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Best of travel guides 2026: our librarians recommend

March 23rd 2026

The sun is shining, days are getting longer and holidays are on the horizon – it’s time to checkout a travel guide.

Whether your readers are looking for sun, sea and sand, a trip to the country, or a city break – there’s a travel guide to help them on their way. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been looking into the UK's favourite destinations from 2025 and 2026 to refresh our scoring so that you can better find the guides that will enhance your readers travels.

I would love to hear from you about your readers' favourites – here’s what I’ve found out so far.

Sarah Lawrence | Librarian (Adult)

Sarah has visited libraries ever since she was a child completing the Summer Reading Challenge. She has worked with adult books in a specialist library, a secondary school library, and a university library.

Owner of more books than bookshelves, Sarah enjoys reading and exploring new worlds from the comfort of her favourite chair – and the bus, a garden bench, or pretty much anywhere. She especially loves mystery, poetry and nature writing.

Staycations

Holidaying in the UK continues to be an attractive proposition for many. Last year, 14.3% of Brits intended to travel within the UK according to a YouGov poll, coming second only to Spain.[1] And who can blame them when our fair isles have so much to offer – I’m partial to a ramble in the countryside myself.

Upcoming UK travel guides include: Top 10 Edinburgh (DK), Pocket Isle of Wight (Rough Guides), North Coast 500 (Rough Guides), Northern Ireland (Bradt), Isle of Man (Bradt), Norfolk and Suffolk (Rough Guides), Cotswolds (Rough Guides), Scotland (DK), London (DK) and Scottish Highlands and Islands (Rough Guides).

The most recent Wales travel guide was published by Lonely Planet last summer – so no need to wait to purchase a copy!

[1] https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/52199-where-are-britons-going-for-summer-holidays-in-2025

Europe & the world

The same YouGov poll found that the following were the most popular destinations outside of the UK – Spain (15.9%), Italy (9.3%), Greece (9.3%), France (8%), Portugal (6.1%), USA (5.2%), Ireland (4.7%), Germany (3.3%), Japan (2.9%). It’ll be interesting to see what the differences will be in the 2026 figures – I was surprised Turkey and Poland were not in the mix.

For each there are a range of guides available covering different levels of geographic specificity, from the country as a whole, to regions and then cities. We have opted to prioritise those featuring the whole nation and any key cities - like New York or Rome – so you’ll notice they are scored slightly higher.

Upcoming titles include: Europe (Lonely Planet), Northern Spain (DK), Madrid (DK), Rome (Rough Guides), Sicily (Rough Guides), Naples and the Amalfi Coast (Rough Guides), Venice and the Veneto (DK), Top 10 Athens (DK), France (Rough Guides), Dordogne, Bordeaux and the Southwest Coast (DK), Paris (Rough Guides), Portugal (Rough Guides), California (DK), Ireland (Lonely Planet), Pocket Dublin (Lonely Planet), Germany (Lonely Planet), Berlin (Lonely Planet), Munich, Bavaria & the Black Forest (Lonely Planet), Turkey (Rough Guides).

Cruises

According to Compare your Cruise Insurance, there are four most sought-after cruise destinations as well as a few niche offerings that might interest one or two of your readers.[2] They are:

1. The Caribbean

2. The Mediterranean

3. The Norwegian Fjords

4. The Canary Islands

Rough guides will treat us to a new Caribbean title in their main series in July and a Norway title published this month. DK also have a Norway title on this year’s books (July) and a Top 10 of Gran Canaria in May. Lonely Planet have a Mediterranean Europe update issuing in June.

Other cruises include river tours along the Nile in Egypt or the Colombian Magdalena to travellers, plus niche locations like the Baltics, Japan, Alaska and Antarctica. Never fear we have you covered for these too.

In addition to current titles featuring these destinations, a new guide on the Baltics will be coming out from Lonely Planet in June, DK have a Colombia guide scheduled for October, and both Lonely Planet and DK will be publishing updated Alaska guides in the summer. Rough Guides have an Insight guide for Japan scheduled for July.

[2] https://www.compareyourcruiseinsurance.co.uk/blog/uk-traveller-top-cruise-destinations/

Specialist guides

There are also plenty of travel guides on the website that are tailored to additional needs or personal interests. Here are some upcoming titles that have attracted my attention: