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How many travel blogs can you name off the top of your head?
If you can’t name any or can only name a few, you’re in the right place because we’ve crafted a list of the most inspiring travel blog examples from around the web.
Travel blogs are one of the most popular blogging niches on the web, and our list covers quite a few sub niches within that space.
We even include details on the types of content, income streams and social media platforms these blogs use.
We used a few different tools to uncover the following metrics for each blog:
- Domain Authority (DA) – MozBar
- Estimated Traffic by Monthly Views – Similarweb
- Load Time – Pingdom (Washington, D.C. Test Server)
- Content Management System (CMS) – Wappalyzer
The list is arranged from highest to lowest amount of traffic. Let’s take a look.
Contents
The most inspiring travel blog examples
- Nomadic Matt – Run by nomadic traveler Matt Kepnes and his team of fellow travelers. Blog focuses on budget travel, publishing travel guides, tips and more.
- The Broke Backpacker – Run by a team of nomadic, backpacking travelers. They share travel gear reviews, tips on how to travel on a budget, advice on backpacking and more.
- The Planet D – Husband-and-wife travel blog run by nomadic married couple Dave and Deb, who share travel tips and guides through engaging list posts.
- Our Escape Clause – Another husband-and-wife travel blog run by younger couple Jeremy and Kate. They share travel stories and tips on traveling in the USA and Europe.
- Salt in Our Hair – A well-designed collection of travel advice by Dutch couple Nick and Hannah.
- The Blonde Abroad – This blog is run by an all-female team led by Kiki, AKA “The Blonde Abroad.”
- Charlotte Plans a Trip – A one-woman blog run by Charlotte of The Netherlands, who shares personal travel stories and tips with the world.
1. Nomadic Matt
DA: 74 | Traffic: 1.4 million+ per month | Load Time: 1.21s | CMS: WordPress
Nomadic Matt is a well-known, even famous travel blog, receiving over 1.4 million visits per month.
The blog was founded by and is still owned by The New York Times best-selling author Matt Kepnes, who wrote How to Travel the World On $50 a Day.
Matt founded the blog in 2008 after quitting his job two years prior to travel around the world on a budget. His goal is to teach people how to travel on a budget just as he did when he was starting out.
He’s been to over a 100 countries and territories ever since.
Now, he and his team work hard to produce new content, keep the Nomadic Network travel community active, and run FLYTE, a non-profit that makes travel more accessible to underprivileged youth.
Content
Nomadic Matt publishes new content every few days to a wide range of categories.
They include categories for specific continents, types of travel, such as Family Travel, Female Travel and Couples Travel, and general travel-related categories, including Travel Gear, Travel Lists and Travel Tips.
Each post’s metadata excludes an author name, and there’s no author box.
However, the posts are written in first person, and there’s an email opt-in box in the sidebar that features a picture and first-person blurb about Matt, which makes it seem as though each post is written by him.
The blog mostly publishes specific guides, such as a guide on Japan’s rail system or a guide on the best hostels in Auckland.
You’ll also find personal blog entries and somewhat investigative posts, such as “Is Tulum Safe?”
Each post is written in long-form style and uses a lot of images.
The most unique element is a feature box at the bottom of each post. It’s different for each post and contains a snapshot of travel tips for the post’s destination topic.
Income streams
Nomadic Matt uses ads on blog post pages: one in the sidebar and another at the bottom of the browser’s viewport. Both are sticky, so they remain in view as the reader scrolls down the page.
They also use affiliate links in blog posts and sell guidebooks for specific countries.
Matt has a couple of online courses that teach fellow travelers how to become a travel blogger.
One costs $79/month or $199 per quarter while the other costs a one-time fee of $99.
The blog’s sister company The Nomadic Network hosts travel tours that net the blog a four-digit payout per spot booked.
Matt also advertises his books on the homepage of the blog and a few other places, such as the website’s About page.
Social media activity
Nomadic Matt is active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
They receive most of their engagements from Instagram and TikTok, a few hundred likes and views per post with some reaching a few thousand.
2. The Broke Backpacker
DA: 58 | Traffic: 1.2 million+ per month | Load Time: 307ms | CMS: WordPress
The Broke Backpacker, as the name suggests, is another travel blogging website filled with tips on how to travel on a budget full time.
It was founded in 2013 and is run by a mixed bunch of individuals who all share a passion for travel.
Along with the average travel tips and guides that all travel blogs publish, The Broke Backpacker focuses on topics like travel gear and working abroad.
Content
The Broke Backpacker updates posts regularly, so it’s hard to determine how many posts they publish per month.
However, the blog is quite active with multiple writers contributing to it, so the site is always pushing out new content.
While the site has a Blog page, they don’t insert a link to it in their navigation menu as most blogs do.
Their navigation menu features multiple parent and child categories instead, including parent categories for continents and major territories, and categories named Budget Travel, Work & Travel, Gear, and Travel Tips.
Common topics this blog covers include gear reviews, list posts for travel destinations in specific areas, many additional list post topics, and budget backpacking.
The blog publishes longform posts with at least one image underneath each heading. Each image even has a cheeky caption underneath it, such as “two broke backpackers are better than one.”
Income streams
The Broke Backpacker’s monetization strategy is built entirely around affiliate marketing.
They use affiliate links for hostels, hotels, flights and products they review.
Social media activity
The Broke Backpacker has social media accounts for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest but are not very active on any of them.
They receive a few dozen engagements when they do post.
3. The Planet D
DA: 63 | Traffic: 703,000+ per month | Load Time: 680ms | CMS: WordPress
The Planet D is a husband-and-wife travel blog that covers a wide range of travel topics, not just traveling on a budget.
Dave and Deb have been married for over 25 years and developed a love of traveling in the early 2000s after taking several trips to Asia, Africa, South America and Central America.
However, the couple found themselves in a rut over time and “didn’t inspire each other anymore.” They started the blog in 2007 as a way to reconnect and share their travel stories with the world.
They’ve traveled to over 120 countries since starting the blog and have been featured by Forbes, BBC, CNN, National Geographic and CBC.
Content
The Planet D publishes new posts every few days and updates old posts regularly. Posts are published by guest authors and “The Planet D Team.”
Parent categories include Travel Planning, Inspirational Stories, Travel Itineraries, Digital Lifestyle (for posts on living a digital nomad lifestyle), and Travel Tips.”
The blog publishes list posts primarily, usually on a specific topic for a specific city, such as “best dishes to try in the Philippines” or “best things to do in [insert city name here].”
They use long-form posts with a lot of images.
Income streams
The Planet D uses a few ads on blog post pages.
They’re displayed along the bottom of the viewport, in the site’s sidebar and within the post itself.
A pop-up video ad also appears in the bottom, right-hand corner.
The blog also affiliate links for bookings in addition to ads.
Social media activity
The Planet D is active on social media, specifically Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest.
They receive most of their engagements from Instagram and YouTube.
While the blog hides their like counts on Instagram, the list of people who liked each post is quite lengthy when you scroll through it.
Their YouTube channel has over 60,000 subscribers, and a number of their videos have a few hundred thousand views.
4. Our Escape Clause
DA: 43 | Traffic: 650,000+ per month | Load Time: 903ms | CMS: WordPress
Our Escape Clause is another husband-and-wife blog. This one is run by full-time travel bloggers Jeremy and Kate.
The couple took a six-month trip around the world in the mid 2010s and enjoyed it so much, they decided to keep going.
They launched their travel blog not long after.
They post travel tips and guides for traveling in the United States and Europe (with a heavy focus on Italy), all while sharing their own travel adventures.
They’ve traveled to over 50 countries in five continents since 2016.
Content
Our Escape Clause publishes a few posts per month.
Some of their categories include Travel Planning, Stories, Packing and Long-Term Travel. They also have tags for individual travel destinations and itineraries.
They have a huge focus on traveling in the United States and Italy, so you’ll find two top-level menu items reserved for these destinations.
Posts are published under Kate’s name.
They’re written in long-form format and use a lot of images, definitely more than the previous travel websites on this list.
Most travel photography images have Jeremy, Kate or their dog Ranger in the shot, giving this blog a more personal tone that some travel blogs don’t have.
Income streams
Our Escape Clause uses ads on blog post pages: a sticky ad at the bottom of the viewport, a sticky ad in the sidebar and a few throughout each post’s body.
The blog also uses affiliate links, including a few from Amazon.
Social media activity
Our Escape Clause is active on Instagram, where they receive a few hundred likes and a few dozen comments per post.
5. Salt in Our Hair
DA: 50 | Traffic: 500,000+ per month | Load Time: 778ms | CMS: WordPress
Salt in Our Hair is a travel blog by Dutch couple Nick and Hannah.
The blog originally started as an Instagram account, which the couple launched during their first backpacking trip.
They posted daily and decided to launch a blog under the same name a little over six months later in mid 2016.
Nick had experience in web design while Hannah was skilled as a graphic designer.
This allowed them to build one of the most beautifully-designed blogs in the travel blogging space, which is still going strong today.
Content
Salt in Our Hair publishes guides, reviews and list posts to a number of different categories, such as different categories for specific travel destinations in Asia, South America, Central America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Other categories include Travel Tips, Digital Nomad, Sustainable Travel, Budget, Tech and Lifestyle.
As the blog’s About page states, most of the writing is done by Nick while Hannah takes care of visuals.
The blog publishes long-form posts with stunning images accompanying each one.
Income streams
Salt in Our Hair uses quite a few income streams, starting with multiple ads on blog post pages in the following locations: sticky ad at the bottom of the viewport, sticky ad in the sidebar and a sticky pop-up video ad.
They also use affiliate links for booking sites and photography gear.
Lastly, the blog has an online shop filled with digital products, including ebooks, Lightroom presets, mobile video filters, photo prints and the couple’s travel tips in Google Maps locations.
Social media activity
Salt in Our Hair is active on Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest but receive the majority of their engagements from Instagram.
They still publish gorgeous travel photos and videos to Instagram. Images receive a few thousand likes per post, but videos often receive tens of thousands of likes.
6. The Blonde Abroad
DA: 60 | Traffic: 270,000+ per month | Load Time: 1.28s | CMS: WordPress
The Blonde Abroad is one of the most successful travel blogs in the solo travel niche.
It’s run by an all-female team and was founded by Kiki, “The Blonde Abroad,” who traded a seemingly-glamorous life in Hollywood for one filled with philanthropic work abroad.
She launched The Blonde Abroad not long after.
Now, she and her team help other female solo travelers get started on their own journeys with over 1,500 blog posts, detailed guides, consulting services and travel tours.
Content
The Blonde Abroad publishes content to a wide range of categories, namely Solo Travel, Girls Trip, Packing Guides, Blogging Tips, Couples Travel and Budget Tips.
However, after 1,500 posts, the blog has covered and continues to cover all sorts of different travel types.
That means you’ll also find categories like Female Travel, Luxury Travel, Adventure Travel, Student Travel, Volunteer Travel and Eco Travel.
The blog even has tags for individual destinations.
Plus, even though Kiki works with a team these days, the website is still branded as her own personal blog, so you’ll also find all sorts of personal blog entries and lifestyle blog posts.
And like Nomadic Matt, a blurb about Kiki displays in the sidebar, which is done in lieu of author metadata or an author box.
The blog publishes a mix of short and medium-form posts but uses large images to make it seem as though posts are longer than they are.
Many images feature Kiki.
Income streams
The Blonde Abroad has a lot of income streams, including ads that display on blog post pages.
Specifically, they use a sticky ad at the bottom of the viewport, another sticky ad in the sidebar and a few fixed ads in the body of blog posts.
They also use affiliate links, including affiliate links from Amazon.
Kiki has become quite familiar with travel photography over the years, so you’ll also find a shop filled with Lightroom presets and art prints.
The blog also offers travel services, including consulting and travel tours through a sister site TBA Escapes.
Social media activity
The Blonde Abroad is active on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Kiki has a YouTube channel with over 37,000 subscribers and a total of 3.1 million video views, but she hasn’t posted in a couple years.
[the-blonde-abroad-instagram-post]
She receives most of her engagements from Instagram and Facebook where she receives a few thousand and a few hundred likes respectively.
7. Charlotte Plans a Trip
DA: 28 | Traffic: 105,000+ per month | Load Time: 2.56s | CMS: WordPress
Charlotte Plans a Trip is an adventure travel blog run by Dutch woman Charlotte, who travels the world with her husband Ries.
The blog is primarily a hub for her own personal travel stories. But because she’s become quite an avid traveler, she also publishes travel tips and destination guides.
The couple has visited over 25 countries in North America, Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Content
Charlotte Plans a Trip publishes posts to a small handful of parent categories, including Personal, Tips & Tricks, and Travel Guides.
Smaller categories include Diary, Budget Tips, Travel Photography, Packing Lists, Hotel Guides and Itineraries.
She publishes short to medium-form posts that use a lot of images.
There are also a few long-form posts here and there.
Income streams
Charlotte Plans a Trip uses ads and affiliate links to monetize her travel blog.
Sticky ads display at the bottom of the viewport as well as in the sidebar. There are also fixed ads in each post’s body text.
She also creates sponsored posts and offers consultancy services, including coming up with personalized itineraries.
Social media activity
Charlotte Plans a Trip is active on Instagram and Instagram alone.
She receives a few dozen to a few hundred likes per post.
Final thoughts
That concludes our list of travel blog examples.
These blogs come in a wide range of traffic, from blogs that receive hundreds of thousands of views per month to ones that barely reach over 100,000.
Some use teams, and some are run by couples who split responsibilities across their blogs.
Yet despite these differences, we can spot a number of different trends across each blog.
The first is the type of content they create.
While some blogs have a particular angle or cover all travel types, all of these blogs have categories and posts aimed at traveling on a budget.
This tells us that budget travel is its own sub niche within the travel blogging space.
The second trend we noticed is income streams.
Some blogs sell their own Lightroom presets, guidebooks and art prints. Some offer consulting services and host travel tours.
Income streams all travel blogs seem to have in common are ads and affiliate marketing.
So, if you’re just getting started with your own travel blog, consider looking into these income streams first.
Blogger favorites AdThrive and Mediavine are fantastic ad networks to use to display niche-specific ads on blogs.
The final trends we noticed have to do with social media.
The first is that the majority of these blogs are active on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and sometimes YouTube, but they all receive most of their engagements from Instagram.
The second trend we noticed is that there’s no correlation between social media popularity and web traffic.
Nomadic Matt receives four times the amount of traffic as The Blonde Abroad does, but her engagement rates on platforms like Instagram and Facebook are consistently higher than Matt’s.
The same is true for Salt in Our Hair, who receive less than half of the amount of traffic as Nomadic Matt receives, yet videos they post to Instagram receive tens of thousands of likes.
This shows us two things: you don’t need a large social media following to succeed in the world of blogging. Also, social media is a severely underutilized and misused form of marketing in the blogging space.
With that said, we hope this list has inspired a few new ideas for your own travel blog.
If you’d like to start your own blog, check out our step-by-step tutorial to get started. Alternatively, you might find our roundup of lifestyle blog examples useful.
Good luck!
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