For so many reasons, audiobooks are a traveler’s best friend. For one, unlike that hard copy of Moby-Dick, they take up zero space in your suitcase. Even better, you can greatly enhance your appreciation of a destination by immersing yourself in a story about it before or during your trip, and, thanks to skilled audiobook narrators, even get to know the local accents as well.
Inspired by exciting cruise destinations from Holland America Line, these listener-loved travel books can help fuel your wanderlust, deepen your knowledge of new locales, or just keep you company during the down time of a trip. From the unspoiled wilderness of Alaska and the Arctic, to the charming regions of Europe, to North America’s top coastal attractions, we’re highlighting some of Holland’s latest itineraries with listens to spark your spirit for adventure. Get ready to get away with our recommendations for the best travel audiobooks to hear this spring.
Destination: Italy
This 2013 Audie Award-nominated novel begins in 1962 on a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, when a young innkeeper looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying. What follows is a sweeping, shimmering ride that spans the globe and time, performed by beloved narrator Edoardo Ballerini.
Destination: Alaska
Alaska, 1974: Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed. For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival. Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam War a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision to move his family to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier. Thirteen-year-old Leni, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family in Kristin Hannah’s historical epic, narrated by the inimitable Julia Whelan.
Destination: Scotland
Outlander stars Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish explore Scotland, a land of raw beauty, poetry, feuding, music, history, and warfare. Unlikely friends Sam and Graham begin their journey in the heart of Scotland at Glencoe and travel from there all the way to Inverness and Culloden battlefield. Along the way they experience adventure and a cast of highland characters. In this story of friendship, finding themselves, and whisky, they discover the complexity, rich history, and culture of their native country.
Destination: The Arctic
Winner of the National Book Award, this bestselling, groundbreaking exploration of the Far North is a classic of natural history, anthropology, and travel writing. Musk oxen, polar bears, narwhals, and other exotic beasts of the region come alive through Barry Lopez’s nuanced observations and narrator James Naughton’s skillful reading. As Lopez examines the history and culture of the Indigenous people, along with parallel narratives of intrepid and often doomed polar explorers, he drives to the heart of why the formidable Arctic is also a constant source of beauty, beguilement, and wonder.
Destination: France
James Beard Award-winning food critic and Save Me the Plums author Ruth Reichl delivers this dazzling, heartfelt adventure through the food, art, and fashion scenes of 1980s Paris. When her estranged mother dies, Stella is left with an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket and a note reading “Go to Paris.” Stella is hardly cut out for adventure; a traumatic childhood has kept her confined to the strict routines of her comfort zone. But when her boss encourages her to take time off, Stella resigns herself to honoring her mother’s last wishes.
Destination: New England
The premise for Swan Song couldn’t be more fitting for Elin Hilderbrand’s final novel. Nantucket’s police chief is just days away from sailing off into retirement when, on the same night, one of the island’s most luxurious homes burns down under suspicious circumstances and a young woman goes missing. Hilderbrand’s longtime narrator, Erin Bennett, knows just how to transport you straight to the heart of Nantucket to bring the characters, storylines, and delicious setting to life.
Destination: Barcelona
Set in Barcelona just after the end of World War II, Carlos Ruiz Zafón's acclaimed novel starts when a young boy is introduced to a secret society and a mysterious library by his antiquarian bookseller father. When someone begins destroying all the copies of a rare book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, he’s led on a thrilling adventure. One of the most beloved novels of the 21st century and a Spanish literary classic, this audiobook is voiced by acclaimed narrator Jonathan Davis.
Destination: Australia
As an Indigenous person, Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from a unique perspective, one tied to the natural and spiritual world. In considering how contemporary life diverges from the pattern of creation, he raises important questions. How does this affect us? How can we do things differently? In this thoughtful, culturally rich, and mind-expanding book, he provides answers, all read in the author's own delightful Australian accent and engaging delivery.
Destination: Ireland
From Evie Woods, author of The Lost Bookshop, and Irish performer Heather O’Sullivan comes this evocative and charming novel full of secrets and mystery set in a quiet village in Ireland. Blending the past and present, the US and Ireland, the ordinary and the not-so-ordinary—it’s a tale about everyday people that’s full of magic, fairies, love, hope, and the power of stories. You will soon be planning an Irish adventure in hopes of discovering your own magical reawakening.
Destination: Canada
Directed by the skillful hand of Megan Follows and featuring the voices of award-winning Canadian actors Sandra Oh, Catherine O’Hara, Victor Garber, and Michela Luci as Anne Shirley, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s indelible adventure comes to life in a fresh adaptation of this timeless tale. Immerse yourself in the breathtaking beauty of Canada’s Prince Edward Island with the magic of an original score and immersive sound design as this family-favorite classic enchants like never before.
Destination: To the skies
If spring migration factors into your travel plans, we have the listen for you. Central Park birder Christian Cooper takes us beyond the viral video that shocked a nation and into a world of avian adventures, global excursions, and the unexpected lessons you can learn from a life spent looking up. Though he made headlines in 2020 after an encounter with a dog walker exploded age-old racial tensions, Cooper has so much more to say in this delightful listen that’s equal parts memoir, travelogue, and birding primer, complete with chirps! Better Living Through Birding journeys through the wonderful world of birds and what they can teach us about life, if only we would look and listen.
Destination: Anywhere
A look at a world that is no more. That’s the gift contained in famed travel host Rick Steves’s 1978 diary, which recounts his and pal Gene’s adventures on this countercultural rite of passage. There are days spent partying with Tehran twentysomethings mere months before the Islamic Revolution. And there's a Kabul trolley ride to the last stop—a standard Stevesian travel tip—where he falls into a robust debate with an Afghan professor as whispers of a Soviet invasion loom. World events would soon put this popular bucket-list trek out of reach for most people, but the lessons are as indelible as a passport stamp: Go, lose the judgment at the border, and savor the time and place you find yourself in. You may not have the chance to go that way again.
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