30 Coffee Table Travel Books with the Best Travel Photography

These are the best coffee table travel books in existence today–30 large-size, beautiful travel photography books in hardcover that look amazing in any living room. Whether you’re looking for bucket list travel places, romantic travel destinations, road trips of a lifetime, the world’s most amazing castles, stunning beaches, space travel books, or simply just a single book that contains amazing photographs from every single country in the world, then we’ve got you covered.

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Best Bucket List Travel Coffee Table Books

1. Destinations of a Lifetime: 225 of the World’s Most Amazing Places by National Geographic

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: National Geographic books always contain superior travel photography from world-class photographers, and the photos in this coffee table book certainly impress. With 250 total breathtaking photos packed into 320 pages, you can be sure that the vibrant images in this book are the dominant focus above all else. There’s 225 total of the world’s most amazing places, including everything from ancient monoliths to electric cityscapes and scenic islands to ancient cobbled streets. There’s both architectural wonders and natural wonders, iconic destinations and hidden gems. A profile included with each entry also details cultural and historical facts as well as when to go and how to make the best out of your travel experience.

2. The Bucket List: 1000 Adventures Big & Small

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This book is organized by latitude and longitude–starting with the Northern Hemisphere and gradually working its way down to the Southern Hemisphere–and catalogues 1000 total bucket list travel things to do around the world. There’s more text than photos, so if what you’re looking for is a pure photography-dominant coffee table book, then there are definitely far better travel photography books out there that we’d recommend before this one. However, if what you’re in search of is inspiration on specific journeys, destinations, or lifetime experiences to add to your travel bucket list, then this book just might be what you need to spark some adventure ideas. It’s a little smaller than most of the other entries on this list, but we still think it would look great sitting on your coffee table! It’s definitely one of the best bucket list travel books that we’ve ever found.

Every Country in the World Coffee Table Travel Books

1. The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World by Lonely Planet

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Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This coffee table book contains a full 2-page spread for every single country in the world. There are 416 pages total, complete with 680 beautiful travel photography images and written profiles on 200 countries, ordered alphabetically from A to Z. You’ll find information on each country’s culture as well as places to visit, things to do, what to eat, and other unique facts about each destination. It’s a large and heavy photo book that will look absolutely perfect sitting on your coffee table. It’s difficult to find coffee table travel books that have every single country in the world represented inside, so this one stands out from all the others for this primary reason, making it one of our absolute favorites!

Publisher	Lonely Planet (2021)
Book Format	Hardcover
Total Pages	416 Pages
Dimensions	10.75 x 1.25 x 13.88 inches
Reviews	View on Amazon

Best Romantic Travel Books for Coffee Table

1. The World’s Most Romantic Destinations: 50 Dreamy Getaways, Private Retreats, and Enchanting Places to Celebrate Love by National Geographic

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Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This coffee table travel photography book is especially perfect for couples. It contains 50 romantic travel destinations that are beloved spots for weddings, honeymoons, Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, engagement trips, or any other romantic getaway you can imagine. The book is organized by season–spring, summer, fall, and winter–so that you’ll know the best places to visit depending on your month of travel. Each romantic travel book entry contains suggestions on where to stay, what to eat, and romantic things to do while in that location. There’s 256 total pages, and the photography in this travel book is so pretty. It’s both practical and aesthetic, making it our top pic for coffee table travel books for couples.

Publisher	National Geographic (2017)
Book Format	Hardcover
Total Pages	256 Pages
Dimensions	8.77 x 0.9 x 8.76 inches
Reviews	View on Amazon

Coffee Table Travel Books about the Ocean and Beaches

1. The Life and Love of the Sea

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This coffee table travel book is a visual tour of the ocean as seen through the lenses of the world’s leading marine and underwater photographers. The 216 pages include a collection of wave photographs, dramatic coastlines, island chains, barrier reefs, and even sea life such as whales, fish, manta rays, seals, and the deepest ocean creatures. This travel book also contains accompanying informational and inspiring excerpts, poetry, and quotes about the ocean.

2. Bliss: Beaches

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: Through stunning travel photography and 160 pages total, this book celebrates some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. Its pages are large in size–measuring 11.1 by 13.55 inches–making it a perfect coffee table book for any beach lover!

Road Trip Travel Books for your Coffee Table

1. Drives of a Lifetime 2nd Edition: 500 of the World’s Greatest Road Trips

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: We absolutely love National Geographic books, and this is another one of our favorites. It contains 500 total road trip ideas, from world-famous road trips to lesser-known hidden gems all around the globe. Some of these are short-distance day trips, and some are longer, cross-country road trips, so whether you want to take a lengthy vacation or just a short local drive on a day off from work, this book has got you covered. Full-color maps, planning tips, and detailed descriptions (including distance and driving time) accompany every road trip suggestion, as well as the type of breathtaking travel photos that everyone’s come to love from National Geographic, of course.

Best Travel Photography Books

1. National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This National Geographic travel photography book contains 350 photographs and over 200 maps as well as satellite imagery on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the depths of our oceans, and even what lies beyond our Earth: Space! With 416 pages total and measuring over 17 inches by 12 inches, this is a hefty book. It’s one of the pricier entries on this list, but it’s also one of the absolute best travel photography books that exist on the market. If you’re looking for a coffee table travel book, and you’ve got the money to splurge, this one can’t be beat! This book is GIANT!

2. Visions of Earth: National Geographic Photographs of Beauty, Majesty, and Wonder

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This book is smaller than what is typical or usually preferred for a coffee table book, but the travel photography contained within it is so beautiful that we still had to include it. Visions of Earth contains some of the best National Geographic photos in existence. The featured images have been carefully selected from the most popular, top-voted, and #1 rated photos from the magazine’s “Visions of Earth” feature as well as from never-before-published images from renowned photographers throughout the world. The book measures just 6.4 x 8.35 inches, but it contains a glorious 512 pages that will surely make you not regret including this little gem on your coffee table amongst all your other travel books.

Coffee Table Travel Castle Books

1. The World’s Most Amazing Castles: Timeless Treasures Around the Globe

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: We LOVE castles. We seriously just can’t get enough of them. And this book is filled with them. There’s 100 castles total–absolutely stunning photographs of 100 of the world’s most amazing castles. There’s also detailed information and travel tips listed for every entry. You’ll find castle hotels, famous castles featured in Hollywood films, colorful castles, castles important throughout history, and other iconic castles (like Dracula’s castle). If you are a castle lover, then we highly recommend this travel book as top pick for your coffee table!

Women of the World Cultural Travel Books for the Coffee Table

1. The Atlas of Beauty: Women of the World in 500 Portraits

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This stunning photography project features the portraits and personal stories of 500 everyday women from over 50 different countries around the world. During her own personal travels, photographer Mihaela Noroc set out to capture the beauty of the world as seen through us–humanity. The resulting travel book is a celebration of culture and diversity–a photographic collection of what transcends borders, unites us, and makes us unique albeit not so different afterall.

Coffee Table Travel Books about Hiking

1. 100 Hikes of a Lifetime: The World’s Ultimate Scenic Trails

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This travel photography book contains breathtaking images from 100 of the world’s most amazing hikes. The experiences range from short day-hikes to multiday excursions and contain travel tips, important information, and wisdom from expert hikers. Every single continent and climate is covered in this book (yes, there’s even a hike for Antarctica). The photos are absolutely stunning (as National Geographic photos always are), so even if you’re not a hiker, you can still enjoy this book just for the pictures. The book measures 8.75 by 8.75 inches, so it’s not one of the largest coffee table travel books on this list, but it’s still big enough to look great in your living room! (And it’s nice and thick–one of the fattest books on this list with a whopping total 400 pages!)

Read Next: 10+ Books About Yellowstone to Pack for Your Trip

Space Travel Coffee Table Books

1. The Hubble Cosmos: 25 Years of New Vistas in Space

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This travel coffee table book contains over 150 photos from 25 years of Hubble history. Some of the best photos NASA has ever taken of the universe can be found in this book. With 224 pages total and measuring 9.55 by 11.15 inches, this National Geographic book will look amazing on your coffee table!

Pets and Travel Coffee Table Books

1. Our Wild Tails: The Adventures of Henry and Baloo

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This adorable travel book chronicles the outdoor adventures of furry friends Henry and Baloo as they trek across eleven US states with their photographer “mom” Cynthia Bennett. The book also contains their personal story–an unconventional but inspiring story of cat and dog friendship–that is sure to warm even the coldest hearts. Note: this book is a little bit smaller than most of the other coffee table travel books on this list, but if you’re specifically looking for a book about travel with pets, this is one of the largest (and most stunning) books that you can find!

2. Dogs on the Beach

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This unique travel book is perfect for any dog lover who loves the beach! Photographer Lara Jo Regan spent three years traveling to beaches throughout America to capture the joy of dogs who love the water, sand, wind, and waves. At just 9 by 7 inches, this book is a bit smaller than what we normally recommend for coffee table books, but it’s difficult to find travel books focusing specifically on pets in a larger scale than this, so we’ve chosen to still include this book on this list. The photography is absolutely stunning and intimate, so we truly think that dog lovers won’t want to pass this one up!

3. Travels of Suki the Adventure Cat

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: Suki is a gorgeous Bengal cat who has spent years traveling all over the world. This book contains beautiful photography showcasing her adventures at 152 different breathtaking locations and mingles them with pages of inspiring quotes. Like the other 2 pet-themed travel books featured in this article above, this book is smaller than we normally recommend for coffee table books, but the photos are so stunning that we think any cat lover will want it displayed in their living room anyway.

Landscape Photography Coffee Table Travel Books

1. Let’s Get Lost: the world’s most stunning remote locations

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: Through 240 pages and over 200 photos, this landscape photography book features the most breathtaking, off-grid, hidden, and remote places around the world. Curated by award-winning travel photographer Finn Beales, it includes the works and personal stories of over 20 different landscape photographers. From hard-to-reach shorelines and rugged mountains to dark forests and untouched wilderness, this coffee table travel book is perfect for every armchair adventurer who’d like to experience the world from the comfort of their own living room.

2. National Geographic Greatest Landscapes: Stunning Photographs That Inspire and Astonish

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This stunning 400 page landscape photography book is organized by season–spring, summer, autumn, and winter–and captures vibrant, rare photography from some of the most amazing places in the world. These are some of the most beautiful photographs that National Geographic has to offer, so if you are a fan of their travel books, you’ll also want to add this one to your collection. The book is thick, the pages are large, and the photos are full of bright colors.

Colorful Travel Books for the Coffee Table

1. The Rainbow Atlas: A Guide to the World’s 500 Most Colorful Places

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Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This book speaks for itself. If you’re a fan of colorful travel, then this travel photography book is for you. Inside you’ll find a rainbow of vibrant photos–500 total places that comprise some of the most colorful places in the world. Each entry includes travel facts and tips for visiting the destination. The book measures just 7 by 9.35 inches, making it one of the smaller coffee table books included on this list, but it reigns supreme in showcasing color, so we think it still deserves a spot in every travel lover’s living room.

Publisher	Chronicle Books (2020)
Book Format	Hardcover
Total Pages	160 Pages
Dimensions	7 x 1.65 x 9.35 inches
Reviews	View on Amazon

Read Next: The Best Travel-Themed Adult Coloring Books for Women with Wanderlust

Food Lovers Travel Coffee Table Books

1. Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe

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Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This book contains a whopping 500 foods, markets, and restaurants from the world’s greatest culinary destinations. The cultural importance of every featured food is highlighted, and there’s even recipes for if you want to bring some of these cuisines into your own kitchen. If you’re a foodie traveler, this is one coffee table travel book you won’t want to miss!

Publisher	National Geographic (2009)
Book Format	Hardcover
Total Pages	320 Pages
Dimensions	9.16 x 1.26 x 12 inches
Reviews	View on Amazon

Country-Specific Travel Coffee Table Books

1. Our Hearts Are in France

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: Advertised as equal parts travel guide, design compendium, and cookbook, this book contains 232 pages of enchanting villages, centuries-old chateaux, romantic gardens, architectural wonders, iconic interiors, and even French cuisine recipes so that you can feel like you’ve been transported to France from the comfort of your own living room. This book is large in size–measuring 11.75 by 10 inches–so it will make a perfect coffee table book for anyone whose heart is in France.

2. Our Hearts Are in England

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This book is perfect for any England travel lover. From the editors of Victoria magazine, it contains 232 pages of charming villages, rugged coastlines, breathtaking castles, iconic cities, rolling countrysides, cozy cottages, and cultural traditions such as afternoon tea. It measures 12.25 by 10.25 inches, so it’s the perfect size to be used as a coffee table book!

3. America the Beautiful: A Story in Photographs

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: The travel photography featured in this book spans more than 130 years, combining modern and historical imagery across 400 total pages to showcase everything that makes the United States of America beautiful. Inspiring photos of cities, countrysides, national parks, people, iconic structures, and moments are interspersed with quotes from historians, activists, celebrities, conservationists, and politicians. The book measures 10.25 by 10.25 inches, making it a perfect selection for a coffee table travel book.

4. Gray Malin: Italy

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: In this travel photography book, photographer Gray Malin celebrates the most famous beaches and coastlines in Italy. Dramatic coastal cliffs, charming hillside villages, luxury motorboats, retro beach umbrellas, and sparkling blue waters are the highlights of this collection. (Note: there are a lot of colorful umbrellas.) This book measures 10.25 by 13.35 inches, making it a nice large size that will look excellent on your coffee table.

5. Québec: A Photographic Road Trip Through Canada’s Beautiful Province

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This book is perfect for anyone who loves Canada and, in particular, the province of Québec. There’s 272 total pages filled with beautiful, breathtaking photography from award-winning photographer Mathieu Dupuisas as well as insider travel tips, historical notes, cultural facts, geographical data, and sample itineraries. From picturesque countrysides and vibrant cities to island life and a 17th century fortress, this coffee table travel book has it all.

Coffee Table Travel Books About Paris

1. Paris in Color

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: Photographer Nichole Robertson presents Paris in a way that few have ever seen it–organized by color. Through photographing everyday sights in the city–cafe chairs, bicycles, weathered shop doors, architectural designs–she celebrates the hidden details at the heart of the city. This unique travel coffee table book is one that every Paris fan is sure to fall in love with.

2. Paris in Bloom

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: Photographer Georgianna Lane takes readers on a floral tour of the city in this love confession to Paris. Flower markets, boutiques, public gardens, and blooming trees are the heart of this travel book and the focus of the entire collection. If you live for flowers and prefer to see photographs of beautiful bouquets instead of bustling city streets and iconic landmarks, then this is the coffee table travel book for you.

Coffee Table Travel Books About London

1. Pretty Little London: A Seasonal Guide to the City’s Most Instagrammable Places

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: This book has been curated from the popular Instagram account @prettylittlelondon, so you can trust that authors Sara Santini and Andrea Di Filippo know their stuff when it comes to chronicling the most Instagrammable places in London. This 208 page tour of the city is organized by season and features beautifully illustrated maps in addition to soft, dreamy photography and tips on how to achieve the same shots.

2. London in Bloom

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: Parks, gardens, floral boutiques, and flower markets are the heart of this 160 page travel book as photographer Georgianna Lane takes readers on a floral tour of the city in this dreamy love confession to London. If you live for flowers and prefer to see photographs of beautiful blooms rather than bustling city streets, then this is the coffee table travel book for you.

Coffee Table Travel Books About New York

1. Walk With Me: New York

Why We Love this Coffee Table Travel Book: Greenwich Village based New York photographer Susan Kaufman captures the beauty of her city through daily walks down cobblestones streets lined with flowers, past charming carriage houses covered in vines, and alongside tree-lined paths that slowly change with the seasons. She captures intimate neighborhoods as only someone who truly knows the heart of the city can do, and the pages filling this travel book contain some of the most breathtaking photographs of New York that you can see.

Best Coffee Table Travel Books FAQ

I just want a really big travel coffee table book. Which book is the biggest?

If you want an extra large coffee table travel book, then National Geographic’s Visual Atlas of the World is by far the biggest. This book is GIANT. It measures 12 x 1.65 x 17.25 inches and contains 416 total pages.

For a very large-sized coffee table travel book that is a little better for tighter budgets, The Travel Book ( 10.75 x 1.25 x 13.88 inches), Bliss: Beaches ( 11.1 x 0.9 x 13.55 inches), Gray Malin: Italy (10.25 x 1 x 13.35 inches), and Destinations of a Lifetime ( 9.5 x 1 x 12.25 inches) are the next best picks! They are the next biggest-in-size travel books that you can find, but they are a little more affordable than our #1 top choice.

Which book do we think is the best travel coffee table book?

My overall top favorite travel coffee table book is probably The Travel Book because it’s a journey through every country in the world, and it’s rare to find a travel book that includes every single one!

The World’s Most Amazing Castles is a close runner-up for me though because I’m obsessed with castles, and the photography in this book is so beautiful.

If you have the money to spend, Visual Atlas of the World is also one of my absolute top favorites because it is so HUGE that it makes all the photos really pop. It just really can’t be beat as the all-around best travel photography book on the market today. It’s a gorgeous, giant, absolute mammoth of a book.