Inntravel Book Club

Introducing the Inntravel Book Club

To celebrate our sponsorship of the 2025 Hay Festival – one of the world’s biggest and best literary festivals – we are launching our very own Inntravel Book Club. After all, travel and literature make a perfect pair: both gateways to understanding the world; each able to broaden our perspectives, spark our imaginations, and deepen our connection to different places and cultures.

We're delighted that for volume one of the Book Club, we have as host one of our favourite authors and travel writers, Sarah Baxter. Sign up below to register your interest and we'll share Sarah's inspired literary recommendations.

Sarah says...

“Books and travel. Two of my favourite things. And two things absolutely made for each other – there’s no better way to help pass a long train journey or a lazy afternoon by the sea than a really good read.

So, when Inntravel asked me to help them start a little book club, I said: yes please! And I set about searching my shelves not just for great stories to brighten up the departure lounge, but stories dripping with sense-of-place. The sorts of books where the location is virtually a character; books that whisk you right to the heart of a destination and leave you desperate to visit.

Why did Inntravel ask me? Good question. I’ve been working as a travel writer and editor for two decades now, writing for many national newspapers and magazines, and a few years back I penned a book called The Inspired Traveller’s Guide to Literary Places. But maybe my biggest ‘qualification’ is simply that I love to read.

I particularly love books that make me think beyond my sofa. I love it when a book – be it a memoir, travelogue, novel or historical fiction – puts a new place on my wish list, excites me about somewhere I’m going or, maybe best of all, enhances the place I’m travelling in.”

Inntravel at the Hay Festival 2025

22 May - 1 June

What better way to celebrate the partnership between travel and literature than by supporting one of the world’s biggest and best literary festivals? We sponsored a series of guided walks across the festival – an opportunity to explore Hay-on-Wye’s beautiful surroundings and to learn how the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park is driving change to bring about a more sustainable future.

"Following our first successful collaboration at the 2024 Winter Weekend, we are delighted to be working with the Inntravel team again at this year's Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye. As a global charity, partnerships like the one we have developed with Inntravel provide vital support and offer an unparalleled opportunity for us to connect our audiences with organisations that share our values. Hay Festival and Inntravel are both committed to helping people explore the wider world - Inntravel through responsible travel, and Hay Festival through our international festivals and forums." Hay Festival Global CEO, Julie Finch

Author walks around Hay-on-Wye
Our sponsored walks included two author-led walks, one with Kate Humble, who explored the border between England and Wales, and another with Phoebe Smith, focusing on the ancient ways around Hay-on-Wye.