8 Tips For Writing an Excellent Travelogue

Travel writing is quite a popular genre. People take the help of the travelogues to know about a particular place before deciding to visit it. Travel writing generally gives detailed information about the attractions of a place so that people get tempted to go there on their vacations. Hence, writers involved in travel writing should follow some specific rules to make their travelogues more appealing and interesting to the readers.

1. Research the Place

Before writing about a particular destination, you’ll need to thoroughly research. If you are able to go to the place, you should—doing so will give you a firsthand experience and you can find out for yourself what the place is all about. You could even ask the local people about its legends and other information related to that place. You could tour all over the place and find out for yourself all its hidden secrets that would attract a tourist bent on having fun. In this way, you can build up quite a reliable picture in your travelogue.

However, if you live quite far away from the place in question, then you must rely on other resources.

First and foremost, you should look up all the available information related to the place. You could look up books available in the library or you could surf the net. If you find some pictures of it, it could also help you a lot in your write-ups as it would give you a clearer idea about the looks of the place.

2. Write Descriptively

Writers are artists. They present a picture through their words. Show your artistic talent here by describing the place in such a complete manner that the reader actually visualizes it. Spin a beautiful picture so as to make the reader want to visit that place.

If you can get photos of a particular location, you can use them to enhance your travelogue. Be sure to use a photo editing app like Instasize to get these images publication-ready.

3. Highlight the Various Attractions

In travel writing highlighting the various attractions is of paramount importance. The first thing that attracts a person to a particular place is its various appeals. A place may be very beautiful in its scenic beauty but until and unless it doesn’t give us any other attractions in the way of sports or any other thing, few people will be tempted to visit it. So, include in your travelogue all the available attractions of that place so as to lure maximum number of visitors to it.

4. Mention the Ways and Means to Reach the Destination

You have done your job of enticing the reader to visit the place with your travel writing. But, if the reader does not get the adequate information regarding the ways and means of reaching that destination then s/he may drop the plan to visit it altogether. Therefore, always try to include the various means by which one can easily reach the place. You could give the information regarding the airline details, train details, or any other detail that you deem necessary.

5. Name a Few Good Hotels

Once a person reaches her/his destination then s/he may have trouble locating all the good hotels in that place. So, you could help your readers out of their bewilderment by naming a few good hotels for their benefit. And while you are naming the hotels then make sure that you choose hotels for all the economic classes. Hence, you could mention some star hotels for the rich and the powerful. Good hotels for the middle class segment. And some cheap lodgings for the lower middle class people. Thus, your travelogue would help people from all segments of the society and will be greatly popular in its effect.

6. Mention Some Out of the Way Tourist Attraction

To give your travelogue that specific edge you should try to include some out of the way tourist attractions. These tourist attractions could be anything from a visit to the local winery or some bargain or elusive items sold at the local market. So, do your homework properly if you want to excel in travel writing.

7. Give Some Cultural Background

Giving some cultural background of the place makes your travelogue richer in its content. People like to know the background and culture of a place they are planning to visit. It gives them a distinctive idea of what to expect from that place. It also helps them in their choice of clothes, accessories, etc. So, do remember to include this little bit of information in your travel writing.

8. Mention Some Dos and Don’ts of the Place

And lastly mention some dos and don’ts of the place so that a person does not make a cultural mistake there. Say a person is planning to visit the Middle East. Then s/he should wear very decent clothes and reserve all the affectionate behavior for the private. Again people should avoid asking for beef in a Hindu country like India or pork in a Muslim country. Hence, knowing the dos and don’ts of a particular place makes a person abide by all her/his etiquettes while fully enjoying the sights and sounds of that place.