Travel writers use 5 common styles: the destination piece, the special event, the how-to, the travelogue, and the guidebook. Each one puts something different at the center, and if you are an aspiring travel writer, trying them out helps you develop a style of your own.
Professional travel writers use different styles to keep things interesting for their readers. Here is what each of these 5 styles needs from you as a writer.
5 popular travel writing styles
1. Destination
This is the most common type of travel writing, and you see it everywhere. From start to finish, the destination is the focal point.
As the writer, you have to make the destination shine. What makes it unique? Answer that question in as much detail as you can. Your goal is to make the place so irresistible that your readers put it on their bucket lists.
2. Special event
Many places hold special events that attract visitors. Falmouth, in England, has an oyster festival dedicated to the native Fal oyster and to Cornish food in general. Seville, in Spain, holds a flamenco festival every two years, with shows that range from purely traditional flamenco to its more progressive styles.
In this type of writing, your job is to tell readers the story behind the event, and to sum up what they need to prepare if they plan a trip to it. You don't have to limit yourself to international events, of course. Regional events work just as well.
3. How-to
A how-to focuses on something specific, for example how to travel solo around Europe, or how to visit Shiretoko National Park on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Getting to a destination can be hard work, especially for first-timers, and a how-to travel article is there to help them. It acts as a personal tour guide and gives step-by-step guidance that makes the trip easier.
4. Travelogue
A travelogue tells the story of a journey, and it usually digs deeper than an average travel article. It often covers the history of a place and what the place has gone through over time.
A travelogue puts your skills as an observer to the test. You need to find the obscure, funny, and little-known facts about a place. At some point, you may feel that you are writing more about the history of the place than about the place itself. That's fine: travelogues are like that.
5. Guidebook
A guidebook has to cover everything about a destination. Whatever questions a traveler has about places to stay, sights, and meals, your guidebook should have the answer. A guidebook often includes practical tips and recommendations, so that travelers can make decisions quickly on the way.
The guidebooks published by Lonely Planet are a well-known example of this style. If you want to learn how to write a good guidebook, pick up one of them and study how it is built.
Before you publish
Whichever style you choose for your next travel journal, article, or book, the 6 tips for travel writing help you write it so that readers enjoy it. And before you publish your work, check it for spelling and grammar mistakes, for example with the Spell Checker. Your readers will rely on your guide when they travel, and a misspelled name or address can give them an unnecessary headache.