Best Podcasts for Travel 

The travel industry is back in full swing, and passport stamp-hungry wanderers can’t wait to earn their next one. However, reality dictates that it takes time to save money and get the requisite time away from work. Filling your hours with the best podcasts for travel provides a necessary mental escape until you can slake your getaway lust. 

What should you add to your Spotify playlist? Here are the best podcasts for travel to help you plan your next trek or take a little mental vacation. 

How Podcasts Improve Your Travel Experience

Podcasts are for far more than daydream travel. Here are three features that make the best podcasts for travel worth investigating. 

1. Convenient, Accessible and (Often) Free 

If you have a smartphone, you can access travel podcasts on your favorite streaming service anywhere you go. Many of the most popular channels also air select episodes for free on YouTube, giving you access to totally free material for the price of a few commercials. Take a tip from the old timers and use such breaks to grab a snack or use the restroom, and they don’t detract from your listening experience. 

2. Stay Informed While on the Go 

Podcasts travel where you do. Wherever in the world you may travel, you can access your device. The magic of downloads means you have content even when you aren’t connected to the grid. Want to plan a spa visit after hiking Germany’s Black Forest? The right episode lets you select the right rubdown for sore muscles. 

3. Explore Places You Might Not Have Considered

One of the best feelings occurs when you have a full day in a foreign country and no concrete plans. Of course, your dilemma then becomes where to go and what to do. While everyone considers Paris, France, fewer investigate gems such as the Loire department, home to the St. Haon le Chatel and several villages with ancient architecture. 

11 Best Podcasts for Travelers 

What are the best podcasts for travelers to tune into? The following 13 will nourish your wandering bones and fill your mind with dreams of distant shores. 

1. The EuroTrip

Here’s the perfect channel for Eurovision fans. “The Eurotrip” hosts Rob and James meet every Wednesday to chat with some of the biggest stars from the Eurovision Song Contest, giving you the inside scoop on the entertainment world on the other side of the pond. They also delve into the news to keep you informed and end each episode on a musical high note. 

2. Rick Steves’ Europe

“Rick Steves’ Europe” is a spinoff of his popular radio show, “Travel With Rick Steves.” It features over 60 different destinations, complete with video, although you can certainly tune in from your car. Each episode is chock-full of travel tips to help you make the most of your adventure. 

3. The Travel Diaries 

“The Travel Diaries” is the UK’s number one travel podcast. Host Holly Rubenstein chats with a different adventurer each week about their globetrotting adventures. Whether you prefer to explore via planes, trains, automobiles or boats, you’ll get practical tips and exciting destinations to add to your next itinerary. 

4. Zero to Travel 

Here’s the best podcast for travel if you’re a beginning globetrotter with a lot of questions. How does traveling across zones affect your sense of time? How can you integrate culturally into the local scene? What’s the underlying psychology of different travel styles? Discover more. 

5. Armchair Explorer 

Do you ever wish you could travel the world like a modern-day Ferdinand Magellan? If you lack the budget, you can escape vicariously through “Armchair Explorer.” This best podcast for travel is among the most visually stunning. Each episode includes documentary-style cinematography, making this a great show to add to your smart TV lineup. Kick back and enjoy the incredible visual tour of the world we share. 

6. The Thoughtful Travel Podcast 

What’s it like to get lost in a foreign land when you don’t speak the language? “The Thoughtful Travel Podcast” host Amanda Kendle tackles these topics and how you can learn from such experiences. You’ll venture to exotic places like Bangkok and touch upon topics like how to make your trip more eco-friendly. 

7. Travel Tales by AFAR

Can an adventure change your life? Absolutely! At least, that’s the deeply held belief driving the “Travel Tales by AFAR” podcast. Recent episodes include a food writer’s return to her native Nigeria, and an intrepid hiker’s coming to acceptance of a lost while exploring Slovenia’s mountains. It’s a celebration of the human spirit and how wandering influences it. 

8. The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Do you want to find the world’s most wondrous exotic locations? If so, tune into the Atlas Obscura Podcast. Best of all, each episode only lasts 15 minutes, making it the ideal length to inject a little mini-vacation into your workday. Step out of the office, put on your headphones and take a stroll around the block to revitalize your body while sending your mind on a mental adventure. 

9. Not Lost 

Guess who’s coming to dinner? It’s host Brenden Francis Newnam of “Not Lost.” This intrepid traveler learned how to have fabulous adventures on the cheap by making friends in distant lands, meeting them at the airport and joining them at their home for dinner after a whirlwind tour of the hottest local sites. It’s the ideal way to get inspired — how can you travel and meet the real inhabitants of the lands you visit? 

10. Chronicles Abroad 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work and travel abroad? “Chronicles Abroad” follows two empty-nester hosts who decided to make their dream a reality. Each episode is chock-full of tips and advice for digital nomads, including resources on how to get connected and where to find inexpensive lodging. 

11. Women Who Travel

Conde Nast is a recognized name in the travel industry, and this spinoff podcast is directed toward female wanderers. Each episode includes female-identifying guests who share unique travel tales, such as exploring the country via sleeper train or off-grid hopping through the Danish wilderness. You’ll enjoy safety tips while gaining reassurance that, yes, you, too, can slake your wanderlust, even solo. 

Travelers Tune Into These Best Podcasts 

Taking a mini mental vacation is fabulous for your mental health, allowing you to step away from your current woes and into the world’s magic. The best travel podcasts also inform you of valuable safety tips and advice on what to see to make your real-life wanderings more enjoyable.

Tune into these best podcasts for travel anytime you need to escape your world. Use them to plan your next real-life adventure and explore all there is to see.