Forget the solo beach paperback: travellers are now joining structured reading retreats that mix books, place and community. At I'Brindellone, a trattoria in Florence, a dozen men and women sit around a long table, wine glasses in hand, deep in discussion about a novel: Still Life by Sarah Winman. On the walls hang photographs of the city's 1966 flood when the River Arno burst its banks, killing 35 people and destroying valuable works of art. The group point at the photos excitedly; Winman once dined here, saw the same images and planted the seed of her story.
Right now, food is an afterthought; this literary circle of former strangers is on a Books in Places reading retreat – part of an evolving wave of holidays that put reading, not sunbathing or sightseeing, centre stage. No longer content with paperbacks by the pool, travellers are signing up for structured literary holidays that combine the ritual of reading with the pleasure of place. The result is an unusual hybrid: part vacation, part book club, part cultural immersion.
“I was first drawn to Books in Places by a Facebook ad,” recalls Lyn Margerison, one of the participants. “It showed the front cover of one of my very favourite books arranged on a table with a glass of wine, set against a piazza in Florence. The caption asked: ‘Do you enjoy reading books in the places in which they are set?’ My antennae were immediately tweaked.” Margerison has since travelled from Dorset to Florence, Budapest and beyond on reading retreats. “For me, these holidays are the perfect combination of books and travel,” she explains. “I always leave with a renewed enthusiasm for both reading and travelling – plus, usually, a much longer to-be-read list.”
Books in Places was started by Paul Wright in 2023, initially as a means of getting away with members of his UK-based book group. He now offers weekend trips in the UK and longer retreats to Portugal, Crete, Egypt, Italy and more, all centred on reading in situ. “Location is at the heart of everything,” says Wright. “Exploring the streets, landscapes and atmosphere of the setting deepens our understanding of the story. A scene that was once just words on a page suddenly comes alive when you've walked the same alleys, tasted the same food or felt the same light as the characters.”
This isn't just niche travel. According to a 2025 survey by travel search engine KAYAK, nearly half of UK travellers now choose destinations based on how suitable they are for reading and learning. The figure rises to 60% among Millennials, part of a broader shift in which 89% of holidaymakers say travel is a time “to invest in themselves” rather than simply rest. Meanwhile, Future Market Insights reports that the literary tourism sector was worth an estimated $2.4bn last year, with projections suggesting it could rise to $3.3bn by 2034. Wright has seen the appetite first-hand: “I started in 2023 with two trips. Last year there were seven that were half full. This year I offered around 25 trips that often filled up within 24 hours of me announcing them.”
