Top 50 Travel Quotes to Inspire You to Travel the World

Everyone loves awesome and inspirational travel quotes — especially if it pushes them to take an adventure and travel the world!

I don’t know if it’s the beautiful backgrounds they’re plastered onto or the inspiration they emit, but the bottom line is that they are always pretty and, for the most part, oh-so-true.

Sometimes, when you travel as much as I do, although you get some pretty wicked experiences like climbing to the base camp of Everest and discovering underground waterfalls, you tend to lose the “oomph” of experiences.

These inspirational quotes about travel never fail to get me back on the bandwagon (so to speak) so that I can once again fully enjoy the entire experience of traveling.  

Take a look at these top 50 best travel quotes that have inspired me over the years to continue traveling the world, learning new cultures, meeting new people, and ultimately creating the best life I could’ve ever imagined as a travel blogger!

Best Travel Quotations to Inspire You to Travel

1. “I would gladly live out of a backpack if it meant I could see the world.”

2. “People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” — Dagobert D. Runes

3. “Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” — Aldous Huxley

4. “Happiness is not found in things you possess, but in what you have the courage to release.” 

Traveling happiness quotes like this one from Nathaniel Hawthorne genuinely resonate with me. 

It reminds me that the true essence of happiness lies in the freedom to let go of material possessions and embrace the experiences and memories that come with exploring the world. 

5. “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” — Cesare Pavese

6. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” — Henry Miller 

Quotes on world travel like this have a real impact on me.  It reminds us that it’s not just about reaching a specific location on the map but about the profound transformation that occurs within us as we explore the world.

7. “When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into them again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.” — D. H. Lawrence

8. “The open road is a beckoning, a strangeness, a place where a man can lose himself.”

This quote about traveling the world beautifully captures the essence of wanderlust and adventure. It serves as a reminder that embarking on a journey, leaving the comfort behind, and immersing oneself in the wonders of foreign lands and cultures may be tremendously freeing. 

9. “Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. 

Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” — Mark Jenkins

10 “Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.” — Anatole France

11. “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” — Andre Gide 

This travel quote has always been a personal favorite of mine. It serves as a powerful reminder that to truly experience the world’s wonders, we must be willing to step out of our comfort zones, take risks, and embrace the unknown.

12. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” — Mark Twain

13. “I’d rather look back at my life and say I can’t believe I did that instead of saying I wish I did that.”

14. “He who would travel happily must travel light.” — Antoine de St. Exupery

15. “Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone.” — Wendell Berry

16. “Travel makes one modest, you see what tiny place you occupy in the world.” — Gustave Flaubert 

World travel quotes like this capture the profound impact of exploring our planet. When you venture out into the world, you witness its breathtaking diversity and gain a humbling perspective on your existence. Every trip reminds us how big and beautiful the earth is and how insignificant we are compared to it. 

17. “Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life – and travel – leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks – on your body or on your heart – are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.” — Anthony Bourdain

18. “Traveling is not something you’re good at. It’s something you do. Like breathing.” — Gayle Foreman

19. “Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else.” — Lawrence Block

I couldn’t agree more with this insightful quote on world travel. Unexpected discoveries that occurred when I least anticipated them have been some of my most treasured recollections from seeing the world. 

Whether it’s stumbling across a hidden gem of a local restaurant while looking for a well-known site or getting lost in an adorable foreign neighborhood just to discover a breathtaking view, these unplanned encounters make traveling an enlightening and wonderful experience.

20. “Travel is freedom… one of the last great sources of legal adventure. Travel is intensified living, with maximum thrills per minute. It’s recess, and we need it.” — Rick Steves

21. “We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character” — Henry David Thoreau

22. “In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” — Anonymous

I was profoundly touched when reading this one of the incredible travel happiness quotes. It serves as an important reminder that life is a great adventure just waiting to start and that our ability to take advantage of those chances is what defines our journey. 

23. “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” — Pat Conroy

24. “Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.” — Andrew Zimmern

25. “If an ass goes traveling, he’ll come home a horse.” — Thomas Fuller

26. “I just wanna go on more adventures. Be around good energy. Connect with people. Learn new things. Grow.”

27. “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” — John Steinbeck

28. “I love to travel, but hate to arrive.” 

I couldn’t agree more with Albert Einstein’s world travel quote! When traveling or experiencing a new place, there is something incredibly beautiful about the experience itself, the buildup, and the limitless opportunities ahead.

True adventures and discoveries usually occur along the way, even though arriving at your goal can occasionally feel like the end of an adventure. 

29. “Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.’” — Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

30. “Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport.”

31. “Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”

This quote about traveling the world speaks to my wanderlust-filled soul intensely. It perfectly captures why my desire to travel the world is irresistible. It is an encouragement that the ultimate test of a well-lived life lies not in the act of breathing but rather in those thrilling moments when the world reveals its extraordinary beauty to my eyes.

32. “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” — Bill Bryson

33. “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes

34. “If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears.” — Cesare Pavese

This travel quote is a reminder of the inner baggage we carry on our life’s journey. It shows that absolute freedom and excitement come when we let go of negativity and self-doubt. This way, we can explore and learn about ourselves better.

35. “A journey is best measured in friends, not miles.” — Tim Cahill

36. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” — Freya Stark

37. “Traveling. It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”

38. “To get away from one’s working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one’s self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.” — Charles Horton Cooley

39. “We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.” — Hilaire Belloc

40. “It is not down in any map; true places never are.” — Herman Melville

41. “I followed the road less traveled…now where the hell am I?!” 

It is indeed one of my favorite travel quotes!

42. “And if travel is like love, it is, in the end, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by a familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.” — Pico Iyer

43. “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” — Jawaharlal Nehru

44. “It is probably a pity that every citizen of each state cannot visit all the others, to see the differences, to learn  what we have in common, and come back with a richer, fuller understanding of America – in all its beauty, in all its dignity, in all its strength, in support of moral principles.” 

Dwight D. Eisenhower’s insightful quote beautifully captures why I’m so passionate about collecting quotes on world travel.

Every citizen exploring their country’s diversity reminds us of the value of learning from one another, embracing differences, and cherishing shared principles. Whether local or global, travel reveals humanity’s beauty and strength, emphasizing the importance of universal morals. 

45. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”.

46. “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” — Clifton Fadiman

47. “The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.” — Audrey Hepburn

48. “Travel not to find yourself but to remember who you’ve been all along.”

49. “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” — W.B. Yeats

50. “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”

Discovering the Essence of Travel Quotes

When you’re looking for the best inspirational travel quotes, it all comes down to what resonates with you most. Whether you’re on vacation, traveling full-time as a digital nomad, or working a 9 to 5 job, quotations about travel come in a wide array of shapes and forms. 

But one thing is for certain, when the perfect inspirational quote hits you, it really takes you home to the one place you want to go.

What quote resonates most with you and fuels your wanderlust? Share it with me, and let’s inspire each other to explore the world together!