Read­ers are increas­ingly pack­ing their bags with a favor­ite book in mind. From his­toric homes to lit­er­ary fest­ivals and themed hotel suites, des­tin­a­tions linked to fam­ous authors are draw­ing trav­el­ers who want to see the real set­tings behind the stor­ies they love.

Lit­er­ary tour­ism now extends bey­ond museums and archives into full travel exper­i­ences tied to writers and the land­scapes that inspired them. Travel data from Sky­scan­ner shows 32% of trav­el­ers are inter­ested in vis­it­ing des­tin­a­tions men­tioned in books, while 18% say they would stay in book-themed accom­mod­a­tions, show­ing how lit­er­at­ure influ­ences travel decisions.

Bal­timore hon­ors Edgar Allan Poe’s leg­acy

Bal­timore offers one of the most atmo­spheric lit­er­ary exper­i­ences in the United States through its deep con­nec­tion to Edgar Allan Poe. Vis­it­ors can tour the mod­est brick row­house where Poe lived and began his writ­ing career at the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, a site that traces the early years of the writer whose work helped define Amer­ican Gothic lit­er­at­ure.

Nearby at West­min­ster Hall, Poe’s graves­ite has become a pil­grim­age stop for fans of his work. The city cel­eb­rates that leg­acy each Octo­ber dur­ing the Inter­na­tional Edgar Allan Poe Fest­ival & Awards, which includes dra­matic read­ings, cemetery tours and the­at­rical per­form­ances.

Louis­ville’s Seel­bach Hotel chan­nels ‘The Great Gatsby’

Louis­ville offers lit­er­ary trav­el­ers a chance to exper­i­ence a set­ting tied to F. Scott Fitzger­ald’s “The Great Gatsby.” Fitzger­ald spent time in the city while sta­tioned nearby in 1918 and fre­quen­ted the his­toric Seel­bach Hotel, whose grand interi­ors are widely believed to have helped inspire scenes in the novel.

Vis­it­ors can stay in the hotel’s Gatsby Suite, designed with Jazz Age details and ref­er­ences to Fitzger­ald’s char­ac­ters. His­toric tours fea­ture areas linked to the author’s vis­its, mak­ing the hotel a stop for trav­el­ers inter­ested in the novel’s real-world con­nec­tions.

Sonoma Val­ley tells the story of Jack Lon­don

In Glen Ellen, Cali­for­nia, Jack Lon­don State His­toric Park offers a closer look at the life and work

of the Amer­ican writer. Docent-led tours con­nect Lon­don’s writ­ing to the Sonoma Val­ley land­scape, where he spent much of his later life.

Vis­it­ors can explore the Wolf House ruins, tour the cot­tage where Lon­don and his wife, Charmian, lived and visit the author’s graves­ite. Private guided tours are also avail­able for groups seek­ing a more in-depth exper­i­ence.

Nearby accom­mod­a­tions allow trav­el­ers to turn the visit into a longer get­away. Gaige House offers a quiet, design-focused retreat near the park, while Beltane Ranch provides vine­yard views and his­toric ranch cot­tages. Fair­mont Sonoma Mis­sion Inn & Spa fea­tures min­eral pools and spa pro­grams, and Ken­wood Inn & Spa offers a boutique stay with a European feel.

The region also hosts the Sonoma Val­ley Authors Fest­ival, which brings con­tem­por­ary writers and read­ers together each year.

Prince Edward Island blends clas­sic stor­ies with mod­ern fic­tion

You can’t dis­cuss lit­er­ary travel without talk­ing about Prince Edward Island. This Cana­dian island province has long drawn lit­er­ary trav­el­ers through its ties to L.M. Mont­gomery’s “Anne of Green Gables,” where vis­it­ors can explore Green Gables Her­it­age Place, Mont­gomery’s birth­place and other loc­a­tions con­nec­ted to the author’s life.

The island cel­eb­rates its lit­er­ary roots through theater pro­duc­tions such as “Anne of Green Gables – The Musical” and “Anne & Gil­bert,” along with the

Cav­endish Lit­er­ary Fest­ival, which hosts read­ings and work­shops focused on storytelling.

More recently, the island has attrac­ted read­ers of con­tem­por­ary fic­tion as well. Car­ley For­tune’s novel “This Sum­mer Will Be Dif­fer­ent” fea­tures sev­eral Prince Edward Island loc­a­tions, includ­ing oyster bars, coastal drives and beaches in PEI National Park.

Trav­el­ers inspired by the book can visit sites such as Malpeque Oyster Barn, Basin Head Pro­vin­cial Park and Char­lot­tetown’s water­front res­taur­ants. Lit­er­ary-themed accom­mod­a­tions include Dal­vay by the Sea, Mont­gomery Inn at Ingleside and the Inn at Bay For­tune.

Spokane con­nects lit­er­at­ure and his­toric hotels

In Spokane, Wash., lit­er­ary his­tory inter­sects with one of the city’s most recog­niz­able land­marks. The his­toric Dav­en­port Hotel hos­ted Amer­ican poet Vachel Lind­say, who lived and wrote in Room 1129 from 1924 to 1929. The room remains avail­able for vis­it­ors today.

The hotel also appears in Dashi­ell Ham­mett’s 1929 novel “The Maltese Fal­con,” link­ing the prop­erty to lit­er­ary fic­tion as well.

Spokane con­tin­ues to sup­port lit­er­ary cul­ture through the annual Get Lit! Fest­ival, which brings au

thors, poets and read­ers together for dis­cus­sions, read­ings and work­shops. Local author Jess Wal­ter, known for “Beau­ti­ful Ruins” and “The Cold Mil­lions,” often fea­tures Spokane land­marks in his work.

The city also has ties to writer Sher­man Alexie, who wrote early nov­els while liv­ing there. More recently, Spokane served as a film­ing loc­a­tion for the movie “Train Dreams,” based on a Denis John­son story.

Lake Atitlán inspired the ima­gin­a­tion behind ‘ The Little Prince’

In Guatem­ala, the dra­matic land­scape around Lake Atitlán has long inspired writers and artists. French author Ant­oine de Saint-Exupéry spent time there recov­er­ing from injur­ies sus­tained in a plane crash, and the scenery helped influ­ence ele­ments of his book “The Little Prince.” One land­mark tied to the story is Cerro de Oro, a hill near the lake that resembles the fam­ous illus­tra­tion of a snake after swal­low­ing an ele­phant.

Trav­el­ers inter­ested in the lit­er­ary con­nec­tion can stay at Casa Palopó, a boutique hotel over­look­ing the lake with views of the sur­round­ing vol­ca­noes. The prop­erty includes a lend­ing lib­rary and screen-free spaces designed for read­ing and reflec­tion.

Wyom­ing traces Ern­est Hem­ing­way’s west­ern travels

The rugged land­scapes

of the Amer­ican West also influ­enced Ern­est Hem­ing­way’s writ­ing life. While vis­it­ing Cody, Wyo., near the Big­horn Moun­tains and Yel­low­stone National Park, Hem­ing­way stayed at the Cham­ber­lin Inn while fin­ish­ing his manuscript for “Death in the After­noon.”

Vis­it­ors can still see his sig­na­ture in the inn’s guest register. The prop­erty now offers a Hem­ing­way Suite and serves a Death in the After­noon cock­tail in its lounge. Trav­el­ers inter­ested in the writer’s time in the region can explore the Hem­ing­way High­ways audio tour, which includes loc­a­tions con­nec­ted to his travels in north­west­ern Wyom­ing.

When books lead trav­el­ers to the real set­tings behind the stor­ies

For many trav­el­ers, vis­it­ing places tied to writers adds another dimen­sion to a trip bey­ond tra­di­tional sight­see­ing. A hotel room where a nov­el­ist once stayed, a pre­served writ­ing cot­tage or

a land­scape described in a story can give read­ers a new per­spect­ive on books they already know.

As des­tin­a­tions con­tinue to build exper­i­ences around lit­er­ary con­nec­tions, these jour­neys allow trav­el­ers to move bey­ond the page and into the set­tings that shaped the stor­ies. From Poe’s Bal­timore to Fitzger­ald’s Louis­ville and Hem­ing­way’s Wyom­ing, the places behind fam­ous books con­tinue to draw read­ers off the page and onto the road.

Jen­nifer Allen is a retired chef turned trav­eler, cook­book author and nation­ally syn­dic­ated journ­al­ist; she’s also a co-founder of Food Drink Life, where she shares expert travel tips, cruise insights and lux­ury des­tin­a­tion guides. A recog­nized cruise expert with a deep pas­sion for high-end exper­i­ences and off-the-beaten­path des­tin­a­tions, Jen­nifer explores the world with curi­os­ity, depth and a storyteller’s per­spect­ive.