Travel Muse Magazine

Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh was the first city anywhere to be honored with the City of Literature title, back in 2004. It’s a natural choice. As it is here that both Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter were born, in addition to scores of other literary greats. The city’s train station – Waverley Station – is the only train station in the world named after a book – the Waverley novels written by Sir Walter Scott. They also host the world famous Edinburgh International Book Festival every August, plus many other smaller book fests too.

The bookish highlights here are plentiful and could make the sole focus of a trip to this wonderful place. Among the places to check out for book lovers in Edinburgh:

• The Writers’ Museum inside a cool townhouse celebrates the lives of three giants of Scottish literature – Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson.
• The Scott Monument, a tribute to Sir Walter Scott, is one of the largest monuments to a writer anywhere in the world.
• Just outside of town, head to the Roslyn Chapel, made (even more) famous thanks to Dan Brown’s famous The Da Vinci Code novel.
• The Sherlock Holmes Statue at Picardy Place marks Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birthplace. Also check out the Conan Doyle Pub named in his honor.
• Victoria Street and Candlemaker Row are colorful, winding streets cited inspiration for the magical Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series; while Potterrow Port near the University of Edinburgh is rumored to be the inspiration for the protagonist’s surname. Other character names are said to be inspired by tombstones at the legendary Greyfriars Kirkyard.
• The Oxford Bar is known as modern mystery novelist Ian Rankin‘s own favorite pub and a frequently visited spot for his Detective Rebus.
• You can also go on tours of all sorts of great literary places. Consider the Potter Trail Tour, Edinburgh Book Lover’s Tour and Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour, all of which visit literary sites (& pubs) around the city while exploring the works of great writers who’ve lived and worked there. 

While not in Edinburgh, Scotland has its own “National Book Town.” It’s called Wigtown. As the town’s website says about itself, it is “a book lovers haven – and with over quarter of a million books to choose from!” There’s even a B&B in Wigtown (called The Open Book) in which you can live above a bookstore and run it while you’re staying there, bringing your bookish dream into reality, even if just for a few nights. Wigtown is about 3 hours by train or car from Edinburgh.

Find out about Edinburgh’s lit events and history at CityOfLiterature.com.

Nottingham, England

Nottingham, which earned the City of Lit title in 2015, describes itself as “a place of stories” with “a thousand years of written history ringing from each ancient street and thoroughfare” where “fires lit by writers such as Byron, Whipple, Lawrence and many more still burn and illuminate brightly today.”

Of course, Nottingham is probably most well-known world-wide as the home of the legendary Robin Hood. Here, you can visit the real Sherwood Forest and see for yourself where Robin Hood and his band of “Merry Men” grew from legend by stories that date back to the 14th century. In Nottingham, you can also check out the D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum and Lord Byron’s ancestral home. Check out lit events and more here at NottinghamCityOfLiterature.com.

Exeter, England

In 2019, Exeter joined the English lit list. The city was recognized “for its 1,000 year unbroken history of making books and popularizing reading since the early 13th century,” according to Exeter’s tourism website. Here you can see what’s known as “The Exeter Book,” which is “a 10th-century anthology recognized by UNESCO as ‘the foundation volume of English Literature’ and ‘one of the world’s principal cultural artifacts,’” according to UNESCO’s Exeter digital guide book. Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens and even Bram Stoker all have used Exeter as an important location in their literature. As did mystery writer extraordinaire Agatha Christie, whose namesake International Agatha Christie Festival is held here annually. Christie’s works are also part of the collection you can visit at the University of Exeter Library Special Collections, which also holds the archives of Daphne du Maurier.