If you love books, then you have to visit at least one book town in your lifetime. Here’s a list of 8 around the world that we recommend.
Some places are famous for their beaches, some for their food. A precious few are famous for their bookshelves. Scattered across the globe is a loose federation of villages, neighborhoods, and cities that have staked their entire identity on the printed page, places where the bank, the stable, and the church have all, at some point, been converted into bookshops. Visiting one is the purest form of slow travel we know: you cannot rush a shelf. Here are eight worth crossing the world for.
Hay-on-Wye, Wales
Nestled near the border of England, this picturesque market town in Wales is steeped in book culture. It started back in the 1960s, when Richard Booth, then-owner of Hay’s resident castle, opened a secondhand bookshop. Other locals began selling books as well, and that eventually snowballed into Booth marketing the town as the Kingdom of Books. He must have had some killer advertising skills, too, because it worked a charm.
Nowadays, the town is best known for its annual Hay Festival, celebrating books and attracting literary figures from all over. The festival has become an international phenomenon, with cities around the world celebrating their own Hay Festivals in honor of literature and culture. For a full itinerary of the town’s shops and secrets, see our Book Lover’s Guide to Hay-on-Wye.
Jimbocho, Japan
Kanda-Jinbocho, colloquially known as Jimbocho, is a haven of publishing houses and bookshops in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. Its roots reach back to the 1880s, when several universities and law schools opened nearby, and secondhand bookshops sprang up to serve their students and professors; after a great fire razed much of the district in 1913, a former teacher named Shigeo Iwanami opened a bookstore that grew into the celebrated Iwanami Shoten publishing house, and the neighborhood was reborn as a center of literature and learning.
While technically more of a neighborhood than a town, it has an astonishing number of bookshops, book cafés, and even a book hotel crammed into a relatively small area, well over a hundred secondhand bookstores said to hold about a third of all the used books in Japan.
Jimbocho’s vibrant atmosphere makes it a delight to visit, whether you’re there for the annual Kanda Used Book Festival, one of the largest secondhand book fairs in the world, or just dropping by to pick up a good read. For a full walking route through the district’s best shops, see our Book Lover’s Guide to Jimbocho.
Wigtown, Scotland
Scotland proudly proclaims Wigtown as the country’s National Book Town. Designated as such in 1998, this charming town is home to 17 independent bookshops, each with its own character and specialties.
Wigtown also hosts Scotland’s second-largest literary festival, helping revitalize the local economy through a thriving culture of books and storytelling. For the ultimate literary getaway, visitors can stay at The Open Book, a one-of-a-kind Airbnb where guests live above a real secondhand bookshop and step into the role of bookseller during their stay, making Wigtown’s love of literature more than just something to admire—it’s something to experience.
Óbidos, Portugal
Located just an hour from Portugal’s capital, Obidos is all about transformation. Rather than building anew, it shelves its books inside its history: the Livraria de Santiago fills the nave of the Church of São Tiago, and other bookshops occupy a wine cellar, an organic market, and a former fire station. The town utterly shuns the instinct to tear down what seems “unneeded” and instead lets old architecture embrace a new purpose, much as its cobbled streets curve with the land rather than flattening it.
The approach earned Óbidos designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Literature in 2015, and its Fólio international literary festival now draws writers from across the Portuguese-speaking world each autumn. If you’re planning to visit, our Book Lover’s Guide to Óbidos Literary Village maps out where to wander and what to read.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
With over 3 million residents, Buenos Aires stretches the definition of a book “town” past breaking. And yet, by every measure that matters, it belongs here. It’s filled with over 700 bookshops plus thousands of smaller booksellers. In fact, the Argentinian capital has more bookstores per capita than almost any other city in the world.
It also happens to be home to El Ateneo Grand Splendid, one of the most beautiful bookshops in existence today, voted the third most beautiful bookstore in the world in the 2025 1000 Libraries Awards. Given all that, it’s little wonder that UNESCO officially recognized Buenos Aires as the World Book Capital in 2011. Talk about having your city’s status as a book town made official. For where to browse and what to read, see our Book Lover’s Guide to Buenos Aires.
Fjærland, Norway
Much like Hay-on-Wye, Fjaerland, Norway likes to have a few books on hand everywhere you turn: in waiting rooms, stables, banks, and even a former post office. It’s probably the smallest place on this list, as it has only 300 inhabitants. It’s also only open to tourists from May to December, and one visit makes the reason why very clear.
Simply put, a lot of this town’s bookshelves are outdoors, in the open, and would get pretty badly damaged during the town’s harsh winters. One outdoor shelf in particular is called “the country’s most honest bookstore,” as it is unmanned and simply asks you to leave money in a box when you pick a book.
Montolieu, France
This French village, despite being fairly small, is home to over a dozen delightful antique bookstores, each secondhand and independently owned. It’s the only book town in the south of France, and it is dedicated to preserving book arts and crafts. It even hosts various cultural events throughout the year, such as the Pages de Jazz and Comic Book Festivals.
Paju Book City, South Korea
While many places on this list are brimming with charm and history, Paju in South Korea puts its own spin on the idea of book towns. To start with, it isn’t actually a town at all. Rather, it is a cultural complex dedicated to the publishing industry. Don’t get me wrong, though, it’s not some rinky-dink mall; it’s a huge, open space encompassing 250 publishers, printers, and bookbinders.
It also includes book cafés, art galleries, and libraries, all encased in sleek, modern architecture that seamlessly integrates with nature. The district is also a popular filming location for Korean dramas, including Romance Is a Bonus Book and What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim. One notable example is the Forest of Wisdom, a library and cultural hub with bookshelves rising several stories tall. For a closer look at what’s worth seeking out, see our Book Lover’s Guide to Paju.
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K Lou
K. Lou is a writer born in the U.S. who found her way to Japan through a spiritual calling—or, more precisely, better access to tea. She writes about travel, culture, and the occasional creative piece, inspired by her enduring love of books. This love began in high school when K. Lou carried books around to avoid seeming odd while lost in thought. Once she started reading, she never stopped. With zero regrets, she continues to explore the written word and invites others to join her in celebrating its varied forms.
