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13 Best India Travel Guide Books

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• 13 Best India Travel Guide…

India is a vast country with diverse and awe-inspiring landscapes. From sandy shores of the Keralan coast, barren deserts of Rajasthan, the majestic snow-capped Himalayas, ancient temples, to buzzing modern cities, the country has it all. The stunning country also offers a rich mix of traditions, festivals, and spiritual beliefs. All these reasons make India a must-visit! For a memorable trip to India, what’s a better way to understand and learn more about the country than by getting yourself “lost” in the best India travel guide books? These guidebooks are more than helpful in planning your trip. Whatever you want to explore in this ancient country, these travel guide books India will help you make the most of your time in this exotic part of the world.

How To Choose The Best India Travel Guide Books?

Travel guidelines to India are all you need to arrange the perfect trip to India . With travel guidebooks, it’s easier to travel safely. That said, choosing travel guide books India also can be overwhelming. To get the best one, there are some basic things that you can consider before deciding to buy a travel guide book India. Let’s take a look at them one by one!

What’s Included In The Book

A travel guidebook to India should contain information about sights, accommodation, transportation, activities, and restaurants. Detailed maps and historical cultural information also make a good guidebook. Some India travel guide books even include phrases and glossary to help you interact with the locals. Colorful photos in the book would be a great feature for travelers’ inspiration.

Published Date

To avoid misinformation about the places you’re going to visit, we recommend getting the latest edition which published date is no later than a year apart. Hotels, restaurants, sights, and shops are ever-changing, so it’s important to get the updated information.

While traveling, you may not want to be weighed down by a thick travel guide book India. If so, a digital version is the best option for you. Meanwhile, some travelers may want to have a printed edition. This version can be useful along the way, such as for taking notes or using the maps without the need for GPS or gadgets.

Is India easy to travel around?

Well, since India is a huge country, getting around can be slow and require a bit of patience. However, it also offers extensive interesting and fascinating places. You’ll never get bored of traveling in India. If anything, your trip may turn into a fascinating adventure!

Is India dangerous for tourists?

You may have heard infamous rumors about India, but generally, India is considered a safe destination for tourists. That said, you should be aware of certain things like scams and pickpockets. So, don’t forget to bring your underclothing travel pouch for safety. Reading travel guidelines to India before you go, like The Essential Safety & Security Guide to Visiting India and Travel Fearlessly in India is also useful. These books provide useful tips, advice, and strategies on how to travel safely in India.

Is India expensive to visit?

Actually, India is commonly known as one of the best budget destinations for travelers in the world. You’ll find plenty of budget hotels and affordable transportation to get around. It’s a perfect destination for budget travelers.

Essential India Travel Guide

Essential India Travel Guide is

written by Mohan Kapoor. He’s a native Indian who was born in Bikaner, Rajasthan. When he was young, he left the country. But, he returned to India for work. His jobs required him to travel extensively through India. So, he shares his knowledge about the country, life, historical sights, and culture into a useful travel guide. It’s perfect for anyone wanting to travel to India.

Unlike other India travel guide books we have on this list, this book only covers cities and states with the most popular and important tourist attractions. But you’ll get an in-depth look and some fun facts of each city. It includes where to eat, what to see, where to go, and what to expect. It also gives you information about how to be respectful to each of the six main religions,, plus, how to be aware of the pickpockets, and more.

The thing we like the most about this book is that the author provides essential tips. These include what to expect, what type of travel agencies you can trust, important cultural aspects, what food choices are safe, and so much more. Plus, he also shares his own story. In a way, by reading this book you travel virtually to cities and states like Delhi, Goa, and Kolkata even before you arrive in the beautiful and colorful country!

Any type of travelers, including business travelers, backpackers, and party-goers.

The Essential Safety & Security Guide to Visiting India

Are you a solo traveler who yearns to travel to India, but has been disheartened by rumors or publicity about violence there? The Essential Safety & Security Guide to Visiting India will show you how to have a happy and safe trip. So, you’ll know how to survive and enjoy your stay in the great land of India. The author is a native-born Indian diplomat with extensive experience and knowledge of his native country.

The book contains general information, like geography and weather. Before you go, some chapters will help you prepare. Getting started, financial planning , and before you travel are some of them. Information about health, insurance, and getting local connections are also provided. Besides, it covers insightful cultural and historical narratives. You’ll find all this info in the chapter: An Introduction to India .

The author talks about safety and security during your time in India. He guides you on how to act, what to do, and how to handle unique situations to make sure you enjoy your stay. You’ll figure out how to travel safely within India by air and train. He also gives tips on how to obtain travel passage to restricted or protected regions. What’s more, there’s a piece of specific advice for female travelers, making it the best travel guide books India for female travelers.

Backpackers, adventurers, female travelers, and solo travelers.

India – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

Whether you’re traveling for work or planning a long-term trip to India, you’ll need travel guidelines to India. It will help you to understand the local culture. India – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture is indeed a useful book. It helps you to learn important stuff about the country, whether it’s land and people, customs and traditions, or values and attitudes. Also, there are some tips on dos and don’ts and taboos. You’ll even get info about business in India!

This travel guide book India is written by Becky Stephen. She enjoys traveling and learning about cultures. Also, she studied Hindi at Banaras Hindu University and lived in Varanasi for years. The author shares her meaningful experience through a better understanding of the local culture. With this book, you’ll be aware of the essential values and behavioral norms, plus knowing how to make new friends and build relationships with the locals.

The book starts with the introduction and key facts about India. Meanwhile, the Land and People chapter contains several topics. These include a brief history of India, as well as its geography and climate. You’ll also find some information about places to eat, shops, and cultural activities. Besides, there’s a section for top places to visit and a map of India.

Long-term travelers, temporary residents, and business travelers.

Lonely Planet South India & Kerala (Regional Guide)

You’ll love Lonely Planet South India & Kerala . It’s perfect as your travel guidelines to India when visiting that particular region. The information on history and culture is very informative. Plus, there’s up-to-date advice on what to see and what not to see. So, you can discover both popular and off-beaten-path experiences. This makes the book the most comprehensive guide to South India and Kerala. It covers Goa, Kerala, Mumbai, Andaman Islands, Bengaluru, and more.

The authors have also packed the book with sights and experiences. It includes South India & Kerala’s Top 12. With this one of the best travel guide books India, you can choose activities that suit you. Do you prefer relaxing on a yoga retreat by the beach in Goa ? Or, floating along Kerala’s backwaters? This book has it covered. Meanwhile, the itineraries section helps customize your trip to your interests.

Get information on recommended accommodation, like hotels in Mumbai , and also places to eat, drinking & nightlife, entertainment, and shopping. There’s a section about how to travel with children for your next family trip. It gives you info about customs regulations, embassies, and consulates. Plus, full-color maps and images are also provided.

Family travelers, solo travelers, backpackers, business travelers, and long-term travelers.

Insight Guides India

You need to plan your trip to experience the best of India. Both paperback or digital editions of Insight Guide India can help you on your next adventure. It’s one of the best travel guide books India for travelers looking for a cultural experience. The book is written by local authors who have extensive historical and cultural backgrounds. Besides, they provide hundreds of stunning photos that capture the essence of India. Not to forget the detailed maps!

There’s a section that features India’s Top 10 Attractions. Also, it covers several regions, from Delhi in the north, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Goa, to Kerala. The information on independence, art, and architecture let you know more about the country.

You’ll find the editor’s choice for the most memorable India experiences. From seeing Hindu festivals, tasting the Indian food, to visiting Rajasthan fort. What’s more, the book includes practical information and travel tips. You’ll find about when to go and transportation. Moreover, this user-friendly travel guide book India provides invaluable maps. So, you could venture off the beaten track.

Any type of travelers, from backpackers, adventurers, business travelers, to photographers.

DK Eyewitness Delhi, Agra and Jaipur

Are you traveling to India for the first time or relocating temporarily to the capital city Delhi? Gear up with some information about the Golden Triangle for your adventures. It includes Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur, India’s most visited cities. These cities are famed for their iconic monuments and frenetic energy. Also, these regions have much to offer, including plenty of things to do in Jaipur .

For all those reasons, DK Eyewitness Delhi, Agra and Jaipur can be your best India travel guide books. Unlike most travel guide books, it’s lightweight. So, you can take it wherever you go on your trip. Also, the book is available on Kindle. The information from the book makes traveling across the three cities easy.  Whether you want to glimpse the pretty pink Hawa Mahal or get the perfect shot of the Taj Mahal, the book includes all. Not only you’ll discover reasons to love Delhi , Agra, and Jaipur, but the book also makes you know about the cities.

Like other DK Eyewitness travel guide books India, this book comes with trademark illustrations. Besides, the book provides the best places to eat, drink, and shop. Recommended accommodation is also provided. Meanwhile, the selection of itineraries allows you to make your own. What’s more, get expert advice on how to stay safe, get around, and get ready. Like all DK Eyewitness guide, the book has plenty of beautiful pictures and diagrams. Plus, it includes detailed maps and a pull-out map of Delhi.

Long-term travelers, business travelers, backpackers, and adventurers.

Travel Fearlessly in India: What Every Woman Should Know About Personal Safety

Women who are traveling to India should have the best India travel guide books. Travel Fearlessly in India written by J D Viharini is important for your first or fifth trip to the beautiful country. The author is an American woman who has made India her home. She has traveled across India since 1980, mostly alone. From the tropical south to the remote Himalayas, visit ancient temples, and attend great festivals.

With her 30 years of familiarity with India, she shares important things in travel guidelines to India. She includes the issues ladies may come across in the country. Here, you’ll find out about the mindset of Indian men and how to have safe interactions with them. She also talks about how to understand the Indian perspective on non-Indian women.

The book gives uncommon sights into how to travel and live safely in India. These include cultural factors relating to women’s safety. You’ll find comprehensive information like finding safe places to stay and how to travel safely; how to deal with potential problems and what you need to do if you have to go to the police are also provided. Her many years’ experiences make the book a great read for every female traveler before traveling to India.

Female travelers, solo travelers, and family.

Chennai & Tamil Nadu Focus Guide, 2nd Edition

Looking for specific India travel guide books to Chennai and Tamil Nadu area may be a bit difficult. That’s why the second edition of the Chennai & Tamil Nadu Focus Guide is very useful for your next trip. The book provides you with the insightful and up-to-date information you need. Are you planning to visit and explore many grand Hindu temples? Maybe you want to stop and savor the smell of jasmine garlands piled up before the carved granite gods? The book covers them all.

Also, you don’t want to miss enjoying nature in the blue Nilgiri Mountains. The book also includes information on the region’s unique history, culture, and cuisine for a richer experience along the way. Another section features practical tips on getting there and around.

Besides, you’ll get recommended and comprehensive listings of hotels, a list of restaurants and activities, including horse riding and festivals. This travel guide book India is only available in a printed edition but is slim enough to fit in your pocket. It helps you get the most out of Tamil Nadu without weighing you down. What’s more, the book provides detailed street maps for important towns and cities.

Photographers, long-term travelers, temporary residents, and backpackers.

Bradt Travel Guide: Ladakh, Jammu & the Kashmir Valley

Having the right travel guide books India is essential for the best adventures in Ladakh, Jammu, and Kashmir. Bradt Travel Guide Ladakh, Jammu & the Kashmir Valley can be your best option. Though Ladakh is becoming a more popular destination for its epic Himalayan beauty, some other areas are still off the beaten path, like Kashmir Valley & Jammu, plus Zanskar. There are so many wonders to be discovered and so many  things to do in Ladakh . So, this book is essential for travel guide book India for that specific region.

This fully updated edition helps you explore the whole area. These include Leh, Srinagar, Gulmarg, Zanskar, The Kashmir Valley, and Jammu amongst others. There are plenty of activities you can do. You may want to relax on a houseboat or take a shikara ride in Srinagar. How about exploring Buddhist culture in Ladakhi monasteries? Or, traveling in a jeep along nerve-wracking mountains roads become your choice? You can also enjoy the views from the roof of the world at the breathless Khardung La mountain pass. For adventurers, you don’t want to miss hiking to the Himalayan!

From the book, you’ll find information about these regions. Plus, trekking information, trekking maps, and new travel routes. Other highlights, like the Mughal Road, the Buddhist monks at Thiksey Monastery, and the Buddhas of Kargil are included. Also, we love the color photographs and maps. On top of that, there are Urdu and Ladakhi phrases. Get this one of the best India travel guide books in paperback or Kindle edition.

Adventurers, backpackers, climbers, hikers, and trekkers.

The Rough Guide to India

Make the most of your traveling with The Rough Guide to India ! Whether you’re visiting the world’s greatest building Taj Mahal or visiting the dramatic landscape of home to glaciers in Sikkim, it has it all. Also, the book provides very detailed and extensive information. It makes the book a perfect travel guide book India, especially if you’re preparing for the first trip to India and traveling on a budget.

The book may be a bit thick, but the e-book included is a brilliant bonus. Plus, it’s easy to use. These travel guidelines to India cover India’s cities and states north, south, and east. These include Uttar Pradesh, The Andaman Islands, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana, and more. From this book, you’ll find extensive listings of the best sights and top experiences.

Also, you can get practical advice about what to see and do. The essential pre-departure information is also provided. It includes getting around, food and drink, and accommodation. You’ll also get info about festivals, culture and etiquette, and more. The itinerary section helps you prepare your own routes, from popular tourist areas to off-the-beaten-track adventures. Besides, there’s a section that provides history, ethnic groups, religion, and wildlife. You’ll love the amazing full-color photography and practical full-color maps.

Backpackers, adventurers, and temporary travelers living in India.

Fodor’s Essential India

Get Fodor’s Essential India as your travel guide books India. It helps you plan the perfect adventure in India to be a trip of a lifetime. This guidebook is written by local writers and expert travel advisors who know the destinations better than anyone else. It’s perfect for travelers who want to travel in India but feel intimidated by the vastness of India. The travel guidelines to India are available in Kindle for a guidebook on the go. Meanwhile, the paperback is small enough to fit in your handbag and backpack.

The book starts with Experience India. This section provides the ultimate experiences you should try in India . Is it taking a sunrise boat ride on the Ganges or entering through the world’s largest door at Fatehpur Sikri? Maybe you want to wander the sprawling City Palace in Udaipur and party the night away at Goa? Meanwhile, you can have an overview of what to expect and where to go in the Travel Smart India section. It helps you with what you need to know before visit India. Also, it includes getting here and around and sample itineraries. Plus, you’ll get an explanation about history, culture, and travel tips.

This guidebook provides up-to-date coverage. From the capital city Delhi, home to Mother House Kolkata, to a financial center Mumbai . It also covers the largest Indian states Rajasthan and the coastlines of Kerala and Goa. It also includes information for side trips from Delhi. Each major city features planning, where to stay, what to do, etc. What’s more, the book provides lots of maps and illustrations to help maximize your time.

Adventurers, backpackers, photographers, and family.

Lonely Planet India

If you’re traveling to India quite often, Lonely Planet India is worth owning. It contains a lot of information about many corners of the country. Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Darjeeling, Chennai, are among them. Plus, it provides full-color maps and images. So, the book is perfect for a quick skimming before you do detailed planning and begin your journey in India. Do you want to listen to monks chanting in the shadow of the mighty Himalaya in Ladakh? Or, visiting top attractions in Agra , like the Taj Mahal? It has you covered!

The book may a little be thick, but it provides 4-easy use sections. So, you’ll find the most relevant and up-to-date advice and recommendations easily. It contains three main chapters: Plan Your Trip, On the Road, Understand, and Survival Guide. The Plan Your Trip is your planning tool kit to create the perfect trip. It provides useful information. From what you need to know, suggested itineraries, how to travel with children, to regions at a glance.

The book covers plenty of places in the country. You’ll find Agra, Goa, Bangalore, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Kerala, in the On the Road section. Plus, you’ll find expert reviews, insider tips, and easy-to-use maps. Get recommended accommodation, restaurants, and shops with honest reviews. Also, there’s a special section about tips for women and solo travelers, plus scams. What’s more, you’ll find information about transportation and cultural insights. It helps you get a more rewarding travel experience.

Family travelers, business travelers, adventurers, and backpackers.

DK Eyewitness India

DK Eyewitness India can be your right choice for India travel guide books. It’s filled with information. Either you choose the printed edition or e-book, you can take this guidebook wherever you go. The design will make the most of your travels to discover and experience India. Also, the book has several main sections, including Discover India. This section is divided into some parts: Welcome, Reasons to Love India, and Exploring/getting to know India. Itineraries/India your way, and the Indian year and a Brief History.

The introduction gives an overview of India as a country. Its history, food, culture, nature, architectures are amongst others. Meanwhile, the section Experience India features cities, states, and unions. Also, this travel guide book India includes highlights of what you could experience. It’s whether you prefer to drink tea in Darjeeling or visit the unmissable Taj Mahal. Perhaps you want to escape to the beautiful Andaman Islands or hike the heights of the Himalayas?

You’ll also find 22 sightseeing areas, which contains some information. These include addresses, phone numbers, websites, and opening times. Stuck for inspiration for your schedules while in India? Worry not! There are recommended easy-to-follow itineraries. So, you could set up your plan, whether you’re staying for just a few days or few weeks. Also, there is info about the best places to eat, sleep, and transport information. Even before you’re arriving in India, you can imagine yourself there through its colorful maps and amazing pictures. What’s more, you’ll get expert advice on how to get ready and stay safe.

Backpackers, adventurers, and temporary business travelers.

Author:  John P

As a blogger, I have had the pleasure of exploring some of the most exclusive destinations, indulging in the finest cuisine, accommodations, and experiences that the world has to offer. From the chic streets Paris to the scenic beauty of the Amalfi Coast, readers luxury. my, tips on the most exclusive hotels restaurants, and activities, giving you a glimpse into the world of high-end travel. But luxury travel is not just about extravagance - it's also about immersing yourself in the local culture and experiencing the true essence of a destination. With a passion for art, history, and architecture, I seek out the hidden gems and off-the-beaten-path experiences that make each destination truly unique. So whether you're planning a romantic getaway, a family vacation, or a solo adventure, my blog is your guide to the ultimate European luxury travel experience. Join me on my journey as we explore the best that Europe has to offer, one luxurious destination at a time.

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Inside  Lonely Planet’s  India  Travel Guide:

Up-to-date information -  all businesses were rechecked before publication to ensure they are still open after 2020’s COVID-19 outbreak

Top experiences feature  - a visually inspiring collection of India’s best experiences and where to have them

What's new feature  taps into cultural trends and helps you find fresh ideas and cool new areas

Pull-out, passport-size 'Just Landed' card  with wi-fi, ATM and transport info - all you need for a smooth journey from airport to hotel

Planning tools for family travellers  - where to go, how to save money, plus fun stuff just for kids

Colour  maps and images throughout

Highlights   and itineraries  help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests

Insider tips  to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots

Essential info   at your fingertips  - hours of operation, websites, transit tips, prices

Honest reviews for all budgets  - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss

Cultural insights  give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, people, music, landscapes, wildlife, cuisine, politics

Over   200 maps

Covers  Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata, West Bengal, Sikkim, Northeast States, Gujarat, Odisha, Mumbai, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu

eBook is available in ePub, MOBI and PDF.

ISBN: 9781788683876

Edition: 19th

Publication Date: April 2022

Writers: Joe Bindloss, Michael Benanav, Lindsay Brown, Stuart Butler, Mark Elliott, Paul Harding, Trent Holden, Anirban Mahapatra, Bradley Mayhew, Daniel McCrohan, Isabella Noble, John Noble, Kevin Raub, Sarina Singh, Iain Stewart

1256 pages, 1256pp color, 203 maps | Dimensions: 128mm × 197mm

Next edition due: November 2024

Language: English

Which guidebook is right for me?

Country, city & regional guides.

• Top experience collections
• Regional itineraries recommended by experts (from a couple of days to multi-week)
• 3D illustrations and guided tours of key sights
• Extensive coverage of history and culture
• Detailed maps throughout - includes walking maps and a pull-out planning map

EXPERIENCE guides

(country, city & regional).

• Led by local experts that reveal their favorite experiences and hidden gems
• Personal itinerary building tools
• Seasonal planning calendars
• QR codes unlock additional online content

POCKET guides

(city & regional).

• Special features cover most popular sights
• Content organized by neighborhhod
• Recommended 1, 2, 3 and 4-day itineraries
• Guided walking tours

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Top 25 Best books about India

Table of Contents

My 25 picks for best books about India

THIS POST OFFERS 25 suggestions for best books about India. Some are by Indian authors, and some are by foreigners who have spent a lot of time in India. Both perspectives are useful and valid, and can help visitors struggling to understand this complex culture. However, some of the most popular books about India are not that great … if you ask me …

Shantaram and Eat, Pray, Love are two of the most popular books about India, but they are not among my favourites. In fact, I tried to read Shantaram when I was living in Delhi, but ended up literally throwing it across the room after I was about three-quarters of the way through. I thought it was poorly written and more about the fevered imagination of its writer than about India. In fact, it offers very little insight into India, if you ask me; and the longer I spend in India getting to know it, the more true this statement becomes.

Since that time, however, I’ve read lots and lots of book about India, by Indians and foreigners, and almost all of them are much, much better. If you actually want to know something about India — rather than a largely fictional story by a writer with a flair for melodrama — I suggest the following 25 books.

Books about India by Indian authors

Twilight in delhi by ahmed ali.

This book, a “cult classic,” was apparently very hard to get for many years. Ahmed Ali was a Muslim writer and professor from Delhi who was out of the country when partition was announced and Pakistan was created. He was not allowed back into India and had, instead, to settle in Pakistan. It is a prose poem dedicated to the twilight days of “old” Delhi, when the Muslim area of the city flourished. It not only captures a bygone era, it also relates some moving personal stories.

Maximum City by Suketu Mehta

This is one of the best books I have read recently. It has an ambitious scope and many small wonderful moments, and seemed Dickensian to me in its attempt to capture the spirit of the times in a big, broiling, magnificent city. This is Bombay (Mumbai): gangsters and hero cops, foot-path poets and down-to-earth movie stars. You will learn a lot more about what Bombay is really about in this book than in Shantaram .

My Experiments with Truth by M.K. Gandhi

For my money, this ranks with Memories, Dreams and Reflections by Carl Jung as a truly honest and interesting autobiography. The title says it all, and says so much about a man who just seems to be made of different stuff than you or me. It’s truly a fascinating read, as you get insight into the human being behind the myth.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

It is intimidating to even try and summarize or review this epic book. I grew up reading Charles Dickens, and the scope and magnitude of this book is reminiscent of his style. This sweeping tale follows the live of four characters and the terrible hardships they endure living through the 1970s emergency in India. It is not easy to read as it forces you to confront the stark realities of poverty, casteism, corruption, cruelty, greed, hunger, and sometimes just plain bad luck. It’s bleak, but at the same time shines a light on the resilience of the human spirit. I learned a lot about India society and culture, too … especially the most difficult aspects.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

In some ways, Midnight’s Children is the fictional version of Freedom at Midnight (see below). India was granted independence from British colonial rule at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947. This book is about the children born in India at the exact moment of independence, and specifically two of them — who are switched in the hospital and grow up with the wrong families. It won the Booker Prize, and then the Booker of Bookers. It’s a big story, sprawling, bawdy, maddening, magical. Midnight’s Children was made into a movie by Deepa Mehta.

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What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh

The partition of India in 1947 led to the greatest mass movement of people in history as millions of Muslims left India to move to newly created Pakistan; and millions of Hindus and Sikhs left the part of Punjab that suddenly fell on the Pakistani side of the border. The violence that was unleashed was massive and devastating. This book is a novel about a Sikh woman who is a young bride at the time of partition — living on the wrong side of the border. The personal narrative makes the history very real. I also recommend Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh and Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa for the same reasons — brings the truly terrible history of partition to life. Cracking India was made into a film called Earth by Deepa Mehta, part of a series that includes Fire and Water .

India: A Million Mutinies Now by V.S. Naipul

What can I say? It’s the classic. Personally, I admire this book more than I like it. Massive, sweeping, iconic, and keenly observed, you will feel as if you have walked from one end of the country to the other by the time you have finished. It’s a portrait of India 40 years after independence, told through the stories of the many people (almost all men) that he meets and interviews along the way. V.S. Naipul received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. 

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Had to start this book a second time before I really got into it. It creeps into you like rain forest dampness. Very evocative and very powerful. While the setting is Kerala, in tropical southern India, it could be anywhere rural and stifling. I thought of the American deep south more than once. Strikingly original writing — but not an easy read.

City Improbable edited by Khushwant Singh

Bombay/Mumbai and Calcutta/Kolkata seem to get all the press, but there are those of us who are quite taken with Delhi. It’s a fascinating, historical, multi-layered city that sometimes seems, well, improbable. This is an excellent collection of entertaining and informative essays, and there really isn’t anyone like Khushwant Singh. He’s one of the most popular writers in India, and for a reason. His novel Train to Pakistan, about the partition of India, is also one of the best books on the subject, and was made into a movie.

Baumgartner’s Bombay by Anita Desai

This is a deceptively hardcore piece of writing from a masterful writer and storyteller. It’s about the last, pathos-filled days of a “man without family or home,” a lonely, aging foreigner in Bombay who has no where else to go. The final scenes, after he meets an unwashed hippie in a local cafe, are searingly hard to read. This book is to Shantaram what Masterpiece Theatre is to an Adam Sandler film.

All Roads Lead to Ganga by Ruskin Bond

This is a lovely piece of writing, an elegiac about Ruskin’s home in the Himalayan foothills of Uttarakhand. It reads like a love letter to the countryside and especially the nature of Dehradun, Mussoorie, and the Char Dham pilgrimage routes to the source of the Ganga (Ganges) River which naturalist Ruskin has hiked many times. I read it for the first time on a long train ride to Dehradun and it was the perfect accompaniment. Since then, Ruskin has become one of my favourite writers, and I too have settled in the Lower Himalayas — in my case, my home is in Rishikesh .

The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag by Jim Corbett

Not as well known as The Man-Eaters of Kumaon , this book is nevertheless a good read. It made me feel like a boy scout at camp, reading by flashlight — it’s that kind of book. Corbett won’t win any awards for poetic writing, but he sure can tell a good story. The descriptions of the killings can be gruesome. I read it in bed with my tabby cat stretched out across my legs and there were a few times I found myself looking at her a little more intently than usual. All of Jim Corbett’s books are page turners, and were best sellers in their day, but that’s not the main reason to admire Corbett. He was one of the first conservationists in India — I went to his home in Nainital, Kumaon on a pilgrimage. Corbett Tiger Reserve is named after him.

Books about India by foreign authors

Kim by rudyard kipling.

This is my favourite book of all time. If you’ve never read it, throw out everything you think you know about Kipling, who was the most famous writer of his time. It’s a masterpiece. I read it with my jaw on the floor. I have never read a book that is so in the moment.

The book follows the story of teenage Kim, son of an Irish immigrant and ‘friend of all the world’, who travels the roads of India with his guru, an elderly Tibetan lama on a spiritual quest for a river of enlightenment. It is unique and uncanny in its ability to absolutely immerse you into the scene and the story. You can feel the oppressive heat of the plains and the crisp air of the mountains. You can imagine Kim’s excitement about rejoining his friend on the road after a stint locked-up at school. You can feel the old man’s pain as his quest seems to elude him, and the love he engenders in Kim, his disciple.

You tramp along with Kim down the streets of Lahore, on the Grand Trunk Road, through Himalayan passes. Every sound, every smell, every gesture, every accent is evoked. The dust swirls around you, the smell of cooking food entices you, the fresh air of the mountains revives you. Kipling knew the road in India, and he knew how to capture it in words. And Kipling is not just a master of description — he is a master story-teller. Like India herself, this story is bold, complex, subtle and ambiguous. And you will be carried away by the transcendent ending.

A Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton

A cult classic, it’s about the author’s sincere, strange, and ultimately inspiring search for spiritual truth in India. This is a fascinating book that starts slowly and becomes very compelling. Brunton was way ahead of his time — this book was published in 1935 and it’s about his search for a spiritual master in India. He admits to being skeptical; admits to getting duped by fakes; and almost dies in a Bombay hotel room. But something pushes him forward and after about a year of searching, traveling and living in very (and I mean very) rough conditions, he meets Sri Ramana Maharishi . That is when the book becomes transcendent, and impossible to put down. The last part of the book, about Sri Ramana Maharishi, is just about the best writing I have ever read by a spiritual seeker. It’s truly riveting. This is the book that introduced Sri Ramana Maharishi to the west (and he remains one of the greatest Indian saints of the 20th century).

Empire of the Soul by Paul William Roberts

This is the book I hope Shantaram readers graduate to read. It is about two lengthy trips journalist Roberts took to India, separated by many years; and about how he reconciles some of the extraordinary experiences he had there. Roberts is known for hard-boiled books about war-torn countries like Iraq, so when he writes about his spiritual awakening, it rings true.

Roberts was just another youthful seeker backpacking around the subcontinent in the 1970s. The difference is a) India really got under his skin and he had some amazing spiritual experiences and b) he can write, and he has his own unique style.

Out of India by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

You may know her name as the screenwriting partner behind many wonderful Merchant-Ivory films, including A Passage to India. She was a European who married an Indian architect and lived the rest of her life in Delhi. The introduction to these short stories — in which she presents herself as a foreigner living indolently in India — alone is worth the price of the book. It’s hands-down the best piece of writing I have ever read about what it is like to be a foreigner in India. Absolutely priceless. She nails the cultural divide, which I experience on a daily basis. She’s one of my favourite writers, anytime, anywhere.

India’s Unending Journey by Mark Tully

Tully was the BBC’s chief correspondent in India for many years.He’s a good writer and he knows India. India’s Unending Journey is by far the most personal of the many books he wrote on India. It’s about his own psychological and spiritual journey as he learns from India to be “certain about uncertainty.” And he says it’s the most valuable thing he has ever learned. I can relate. Compelling reading. Also like No Full Stops in India. Actually, anything by Mark Tully.

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster 

One of my favourite books and movies about India by a foreigner. Written in 1924, A Passage to India tells the story of an impressionable young British woman who comes out to India to potentially marry the city magistrate of fictional Chandrapore. In India, she comes face to face with the stark realities of colonialism, the mysteries of eastern spirituality, the differences between eastern and western world views and, most importantly, her own inner darkness. It’s a very thought-provoking book with lots of great characters, and the epic film directed by David Lean does it justice.

City of Djinns by William Dalrymple

I was torn, not sure which Dalrymple book to put on this list. They are all good, especially Nine Lives . He is a solid as a rock in terms of research, reporting and writing. But this is his first book about India and it’s about Delhi (Dilli), my home-away-from home in India — and in fact, his real home. He lives there now. He has an Indian soul. The book is both a personal narrative about living in India for a year and about the history of Delhi. (And if there’s one thing Delhi has, aside from crowds of people and traffic, it’s history.) It’s by turns informative and funny. I keep intending to find out if International Backside taxi stand really exists.

P.S. Dalrymple is the found of the Jaipur Literature Festival.

P.P.S. I finally got a chance to ask Dalrymple if International Backside taxi stand was real and yes, he confirmed that it was.

Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

On the stroke of midnight, August 15, 1947, India became free. This is the classic book about the biggest event in modern Indian history: the freedom struggle, partition and birth of a nation. You cannot begin to know or understand modern India if you don’t have a grip on its struggle for independence and the larger-than-life players who made it happen, especially Gandhi, Nehru, Mountbatten and Jinnah. The film Gandhi , directed by Richard Attenborough, gives you a lot of the same information, but this book fills in all the holes.

Chasing the Monsoon by Alexander Frater

Like Dalrymple, Frater is a British journalist with a passion for India. The documentary based on this book, same title, stands as my all-time favourite documentary. Frater goes on a sometimes profound and sometimes whimsical journey to follow India’s monsoon to the wettest place on earth, Cherrapungi in the Indian state of Meghalaya.

Holy Cow by Sarah MacDonald

A classic. Every time I think of the iron scene, I start chuckling as I picture Sarah’s face hidden by her hands so the very serious servants won’t realize she’s actually bursting with laughter over the missing iron. I laugh even more since I experienced living with servants in a Delhi household. The book is both hilarious and also moving as she traces her own relationship to India from reluctance and disdain to head-over-heels, unabashed love.

Slowly Down the Ganges by Eric Newby

Eric and his wife took a slow boat down the Ganges in the days before India’s modernization began. It’s a fascinating journey, written in precise detail that makes every agonizing minute they are dragging the big tin boat over rocks and sandbanks almost painful to read.

Calcutta edited by Geoffrey Moorhouse

The history of Calcutta, from its founding in 1690 by Job Charnok, an agent of the East India Company, is inextricably linked to the history of the British in India. Calcutta was the capital of the British Raj until it was moved to Delhi in 1911. The tales Moorhouse chose make for fascinating reading. They cover many eras, many subjects and include well-known authors as well as excerpts from the diaries of English women who came out to be with their husbands (or to find husbands).

An Indian Summer by James Cameron

This James Cameron was a newspaper man in India during the twilight of the British Raj. In 1972, he returned to India, newly married to an Indian woman. The book is about his return journey. It’s thoughtful, really well written and underneath his vigorous journalistic style lurks a palpable love of India. In the book, he wrote that he produced a television program with an English director with the goal of scrupulously avoiding “the picturesque… and out worn visual beauties … that had suffocated every film about India since the medium was invented.” But the plan fell through “as soon as the camera turned; it was difficult indeed to film anything in India without some element of the strange and beautiful intruding.”

I really like this book for many reasons, not the least of which is this sentence — about the rotting piles of papers piled high in the offices of Calcutta’s bureaucrats: “Their protruding edges stirred under the fans with a gentle bony crepitation.”

If you’re interested in reading more travel books, here are some other great lists:

• 50 Best travel books to feed your wanderlust

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Eat, Pray, Love and India and the quest

Chasing the Indian Monsoon

Chasing Paul Theroux at the Jaipur Literature Festival in India

About Mariellen Ward

Professional travel writer Mariellen Ward is the founder of award-winning Breathedreamgo. Mariellen has a BA in Journalism and has been travel writing and blogging since 2005. She has won many awards, including a National Tourism Award from Incredible India Tourism, and writes for some of the world’s leading publications including BBC Travel and NatGeo Traveller India.

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25 Best All-Time Travel Books to Exploring India

Being the 7th largest country by area and the 2nd most populous country in the world, India is vast and diverse. With a cultural history spanning more than 4,500 years, India is notable for its religious diversity, with Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Sikhism, and Jainism among the nation’s major religions.

All these numbers (and more on Wikipedia ), can be overwhelming and it can be really hard to find out where to start your trip from or what routes or mode of transport to take if you plan on traveling to India.

In this post, I have listed out the top 25 all-time travel books to help you explore India and discover it’s beauty, rituals, culture, history, scenic rail routes , and traditions. So, whether you plan to cover the whole of India or if you intend to travel from one city or state to the other, these popular travel books can be extremely useful for you. 

#1. City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

Author: William Dalrymple

Rating: 4.2 out of 5

#2. The Age of Kali: Indian Travels and Encounters  

#3. Banaras City of Light

Author: Diana L. Eck

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

#4. One Life to Ride: A Motorcycle Journey to the High Himalayas

Author: Ajit Harisinghani

Rating: 4.6 out of 5

#5. Coromandel: A Personal History of South India

Author: Charles Allen

Rating: 3.6 out of 5

#6. Following Fish

Author: Samanth Subramanian

#7. Wanderings in India and Other Sketches of Life in Hindostan

Author: John Lang

Rating: 4.3 out of 5

#8. Chai, Chai

Author: Bishwanath Ghosh

Rating: 3.7 out of 5

#9. The Land of Moonlit Snows: & Other Real Travel Stories from the Indian Himalaya

Author: Gaurav Punj

#10. Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi

Author: Swapna Liddle

#11. India On My Platter

Author: Saransh Goila

Rating: 4 out of 5

#12. Around India in 80 Trains

Author: Monisha Rajesh

#13. Chasing The Monsoon: A Modern Pilgrimage Through India

Author: Alexander Frater

#14. The Nanda Devi Affair

Author: Bill Aitken

Rating: 3.7 out of 5 

#15. The Travelling Belly: Eating Through India’s By-Lanes

Author: Kalyan Karmakar 

Rating: 4.8 out of 5

#16. Butter Chicken In Ludhiana: Travels In Small Town India

Author: Pankaj Mishra

Rating: 3.9 out of 5

#17. If Its Monday It Must Be Madurai: A Conducted Tour of India

Author: Srinath Perur

#18. Holy Cow!: An Indian Adventure

Author: Sarah MacDonald

Rating: 3.4 out of 5

#19. Mother Earth, Sister Seed: Travels through India’s Farmlands

Author: Lathika George

Rating: 5 out of 5

#20. Worth Every Gasp: A Lone Woman’s Journey in the Himalayas…

Author: Anamika Mukherjee

#21. Hot Tea Across India

Author: Rishad Saam Mehta

Rating: 4.1 out of 5

#22. The Land of Flying Lamas & Other Real Travel Stories From the Indian Himalaya

#23. A South Indian Journey: The Smile of Murugan

Author: Michael Wood

#24. No Full Stops in India

Author: Mark Tully

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

#25. Truck De India: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Hindustan

Author: Rajat Ubhaykar

So, there goes my list of the 25 most popular and best-selling travel books to explore India. How many have you read from the above list or how many are you planning to order? Do let me know in the comments section below.

Lastly, if you loved the above compilation, I am sure you would also love this list of the 231 most popular books on Indian Railways . Do give it a look!

Related posts:

• 231 Interesting Books to Discover the Magnificent Indian Railways
• The 11 Must Have Travel Accessories for 2019

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35 Must-Read Books Set In India That Will Make You Want To Visit

Table of Contents

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If you’ve been here for a while, you’ll know one of my favorite places to read about is India.  I love it.  Shantaram is one of my favorite books that I’ve been thinking about re-reading and made me finally sit down and write this list where you’ll find some of the best books set in India.

Whether you’re getting ready to visit India, looking for a reason to visit India , or just want to escape through a book, there is plenty here for you to choose from. 

You’ll find books about life in India, non-fiction books about India, fiction books about India, India travel books, Indian memoirs, and everything in between. 

The only thing you probably won’t find on this list is older books that would probably fall more into the category of a classic.

If you’re interested in  trying Audible,  you can get your first month free!  This is a great option if you want to listen to books more.  If you’re on more of a budget, try Scribd!   You can get your first two months free there.

The Road to East India

Devika A. Rosamund wrote this memoir when she traveled to India alone in 1976 when she was just 22.  She recorded and reflected on her experiences, emotions, and relationships formed along the way.

She started her six-week journey starts in Amsterdam where she takes a bus to Iran.  From there she takes local transportation through Afghanistan and Pakistan to get to India.

Piscine Molitor, Pi, is from Pondicherry and has always explored issues of spirituality and practicality from a young age.  

After being on a ship that wrecks in the Pacific Ocean, he survives for 227 days with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.  This seems to be one of those “classic” books set in India you just have to read eventually.

Cracking India

Narrated by a precocious child, Cracking India is about the Partition of India in 1947.   Lenny Sethi is kept out of school because she suffers from Polio and spends her days with her nanny Ayah, who happens to be beautiful and always draws a big group of admirers.  

During her time spent with this odd group of characters, she learns about religious differences, religious intolerance, and the blossoming genocidal strife on the eve of Partition.  

Soon she begins to learn and spot the differences between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs while engaging in political arguments around her.  

While she has enjoyed a privileged life in Lahore, her world is turned upside down when Ayah is kidnapped.   Soon she’s experiencing a world of religious, ethnic, and racial violence.

Rashid’s opium room on Shuklaji Street in Old Bombay is full of this and potent air as a beautiful young woman leans across to hold a long-stemmed pipe over a flame.   Men around her mutter in their own gloom and drift with their own tides.  

Narcopolis captures the rich, chaotic, hallucinatory dream that is Bombay in the 1970’s when there are whispers of Pathar Maar, the Stone Killer, collecting nameless, invisible, poor victims.  

It’s said here that you should only introduce your worst enemy to opium.   The streets are full of stray dogs in packs, hustling street vendors, hookers calling from cages, and pimps watching on from their doorways. 

The Elephanta Suite

This is the tale of three Westerners transformed by their travels in India, woven together by the master of the travel narrative, Paul Theroux.  

This book captures the tumult, ambition, hardship, and serenity marking today’s India with the travelers venturing far off the beaten path to discover woe, truth, and peace.  

A middle-aged couple on vacation quickly goes from idyll to chaos, a Boston lawyer ends up in the slums of Mumbai, and a young woman befriends an elephant in Bangalore.  

Along the way, we meet a cast of Indian characters reflective of the country’s wonderful ironies: an executive that wishes he were a spiritual beggar, a young striver with a personality rewired by acquiring an American accent, and a miracle-working guru. 

Slowly Down the Ganges

Eric Newby, a self-confessed river lover, sets out on a 1200-mile journey down the Ganges from Hardware to the Bay of Bengal on his 44th birthday with his wife Wanda.  

Things start off rough, with them running aground 63 times in the first six days, but soon things start to look up on India’s Holiest River and it begins to live up to its reputation.  

They travel in a variety of unsuitable boats, by bus, and by bullock cart as they become acquainted with the colorful history and shifting moods of the river. 

I love reading books about traveling long distances in unusual ways and this is one book about India I am very excited to read.

Maximum City

Suketu Meehta gives us and insider’s view of the stunning Bombay metropolis.   We get to see the city from new and interesting angles, like the criminal underworld of rivaling Muslim and Hindu gangs, the life of a bar dancers raised in poverty and abuse, and the inner sanctum of Bollywood.   We hear the stories of countless villagers who seek out better lives and end up on the sidewalks instead. 

The Palace of Illusions

This is a reimagining of the famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat, told from the perspective of an amazing woman, taking us to a place of half history, half myth.  

Panchaali, the narrator, is the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers from the Mahabharat.   The story follows the princess Panchaali, beginning with her birth in fire and following her life with five husbands that were cheated out of their father’s kingdom.  

She stays by their side through the years of civil war and exile.   We, however, never lose sight of her strategic duels with her mother-in-law, her friendship with Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husbands’ most dangerous enemy. 

In Nine Lives wee get to explore the way traditional religions are viewed in modern India, showing ways of life we may never have otherwise known.  

We follow a middle-class woman from Calcutta living as a Tantric in a skull-filled cremation ground, a prison warden that is worshipped as an incarnate deity for two months of every year, a Jain nun that watches her closest friend ritually starve herself to death as she tests her powers of detachment, an illiterate gatherer that keeps a centuries-old 200,000-word epic alive in his head, a temple prostitute that reluctantly joined the trade, yet forces her daughters to join a trade she regards as a sacred calling, and more through this spellbinding story.

The Age of Kali: Indian Travels & Encounters

After living in India for ten years, William Dalrymple, we are treated to The Age of Kali as he senses the region is slipping into the most fearsome of all epochs in ancient Hindu cosmology: the Age of Kali, a time of strife, corruption, darkness, and disintegration. 

The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian

Nirad Chaudhuri tells the story of his childhood in the Bengali countryside, youth in Calcutta, and life in modern India through his own self-discovery and fiercely independent viewpoint.  It’s a story of deep conviction, charm, and intimacy.

Ticket to India

Maya and Zara are going to visit their grandmothers childhood home in search of a chest of family treasures left behind when her family fled for Pakistan during the Great Partition.  On their way to Aminpur in Northern India, they become separated and Maya is alone.

She is determined to find the chest and continues her journey with the help of an orphan named Jai.  This is a fun YA book set in India if you want something a little lighter.

A Search in Secret India

This is Paul Brunton’s story of traveling around India living with, some convincing and some not so much, yogis, mystics, and gurus.  Once he meets Sri Ramana Maharishi, he finally finds the peace and tranquility that comes with self-knowledge.

Lin escapes prison in Australia and flees to India on a fake passport and begins to get to know the underworld of Bombay with his new guide and friend Prabaker. 

They meet beggars, gangsters, prostitutes, holy men, soldiers, actors, and exiles from other countries.  Lin spends his time looking for love, running a clinic in one of the city’s poorest slums, and apprenticing with the Bombay mafia.

Two people that help unlock these mysteries are Khader Khan and Karla.  A mafia godfather, criminal, philosopher, mentor, and an elusive, dangerous, beautiful woman driven by her passions and secrets.  This is personally one of my favorite books ever.  It’s really long but SO WORTH IT.

City of Djinns

William Dalrymple explores the seven “dead” cities of Dehli as well as the eight – today’s Dehli.  He peels back the layers of Dehli’s centuries past revealing a unique cast of characters including a eunuch and descendants of great moguls.

At the heart of his explorations is the legend of the djinns, fire formed spirits that ensure the city’s phoenix-like regeneration no matter how many times it is destroyed.

Karma Gone Bad

Jenny Feldon is an Upper West Side housewife who finds herself being relocated to Hyderabad, India with her husband.  Instead of the glamorous yoga-filled life she imagined, she’s faced with buffalo-induced traffic jams.  She struggles with depression, bitterness, and anger as her sense of self and marriage begin to unravel.

The White Tiger

Balram Halwai: Servant, philosopher, entrepreneur, murderer.  Over the course of seven nights we are told the story of how Balram became who he is. 

He was born in the dark heart of India but gets a break when he’s hired as the driver of the richest man in the village, his two Pomeranians, and his very unlucky son.

While his peers flip through Murder Weekly, barter for girls, drink liquor, and perpetuate the Great Rooster Coop of Society, he sees his employers bribe for tax breaks, barter for girls, drink liquor, and play their own role in the coop.

While all this is happening, Blaram learns how to siphon gas, deal with corrupt mechanics, and refill and resell Johnnie Walker Black Label Bottles.  And he finds a way out of the coop that no one else inside it sees.

Sideways on a Scooter

Miranda Kennedy left her reporting job in New York City to travel India with no employment prospects.  She longed to immerse herself in turmoil and excitement of a rapidly developing country. 

Soon she learns life in Dehli is less westernized than she expected.  It’s next to impossible to rent an apartment as a single woman and she has to perch sideways on scooters.

Spending five years in the city, she experiences friendships, love affairs, and losses opening up the world of Indian politics and culture along with her own opinions of food, clothes, marriage, and family.

We get to meet several Indian women whose lives she is drawn into along the way.  While she sees India as the land of call-centers and fast food chains, she soon learns it’s an ancient place where women’s lives have scarcely changed for centuries.

This one has been on my TBR forever and if you’re looking for a book about expat life in India, this is a good choice.

Mountain Shadow

This is the sequel to Shantaram (but works as a standalone novel) following Lin on a new adventure through more shadowy worlds and cultures. 

At the beginning of the story, Lin has happiness and love, but soon he gets a call from a friend in need and he has to go help, even if it jeopardizes his love and happiness.

When he arrives, he enters a room of eight men that all play a significant role in the sotry: one becomes a friend, another an enemy.  One will try to kill him and one will be killed by another. 

We met some of the characters in Shantaram but are introduced to new ones as well, like Navida Der, a half-Irish, half-Indian detective and Edras, a philosopher with fundamental beliefs.

Sarah McDonald visited India in her twenties and left with memories of heat, pollution, and poverty.  When an airport beggar read her palm and said she would one day return to India – and for love, of all things – she said Never! and gave him, and the country, the finger.

Well, eleven years later she finds herself being relocated to the most polluted city on Earth, New Dehli, when her husband is posted there for work.  For her, it seems like the ultimate sacrifice for love and almost kills her, literally, with a double case of pneumonia soon after their arrival. 

After that harrowing experience, she begins her journey of discovery through India in search of the meaning of life and death.

The Girl and the Tiger

Isha loves animals but struggles in school.  She is sent to the Indian countryside to live with her grandparents where she discovers a Bengal tiger taking refuge in a sacred grove.

She knows the shrinking forests mean shrinking tiger habitats and when local villagers discover the tiger, she finds herself in a life or death cultural controversy. 

Her encounters with tribal people, elephants, and her search for the wild jungle are the sources of her revelations about the human relationship with the natural world.

This is by Paul Rosalie who wrote Mother of God , one of my favorite books.  I can’t wait to read this one, too!

Man-Eaters of Kumaon

If you don’t like big-game hunting/hunting/animal violence, skip right on to the next book.

Jim Corbett is a world-renowned big-game hunter.  He killed his first leopard before ehe turned nine and this is a collection of ten stories of him pursuing and shooting tigers in the Indian Himalayas in the early years of the century.

Along with the tales of hunting, we learn about the exotic flora, fauna, and village life in this treacherous region of India.

No Beast So Fierce

In Nepal in 1900 the single deadliest animal in recorded history began stalking humans in the lush foothills of the Himalayas .  A young local hunter was dispatched to stop the now legendary man-eater before it added to it’s 436-life death toll. 

At the turn of the century and British rule of India tightened, bounties were put on tigers heads. A tigress was shot in the mouth by a poacher but survived and began her reign of terror.  Instead of her normal prey, she moved to something easier: humans. 

Over the next seven years, she terrified locals and became bolder with every kill.  Finally, desperate for help, colonial authorities called on Jim Corbett for help.

Henna for the Broken Hearted

Sharell Cook is 30, living in Melbourne with her childhood-sweetheart husband with a high-powered job and plenty of extra cash.  But soon it all falls apart and she finds herself traveling to India to do volunteer work. 

While reinventing herself sounded easy, it’s not, especially in the chaos that is India.  Just as she’s wondering if things will ever work out, she meets a man and her transformation begins.

May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India

Elisabeth Bumiller spent three and a half years as a reporter for The Washington Post in India.  This is the fascinating and tragic stories of the women she met while she was there including wealthy sophisticates in New Dehli, villagers in the northern plains, movie starts in Bombay, intellectuals in Calcutta, and health workers in the south.

Travelers’ Tales India: True Stories

India is one of the most difficult places to travel and finds a lot of people saying they’ll never return, while just as many are drawn back time and time again.  It is the best show on Earth.

It dissolves ideas of what it means to be alive and it’s people give new meaning to compassion, perseverance, ingenuity, and friendship.  Experience the monsoon where the Indian and Pacific Oceans meet, track the endangered One-Horned Rhinoceros through the jungles of Assam, encounter the anguish of the caste system, and much more.

India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond

Shashi Tharoor shows how the challenges facing the world’s largest and most diverse democracy will affect America in the 21st century.  This is perfect if you’re looking for a book on the history of India.

No Full Stops in India

We get to see a series of stories from India’s Westernized elite who are cut off from local traditions, exploring Calcutta, the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (the biggest religious festival in the world), and the televising of a Hindu epic.  Throughout, Mark Tully analyze major issues while sharing the realities of Indian life.

Chasing the Monsoon

This is the tale of Alexander Frater following the Indian summer monsoon.  On May 20th the monsoon begins coming in from the east and the west, meeting in central India within seven or eight days of July 10th. 

Frater follows the monsoon, sometimes in it, sometimes before it, and sometimes after it, to see the impact of the phenomenon.

All the Fishes Come Home to Roost: An American Misfit in India

At seven years old, Rachel Manija Brown’s parents, post-60s hippies, moved them from California to an ashram in a cobra-ridden, drought-stricken spot in India. 

We meet a wonderful cast of characters including the colorful ashram leader, the grunting and howling librarian, a holy madman, and a delusional Russian claiming to be Meher Baba reincarnated.

Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East

In the late 60s, hundreds of thousands of Westerners descended upon India searching for the magic and mystery missing in the lives. 

Gita Mehta, an Indian writer, was placed ideally to observe the European and American “pilgrims” interacting with their hosts.

Here, we get to see her sharp observations of what happens when traditions of an ancient, long-lived society are turned into commodities and sold to those who don’t understand them.

The Spiritual Tourist: A Personal Odyssey Through the Outer Reaches of Belief

The spiritual tourist can be found on a pilgrimage to see the Dalai Lama in the Himalayas, blissed out in Germany with a beautiful Indian girl thought to be “the Divine Mother”, witnessing miracles in the ashram of Sai Baba, and searching for the Messiah in the London back streets.

No matter what, they’re all looking for inner illumination and awakening.  The holy, the lost, the wise, and the foolish are brought together on the highways and backroads of spiritual tourism.

In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India

Even though it is slated to become the third largest economy within a generation, it remains a mystery to many Americans.  In this book, Edward Luce, a journalist that covered India for years, makes sense of India and it’s rise to global power.

In the book, he sheds light on many of India’s contradictions like it’s booming tech sector, which only employs one million of it’s 1.1 billion people.

Only 35 million people have formal enough jobs to pay taxes while three-quarters of the population live in extreme depravation in it’s 600,000 villages.  This is informed by scholarship and history, but equalized with humor and rich in anecdotes.

The Hundred-Foot Journey

This is actually a fiction foodie travel book, spicing things up here. Hassan was born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai and is where he first experienced life through whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother.

Soon tragedy pushes them out of India and they console themselves by eating their way around the world eventually ending up in a small village in the French Alps.

The boisterous family takes the village by storm when they open an inexpensive Indian restaurant and bring the spice of India to the sleepy village.

Their restaurant is right across from Madame Mallory’s esteemed French relais and only after she wages culinary war with the family does she finally agree to mentor Hassan, leading him to Paris to open his own restaurant.

FoodSutra: A Memoir of the Foods of India

This is a foodies experience with the exploration of food in India told with quirky facts and stories. The author describes regional cuisines and their main dishes that he connects with his travels, experiences, and memories over many decades. Over 400 dishes are covered including ingredients, methods of cooking, and even facts and anecdotes about each.

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Have you read any of these books?  What is your favorite book set in India?

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14 thoughts on “ 35 Must-Read Books Set In India That Will Make You Want To Visit ”

Interesting! I would like to add ‘The Hungry Tide’ by Amitav Ghosh, any of Ruskin Bond’s books, ‘The Toss of a Lemon’ by Padma Viswanathan and definitely ‘A Suitable Boy’ by Vikram Seth.

Thank you! I’ll have to check those out for sure!

I think I would like to read Nine Lives! It seems like it has just the right amount of grit for me.

Yes! That one sounds really interesting!

I like your collection of Indian books even though I haven’t read most. I am intrigued to pick up one and start reading.

Thank you! There’s a lot of great ones to choose from!

Being an Indian, I can say you have listed some great books. Love it so much.

Thank you! It’s one of my favorite places to read about so far. Someday I’ll visit!

Thank you for this interesting list. Happy to see a few books about tigers !

I’m excited to read some of the tiger ones soon!

Love these suggestions! I’ve been looking for new books to read and I also love a book with a good travel theme 😁 thanks for this list!

Thank you! I hope you enjoy them 😃

Amazing post with best information.

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45 Books Set in + About India

This post contains affiliate links. Read the full disclosure here .

India is a rich and vibrant country, and these books about India will transport you there. While India is popular with many travelers, it may not always be at the top of the travel priority list for a lot of people (although with so much to see, it probably should be, including mine!). But whether you are planning a trip there or aren’t sure you will ever get there, these books set in India can teach you so much about this country, its rich culture, complicated history, and its people.

I first fell in love reading about India with Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Interpreter of Maladies (we have another book of hers at the top of this list), and since then I’ve really discovered just how much India-based literature there is out there. There are so many books to choose from!

We’ve really tried to capture a representative cross-section here: from literary fiction dealing with colonialism and independence to historical fiction and mysteries to children’s books celebrating Diwali. Indian authors have contributed so much to literary world, and I hope you can find a book you love here!

Looking for more book recommendations? You may enjoy these books set in Afghanistan.

Fiction Set in India

The lowland by jhumpa lahiri.

Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite authors, and she is especially known for stories about Indian immigrants in the United States. The Lowland is perhaps my favorite of her books, and is largely set in India. This is about two brothers whose close bond tested when tragedy strikes. The impetus of this book is the events of the 1967 Naxalbari uprising in India, during which the views of the brothers take them on largely different paths. For fans of literary fiction and family stories.

A Burning by Megha Majumdar

When Jivan, a girl who lives in the slums, is caught up in the case of a terrorist attack because of a post on Facebook, the course of her life may depend on two other characters she is connected to. But these other characters also have their own self-sustaining motives. This is a novel set in contemporary India, and is a social commentary on politics especially in the age of social media. For fans of literary and contemporary fiction.

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

When India-American journalist Smita returns to India to cover a story, she is drawn into the life of Meena, who was recently attacked for her marriage to a Muslim man. Meanwhile, Smita is embarking on a very different kind of love story of her own. For fans of literary fiction.

The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan

In a market in Dehli, a bomb goes off killing two brothers. But their friend survives, and this novel tells the story of what his life becomes and how the two families continue to live after these events. This is nuanced story about terrorism, violence, and loss. For fans of literary fiction.

The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota

In England, a group of Indian immigrants are struggling to make a new life for themselves. While this book is largely set in the UK, huge parts of it are set in India, as it delves deep into the backstory of each character. They all come from vastly different backgrounds and classes, and yet they have all found themselves in the same place, hoping for a better future. For fans of literary fiction.

China Room by Sunjeev Sahota

In 1929 Punjab, three girls are married to three brothers. Now that they are married, they are forced to spend their days working in the family’s china room, hidden away from everyone. Mehar, one of the women, is trying to figure everything out, including which of the men is her husband. Then, in an alternate timeline in 1999, a young man from England has returned to his family’s home (which of course includes a locked china room) to overcome an addiction. For fans of historical fiction.

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi

This is a mother-daughter story set in India. The mother, Tara, has spent her life devoted to an ashram, while her daughter, Antara, has been largely raised by others. Now Antara is an adult, and she must come to terms with her childhood as her mother ages. For fans of literary fiction.

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag, Translated by Srinath Perur

In this slim novel, a family that had been living in poverty comes into a good deal of money. What results is a tangled mess of family relationships. Hence the title: ghachar ghochar is a phrase used to indicated something that has been tangled and can’t be undone. For fans of literary fiction and dysfunctional family stories.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara

Nine-year-old Jai loves watching police TV shows. So when a classmate goes missing, he enlists his friends to help him solve the mystery. But as more kids start disappearing, their mystery becomes scarier. For fans of mysteries and books for adults told from the perspective of a child.

The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay

When Shalini’s mother dies, she travels to the Kashmir region of India searching for answers. There, she becomes close with a new family. But she is still an outsider, which may be dangerous in the midst of the region’s political upheaval. For fans of literary fiction.

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Palace of Illusions takes one of India’s greatest epic poems, the Mahabharata , and retells it from the perspective of a woman. Panchaali helps her royal husbands reclaim their thrones, but she is also harboring a secret attraction to Krishna, her husbands’ enemy. For fans of classics retold from the perspective of women (think, Circe ).

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Written as a letter from a driver and entrepreneur in Bangalore to the president of China who is visiting his country, this novel explores class, work, success, and morality in India. For fans of dark comedy and social commentary.

Mirror Made of Rain by Naheed Phiroze Patel

This book about contemporary India follows Noomi, an upper-class girl coming of age and trying to figure out how she can break free from the social obligations of her society. But when she moves to Mumbai, starts a new job, and falls in love, she may just be falling into the same old traps. For fans of contemporary, literary fiction.

The Archer by Shruti Swamy

Set in 1960s and 1970s Bombay, this novel centers around a woman named Vidya who falls in love with a type of dance called kathak. As she grows though, balancing her art with her life becomes a challenge. For fans of historical fiction and women’s stories.

Mother Land by Leah Franqui

When American Rachel Meyer moves to Mumbai with her husband, she had to adjust to what that means for family dynamics — especially with her mother-in-law who decides to move in with them after leaving her husband. For fans of women’s fiction and contemporary fiction.

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

After leaving her abusive husband, Lakshmi becomes a sought-after henna artist and a secret keeper for wealthy women. But when her husband shows up again with his own secret, the life she built for herself may crumble. For fans of women’s fiction and historical fiction, and if you love this book it’s the first in a triology.

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey

This books, set in 1920s India, is inspired by the story of India’s first female attorney. In this novel, Perveen Mistry becomes the first female attorney in India and investigates the case of three widows who she suspects are being taken advantage of. For fans of mysteries.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

This is a book about two fraternal twins in rural India whose lives are changed forever when tragedy strikes. It’s a story about a family whose life together is changing alongside the broader change happening in their country. For fans of character driven fiction.

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

This book is set in India during the 1980s near the Himalayas, where an old judge lives with his cook and his orphaned granddaughter. This is a book about loss, and reviewers consistently mention its heaviness as it deals with themes of colonialism, dashed hopes, death, and how the movement for democracy in nearby Nepal impacted the characters. For fans of literary fiction.

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

When their mother dies, three sisters living in the UK travel to India to lay her to rest as she wished. The three sisters have never been particularly close, and while they all have different motives for taking the trip, it will change them all, bring them closer, and reveal secrets from their past. For fans of contemporary fiction and women’s fiction.

Polite Society by Mahesh Rao

In this retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma set in Delhi, wealthy Ania plays matchmaker for her friend but finds herself caught up in her own unexpected love story. For fans of women’s fiction, rom-coms, and Austen retellings.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

Saleem Sinai is born at the exact same time India gains its independence in 1947. His life afterward is anything but normal, as every event in his life is somehow linked to the events of India. For fans of historical literary fiction, family sagas, and modern classics.

Find even more great books for your travel reading list with these books about Ghana !

Non-Fiction Books About India

Behind the beautiful forevers: life, death, and hope in a mumbai undercity by katherine boo.

This award-winning and critically-acclaimed book delves into the lives of those living in a Mumbai slum near new luxury apartments. The families there are hopeful for a brighter future, but it’s tough to escape poverty. For fans of narrative non-fiction.

India After Ghandi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha

If you’re looking for a history of India, which is of course rich and complicated, this may be the book you’re looking for. This book tells the story of India both before and since Independence, with a special focus on politics and the people who have influenced the political history. For fans of massive history books.

Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey

Madhur Jaffrey is an award-winning cookbook author, and here she presents a memoir about growing up in India, where every memory is laced with the richness of food. And of course, because she’s a cookbook author, this memoir contains recipes. For fans of memoirs and books about food.

City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi by William Dalrymple

Delhi is a city that has been created and destroyed many times, known for having seven past versions of itself. This book dives into the history of Delhi and all the ways it has been recreated over centuries up to what it is now. This book is for fans of history and especially for those who might be planning a trip to Delhi.

Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast by Samanth Subramanian

In these essays, Subramanian explores the coasts of India, examining the way fish impact the culture, economy, food, and more. For fans of travel memoirs and essays.

Children’s Books About India

The wheels on the tuk tuk by kabir sehgal and surishtha sehgal, illustrated by jess golden.

The Wheels on the Bus…but in India! This delightful nursery rhyme book can be read or sung, as you follow a tuk tuk through the streets of an Indian city. Recommended ages: 0-5 years.

Diwali (Celebrate the World) by Hannah Eliot, Illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan

This book of colorful illustrations teaches kids about the five days of Diwali and the important traditions of this holiday. Recommended ages: 1-4 years.

Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth by Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes

This story of the Hindu god Ganesha has bright and delightful illustrations. Ganesha loves sweets, but one day a hard candy breaks off his tusk (which of course means he has a lesson to learn). Recommended ages: 2-5 years.

A Sari for Ammi by Mamta Nainy, Illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat

Two little girls watch their mother weave beautiful saris, but she never gets to wear any of them. So, they come up with a plan to get Ammi a beautiful sari of her own. Recommended ages: 4-8 years.

Binny’s Diwali by Thrity Umrigar, Illustrated by Nidhi Chanani

When Binny’s class is learning about different holidays, she is excited to tell them about her favorite celebration: Diwali. She teaches her class all about her favorite traditions, food, and more. Recommended ages: 4-8 years.

A Gift for Amma: Market Day in India by Meera Sriram and Mariona Cabassa

As a little girl searches for a gift for her mother, she encounters all the colors of an Indian market. Each page is dedicated to a different color, with fun and bright illustrations. Recommended ages: 4-8 years.

Monsoon Afternoon by Kashmira Sheth, Illustrated by Yoshiko Jaeggi

A monsoon is coming, and a little boy wants to go outside and play. Everyone in his family is too busy, until he finds his grandfather and they go outside to have fun in the rain and explore the way it has changed their world. Recommended ages: 4-8 years.

Grandma and the Great Gourd: A Bengali Folktale by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Illustrated by Susy Pilgrim Waters

When Grandma receives a letter from her daughter asking her to come visit, Grandma must trek through the jungle and face the treacherous animals. Recommended age: 5-8 years.

The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India, and a Hidden World of Art by Barb Rosenstock, Illustrated by Claire A. Nivola

In this picture book based on a true story, Nek Chand builds an intricate rock garden when he finds himself in a new place. When the government discovers it and wants to tear it down, the community comes together to save it. Recommended ages: 7-10 years.

Middle Grade & Young Adult Books Set in India

Pashmina by nidhi chanani.

In this graphic novel, Priyanka longs to know about India—the land her mother left behind and that she doesn’t like to talk about. When Priyanka finds an old pashmina though, it transports her to India where she learns the secrets of her past. Recommended ages: 8-12 years.

Sita’s Ramayana by Samhita Arni, Illustrated by Moyna Chitrakar

The Ramayana is one of the great ancient texts from India. Here it is told in graphic novel form, as Queen Sita is kidnapped by a king and rescued by her brother. Recommended ages: 9-12 years.

Prince of Fire: The Story of Diwali by Jatinder Verma, Illustrated by Nilesh Mistry

This is another retelling of the Ramayana for kids, this time as a chapter book with illustrations. Here, Prince Rama and his bride, Sita, set off on an epic journey after Rama is banished. It ends with their return home and the festival of Diwali. Recommended ages: 9-12 years.

Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar

When Anjali’s mother joins Ghandi’s freedom movement, the life of her family changes. From giving up some of her treasured possessions to overcoming prejudice, Anjali must learn and grow and eventually step up for freedom. Recommended ages: 9 and up.

Thirst by Varsha Bajaj

In Mumbai, access to water can be difficult, especially for the poor. Minni can only get water for a few hours a day. But in the building where she starts a new job, the water supply seems endless. She also discovers a water mafia boss though, which could spell trouble. Recommended ages: 10-12 years.

Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame by Supriya Kelkar

When Meera was a child, her parents married her to a boy from another village. When she turns 13, she is expected to go live with him and his family. Instead, violence erupts, her husband is killed, and Meera finds herself working for a British officer. When she discovers violent plots in place to further the British colonization of India, she must decide whether to save herself or warn her her people. Recommended ages: 10-13 years.

The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman

When four homeless kids come together in Chennai, India, they form a family. They are independent and strong, and they are skeptical of trusting adults. But they just may need to learn to trust someone in order to survive. Recommended ages: 10 and up.

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

After the 1947 partition, when India is split into Pakistan and India, Nisha’s father decides it would be safer for them to move from Pakistan to India. Nisha has already experienced so much loss (her mother died when she was a baby), so she isn’t happy about losing her home too. But can she find hope in a new place? Recommended ages: 10 and up.

The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana

When the Emperor Sikander arrives in Shalingar, the freedom of the people is threatened. Princess Amrita offers to become the Emperor’s bride, but instead finds herself on the run. This fantasy book based in India is recommended for ages 12 and up.

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Are you looking for some good Indian Travel books to read? bookGeeks has one of the largest collection of reviews of Indian Travel Books and books on places written by travel enthusiasts like Gaurav Punj, Sabir Hussain, Mayank Austen Soofi and Kishalay Bhattacharjee. These books are about the experiences of the writer while travelling to different places, trying different cuisines and exploring different cultures.

All our reviews are professionally done and the methodology we follow is logical but simple. We divide our book reviews into 5 categories:

1. Subject: This is the main idea behind the book. 2. Relevance: Is the book relevant to the current generation of readers? 3. Writing Style: The readability and language flow. 4. Research: The research done by the author on the present subject. 5. The Entertainment Quotient: Overall enjoyability of the book.

The Roar of Ranthambore | Batti Lal Gurjar | Book Review

Batti Lal Gurjar’s ‘The Roar of Ranthambore’ is a book that shows us the magnificent world of Ranthambore National Park and its majestic tigers through the keenly observing eyes of Batti Lal Gurjar; a man who has been a naturalist at the park for almost 20 years.

All Roads Lead to Ganga | Ruskin Bond | Book Review

In “All Roads Lead to Ganga,” Ruskin Bond pays homage to Ganga and the Himalayas, celebrating their majesty and significance. From the tranquil waters of Mandakini to the towering peaks of Tungnath, the book reverently explores the diverse landscapes of Garhwal, capturing Bond’s profound connection to this cherished land and its sacred rivers.

A Few Thousand Kilometres of Happiness | Anand Krishna Panicker | Book Review

A Few Thousand Kilometres of Happiness narrates the captivating tale of Anand Krishnan and Varun Kumar, two motorcycle tourers who embark on an extraordinary journey spanning several thousand kilometers. This book intricately captures their expedition, chronicling the various incidents, conflicts, nightlife encounters, challenges, and accidents they encounter along the way.

Tongue of the Slip | CP Belliappa | Book Review

In this book, Belliappa delves into snippets from his everyday life, some ordinary some extraordinary, and presents to us a life that is not just different from us in terms of history but also geography. Unlike most of us city-dwellers, Belliappa is a resident of a verdant green coffee estate of Coorg, and thus this geographical setting plays an important part in the setting the vibe and flavour of the book.

The Hour of the Leopard | Jim Corbett | Book Review

Approximately 200 pages in length, the book consists of 3 pieces of Jim’s writings about leopards. These three pieces include – My First Leopard which is taken from his book Jungle Lore (published 1953), The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag which was published as a book in 1947, and The Panar Man-Eater which was included in the book The Temple Tiger and More Man-eaters of Kumaon (published 1954).

Ghats of Varanasi: Varanasi Walks 1 | Dr. Rajnish Mishra | Book Review

Rows after rows of stone steps rising from the mighty Ganga and rows after rows of stone falling into the same – this is the quintessential picture of the city that comes to mind when one thinks about Varanasi. This is also what the author quite aptly refers to as the ghatscape. This ghatscape covered in the book has been divided into seven sections, with each section dedicated to its most famous ghat – Assi, Kedar, Dashashwamedh, Manikarnika, Panchganga, Trilochan, and Adikeshav.

A Woman’s Journey Through India | Madhu Veena | Book Review

A Woman’s Journey Through India is written from the point of view of a person who doesn’t live in India. Expect a book that chronicles the author’s adventures as a solo female traveller in India. Expect a book that also acts as a guide to such travelling in India.

Haunted India | Chandan Sinha | Book Review

Haunted India talks about real places, buildings, and incidents of horror from all over India. In addition to this, the book also covers many mysterious places in India. Expect a book that has bite-size chapters which are easy and quick to read. Expect a short read of just under 100 pages.

Travel Diaries: The Pilgrimage | Shivani | Book Review

Travel Diaries: The Pilgrimage is a short travel journal that documents the author’s many journeys to the majestic and inspiring temples and mountains of the Kumaon and Garhwal Himalayas. Written informally, the book is an effortless read.

The Bera Bond | Sundeep Bhutoria | Book Review

The Bera Bond is a magnificent tribute to the small rural community of Bera in the Pali district of Rajasthan, located at about a distance of 140 km from Udaipur. Here, near the pristine waters of the Jawai river, 55 leopards peacefully coexist with their human neighbors.

Mehman: Thoughts From My Travel Buddies | Anuj Tikku | Book Review

“Mehman” is a 4-in-1 travel memoir collection that brings to us the travel journey and experiences of 4 different travellers. These include 3 contributors from across India who contribute to author Anuj Tikku’s blog Tikku’sTravelthon. It also includes travel writings from the author’s pen.

Tiffin: Memories and Recipes of Indian Vegetarian Food | Rukmini Srinivas | Book Review

Tiffin: Memories and Recipes of Indian Vegetarian Food is part memoir (anecdotal) and part recipes; where the memories section far exceeds the recipes one. Expect a book that is a little lengthy and heavy on anecdotes. Expect a book that familiarizes one with the delights of South Indian vegetarian ‘tiffin’.

From Russia With Love | Anuj Tikku | Book Review

Expect a book that is a very short read of just over fifty pages. Expect a book that takes you to the devilishly cold country of Russia along with some other eastern European countries. Expect a book that doles out a decent dose of practical advice and travel tips for those venturing into the cold sub-continent.

Out of Africa: In Zulu Land | Anuj Tikku | Book Review

Expect a book that talks as much about the wildlife and jungles of Africa as it does about its people, its languages and its distinct culture. Expect a book that garnishes the author’s writing with some interesting looking photographs.

Shankara: The Mansarovar Odyssey | Anuj Tikku | Book Review

While reading Shankara: The Mansarovar Odyssey, expect a book that takes you to the beautiful world of Kailash-Mansarovar yatra and takes you through the entire experience in just 50 pages. Expect a book that also has a lot of pictures to complement the author’s personal experiences of the journey.

Yeh! Hai India | Anuj Tikku | Book Review

Yeh! hai India does have certain things going for it which makes it a decent one time read. A candid conversational style of narration complemented with some very unique travel experiences is what makes this book click

Antarctica Diaries | Anuj Tikku | Book Review

Expect a book that is a travelogue about the world’s most remote continent – Antarctica. Expect a book that gives you an idea of what Antarctica is really like? how to get there? how much does it really cost? how perilous the journey is? what kind of precautions does one need to take? etc.

The Kumbh Travelogue | Anuj Tikku | Book Review

The Kumbh Travelogue is basically a book that talks about the author’s travels to the holy celebrations of the Ardh Kumbh. The book takes us to the holy city of Prayagraj and lets us experience its distinct flavour and vibe through the author’s own experiences.

Top 10 Best Indian Travel Guide Books To Read in India

Best indian travel guide books.

Are you a travel lover? Do you love to read travel stories? Amazing! Through our years of travel experiences, we have come up with this content to explain to you in detail about top travel storybooks in India. So, the best Indian travel guide books are as follows:

List of Top 10 Best Travel Guide Books For India – 

• Enjoying India to the Fullest
• Rough Guide To India
• India (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)
• India Bites You Somehow
• Frommer’s India
• Wanderlust and Lipstick
• DK Eyewitness Travel Guide
• India – Culture Smart
• Fodor’s Essential India

1. Enjoying India to the Fullest – Indian Travel Guide Book

 Author – Shalu Sharma 

This is one of the best books about travel in India . This book is essential if you plan to visit India. Many people travel to India without knowing what to do or what to eat. This book will help you to plan your trip to India. Enjoying India book will provide information to help travelers navigate India’s vast landscape and get the most out of India. 

2. Rough Guide To India

Author – Rough Guides

Rough Guide To India is among the best Indian travel guide books  and is the most comprehensive guide to India. These Rough Guide Books are actually comparable to the Lonely Planet guides.  Rough Guide To India books is bravely open about the places they cover. This book covers India’s history, language, and culture as well as its politics and culture. It also includes information about bribes and drug use and Bollywood movies. It is the best and most comprehensive guide to India.

3. India (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)

Author – Michael Benanav, Anirban Mahapatra, Bradley Mayhew, Mark Elliott, Paul Harding, Lindsay Brown

Lonely Planet Travel Guides is among the best Indian travelogue books  and is essential if you’re planning to visit India for the first time. It includes traveler maps, a guide to places to stay and eat, and great information about India.

4. Holy Cow – India Travel Book

Author – Sarah Macdonald

Holy Cow is among the best travel guide books for India . This book describes a rollercoaster ride through a land full of contradictions and chaos with a woman who is on a mission for her soul, her love life, and her sanity. Sarah MacDonald, an ABC journalist, spent two years on the Indian sub-continent before preparing this book.

5. India Bites You Somehow – True Life Tales

Author – Kai Mayerfeld

This book features stories about westerners who have lived in India. This book contains 40 real-life stories from people who traveled to India from 19 different countries. Although it is not intended to be a guidebook, this book offers a glimpse into Indian spiritual life. 

India Bites You Somehow – True Life Tales is among the best books on Indian travel . This book will help you connect to India if you haven’t yet set foot in India. This collection of stories from travelers around the globe will open your eyes to India.

6. Frommer’s India – Travelling Books India

Author – Pippa De Bruyn

Frommer’s India is among the best Indian travel guide books . It is a guidebook that will help you plan your trip from the beginning. This book is handy if you’re looking for tips on traveling in India. Frommer’s India book covers everything you need to know about India: where to stay, what food to eat, driving there, how to avoid being scammed, and how to make the most of your time.

7. Wanderlust and Lipstick: A Guide for Women Travelling to India

Author – Beth Whitman

Wanderlust and Lipstick: A Guide For Women Travelling To India book was written with women in mind. This book focuses on India’s culture and offers travel tips, such as how safe to be, what to wear, how you can deal with poverty, how personal belongings are safe, and a list of Hindi words. Wanderlust and Lipstick: A Guide For Women Travelling To India is among the best Indian travel guide books . This book also includes advice from women who have traveled abroad.

8. DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Best Indian Travel Book

Author – Anna Streiffert

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide will take you to India, where you can join thousands of people visiting India to see the Taj Mahal lit up in the morning light, or enjoy Goa’s golden shores. This book is among the best travel guide books for India .

India’s vast landscapes are as varied as they are inspiring. Modern skyscrapers meet centuries-old mosques in cities while tigers glide through lush jungles that separate the Himalayan heights from the beaches of the Keralan coast.

The updated guide to India transports you there like no other guide. It features expert-led advice and insights, photos on almost every page, and hand-drawn illustrations that place you in the iconic buildings and neighborhoods of the country.

9. India – Culture Smart: The Essential Guide To Customs & Culture

Author – Becky Stephen

India’s 1.2 billion inhabitants are as diverse and vibrant as Old Delhi’s spice markets. Every region, caste, and community has its own culture. Each one reflects unique history shaped by religion, creativity, conquest, and war. The Indians, a people steeped in old traditions and extremely fatalistic, are passionate about their culture and are world leaders in science and technology. If you show interest in their country, it will be repaid with warmth and friendship.

 India – Culture Smart: The Essential Guide To Customs & Culture will teach you the fundamental values and behavior norms of India, help you navigate cultural differences, build relationships and provide invaluable insight into this fascinating, vast land. All this makes this book among the best Indian travel guide books .

10. Fodor’s Essential India – Best Travel Guide Books

Author – Fodor’s Travel Guides

If you are looking for an India travel book pdf , you can search for Fodor’s Essential India . Fodor’s Essential India was written by locals and is the ideal guidebook for anyone looking for tips on how to get the best out of their trip to Delhi, Mumbai, and other cities. This India travel guide includes detailed maps and brief descriptions that will make it easy to plan your trip.

India is a country full of exciting and intriguing contrasts. There are beautiful palaces juxtaposed with simple temples. Modern high-tech industry mixes well with traditional customs and rituals. This vast country is rich in attractions and activities. Fodor’s Essential India provides a comprehensive guide to the best sights and things to do.

There are many travel books by Indian authors for you to read. Indian travel writers such as Janhavi Acharekar, Anees Jung, Rosy Thomas, and Romola Butalia have written many amazing travel books. Make sure to read them all. Take care!

Read More – 

• 25+ Most Important Things To Carry While Travelling
• Top 10 Best Comfortable Cars For Travelling in India
• Top 10 Best Indian Hotel Booking Websites or Apps
• Top 10 Best Indian Travel Websites or Travel Apps
• Top 10 Best Indian Travel Vloggers On YouTube
• Top 5 Bengali Travel YouTubers In Kolkata 
• Top 12 Best Trekking Companies In India 
• Top 10 Best Travel Agency in Kolkata
• 10 Best Tourism Courses In India 
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10 best indian travel books to read in 2024.

Do you enjoy travelling? Do you enjoy reading travelogues? Amazing! We created this post to provide you with a detailed explanation of the best travel books available in India. Find the best Indian travel guides by reading this post.

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Best Indian Travel Guidebooks to Read Before You Travel to India

Essential india travel guide by mohan kapoor.

Essential India Travel Guide

• Every kind of traveller, including a business traveller and a partygoer.

The Essential Safety and Security Guide to Visiting India

The Essential Safety & Security Guide to Visiting India

• Backpackers, adventurers, female travellers, and solo travellers.

Culture Smart India

India - Culture Smart

• Business travellers, newly shifted residents, and travellers on short-term projects.

Lonely Planet South India & Kerala

South India & Kerala Regional Guide by Lonely Planet

• Family travellers, Solo travellers, and backpackers.

Insight Guides India

• Every type of traveller and photographer.

DK Eyewitness Delhi, Agra & Jaipur

DK Eyewitness Delhi, Agra and Jaipur

• Backpackers, adventurers, & Solo travellers.

Travel Fearlessly in India

Travel Fearlessly In India

• Female group travellers and female solo travellers.

Bradt Travel Guides: Jammu, Kashmir Valley, Ladakh & Zanskar

Bradt Travel Guides - Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, Zanskar

• Adventurers, hikers, trekkers, and backpackers.

Fodor’s Essential India

Fodor’s Essential India

• Family, photographers, adventurers, and backpackers.

Lonely Planet India

• Family, female solo, and business travellers.

FAQs: Best Indian Travel Guidebooks to Read

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Books that Inspire to Travel & Visit India

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one,” (George R.R. Martin). Today is the World Book Day ; the day of celebrating the joy of reading. Books distribute the world knowledge, teach ideals, inspire creativity, spark innovation, illumine the mind, and lead to revolution. Books give rise to our desire for travel as well. If you are seeking motivation and blessing for traveling, some of the travel books on India can play the Muse for you. Indian Eagle handpicked the five best titles from a huge selection of travel books whose protagonist is India. The titles are….

Travelers’ Tales India

Around India in 80 Trains 

As the title suggests, the book is a tale of adventure travel in trains crisscrossing India by Monisha Rajesh, a British journalist at The Week UK. While reading an article on India’s flourishing domestic aviation, she reminisces her childhood days in India and feels nostalgic. Further inspired by Jules Verne’s “Around the World in 80 Days”, Monisha embarks upon a journey of adventure and discovery across 40,000 km by trains in India . While traveling in local trains, express trains, superfast trains, toy trains and luxury trains, she comes across a wide range of characters; some are funny while some are weird. She experiences many odd and offbeat things from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Infused with overtones of wit and humor, “Around India in 80 Trains” is a patchwork of her kaleidoscopic train journeys.

READ MORE Best Mountain Train Journeys in India

City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

An interface between a travelogue and a novel, the book by William Dalrymple is a historical as well as mythological journey from the 1984 riots to the times of Mahabharata. As the name suggests, the book is all about Delhi to its deepest core. The lively depiction of the author and his wife’s interactions with the people of Delhi – taxi drivers, street sweepers, gardeners, traffic police, the Sikh landlady, custom officials, hawkers, and others from various walks of life breathes life into the story of the book. The author has dug up some interesting facts from Delhi’s mystic being and mysterious past that many are unaware of. The book “City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi” is like the Time Machine which takes you on a ride from the present to the past through centuries of Delhi’s evolution .

Chai, Chai: Travels in Places Where You Stop But Never Get Off  

The first person narrative of travels from Kanpur to Chennai by Biswanath Ghosh , an Indian journalist and writer, this travel book is a beautiful blend of his experiences, feelings, observations, encounters and insights during the journey. The way he has expressed and penned his stories turns railway stations and platforms into eventful destinations. The book is a collage of the moments including the joy of drinking tea on a platform that he lived during the journey. Trains, stations and platforms are the buildings blocks of the book “Chai, Chai: Travels in Places Where You Stop But Never Get Off”, steeped in with and humor. This travelogue puts you on a ride to those areas of India which commercial tourism has outshined.

All Roads Lead to Ganga 

In keeping with the essence of the beginning quote, we at Indian Eagle would like to say, “A traveler lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never travels lives only one .”

We wish you, Happy Reading! Happy Traveling!

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7 books to read before travelling india (#3 and #4 is must read for women).

I love reading and can’t imagine traveling without a book. Being a solo female traveler, I mostly prefer reading books based on travel stories, and practical experiences. Many great travel sites and blogs helping us, but to me, the ultimate guide is always a good travel book or guide. Here are some recommended travel books on India for all. I personally found useful and it was worth reading before planning a solo trip to India . Let me know which one you found useful most.

Whether you’re traveling solo, in groups or family, it’s always wise, knowing the specific country or destination well before traveling for the first. I planned for a Delhi and Rajasthan tour to India for the first time. I started reading two guidebooks, DK Eyewitness Top 10 Delhi (Pocket Travel Guide)  and Lonely Planet Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra (Regional Guide) . Later those guides were truly helpful for me during my visit to Delhi and Rajasthan.

Disclosure: All are paid links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Table of Contents

• 1 Lonely Planet India (Country Guide)
• 2 India – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
• 3 India Travel Survival Guide For Women
• 4 Wanderlust and Lipstick: For Women Traveling to India
• 5 Taj Mahal (Wonders of the World)
• 6 DK Eyewitness India (Travel Guide)
• 7 Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
• 8 Are You On Pinterest? Click To Save For Later Read!

Lonely Planet India (Country Guide)

Lonely Planet India is the number one best-selling travel guide to India. Every series by Lonely Planet is my all-time favorite. All information in this guide always has been so useful to me. Lonely Planet is always recommended as a trustworthy travel guide. And always hugely popular for every traveler from every corner of the globe.

This guide covered many essential travel information, tips, insights, features according to traveler choices and budgets. Many maps, images, 3D illustrative plans, and reviews made this guide a great companion for all time in all ways.

• History, culture, and traditions of India
• India tourism
• Places to visit in India
• Where to stay
• Where to eat
• Money-saving tips to get around in India
• Colorful maps and images of popular destinations
• Budget-friendly travel tips, reviews, and updated travel information

India – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

Wherever you travel in the world, it is always best practice to know the culture and customs of that specific country or place. In India, each state follows different customs. So, before traveling to a vast country like India knowing the proper culture, and lifestyle is a must. And definitely essential for all travelers. Becky Stephen , an American writer who herself stayed in India for five years and perfectly depicted Indian culture from her own experience in India – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture .

This smart travel guidebook is an informative one. It will definitely help you to know many practical tips and guidance about India and Indian culture. Indian culture is smartly changing day by day and coming out from old philosophy and thoughts. A must-read essential travel guide for all times in India.

• The culture and customs of India
• Understanding the cultural differences
• Social customs and tradition
• Practical tips and guidance to understand Indian culture

India Travel Survival Guide For Women

India Travel Survival Guide For Women is a must-read book for all solo female travelers in India written by Indian traveler and blogger Shalu Sharma . This book dedicated to all female travelers around by thinking about their safety issues while traveling in India. Being a woman she herself understood and tried to sort out all kinds of trouble one female traveler can face or facing in India.

This is a complete book to know how to travel safely, how to stay safe in hotels, what to wear, and most importantly, how to tackle or prevent any physical harassment by any locals while travel solo or in groups in India. It is useful to read before every tour in India.

• Practical and essential safety tips on traveling India
• How to travel your own in India
• How to overcome any awkward situation or physical harassment
• What to wear in India
• How to stay safe in Indian hotels

Wanderlust and Lipstick: For Women Traveling to India

Wanderlust and Lipstick: For Women Traveling to India is one more great and must-read book. Beth Whitman , the author of this book herself got 23 years of travel experience and illustrated her practical pieces of advice and many suggestions to help women around the world. From this book, you can also get essential advice from more than 35 women who already traveled the world.

This book focused on understanding culture first. Then need to know how to train yourself the proper way while traveling on your own in India. This author is also famous for Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo

• Indian culture
• Practical travel advice from more than 35 women travelers
• How to dress in India
• Essential travel tips to stay safe

Taj Mahal (Wonders of the World)

Traveling in India and not visiting the wonders of the world? Not possible. And so if you are planning for a Taj Mahal tour in Agra then Taj Mahal (Wonders of the World)  by Giles Tillotson is a must-read for all travelers. This book contains all inside stories, histories, and details about this magnificent marble mausoleum by the Emperor Shah Jahan. You should not miss reading this book before visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Taj Mahal, the monument of eternal love is still a great surprise for all people around. Do we all know the amazing history of this amazing creation or architect? Many we don’t know yet and so should go through this book before visiting.

• History of Taj Mahal
• The story behind the creation of Taj Mahal
• The magnificent beauty of Mughal architecture

DK Eyewitness India (Travel Guide)

DK Eyewitness India (Travel Guide) is a must-read travel guide by DK Publishing with detailed instructions about top travel attractions in India. There are many historical and religious architects or landmarks in India. This guide is also full of many photographs and maps which is much helpful while visiting the specific destination.

Through this guide, you can also get a complete list of popular shops, hotels, and restaurants. So traveling incredible India near or coming future? Yes, so before traveling to India for the first time one must read this guide at least once.

• Must-see destinations in India
• Expert travel tips and advice
• Hidden gems in India to explore
• Where to shop
• How to travel around India
• Best places to eat and drink

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Eat Pray Love is a New York Times Bestseller book by American author Elizabeth Gilbert.  This is an inspiring true story and a memoir of her life. Here Gilbert has shown how she finds the ultimate happiness and the true meaning of life and love throughout her journey in Italy, India, and Indonesia.

Gilbert spent four months in Italy, eating and enjoying life (Eat). She spent four months in India , finding the power of prayer (Pray). And she ended the year in Bali , Indonesia, looking for the balance of the two and found love (Love). This book proves that there really has more than one way to let yourself go and see the world. The movie based on this book has inspired me to start traveling solo.

• The true meaning of life through traveling
• Different cultures of three different countries (Italy, India, Indonesia)
• Understanding the various aspects of life

Are You On Pinterest? Click To Save For Later Read!

PS. I’m an Amazon Influencer! Check my Amazon page for an essential and stylish list of products that I recommend and love.

So, what else you’ll love to recommend here? Any travel books on India you read recently?

Last update on 2024-06-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Nafisa Habib

Nafisa Habib loves nature and often got fascinated by old beautiful architecture. Here she is with My Own Way To Travel to share her adventures on the road. To her nothing is so interesting than exploring new destinations around. And knowing a new culture and meeting new peoples on the road? Oh, yeah she just loves that too.

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Reader's Digest

15 Travel Books That Will Inspire You to See the World

Posted: September 5, 2023 | Last updated: September 5, 2023

The travel books that will transport you to a happy place

In a perfect world, we'd all get to take an epic vacation whenever we felt like it. But in the real world of hectic jobs, nonstop child care and other adulting responsibilities, jet-setting falls lower on the priority list. Sigh. This is exactly why travel books are so magical.

Soaking in the sights and smells of a new locale is dreamy, and travel books help us live vicariously through someone else's experience. From armchair-adventure memoirs to escapist beach reads , great travel books temporarily transport us whenever we can squeeze in time for another chapter—on the commuter bus, over a lunch break or in the bathtub.

Wondering what the best books are to grab if you're craving adventure or tropical vibes? We've rounded up 15 of the best travel books to suit this exact purpose. They will whisk you away, as will titles from new and favorite authors .

Psst ... once you're through with these, satisfy your Emily Henry fix, get tips for reading all the Elin Hilderbrand books in order and find out where to find books like The Summer I Turned Pretty .

Join the free Reader’s Digest Book Club for great reads, monthly discussions, author Q&As and a community of book lovers.

When you pine for an outdoorsy vacation

The unlikely thru-hiker by derick lugo.

Setting: The Appalachian Trail (from Georgia to Maine)

It doesn't require a passport or a plane ticket, but the Appalachian Trail is a big change of scenery. It's also not for the faint of heart. In Derick Lugo's 2019 debut memoir , The Unlikely Thru-Hiker , he describes his long walk in the woods in vivid detail—and with heartwarming humor.

Before his foray into one of America's great wildernesses, Lugo had never gone camping. He had never really hiked either. And that's what makes this travel book such a perfect, immersive escape. Discover the iconic trek through a beginner's eyes, and don't be surprised if his tale inspires you to hit your own trails this summer.

If you want to live in France

A year in provence by peter mayle.

Setting: Provence, Southern France

Perhaps one of the most beloved travel books since its 2010 debut, A Year in Provence delivers what it promises: a welcome escape to sunny, lavender-filled, Mediterranean-hugging southern France. There, steeped in the daily wonders of Provençal life, author Peter Mayle describes his experience of moving into a 200-year-old French farmhouse in a small village. This witty, easy summer read is a book that even Julia Child would have approved of.

Looking for your next great book? Read four of today’s bestselling novels in the time it takes to read one with  Reader’s Digest Select Editions . And be sure to follow the  Select Editions page on Facebook !

If you're dying to visit India

The widows of malabar hill by sujata massey.

Setting: Bombay, India

Welcome to India! It doesn't take a memoir or travelogue to make an immersive travel book. Sujata Massey's imaginative mystery series set in 1920s Bombay will make you feel like you've stepped back in time to witness India in the final chapters of the British Raj. In the first installment, The Widows of Malabar Hill (2018), female lawyer extraordinaire Perveen Mistry fights back against crimes against women. Massey's perspective gives readers behind-the-scenes glimpses of daily life for women in both Muslim and Hindu households.

When you're wistful for a Roman holiday

Four seasons in rome by anthony doerr.

Setting: Rome, Italy

Anthony Doerr's 2007 Four Seasons in Rome will whisk you away to Italy's ancient capital in an instant. During his sojourn at a writing studio in Rome, Doerr drank deeply from Rome's culture, food and daily life. He plumbed the depths of the city's history and spent days traipsing up and down its countless alleys and streets. He visited temples and attended a vigil for Pope John Paul II. He befriended his neighborhood storekeepers and bakers. He immersed himself this way for an entire year, then wrote one of the best books all about it so you could experience it too.

If you want to hike the Himalayas

High by erika fatland.

Setting: The Himalayas (Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal and China)

Not everyone is up for remote lands with peaks and plateaus at dizzyingly high altitudes. Thanks to Erika Fatland's High , your mind can go where your body doesn't. Her well-researched and recorded travels through the Himalayas unveil a patchwork of subcultures, languages and religions. This travel book is a virtual getaway to cloud-piercing towns shrouded in thin, cold air and intriguing encounters with Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and shamanic faiths—all part and parcel of the lives of the Himalayan highlanders.

When an Aussie adventure isn't in the budget

In a sunburned country by bill bryson.

Setting: Australia

Bill Bryson has written stacks of nonfiction books , but his droll, sharply observant travelogue through Australia is perhaps his most vivid. The so-called Land of Oz roars to life in Bryson's descriptions of traveling through its wild array of landscapes—bustling urban centers, scalding-hot mining country, scorching barren desert and wild, roiling coastlines. In a Sunburned Country (2000) is chock-full of exciting tidbits about the history and culture Down Under, as well as sidesplitting and terrifying encounters with locals and wildlife. Sure, he wrote a legendary Appalachian Trail memoir too— A Walk in the Woods —but we've already got that destination covered for you.

If you dream of exploring Egypt

Palace walk by naguib mahfouz.

Setting: Cairo, Egypt

Nobel Prize–winning author Naguib Mahfouz's 2011 start to his Cairo Trilogy, Palace Walk , places readers in the middle of 20th-century Egypt. They're swept into the drama of a middle-class family with struggles and tensions that mirror the greater turbulence of Egypt under the thumb of British rule. The father, al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, rules his house with an iron fist. A vivid exploration of complex Cairo, plus reflections on how each family member deals with the controlling household and government, makes this a moving historical fiction work that is also one of the great travel books about northern Africa.

When you're craving an Italian escape

One italian summer by rebecca serle.

Setting: Positano, Italy

It's no secret that Rebecca Serle's 2022 captivating read, One Italian Summer , is dripping with European charm. Pair this book with an Aperol spritz or Italian soda for full effect. Part mother-daughter book , part fantasy book (with a bit of romance sprinkled in), the story takes place at the Hotel Poseidon, perched on Italy's Amalfi coast. A woman grieving her mother arrives at the door with a head full of questions. Is she happy? Does she even love her husband? What's the meaning of life? As the summer unfolds, the magic of Positano—and knowledge about her mother's past life—transforms her forever.

If you long for a peaceful Japanese getaway

Autumn light by pico iyer.

Setting: Japan

At first glance, a book called Autumn Light doesn't seem like the right fit for any summertime reading you may have planned. But the season you read this book doesn't matter a bit. There's so much going on below the surface, especially if you're craving the tranquility of a trip to Japan. Pico Iyer's 2019 memoir describes his return to Japan to attend to and process a loved one's death. He steps back into ordinary Japanese life and gently, graciously invites his readers along. You'll find yourself reflecting on age, life, death and the poetry of daily rituals. It's a quiet book but also a beautiful, transportive mental journey to somewhere far away.

When you can't decide where you want to go

Shape of a boy by kate wickers.

Setting: The world (including Mexico, Jordan, Borneo, Sri Lanka and more)

Sometimes a travel book, like travel itself, is more about the journey than the destination. That's the case with Shape of a Boy , the 2022 memoir by British travel journalist Kate Wickers. Reading this book is like jet-setting with a  trusted friend —with her three boys and husband along for good measure. Each chapter starts off with a new location on their round-the-world trip, describing their experiences and the lessons they learned there. It's a delightful smattering of stories sure to spark wanderlust for just about anywhere in the world.

If you want to spend summer in the Loire Valley

A perfect vintage by chelsea fagan.

Setting: Loire Valley, central France

Chelsea Fagan's first novel, A Perfect Vintage , debuts on June 6, just days before the summer solstice. Fagan lives in France, which gives her a leg up on delectable descriptions of French food and the sun-soaked land of France's Loire Valley. The perfect setting aside, the book details a summer in the life of Lea Mortimer, a successful 30-something woman who's too busy and independent to worry about relationships or starting a family.

She's been summoned by work to France to help transform an old French estate into a perfect boutique hotel. All's well until Lea begins to develop feelings for the considerably younger son of her new boss. It's a deliciously self-aware, beautifully set story of a modern woman struggling to have it all: money, deep friendships ... and maybe even love.

If you want a whirlwind trip around the globe

Wanderlust by elle everhart.

Setting: All over the world

Picture this: You're stuck in the office for the summer, plotting your next move up the corporate ladder. On a whim, you call in to the local radio station when they're running a once-in-a-lifetime travel sweepstake. And you win. The trouble is that you're sent packing with someone else, and he happens to be a guy you met at a bar just once. That's how Dylan and her almost-fling, Jack, travel together through Marrakech, Tokyo, Sydney and more. Elle Everhart's July 2023 debut novel, Wanderlust , is a perfect summer read—plenty of sexy enemies-to-lovers tension and enough immersive travel descriptions to feel like you got a whirlwind vacation too.

If you'd love a rugged adventure across Asia

Lands of lost borders: a journey on the silk road by kate harris.

Setting: Turkey to China, with plenty of stops in between

Modern explorer Kate Harris is a pro at wrangling remote, edge-of-the-world destinations into riveting armchair travel reading. In other words, this travel book might inspire and awe you even if it doesn't compel you to plan your own harebrained 10-month bike trip across Asia. The lush descriptions of her natural surroundings and sometimes bemusing, sometimes touching encounters with ordinary people along the way make Lands of Lost Borders come to life in full force.

If you're having Caribbean dreams

Where the rhythm takes you by sarah dass.

Setting: Tobago

Island life doesn't get much more romantic than this. Sarah Dass's 2021 novel is technically a young adult book , but Where the Rhythm Takes You offers tropical escapism for readers of all ages. Reyna's family owns Plumeria, a beachside resort in Tobago. It's a perfect paradise for guests, but ever since her best friend and first love left the island, Reyna dreams of escaping into the real world too. Only now that she's poised for departure, her flame is back—this time as a Grammy-nominated superstar. What will he think of his sheltered island friend now? Will his presence be enough to make her stay a little longer? Crack this spine on a hot summer day to fully soak up the distinct island vibes.

When a Greek vacation is all you think about

The second chance hotel by sierra godfrey.

Setting: The fictional Greek island of Astori

After getting fired from her corporate job and skipping out on her best friend's wedding, Amelia Lang needs a major life do-over. She's well aware of it, but she didn't expect it to come in the form of inheriting a hotel on a small Greek island. She also didn't expect to be physically attracted to one of the guests. The Second Chance Hotel (September 2023) is a lighthearted romance at heart. It's also a great travel book, thanks to its incredible descriptions of Greek island living, from the sun-ripened olives to the delicious gulps of sea air.

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Lonely Planet South India & Kerala (Travel Guide) Paperback – Illustrated, October 15, 2019

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Lonely Planet: The world's number one travel guide publisher*

Lonely Planet's South India & Kerala is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Float along Kerala's backwaters as the sun sinks behind whispering palms, hit the beach in Goa and watch incense-clouded evening processions around Madurai's joyful Meenakshi Amman Temple - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of South India & Kerala and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet's South India & Kerala :

• Full-colour maps and images throughout
• Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests
• Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots
• Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, art, food, drink, sport, politics
• Covers: Mumbai, Goa, Bengaluru, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Andaman Islands and more

The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's South India & Kerala is our most comprehensive guide to South India & Kerala, and is perfect for discovering both popular and off-the-beaten-path experiences. Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet's India for an in-depth guide to the country.

About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more.

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

*Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017

• Part of series Travel Guide
• Print length 560 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Lonely Planet
• Publication date October 15, 2019
• Dimensions 5.05 x 0.88 x 7.8 inches
• ISBN-10 1787013731
• ISBN-13 978-1787013735
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Welcome to south india & kerala.

Like a giant wedge plunging into the ocean, South India is the subcontinent’s steamy heartland – a lush contrast to the peaks and plains up north.

• South India & Kerala’s Top 12
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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lonely Planet; 10th edition (October 15, 2019)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 560 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1787013731
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1787013735
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.05 x 0.88 x 7.8 inches
• #1 in Bombay Travel Guides
• #38 in General India Travel Guides
• #82 in General Asia Travel Books

About the authors

Lonely planet.

With over 150 million guidebooks in print, Lonely Planet is a trusted source for any traveler. Since our inception in 1973, we've inspired generations of travelers to discover amazing places and enabled curious travelers to get off the beaten paths to appreciate different cultures and become agents of positive change.

Kevin Raub is a Italy-based travel and entertainment journalist and certified Brazilianist who grew up in Atlanta and started his career in entertainment in New York, working for Men's Journal and Rolling Stone magazines and "freelancing" (i.e. interviewing hot young actresses about their sex lives over a few too many cocktails) for men's magazines like FHM, Stuff and Maxim. He spent five years in Los Angeles as the senior writer for allstarnews.com, CDNOW's now-defunct (thank you, Amazon.com!) groundbreaking online music news site.

The rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle took its toll, so he needed an extended vacation and took up travel writing. For the last decade, Raub has scoured the globe for a variety of publications, including CNN, Travel+Leisure, Condé Nast Traveller, Afar, Robb Report, New York Times T Magazine, Departures, Town & Country, American Way (American Airlines), Rhapsody (United Airlines), Culture Trip, Celebrated Living, Angeleno, Guitar Aficionado, Time Out: Sao Paulo, BBC History, and New York Post, among others. From the top of the El Toco volcano in Chile’s Atacama Desert (18,372) to the Dead Sea in Israel (-1,385 ft), Raub has nearly seen it all, covering both high-end luxury travel and backpacker bargains – just to keep it all in perspective. Along the way, he’s snapped a few photos as well.

Raub spent seven years on Brazilian soil, canvassing the South American Giant one caipirinha at a time on his way to getting to know 22 Brazilian states for a variety of American and international publications. A well-known Brazil expert, he also handled all of Lonely Planet's on-the-ground social media coverage during the FIFA 2014 World Cup before relocating to Portugal the following year. In late 2019, he relocated to Italy.

Raub is the co-author of over 95 Lonely Planet travel guides, including Brazil (7th Ed.; 2008), Mexico (11th Ed.; 2008); Chile & Easter Island (8th Ed.; 2009), The Carolinas, Georgia & The South: Trips (1st Ed.; 2009); Colombia (5th Ed.; 2009), Lonely Planet's Best In Travel 2010 (2nd Revised Edition, 2009); South America on a Shoestring (11th Ed.; 2010); Venezuela (6th Ed.; 2010), Central America on a Shoestring (7th Ed.; 2010), Brazil (8th Ed.; 2010); India (14th Ed.; 2011), South India & Kerala (6th Ed.; 2011), Discover India (1st Ed.; 2011); Dominican Republic & Haiti (5th Ed.; 2011), Caribbean Islands (6th Ed.; 2011), USA (7th Ed.; 2011), Eastern USA (1st Ed.; 2011), Discover USA (1st Ed.; 2011), Colombia (6th Ed., 2012), Chile & Easter Island (9th Ed., 2012), Peru (8th Ed., 2013), South America on a Shoestring (12th Ed., 2013), Discover Peru (2nd Ed., 2013), India (15th Ed., 2013), Discover India (2nd Ed., 2013 and Brazil (9th Ed., 2013); and the forthcoming Dominican Republic (6th Ed., 2014), Discover Caribbean Islands (1st. Ed., 2014), Colombia (7th Ed., 2015), India (15th Ed., 2013), Discover India (2nd Ed., 2013), Brazil (9th Ed., 2013), Dominican Republic (6th Ed., 2014) Discover Caribbean Islands (1st. Ed., 2014); and the forthcoming Colombia (7th Ed., 2015), India (16th Ed., 2015), Discover India (3rd Ed., 2015), Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra (4th Ed., 2015), Chile & Easter Island (10th Ed., 2015), USA (9th Ed., 2016), Discover USA (3rd Ed., 2016), Eastern USA (3rd Ed., 2016), Lonely Planet’s Best of USA (1st Ed., 2016), Civil War Trail: Road Trips (1st Ed., 2016), Brazil (10th Ed., 2016) and South America on a Shoestring (13th Ed., 2016); and the forthcoming Portugal (10th Ed., 2017), India (17th Ed., 2017), South India & Kerala (9th Ed., 2017), Discover India (4th Ed., 2017), Best of India (1st Ed., 2017), USA (10th Ed., 2017), Discover USA (4th Ed., 2017), Eastern USA (4th Ed., 2017), Florida & the South’s Best Trips (3rd Ed.; 2017), Italy (13th Ed., 2018); and the forthcoming Dubai & Abu Dhabi (9th Ed.; 2018), Colombia (8th Ed., 2018), Chile & Easter Island (11th Ed., 2018), Pocket Lisbon (4th Ed., 2018), Georgia & the Carolinas (2nd Ed., 2019) and Brazil (11th Ed.; 2019), Eastern Europe (15th Ed.; 2019), Western Balkans (3rd. Ed.; 2019), Portugal (11th Ed.; 2019), Discover Portugal (2nd Ed.; 2019), Best of Portugal 2 (2nd Ed.; 2019), India (18th Ed.; 2019), South India & Kerala (10th Ed.; 2019), Goa & Mumbai (8th Ed.; 2019), Discover India (5th Ed.; 2019), Best of South America (1st Ed.; 2019), Discover South America (1st Ed.; 2019), South America (14th Ed.; 2019), Italy (14th Ed., 2019), Greece (14th Ed., 2020), Crete (7th Ed.; 2020), Greek Islands (14th Ed.; 2020), Best of Greece & the Greek Islands (1st Ed.; 2020), USA (11th Ed.; 2020), Eastern USA (5th Ed.; 2020), New York City (12th Ed.; 2020), Hawai’i the Big Island (5th Ed.; 2020), Best of Hawai’i (2nd Ed.; 2020), Europe’s Best Trips (2nd Ed.; 2020) and Lonely Planet’s Best Places to Eat in Every Country (1st Ed.; 2020).

On the few days he's home, Raub once spent an inordinate amount of time slathering on organic cosmetics for his bi-monthly organic grooming column for men, The Green Guy's Grooming Guide, which appeared in Organic Spa for several years, but constant battles with the Brazilian food and drug administration caused it to meet its demise in 2011. Now, he just slathers it on for fun.

Raub also scoured Brazilian soil as the 'Brazil Insider' for LATAM airlines' Only in South America blog for a few years as well.

Raub happened upon his 100th country and territory in 2018, becoming a member of the long-coveted Traveler's Century Club. His country count currently stands at 108.

Follow Kevin @RaubontheRoad on Instagram and Twitter. Visit his personal web site at www.kevinraub.net.

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Buy travel books and guides at Amazon India

The extensive section of travel books at Amazon.in is a treat to the globetrotter or pretty much anyone with a sense of wanderlust. From magazines to maps, atlases, holiday guides, travel writing books and more, you will find it all at Amazon India.Unravel the mystery behind the pillars of the Doge Palace in Venice, learn about the hidden tunnels and bomb shelters under Old Geneva or let your imagination take you through the forbidden island off the coast of New York, all this and more through the ‘Secret’ series by Jongles, that costs an average of just Rs. 713 on Amazon.in

Here at Amazon we offer some of the best-selling travel and holiday guides. Do not forget to skim through the Lonely Planet range of holiday guides written for each country. These books help you plan your holiday itinerary well and have special images and 3D illustrations. Also included is plenty of advice on the best time to travel to these destinations, what to see, what to skip, what not to miss and more. They also have maps to assist your touring of your holiday destination.For those looking to embark on a journey of the mind instead, you might want to check out our collection of travel stories such as the popular biopic of Che Guevera titled The Motorcycle Diaries or Seven Years in Tibet, a thrilling account of Heinrich Harrer, the famed mountaineer who had to flee to Tibet after his conquest of the Everest.

If you think you have had the travel experiences of a lifetime and would like to turn some of those travels into tales, Amazon offers you a range of travel writing books for beginners, filled with tips and writing exercises on excellent travel writing. These books are authored by several of these dream job owners such as Andrew Bain, Tim Cahill, Paul Clammer, George Dunford and many more.Venture into Amazon.in travel books section to avail some of the best deals on travel and holiday books.Amazon.in has the largest variety of products under various categories. Whether planning your holiday, or just for some adventure reads, with us, you travel book shopping is a lot easier. Be sure to check out our Kindle eBook version, which are usually lower priced than the hard-cover or paperback version. Our secure payment gateway protects all your private and credit card information and ensures that your online payments are safe. If, however, you wish to pay in person only after the delivery has been made, you can always go for the Cash On Delivery option, provided the product is eligible for Cash On Delivery. It is always better to check if the product you’d like to buy is eligible for Cash On Delivery before adding it to your cart. Buy online from Amazon.in now to avail the best deals and offers.

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