Here at Backroads, we think a good book can make a perfect adventure vacation even better. Maybe you want to read up on the area before you arrive. Perhaps you want to take a novel based on the region to read under a sun-filled sky during your bike tour. Or you may be so inspired by the destination after your walking tour that you want to read everything you can get your hands on when you return home. We’ve seen it all!
That’s why for each of our hiking tours, biking tours and walking tours to incredible locales around the world we’ve given you some of our favorite reading to go alongside — all with help from our friends at Longitude Books.
For example, on our Tuscany biking tour, Longitude provides you with a host of delectable reads. Selections include: Too Much Tuscan Sun, Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide; Tuscan Country: A Photographer’s Journey; and A Culinary Traveller In Tuscany among others.
Or on our Napa Valley bike tours, we recommend perusing A Tale of Two Valleys, a travel narrative of Napa and Sonoma, Napa: The Story of an American Eden or Great Wine Made Simple: Straight Talk From a Master Sommelier. Often, if you buy the entire recommended set, Longitude will provide them at a discount.
Bringing kids along with you? There’s no better way to get them excited for their upcoming family adventure vacation than a good book. How about the Kids Italian Picture Dictionary or Starry Messenger, an homage to Galileo, or The Diary of Melanie Martin: How I Survived Matt the Brat, Michelangelo and the Leaning Tower of Pizza for your Italian walking tour? We promise they’ll be raring to go explore the “back roads” after a book or two.
Whether a child or an adult, nothing beats a good book … except maybe a really good vacation! Combine the two and you’ve got a winning combination.
What’s the best travel-related book you’ve read? Is there a book that inspired you to visit a specific place?
For more reading recommendations or questions about Backroads tours, please visit Backroads.com or call us 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific time at 1-800-462-2848.