Weekly travel reads: Hiking to the Vatican

The Travel Wire is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads from around the web.

Travel reads

• I hiked right up to the Vatican’s back door on this underrated Italian camino [Adventure]

• Brazil's lagoon-filled desert you can hike barefoot [BBC Travel]

"Lençóis Maranhenses looks like a desert, but it's alive with shimmering pools, remote villages and ancient paths that only local guides know how to read."

• Yangon: What is life really like in a city at war? [Ilona Vinogradova]

"Why the hell would you travel there? And some brutally honest words about ethical and intentional travel."

• Into the wild [Tales of the Orient by Simon Ostheimer]

"How a side journey on the way to climb one of China's most famous peaks, became an adventure all of its own."

• The stilt villages [Odyssey And Meaning]

"Living on water in Aguégués, Benin."

• China broke our brains [Brent and Michael Are Going Places]

"We expected to be shocked and transformed. We were."

• Why tourist shops suck [Souvenirs]

"They sell imitation culture - not the real thing."

• Traveling to meet who I used to be [Be Back By Dinner]

"A journey isn’t just about finding yourself. It’s about encountering who you used to be."

• The tourist facade & the spectacle of Porto [Rewear&Care]

"How heritage tourism gives the illusion of authenticity."

• Don’t bunch up. Spread out. [The Conscientious Traveller]

• The ten best books about travel of 2025 [Smithsonian Magazine]

Travel resources

• Compare and save on train travel across 35 countries with Rail Europe - The easiest way to book European train tickets and passes.

• With eSIMs from Airalo, travelers can download and install a digital data pack for over 200 countries/regions and get connected anywhere in the world as soon as they land.

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James Clark (@nomadicnotes) - Editor.