Why are literary trips thriving this year? You have surely noticed, through the media and social networks, that there is a growing interest in visiting cafés where books have been written or authors have been inspired, places that appear in series and movies, ancient libraries, and even themed bookstores. The data shows that, far from what we might expect in the digital age, Spaniards are reading more and more. The ‘Barometer of Reading and Book Buying Habits in Spain 2025’ consolidates the great rise of comics and places the country above 70% of the reading population for the first time. “They tell us that Spain is a reading country. These are extraordinarily good data,” valued the Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun at the presentation of the report data last January.
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The box office success of films like Wuthering Heights, director Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel, sagas like J. K. Rowling’s, the writer of Harry Potter, or series like Game of Thrones, show that the public wants to know what is behind the written stories, where they were inspired, and even the places where their scenes were filmed if they are movies or series. This was also demonstrated at the beginning of the year by the annual report conducted by the company SkyScanner, which confirmed that 55% of surveyed travelers would consider booking a literary trip this year. Because yes, reading and traveling are inseparable.
“People have started combining travel and literature, whether to follow the footsteps of fictional heroes, visit some of the most spectacular bookstores and libraries in the world, or simply enjoy a few quiet days with a good novel. It is a whole trend for those who seek to travel and escape both in the real world and in fiction,” point out the booking platform. Additionally, six out of ten travelers consider reading time important during their trips, which already gives us more data on the rise of this type of experience.
This is also confirmed by the cultural supplement Babelia, especially the growing interest in classic works. This is the possible explanation given by Babelia’s editor, Silvia Hernando: “Recently in Babelia we published a report on how young people are recovering interest in Dostoevsky, a trend born on TikTok. Social networks are nowadays one of the main trend markers — if not the main one — in all areas of life, and books are no exception to their influence. I sense that contemporary readers look in these classics for the same things readers of all times have sought: their psychological depth, their stylistic beauty, their moral impact… When a book is celebrated as a classic it is because it possesses timeless qualities, which remain relevant today and will continue to be so tomorrow.”
Regarding the trend of literary trips, the journalist suggests that behind it there may be a traveler’s interest in standing out from tourist and overcrowded routes. “About the books that allow these trips, I can only think of one rule: they must describe real and accessible places. Which books allow this type of trips more? We cannot travel to Ursula K. LeGuin’s planet Eltanin, but we can to La Mancha of Don Quixote, because it is closer to us.” In fact, Algeria was one of the most searched destinations in 2025 thanks to the premiere of The Captive by Alejandro Amenábar and the novel by writer Emma Lira, who was also a host of EL PAÍS Viajes this year, and whose itinerary focused on following the footsteps of Miguel de Cervantes through the streets and surroundings of Algiers.
For Espido Freire, writer and also host of EL PAÍS Viajes, this rise in literary trips responds to the fact that more and more travelers seek experiences that have meaning. “It is no longer enough to see a place: we want to understand it, feel it, relate it to something that has moved us before. Literature — and also cinema — creates very deep bonds, much more than we would have suspected just a few years ago, when we were not so accustomed to cultural trips. And the trip to those settings is a way to prolong that emotion. In fact, it is not new, the privileged students who carried out the Grand Tour also sought that connection with classical texts and with travelers who had made the journey before them.”
For her, travelers especially seek depth. “It is not about accumulating places, but about looking at them better. When one understands what happened there, who wrote it, what story it contains, the trip becomes much richer and more personal. Both physically and personally, of course. We never travel only with the body…”, she expresses. Espido Freire has been organizing literary trips for years. Her EL PAÍS Viajes itineraries to Great Britain or Romania are well known, destinations that have made it onto the list of the 12 recommended trips for 2026 and are already classics of EL PAÍS Viajes. As she explains, conversation is the soul of her itineraries, because travelers organize spontaneous gatherings around the proposed visits, the books, and the lives of the authors. “These are trips where a constant dialogue is created: between travelers, between books and landscapes, between past and present. And that generates a very special, almost intimate experience, even if shared in a group. And curiosity.”
The best literary destinations of EL PAÍS VIAJES in 2026
In this sense, the EL PAÍS Viajes agenda is very marked by literary destinations this 2026. And there is plenty to choose from…
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The first of them will depart on June 15 to Dublin, Ireland. Bloomsday, Espido Freire’s Ireland is a trip that coincides with the celebration of that day in the same city. Published in 1922, the novel Ulysses recounts Leopold Bloom’s journey through Dublin on June 16, 1904. The Irish writer, James Joyce, created Leopold Bloom, but Bloomsday (“Bloom’s Day”, of Leopold Bloom, the novel’s protagonist) was born later, in 1954, when John Ryan and novelist Brian O’Nolan met to follow this character’s footsteps through the city. “This trip is a fascinating literary game: following the writer James Joyce for 24 hours leads us to look at the city with different eyes. But we do not limit ourselves to Joyce, Oscar Wilde, John Ford, or the Irish Nobel Prize winners, born from those incredible landscapes, are our goal,” says the writer.
Later, in September, there will be two trips with very interesting literary itineraries. The first of them departs on September 23. Following the footsteps of the Brontë Sisters takes us to England to learn about the legacy and literary world of the Brontë sisters. “This trip focuses on a more emotional, rougher territory, where landscape and literature are inseparable. They are now especially present due to the latest adaptation of Wuthering Heights, but they have always been a source of fascination,” emphasizes the expert on the sisters’ work and the trip’s host, Espido Freire.
A few days later, on September 30, another group of travelers will embark on another fascinating literary adventure: Following the footsteps of King Arthur: the rugged southwest of England, a trip that mixes myth and history and connects travelers with a very ancient, almost foundational European tradition. “Who hasn’t read a story of knights, wizards and witches, the love story of Lancelot and Guinevere, or the Grail? Now we will see where it arose, how it grew… and we will give a nod to Agatha Christie, in those impressive natural parks.”
In October, it will be time to review the history of writer Jane Austen, again in England. Following the footsteps of Jane Austen — departing on October 8 — is the most prestigious and demanded trip of those organized by Espido Freire. “Her precision and irony fit the social landscape: Bath, her home in Winchester or Chawton are synonymous with beauty, balance, and a past that (although it was not) seems perfect to us.”
Finally, we will close the year with Romania, the markets that Stoker never visited, an eight-day trip to discover Bram Stoker’s Romania departing on December 4. What will this trip be like? In Espido’s own words: “Bram Stoker’s adds that gothic, dark nuance, which is also part of our cultural imagination. A wonderful country, with marked contrasts, dramatic landscapes, unforgettable castles, and secret corners… and the vampire myth, of course.”
*If you want more information about this and other similar trips, check our EL PAÍS VIAJES website.
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