The Travel Wire: best travel reads #7

Hiking the Astungkara Way in Bali, tracking the anaconda in the deep Peruvian Amazon, rebuilding Antakya, Japan's car-free town that autumn hikers love, and more travel reads.

Oct 25, 2024

Welcome to The Travel Wire (by Nomadic Notes), where I curate the best travel reads of the week.

Featured newsletters

- Southeast Asia Railways is a monthly newsletter about train travel in Southeast Asia. Get travel inspiration and read about new railways (such as the Borneo and Vietnam high-speed railways).

- Browse more travel newsletters to subscribe to.

Travel reads

• Hiking the Astungkara Way, the trail offering a fresh perspective on Bali

• Tracking the anaconda in the deep Peruvian Amazon

• Earthquakes reduced Antakya, Turkey, to rubble. This is how it’s being rebuilt

"Roughly 80% of Antakya was lost. Now the city is beginning construction on a new district with more green space, walkability, and social connection."

• Kamikochi: Japan's car-free town that autumn hikers love

• Passport privilege: the realities of being a Palestinian travel writer

“Lama Obeid got her dream job. But it came at a price...”

• Germany’s new AI travel influencer Is a chatbot still working out some kinks

“Meet Emma, Germany’s new AI travel influencer, who behaves remarkably like a chatbot. The travel industry has some thoughts.”

• The hills of Western Serbia

"There are many visions of Yugoslavia's past. Laurence Mitchell visits the hills of western Serbia to learn how heritage and history fuel the imagination. It's a journey that starts and ends in Uzice and takes in the famous Sargan Eight narrow-gauge railway."

• I rode a bike through Rwanda for 5 days—here’s why it was the best way to see the country

• Northumberland is back on track: a new railway line is opening up one of England’s wildest counties

• Feral cats are upstaging the Great Wall of China

• Listicle season is upon us:

- National Geographic 25 best places in the world to travel to in 2025

- Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2025