now ex-friends) Logan and Rosemary embrace two completely separate, absolutely apart lives (well, as apart as you can be when you work in the same building). When their favorite English teacher reveals he’s dying, Logan and Rosemary commit to one summer road trip together (with their teacher and his dog, Odysseus). They drive away from Oregon in a van named The Queer Cuddler and travel to Maine (with many, many detours and pitstops).
Here We Go Again is Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer meets Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (no, you didn’t see me cry at the end. My eyes simply glistened like Edward from Twilight).
An Ornithologist’s Field Guide To Love
India Holton’s historical romances have a ridiculously silly energy. Every character is cartoonish (even the villains are mustachioed). Behavior is “dastardly”; feathers protrude “jauntily.” Tomfoolery abounds, and the phrase “by Jove” is thrown in a few times for good measure.
An Ornithologist’s Field Guide To Love is for those who can handle a fair amount of slapstick humor and enjoy both Bridgerton and Indiana Jones. Two professors, Beth Pickering and Devon Lockley, romp around England, determined to find a rare caladrius bird so that they can win Birder Of The Year. Pickering and Lockley are academic rivals who fall for each other (of course) in this farcical, fast-paced, fantasy rom-com that’s unabashedly over-the-top but also adventurous and full of travel.
Did you enjoy this list of travel romance books? What are your favorite travel romance books? Let me know in the comments below!
I’m so glad you liked Love With A Chance Of Drowning! It’s one of my favorite books of all time.
Thank you for recommending it! I absolutely loved the book! xx – Anshula
The side note as the end of the post killed me ? I never thought about that. Have you read Under The Tuscan Sun? That’s a good travel romance.
Oh, I read it a long time ago! I’ll have to reread it (I think my initial thoughts were that the movie was more romantic than the book ?) xx – Anshula
You should read The Flatshare! Not a travel romance but a light and fun read.
I’ll look into it! Always on the lookout for a good book. xx – Anshula
Read On The Island by Tracy Garvis Graves. You’ll love it.
Oh, that sounds interesting. Thank you so much for the recommendation. I’ll try it! xx – Anshula