Reading allows you to travel to different cities and places without leaving the comfort of your own couch. However, if you want to get out and explore the places that are described in your favorite classics, we have the perfect travel guide for you! Buckle your seatbelt, we are taking you on the literary trip of a lifetime.
Massachusetts
Concord
While you are in Concord, consider taking some time alone to check out Walden Pond. Take a second to really reflect and consider some of Henry David Thoreau’s words from his most famous works, Walden and Civil Disobedience, “I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
Explore the area in Concord where Louisa May Alcott set Little Women and imagine you are hanging out with Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March! You can even take a writing workshop or tour the Orchard House, where Alcott wrote the story.
Lenox
If you are a big fan of first female Pulitzer Prize winner Edith Wharton, you can head over to The Mount in Lenox to explore where she lived and worked. Bring your The Age of Innocence Word Cloud and read it in the gardens that Wharton designed herself.
Prince Edward Island, Canada
Looking to travel to the dream-like town where Anne of Green Gables was set? Then grab your bosom friend and book a ticket to Prince Edward Island (PEI). This town is proud of the fact that the beloved red-headed girl we all know and love called this island home. You can visit Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birthplace, take a walk through the Haunted Wood and Lovers Lane, and even see one of the many Anne of Green Gables musical productions.
Spain
Don Quixote fans can take a very detailed tour around Spain thanks to the many travel companies and blogs that offer advice for literature lovers visiting the country. In 2016, for the 400-year anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes’ death, a travel company called Zicasso even offered The Miguel de Cervantes 400-Year Tribute Tour. Copy the itinerary from one of these websites and do the tour yourself! Visit the sights that inspired Cervantes’ novel, eat manchego, sip wine, visit La Mancha, and even pay your respects at the site that is believed to be the final resting place of the author.
United Kingdom
Bath
Most Austenites know that Bath was briefly Jane Austen’s own home as well as the setting for some of her best titles. Readers will recognize many town favorites from Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Stop by The Pump Room for some afternoon tea, go attend an event at The Assembly Rooms, or stop by the Jane Austen Centre to learn more about our favorite author before you leave. If you are a die-hard fan, you might want to schedule your trip during the Jane Austen Festival.
Kent
Visit the area where Charles Dickens found inspiration for many of his novels, including A Christmas Carol: and Other Holiday Treasures, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities. Visit his museum and even stay in the house that inspired Bleak House, now a B&B.
Stratford-upon-Avon
Visit the birthplace of the most famous writer in the English language, William Shakespeare. While here, you can explore many of the homes of his family, including his daughter, his mother, as well as the cottage of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife.
Yorkshire
The Brontës resided in a small village called Haworth in West Yorkshire. You can visit their home, which is now a museum, as well as Top Withens, which is a small, abandoned farmhouse at the top of a hill. Sound familiar? It is thought to be the inspiration for Wuthering Heights!
London
There are so many places that fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s greatest works can visit in London. Visit the Sherlock Holmes Pub for a Sunday roast (served everyday) or head to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, the meeting place of Sherlock and Dr. Watson. Most Sherlock Holmes fans are familiar with 221B Baker Street in London. If you go looking for it, however, you won’t find it. Physically, there is no such address. Today, you can find The Sherlock Holmes Museum somewhere between 237 and 241 Baker Street.
Have travel plans of your own?
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